I'm Back!!

Hi there everybody. Did you wonder where I was? Probably not but I can dream!!

There were 2 causes of me being away so long.

The first was that we lost our internet connection. We eventually found out that the router had had it - so we had to get another.

Secondly in the middle of the internet business we moved house. We had been trying to sell for 2 years (with DH commuting aroiund 3 hours every day!) but eventually secured a part-exchange on a new build. It's not our first choice of home (we prefer old with character) but it got us moved in time for DD to start primary school in September.

The bonus is that I'm allowed the smallest bedroom for my sewing - yeah - no more dining room table for me (well I actually do need to buy a table and some shelves for it first!!)

I do fancy seeing if I can sell some items at the local Farmers' Market - so what sore ofthings do you think I should focus on making?

And I've already signed up for 2 swaps!!

SewConnected3 - May

The May month of SewConnected3 was again another double month.

SunnyNole decided upon a bird theme, and sent everybody a selection of fabrics she's been collecting for a while. My pack contained a couple of really cute owl fabrics.

I struggled a bit on making the block big enough from what was sent, but luckily some scraps I had left over from Sew-do-I's blocks co-ordinated nicely.

Can you see who I added to compliment the main owl?

Once that was finished I moved on to my block for Quayandco.

We were sent a selection of 2 1/2" strips in browns, creams and reds to make into a scrappy log cabin block.

I found this pretty easy and even had just (and I mean down to the last mm!!) enough fabric to make a second block.

Craft Clearout

Sorry I haven't been on much lately - I have been busy with bits and pieces (some will be blogged about in the next few days) - but after 2 years of trying we have managed to find a buyer for our house!! Well not technically a buyer - as we're part exchanging it for a new build.

As I've been sorting and packing up the house I've come upon a pile of craft magazines - mostly Patchwork and Quilting ones but they do include 3 issues of Sew Hip! - and I've put them on Ebay.

You should easily guess my user ID !!

Twin Delights

A friend asked if I'd make a couple of patchwork quilts (plus matching pillowcases) for her twin boys as they were moving house and having a new room.

She showed me a design of one she liked - so off I went.

I used a selection of basic plain cottons purchased from Doughty's (fab service by the way) on the front, and a Bunny Hill Design flannel on the back (Beary Boys & Girls Blue Dots).

The squares are 8" square, and although I used the same fabrics for both - the "patterns" are different. I'm still not confident enough for the squares to be placed totally randomly so if you look you will see that the sequences is repeated across the quilts.

I couldn't decide on how to quilt them, and as I can't do fancy stippling, knew it had to be something simple!! Up to the last minute I was just going to quilt in the ditch, but remembering the original design featured diamonds, went for cross-square stitching.

Worried how straight my lines would turn out to be, I used one of the programmed decorative stitches on my machine - a squiggle - and I'm so glad that I did.

I love the result - and more importantly - so does she.

Birthday Gifts

DD was invited to the birthday party of a boy friend at pre-school.

I found out from his mum that he's currently interested in space and rockets and as chance would have it, I had some suitable fabric left over from another project.

I added some sashing to tie the pieces together, and backed it with a co-ordinating colour fleece so that's it's light enough to use as a summer coverlet.

Feedback is that he loves it. Happy Birthday C.

The second birthday (and partial farewell) gift was another of my Heart Hangings based on TallGrassPrairieStudio 's tutorial for a local friend.

This time the recipient, Mrs D, has blue as her favourite colour. So I combined this with a few more bright, vibrant colours as they suit her personality.

On the back I used the colours in a stripe pattern.

There will be another few of these made in the coming weeks - who will be the lucky new owners??

You'll have to wait and see.

Doll Quilt Swap 6 - Revealed

The deadline for DQS6 was fast approaching, and although I'd had an idea in my head from the beginning, technically I didn't think I was up to it, so at the last minute I changed my mind - and I'm glad I did!!

My swap partner was ATiny House. Looking through her blog and pictures on Flickr, I decided I wanted to make the quilt for her son's new bedroom.

I used squares of some alphabet fabric I had to spell out EAMON (his name), and make I-Spy blocks in boyish designs all outlined in bold primary colours.

I used the Robot fabric I was originally going to use as backing for my preliminary idea, and used polka dot binding.

I added a label embroidered on my new posh machine, and quilted in squares around the blocks.

It reached America in under a week, and was well received by an excited little boy.

DQS6 was a round robin swap - so who I was making for wasn't the person making for me.

I has said that I'd like it made for DD, and we were both pleased when it arrived from *~Uplifting Arts~* in Seattle the other day!!

It is made from tiny (1cm) squares - and is a real work of art. It's bordered and backed with a lovely terracotta coloured butterfly print fabric.

Thank you Leah (great name!!)

SewConnected3 - April

Here's what I made for SewConnected3 in April.

It was Sew~Amy's turn to send out the fabric.

She sent us fabrics in white, black and reds with the emphasis being ANTS as she wanted us to make blocks for a picnic quilt.

I'm so novice at this patchwork business that I thought it was a specific design - but it turned out that it's a quilt that she'll take on picnics/outings to sit on. How daft did I feel?? Very!!

In the fabric bundle she sent was a piece with an embroidered ant on - so I decided to make him the centre of my block. I then cut out 60 triangles from the other fabrics and made them into this ...

As I had some fabric left I decided to make 4 small square blocks with the feature fabrics at their centre, and outlined in the opposite colour fern fabric. All outlined in white.

They are now winging their way to America - and I hope Amy likes them.