Irish Chain

I spent a lot of the day today helping Alex work on his big jigsaw, but before that, I did take the time to put the little Irish Chain blocks together into a top. Definitely very sweet...

Sarah's comment yesterday reminded me that I haven't updated my scrapbasket photograph recently, so I thought I'd do that. It's not empty, but it's not bad, all things considered. Of course, there's a shoebox full of partially made crumb blocks next to it which you can't see, but they don't count!

Nine patches

Yesterday there was no sewing for various reasons, among them the viewing of Hobbits, but today I had a chance to finish off the 9 patches I am making (to make a single Irish Chain) with some offcuts of the Squaring the Rectangle quilt top.  The layer cake I've been using is Grand Finale by Sandy Gervais for Moda .  This is a photo of 16 blocks; I've made more than that, and I will alternate them with solids in the off-white background to form the chain - perhaps tomorrow!

Scrapbusting

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook may have noticed some activity on my scrapbusting blog - I'm making a real push at the moment to update that blog so that a lot of the idea I've used to get rid of scraps over the past few years are actually corralled in a single place. The idea was always to run it in parallel to my main sewing blog, but we all know how it goes with time and good intentions. Still, 2013 may be the year for it!  Watch this space. Or rather, watch THIS space:

Squaring the Rectangle

In amidst my block-making frenzy over the holidays, I decided to do something a little different. I had googled "quilt blocks with squares and rectangles" for something quick and easy, and in my wanderings, found this Rectangle Squared Quilt Block Tutorial.   This is more white space than I normally use in a quilt, but I had a layer cake which I purchased in summer 2011 which wanted a project, so I decided to use the basic block idea but upscale it to suit the 10" squares of my layer cake - less cutting that way, and also less waste. And also, larger pieces showing of the fabrics in the layer cake, which I think are quite funky (my measurements below, if you want to make this using a layer cake).

Of course, there was cake left over - never a bad thing!  So I am cutting 2.5" squares from it to make a small Irish Chain. I think there will still be a stack of decent sized rectangles left even after that (perhaps 5x6") so there will be more fabric for future.  Not sure what will happen with that - that's a plan for another day!

My modified block sizes (see below diagram for placement):

large rectangle on left: 10" x 4.25"

long white solid strip: 10" x 2.5"

two squares: 4.25" x 4.25"

small white divider: 4.25" x 2.5"

(This image from Film in the Fridge's Excellent Rectangle Squared Tutorial)

I used 2.5" wide sashing (unfinished measurement) between my blocks and the outer border was cut at  4.5".

Cross stitch update

Fairly good progress this week (which is good, because it's going back in the box for next Christmas once again!) - I finished the red dress of the central angel. I also stitched her foot, including backstitch and did a missing colour and the backstitch on the feet of the blue angel. I filled in most of the face of the red angel, and did the holly wreath in her hair. I also finished her wings.   And then, because I couldn't face the green dress just yet, I started working my way down the border on the right hand side. I consider this good progress for one season - and anyway, I wouldn't want to finish it, as I'd miss it next year!

Cotton Robin

Last year, I took part in Julie's Cotton Robin miniquilt round robin and as I have just posted off my centre block to take part in the 2013 version, it occurs to me that I never got around to blogging about the 2012 one (we obviously weren't allowed to blog at the time, in order to keep it all a surprise).

First off, the block above is what I sent in for my centre last year.  The piece I got back looked like this:

Here's a detail of the dragonfly embellishment in the centre:

I was happy!

The first centre I received to work on myself was this one above, which belonged to Jay.  I decided to add off centre borders to it, as it was already not perfectly centred. I added some curved piecing to go with the swirls in the batik fabric and some red to pull out the red already in the block - and some little circles to go with the big circle. I was pleased with my round, which looked like this:

You can see how the quilt finished up over at Julie's Grand Reveal - scroll down until it jumps out at you.

The next block I received was this one - it's already had one border added to it - the original centre just goes up to the purple bands - you can see it on this page.

With this one, I wanted to use the focus fabric, but add some other colours and texture.  I tried to keep it more balanced and symmetrical, but still a little different. The finished piece, again, can be seen in the Big Reveal.   (There are no more borders, but obviously, it's been quilted.)

And finally, here's the piece I quilted.  You can see the starting block in the main Reveal post, if you are interested. If you enlarge the photo, I think the quilting does show.

I'm really looking forward to this year's Robin - it's just the right size - not too many months of committment and not too big a piece - and I enjoy the challenge of working on pieces which are frequently quite different from what I'd make myself.

More log cabins

No sooner said, than done - some purple and green log cabins! Again, I have only shown 9 of these, but I made 16 to join the blocks pile. Not sure how I will lay them out, as they are not as high contrast as some blocks - but I did get rid of lots of small pieces of fabric, which was the point of the exercise, of course!  And don't worry, Ruth, I was leaning towards this colour combo anyway...

Scrappy Christmas

Because I've actually had some time to sew lately, I've been taking advantage of it to do what I enjoy best - making blocks. I'm not even bothering to put them into quilts at the moment, though that will come - but at the moment, it's just blocks.  I decided to further bust my Christmas stash by making some more of these blocks, which I've made in the past - they are very simple, you just join 3 3" squares and add a 3x8" rectangle down the side. You then stack and slash them and trim to your desired size.  I didn't have a lot of Christmas fabric to start with, and I am now down to very little, which is good.

Granny squares

I've been using these blocks as enders and leaders for a while, and have now made 16 of them, so I think I'll stop for the time being, and perhaps sew the blocks into a top at some point. Or else just let them hang around in a pile for a while!  I was really good in 2012 about not just making blocks, but actually assembling them into tops and doing something with the tops (in most cases, donating them) but at the moment, all I want to do is make blocks, so I think there will be some block set accumulation in the early part of 2013. So be it!

More log cabins

I'm a bit of a fan of the log cabin block - a fact which I have no doubt will not have escaped your notice if you ever read this blog - so when I feel like making blocks, it's one of my go-to blocks. I didn't sew at all today, as my brother-in-law was down visiting from Leicester, but in the past few days, among other things, I've been sewing these scrappy log cabins. Alex helped me choose what colours to use and then I've been piecing them using small bits of neutrals and blues. As it happens, there are actually 16 of them, but it was easier to photograph 9 together as it meant I didn't have to move the rug!

Now I have a hankering to make more log cabins - I'm thinking about some in another colour scheme, but not sure what yet. Maybe something with green - purple perhaps?

Cross stitch update

Lots of progress this week - nearly all of the background is filled in (not quite), so then there will just be the long stitching on the top, and then the border. It's nice to know it won't take me that many more weeks to finish this one off. 

More block lotto blocks

Four more blocks for the block lotto this month - a total of nine (the max).  The bottom left one doesn't have as much contrast as we thought it would from the fabrics in larger pieces - in larger pieces the red is more red (and less busy) and the black is more black (with less red in it). Funny how that works, sometimes. I may make another one to replace that one if I have time. 

A couple of blocks

A few more block lotto blocks - I have now made 5 for this month's block lotto. I hope to make 4 more before the end of the month - just being able to get at my sewing machine, is a major improvement, though!  

And of course, the lotto blocks aren't the only thing I've been working on today - I'll show more another time.

Giveaway!

No, not me, but my friend Kelly is starting a new giveaway - looks likely to be a series, as it's based on snow and she lives in Minnesota...  Anyway, I'm not sure the first week's giveaway will still be valid by the time I finally post this, but do keep an eye out in future weeks - it looks like fun!

Cross Stitch Update

I actually had a little time to stitch on the angels this week, for the first time this year, and have made a bit of progress, working on the red dress of the central angel.  There are about 20 bazillion shades of red in this dress (realistically, perhaps 8) so it's slow going and quite hard to count. The chart is coloured, so I can't even readily mark what I've done. I'm managing, but not at as quick a pace as normal, even on intricate pieces. 

The photo below isn't the most recent photo I have (for instance, more was done on the bell rope since that photo was taken), but it shows the red dress the best of the previous ones.  Still not well, but you can see there was a lot of white space, and now, not so much.

This next week, it's back to the Winter one - so far, no stitching time, but the weekend promises better things.

Cross-stitch update

Well, here is is finished - not pressed yet, hence the necessity of the remote control to hold down the corner, but I needed a photo and didn't want to get the iron out at this time of night...  Not a lot of stitching this week, but I have been putting binding onto quilts - partially sewed the scrapbuster squares quilt and completely finished the one which I can't show (of course).  After Christmas you can see it!  But I did take time to finish the bird triptych and yes, I have now got the Angels out and have even started in on them...  Photos of that next week, though, when there is hopefully a noticeable difference.

Some block lotto blocks

Here are three blocks made for the December block lotto.  I am hoping to make a few more of these before the end of the month - they are totally scrappy (i.e. no set colour scheme, just dark/medium/light) and not hard to make, so they suit me perfectly and more would be fun.  All the fabrics here came from scrap stash, which is a bonus...

Cross-stitch update

Well, it's time for the seasonal cross-stitch pieces.  This one first, because it's not purely Christmassy, but just wintery. I think I said before, I may try to finish this one this year, as I can keep stitching on it even once I've had enough of Christmas per se (which means, on into February if necessary). I actually got quite a lot done on it this last week. In addition to the upper right hand corner, which has come on a lot, there's quite a bit of background which has been filled in, which doesn't show quite as well.   In the next week's rotation, I will first finish the triptych and then get started on the angels. 

Pile of binding

I had an unexpected sewing day today, in the middle of the week, as Alex was not well this morning and ended up staying home from school, and of course, that meant I stayed as well. I did a few bits and pieces including a few block lotto blocks, which I will show later this week, but most of the time was spent putting binding on the three (yes, THREE) bed quilts I've had longarm quilted recently. Recently in this context being the past 6 months. One of them, I got back last week and haven't showed yet (and you will just have to wait a little longer on that one). The other two I've had for a while - the scrapbuster squares was done in October and the red and white back in July.  I do actually have plans for all three quilts - the red and white will be set aside as a wedding present for a friend; the scrapbuster is going to live in the boot of the car to be a picnic rug/emergency quilt and the other, well, you'll see sooner or later.  Wonder how long it will take me to bind them - bearing in mind I don't want to lose all my cross-stitching time in the evenings!  Only one of them has to be done soon, so it's not an issue...

My kind of weekend...

...one spent with a friend, and sewing was involved!  Not a lot, for various reasons, but we did have fun on Sunday morning digging through Karol Ann's Christmas scraps to make these little houses. The idea is to quilt them up like this and have a finished little Christmas wall hanging.  I've not quilted mine yet, but am hoping to get to it this weekend.  Can you guess whose is the red and whose is the blue?