I went small again!

Last weeks 'mini' (20" square) clearly wasn't small enough for me.

This little star is 5" square.  I enjoyed it, but wondered about making something a bit smaller.

So I made this.  It's just 1.75" square.

Of course, both of these are only single blocks, not really and truly full quilts, although they do meet the 'three layers, sewn together' rule.

I was pleased with my accuracy on this one.

I wondered if the tiny New York Beauty would make a good key fob.  My neighbour is wondering about getting a new, grey, front door - so I've made him this just in case he goes for it!

Another fun make, although this one wasn't quite as neatly stitched as the bright version.

I'm planning a 'normal' size quilt for my next make.  These are fun, but not really helping to move me through my fabric stash!
 

A Finish, and The Frosted Thames

Ta-da!

I decided to 'stitch in the ditch' for the quilting on this one - I just couldn't come up with anything else easily achievable that I liked the idea of!

It's ready to hang above my ironing board to make me smile every day (no, I don't iron every day, but I share a room with an ironing board!).

It finished at about 21" inches square, and I'm very happy with it and it's cheeful personality.

I saw on Instagram that the Thames had frozen over.  I didn't get there whilst it was at it's most impressive, but even three days after the 'best' photos were taken it was still impressively frozen above Teddington Lock.  This shows the entrance to one chamber.

This shows the entrance to the other - it's still ice to the right of the seagulls, who were owning that icy, if temporary, beach.  

The contrast of the rippled water and the smooth ice was very striking.  Whenever I think of something quilty (and which of us quilters hasn't striven to provide a contrast of textures in a quilt?), it seems that nature has done it first!

This was the sunrise view looking up river from Teddington bridge towards the weir.  Lots of water tumbling down, and a tremendous noise with the power of all that water.

I'm glad that I went, despite the bitterly cold temperatures!  A morning trip to remember.
 

I've been wanting to make a quilt of triangles for ages now.

Then 'Grandma's Surprise' kept appearing in my Pintrest suggestions.  It seems to have a couple of other names too, but it is one of the Kaleidoscope quilts that you can make.

So I thought about it, decided that I couldn't do a full sizes quilt (over papers - it just sounded like too much!), decided that I could make a small quilt, and pulled some fabrics.

Then I cut strips and subcut them into triangles, printed some blocks, cut them into the appropriate shapes and stacked them all up.

Then I started sewing, similar blocks got sewn at the same time.

Gradually building up, step by step, half a block by half a block.

Before long I'd reached this stage!  I'm very pleased with it so far!

Next I will sew the blocks together, remove the papers, and decide how to quilt it!

It's going to be about 20" square.

Very cheerful and it is making me smile.

Hope that you have found something fun to work on too!
 

At Last!

A quilty finish!  At last - it seems like a long time since I've completed something!

This is the Layer Cake Crumble Quilt (free pattern from the FatQuarterShop.com).

I know that I measured it for the binding, but I can't remember exactly what the size of mine was - something like 36" x 42" I think.  Just right for a baby quilt.

I chose a simple pattern for the backing, and the same fabric for the binding.  Then a loose stipple to quilt it.

Bright and cheerful, a fun quilt to make and complete.

 What else have I been making?  More Mrs Claus figures of course!  I think that I might stop now that I've made these.  I'm all out of white wool felt, so it might be time to move on to something else - although as I'm typing this, I'm wondering about a coloured trim instead, of course!  Black could look quite smart, couldn't it?!