Wednesday WIP

The Last Minute Christmas Sampler QAL is almost finished.  Julianna has released all 12 patterns, and so far I have made 10 of them.  Her last two are a little more detailed, and require a lot more concentration and effort than I felt like putting into sewing today.

My mission today, was to start quilting these blocks and turning them into place mats.  I have trimmed them all down to 11.5" squares, and they will all be backed in the white and red star/snowflake print in the top photo.  Quilting is straight lines approximately 1/2" inch apart, and the binding is a slightly marbled red.

So far one has been completed, I had grand visions of getting them done, so we would be able to use them on Christmas Day, but maybe I'll make that Christmas 2015.  I have had a lot of fun making these blocks, some have definitely challenged me at times, but the result has been worth it.  Thanks for such a fun project Julianna.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and the QAL Linky party at Sewing Under Rainbow.

Wednesday WIP

When I finished the paper piecing for the two knights, I vowed that I was not going to do any paper piecing for the rest of the year.  Funny how life has a way of changing your mind.  On Monday I saw
these beautiful blocks in my Flickr stream.  They linked to a Christmas QAL at Sewing under Rainbow blog.  Each two days, a new block will be posted for a Christmas Sampler.

This evening, after dinner I sat down in my sewing room, hauled out my Christmas fabrics and completed Block 1 - Christmas Trees.  It was a very clear easily pieced pattern.  Just as I finished it, Block 2 - Bell, was posted. Guess what I may be working on tomorrow night.

Why I feel the need to make a Christmas themed quilt, I don't know.  It certainly doesn't get cold enough here in New Zealand with our summer Christmas to warrant the need for one.  It will use a lot of my Christmas fabric stash  (that's a good thing though) and probably my low volumes too.  Maybe I'll turn them into Christmas placemats or pillow covers - probably in time for next years Christmas.  I can't wait to see them all together though.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Finishing Up

In my last post,  I mentioned that I was going to finish up some outstanding WIP projects.  First up, was my mini quilt from the Pack Patch QAL, it is now bound and hanging on my sewing room wall.

My second finish, were these placemats, which have been waiting for binding since May 2013.  Last night and this afternoon, I sewed the binding on.  It really was such a quick and easy job for all four.  I enjoy handsewing it down in the evening while watching a favourite cooking show or chick flick - and I can't believe I procrastinated so long over such a simple task.  Now we have four new placemats to use.

What projects do you need to finish up?

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday WIP

Well the Pack Patch QAL is in its final finishing stage. Last week Chase, posted the details for sashing and binding this mini quilt.  All the little scrappy patches we have been making over the last 10 weeks or so, have little stories attached, depending on the theme we were given.  Sometimes it was quite challenging to find fabrics to fit the themes or colour schemes we were given.
I have sashed mine in a sandy/lineny coloured solid, backed it in a DS print from her Winding Roads collection, and quilted with straight lines (as straight as I seem to be able to get them anyway).  Today being an extremely windy wintery day, seemed the ideal time to attach the binding and then sit in front of the fire hand sewing it down.  I'm looking forward to finishing it up and then adding it to my mini quilt wall in my sewing room.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Weekending

Not really a lot to show for what I did.

• Baking a Spiced Pumpkin Cake to take to my sewing day in Hamilton, with Rachel and Deb.  Needless to say, we didn't get any sewing done, we had a beautiful unintentionally pumpkin themed pot luck lunch,  swapped some fabrics, talked lots and had a flying visit to Spotlight.  Hopefully I can make the next one in 2 months, when we hope to meet up at the Hamilton Craft Show.
• An utterly decadent dessert,  made by the Scout - Caramello Cheesecake.
• A little sewing for the Pack Patch QAL. Week 7's theme was City Mouse and Country mouse. 

Hoping you all had a great weekend too.

Weekending (The Belated Edition)

 

• I had a pile of lovely inspiring magazines, that always make me want to pack up, buy an old home in the country, get a dog, and have lots of lovely recycled/upcycled furniture in my home
• Some more blocks for the Pack Patch quilt along. The top block was laundry themed and the second one was our sewing room.  One of the questions was how we store our fabric,  some of mine is in colour order, some is by pattern eg: dots, text, florals and some is by designer.  Here are all six weeks blocks together 
• Loving the patterns and colours on the leaves of my new plant (Can't remember it's name sorry)
• New York Beauty - four blocks done and assembled together,  It was bothering me, how not all of the outer edges were aligned, but after throwing the question of whether I redo it, open to my swap group, the general consensus is that it is lovely, they don't have to align and to leave it.  So I will.  Now it is time to think about the next border for it.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and that the week is a good one for you.

Weekending

 

 

 

A weekend at home.

• I decided I need life in my house that isn't children, a cat or a husband.  No flowers in my garden to pick unfortunately.  So a bunch of glossy green and silvery leaves, in a cyrstal vase displayed with some treasures suffice.  I also bought a new pot plant  and re-potted a couple of other plants up.  Fingers crossed they keep growing.
• I have been enjoying watching Rachel Khoo's Kitchen Notebook: London, on television the last couple of weeks.  So I was delighted to find her french cookbooks for some beautiful weekend reading.  There are actually a lot of recipes I would like to make in these books too.
• Some sewing for the Pack Patch QAL - week 5.  This weeks themes were: Moments with Mum - the pink block represents my mum's and my love of gardens, flowers and visiting gardens open to the public.  The other block represents: A Joyful Moment with Children.  After much discussion with Miss B and Mr J, we decided that one of our best moments together was boogie boarding on a summer camping trip at Waipu Cove.  The sun was shining and the water was perfect.  We had a great day.
• The vegetable garden is flourishing.  We have been eating spinach (so have the snails), rocket and rainbow chard.
• Some more sewing ,  I have been trying out a New York Beauty block.  Unfortunately, I think the top piece may need to be redone for more contrast.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

Weekending - The Sewing Edition

 

 

 

It was a long weekend here in New Zealand, so I made the most of the opportunity to finish some sewing projects.

• First up is a fabric basket for another swap I have joined in.  Made from various scraps of text, solids, linen and Denyse Schmidt fabrics, using this tutorial. It was a nice easy pattern to sew, though I think I will use heavy weight interfacing on the lining next time I make this pattern.

• This weeks PackPatch themes were: I was born in the ...,  and I would have liked to be in the ... Because I was born in the 70's, I picked paisley and green.  I remember a lot of brown and orange from that time too.  I would have liked to be in the 50's, I loved the full skirts, with big floral prints and twin sets.  Not so keen on the horn rim glasses I would have needed though.

• And my big TA DA moment - I finished my 241 Tote.  I did rows of vertical hand quilting on the centre panels in a natural linen coloured thread.  The side pockets are shot cotton in a silvery grey, with AMH Social Climber as the feature side panel.  The lining and strap are a charcoal shot cotton.  For extra strength in the strap, I also added a strip of upholstery weight cotton ticking in the middle before 6 rows of top stitching.  On the whole I am pretty pleased with how it has turned out.  Sewing the curved panels was not an easy task, and I wasn't happy with how my top stitching along the centre panels and pockets looked, so after unpicking it, I decided to omit it. I would make this again, but I would probably not do a quilted centre panel.

What did you create this weekend?

Weekending

Most of Saturday I worked at the library, so when I finished, I made the most of the remainder of my weekend.

• I finished reading  The Goldfinch  (I gave up on The Luminaries).  It was an interesting, if at times, a hard book to read, but now I have a new pile of  interesting books to get started on.
• My new pressing board for my sewing table, measuring 40cm x 40cm.
• The piles of shirt strips for Mr J's quilt are slowly growing - I found a couple of almost new shirts in the shop shop on Friday. Hopefully I will be able to start sewing the blocks soon.
• A surprise in my garden - a flowering  mini  Cyclamen.
• Revealing the woodwork, under layers of paint.  The Scout has started sanding back the old door he bought me.We are hoping it will be able to be turned into a cutting table for my sewing room.
• Tiny 4.5" blocks for a Flickr Quilt-a-Long.  The idea is to use up scraps to make these blocks.  We are given a theme each week.

What have you made this weekend?  What is flowering/growing in your gardens?