Bank holiday sewing

Here are the three flying geese I decided to submit to the block lotto this month (although I will donate my chances). 

I did, however, make a large stack to use for a Linus quilt top

and there are a few more waiting to be put together still. 

But of course, being me, I couldn't only do one thing,  and noticing that my strip bag was filling up quite a lot again, I reverted to my block of choice - the Log Cabin.  I decided to make all the centres a black & white HST unit, and then do a vague light/dark around the outside. 

I love log cabin blocks. You may have noticed this! Such a fun, easy, versatile block.   These have strips cut at 1/5", so they use most widths of scraps - all but the narrowest. But it's easier to keep the size consistent if the rounds aren't TOO narrow.   I'll probably finish these off tomorrow, along with the final few flying geese. What's next? I have a few projects I really SHOULD work on, so perhaps I'll actually get to a few of those!

Geese and Stars

I made a few flying geese units today, but lots more ready to be assembled. And I will do some more as well - this will be a nice block for using small pieces of fabric.   I'll only use a few of the finished blocks for the block lotto, though. The rest will go to a Linus quilt top. Someday.

And I managed to finish 6 of these masculine and brown stars - two in a woodsy print, two with boats on, two with ducks on. The fabric that Karol-Ann sent me is going to be quite challenging to use, I think!

A little sewing in the afternoon

A little sewing yesterday - not much - I dug a few pieces out of the Linus stash that Karol Ann sent me and made some stars - there are some very...challenging...fabrics in that stash - it will be interesting to see what I manage to do with the pieces.

I also started making flying geese for the May Block Lotto (I know, I've left it a bit late, but it's been a busy month). I will probably make extras and use the spare blocks for something. Although I am a bit short of cream coloured TOT fabrics, so I might use other neutrals for the blocks that aren't for the lotto specifically.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Goodies!

Got this parcel in the post a few days ago from Karol-Ann.  She has sent me a load of interesting novelties to use in Project Linus quilts - this should be a challenge!

As well as some nice bits and pieces more for myself and my own playing around. 

And of course a card, plus a little something extra, which I may or may not be able to keep (depending on if either of my girls sees it first; they will probably try to nab it if they do...). 

Thanks!  At some point, there may even been quilt tops made from those Linus fabrics... Don't hold your breath, though.

Some paper stash

As you might guess from the photo, this is a before & after combo of some more of my storage space - this is mainly paper (although it's not all the paper bits I have, mind you).  The large drawer (top left) has all the scrap book papers in it - there aren't tons of them, but they are an awkward size (12" square) so they don't fit in the other drawers, which would be more convenient. I didn't get rid of much in the way of paper, just tidied it up. I have a drawer of tissue and wrapping paper, a drawer of pads of papers of various kinds and a drawer of newspapers, fliers, magazine pages, maps, programmes and other largeish ephemera. I also have, not pictured, a drawer of alphabets (most of them incomplete, mind you).  I know I have a couple of other, smaller drawers, with paper stuff in them as well - I made add to these once I get those sorted out. But there's plenty of time for that, I'm sure.

Cross-stitch update

I haven't done a lot of cross-stitching this week, for various reasons - tiredness, being out for the evening, and so on, but I did manage to finish the coloured parts of the top flower, fill in quite a bit of colour on the second one down and do a fair amount of backstitching on both of them (the top one is finished, except for the leaves).  Hopefully next time this one comes out, I'll be able to really get the leaves sorted.

ATC Round Robins

One of the things I've been doing lately is taking part in ATC round robins - this is where multiple people work on a project before it goes back to the owner. The way this particular one works is that one person starts 3 cards - similar, usually, though often not identical. They send all three to a second person, who adds something (again, usually similar). That person sends them to a third, who finishes the card, keeps one and sends the other two back to person 1 (who keeps one and sends one to person 2 - confused yet?).  Anyway, the upshot is three similar cards worked on by three different people. Each of the people who worked on the cards gets one to keep.  This is a set which I finished off -I was person 3 on them. (In this case, I think the first person did the background, the second added the photo, I added the musical tape, the caption and the fleur-de-lis.)

This is a set where I was person number two - I added the piece of lace and the lock and key charms before sending them along to person 3. 

And again, on this set I was the second person - I added the ribbon across the bottom and the line of funky stitching crossing the card. 

I have also started a number of card sets - I made the backgrounds and sent them off to be worked on by others - here are some with a coffee theme (it was a napkin)

and some with houses and maps (and Korean text from a Korean newspaper).

These cards are a background with felt stars sewn on, and I know that the second person has worked on them - if you want to see what she added, you can go to the A4A forum and scroll down this page a little - there's a photo. 

These are just paper collage

as as these - though the paper is quite funky here.  I try to send a variety of different types of things out so I get a variety of things back. I really like doing the round robins because other people think of different additions than you might otherwise use yourself - it's fun to see what happens!

Tiny log cabins

This is another top which I put together a few weeks ago - these blocks are the narrow scrappy log cabins in dark and light which I used as leaders and enders for  long time - the strips are only 1" wide, unfinished, so they are about 1/2" in the finished blocks. I played with the layout for a while (log cabins are nice like that) and decided to go with this medallion style. I love how you can really see the light/dark contrast this way. 

ATCs: Bird Collage

I didn't do any sewing today, per se (I did run some lines of stitch on some ATCs). These are for a swap, with the theme of collage and text.  I'm a big fan of text, so I had to take part.

The cards are all similar, with different positioning of the elements and different words. 

This one shall go in my gallery on A4A (http://www.atcsforall.com/index.php) for general swapping.

A few more birdies

There are still a few more to arrive, but here's the latest group...  I do really love these birds - not sure how I am going to put them together into a quilt, though - will have to have a think about it!

More blocks assembled

Here's another top I put together in my recent push to get my block sets into tops - this was scrappy centres bordered in neutral fabrics. Again, fairly quick to put together and creates a nice, scrappy quilt. I still have a few more to show - which is good, as I don't seem to be doing much sewing at the moment!

Cross-stitch goodies

I mentioned recently that I joined a new monthly cross-stitch club - these are the Little Sheep Virtues (from Little House Needleworks) - one per month in 2013, quite small, all with sheep and all with virtues. 

As the programme had started already, my initial parcel had three virtues in it - Hope, Love and Peace. I should get one more virtue approximately every month (because it's imported from the US, occasionally there are customs-related delays) until we've reached 12.  I will obviously be a bit behind for a little while, but they are small and look quite quick to stitch, so probably not for long. 

I have opted to turn them into individual pieces, with the coloured felt, partly because it looks pretty and partly because it's different from a lot of my pieces. 

I won't start the first one for a while - it's back to the Irises this week, and then the little Spring Sampler needs finishing. And then I have another installment of the Faith birds - but soon, perhaps, I will get to the sheep!

Cross-stitch update

A finish!  The sampler is done - it was fairly quick to stitch - I think the most time was spent working out how to space the letters of my name...

It was nearly done, anyway - you can see where it finished last time.

The next project in this week of the rotation is this little house, part of a seasonal sampler - I've done the Autumn and Winter ones, and now just have the Spring and Summer ones.  I actually have several new cross-stitch pieces waiting for me - the next bird in The Flock (the birds on the pink fabric) has arrived, and some parts to a new series I've signed up to; I'll show them later, perhaps tomorrow. 

Here's what the Spring Sampler will look like once finished. 

Big Flock of Birds

I should probably buy some lottery tickets, as I seem to be going through a run of good luck -

I have won the block lotto twice now, in three months.

And this time, I only made one bird, so I had a single chance in the drawing.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the low-volume hearts that I won in February, but these birds I more than like - 

I adore them. 

I haven't received quite all of mine yet - I think about 4 or 5 more sets to come - 

but aren't the ones I have so far wonderful?

Every time I open a new package, I have a new favourite.

Though I have to say, I really like the legs on the top one in this photo - black and white stripes - very cool.   It may not be my favourite birds, but I think he has my favourite legs.

Somewhere, too, there's the one that I made for the lotto, which I am keeping to add to the flock.