Challenge 4 Art: Growth

____________________________

All growth depends upon activity. There 

is no development physically or intellectually 

without effort, and effort means work.  

Calvin Coolidge

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When the very clever and talented 'Ellie Q' of Color My World asked me to be a part of a small group who would create a mini quilt to a theme four times a year I jumped at the chance!   The idea of this challenge group was inspired by the girls of Four in Art Group who make amazing projects!  Challenge 4 Art, as our little group is called, consists of four fab people: Ellie Q/Lisa of Color My World, Claudia of Machen und Tun [who I met at Fat Quarterly Retreat last year where she taught me how to make a zippy pouch], Susannah from fiberchick - and me!!

Our first theme was 'GROWTH' and I thought of all sorts of things that I could make that represented growth but I also wanted to show my 'growth' as a patchworker/quilter. How would I show that?  Through paper piecing of course!

[Amy's] Crafty Shenanigans

My original plans for my mini quilt definitely 'grew' and evolved as I sewed it.  Originally I wanted to have three rows of three sprouts but I broke away from the group 'rules' of a 24" maximum mini and made a long skinny rectangular mini.  I'm the naughty one in the group!   The dimensions are 34.25" long x 7.75" wide.
[Edit:  the rules were for a maximum perimeter of 100"]

[Amy's] Crafty Shenanigans

A year ago I had never even heard of paper piecing and my first few attempts at following a paper pieced pattern had me in tears, literally!  Fast forward to me today and I am a paper piecing pattern tester, I am in two Block of the Month programs all to do with paper piecing and I now LOVE making paper pieced things!  I think it is fair to say that I have learned a new skill -- I have grown - and shown GROWTH - as a crafter.

Ikea fabric for backing of the wall hanging

I used several different white on whites to create the background.  I wish I had used white wadding instead of the natural because you can see the natural behind the white.  My scrap bins overfloweth so I used lots of different greens (I would say it is one of my favourite colours) for the sprouts and stems.  A piece of Kaffe Fassett Aboriginal dots was used for the binding.   I am practising my quilting and did some dense organic straight lines (aka wonky straight lines) which is my new favourite quilting design.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I interpreted 'growth'.  I love my new paper pieced skinny-mini!  Be sure to visit the other girls over the next day or so to see what they have created for the same theme! 

Happy sewing!!

Linking to Paper Piecing Party at Quiet Play!

A Lovely Year of Finishes... MAY

May.  I love May.  Maybe this is because it is my birthday month or because spring is in the air and new-ness is happening all around?  Fresh starts, lush greens, happy flowers....  I love May.

I also love that I finally decided what to make out of my little 'whimsy bird with wonky flying geese' that I stitched a long time ago.  I have a friend from work who needs a little cheering up plus it is her 40th Birthday on Saturday so this gave me the idea that I could make her a little zippy pouch to hold a gift card to her favourite store.

Pale blue linen - yum!

I hope she likes it!  I love the bright pink zipper in contrast with the icy pale blue linen.  For some reason I really struggled with the zipper this time and must admit it is not my best work.  But hey - it zips open and it zips closed so that is enough 'perfection' for me!  Here is the back - I did some free motion flowers using four different colours of Aurifil thread.  I think I love the back as much as the front!  Quite whimsical and feminine I think.

The back - free motion flowers to brighten her day!

So there you have it - I made a zippy pouch with some happy flowers and a happy soaring bird flying high above the mountains. Yay!

And yay again - a completed 'Lovely Year of Finishes' project :)  Here is my original goal setting post.
I MISSED THE LINK UP!!  Boo to me for being silly thinking I could link up on the 1st of June.  Oh well.  But good news - this is one of my seven 2nd Quarter Goals with She Can Quilt.

Here it is again to show you the size.

Sunday Stash (on a Wednesday)

Linking up to Sunday Stash #64 over at Finding Fifth!  Link up link up - you will make her heart sing!!

Here is a fq stack of Heather Bailey 'Fresh Cuts' given to me A YEAR AGO from my sister and Nana.  I have purchased several Kona solids to add to it to make a bigger quilt.  I hope to make the quilt in the printout shown.  I don't know whose pattern that is but it would look lovely with these fabrics, no?  Or maybe I should do 'Spools' by Camille Roskelly?  That is a nice pattern too.  Anyone notice that pink is finding its way into quite a few of my projects lately?  Just sayin'.

Happy hoarding sewing!

One of my favourite places...

... is The Village Haberdashery.  Fabric, zippers, thread, wool - Annie's shop has it all and this includes a huge variety of fabulous classes!

Picture source: Village Haberdashery

I attended the Modern Quilting Sampler class with Katy Jones (aka I'm a Ginger Monkey) and had so much fun!  I chose a multicoloured Jay McCarrol's Centre city fabric and paired it with some dark grey Kona for my triangles.  Half square triangles give you THOUSANDS [ok, this may be a slight exaggeration] of possibilities for different layouts.  I must say I spent HOURS playing deciding on which way to sew my blocks.  Here are just a few of my possible layouts:

After a few sketches of how I envisioned my HST blocks to look as a quilt, I went for a + style quilt.  But once I laid it out I just wasn't convinced.  So I went with Plan B, then Plan C and then a few Twitter pics later, I decided to put it away for the night.

With fresh eyes I went back to my sketches and decided that I needed to go with one of my original ideas.  I managed to sew these two borders onto the sides on Sunday.  I am still waiting for more inspiration to strike on how to make it bigger - another plain border?  Another border but of small squares?  Or plus signs like on the Marcelle Medallion quilt?  Decisions decisions!!

My newest WiP - I need to make it bigger! 

I will be showing my newest WiP to the gang at the London Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Sunday and no doubt I will have an ear full from Pennie about changing my layout from the + to this but I am ready to give her a bucket load of excuses reasons why I changed it!!!!  Go easy on me Pennie :)

The size at the moment is 43" x 43" which looks nice hung on my living room wall but I don't need a wall hanging.  I am aiming for a nice throw-size quilt.  Suggestions on a postcard please [or in the comments section!] what you would do to make it bigger. 

Thank you to Annie and to Katy for a great class!
Linking to WiP Wednesday.

Weekend catchup - Heather Ross hexies and Book Project

What a weekend!  On Saturday I spent the day in a class with Katy (I'm a Ginger Monkey) who was teaching us HST's.  I managed to get all my squares cut into triangles and then sewn into HST's....all 96 of them!  Only half of them are pressed open and about a quarter of them are trimmed down.  Needless to say, I have some homework to do!!  I will reveal them next week.

This weekend I finished my Sew Sew Modern 2 swap item - an English paper Pieced hexagon Heather Ross pillow/cushion.

I am thinking I never have to do EPP again - wayyyyy too time consuming!!!   The effect is good though and I quite like the way it turned out.  I'm pretty sure my secret partner likes it too!

I added a piece of twill ribbon on the side like a tag.  It says 'Laugh often' on the front and 'Live long' on the back.  I just wanted to add a little extra touch to the cushion and since I don't have my own 'tags', the ribbon did the job!

I will upload a picture of the parcel that I sent to my partner to my Flickr stream once she receives it.  I made her another item that would give away who my partner is - so stay tuned for that!!

On Sunday I made a half apron.  I followed the Patchwork Please pattern [gee I love Zakka].  This is my May Book Challenge project and I will be linking up over at Heart of Charnwood.  And the best news is that I made it for my secret partner in the FLIRTS 2 Swap.

I need to get a picture with a thin person wearing it but here it is flat on the table:

 

I tried to make it as kitch as I could but I didn't really have any retro fabrics.  I think I will need to remedy that soon!!  (any excuse for shopping!!)

And phew, Monday night is almost over and I just finished some birthday baking for the gals in the office tomorrow.  Another busy night is planned - just how I like it!
[Edit: my birthday was fab so thank you for my birthday wishes]

Linked to Finish it Friday and Hexie Friday!

It's For the Birds giveaway WINNER

My apologies that I am late in announcing who the winner is for my 'It's For the Birds' blog hop draw. 

Congratulations goes to SASHA.  I will email you shortly for a snail mail address!

Sasha said...

I follow through bloglovin!

10 May 2013 05:42 

Thank you to everyone who visited me during the blog hop!  Oh how I love birds!!! Hope you all have a great Sunday!

Also, a big thank you to Alie of Alie Makes who drew my name in her recent draw.  I can't wait to make the cute mug rug and pick the fabrics from Sew Me a Song!!  How exciting!!  I had a shock when Amy from During Quiet Time emailed me to say I had won her giveaway!  I have recovered from that shock and am now excitedly waiting for the yummy fabric to arrive!!!  And check this out - Jennifer from Eat. Craft. Sow. in Australia sent me this Samsung Phone wallet with wrist strap.  It is the perfect size for my phone plus a pack of gum and a tissue!  She also sent some happy crochet flower bunting!  Thank you so much!!

Thank you Eat Craft Sow!

Ok then - I am off to do my homework (overdue bee blocks) and to cut the grass and feed the birds!   Happy sewing!

  

Divided....

Yes, I am in another swap.  This one is the Fabric Basket Swap.  Here is what I made for my secret partner:

Front and back with a bit of a fluke fussy cutting!!

Yes, I made a Divided Basket from the awesome Noodlehead pattern.  If you buy one pattern this year, make it this one!  Brilliant pattern and all the while I was sewing it, I kept wondering how she can be so clever to come up with the method to sew this!!  I am in awe of her!

Anyways, back to the Fabric Basket Swap.  My partner wanted a "happy, lovely, flower, romantic basket".  Do you think this fabric fits that brief?  Hope so.  Pink isn't normally my thing but I've been making lots of things with pink recently (for other people I may add!).  Weird but somewhat satisfying at the same time!    

 

I love making baskets and buckets.  Here are just a few I have made in the past:

A Cuppa and a Catch Up Nesting Bowls

Bucket pattern from 1/4" Mark

Basket pattern from Pink Penguin

A Cuppa and a Catch Up pattern

Hopefully my partner likes her floral basket so I can get it into the post!  If she doesn't, I have more fabric that I can make a another one.

Gone in three...

No words necessary...  except maybe the word YUM...

Caramel macroons were my absolute favourite.  This shop is a definite MUST SEE when in Paris. Oh and if you go there, bring me a macroon back, will you?  Cheers! 

Giveaway Day winner announced!

Thank you everyone for your fantastic comments about what you do with your scraps!  I will eventually get through my pile of scraps so thank you for more inspiration!  A scrap vomit quilt (aka Postage Stamp quilt) is already on my to-do list!!  I also want to give you all a HUGE thank you for entering my Giveaway Day giveaway! 

Don't forget to enter my other giveaway HERE too and see my 'It's for the Birds' blog hop project.  That giveaway ends on 16th May and is of course open internationally.  I am celebrating my birthday month so join me in the fun!

So, who won who won??  Congratulations to Joanne who said:

joanne has left a new comment on your post "Giveaway Day - May 6th":

Great giveaway!  I save my small scraps for paper piecing , 

medium scraps get chopped into 2.5" squares for a future (God knowns 
when!!) Scrap Vomit and larger bits get stuffed in a drawer 
to be used in random projects!

Joanne I hope you enjoy the fabrics - happy sewing!!  I will email you soon for your snail mail address!

It's for the Birds + giveaway

[Looking for my Giveaway Day giveaway?  Press here and enter.  Draw closes Friday midnight UK time.  Today's giveaway is at the bottom of this post.] DRAW CLOSED

When I saw that Mdm Samm was having a blog hop called 'It's for the Birds', I had to join!!  Thank you to Mdm Samm and our cheerleader Mary from I Piece 2 Mary for being our feathery friends, coordinators and cheerleaders all in one!

My favourite birds are the quirky and cute ones as you will see from what I made.  Here are the other 'chicks' participating today:

Friday, May 10

http://ssparrowinflight.blogspot.com
http://Hillvalleyquilter.blogspot.se
http://mcsqrd.blogspot.com
http://loveitsewit.blogspot.com
http://piecepeacenc.blogspot.com
http://grammieq.blogspot.com
http://meadowbrook-Kristen.blogspot.com
http://scrapbook-ChickADoodle.blogspot.com
www.craftyshenanigans.blogspot.co.uk
http://Stitchingbythebeach.blogspot.com
www.thebusybeequiltshop.blogspot.com
http://morestarsincomanche.blogspot.com
http://lesquilts.blogspot.ca
http://suebeesworld.blogspot.com
http://mtnmommy2.blogspot.com
www.thatlookslikeitneedsstitches.blogspot.com
http://www.freshcutquilts.com

Before I show you what I have created for the hop today, here are just a few projects I have created in the past with some feathery friends:

I love making birds and projects with birds on them - they are just so quirky and cute!  What have I made for today's blog hop?  Another quirky bird of course!  This one is three-dimensional and wobbles!  

I adore birds as you may already know and I have only shown you a few of my creations in the mosaic! The pattern for this 3-dimensional bird can be found here and I highly recommend it as it was so easy to sew together.

For his legs, I used pipe cleaners and just cut as much of the fuzz off as I could.  As soon as I find the right thickness of wire, I will make more of these little birds!  For his body, I used an upholstery fabric sample from John Lewis that I had in my stash and the frayed edges add to the quirkiness and character of the little bird!  I used beads for his eyes.

I hope you enjoyed your visit here today!  I am also having a giveaway!  Up for grabs is a piece of my very own handprinted fabric on Kona, Coats thread, a fabric tape measure, three marble-y fq's and some British candy!  Why such a crazy selection of things?  Well because I am a quirky 'bird' of course!  

It's For the Birds giveaway - a little bit of a 'warm' selection!

To enter, please leave any comment on this post.  Winner will be drawn on the 16th of May by RNG or similar and contacted by email so be sure that I can reach you!  Feel free to follow me by Bloglovin' for a second chance!  Open worldwide!

Happy chirping flying hopping!

Giveaway Day - May 6th

Welcome to GIVEAWAY day!  

[GIVEAWAY CLOSED]

Let's celebrate my birthday month!!  Giveaway Day, hosted by Sew Mama Sew, is now a 5 day event with hundreds of blogs giving away either handmade items or supplies in several different categories.  

This is my 3rd or 4th time participating and I love it!  I love finding new blogs to follow and love having the opportunity to win something!

So, up for grabs is a piece of Ikea number print [approximately 36" x 29"] and three Moda fat quarters - one  'Marbles', one 'Essential Dots' and one 'Kate Spain Terrain'.  These fours fabrics still have their selvages on which I love - hope you do too!

  

Also, on May 10th, I am having another giveaway to celebrate my stop on the "It's for the Birds" blog hop (and my birthday month) - so DO come back and see what I have made and enter my next giveaway!!  

Today's giveaway 'small print':

• My Giveaway Day giveaway is open worldwide!  
• Giveaway closes May 10th 2013 and I will email the winner by May 12th 2013.
• For one entry, submit a comment on this post telling me what you make with fabric scraps!
• For a second entry, follow my blog with Bloglovin' [see the Bloglovin' link near the top at the right hand side]! 

Good luck on my giveaway and happy giveaway entering/blog hopping!

P.S. I apologise in advance that I will not be able to reply to any comments as I will be travelling during this hop and will be without Internet.  I truly appreciate your comments and hope you come back again soon!

A Lovely May Finish - goal setting

Ok, what shall I finish in May?

I am going to try to finish the Whimsical Bird with wonky flying geese that I made on a whim ages and ages ago.  It is in the style of Syko Kajsa - one of my favourite textile people!

What should it become - a basket, a pouch, a mini quilt, an Ipad or Kindle cover?

Stay tuned to find out!
Linking to Fiber of All Sorts 

Giveaway Day - May 6th

I am participating in Giveaway Day - are you??



Be sure to come back and enter!

April - month in review

April showers bring May flowers -- so true!  I have tulips, pansies and daffodils growing happily in my garden, along with some stubborn but happy dandelions and other 'pretty' weeds.  I have planted a salad mix, parsnips, rhubarb, a tomato plant and have two types of chives growing.  The potatoes will be planted next week I think and I will also plant the carrots, green beans ad beetroot.  This time last year we had a hosepipe ban then it rained every single day for 4 months so I wonder what this year will bring?!!

So?  What did I grow sew in my sewing room in April?  Here is a mosaic of the shenanigans that I got up to:

My favourite blocks were my wonky churn dash blocks:

I LOVED making the tea wallets (Displacement Activity pattern):

And I can't believe I made a shirt that I can actually wear!

I am behind in sewing Bee blocks for two people (sorry guys) but I promise to catch up once I am back from my holiday.  May is a SUPER busy month for me with work, sewing projects (paid ones!!), bees, blog hops, swaps and giveaways so with luck I will get some things completed!

Hope you had a great April - here is to a fun (and busy) May!

Linking to: