Out of time!

 I had hoped to have this quilt finished and ready to show to you by now - but time was against me!

Family tech issues with phones mean that I haven't even got the interim photos to share with you at the moment - never mind!

And, I have to confess, that I've made a bit of a hash of the quilt backing, which is why this quilt is now only partly quilted!

Quite how I have managed to add insert strips in both directions, only to find that neither direction had allowed me quite enough room for the quilt top that I had made, baffles me.  And why I persisted in thinking that it would all be right once I'd actually basted it, I really don't understand.

I shall blame it on being a bit tired.  Sometimes life outside of quilting gets in the way of leaving time or energy for sewing!

It's going to do that for the next couple of weeks too, so don't expect to hear from me (nothing sinister - only a lovely holiday that I'm looking forward to, and then some time to catch up with myself after that!). 

Still, at least I'll have a work in progress to come back to and delight in working towards a finish on!

Using ALL the scraps!

Leave no scrap unused!

The offcuts and mini half square triangles that are the inevitable result of some methods of making are always such fun to play with!

These are the result of the 100 block sampler that I've been making - and a great distraction from actually putting that together!

They fell reasonably well into three groups, based on their size.  And yes, I decided to use them even when I could see 'errors' with the layouts!

I make columns with each size to see what happened, and with just one block having a small border added to it (second one up on the right hand side) they were pretty even in length.

Sewn together with a simple sashing added, also from my blue scraps pile.

Shown here ready for quilting.

And here is the finished item.  Simple meander quilting, binding in the same fabric as the sashing.

The backing made from two more scrap pieces joined together - and different scraps for the corner hanging pockets.  Love those giraffes!

Despite making hanging corners, though, I think that this side table might be its new home - plenty of other blues in my living room for it to sing to, and this will help the table not to get scratched, which is something that has happened recently. A win all round!

Now just a small pile of scraps left from this and the last couple of projects, which need to be cut into my 'standard' sizes and added back into my scrap drawers.
 

Something very different!

Ok, ok, it's still using some of the same blues that you've been used to seeing over the last few weeks and months, but the pink and orange really make it sing!

Ten days ago I took a workshop with my Miniature Quilt Group (part of the Quilters Guild) and we made this 12" square wall hanging.

Isn't it fun?

It was run by Abbieanne, who as well as teaching also has a shop - you can see her details here.

She helped us to design the block, talked through the method of creating it, and encouraged us along the way.  Always a great way to spend a day!

This is the back, showing the tiny blanket stitch that I used to hold down all the applique pieces.  After this I finished it with the black binding that you can see above, and a hanging sleeve.  It hasn't made it to the wall yet, but it will do soon!
 

Hurrah! The Last Blocks!

 I do believe that I've made all 100 blocks now!  There is a slight element of doubt, however, as I was bobbing about the book, and I think (hope?) that I might have made a mistake in my record keeping somewhere, as when I finished what I think is the last block of the 100, actually only got me to number 99 on my pencil note underneath the title!

I'm really hoping that somewhere along the way I made a mistake and wrote a number twice!

I will find out later when I lay the blocks out in a 10 x 10 grid whether or not I've hit the right number!