Chain chain chain

If this looks familiar, it's because it's the second top using these blocks and this border - the other one was completed long ago, but this one took longer to get around to, mainly because I wanted to mitre the border and that always takes a little more effort (though not a lot really, and with some borders, it just looks a lot better). This one is ready to go in the Project Linus pile now. Hoorah!

Last of the I-Spy blocks

...and here's the final set of I-spy blocks - 15 in this group.  Of course, now these three sets of blocks need to be made into something and not just sit around, but that's a job for another time. 

More I-spy blocks

As promised before, some more I-spy blocks using traditionally boyish fabrics.   Twelve in this set - there's one more set to come as well...

ATC Friday

Two different round robin cards, both with dictionary pages as starting points...

First blue top

Among other stitching, I'm putting together some of these blue blocks, which I have loads of (60) - it would be nice to remove them from my stash, so they're my enders  & leaders for the moment. Here's the first top from the blocks; expect a couple more in time as well!

Cross Stitch Update

This week, I've been working on the Thirteen Colonies piece again - this time, the bottom right corner, although I did stitch all the way around the brown border, to make it easier for myself. This central part is very dense, so it takes a while to stitch, even though it's quite a small area. The border goes more quickly, and of course there is some lettering on this quarter of the piece, unlike the top two sections. However, next week will be something else (smaller) as I am away for a few days and this one is too big to take along with me...

PInk & Purple with a crazy border

This is one of the fabrics I brought back from the Linus day as possible borders - wasn't sure I'd be able to use it as it was kind of crazy, but I think it works ok with this top.  Another finished top for the Linus pile - yay!

A couple of cushions

Two of Sarah's old t-shirts from the mending basket, coupled with two £2 charity shop cushions, and hey presto - a couple of funky cushiosn for Sarah's room. (Tossa is Tossa del Mar, in Spain, where she went with a school trip to Barcelona. I'll assume you know who Bob Marley is...)

Block sets update

Well, it's been a little while since I updated the block sets - having made a few and put a few together, I thought it was about time I showed another photo. Here, I've added the purple strings and the transport I-spy blocks and taken out the Hawaiian blocks and one set of purple blocks, which have been assembled into tops.

Scraps/more I-spy

A load of scraps for the scrap basket/strip bag/squares drawers, from cutting the I-spy blocks. I decided to cut all the novelties into 5" squares - what I don't use in actual I-spy blocks will go in the 5" square drawer, for easy access later. That's the small pile at left in this photo.  Two piles of strips - one in random widths - what was left if I cut strips from a small piece of fabric - and one in 2.5" strips - the extras from the pieces I actually used in the blocks. And finally, a pile for the scrap basket of offcuts in various sizes. Easy to see how scraps generate themselves when you do pretty much any project!

And here are two more stacks of I-spy blocks, waiting to be assembled - one has 12 blocks, one has 15. So there will be blocks for two more I-spy tops. They always go down well with kids.  At some point in the near(ish) future, I'm going to do something similar with other novelties - girly ones, or maybe just some general, mixed ones. 

ATC Friday

Some more cards I worked on as part of a round robin - this one is very different from the style of a card I would start, but as it happened, I had the perfect addition for it - a cute bird sticker. The finished one is very sweet. 

(this is how it came to me - above - I added the branch and the bird)

This one is more my "usual" style - 

the original background was just this lovely spray textured card. I added a little bird picture and a strip of washi tape, very subtle. 

A visit to Plush Addict

So yesterday, my friend Lana, who is a longarm quilter, decided to take a trip to Plush Addict in Kent to pick up some fabric for a couple of quilts she's working on (her own, not business), and she asked me if I'd like to come along (neither of us had been to this shop before as it's a little far for a quick trip - more of an expedition). "Why no," I said, "I have plenty of fabric and don't really like going to quilt shops." Ha! Bet you didn't believe that anyway...  We went today as it was the only time we seemed to both be free and around... 

 It's a huge shop, as it happens, with lots of fabric - and I found that the same thing happened there as often happens to me in US shops - too much choice, too hard to decide what to buy. Which doesn't mean I didn't find anything, of course. I did get some very cute giraffe fabric, and a packet of fat quarters in this lovely range, which doesn't show well in the photo (too many purples, no doubt)...

Cross Stitch Update

Not surprisingly, I finished the small amount of the sheep which was left... and then, I started a little something I can't really show - it's a three-part mystery from LizzieKate - here's a tiny preview, which won't give anything away.  I've actually finished the first section, but I won't show the work until I've finished part three (at that point, all the parts to the mystery will be published, so all bets are off!)...

This is the sleeve that comes with part one:

I really like LizzieKate designs; I have fun stitching them. This one is cute, so far. And it has words (not a spoiler as it's in the Sampler Club), which I always enjoy.

I spy something starting with...

V? For Vehicles, perhaps? While doing the mending, I've also pulled out some novelty fabrics (I don't have a big collection) in stereotypically boy fabrics, so I could make some blocks for I-spy tops for Project Linus - here's the first set - 16 blocks. 

Mending is not the same as sewing...

This is the pile of mending/etc,  Some of these are favourite t-shirts of Alex, which are too small for him, so they only need to be cut up with half put aside for an eventual t-shirt quilt (I'm thinking it would be nice for when he goes away to uni, so I've got a few years!), and the other half of the t-shirt to dusters.  A few things to mend - a pair of pyjama bottoms, a cardigan (holes at seams in both of those) and a pair of jeans to hem... Another pair of jeans went in the bin - holes in places you really can't fix - and the flowery dress went back in the mending basket - it's Olivia's, but it's too short and we haven't yet worked out what to do with it (I suggested she just wear it with leggings, but she wants to add something to the bottom to lengthen it - we need a trip to a really good haberdashery department...)  Finally, two t-shirts of Sarah's went back in the mending basket, as they are going to be converted to cushions, but we need some blanks, so another trip to somewhere is needed. They can wait.

T-shirt deconstructions here, along with the mended items.

Purple Squares Top

These are the blocks I made on the Project Linus day, back ages ago in the Spring.  Finally got around to putting them together. I have several other sets of purple blocks inspired by that day, but they'll have to wait a little while before being put together...

What's in that string bag now...

As you can see, those recent projects with strings and strips have made an excellent dent in the bag of strings - just a few rolls of various width strips to use up. Which means I can fit lots more strings in the bag once again!

ATC Friday

Havent shown any Round Robin atcs in a while, so here are a few that I've finished off recently - or in one case, a while ago, but I forgot to show it...  These Paris themed cards were easy to add to.

These bird cards were a little trickier, but I got to use a rather large metal flower charm, which was nice - it's sometimes hard to use the slightly larger embellishments.

Finally, this crow card needed some words, so I added some!

A different sort of string project

And of course, even after two strip tops and three Little Mermaids, there were still strings and strips left, so I decided to make some more traditional string blocks. My Project Linus coordinator, Liz, says that quilts with purple in them are always in high demand, so I decided to use some purple strips down the middle of each block to unify them and add purple interest.  There are 36 of these 6" blocks - and yes, there are still some strips left, but not nearly so many....

Cross Stitch Update

Nearly done!  Just a bit of outer border on the top left, and then the white (ecru) inner border to finish. 

The last little mermaid

And a third one - good way to use up a not-very-big piece of that mermaid fabric, which needs to be a reasonable size because of the large print...

Little Mermaid 2

And here's another variation on that theme - this one with more strips in to make it more elongated.

A little fabric in

Well, it wouldn't be a legitimate holiday without a visit to a local quilt shop...so a quick swing past Quiltng Antics, just as it was closing for the evening, netted me these little bits from the sale rack...  I did also fancy a fat quarter pack of some non-sale fabric in black and whites and brights featuring !converse shoes, but I managed to resist that. Well done, me!

Little Mermaid 1

So, after making the two strip quilt tops in the traditional way, I still had tons of strips, so I decided to do something a little different - this uses a piece of focus fabric in the middle and then builds the strips outward, with a few extras thrown in here and there to change the shape. At this point, I got bored and stopped, but there's always potential for a border...

More tags in

In the recent tag swap, the other theme I asked for (besides black birds, which I showed last week), was Brat Pack actors (it was a famous people category) - this tag is great; even the bow looks like something Molly Ringwald would have worn...

This one is more simple, but also cool.

I also had this tag, from the hostess of the swap - she made one for each player - 

and this one from another player who was really blocked on a Brat Pack tag and asked if she could do something else, which was fine with me...

Hawaiian Dreams

Amidst all the strip sewing, I've also been putting together the blocks for this top - and here they are!  I may try to find something as a border next time I'm in an appropriate place, but for the moment, it's just going to sit around, semi-finished.