And now for something completely different!

Sometimes it's fun to go 'off piste' and make a few fun objects.

I spotted this fabric that I thought my great-neice would like, and decided to make a few bits that she could include for home schooling it she wanted to.

I know that she won't really need a shoe bag....

.....and that she'll already own more than one pencil case case......

.....and that she probably doesn't feel the need to carry her own tissues on her daily walk.....

.....but I'm sure that a covered ring binder is just what she needs!

All made for my pleasure, but I'm hoping that they bring her some too!

Back to my other projects now!

Continuing.....

Clearly making one of these wasn't enough, nor two! I'm just about to decide on my colours for number five, having completed number four last night.
 

I am enjoying them still!  Of course, the fact that the weather has encouraged me to sit and sew in front of the TV is probably a factor in this too!

Not Entirely Seasonal!

 
I've been spending my hand stitching time making this cute little Christmas tree decoration!

Having seen one on Instagram, I looked up the pattern (an Etsy download from mmmcrafts that can be found here), ordered some supplies (turns out that I didn't have the right felt, pipe cleaners, beads, stabiliser or sequins - but that I was OK for thread, seed beads, ribbon, stuffing, Sakura pens and Sharpies) and set off on my making journey.

Clear instructions with the pattern were great, and mostly I followed them (!).

 Of course, one isn't going to be enough, so I've started a second one in less traditional colours!  Here is an idea of the number of parts in each figure.

Hope that you have having fun sewing or crafting too!

Working on a Quilt Top

I was given some fabric packs for my birthday (thank you, Nicky!) and chose this project ages ago, but hadn't got very far with it.

It's a pattern by FatQuarterShop.com called Layer Cake Crumble and you can find it here.

You start by pairing fabrics and sewing down the left and right hand sides before cutting them into nine sections.

My squares were 9", so I cut them at 

3.5" + 2" + 3.5" in each direction.

Then you open up the sewn sections, spin the middle side ones around, and sort out the narrow strips too.

When you sew them, you make one extended 15 patch and one narrow 3 patch strip.

I used 30 fabrics to make these 15 blocks and 15 strips.

You then lay them out switching which end the narrow strips are placed so that the larger blocks are off set.
 

This is as far as I've got - but the layout can't be on the floor for long, as my sewing room is still being a more shared space, with schooling and other things going on in here too!

Festive Wishes!

 The tree and decorations are up, the presents are (fabric) wrapped, the shopping for the festive feasting has been done...... so even though my heart is heavy, as we won't be spending Christmas with our usual extended family, I'm putting my chin up, setting my shoulders back, and planning to do everything that I can to ensure that my immediate family have the best Christmas that they can in these unusual circumstances.

Festive wishes to you, one and all.  I hope that you are all able to find some holiday happiness to enjoy and that you are able to appreciate even the smallest things that raise a smile for you or someone else.

A Quilt Finish

 

Finished!  Delectable mountains blocks set in a 'reflecting' pattern (although I have nine rows - all I could squeeze out of my green fabrics - so I have an extra row on the bottom of the quilt.

It's been through the washer and dryer, so it's lovely and scrumply - although I would usually have taken it out just a little earlier to get a flatter fold!

The backing was a vintage bed linen gift from Kate, who this quilt is destined for.  It's from a range which I think was called 'Down by the River'.

I used the rest of it to make an oversized tote to store the quilt in.  Curiously satisfying! 

The rest of my sewing has been making fabric bags for Chrirstmas wrapping.  Whilst I have enough for our family gifts, I find that I am making extras for my daughters to use for their presents for friends, and for extra birthday presents that need particular sizes!  All good fun, working with fabric and stitch is always going to make me happy!

Nice Nisse!

I had a lovely early Christmas present from Benta - a Nisse kit!  Impossible to tell from this photo, but she'd stitched out the limbs and everything else that was needed, just ready for trimming, stuffing and assembling.  

A fun project for the start of December!

Hard to see the patterns on the limbs - but they are in a lovely grey / cream patterned fabric.

Here they are stitched and ready for the final assembly.

 After just a little sewing (a mixture of machine and hand sewing in my case), I have a fun Nisse to sit on the shelf.

A lovely start to our Christmas decorating, and a brilliant present.

Thank you, Benta!

Work in Progress

 I managed to delete the photos that I'd taken of this changing from a set of blocks to a quilt top (doh!) - but do have this one of the quilt top being basted on my living room floor!

I had hoped to start quilting it, but I've been busy with other things instead, so it remains basted but otherwise untouched for another week.  Sometimes life just happens, doesn't it?

Bucket List (not really, more a list of buckets!)

 

It's been a while since I've made any of these fabric buckets, but it just seemed to be time to refresh my skills in making them again!

Tailored to the recipients (I hope!).  I think that they make excellent resting places for projects.

Longer for knitting needles, shorter for crochet hooks.

Hand dyes, overall prints, final pieces of novelty prints - they are all put to good use.

Deeper for holding cosmetics or undies when we are once again allowed to travel more easily.

I've had good fun making them, and I hope that they are enjoyed by the people receiving them!

Looking Ahead

When the link for '7 Small Quilting Projects' dropped into my inbox, I went over to Quilting Arts and took a look.  Their examples are beautiful  - multi coloured and bejewelled.

The idea tickled my fancy.  A small casket or holder that would be just perfect for making a change to the usual wallet that Christmas cash presents might be gifted in.

I confess, mine hasn't got much in the way of quilting or indeed decoration on it.  I've let the Christmas fabric do the talking for me!

One was never going to be enough, though.  These five were knocked up in very little time.  They are really quite cute!  I think that I'd like to enlarge the pattern and make a bigger version too.  They are fun!
 

Something New

You know what it's like when you want to start a new project, but you don't really want to think too hard about it?

That's what happened to me!

The answer?  To look at my list of quilts that I'd like to make someday (it lives just behind my computer, handily enough!), grab the nearest pile of fabric, and start cutting!

The green fabrics were still out, after the wall hangings.

I've teamed them with a pale grey and started making Mountain blocks, using the method that Bonnie Hunter shows here.

It won't be the scrappiest quilt, but even with the first few blocks made I was wondering what layout I was going going to use!

Plenty of time to decide once I've made more blocks!

 

All Done!

This set of three quilt wall hangings have been occupying me for several weeks - but they are now in the mail to their intended home, so well and truly finished!

They are designed to be hung either as a block like this  - roughly 24" each way (not quite square - it was an evolving decision about how they could be presented!).

Or in a line like this - which is roughly the width of a standard double bed.

Gum leaves added (along with some machine made cord, as I didn't have anything in the right colour), hanging sleeves on, labelled and complete.

I hope that they bring a smile when they arrive!

Now I need to put away my green threads and decide what to make next.

 

By Gum!

Third hanging mainly finished!

I'm pleased with this - I confess to using a couple of gum tree images from the internet to help me get the essential form of a gum tree, then I just free styled the leafy areas.

Of course, whilst I was reviewing the hangings, I remembered that I'd thought that it would be nice to tie them together still further by adding fabric gum  leaves to them all.

I think that I've found a fabric that will work with all three hangings, so I've been making a set of gum leaves.  Paler fabric on the back - partly because in nature leaves are rarely the same colour front and back and partly because I only had one small scrap of the front fabric!  Just enough to make these but no more.

This weeks task will be to decide where and how to attach them, and to finally get to three completely finished hangings!

Two Down....

 

I've now completed two of the planned three wall hangings for my friends.

This is one of the small ones.  Simple hand applique with a quilted background.

Below is the larger central piece with this one alongside it.

Progress!

This week I want to start on my third, which will see a decent amount of thread sketching again.

I'm Pretty Sure.....

....that last week when I thought that I was almost done with this wall hanging that I believed it.

I'm also pretty sure that the right order is to complete the stitching on it before blocking and trimming it.

But is that what I did?  NO!  I blocked it.  I trimmed it.  I laid it down on the floor whilst I worked on something else - but it kept catching my eye.  The section of background was too dark, and the other trees weren't standing out against it.

What to do?  I threw caution to the wind and covered it in two directions with a paler thread and a decorative stitch.

Can you see the difference between to the two shots, one before, one after?  I'm pleased with the lightening up of the areas, I think.

Idea for using a decorative stitch like this gleaned from looking at some of Anne Kelly's work....

 Of course, I've now got more lumps and bumps to deal with.  It needs to be blocked again, and it will be with hope rather than expectation that I will actually able able to get it to lie flat once more.

Wish me luck!

Hardly Begun and Almost Finished

Two very different projects this week!

This is the start of a small hand stitched peice, with patterns based on a printed fabric that I liked.

I can't remember where I got this piece of silk from.  It's clearly the leavings of a dressmaker, but I'm not sure where I got it from, perhaps my late MiL.

It will grow slowly, just a few stitches each day.

 The other project is only similar in that it is stitched through wadding!  This is the back of it, showing the dense machine quilting - still to be finished, as it is a landscape that is only quilted as far as the horizon currently and it also needs some more thread sketching for additional details too.  I think that the biggest challenge will be blocking it at the finish to try and persuade it to lie flat!

Small Sewing Projects

 

In between making / helping to make the last four scrap quilts, there have been other small projects going on.

I used this fun fabric (thanks, Kate!) showing Sydney Harbour scenes to make a quilted holder for a recently purchased nail filer gadget.

Pockets tailored to the size of the items.

I made and decorated this notebook for Benta.

I made sandwich wraps for those 'back to school' packed lunches.

Failed to find my iron on fusible waterproofing, so they are made with a loose layer of PVC, only caught to the fabric where the hem is.  We'll see how they last.

Lastly, I made a few more of these - different elastic styles to the preference of each of my daughters!

There is never any reason to be bored when you have plenty of fabric, thread and a needle!

Last one of this series!

Final scrap quilt made with Georgie's FabWrap scraps!

This is one of my favourites!  I think that the mix of colours makes it more interesting than the other two that were made with these type of blocks.

Something to think about next time Georgie has sufficient scraps to make a batch of blocks.

The binding was an experiment, using some black and white zig zag.  I think that its fine for a scrap quilt, where it's OK for the binding to look scrappy, were there are different parts of the zig zag on show.  I wouldn't use it on a more regular quilt, though.

I do love the mix of fabrics in these scrap quilts!

Backed with another length of colourful zig zag, it finishes at 46" x 40".

Another finish, ready for donation.