Cross-stitch update

I had planned to stitch something different next - a small design with a crow in it, which was a secondary design in a larger pattern I stitched a while back, but as I took it out, I realised I didn't have the right threads for it (the ones for the larger design came with it, but not for this little one), so instead, I took up another sheep. And ordered the threads for the crow pattern, of course!

Really, I should perhaps have finished the Autumn piece, but I was bored of doing the border, so decided to take a little break. I'll finish it next week. And it will still be Autumn, so that's ok...

Hawaiian, with border

And here's the little Hawaiian shirt top, with the border fabric added. I still have quite a bit of the border fabric left - at least enough for another small quilt, so I guess I'll have to dig those shirts out again and think of something else to do with them!

Washi Tape Swap

A recent swap for cards involving washi tape. I love washi tape. I have a small collection and hope to, over time, amass a larger collection (it's a nice small craft item to collect, which helps!). The cards simply had to use some in them, somewhere. I've used two types on these - the red with white dots and one which has a variegated pattern on it, so it looks like lots of small pieces, but is, in fact, a single tape (clever, that). 

Strip squares

Alongside all the catching-up-putting-borders on Linus Project tops, I happened to notice that my strip bag was getting a bit full (it's not a big bag, intentionally). So I decided to use some of them up, making some 12" blocks out of the strips. I made 12 of them (varying width strips, as well as a couple of pieces of binding leftovers - like the pieced green one in this block), which will be enough to work into a top (yes, another top!)...  The bag is much emptier now (though I will need at some point to do something with all the strips that were in there which were shorter than 12" to start with...)

Another Quilt Bordered

I had this little Christmas top waiting for a border and didn't think I'd be able to do anything with it, as I don't have much of a stash of Christmas fabric, but then I found this brown and gold fabric (which is actually kind of Australian aboriginal when you get close to it) which works very well with the centre. Another one ticked off the list - only a few more made up tops which need to be bordered in order to be sent off.  Of course, I do keep accumulating tops by making more scrap blocks. So that doesn't help!

Hawaiian - next step!

So, here are all those new Hawaiian blocks put together in a (long, thin) top - next step will be to add the border fabric - perhaps tomorrow, but if not, I have a week off, so I imagine it will get done at some point. I hope so, anyway!

Still Hawaiian after all these years...

Ever since a friend sent me this fabric below, over the summer, I have been planned to do something (or a couple of somethings) with some more of the fabric left from my dad's shirts. I've made a number of quilts from these shirts, for various people, including myself (though that one hasn't been quilted yet - it's with the longarmer, though - progress is being made!). This time I decided on a nice small scrappy one, with the Hawaiian shirt fabric as borders.  So I just cut squares from the shirt fabric and bordered them with neutrals. 

While I was at it, I cut lots of pieces into 3.5x4.5" rectangles (I also trimmed a number of scraps to this size, hence the rather oriental looking fabric on the left of the photo).

I did this so they can be further trimmed into tumbler shapes, for a scrappy tumbler quilt, at some point.

This is all I have left of the shirt fabric - this may look like a lot, but remember that it all began life as about 25 x-large or xx-large Hawaiian shirts, which was a LOT of fabric. You can see some of the shirts, way back when, here. 

I was looking back through my blog to see what I'd done with the shirts, and it's quite a lot. Apparently, I've made 5 lap/small bed sized quilts (the original four - one for my step-mom, one for her mom, one for my brother & SIL, one for myself - and another scrappy one, several years later than the others, given to my friend Barbara). I've made two baby quilts - one for charity and one for my baby quilt stash. I've made a journal quilt  (two, actually) and a little box. I've given away a set of spare blocks and a bag of scraps. And then there's this current project, which will be another charity quilt. 

Another little quilt bordered

Here's another top, with a border. It may well be the last for a while, though, unless I can find some more fabric to use as borders.  Might see what they have inexpensively at the local haberdashery department...

Cross-stitch update

As you can see, I am nearly done with this (although borders always take slightly longer than one thinks) - I have to finish the little acorns in the bits of the border, and the word Autumn on right and left.   Shouldn't take too long!  Next up, a little autumn piece with a crow on it.

Polka dot border

I am still making my way through the stack of tops for charity which I want to add borders to before sending on. I think there are about 4 more to go, including one with Christmassy fabrics, which I might not have anything suitable for.  Anyway, I found I had just enough of this brown and white polka dot fabric for a nice more border on this strippy quilt. I used this polka dot as a backing fabric for something a while back, and didn't have enough left for much of anything, but it worked well for this.

Braids with border

No doubt there's at least one person out there waiting to see what happened with the braids and the challenging fabric I was hoping to pair with them. In the end, it was all very simple - the fabric worked very well as a border for the four braided sections. Ta da!

Scrappy stars, bordered

Found a nice fabric which I only had half a metre of, so wasn't useful for much, to add a border to the little scrappy star piece - think it works very well, and provides a use for that half metre of fabric - usually not enough for a border, but this is quite a small piece...

Round Robin Homers

Here are a few finished round robin ATCs, where I've been the first player - that is, I made the backgrounds and sent them on their way to see what would happen.  This skeleton leaf card started out like this:

While this very natural looking card with feather, etc, started like this:

This card looks a lot like how I might have finished it off myself if I'd been making the whole card, as it has lots of elements I like - book text with stamping over it, and butterflies...  But all I did was make the backgrounds:

Braids

I'm working on a way to use that challenging fabric with the cheese and stuff on it. It actually has a little bit of blue in it, so I thought it might work with these braid strips I had lying around. I put some blue borders around them, and I'm going to try the ugly fabric as sashing/border. If it still looks TOO ugly, I will try something else!

Cross stitch update

Making good progress on the little autumn piece - I'll certainly finish the main boxes this next week, and a good portion of the border, though perhaps not all of it. Borders often taken longer to stitch than you originally think they will. I have another autumnal piece I want to stitch, but I'm also itching to do another sheep, so I'm not sure what will be next.  Perhaps both!

Some more Round Robins

These round robins are all ones where I've been the final player - two people have already contributed. This usually means that the direction of the card is fairly set, and it's just a final addition or two...  Sometimes, it's quite tricky to think what to add that won't be too much.

These winged girls were already quite complete, I thought, so I've just added some little acrylic dots to bring out the colour in the wings.

These ticket cards, on the other hand, definitely needed a strong third element, so I went with birds (when I doubt, I often go with birds) and some little brads in the corners for a tiny bit of bling.

And finally, the industrial/steampunk cards. They feature metallic tape and rivets (well, not really, but they look like rivets) and interesting machines, so it seemed a perfect chance to use some of my little gears...

Scrappy Stars

In keeping with my sorting out bits and pieces mode, I decided to do something with these scrappy stars, as I've got a bit bored of making them as leaders and enders. So I fussy cut some of the \ugly challenging fabric I have knocking about, and used those blocks as alternating blocks with the stars. The darker blocks work better, but I'm fairly happy with the overall look - ultra-scrappy. At any rate, it will do.  Though I will find something to use as a border on this one, for sure.

Catching up

After weeks of not being able to get near a sewing machine to do much (I did attach some binding to a couple of quilts and mended a couple of things) I finally had a chance today to catch up on some bits and pieces. One thing I did was to finish stitching together the rows in this tumbler quilt. Now I just have to figure out if I have any fabric for a border, or whether I'm going to leave it the way it is.  I've promised a baby quilt to the Scouts for an auction in the new year, so this might be the one - haven't decided yet, but it's nice and modern and cheerful...

Finished Clover

Here's the modern clover quilt, made with blocks from a block lotto win, fully finished, including binding. I really like the way this quilt works - it was worth the effort to set it on point and to grade the colours, as the effect is quite striking...  Off to a new home soon, where I'm sure it will be enjoyed!

Abstract Blues & Greens

A set of ATCs for a swap with an abstract theme, using only torn paper (and glue) - colours required were blues and greens.  These swaps are always fun to try to push yourself a little...

Some finished ATCs...

Here are some more round robin cards, which I've had finished versions of, sent back to me. These are all cards where I was the second player - so I have a photo of the starter (background), the card with the addition(s) I made, and the finished card - at least, the one which came back to me. The others will be similar, if not identical.  These cards are the ones with hessian, at the bottom - I didn't have a photo of those starters on their own. 

I added some birds,

and here's the finished card.

These ones came to me with these nice stamped wildflowers.

I added some flowery words and a border along the bottom, 

and the final addition was this stamp. 

And finally, these old ad cards came to me; I added an image within a little border of rusted paper; 

the final addition was this bit of interesting fibre.

New cross-stitch

Started a new piece, another seasonal one, as you can probably tell. I didn't photograph or scan the picture, so what it is going to look like is a minor mystery. (OK, time to google...  I tried to look for it on the website of the Historical Sampler Company, but couldn't find it. I did find a picture here, though - it's the Autumn Boxes Sampler.)

Autumn Postcards

If you are a regular reader, you will probably have seen my wall hanging for fabric postcards before. I try to change the cards in it at least a few times a year - sometimes more, if I get inspired. I do have a lot of autumnal cards, though, so Autumn is one of the themes I tend to use regularly (along with Christmas and Spring/Summer - it's the other things I don't do as much!)

So, this past weekend, I changed all the floral and sunshiny cards for some autumnal ones - here are just a few, closeup.   Love this scene of tractor at sunset - perhaps not specifically autumnal, but it feels that way to me.  Maybe it's a harvest thing?

These trees,looking up into the canopy are great, aren't they?

This one, again, isn't specifically autumnal, but it kind of feels Harvest Moon-ish to me. 

An autumn gourd. 

This leaf is in very subtle colours, with lots of different sheer fabrics.

And these little houses - this is actually one I made myself - there are a few in my hanging which I made, though the majority are traded ones...