Adding a border

This hand-dyed border fabric is not the same as (any of the several) purples inside the border, but it certainly looks pretty close, doesn't it!  It was an odd-sized piece, but perfect for this. Another top bordered and ready to go off somewhere, to someone who will quilt it!

Cross stitch update...

This one is nearly finished, but I've had to stop as I am out of white (easily obtainable) and the green colour for the border (which I need to order online). I also don't seem to have any of the colour for the roof of the Beach House.  But I'll put an order in with my supplier and get ahold of those threads soon, so I can finish it off. Maybe even in time for it to still be summery out - summer usually hangs on here until late September, so I'm in good shape...

This one, obviously, has lots more stitching to it - in fact, the green grass extends another few inches to the left, but I've had to stop stitching it, because again, I've run out of green - there's a lot of green there; I used up a whole order of the colour (which is called, brilliantly, Scuppernong). But there's plenty to work on which isn't grass, so it's not really a problem...  I'll probably take this one and another when I go away next week to a friend's - perhaps another of the little sheep virtues. Or maybe I'll just take a couple of those. We'll see!

ATCs: Textured with Metallic Element

One of the problems with scans (and photographs too) is that they often don't show textures and metallic elements well - so a swap with a theme of Textured with Metallic is bound to show up poorly. Still, these cards were fun to make, using a heavily textured crumpled paper as a background with some shiny paper folded and layered at the top. I then added a textured ribbon, which is copper in colour - think it's actually plastic, rather than being foil... And finally, for the metallic element I used some very thin bits of metal, with designs punched into them. I used stitch to hold all the elements down. Funky!

Bits & Pieces

On a recent trip to Ikea, I made a stop at Hobbycraft (there used to be one just down the road from us, but now the closest one is Croydon - this is probably a good thing, come to think of it) and picked up some goodies.  Now to get to work using them!

Tula Pink no 62, with a border

...and here it is, with a border added - a neutral/brown floral pattern, which I think works well.  Another one for the finished top pile. 

Tula Pink, number 62

Gradually working my way through the stacks of blocks which need to be assembled into tops...and then bordered. Obviously, the second stage of this process hasn't happened yet!

Little quilts waiting

Today I paired up some of my little quilt tops with the backings made from the tie-dye pillowcases and put them in a pile for later...

...of course, there is still a pile of small tops which need to be paired with some backs, but some of these tops need borders before that point. That's a project for another day...

Prep work

Today's work, not really all that thrilling, was to make loads of binding, for small scrappy baby quilts. I just took all my strips which were wide enough and stitched miles of them (ok, I exaggerate) together, so I'm good to go when I need to attach binding quickly. I do save offcuts of binding as well, though I didn't have many at the moment, and use them for binding scrap quilts. 

I also turned a number of old, tie-dyed pillowcases into fabric for quilt backings (again for small charity quilts).  I now have a nice stack of flat, unseamed, dyed fabric to use as backs for more little quilts. I hope to get some more quilted this summer - they don't really take that long to do when the tops are only 24" square or so.

Cross Stitch Update

As well as the other little summer piece I showed the other day, I've finished off this piece - more of a spring one, I guess, but doesn't matter; it's finished!

To go with the summer boxes, which I'm going to get back to soon, I've started another new piece - there's a lot of green to it, as you might be able to tell. And perhaps you can see what else is lurking on that hillside?  For a glimpse at the finished stitchery, check out this site...

A small bit of quilting

One of the many small tops I've prepared for my local Project Linus, which contributes to a Special Care Baby Unit at a local hospital. This is only the second one I've quilted, though I hope to get some more done this summer. I still need to bind them, but will probably do that en masse, making a big long string of binding all at once...

Little Summer Cross Stitch

Finished!  Though I do have a little watermelon button I can stitch on over where the watermelon is; I may do that later this week...

Scrappy strippy quilt

This was a fun experiment - I put the scraps together into strips of varying widths, and then sewed the strips together - a bit more controlled than totally scrappy, without my usual block-building method. It just needs a border, and then it will be sorted. 

Scrappy Tumbler Top

Here are the scrappy tumbler blocks made into a top with some plain (i.e. single fabric) tumblers interspersed to calm things down a bit. Only a little bit, mind you, not a big bit...

ATC Friday

My favourite Round Robin cards to show are the ones where I was the middle player, as I have photos of all three stages in those cases, rather than just starter and finished card (when it's my starter) or what it looked like after two players, and then finished (when I am the final player).   Here's the finished version of this card...

...and here's how it started. 

I made some additions and sent it on!

Another finished card; 

what I received;

what I added.

Gathering bits and pieces

In the manner of a true addict connoisseur of crafting, I tend to look for craft supplies anywhere I go. Be it garden centres (which often have a small craft section these days), genuine haberdashery departments or other miscellaneous shops. Here are a few bits I've recently gathered in my travels!

Cross-stitch update

Quite a lot of work this week...I switched back to this piece when I ran out of spaces to stitch in the mini Summer sampler.  but there's not a lot left - the rest of the border and some bits on the right-hand size. Oh, and the girl has a face..

This one is done except for the spces I need to fill with the correct dark green. Now that I've bought one (yesterday) I should be able to finish soon!

Scrappy Tumblers

Although I emptied my little scrap basket the other day, there was still a drawer full of small pieces waiting to have something done to them. Inspired by some scrappy tumblers I saw in my travels (I think on Jane's blog) I decided to start making fabric, in order to cut some tumblers. I think I will eventually set these alternately with single-fabric tumblers (not all of them may be the same fabric, but each tumbler will only be one fabric itself) - this will make the overall project less scrappy. 

In the meantime, I stitch and cut!

More windows

Yesterday, I showed the three blocks I had made for the block lotto in the current month's pattern - here are the other blocks I made using the same pattern - some with a black and white frame, others with some difficult to use black and grey fabrics.  (Only difficult to use in the sense that I only have a small amount of each one - if I had lots, I'm sure they'd be quite straightforward to use.) 

I tried to keep the windows a bit linked - similar colours or whatever - my mother was still visiting when I made these (I couldn't blog them until  August, though), so she gave me a hand sorting through my 2.5" squares looking for fun combinations of 4...

Little Windows

These three little windows blocks were made for the August Block Lotto, using scraps from my stash of 2.5" squares. Of course, there are still a lot left, even though I have actually made more than just these three (but only three are going to the lotto). 

I also managed to use a long, skinny piece of black and white batik, which was the offcut from a quilt backing - as these blocks use 1.5" strips, my long strips, which varied from 3.5-5" wide were perfectly suited.

ATC Friday: Abstract with Stitching

...the theme of an ATC swap. I finished these cards up today, using some backgrounds from a previous piece of work, which has been sitting around in my pile for some time. I think the original piece was painted lutradur with painted lace over it. I wouldn't swear to it, though, as it's been a while since I made it!