Autumnal

No, not the weather here (ok, it kind of is) but these postcards, which I made today (actually, I made 5 of them, but only photographed 4 as it works better). They are simply a leafy background with sheer fabric leaves (done with free motion quilting) with captured sequins inside. Yes, I was inspired by Denny's tornado postcard - which is good, as I was looking for an idea what to do for this swap, which is for my dyeing group (we branch out sometimes).

I also managed to put the binding on the Tree quilt - not handsew it down yet (well, not all the way), but at least it's attached so I can work on that this week in the evening - shouldn't take too long as it's only 42" square. The rest of my time today I mainly spent assembling a large model of the inside of a Tardis from a paper kit. Or rather, helping Olivia and Alex do it (which means doing most of it myself, as it was actually fairly tricky). Hey, that's what bank holidays are for, right?

Tornado

Here's a card I received yesterday - forgot to show it - but as there isn't anything else to show today it serves for today, as well. It's "T for Tornado" and is from Denny, the one guy in my swap group. It's a really clever construction, with sheer fabric forming the body of the cyclone with sequins and whatnot trapped inside. And that's it!

Goals

Well, I ended up not posting about my goals last week, but the observant among you will have noticed that I did update my sidebar.

So, here's what I set for myself as goals - most of them fairly urgent ones, deadline-wise:

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 23/8) - didn't get one done this week. Might try it tomorrow. Might combine it with next week's - I am not going to let this stress me - it was just one of those weeks.
• quilt Forest Challenge quilt (deadline 1/9) - My major accomplishment of the week - thank goodness that's done.
• little houses for row house swap - these are done and I just heard that they've been received by Lenna, so all's good there
• finish Miniature Booty 2 quilt - also completely done, and in the post. Will wait to hear if it's been received.

In all, a productive week and I'm very pleased - I got some other stuff done as well, so that's great. Next week we have a pretty busy week with one thing and another, so I won't aim too high, but here's what I want to get done:

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 30/8)
• bind Forest Challenge quilt and get it in the post
• set of Autumn themed postcards for dyehard (deadline 1/9)
• finish testing October bag pattern

I will have a couple of sewing days, so I should be able to manage that.

To show and not to show

...or vice versa. Here's a couple of things I can't show - a sneak peek of the October bag testing, and a sneak peek of something else which I worked on which I'm not going to tell you about until Tuesday (such a tease, I know!)



And here's something else I did - add setting triangles to a number of these basket blocks which I won from the block lotto on about.com quite a while back now. The one above is going to figure again on the blog in a few days time when I hit my 2 year blogversary.

The two below are for other purposes - the one on the left will be to keep, the one on the right will be a gift for a friend. I will probably make a few more - one for auction at the school's Christmas Fair, for instance - but fairly soon I think I will get tired of them and give a few of them away (without the setting triangles).



And finally, inspired by Angela, who is finishing all her mum's cross-stitch UFOs and Vicki, who is working on her daemon cross-stitch UFO, I decided to make a concerted effort to do some hand work (mostly cross-stitch, probably) in the evening instead of spending quite as much time on the laptop (when I used to have only a regular computer, I couldn't watch telly and read blogs at the same time - now that we also have a laptop, well...) Anyway, I shan't give it up entirely, but I am going to try not to get the laptop out before 10 - given how late I stay up, this should still give me plenty of blogging and email time...

So, here's my cross-stitch of the moment - this one hasn't been sitting around too long, but I do need to finish it off. I worked on it some tonight - filled in the middle section of the waterfall and started on the left-hand side. I am not going to show my progress daily, probably weekly or so. Assuming there is any progress!

Blue and brown on show

Recently I took part in a quiltie swap of blue and brown quilties (6x6") . I really liked the ones I got back of these, and inspired by the colour of the walls, I decided to hang them in the kitchen. That was a whiel ago. Even more recently, inspired by Indigo Blue, who has hung hers in a much more impressive and lovely way (by virtue of framing them) I decided to share them with you here. Ta da. So, there they are! Aren't they lovely? And I have my attention drawn to them all the time, as they hang (as you can see) right by the lightswitches.

And I got these in the post today - more lovely Japanese taupe style fabrics from my fabric club.

I did do some sewing today, but it was to test the October bag pattern, so I can't show it. And tomorrow, I intend to work more on that and more on something else which I can't show and am not even going to talk about. Maybe a little teaser photo can be shown...

A little contest for you

Well, if you are quick, you might just have time to enter Patty's 2nd blogversary contest over on Fibreholic (a new to me blog which I can see spending time at in future)... If you do enter (you have until midnight tonight - her time, not mine, which gives you a few hours!) be sure to mention I sent you (you'll see why). Just makes me want to get all knitty again. If only I were better at it!

Just as well I found this, as I have nothing else to share today - just one of those days here - grocery shopping, hanging with kids, general tidying - you know the drill.

Oh, and don't forget, my own 2nd blogversary is the 26th of August, and I'll be announcing a contest, but don't worry, you'll have lots of time to enter!

A few goodies

...in the post. Both unexpected - an ATC from Michelle, who I sent a little cheering up card to a while back and a postcard from Jo, using some of the scraps she won in one of my giveaways. Both of them were lovely surprises - thanks, ladies!

Can't see the forest for the trees

Well, it's done being quilted. Whew. Thank goodness I had an entire day today to work on it (girls at tennis camp; Alex did a "fun day" at the local rec centre) or who knows what might have happened. I'm not thrilled with the silk tree (on the blue square) - although it looks better in person than in the photo. I might mess with it a little if I have time - maybe add some fibres to the top to help integrate the gold and brown a little better. But on the whole, it works, more or less. I need to give it a bit of a press with a steam iron to block it in a couple of places (I knew that would happen as some parts are much more densely quilted than others) and of course it needs binding and a sleeve, but at least I don't feel quite so panicked. It will be done in time to hang at Hever. Whew.

Here are some closeups of the various tree panels...




The one on the left uses sheer ribbons to form a tree shape; the background fill is a sort of wave or swirl pattern. On the right, I've just used lots of leaves to fill this square and the rectangle of the same fabric. I like this fill a lot, but it's not quick.



Here, with the pine needles, I've just more or less copied the pattern in the fabric, only simplified a little. Same with the one on the right - I used the existing tree pattern and joined up the loose leaves to it (I really like this one).

And finally, one fairly free form tree which echoes the fabric, but not intensely. And on the right, I used free motion zigzagging to make these trees - again, the trees were on the fabric anyway, and I just went over them.



On the whole, I think the piece has come out well, though it doesn't really excite me the way that some pieces do. Still, it's what I wanted it to be, and I have eventual plans for it anyway...

Manhole, beads

Here's the manhole quilt finished and ready to post. I need to write a note to go with it, but otherwise, my Miniature Booty 2 quilt is done and nearly gone. I'll miss it, though!



And today I also acquired a few new beads - just a handful or so, but aren't they nice?

More houses

Today, I worked on (and finished, hoorah!) the little row houses for the swap on Lenna's Creative Swaps site - I have photographed each of the little houses individually as well as in this group; if you want to see them in more detail they are over here on flickr. They are all fairly small - can't remember the precise dimensions of all of them, but they range from about 1.5" to 3.5" wide and 2-5" tall. I like all of them, but I think my favourites are the butterfly (top row centre), the door (bottom row, 2nd from left) and the rust coloured one (bottom row, second from right).



And here's a journal quilt, based on the houses, only a bit more minimalist. It's a day late, but at least it's done! Goals tomorrow, as it's late and I need to go to bed.

Promised giveaway

So, here's the promised giveaway. I said when I stopped the weekly giveaways that there would still be giveaways in the future - and here's one of them. Up for grabs is a zipper bag full of bits and pieces which I don't want - a few orphans &/or widows, HST corners, and so on. To give you an idea of scale, that four patch of black squares is 4.5" square; the purple on black pp-ed star is 6.5".

If you would like this jumbled assortment of useless bits treasure trove of assorted bits and pieces, just leave a comment on this post by the end of August (allowing for people being away on holiday and me being lazy & busy at the moment) - I'll draw a name then...

Little houses

Here's what I got in the post today - it's an ATC from Shelina, which I was expecting, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff, which I wasn't. Isn't that cool?


And here's a little sneak preview of what I'm working on - not a lot to show just yet, but hopefully tomorrow there will be a lot more progress. These little houses are for a swap on Creative Swaps, which I just realised is due TO Lenna in the US by the 31st August, not due in the post by then. So ideally, I will finish tomorrow and get it in the post on Monday. It will then probably take only 3 days to get there, but you know if I don't mail it until the 25th, it will take 3 weeks! Anyway, these little houses are not fabric (though they may have some fabric bits on them - we'll see) but they should be fun anyway. I've only just begun - there will be a lot more embellishment before I'm through. Didn't have a lot of time to play with them as we were out on a picnic for most of the day. Despite the depressing forecast, the weather was actually lovely, hoorah.

Little Virtual Tour

...of my sewing room. As there was no sewing today (though we didn't do what was originally planned, due to lots of traffic - accidents, oddballs protesting on the M25 and so on) I have decided to share some of the lovely bits I am surrounded by while I work. Bear in mind I have a very small sewing room. Don't get me wrong, I love that I have a room at all - but it's not big - it's about 7ft x 7.5ft. It's remarkable how much I have fit in it, and just having it is really freeing in terms of work as I can leave things out when they are in progress. Big projects still need longer time, but if you can leave things out, it really is possible to do some work when you only have 20 minutes or so. ...



So anyway. Here's Mr Scrappy Crow, received yesterday from Julie, happy in his new home on my shelf. He's next to my winter Four Seasons Quilt Swap Quilt, from Jen and a piece I made for a poetry challenge somewhere over on about.com - the art quilting forum, maybe?

And here on the right is the wall as you come into my space - a pinboard crammed with bits and pieces - moo cards, business cards, ATCs and lots of other miscellany. There is also a waxed cloth picture from Uganda which I got from my friend Wil, a silver star Christmas decoration (which I like enough to leave up all year) from a swap with Lana, a pay-it-forward Dear Jane decoration from Cathi and a little hardanger ornament which came from the BQL secret santa swap one year. Then there's the Summer Four Seasons Quilt I got yesterday from Louise, two white quilties from a swap over on Creative Swaps, a piece I made from 4 Japanese Folded patchwork blocks I did in a class, the purple piece I received from Ann in the first miniature booty swap. Below that is a cross stitch piece I did, and some twinchies in a frame - from a FibreArtBits swap. Below that you can just see the top of a mini quilt my friend Sandra made for me - this was from a swap on Dyehard, my dyeing group.



Here's the view of my little wall above my sewing table, next to the window - another little white quiltie, a lovely card and little charm from Penny, a dottee angel from Julie, a wee birdhouse which was actually from a Valentine's ornament swap organised by Lenna, but which I like too much to put away, and a set of metallic inchies which Debbie sent me after I admired them on her blog.

On the right is the door to my sewing room, which has a Nancy Crow poster and the cards from the Angels, Faeries & Divas swap hosted by Lenna.



Here's a bit of my extremely crowded windowsill - a plastic bag chicken I bought in Camden Market, a little fabric box from a swap on my surface design list, a little African doll from Karol-Ann, and the wee doggie I got from Amy in a Valentine's Swap organised by Lucy Locket. And finally, another shelf - the piece of cloth is a complex cloth round robin don't on my surface embellishment list which I like too much to cut up and do anything else with and the red bag hanging on the end of the shelf is from the bag swap organised by Barbara. It was made by Weronica.

So there you go. I did receive something quilty in the post today - the centre of the Spring Fling Round Robin 2 piece to work on, from Helen. But I can't show it - when I've done my round, I'll show a sneak peek, but for the moment, you'll just have to do without! What you can see, however, is this lovely little journally book which she included in the parcel for me - hard to show both inside and outside, but here's a bit of a view - the pages inside are mostly white, with some lovely blue papers interspersed....

I also got two postcards for the batik beauties swap - these are from Sharon and Susan.

I know I promised a little giveaway, and we'll still get to that - just haven't remembered to photograph the stuff yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Excellent postal day

Welll, my excellent postal day started before we went out to the zoo with friends (and spent the WHOLE day at the zoo) and continued on my return - how cool is that. This morning, the doorbell rang and it was the guy who drives the van bringing around the parcels - it was two things, one was the fabric I ordered from equilter (pic below), the other was the above, which is my little summer quilt from the Four Seasons swap - it came from Louise in Australia and is called The Summer Dress - isn't it great? Almost makes me wish I had a dress like this, too, as well as having the quilt (but a dress like this wouldn't suit me, so it's just as well I just have the quilt). Thanks so much, Louise!

Then I also got this, this evening when we got back from the zoo - it came via the regular postie person, later in the day - it was Mr Scrappy Crow, who I won in Julie's giveaway. He's come to live with me, in my sewing room. Isn't that lucky for me? For him, too, I hope! And there were goodies, as well - how cool is that? The chocolate is somewhat gone (but not entirely), and the other things are happily up in my sewing room.

Here's a closeup - and here are the fabrics I ordered from eQuilter - the batik is due to be a border for my friend Caroline's sister's quilt (the diamond one) - luckily, it goes nicely, I think.

Fun ATC Challenge - CLOSED!

So, here's a fun (I hope) challenge for you - while tidying up in my sewing room today, one of the things I did was cut a lot of miscellaneous old reject projects and so on into bases to make ATCs with. I ended up with a LOT of bases (i.e. 2.5x3.5" rectangles). I've done a quick count and I reckon there are at least 150 in there. Some are just fabric, some have wadding between two layers of fabric, some have pelmet vilene in between - depends on what they used to be.



basket of ATC bases waiting to be used; sample selection of various ATC bases


So, here's the challenge - I will send 5 assorted ATC bases and a little tiny zipper bag of embellishments to the first 10 people who are interested. You will need to use one of the bases to make an ATC to send back to me - I don't mind in the least how you use it - you can sew, paint, embellish, felt, staple :), whatever. I would just like you to use it as the base for an ATC, the rest of which will be of your personal inclination. The other four, you can do with as you like. I don't mind if you use any of the embellishments on the card or not (they will probably mostly be sequins and small beads as that's what I have the most of!). ATCs are due back to me by end of September or so. I'm not too fussed - this is for fun. If it's popular, I might run another round in the autumn in honour of my birthday (yep, the big 4-0) in November.

So, any takers?

[edited to say, sorry, I've had 10 people already - in about 2 hours - wow! But I promise we'll do it again before long]