More strips...

OK, finished 24 strip blocks now and the strip bag looks a little more manageable now. I do have enough foundation fabric for more, so I might do some later this summer. I do have a project I really must finish this summer, though - that will have to be at the top of my list for what little time I have available, with all the travelling around I'm doing!

Strip blocks, again

Wanted to make some strip blocks the other day, as my bag of strips was getting quite full, but didn't have any suitable fabric to use as a foundation. A rummage through the charity shops on Thursday came up with a large quantity of fairly ugly Ikea fabric for not much money - perfect for foundations. So, today, a start on some strip blocks. Not many done, though there are quite a few more in process...  These are 8.5" blocks, and use variable width strips (i.e. whatever width they are in the strip bag), though I do cut the really wide ones in half down the middle. And also trim the ones which are wider at one end than the other.

ATC Friday

This set of ATCs was a buddy card - only worked on by two people. 

But this one is the more usual three person card - I was the second player and simply added the words cake (with an exclamation point, of course), tasty and yummy.

A bit of scrappy sewing

Despite being on holiday for nearly a week now, I haven't done much sewing. Partly this is due to being busy with some other things, partly this is due to being tired. But yesterday I finally got around to doing something - decided to have a small tackle of my scrap basket (didn't make a huge dent in that, to be honest) and make up some blocks using pre-cut squares.  These little blocks with two squares and a rectangle will be useful in combination with other stuff. They are only 4.5" square, so could be put together in fours, like below, 

or offset with solid blocks. Or who knows, something else perhaps!

Here's the scrap basket before/after - some difference, though it's still pretty full.

Quick Quilt Shop Visit

A quick trip to the quilt shop yesterday as I needed to get something to bind the Christmas Tree Skirt with - this lovely dark red with lighter red in it seemed ideal.  It was all I bought in the quilt shop - I must be getting restrained in my old age.

Trunk Show Tuesday

Another oldie. This one was made for the son of a friend, when he was born about 16 years ago (can't remember now whether I knew it was going to be a boy or not - I rather think not). I always really liked this one. The baby fabric in the centre of the log cabin blocks is really cute and I do like the rainbow log cabin effect. 

ATC Friday

Two sets of ATCs I started, which came back to me finished recently. Both are great. I do love seeing what other people do with your ideas!

Trunk Show Tuesday

Here's another oldie, made for Olivia when she was very small (circa 2001) - I had hoped to be able to show a current photo of it, as I'm sure it's somewhere in the house, but a quick trawl through the various quilt piles and stashes didn't find it, so I will have to make do with these older photos. I think it might be in Olivia's trunk in her room, which had some stuff piled on top of it, so I didn't look there!

Christmas tree skirt...the back

Had to get a bit creative with the back of the piece, as I didn't have quite enough of the deer fabric to make a big enough backing. So I threw in a couple of other Christmas fabrics I did have. It's the back; it won't really be seen anyway!

Christmas blocks assembled

Here they are, put together. I decided to set them in all directions, so it doesn't matter what way around the skirt goes.

ATC Friday

A few ATCs to show - these are both sets which I've started, and two other people have worked on.

Both use text as backgrounds - I reallylike text as backgrounds.

Trunk Show Tuesday

Another oldie - this was a small wallhanging made originally to hang in a friend's downstairs toilet - it's laid out on a black blackground - the metallic squares border is the outside border. No idea where it is now, as I know the colour scheme of said toilet is totally changed! 

Christmas blocks

And here they are - laid out on the floor haphazardly. Not sure about the orientation; I might make them radiate out from the centre a bit more. The centre block is plain as that's where the hole will be for the tree trunk...

A little Christmassy action

As promised, some blocks made from the Christmas fabrics shown earlier this week. Watch this space.

A quick longarm job...

Ok, not so much. Lana (my longarm friend, who is Bewitching Stitching) and I reckon she's had this one in her cupboard for about two years.  But because she is local and we are friends, what I do is take her a pile of non-urgent stuff, to be spaced out over a number of months. And then, what I frequently do is bring her other stuff which has to be finished to deadlines in between, so the backup stuff gets shoved to the bottom of the pile. Anyway. This top is ancient and that was before it sat at her house for two years. But now, it's quilted And if I put some binding on it, it will make an excellent present for someone, on some occasion.

ATC Friday

Some ATC round robin cards where I was the last player to add anything. These bird cards were quite subtle, so I didn't want to add anything really in your face; I did a little stamping int he background.

and with these butterfly cards, I merely aded a heart and a dragonfly to round it off.

Cotton Robin...sort of

I received my finished quilt from the Cotton Robin round robin - and it's really gorgeous. However, we haven't had our formal unveiling yet, so I can't show it. This is the back. Just to tease you a bit!

Cross Stitch Update

A bit more progress here - you can see the mad hatter really taking shape here. Slowly but surely!

Trunk Show Tuesday

Another oldie - apparently this was made in Spring 2001. It uses a standard sort of triangle block, except I intentionally joined them so that the points would get wiped out a little, to make them look like trees. 

Still in use, though - modelled by a sleeping teenager.

Upcoming project

So, my next sewing project really must be to get blocks made for a Christmas  tree skirt I want to make for someone. I want to give it in person, so it needs to be done well before Christmas. Here are the fabrics I intend to use - I'm not doing anything complicated, so the blocks shouldn't really take long. In theory.

Secret Sewing

It's always annoying when you have a day's worth of sewing, but you can't show it. Here's a bit of a sneak peek.  More later, someday!

Boxes of Quilt Tops

It's a bit of a challenge to find something to blog at the moment - I've not being doing a huge amount of sewing lately, and a couple of the things I've been working on, I can't really show!  Soon, though, perhaps this weekend, I will spend some serious time stitching. I hope. Perhaps I should show the Scout trousers I hemmed up - now THAT would be thrilling!  Anyway, I have a box of Project Linus tops which need borders adding to them...

and I have a box of quilt tops which are NOT for Project Linus, which may, eventually, someday, get made into quilts as gifts or to keep. Don't hold your breath.  If you want to see what's in these latter boxes, the tab at the top of my blog which says "Quilt tops" will take you there...

ATC Friday

Another couple of ATCs, again these are round robins - cards which have been worked on by three people. I was the middle person in these two sets, so you can see all three stages of a card's development.