Elated by a finish!

 At last!  A finished quilt!

Ok, so it's quite small, but it is the first 'finished item' on my C&G course, so it had lots of attention paid to it as I was designing, constructing and quilting it!

The quilting is dense, but I'm delighted to say that 'Radio' hangs flat, due to some blocking / damp stretching.  I'm also glad to say that it seems happy to hang from the radio aerial that I'd purchased in error last summer.

 After it was finished I decided that it was time for a sort out of the craft room / study.  I've managed to turn it from this....

with boxes, bags, and all sorts of things piled one on top of the other.....

 .....to this, with a bit more floor space on show, a bit more shelf space on show, and a fresher feeling to the room.

 There is still a bit of moving to do - an old laptop, some of the girls' old school work and some extra wadding that belongs up in the loft, not in this room.

I think that the school work proves that I haven't tidied up properly since last July.  That's quite poor, even for me!

The next job is to cull the quilt books which are threatening to get out of hand (again!).

At least with this job done I can get on with some sewing again - much more fun!  I'll be able to finish one or two things that I discovered fabric for during the tidying up process, of course!

Funny Bunnies (and cake!)

 Without too much help (well, I sewed around the basic shape on the sewing machine) the girls and a few of their friends made these Funny Bunnies.  It was a fun activity.  Not too much prep, but access to my button box and some felt gave us a good time making and naming these little stuffies.


You can see my paper pattern - it is free from Urban Threads under their Freebies section.  So far we haven't made any for leaving in the library / at bus stops or wherever. 

We thought that we'd better keep our first attempts, but will make them again, perhaps in fleece, for passing on to others.

It was another week for cake making - this time for the birthday party (yes, a swimming party, you've guessed it!).  An easy one to decorate this time, with the use of Playmobil swimming figures and 'fishy' jelly sweets.  I have to be honest, the making of the cakes inside would have been easier if I'd waited until the shopping delivery - as it was I ran out of 'normal' flour and had to add some substitute to the vanilla layer.  I'm pleased to say that using a yeasted bread mix didn't seem to detract from the cake, though, and it still tastes fine (and wasn't too leaden either!).

 

This week my DDs are back at school, and I'm hoping to spend time finishing my C&G wall hanging.  Photos next week, perhaps.

 

A Whole lot of Samples

Not really much stitching going on over the Easter hols - but I did make this folded star block last week.  Wish that I'd remembered my ruler and made it a bit more accurate, though.  I can't decide whether to make another one, this time trying a bit harder to make each round completely even and accurate.

This box was a small caddy made from some other samples- panels and pockets put together, experimenting with some ideas.

And this is what a FQ of fabric looks like once you've cut it into a spiral and crocheted it back up into a piece of something - with this size hook it produced a piece that was quite firm but still bendable. Interesting texture, and it would be nice to see what it was like with a bigger hook.

 

I've only got a tiny bit of work left to do on my current C&G module, apart from completing the wall hanging, which has got quite a few more hours quilting still needed!  I'm sure that I'll get to it once the school holidays have finished!