I owe you some sewing!

With the sun shining, a fully functioning computer and a body doing a reasonably good impression of pain-free, I thought I better get a couple of pics of my Midnight at the Oasis blocks so far, as promised a gazillion years ago!

I received the beautiful Jen Kingwell pattern as part of the triumphant FQR quiz team prizes, and with Jess and Sharon starting the QAL, and Adrianne being such a good influence, I was in, and opting to go 100% Denyse Schmidt before I knew it.

OK so the 'ick has slowed me down a bit, but whereas I would have gone straight for the machine appliqué option, instead I have embraced hand-stitching in a way that is even more satisfying than hand-finishing binding!!

I used freezer paper templates, painted the seam allowances with starch (another first!) then pressed, and have been stitching away slowly on the sofa all week.  I am not going to pretend the preparation was not a PITA, but sewing the little blocks has been a joy.  10 down, 10 to go.

And here's my centre block...

The pattern calls for appliquéd circles in the centre; I was going to go for portholes (this was all pre-epiphany) but as I had the perfect floral centre-piece, I just added an extra border and I love the result.

My Y-seams are not perfect, but will be more than adequate once quilted, washed and crinkled.

This quilt is making me very happy; I might not say that when I get to the milion-piece borders, but so far so good.

I have a queue of obligations I need to get on with now, plus birthday makes and quilts to finish, so hopefully I will be back behind the machine this week and knocking out some finishes before you know it.

I hope that under the circumstances you will accept this as a global thank you for all your lovely comments over the last week - I have read them all and appreciate them more than you know, but I would be here until Christmas trying to answer them all individually.  I want to add that I have been casting my beady eye over my blog list this whole time, but iPad commenting is a chore I couldn't be doing with, so consider yourselves well and truly read.

Thanks for sticking around lovely people xxx

Orbit - the one with the photos...

As soon as Lindsey showed her Orbit quilt, I knew I wanted to make one, and I knew I wanted to use up some of my stashed Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow that John Lewis had foisted upon me on at least a couple of visits!

The QAL is now finished, but Lindsey is keeping the pattern as a free download for a short while longer, if you haven't already availed yourself.  It is a smashingly simple quilt to piece, finishes at 60" square and makes an awesome throw.

The top and backing were pieced a couple of weeks ago...

I quilted either side of each orb's horizontal, vertical and diagonal seams, with a couple of extra diagonals thrown in...

All pieced and quilted with Aurifil 50wt in 2021, my go-to thread for everything!

Despite the fact that there was a snow storm (OK, flurry) at my parents' on Easter Sunday, I was determined to get some cool lifestyle shots, for a change...

And just before the Boat Race started, the sun came out, so I took a couple more for luck...

This one may be gifted, but I haven't quite made up my mind yet.

Well the sun is out but I feel like death warmed up, so if you don't mind, I am going to find a sheltered spot in the garden to try to clear my head and maybe breath in some some fresh air through my blocked nose xxx

Into Orbit!

After my directional dilemmas yesterday, I bit the bullet this morning and just went ahead and finished piecing my Orbit top, trying to get the patterns to match where possible, but not stressing too much if they didn't. 

This is a great pattern, and although there was a lot of initial cutting, and a little extra thinking required by me as I did not have a full 13 prints to play with, the piecing was simple and a joy to make.

It is probably the first time I have ever made HSTs by simply joining 2 triangles, and there was no bias drama at all with that.  (I think that is a urban myth to scare new quilters!).

Having the Modern Meadow prints all folded since I bought them, I had not had them spread out en masse, and I am so happily surprised at how bright and wonderful all the prints are.

There is still snow in the garden, and it is bitterly cold and windy, but I ventured out for a photoshoot; don't say I never do anything for you...

... and then the sun came out...

I have enough left-over fabric to piece the backing and make binding, but not sure on the wadding situation though; I think I need to have a little tidy up of the quilting corner; I can see it in my husband's eyes!

This has been a relatively early post for me; parent's evening later and I am making the most of my MacBook playing nicely, by tonight it will probably need another wallop xxx

Wednesday waffle...

Today I wanted to knock a couple of things off my February To Do list, namely for Judith; the siggie blocks to go with her Brit Bee blocks and also a pair of blocks for Bee Blessed...

I will not fib and say that I enjoyed making these - so many pieces, trimming and pressing.  My points are not perfect, they took all morning, much to the kids' annoyance; but they are done and look better than I was anticipating at the mid-way point. 

I was this (this) close to stopping at making one, but as much as I dislike working on things that I am not feeling the love for, I am a stubborn madam, and did not want to admit defeat!  Also I am going to be handing these over in person, so I am hoping to overwhelm Judith with quantity rather than quality!

Seeing as it is Half Term, I let the kids reclaim the dining table for some drawing this afternoon, so I joined in by pulling out my Joel Dewberry stash and colouring in the blank layout sheet for my Orbit quilt...

I am so determined to use up fabrics that have been lurking, hoarded, waiting for projects, so as soon as Lindsey posted about her QAL, I was in, and knew these fabrics were next on my hit list.

The pattern calls for 13 prints, I only have 10, after excluding the browns, which I am saving (honest), but as I have all 1/2 and full meter cuts, I have managed to work out a suitable balance of repeats.  I'd like to have these cut by the end of the holidays, but the overflowing ironing basket is starting to look beyond a little slovenly, so I may be otherwise engaged for a few days!

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!

The Colour Purple and Others...

Now it will be no surprise to anyone who has been here more than a couple of times that I am a bit of a turquoise freak.  I will pretty much add turquoise or aqua to anything I can; the current Hexie bag for instance, the choices for that were a no-brainer!

But now I think I have another colour to rank along with 'orange' on my 'New favourite colour that if you'd asked me 6 months ago I would have hated' list!

Purple is not one of the colours that I normally consider using when making something for myself.  Twin 1 tends to get purple as an alternative to pink-mad Twin 2, but it has not been 'up there' with the cool kids for me!  I still have the pile of purple Sugar Pop charms left over from these cushions!

However I think this has been rightly challenged by the Ruby Star Spring line - I did have a dilemma in choosing between the Springtime or Nightlite colourways, the green print swayed me... eventually, but there is a lot of purple in the prints I chose!

I decided that my Central Park layer cake would be a good starting place for my Across The Sea fabric selection, and this, as you will no doubt be aware, has lovely purple prints, (and also orange, green and turquoise!!). 

Deciding that I didn't want a mix of the whole palette, I then had a moment of clarity/confusion when I started looking at the two Just Wing It layer cakes I'd safely put aside for November's Brit Bee blocks.  Hmmm...

The Momo has a lot of pink and red in; pink is great, but not what I have in mind for the quilt I want, and red just isn't a colour I like a lot of.  There are good reds, and there are bad reds in my book, and probably only in my crazy mind can a distinction be made between them.  Think 'yes' to Bliss and Sherbet Pips, but 'no no no' to so much more!  There are major flaws in my dislike, red and navy blue, yuk, however, sonny-boy's Cath Kidston cowboy quilt is a really great for example of 'yes yes yes'... but I digress!

I have pulled all the reds and pinks from the Just Wing It, and will no doubt find the perfect project for them in time.

I managed, by combining the 3 layer cakes to meet the fabric requirements for the Across The Sea QAL.  I finally went for this lovely combo of purple and green to go with a Natural Klona background fabric...

... and 72 squares in a pretty pleasing spectrum for the Bee blocks...

I am looking forward to having new colours entering the FB Mansion!

PS.  Fellow Bees, I have sneakily stated elsewhere in blogland what I am intending to put you through in November, look around, you may find it, and having ordered the backing and binding this week, I am getting excited already!  M'wah ha ha ha!!

More mail...

OK, I admit it looks like I have been on a bit of a fabric bender recently (you haven't seen the half of it), but honestly there are reasons!

Firstly today a parcel from super-cool Kate of M is for Make; now this isn't the whole picture as I bought something for my Brit Swap partner, but I'm not showing that now, but partner, it made me chuckle when I opened the parcel - I hope it'll make you smile too!

The transistors were on sale, and the scrap roll is beautiful...

... all these for £2.50!

I also had to pop into the village to pick up a 'signed for' parcel and nipped into the fabric shop for the other 'element' I need for Elizabeth, Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope quiltalong!

I am going to scale down to use a layer cake, and I may add a charm pack too, but we reckon I can make it work with a little bit of maths!  This will be my Mum's birthday present... I hope!

It wasn't all 'take', there was a teeny bit of 'give' too, as I posted off my block to Japan for the Partnership quilt today too.  Have you made your's yet?

A Dresden finish, and other successes...

In the hours last night when Royalty were partying, I was finishing off my Dresden mini-quilt.  I pondered about doing the circular quilting that Lynne had done on the QAL original, but again figured why put myself through the anguish of spoiling the whole thing when it was going so well!

I backed it with one of my favourite prints from the It's A Hoot line and shadow quilted the lot. 

I spray-basted, and it worked like a dream, and finished off with some chocolate binding left over from the Freebird and a little turquoise spotty extra for good luck.  The finished block is 31" square, and I am really pleased with how it came together, especially because, with the exception of the backing, it was made entirely of leftovers!

I also spent a little, well, OK a lot of time chosing some fabric for Sheila's Mystery QAL and placing another order with Prints To Polka Dots - it's not too late to join in everybody, the more the merrier, or is that mysterious!  I hope my fabric arrives next week as I am getting really excited!

And finally my little package from Trudi arrived this morning containing her fabric for the first month of the first Brit Bee.  There's some Giddy in there, and I am not at liberty to show or tell you much more until the blocks are safely back in Trudi's hands; however they will be accurately-measured and matched-seam versions of the BlindBob! 

Before I begin, I have to await the arrival of some new rotary blades I ordered last week, as my current one is now just a little bit blunt and too much of a liability on someone-else's fabric!

Another constructive day!

I really am getting too used to mornings off work, sunshine and children old enough to entertain themselves for long enough to let me do my thang!

So, 4 more little scrappy blocks in dark pink, red and orange.

Aneela was right, these are addictive.  I have a horrible feeling that I will end up buying fabric to make more and more, which really isn't the idea!

Lynne also gave her blessing to get on with the sashing around the dresden.  I duly got mine stitched and hung on the line for a photo-call!

I added a little extra to the right-hand border.  This edge was destined to have two joining seams as I am just using scraps and leftovers for the front of the block.  So not quite enough to go round and a little dilemma.  Rather than leave it looking a little like I had run out of fabric, I stitched up a colourful little block from the last of the teensy offcuts, which may just look daft, but I like it!

Look out for my next post - there may be something in it for you!

I'm meant to be on holiday...

...but I have been working very hard!

Firstly I finished Stanley...

Then, as I had sorted out all my scraps on Sunday, in a timely fashion Aneela Hoey, oh lovely lady of the Sherbet Pips, posted about starting a crazy scrappy quiltalong - so I obviously had to sign up!

There's a linky somewhere on the left if you are interested.  The idea is to make 11" squares, but I am going to work with 6" ones, as many of my scraps are too teensy, and I am too eagar to to make lots of blocks, see...

Then I noticed that Prints to Polka Dots are doing a pre-order on Sherbet Pips, so I had to order some yardage to go with my charm packs; be quick people, the pre-order option is only open until Wednesday.

Then Lynne at Lily's Quilts posted the start of a tutorial for her Big Little George.

This is Lynne's 'example' so goodness know what sort of paper-pieced mess I am going to get into!

But up for a challenge, I got cutting and piecing and stitching and swearing and unpicking and re-stitching and eventually ended up with this...

OK, so the children were lucky to be fed, and dearest hubby feels like a total sewing-widow, but sometimes you have to go with the urge!

BlindBob and his rotund friend!

Last night I enhanced BlindBob with a jacket to make him bigger, better and complete, and I actually got the outer circle stitched onto the dresden.

I followed Lynne's instructions properly, fully and completely; and guess what - it turned out great first time with no unpicking or puckering!  The girl's a genius!

You can't really see from the picture, but the inner and outer circles are cream with white spots - I was torn between this and the Wild Thyme, however the deciding factor was not being confident to keep the pattern lined up with the segments that I wanted at the top - so spots it was!

Afterwards I was a little lost without the HUG - I realised that I had been working on it since the first week we moved into the house, so I've never had an evening here where I just sat in front of the TV and watched!  So I pulled out my Cath Kidston 'Stitch' and started a little Stanley!

Thank you all for your lovely messages about the completed masterpiece - you should all have a go  - it's addictive and despite the odd bit of miscounting, pretty foolproof.  I am looking forward to getting the KISS started, buying some yummy backing and pompoms and making them into cushions!

PS. It's the Easter holidays - yay!!

Trying again - bigger and better!

Well I am posting my progress so far, ie. before it all goes horribly wrong!  With triangles twice the size and seams that are now visible to the human eye and pressed open.  I am a little more optimistic.  I am even attempting a 'LynneBobSquarePants' block!!!

The next stage of the QAL has been posted - I think I'll save that for the weekend as I am now quite eager to see how this floral experiment turns out.

Successes!

Where to begin - not often I have more than one thing looking good at any one time!

Well the covers fit!  So relieved about that! 

The kids are already using them like... cushions - how dare they, don't they realise the effort they took?

And so, I took the bull by the horns and decided to tackle that inner circle once and for all.  Laptop to the ready I followed Lynne's instructions, mucked up the first attempt (fortunately not too far round) and then I kind of cracked it! 

OK so it isn't a perfect circle by mathematical standards, but I reckon when I get a bit of quilting on there and no-one will notice (they will be distracted by my even more wobbly quilting!).

So if you are still plucking up the courage, go for it - it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I'm glad I'm only doing the one though.

It's an early post today as I really need to get on with the HUG this evening.  I didn't start until after 9 last night and my counting was all over the place, so I need to try it awake if I don't want to spend more time unpicking than stitching!

Please be seated...

I have just finished the third cushion cover, so we'll have to wait and see if they all fit tomorrow!!  Fingers crossed!!

I now, by order of Lynne, have to face my fears and cut the Dresden centre piece and have a go at that tomorrow too!!

I think I am going to have a sleepless night.