Pile of hand sewing...

I know, it doesn't look all that exciting, but this is a pile of quilted pieces, all waiting to have binding sewn onto them.  Including two small pieces I forgot I had waiting (they got under a different pile of stuff and sort of got lost).  There are 5 pieces all together, waiting to be bound. And one Scout shirt, which needs two badges sewn on.  Ho hum.  But that won't take long, I'm sure...

Some more round robin cards

Here are a few more in my collection of now finished round robins. These are all ones where I sent out the starting card, and two others have added things to them. 

It's always interesting to see who adds one small thing, who adds more (though you don't always know exactly who has added what, sometimes). 

These three sets all have fairly straightforward additions; sometimes the cards are much more changed.  Both ways of working can produce great cards!

ATCs - Altered Jacks

I'm taking part in a long-term swap of altered playing cards - all featuring butterflies in some guise or other - these are the Jacks I am sending for the swap - we aren't very far into it yet (you don't have to committ to all the cards, but I know that, being the type of personality I am, I will do all of them!).  At the end, we will all have a lovely, complete deck of altered playing cards, featuring butterflies.Very cool!

Cross stitch update

Nearly finished (but not quite) with this section of the pink bird stitchery - just the little bird to finish stitching and the bottom border.  Then there are 3 more sections along the bottom part of the piece, of which I have the pattern for one (so I'm only a tiny bit behind), but although I will go ahead and finish this little section off before I swap pieces, I won't do the next one until after I bring out some seasonal stuff and work on that. Yes, including the angels (though I might bring out the Winter Wonderland piece before the angels)!

For a friend

Lana (my friend who is a longarmer) and I have a mutual friend who has been undergoing yet another round of treatment for breast cancer, so together, we've decided to make a quilt for her - I had a suitable top in stash, and she quilted it. I will try to get it bound as soon as I can, but it's a hellishly busy week, so it will probably be the weekend before I can get to it.  It's come out well, though, I think!

Giveaway

A couple of cross-stitch patterns to pass on - this Hallowe'en pattern is by The Trilogy and it's calld Boo: Tall Trios.  Finished design size is 32stitches wide x115H (2x7.2" on 32 count over two threads). Uses Gentle Art and Weeks Dye Works colours, though of course you could sub if you wanted to.  Pattern only. 

Again, pattern only. This is by the Historical Sampler Company, called Autumn Boxes - part of a seasonal series (I have the other three as well, but haven't stitched them yet).  28x13cm finished size, working on 32 count over two. Chart uses DMC colours. 

If you are interested in either chart (or both), leave a comment and in a week or so, I'll send them along (having drawn names, if lots of interest). 

Coffee!

You might think there's been not a lot of sewing around here lately, which is true - I have been making more ATCs than I have been doing sewing. This is partly because they can be done in small amounts of time, and downstairs in the evening, away from my sewing machine. It's also partly because what little sewing I've been doing (if you don't count things like fixing seams or putting badges on uniforms, which I definitely DON'T count!) has been working on the pieced tails and borders for the sawtooth cat quilt. Each piece looks pretty much like the last piece, so it's not overly thrilling to share.  Perhaps when I get a big pile of them together, I'll blog them again....

In the meantime, here's another set of ATCs - these with a coffee theme - and yes, they are actually stitched, so I guess they count as sewing!  The background fabric was one I happened to have in stash, with names of coffee drinks in the background - too good to pass up for this swap, so the ATCs had to be fabric...

Washi Tape Swap

These cards were made for a swap with a washi tape theme. For those not familiar with it, washi tape is a fantastic craft supply - it's like a paper tape, which can be quite plain or quite highly decorated... I used one which in itself is variegated, so it seems to have a lot more to it (cheating!) - and I used a red and white polka dot one.   I have a growing collection of washi tape - there are lots of fun ones out there, so I'm sure I'll get more before I'm through.

APC Queens

Part of the butterfly series of altered playing cards I've been doing. Only on queens? So many more to go!

Big pile o' quilt tops

Here are some of the tops I've accumulated, waiting for me to be able to send them off to my Project Linus contact - I should probably find somewhere to stack them where they don't get dusty!

Cross-stitch update

Finished the little crow, so next up is the next bit of the Flock (the birds on the pink background). I actually have two parts of that waiting to sew, but I'll probably only do the one before I start switching to seasonal stitching - finishing the Winter Wonderland from last year and of course, working on the Angel Nemesis. Plus, I have a little Christmas Crow I want to stitch and I might work on the Chickadee stitching for my mother.  Too many stitchings waiting to be done; too little time!

Birthday treat!

Look what I got as a birthday present - signed, as well.  Looking forward to seeing what I can do with some of these ideas. When I have some time, that is!

Round, round robins again

Some more round robin cads - these were all ones which I sent off into the world as only a background, and received back as finished cards. 

(this is how they looked when they left me!)

Again, here is the finished card, and below, what it looked like when it left me.

These didn't change as much as some, but then the background was a little busy to start with - but I like them, even if the changes are subtle rather than dramatic...

More kitties

Just a little more work on the Sawtooth cat quilt - it's been a busy weekend. Here is another piece of the border, and two more tails, which need to be turned and pressed and stitched on to the top. I think there are about 6 more tails to stitch. Not sure how many border pieces,but quite a few. They are fairly quick to sew, though, once I actually get my act in gear and do it!

T-shirts

I don't particularly want to make a t-shirt quilt, but when Alex last went through his clothes, there were a lot of t-shirts which no longer fit (dang these growing kids, anyway!) - including some real favourites, like a handmade one from a friend and the touristy ones from our previous trip to the US (as well as a few others). So I decided we'd at least accumulate some t-shirt squares and consider the possibility of a quilt someday - not enough shirts yet to do more than trim and put in a drawer, so that decision will be deferred for a while at least!

Baby quilt

Got another quilt back from the longarmer - this one is a joint effort for a mutual friend who is having a baby in the next few months. The quilting pattern is great, isn't it? Called Avocado - you can see why!

Fabric Frenzy

That was the theme for this swap - anything goes in terms of fabric/fibre ATCs. These are sort of my go-to fabric design - lots of fibres layered on a piece of (usually hand-dyed) fabric, with an embellishment or two. This swap asked for embellishments not to be too chunky, so I've gone with fairly flat things, rather than beads, etc.

Cross-stitch update

Here's the new little cross stitch I mentioned - the one I was going to start before, but didn't have the right threads for. This is a little bonus pattern from the Loose feathers triptych I stitched a while back.  You can see the finished product about halfway down this page here - I won't stitch the other little design as I don't like it quite as much, but I did love this little piece as I'm very fond of crows...  I'll carry on with it next week, as it's very small and I should finish it in another week.  Then, I think I need to do another installment of the pink fabric-ed The Flock.  Nearly done with that piece - I think only 3 sections to go (I have patterns, etc for two of them). Or maybe I'll start the little chickadee I'm going to stitch for my mother - if I have the threads for it, that is...

More blocks together

Another set of blocks off my list of blocks waiting to be assembled. Not sure whether these will get a border or not - guess it will depend on the usual caveat of whether I have anything suitable to use as a border!

Flying Jetsons...

Yet another in the series of tops I am bordering and (eventually) sending off to Project Linus. These flying geese blocks were once again inspired by the block lotto (they are in groups of 3, grading from light to dark in each group - more or less). The border fabric is some of the Jetson fabric I bought on sale in the US this summer, with the express purpose of bordering.  I have enough to do another quilt with it as well (as long as it's small), though I might use it for a double four patch or something instead of a border. You never know!

One I made earlier

Finally got around to dragging back out the Sawtooth Cat quilt - it's been languishing for some time, with all that remains to be done the tails of the cats and the border around the outside edge. That's still a lot of paper piecing, but I'm going to work on it a bit for a while, at least.  I have about 6 border pieces partly pieced, but I need 28 (I think) - and I need to make the templates for the rest of them, so that can be a telly project in the next week or so.  The tails, I have ready to stitch (some of them are done), but just need to stitch them...

Little sheep

Finished this little sheep off, to go with the other two finished ones.  Only about 9 more to go!

Not ready for Christmas Quilt!

I know, I know, it's a little early for Christmas - but I did finally get around to having this Christmas scrappy quilt quilted, as I figured it would be nice to have it done before Christmas. Now I can add some binding and stitch it down, and use the quilt during the winter season.  But maybe not for another week or two!

It's quilted with an all-over panto which involves holly leaves, and looks very nice, though you can't see much from this photo...

A few more round robins

Here are a couple of ATC Round Robins which I've received back, finished. In both cases, I was the second player, so I received a background and added something to it, then sent it to a third person to finish. With this pink card, I forgot to take a photo of what it was like before I worked on it, 

but if you look at how it was after I worked on it, and subtract the stitching and the ribbon, I think you get a pretty good idea.

With this one, here's how the card came to me...

I added a star and a transparency in the corner

and here it is, finished off.  Both very successful cards, I think!

Cross-stitch update

Finished the little sheep this week. I did start the crow cross-stitch (which I have the threads for now) but there's not really enough progress to show - a couple of stars, is all.  Obviously, I still have to press, trim and back this one (and add the embellishments), but the stitching is done...

(What is it with blogger, though - I had to upload this about 6 times - it kept trying to rotate the top photo right 90 degrees. When I rotated the original picture left 90 degrees to compensate, of course it uploaded it the way the picture was orientated.  Sigh.)

Rectangles...

Once again, a set of blocks which were inspired by the block lotto. So often, the blocks there are quick, easy, and useful  for using up scraps. I made these a while back, but of course they sat as blocks for a few months before I joined them, and found a suitable border for them.  But now they are together, which is nice.  Nearly through with my pile of blocks waiting to be sewn together and my subsequent pile of tops waiting to be bordered.  Of course, then I will just start generating new blocks!