A new bag

So it looks like any other shopping bag that I might have made, loosely based on a Mors Bag design.

Do you love the sea gull fabric too?

But this one has a secret - a lovely bright yellow to match the gulls beaks.

This should help to prevent DD1 from losing items out of tote bags when we are travelling and she has overspill from her daysack!

And another secret - so that everything doesn't have to fall right to the bottom, there are two pockets that she can slip a purse or phone into.

We will wait to see if it works for her in practice - I can always refine or change the pattern if it doesn't quite tick all the boxes!

Slow Progress!

 Just another four blocks to add to my pile - it really is slow progress over this summer!

Still, any progress is good progress!

And a few more

Just a few more this week - a set of 4 hand pieced and appliqued blocks.

These take me up to 75 completed blocks out of the 100 in the sampler book.

Happy to be making progress, even if it's summer holiday progress, so a little slower than sometimes!
 

More Sampler

Still working away at my 6.5" blocks!

Summer holidays mean that there isn't quite as much time to sew, but I'm still doing my best!

OK, so not all of them are as accurate as I'd really like, but I'm still loving the overall look of these little fun beings.
 

Back to my sampler quilt

Another little set of sampler quilt blocks!

Still working with blues and slightly off white, and still loving the colourway!

 Moving on from just half square triangles to include quarter square triangles too.

Side Project 2

Paper piecing always looks like a bit of a muddle, doesn't it?

This is my project half way though the sewing, where I have all the fabric pieces cut out ready, and neatly in the piles relating the paper segments they belong with, with just one set 'in progress' by the machine needle.

It's all so much neater when all the segments are trimmed - love them at this stage, with the trimmings about to go into the bin.

Segments sewn together, and the paper removed - now we are getting somewhere!

I left it for a while to see if I wanted to move from a square block to a rectangle, which I decided would be better for my giraffes.

Each block finished at about 2" x 3".

And here is my 'Stand out from the Crowd - Giraffe Herd' piece.  Overall if it is about 9" tall and 7.5" wide.

Nothing like perfect, but charming enough to make me smile!

 

Side Project 1

Something a bit different - as I tried out an idea for showing tessellation in an easy way for me to handle - I originally thought about  cutting out multiple cats from different fabrics, but decided that my skills weren't accurate enough to attempt that!

I couldn't find a textured background that I wanted for this pink kitty, so ended up using silk, off cuts inherited from my MiL

This is my finished piece.

The design (errors in it all mine!) is based on an image of a wooden puzzle that I found on the internet, by Suekatcook in 2020.

However, when I went back to check the source, I found that Julie Fukuda has a blog post in 2012 where she shows how she designed the pattern, based on her cat, Pearl, which she was making as a mini quilt!  
 

Isn't it fabulous?  I think that the design of tessellating shapes is really interesting.

And Again!

Yup!  Still more on my sampler quilt!

These are paper pieced.  I'm not a fan of having to trace all the papers, it turns out, as I never think that they are particularly accurate.  However, there isn't an option not to if I want to make the blocks, so I've made them, then ironed them as flat as I can get them!

Then I was on to a batch of raw edge applique ones.  I have to confess that these only got finished after the first one (the tulips, top left here) got cut when the pile got caught under something else.  

Oops!

I wondered about re-making it, but decided that it told more of a story of this being made between other projects if I owned the error - so it now has a chunk of iron on interfacing supporting it from behind, and a tiny satin stitch over the cut lines on the front.

I managed to keep the rest of the blocks whole!

And these conclude all the raw edge applique blocks in the book, so I've finished the set with another paper pieced one.

I've made a total of 51 blocks now, out of a planned 100.

I just hope that my blue fabrics scraps hold out - they are looking much more meagre than when I started, I have to say.
 

Still Sampling!

Yup!  Still working on these sampler blocks!

Still enjoying the blue and white!

Lots using half square triangles in this batch.

See what I mean?

And by way of a change, a raw edge applique block and an EPP block!
 

Back to my sampler blocks

More sampler blocks!

These are the first four that look at using paper piecing.  

Then I moved on to raw edge applique, with machine stitching on the edges.

There are some pretty blocks there, aren't there?

And I'm really enjoying all the blues together!

Still having lots of fun with these!
 

A Quilt Finish

Hurrah!  At last, a 'proper' quilt finish!

Approximately 63" square, from a free pattern called Layer Cake Custard Quilt Pattern - available here from FatQuarterShop.

I adjusted the pattern slightly - their version is 63" x 88" - but it was a very straightforward pattern to make, and has made me take a long hard look at my (now depleted!) stash of blues!

 It's fun, isn't it?

I enjoyed the quilting too - adding different flowers and some hearts to the quilting.

Here's one of them.

And another.

And another really simple one.

And a heart (on this fun cat print!)

Backed with a floral print, with a green inset strip.

And bound in a dark blue batik.  I'm due to give it to the intended recipient on Friday - fingers crossed that she likes it!

 

More Sampler Blocks

I have to say that it is very relaxing to just putter along, making single blocks for a sampler quilt from someone else's patterns and measurements!

These were the next three blocks that I made.

And the next four - but can you spot the mistake?  I forgot to note that I'd made the first block of this set, so, as sometimes happens with 'pick up and put down' projects (for me at least) was that I didn't remember, and cut the same block out again!

Now I've got a spare block, but also, from photographing them like this, an idea of how a full quilt of these blocks would look, which might well be something that I come back to!

The final set that I worked on, starting to incorporate half square triangles as the next learning point.

As I said, very relaxing!
 

So, I started a thing.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you the cover of a book - Alice's Wonderland Sampler Quilt.

When I'd been working through my stash of blue fabrics, finding which one's I could cut out a 10" square from, I ended up with this (rather untidy) pile of fabrics.  Almost all had started life as Fat Quarters, most had parts missing already.

Rather than put them back into the FQ stack, I decided that it was time to cut them into my 'scrap storage' sizes, ready to use.

Then I saw the book, and had an idea.  Instead of cutting them down into my standard sizes, perhaps it would be more fun to make a blue and white (ish) sampler quilt, using my new book.

So, that's what I'm planning to do!

I still have the quilt to make that I was originally cutting 10" squares for, of course, but also I run this project alongside it, and later decide whether it remains an 'as and when' project that's easy to pick up and put down, or whether it gets some dedicated time.

I'm so pleased that I thought of doing this before either putting the fabrics away or cutting them up any further!

Here are the first three blocks - they start simple, and I'm expecting them to get slightly more complex.
 

Technically.....

 

......I haven't yet reached the end of 'the100dayproject', however, I was enjoying it so much that I got a bit ahead of myself, so, a week earlier than it should be completed, here is my 100 mini blocks of plant life all put together.

It makes a wall hanging 25" square, backed with an 'on theme' floral fabric, and is now hanging at the back of a wardrobe ( I want it to stay flat and dust free until April next year when I plan to give it away!).

Project complete!

Books!

I have been sewing - just not very much!  Some weeks are like that, with other tasks (or rest!) taking priority.

I have, however, been spending my pocket money on a couple of books that I thought I'd share.

They only arrived yesterday, so no reviews on them from me yet....

This first one is one that I'm going to use as a regular 'palette cleanser' - where I will use some of my scraps, a coherent background, and time between projects to make a block or two until I've worked through the book.  Or at least, that's what I'm thinking I'll do.

This one is to give inspiration for small projects - it might not have much that is completely new to me, but sometimes it's nice just to pick up someone else's pattern to (again!) use up a few of my accumulated scraps!
 

Even more plant life!

The next ten blocks - 61 to 70!

Some of them are fast to do - the freehand machine one are very fast once you have the idea - but sometimes the paper pieced ones seem to take a while, but perhaps that's because my brain is on a bit of a go slow when I'm doing things in reverse!

Let's see what I come up with for the final 30 blocks!

Back to More Plant Life!

My next ten mini blocks for my 100 day challenge!

These are blocks 51 to 60.  Over half way!

I'm still enjoying these!  It's nice having a good stack of these 3" blocks!
 

For a change....Animal Life!

This is a mini quilt (12" square) for a quilters guild challenge, which had an animal theme.

As you can see, I chose my favourite African animals.

I started with the centre roundel, but decided that it needed a vulture, and then added a tortoise to balance the bottom binding.

It's been a fun make!

I'm not much of a hand quilter, but for this quilt, where I'd carefully appliqued the sihouettes, I thought that it deserved the texture (and also, at 12" square, it wasn't too large to handle easily!).

I went for randomly placed circles (the giraffe head was the first one, which was a deliberate placement), in a thread colour slightly darker than the fabric..

The colours are more true in the photo above than in this detail photo.
 

Even more little Plant Life

 Yes, I'm up to half way through the 100 day challenge (in fact, in real life, a little further on - my blog will catch up soon!).

Still having fun choosing from my fabric scraps and embroidery flosses!

Still more little Plant Life

 The next ten - 31 to 40.

The first eight show case plant life as shown on different fabrics in my stash.  I'm not sure about including all of these.  Time will tell!