QAYG

Don't you just love quilting?



Today is Remembrance Sunday.  I will be wearing a poppy and taking a moment of silence.

Halfway-Hustle

Fifty days ago I made a long list of all the things I hoped to get finished before the clocks strike midnight on December 31st.  I linked my list over at Kelsey Sews who is our 100 Day Hustle hostess.  I listed 25 projects - mostly works in progress plus a handful of 'wishful thinking/if I have time' sewing projects. 

Guess what?  I've managed to sew 7.5 [seven and a half] of the 25 projects listed!  Yay!  My target was one project every 4 days to stay on track which means I should have had 12.5 items completed at this halfway point, but alas, I only managed 7.5.  Oh well - I'm a little off schedule BUT during the past 50 days I have started and completed LOTS of OTHER things that aren't even on this list. [Update Nov 11th: half complete project now fully complete, therefore 8 items finished!]

Here is the list I linked up with the COMPLETED items highlighted in green, with a mosaic below showing those items:

1. Finish Mod Sampler quilt
2. Finish Vintage Holiday quilt
3. Finish Great Granny Squares quilt
4. Make Paramouthy Stitches Tote Bag for Di
5. Finish My Precious Amy Butler Happy Hour quilt  
6. Start and finish green Pervalong quilt
7. Finish Girl on a Swing embroidery (Aneela Hoey design)
8. Make a pillow out of Girl on a Swing embroidery
9. Complete Pretty Pleats Bag #2
10. Finish Wonky Log cabin quilt (blocks from efforts of two bee groups)
11. Make something with Polaroid blocks
12. Finish making paper pieced Union Jack pillow from FQ Retreat
13. Make more Union Jack blocks for Mr Crafty Shenanigans' quilt
14. Make feather Mug Rug for friend at work
15. Make a Open Wide zippy pouch for friend at work
16. Finish Wonky Stars lap quilt
17. Finish Arrows Quilt (efforts from a bee)
18. Make Star Block Bee quilt (efforts from a bee)
19. Make a frame coin purse for UR Priceless Blog Hop - HALF DONE! NOW COMPLETE (11 Nov)
20. Make Christmas decoration/ornament for secret partner in LMQG Swap
21. Make a wine gift bag
22. Make Christmas pot holders for pressie
23. Make a Kindle cover
24. Make a few Christmas gift wrap bags or drawstring bags
25. Make Christmas hanging dish towels

Ok - I'm off to finish another project!!  Happy sewing!



WiP QAYG

QAYG
There has to be a first time for everything and this, I believe, is my first time doing "quilt as you go".  I am following Maureen Cracknell's tutorial for 'qayg' for my Scrappy Stash log cabin quilt and my goal is to be able to link up a finished my 42-blocks by the deadline on the 13th!
A work in progress for sure...

And in other news, my set of Nesting Fabric Bowls (acuppaandacatchup pattern) are over on The Daily Stitch today - pop across and say hello!!  Here is one of Annie's photos:

Linking to Freshly Pieced WiP Wednesday.

Nesting

I've been busy nesting - but not THAT kind!

Last week I shared with you some gorgeous fabric.  This fabric is called Alchemy. 

TODAY you can see what I made from it!  Head on over to The Daily Stitch at The Village Haberdashery to see a bit more of this:

...and this...

Yum!

November 6th SEW SEASONAL Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to Day 6 of the SEW SEASONAL Blog Hop!  A big thank you to Kristy of Quiet Play and Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts for inviting me to be a part of the seasonal fun and for making the patterns available FREE to everyone during the hop! 

My partner today is the lovely and talented Charlotte from Lawson and Lotti so be sure to pop over and see what paper pieced project she has made!  The full list of participants for the entire hop is a little further down so keep scrolling!

I was assigned Block 8 of the ornamental baubles.  The pattern has sizing options for a 5" or 10" finished block so I decided to make the 5" block and make a pair of pot holders!  I love making pot holders -- they make great hostess gifts. 

The 5" pattern meant that I could make them using some of my many Christmas scraps and I love how they have turned out!  I added a 2" border to each side to make a bigger pot holder.  These can also be used as trivets when you want to put a hot dish on your dining table. 

Borders added to make them bigger. 

There are four layers to my hot pad/trivets - a pieced top, one layer of Insul-Bright heat resistant wadding, one layer of 80/20 wadding and a piece of backing fabric.   

Four layers: pieced top, InsulBright, wadding, back.

I tried some free-motion quilting on each of the pot holders.  I drew the holly shape on with a disappearing ink fabric marker and stitched over the marker lines.  It really stands out on the back.  I embroidered a 'hook' for the top of the bauble and did stitch in the ditch so there was some definition of the bauble on the back too.  Once squared, I added the binding (cut at 2.25" wide and machine stitched on).

I attached a piece of ribbon to the centre of each hot pad so that I could hang them from my utensil rack or from the handles on my cupboard doors.

And two more pictures showing the front and backs of the set.

And there you have it - a set of hot pads or trivets for some festive cheer in your kitchen.  A nice gift for a hostess or teacher perhaps.

_________________________

Here is a list of everyone participating in the hop:

Sew Seasonal Blog Hop

1st November: Kristy from Quiet Play & Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

2nd November: Diane From Blank Pages & Jane from Where Jane Creates

3rd November: Susan from Patchwork N Play & Kelsey from Kelsey Sews

4th November: Janice from Better Off Thread & Erin from Missy Mac Creations

5th November: Lucy from Charm About You & Rebecca from Making Rebecca Lynn

6th November: Charlotte from Lawson and Lotti & Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans  ~ you are here

7th November: Jess from the Elven Garden & Cindy from Live a Colorful Life

8th November: Elaine from Dashasel Sews & Kelly from Jeliquilts

9th November: Beth from Plum and June & Fiona from Finding Fifth

10th November: Juliet from Tartan Kiwi & Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches

11th November: Taryn from Pixels to Patchwork & Anorina from Samelia's Mum

12th November: Megan from Jaffa Quilts & Jane from QuiltJane 

13th November: Gemma from Pretty Bobbins

Join the Sew Seasonal Flickr group to share your own completed projects made from the patterns available during the hop - there will be prizes!   Check out this list of sponsors and the prizes!  Wow!

Fat Quarter Shop

Awesome Launch Day giveaways at Blossom Heart Quilts and Quiet Play2 x $10 vouchers

Intrepid Thread

Joy by Kate Spain – full fat quarter bundle + panel

Fabric Worm

2 x $25 vouchers

Sew Lux Fabric and Gifts

1 x $25 voucher

Stash Modern Fabric

$30 gift voucher

Blossom Heart Quilts

Japanese Christmas fabric – fat eighth bundle

Quiet Play

Charm pack

Plus, are you needing some Christmas fabric supplies for the hop?

Chrissy from Sew Lux Fabrics has set up a special discount code on Christmas fabrics in her shop!

If you need supplies, be sure to check it out.

The code is “sewseasonal10” and is for 10% off all Christmas fabric (Joy, Blitzen, and Sentiments) through November 18th.

A charm pack or layer cake will work perfectly for Ornamental!

Full details can be found @
Kirsty’s blog Quiet Play or Alyce’s blog Blossom Heart Quilts

Happy sewing and enjoy the rest of the hop!! 

November finishes

Linked to the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop linky party!

Procrastination snowman

Yup, I'm procrastinating AGAIN!  I should be working on my Scrappy Stash quilt-as-you-go blocks and my Pervalong quilt but my migraine has dictated something small and fast.  May I present to you: 

Procrastination Snowman

Dressed for the cold weather

Naked

He is 8 inches tall.  Tall - and skinny.  That's what UK snowmen look like as there isn't much snow around (in these parts anyways) to be a round, fat 'robust' fella. 

Happy Christmas snowing..... I mean sewing!!!! 

Saturday shenanigans

This morning I finished a little something that I started Thursday evening on a whim.  This is often how I do things - an idea pops into my head about 11:45pm just as I am thinking about going to bed.  Instead of going to bed like a normal person, I start creating whatever it is in my imagination.  The next day or so I work on it some more.  Usually these whim projects end up as WiP's.  Not this one!

This is what I had to get out of my system - a ticker tape 'thing'.  It isn't a 'square' mini quilt so I guess I'll call it a wall hanging.  A ticker tape rainbow wall hanging.

My new ticker tape wall hanging keeping Mr Toyota,
my Zakka message board and my painting company.

This wall hanging has been made using 100% scraps from my scrap pile!  You know those itty bitty bits that I just can't throw away - now on my ticker tape!  ...some of them anyways!  ;)  The grey is leftover from the backing of my Vintage Holiday quilt and so is the wadding!  I added hanging corners at the top so I -- or a secret swap partner -- can hang it up but I think I like it too much to give away!! 

The three layers + scraps (does that make it 4 layers?) were quilted all at once using my free-motion foot.  To hold the scraps in place so I could outline them in thread, I used a tiny bit of gluestick.  I left it overnight so they were held in place and it did the trick nicely!!

Those who know me know that I don't go for fabric rainbows.  I love all the colours IN a rainbow individually or in threes maybe, but not all together.  This project is now my third rainbowy thing in a matter of weeks - my Scrapy Stash Log Cabin quilt [work in progress], my Paramouthy Stitches Tote for Di and now this! 

Dimensions:  6.75" wide x 24.5" long

 Saturday shenanigans for sure!

Linking to Can I get a Whoop Whoop and Aloha Friday!

October month in review

October is over.  It was 31 days filled with sewing fun [and lots of fabric shopping]!

My favourite item from October has to be my Vintage Holiday quilt - I can't stop staring at it!  I finished it - woohoo!  And I am anxious to get my Scrappy Stash log cabin quilt done too as I think it will become a favourite in our house as well!!  Even with my dozen finishes, I didn't manage to complete all of the bee blocks I should have in October (sorry folks) so this weekend is a dedicated sewing weekend to get those done and in the post!  And [very exciting], I also finished a few items in October that I haven't shown you yet as they are for 'revealing' another day!   I'm participating in the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop and the UR Priceless Blog Hop - so join me in some hopping in the next week or so!

And the best news:  I completed 6 projects (out of 25) from my 100 Day Hustle list and 3 projects (out of 9) from my 4th Quarter goal list.  Happy days for me.

How was your month?  I'm linking to Fresh Sewing Day - check it out and see what everyone else was up to too!

Building houses, planting trees

This week I am concentrating on a few more of my WiP's and things that are listed on my Lazy Bums list and 100 Day Hustle list.  I decided it was time to build another house and plant a tree.  What I mean is:  sew a wonky house and another wonky tree to go with the other dwellings and trees in my slowly expanding village.

Newest additions to the village

All four trees together

I love wonky.  I'm sure you gathered that by now?  I've got wonky stars and wonky log cabins, wonky trees, wonky houses and even a wonky donkey or two!  I love wonky so much that I even subjected THREE Bee groups to my wonky ways! 

Six houses have been 'built' so far

Wonky is whimsical and I seem to be drawn in by the carefree and quirkiness of it, and perhaps the child-like naivety of it as well.  How could I resist a bit o'wonk?  Here are all of my wonky trees and houses mixed in together.  What a happy wonky village!

I am so fortunate that two members of the Lazy Bums group are making me a couple more houses and trees to add to the growing community I have here on my kitchen table.  I can't wait for the new additions to arrive so they can be introduced to the neighbour folk!  [all metaphorically speaking, of course!]  Thanks guys!

Linking to Freshly Pieced WiP Wednesday and Applique Thursday with A Quilting Reader's Garden who get a big thank you for the Woven Quilted book that was sent to me and arrived the other day.  There are some neat projects in there that are on my to-do list now!!  Thank you!!

 

Wonky Donkey zippy pouch

I finished making my Wonky Donkey paper pieced block into something - a zippy pouch! 

This pouch is about 10 inches by 9 inches and holds my Zakka book perfectly! 

I bought this red on red dot fabric at the Knitting & Stitching show thinking it would match my Vintage Holiday quilt but it did not so I used it for the Donkey pouch instead - and he loves it (because in MY world my sewn animals speak to me!!).  I love the red on red dots too!!

I used some yummy Kona for the inside.  And look - I did pebble quilting all around the donkey! 

Happy to have it done so I can link it up next week for Donktober .  Remember -- it's ridonkulous!!

Linking to October Finishes, Manic Monday, TGIFF OctoberQuest and Finish it up Friday.



P.S.  The paper pieced donkey pattern is available FREE from Craftsy. 

Yum

Can you say YUM?

Stay tuned for more -- another day :)

Friendship Cake ~ Day 1

Ever heard of Herman the German Friendship Cake?  My mom made something similar when we were kids so when a work colleague offered me a portion of the 'batter', I said yes please!

Today is Day 1 - transfer the 'batter' into a bowl and cover with a tea towel. 
Done.  Team GB tea towel no less!

Day 2 tomorrow - stir. 
How easy!! 

Day 3 to Day 10 -- I will need to look at the 10 day schedule to be sure when to stir and when to add various ingredients but how cool is this!!?  I can't wait for Day 9 when I divide it up and give away 3 portions and Day 10 when I can bake a cake with the last portion of 'batter'!  Can't decide if I will make a chocolate cake or a lemon drizzle cake....

Stay tuned :)