Challenge for Art: BLUE

The first challenge many many months ago in the "Challenge 4 Art" group was the word 'growth'.  I created a long thin paper pieced sprout wall hanging.  This showed my 'growth' in sewing skills (a year prior to making it, I had not even heard of paper piecing before and then when I finally did try it, I cried)!!  Growth for me, was to learn new skills in my sewing and growth also literally meant things that grow. 

The next challenge:

Our second "Challenge 4 Art" project, the word to interpret was 'BLUE'.  The first thing that came to my mind when the word 'blue' was suggested was 'depression' and the thought of having a 'blue day'.

I often 'feel blue' but I am lucky to have a supportive family who love me.  Even though they may live some 5,538 kilometres away, they share their love, concern, worry and advice from afar and it gets me through a tough day!  If I am feeling low, I often just say 'I am feeling a bit blue'.

I used 100% blue scraps from my scrap bucket but I chose mostly plaids as they are one of my favourite things.  My organic straight line quilting was done in the white section with two lines in the blue to give a variance of texture and I am really pleased how it turned out.  "I am BLUE" measures 17" x 10" and is bound with Neptune - one of my favourite dark navy prints.  Once I hang this mini art quilt up I know that I will smile when I read it because though "I am BLUE", I am also so many other things too!

Be sure to check out how the other members of "Challenge 4 Art" group [Claudia of Machen & Tun, Ellie Q of Color My Word and Susannah of Fiberchick] interpreted the word "BLUE" too!

And by the way, I am not feeling blue today :)  I am feeling bright green and happy-ish!!  How about you?

[Paper pieced letter pattern 'Just my Type' from Quiet Play]

August Month in Review

August was fun.  We actually had summer here in the UK!  Amazing, I know!  It sure feels like fall [aka autumn] now though - that cool night air wafting in through the window over me while as I was snuggled in my bed is a promise of cooler temperatures and that fresh smell of leaves in decay.  I love fall!

What shenanigans did I get up to in August?

My favourite thing from the month has to be the feather block!  I could look at that all day!  Not sure what to make from it though - any suggestions?

I hope you had a good month! 

Linking to Fresh Sewing Day 
 

Trillium Cushion

tril·li·um

[tril-ee-uhm]  

noun

any of several plants belonging to the genus Trillium,  of the lily family, having a whorl of three leaves from the centre of which rises a solitary, three-petalled flower.

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The Forest Quilt-Along has produced some AMAZING (and free) paper pieced blocks!  I have so far stitched two of my favourites - the Feather block by Joanna/Shape Moth and the Trillium block by Teri/Craktpot.  I still want to make the woodpecker, the snail on the flowers and Aspen grove.  For my feathers, I used some of my green scraps - the itty-bitty ones I have saved for ages!  Ha - I knew they would come in handy one day!  I have not made this block into anything yet - I am waiting for some inspiration!  Oh how I love green...

As I am Canadian, I couldn't resist making the gorgeous trillium flower block.  When I was a kid, we would take walks in the local forest/woods and spotting a trillium was a very special occasion.  I recall that in school we were always taught NOT TO PICK THEM.  They are our provincial flower and come in a variety of colours and shapes but the white one is the one I remember from my childhood.

Once I completed the block, I knew I wanted to make a cushion from it.  Look how nice it looks with my King Kong Wonky quilt!  

For the yellow centre I used two different shades of my precious Oakshott cottons and stitched some small french knots to give some texture.  I hand stitched the Oakshott green leaves with Aurifil 40 weight (my favourite) and gave the white petals some texture with free motion lines to echo the shape of the flower. 

Each tip of flower has an off-white fabric with tiny little white pin dots which ever-so-subtly contrasts with the white Architextures cross hatch fabric used for the flower.  I used green linen for the border and I tried a technique that I have wanted to try forever -- I added a flange!  I wanted a tiny border to separate the grey from the green linen and a flange seemed the best option and I am quite pleased with the effect.  Not too shabby for a first attempt, though the picture below makes it look all wonky!

I added a tag to the side to add a little extra detail.  The front of the cushion shows "hand made" and the back of that label says "with love".  I love adding these little ribbons!

So there you have it - my Forest QAL Trillium Cushion.  Linking up to the party over at Shape Moth.
Linking to TGIFF over at Pippa's Patch.

Busy-busy?

I had a four day weekend and what did I do?  I faffed mostly (a.k.a. procrastinated) but I did manage this block in a record 2 hours and 36 minutes (which includes tearing all the paper off and pressing it!!):

 

The pattern is by Kristy @ Quiet Play and is FREE on Craftsy until the end of August so get it quick!  I added a button for the handle instead of piecing it, made a flat edge on the side of the cupboard door and I even managed to add some selvages to make 'real' books... but they are upside down!!  Oops - still haven't got my head round that part of foundation piecing!

And speaking of Quiet Play, I was the lucky person who won the draw over at Pretty Bobbins for Kristy's Celebration patterns!  Yay - I LOVE all of her patterns and to win some is definitely a celebration!  Thank you Gemma and thank you Kristy!  Also, a huge thank you to Barbara of Won't To Be Quilter who sent me six fab fat quarters in June - thank you so much Barbara and I am sorry I forgot to share the news earlier!   

I also managed to make a Zakka Happy Hexie Trivet too - but somehow missed a row of triangles!  I used two layers of wadding PLUS a layer of Insulbright so the 5 layers in total gives it some great body!

Well, the weekend is nearly over - hope you faffed to your hearts content this weekend and enjoy the week ahead!

Linking to WIP Wednesday

8 inches plus a fail or two

I grow some of my own veg in my garden.  This year I planted far too late and used last years soil.  Fail.  

However, I did manage an 8 inch green bean - YAY!  I wish I could have entered it into some contest somewhere but hey - time is precious and I am hungry!

My poor tomatoes did not turn red and have now split so are green-split-blah-ness.  Fail.  The chives are great, the rhubarb actually grew this year and the garlic-chive plants have flourished.  Success!  Today, once the rain stopped and the sun came out, I picked the beans and the peas - yum!  I usually grow three types of beans but this year I only planted dwarf green beans (non-climbers).  My favourite!

 
Where there is success there must be some failure too (in my case anyways!).  My biggest failure this summer were my poor poor parsnips.  I've not had any success growing them at this house.  I think I put them out too early, then we had too much cold, too much rain, not enough space, etc etc!  I think they gave up growing and became stunted so just didn't grow any further.  Oh dear.  Here are two I pulled today to see what state they were in:

As you can see, the parsnips are tiny, twisted and inedible.  Oh well.  Maybe I can plant some more for a winter harvest?  With fresh and lovely new soil in a bigger space?  Covered with a cloche?  Or maybe just buy them for a quid at the grocery store!!!??

In summary, here is the list of my Summer 2013 veg and their status:
Tomatoes: FAIL
Chives: SUCCESS
Garlic chives:  SUCCESS
Rhubarb:  SUCCESS
Carrots:  FAIL
Peas:  SUCCESS-ish
French Beans:  SUCCESS
Lettuces (pick and grow again variety):  SUCCESS
Beetroot/beets:  FAIL
Potatoes:  UNKNOWN

Fugly Fabric Party

Yup, it is that time of year again! 

I have a few fugly things I am offering for swap or if you don't have anything to swap, you can pay postage costs.  These are fabrics I know I will never use (received in various swaps) but someone might! 

Batik 2.5" charms - 47 of them. GONE

2.5" charm squares for scrap vomit quilt - 69 of them.

Several piles of crazy craft and sewing scraps from silly scrap swaps/stupid purchases off Ebay when I first started to quilt!!!   I have grouped these in to purple/pinks, blue/aquas, greens and orange/red/browns.  I even have a Moda Scrap bag there.  Let me know if you want some or all :)  They are of varying quality as well, just so you know, so they would be perfect for kids to have to play with!  GONE

Vintage sheeting - brown/yellow 22"x23", top pink 18"x22", lower left pink 22"x25", brown on right bottom 20"x19"  GONE

Please leave a comment below if there is anything you'd like from above.

[EDIT: some of you are no-reply bloggers!  If you haven't had an email from me it is because you don't have an email to reply to!  Check your settings!]

Linking to Charm About You Fugly Party.

Houses houses everywhere!

Yay more wonky houses and wonky trees have been added to my village!

Last Wednesday, I went to The Village Haberdashery to see Tula Pink (and cannot confirm or deny that fabric was purchased and cupcakes eaten...), and Amanda gave me two wonky trees for my neighbourhood!  Aren't they fab??

And then this happy leaning house with a lovely heart button door handle arrived from Gilly Makes.  I love this house!!!

Thank you to Helen/Indianna Dreams for sending me these two happy houses and two Christmas trees (I especially love the button roof):

And look what Spartan Babe/Annie Oak Designs has made me - a lovely bungalow and two houses for the street in my wonky village!!

Thank you everyone! And just to remind you that if you would like to sew and send me a house or tree (wonky of course) please do let me know so I can send you my snail mail address. I will be holding a draw for everyone who has sent me something.

Happy sewing!

TGIFF linky is OPEN

Thank Goodness it's FINISHED Friday! 

Thank you for stopping by today - I hope you have a finish to link up at the bottom of this post!  I have a finish to share with you today - yay!

Many of you know that a year ago or so I had no idea how to do foundation piecing.  I will admit that I even cried in a paper piecing class and ended up going away quite discouraged.  But, I am a stubborn ol' thing so I persevered and now I LOVE paper piecing!

Kristy of Quiet Play creates wonderful patterns and I am lucky to be able to test a few for her.  Her latest pattern is a crow and here is my version of it:

Sorry for the blurry picture - I tried to jazz it up with the grunge border to disguise the fact it is all fuzzy (I am having to use my phone to take pictures as my camera broke yesterday which was really rotten timing).  But, you must laugh at these trivialities, and laugh often right?

I love adding tabs to the sides of the cushions I make!  Laugh often seems appropriate on a cushion of a crow, don't you think??  I LOVE birds and even love the highly intelligent but super noisy crow who wakes me up each morning at daft o'clock!  For the back, I decided to tone it down a bit by using Kona Steel on and include a hidden zip.  

And look -- it even sort of co-ordinates with the fold over flap cushion I recently made.  Now it is you turn!  Link up your recent finishes.  Thanks for stopping by and thank you for letting me host TGIFF!

 

TGIFF is HERE on Friday!

Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday is being hosted by ME this Friday! Be sure to come back and link up your recent finishes! I look forward to seeing them! Happy sewing!

Wonky neighbours

Wonky neighbours - we ALL have them!  I have quite a few now, with thanks to the best blog followers a girl can have!  Check out the latest houses to pop up in my village, sent from Indonesia!!!

Thank you Deborah - these three houses are incredible! For the blue house with red roof she used a paper pieced pattern from www.forestquilting.com who has loads of free foundation paper piecing patterns.  I will be making some of those for sure!

And here is my village so far, made up of 14 trees and 15 houses and covers my 24"x36" cutting mat:

If you would like to build a house (or tree) to go in to my wonky community, please let me know and I will send you my snail mail address. Everyone who sends something in will be entered into a giveaway draw (and there will be more then one winner - I went to the Festival of Quilts two days ago and purchased a few prizes - just sayin').  Here is my original post with more information: Wanna help me make wonky?

Happy wonky sewing (wonky is the best!!)!!

Happy post (mail) and catch up

Happy post happy post!  I got happy post!!  In my head I am saying "you've got mail" - yippee - I love snail mail!  I have recently received lots of great squishy parcels from all over the place so I thought I had better do a catch-up! 

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I'm Feelin' Crafty was my secret partner in the Modernista Homemade Swap Round 4 (Spicing up the Bedroom) and she made me a pair of superbly sewn pillow cases.  The seams on the inside are impeccable!  She also sewed me a really cool fabric bowl and included a tape measure and a spool of hand dyed ric rak.  Thank you so much!  Great swap!!

Modernista Homemade Bedroom Swap - received (showing folded pillow cases)

In the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap on Flickr, my secret partner was sewwunderful.  We were sewing mug rugs this round and Lish used the same purple I used in my King King Wonky.  She stalked me really well because she also sent me some grape flavoured Jolly Ranchers, Life Savers and Kool Aid - yum!!  Lucky me!

Modern Scrappy Bits Swap - received

  
I'm a Ginger Monkey Katy sent me some delicious Aurifil from a draw she had in the Impromptu-Along.  Thank you me lovely ;)  You ROCK!  Oh and I may as well just show you a picture of me and Mr Aurifil again....

And maybe one of Katy and I too!!

And back in March I won Kelley's (of Casa Crafty) giveaway for a $30 gift certificate to Buzzmills on Etsy and I finally used my voucher last month!  I chose a custom-made shopping tote with a laminated bottom.  It arrived just before my holiday and is great - nice and big!  Sorry it is so wrinkly in this picture but there was sunshine and daylight so I went for it!  The picture shows the inside of the tote as well.  Both Jane and I learned a lot from the custom-order process on Etsy (and a few lessons in shipping and customs too!!).  Thank you Kelley and Jane, and especially for your patience Jane!

Tote made by Buzzmills

A month ago I received these gorgeous fabrics from Sew Me a Song.  I took practically two months to pick them from a giveaway on Alie Makes back in May!  I am so happy with my choices - some Flea Market Fancy I just couldn't be without and some yummy text fabric.  Lucky me!  Thank you Alie and Becca!!  Watch this space for a picture of what I make with the yummy text fabric on top!

Yummy fabric from Sew Me a Song courtesy of Alie Makes

Well, I think that catches me up on recent swaps and giveaways.  I'm busy sewing more swap items and gathering sweet treats for two more (I know, I am addicted to swaps)!  I can't wait to see what arrives next!!

Until then, happy sewing!!

July Month in Review

The end of July.  The seventh month of 2013 complete and now the eighth begins.  Shocked I am...  Wild how the time is evaporating!  I think the anticipation of Fat Quarterly Retreat made the month zoom by very quickly!!

 So what did I make in July?

I've been busy making things for swaps - QAYG Nesting Fabric bowls, a QAYG pillow,  tea pot and mouse pincushions, + mug rug and a Journal Clutch.  For myself I made a Bucket Bag in black and white with grey lining.  

My favourite 'make' had to be the Tea Pot Pincushion.  After three attempts and 2 hours of my life wasted on making just the itty bitty tea pot handle, I finally got the handle made and attached!  The rest was easy compared to that!  Fun to make though - and so was the Red Mouse pincushion!

 
August looks set to be busy as well!  I shall be making and posting some swap things to a variety of different countries, making bee blocks and working on my WiP list - and make a Christmas present or two :)  Here is my X and + glasses flexi-frame pouch made at FQR:

Hope you had a good month.  Happy sewing.

On my way to the 'land of the midnight sun'