Dead End...

Way back when the sun was hot and lounging on the deck was the order of the day, I cut a couple of Oakshott stacks into 9" squares for the Dead Simple QAL. 

They sat unloved in a drawer until earlier this week, when urgency struck!

Having first planned to make a full-sized table cloth, I changed this to a runner, as upon re-visiting, some of the pinks now seemed too bright, and with the whopper that is my parent's dining table, it was going to need a lot of sashing to bring it up to size.

So a bit of jiggery-pokery, and the best part of yesterday at my sewing machine and ironing board, and I managed to get the final Christmas present made. 

Afraid we are seriously lacking in the natural light and adequate space this morning, so the photos are bit lacking in style!

There is no 'quilting' as such, a simple 'right sides together, stitch round, turn through and topstitch round the edge' approach has worked just fine.

It measures a huge 250cm/100" x 65cm/26", and is backed with some IKEA linen type affair which is lovely looking but as stretchy and awkward as buggery to cut and sew!

The pressure is now off a little - so I am off to sort through the boxes of food I have been storing in the garage, I have no idea what's in there!

My Big Day In...

I have been busy, although just looking at the photos, it doesn't really look that way; you decide.

I was home from school by 9am and did not move from the conservatory for the next 6 hours, all bar a 'comfort break' (so polite), and to pick up the post from the mat!

So want to see what a 'day off' looks like? 

Firstly, what some of it sounded like was Rhonda!  She kept me company and in stitches for hours, (OK not hours, but at least one!); another fun podcast, and lovely to know more about you **nicke.

There was more cutting to start with.  The binding for the Across The Sea, just because I want to be ready, and even though I haven't checked if I have enough batting yet!

I trimmed and cut all my Oakshott Fat-eighths into 9" squares for the Dead Simple QAL, they do look lovely, and even the trimmings looked great!

...and a quick stack of 2.5" squares cut, to add to the mini charm pack of Sherbert Pips that I converted to hexies last night...

After that, I needed to sew.   So an instant hit, 2 Farmer's Wife blocks using some left over HSTs from my last blitz; matching them to blocks they would fit, (well I still have a lot of choice), today Broken Sugar Bowl and Flock...

So now there are 10... and so far behind it's not funny!

Then I got a pang of the guilts that my machine is almost 3 months old and has never been given a good clean.  Oops...

Dust-free from now on, I promise.

After that, I knuckled down to the Japanese Scrap Bag Challenge, and I have just finished for the day.  I took some 'in progress' photos; but they are rubbish, so I will make one or two more tags before the competition finishes and post about making them properly.  In all honesty, they are so simple, a few written 'instructions' would be more than enough. 

So do you want to see?  OK, just a peek...

These were made with some non-competition scraps, as I didn't have enough 'pink' for both girls to have 2 more each of this batch; and Twin 2 threw a complete wobbler over the first pair; so anything for a quiet life.

The 'real' ones I will keep under wraps for a little longer, just to keep the Competition on their toes.  I have made six that are already in use daily on the girls' book bags, lunch boxes and PE Kit bags, and including the two above, and I made 7 more today.

So that was my making, and this was the icing on the cake... Post!

I have been eagerly awaiting 2 packages from the US, and one arrived today.  My super-duper Rainbow Swap Charms from Jennifer.  She is such a lovely friend, she also sent me a beautiful mug rug, I was so excited I was trying to type a 'thank you' and lay out the charms simultaneously!

OK, so the Across the Sea will go into piecing-overdrive again tomorrow - but having received such a lovely gift, those 170+ pieces have been well and truly excused!  Once the other parcel arrives, I will get Goodie 2 sorted, and then I'll almost be on top of things again, phew!

Next Wednesday I have my long-awaited, full-on dentist appointment, so I can't imagine getting much done before (nerves), or after (pain and dribbling!); but this was definitely a lovely interlude in this working week.

Reverse psychology...

It may have seemed like I was resisting joining in with the Lily's Quilts' Dead Simple Quiltalong.  In fact you would be forgiven for thinking that I had a few other things to do with my time!

But I have been plotting; oh yes, I had a plan since day one.

I had a little stash of fabric that I was saving for 'a project', and I hoped that this could be the one.  When Lynne finally published the fabric requirements this week, I couldn't have been happier!

Kerching, a fabric-quiltalong match made in heaven!

Needing 12 FQs for the smaller version of the quilt with the larger, 9" blocks, I got kind of excited, in a bit of a smug kind of way; I haven't even had to have to tweak the requirements!

My 30 Fat-eighths of Oakshott have been narrowed down to 24 and I couldn't be happier!

In the spirit of the QAL, I have worked this one backwards and searched out pictures on Design Seeds and Color Collective.  OK, so Oakshott get total credit for putting this combination together, but I did have to reject 3 colours, and it was fun playing along.

Source: design-seeds.com via Hadley on Pinterest

Source: color-collective.blogspot.com via Hadley on Pinterest

And as if this wasn't all too fortuitous enough already, I am hoping said quilt top is going to be turned into a simple tablecloth/cover as a Christmas present for my parents.  Everyone's a winner!