Just another four blocks to add to my pile - it really is slow progress over this summer!
Still, any progress is good progress!
Still, any progress is good progress!
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!
Summer holidays mean that there isn't quite as much time to sew, but I'm still doing my best!
Still working with blues and slightly off white, and still loving the colourway!
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.
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".
Nothing like perfect, but charming enough to make me smile!
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
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.
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!
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!Still enjoying the blue and white!
Lots using half square triangles in this batch.
These are the first four that look at using paper piecing.
And I'm really enjoying all the blues together!
Still having lots of fun with these!
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!
Here's one of them.
These were the next three blocks that I made.
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!
As I said, very relaxing!
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.
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.
......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.
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.
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!
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!
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 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.
Still having fun choosing from my fabric scraps and embroidery flosses!
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!
But stay tuned, as there are more of these 3" blocks coming down the road!
....... if it hasn't got a label yet? It's been put to one side whilst we debate the name and the wording for the label, but essentially it's finished!
It's 60" square - lovely for wrapping up in, not quite the right shape for a bed - which is a nice size for me to quilt.