More log cabins

No sooner said, than done - some purple and green log cabins! Again, I have only shown 9 of these, but I made 16 to join the blocks pile. Not sure how I will lay them out, as they are not as high contrast as some blocks - but I did get rid of lots of small pieces of fabric, which was the point of the exercise, of course!  And don't worry, Ruth, I was leaning towards this colour combo anyway...

Scrappy Christmas

Because I've actually had some time to sew lately, I've been taking advantage of it to do what I enjoy best - making blocks. I'm not even bothering to put them into quilts at the moment, though that will come - but at the moment, it's just blocks.  I decided to further bust my Christmas stash by making some more of these blocks, which I've made in the past - they are very simple, you just join 3 3" squares and add a 3x8" rectangle down the side. You then stack and slash them and trim to your desired size.  I didn't have a lot of Christmas fabric to start with, and I am now down to very little, which is good.

Granny squares

I've been using these blocks as enders and leaders for a while, and have now made 16 of them, so I think I'll stop for the time being, and perhaps sew the blocks into a top at some point. Or else just let them hang around in a pile for a while!  I was really good in 2012 about not just making blocks, but actually assembling them into tops and doing something with the tops (in most cases, donating them) but at the moment, all I want to do is make blocks, so I think there will be some block set accumulation in the early part of 2013. So be it!

More log cabins

I'm a bit of a fan of the log cabin block - a fact which I have no doubt will not have escaped your notice if you ever read this blog - so when I feel like making blocks, it's one of my go-to blocks. I didn't sew at all today, as my brother-in-law was down visiting from Leicester, but in the past few days, among other things, I've been sewing these scrappy log cabins. Alex helped me choose what colours to use and then I've been piecing them using small bits of neutrals and blues. As it happens, there are actually 16 of them, but it was easier to photograph 9 together as it meant I didn't have to move the rug!

Now I have a hankering to make more log cabins - I'm thinking about some in another colour scheme, but not sure what yet. Maybe something with green - purple perhaps?

Cross stitch update

Lots of progress this week - nearly all of the background is filled in (not quite), so then there will just be the long stitching on the top, and then the border. It's nice to know it won't take me that many more weeks to finish this one off. 

More block lotto blocks

Four more blocks for the block lotto this month - a total of nine (the max).  The bottom left one doesn't have as much contrast as we thought it would from the fabrics in larger pieces - in larger pieces the red is more red (and less busy) and the black is more black (with less red in it). Funny how that works, sometimes. I may make another one to replace that one if I have time. 

A couple of blocks

A few more block lotto blocks - I have now made 5 for this month's block lotto. I hope to make 4 more before the end of the month - just being able to get at my sewing machine, is a major improvement, though!  

And of course, the lotto blocks aren't the only thing I've been working on today - I'll show more another time.

Giveaway!

No, not me, but my friend Kelly is starting a new giveaway - looks likely to be a series, as it's based on snow and she lives in Minnesota...  Anyway, I'm not sure the first week's giveaway will still be valid by the time I finally post this, but do keep an eye out in future weeks - it looks like fun!

Cross Stitch Update

I actually had a little time to stitch on the angels this week, for the first time this year, and have made a bit of progress, working on the red dress of the central angel.  There are about 20 bazillion shades of red in this dress (realistically, perhaps 8) so it's slow going and quite hard to count. The chart is coloured, so I can't even readily mark what I've done. I'm managing, but not at as quick a pace as normal, even on intricate pieces. 

The photo below isn't the most recent photo I have (for instance, more was done on the bell rope since that photo was taken), but it shows the red dress the best of the previous ones.  Still not well, but you can see there was a lot of white space, and now, not so much.

This next week, it's back to the Winter one - so far, no stitching time, but the weekend promises better things.

Cross-stitch update

Well, here is is finished - not pressed yet, hence the necessity of the remote control to hold down the corner, but I needed a photo and didn't want to get the iron out at this time of night...  Not a lot of stitching this week, but I have been putting binding onto quilts - partially sewed the scrapbuster squares quilt and completely finished the one which I can't show (of course).  After Christmas you can see it!  But I did take time to finish the bird triptych and yes, I have now got the Angels out and have even started in on them...  Photos of that next week, though, when there is hopefully a noticeable difference.

Some block lotto blocks

Here are three blocks made for the December block lotto.  I am hoping to make a few more of these before the end of the month - they are totally scrappy (i.e. no set colour scheme, just dark/medium/light) and not hard to make, so they suit me perfectly and more would be fun.  All the fabrics here came from scrap stash, which is a bonus...

Cross-stitch update

Well, it's time for the seasonal cross-stitch pieces.  This one first, because it's not purely Christmassy, but just wintery. I think I said before, I may try to finish this one this year, as I can keep stitching on it even once I've had enough of Christmas per se (which means, on into February if necessary). I actually got quite a lot done on it this last week. In addition to the upper right hand corner, which has come on a lot, there's quite a bit of background which has been filled in, which doesn't show quite as well.   In the next week's rotation, I will first finish the triptych and then get started on the angels. 

Pile of binding

I had an unexpected sewing day today, in the middle of the week, as Alex was not well this morning and ended up staying home from school, and of course, that meant I stayed as well. I did a few bits and pieces including a few block lotto blocks, which I will show later this week, but most of the time was spent putting binding on the three (yes, THREE) bed quilts I've had longarm quilted recently. Recently in this context being the past 6 months. One of them, I got back last week and haven't showed yet (and you will just have to wait a little longer on that one). The other two I've had for a while - the scrapbuster squares was done in October and the red and white back in July.  I do actually have plans for all three quilts - the red and white will be set aside as a wedding present for a friend; the scrapbuster is going to live in the boot of the car to be a picnic rug/emergency quilt and the other, well, you'll see sooner or later.  Wonder how long it will take me to bind them - bearing in mind I don't want to lose all my cross-stitching time in the evenings!  Only one of them has to be done soon, so it's not an issue...

My kind of weekend...

...one spent with a friend, and sewing was involved!  Not a lot, for various reasons, but we did have fun on Sunday morning digging through Karol Ann's Christmas scraps to make these little houses. The idea is to quilt them up like this and have a finished little Christmas wall hanging.  I've not quilted mine yet, but am hoping to get to it this weekend.  Can you guess whose is the red and whose is the blue?