Tumblers

...with what makes a great border, I think. If I knew anyone having a baby boy, I might save this one for them!

And now for something...not very different

Yep, another set of log cabin blocks (well, courthouse steps, perhaps, which is a LC variation) - these in pink - the colour of the moment in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - with a little black thrown in for good measure.  There is something very satisfying about sewing log cabin blocks, and watching them grow and grow with each round. These aren't stitched together yet, but they will be before too long. And then I'll have to decide whether to border them or not. Decisions, decisions.

Log Cabin

Another top which I had the blocks knocking around for (I think there's only one or two sets left, not counting the new, pink blocks I've made recently).  All assembled into this cheerful top (don'tcha love log cabins? I do, as you may have guessed!)

Birds of a feather...

I chose these two cards to show together as I think they are a great example of how different things can turn out - the crow on this card is the same stamp as the bird on the bottom card (which was done in gold ink). Amazing difference, isn't it!

(You can sort of see the stamp, especially if you enlarge the photo).

Strippy quilt with birdhouses

This blue strip top, made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in January, works perfectly with this birdhouse border fabric I picked up for a song at the Farnham Maltings Sale. 

Cross-stitch update

Amazing the difference  in the photo depending on the light, isn't it! Not a huge amount of stitching done this week- between being tired in the evenings and being out several times, I didn't sew much.  Not sure if I will switch back to the other piece or carry on with this one - I guess you'll find out next week!

And another bordered top

Yep, another one. I am so all over this! And yes, there might be more featured in the near future.  Woo hoo.

Another bordered quilt

Here's another top which was hanging around waiting for a border, which no longer is.  I will add this to my charity pile... And the stack of tops waiting for borders is smaller - hurrah!

...and a pink Sunday, too...

In addition to working on something I can't actually show, I also pulled out some more pink (and other) fabrics to carrying on with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. These brown and blue fabrics are part of the same range - they have writing on them and pools of water (I think). I had half a metre (or perhaps yard) of each of them, more or less, but they have proved to be slightly awkward to work with, so I thought they'd go well with all this pink. This might not be the final arrangement, as I might try to get some of the blocks with the same pinks moved a bit further away from one another, but it gives the general idea.

Pink Saturday

February's colour in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Pink, so away with the blue scraps and on to the pink.  These blocks aren't strictly made from scraps, but as my actual scraps are fairly well under control, I am mining my boxes of small pieces (i.e. smaller than 1/2 metre - most of them are a FQ or less) for bits which can be used. Always happy to make log cabin blocks, so here are 16 of them (10" finished size) with pinks on one side and neutrals on the other. 

Some finished ATCs

More round robins - these three are all ones which I started, and then two other people worked on. 

Blue strips

As part of the January colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I decided to see if I had enough blue strips in my strip bag to make an entirely blue strip quilt - not surprisingly, I did. (What is it about blue, anyway?)  Now all it needs is a border, and it can join the pile of charity tops awaiting a kind soul to quilt and finish...

Cross stitch update

Here's my alternate piece from the snow scene I was working on last week. This one is small, and is almost finished (you can see it stitched up here, though her blue thread is lighter and more variegated than mine - I think she used Belle Soie threads, whereas I used the Crescent Colours options, as I have some of those already).  As you can see, almost finished - a little bit of blue left, then just the red touches and a white border. I'll leave it, though, and go back to the other piece for a week.  And then, only a little stitching to finish this off; I'll probably do the next installment of the pink bird piece next.

Free to a good home...or several

no 1: Green and Purple Log Cabin, approx 45" square

As anyone who reads here regularly knows, I make a lot of quilt tops, which I give away to charity, mostly Project Linus. But I don't really want to quilt them first because I'm lazy busy and what really relaxes me is piecing, not quilting so much. The quilting I save for gifts for friends, etc.

Anyway, the main person I regularly send tops to has a bit of a backlog at the moment (not even counting the 7 or 8 tops I have waiting at home for her - not these pictured here!), so I decided it was time to give some of the other tops away elsewhere.  And that's here.

Here are the "rules" of this giveaway.  Anyone, anywhere in the world, may leave a comment asking for one of the tops as long as you intend to use it for charitable purposes.  I don't really mind what charity or how you intend to use it (i.e. quilt it up and give it to a hospital, hospice, nursing home, disaster recovery centre, shelter, whatever; quilt it up and raffle it off for a school, scouts, organisation; sell or raffle the top itself; and so on) - as long as the top is being used for a good cause of some sort - any sort - I don't mind.

I will post the tops out anywhere in the world; you do not need to reimburse me for postage (though if you want to, that's ok, too).  However, it's possible that if more than one person wants a certain top, I may favour UK residents or those who want to make a postage contribution (just depends on who wants these, and where they are). 

So, if you are interested in one (or more) of the tops for your cause, leave a comment, and in a few weeks' time, I'll sort out some recipients, as fairly as I can.  Please feel free to let anyone who you think might be interested, know about this giveaway (and I'll certainly do more of them through the year - though probably only one or two a month, not 8 - I've been accumulating for a while!) 

I've numbered the quilts and put a size (all sizes in inches and  approx - I was measuring quickly on the floor and didn't feel like crawling around all afternoon) and description, for convenience...  Oh, and if you do get a top and finish it off, I'd love to see a photo (though it's not a requirement!)

no 2 - Strippy scrap quilt with polka dot border, approx 43x55"

no 3 - Neutral Background with strips I - approx 36x44

no 4 - Neutral Background with strips II - approx 36x44

no 5 - Crumbs in a square, approx 42" square

no 6 - string log cabin with oriental border, approx 44x52"

no 7 - string log cabins with broccoli border, approx 44" square

no 8 - baby blue rectangles - approx 30x33"

Quilting with Broccoli?

Here's another little quilt, bordered and ready to go to a charitable home - and no, the print in the border fabric isn't trees...

More blue stuff

Here's another blue thing I made this month (technically, this is a photo of the blocks, but I have since sewn them together, just haven't taken a photo yet) to use up blue scraps in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. These pieces weren't strictly scraps, as they were from my box of small blue pieces, but none of them were large (except the lighter one, which is the same throughout).  I used to have 2 storage boxes of blue fabric (I use CD storage boxes from Ikea for all my different small pieces of fabric, organised by (mostly) colour) - one for darker and one for lighter and aqua fabric - it's now down to 1 box. It's crammed full, but it's all in one box.  We're getting there! (I'm not trying to get rid of all my stash, just trying to make it more sensible and manageable.)

Bordered blue

The little blue scrap quilt for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge now has a border. The border isn't strictly blue, but I think it works well, and you'll notice that I even took the time to mitre the borders as I thought it would work well with this print. The black gaps in the shirt fabric make it look like there are even more rows of border, which is fun.  One to stick in the drawer to (eventually) go to Project Linus.   I have a lot of surplus tops waiting to go to good charitable homes - be on the lookout later in the week for a post giving some of them away!

Altered Nines

The latest in a series of altered playing cards with a butterfly theme (which reminds me, it's about time to make the 8s to send off) - in the end, there will be an entire deck of altered cards with butterflies on them... Fun!

Tumblers

After playing successfully with tumblers earlier this year, I decided to do a scrappy quilt using them as well. No rules except no two same ones next to one another, at least in the original rows.  I actually have about 5 more rows I made, but I decided this was big enough. Not sure whether I will make more to go with the 5 rows I have or do something else with them!

Cross Stitch Update

Progress is being made on this one, as you can see. Not a huge amount, as I was out a couple of nights and didn't really stitch much, but some. I'm starting another project as well for this week, as I like to have two (or more!) on the go, and switch between them...