Happy Sewing

 I caught up with my 365 challenge - only to go away for a few days and so fall behind again!

This is the set of blocks for week 5.

 Week 6 is shown here.

 Week 7 here, and this is as far as I've got.  I think that I have a full week's worth of blocks to catch up with now!

Naturally the first thing I did when I got back from holiday was to ignore any current projects in order to create something completely new!

I bought some tartan remnants whilst away (can I recommend the Old Town Weaving Company at Castlehill on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh to you all?  £3 was the starting price for remnants - the smallest I bought was 8" x 51" which is incredible value) so made an oversized cushion with most of the fabric plus some curtain leftovers.  Perfect for my sewing room (where the curtains are) but apparently even more perfect for anywhere that DD2 happens to want to be!  Of course, you may get to choose your own colour ways rather than have the other three members of the family choose without reference to making a harmonious selection.....

Back to the sewing now - I'll see if I can catch up with those 365 blocks!

So Proud!

 I delighted to celebrate a finish of a quilt that isn't mine!

My DDs have been working on this together for a while, but they have finally finished their 'Blue Peter Quilt'.

If you live in the UK you will no doubt know the long running children's programme.  My girls are fans (as am I, still!).

The girls made this quilt for the presenters of Blue Peter, but have asked if they don't need or want to keep it, that they pass it on to Project Linus so that it will provide warmth and a hug to someone who needs it.

I'm so proud of my girls, who have worked hard to design, piece, applique and quilt this.  I can only hope that it's just one of many, but I think that they might rest on their laurels for a while.  Plenty of time in their future lives to take up a sewing craft if they want to!

Small items of Loveliness and a Shadow Quilting Card Tutorial

 First of all, here is the curly tree quilt again - this time showing you the buttons on it. My label is printed and ready to sew on the back, so it's nearly ready to go onto the wall!

 My first item of loveliness is this pincushion - made from the pattern that Benta shared here.

Very quick to make - the longest part seemed to be filling the bobbins to add into the petals!  I'm pleased with it and hope that my crafty friend will be happy with it when she receives it!

 Now, if you are short of an idea for a valentines day card, here is a fun idea that you'll be able to whip up in no time!

First of all transfer a simple design onto a small piece of fusible (my designs were approx. 2" square or 1 1/2" x 3".

Iron it (carefully!) onto a piece of craft felt.

 Cut out the design carefully, and iron it onto a background fabric (mine was just over 4" x 6").

Now choose a bit of organza - bright, subtle, the choice is yours.  Try it out over your felt and background fabric.  When you're happy with it, cut out a piece slightly larger than the background fabric.

When you are happy with your choice use a couple of pins to anchor it over the background fabric.

 Now choose a thread to contrast with the background - either an embroidery floss or a perle thread - and stitch a running stitch just outside the felt outline.

When you have finished, choose how to finish your card topper.

Mostly I choose to cut the organza and background to the size of the card, then turn back the edges of the organza and trim 1/4" from the background fabric.

My other idea was to trim the organza around the motif with a soldering iron.

 Of course, once you have the soldering iron to hand, its very tempting to add a little more decoration - too small to see, but I added some dots to the central card here.

Finally, grab your glue stick and stick the topper to the card.

A fun way to make a card for your sweetheart!

Of course, I've also been making  these 3 1/2" blocks for my 365 challenge.  These are the blocks for week 4.  I'm still playing Katy Catchup with this, but happily!

Taking up a Challenge

 Have you heard of the 365 Challenge Quilt?

It does what it says and is going to provide instructions for making a block every day for a year.  At the end of the year, if you've kept up, you will have sufficient blocks for a 90" square quilt top.

Not that I have any need for a 90" quilt top, you understand, but despite not coming across the challenge until late January, I thought that I'd like to join in.

The first blocks are fairly simple.  I have made the first 21 in a total of 3 3/4 hours.  I may be

 playing catch up for a while, as I suspect that as soon as I catch up I'll get tripped over by holidays and the like - but I'm enjoying the little (3 1/2") blocks so far!

And this is my mainly batik fabric pull for the quilt.  These early blocks are all in dark fabrics, for me, that's blues.  I'm looking forward to making some blocks with the brighter colours later in the year.

 You could join in too, if you wanted to!

365 - The Ultimate Sampler

I'm sure that it's going to be fun!

I have also managed a finish too.  This curly tree wall hanging is now complete.

This week I finished the hand sewn decoration (not quilting - I did it before I layered the quilt), machine quilted around the tree, bound it, adding corner triangles for hanging, and added some buttons.  Phew!

I forgot to take photos once I'd added the buttons on to it, though, so you'll have to wait for another day to see those.

I'm really pleased to use the fabric that DD1 gave me and some of the buttons that DD2 gave me for Christmas in this little project.  Now I need to find somewhere to hang it!