Wonky log cabins

Here are beginnings of some wonky log cabins made with hand-dye scraps. My dyeing group is going to swap these later in the year, and as I was looking for something fairly straightforward to piece today, I decided these were just the thing. They are going to be 12" blocks - at the moment they are 5-6", so we've got a ways to go. Hopefully it will make a bit of a dent in the basket in which I keep my hand-dye scraps!

I also spent a while today working on my quilt top for ALQS4 - I think I'm not going to blog that as I go along, though, and let everyone be surprised when they see the quilts on the swap blog. I've got pictures of 3 so far; soon I will start putting them up!

Little Red Houses

Finished! Completed tonight while watching telly. It needs a good pressing and then I will have to try to find a frame for it (it's an odd size, so may need custom framing). Sweet, isn't it?

And here's a reminder of where it stood last time I showed it:



Next on the (cross-stitch) cards, something else with houses, but a bit different - stay tuned :) Guess I'm in a house sort of mood at the moment!

Canal House C

This is the third house in the row - a canal house with a boat parked in front - makes sense! The house looks a little strange in the photo because of the 1/2" seam allowance on the sides - the edge of the roof is the edge of the house.



I decided to do the windows using Angelina this time - I made a piece of "fabric" from the fibres and then cut out the rectangles. This is fairly effective and not too fiddly; I might use it again in whole or in part for more windows. Our "required fabric" - the one we have to use a piece of in every house, I used for the outside of the boat in this house. I am trying to use it in a different place in each house, but I may run out of places before the end... The fabric I used for the body of the house is a piece of rust-dyed fabric (which someone else dyed).

This is a nice project to work on over a long time - because I am doing the houses one a time I am pretty much making them up as I go along (following the pattern of the house, of course) - mostly based on what fabric I can find that makes a suitable water and/or sky. I think the next one might have a pieced sky, as I found a nice bit of water fabric, which is big enough not to need to be pieced. I haven't done a pieced sky yet, so that will make a nice change. As for the windows, who knows - the only thing I know is that the more of them I can do in a way different from House A (appliqued frames - all that satin stitching!), the better.

Canal House C

Finally got a chance to do some work on the next canal house in the row - this one has a boat parked in front of it, so the photo shows the water (which is pieced, not heavily, but with some gentle curves - both because it looks nice and because the fabric was in a long strip), the sea wall, pavement and boat. The house I have yet to tackle. Have to think about how I want to do all those windows!

Finished Arty Quilt

Here's the little arty quilt, all bound. I'd like to hang this on the wall - but probably not all year as it's rather autumnal in colour and feel. Luckily, it's fairly small (36x28") , so there's a little chance it might actually happen...

Maths pillows

Yep, that's the excitement of my sewing day - covering some cushions with a mathematical-shape-themed fabric (question: who makes this fabric and why?). Ok, to be fair, I did do a few other things - I made binding for my arty quilt and attached it - I will sew it down later this week while watching telly, etc.

And I cut out the next house (just the paper bit) in the row of canal houses, with a hope of starting it later this week as well. I pulled out some fabric for the water, too, though I haven't sewed anything yet. Not sure what I'm doing with this one, but thought I'd start with a little wavy water (going to sew the pieces together in curves).

And that was it - lots of free time today, but mostly, I just sat in the sun and read. Because who knows how many days there will be to do just that?

Arty finish...

Here's the little quilt finished (well, quilted - the binding has still to go on of course). Someone asked how big it is - it's 36x28" - not big at all (which is good as it gives me a chance to perhaps actually find a place to hang it up when it's done), which is why I managed to finish it quickly - and why I quilted it with this pattern, which is quite labour intensive. I should have spent a little time making some cushion covers for Alex's classroom, but as the machine already had the darning foot and the right thread in for this, I thought I'd finish it first. Cushion covers on Sunday!

Cross stitch progress

A fair amount of progress this time - because I have been a good girl and done some while watching telly instead of just getting out the laptop. When I told myself I would cross-stitch for an hour before getting out the laptop, and held to it, I made a lot more progress on my cross-stitch - not surprisingly... Anyway, it's not too far off now - just the other tree and a bit more fencing, etc. A little detail around the bird. A few more weeks if I keep to my first hour is cross-stitch resolution!

Arty start...

Something a little arty - not a lot, just a little. This top has been knocking around for absolutely ages, so I decided it was time to do something with it. Also helped that it was small and I had suitable backing fabric for it! I pinned it together and started quilting it today in my small spare time - my favourite small quilt pattern - the clamshell one.

Finished/Reeds

Here's the promised photo of this quilt finished - it was hard to get the small boy off it long enough to photograph it and it has gone upstairs with him to bed. Bless. Someone asked about the fabrics - the solids came from my stash, but I think the noveties all came from his - or mostly, anyway. Today he enjoyed trying to work out which ones he still had some of in his stash...



The other thing I did today was to make some more reeds for the May block lotto. I made two back in the sneak peek period, but didn't have a chance to do any more until today. And here they are. I love these - perhaps I'll be lucky enough to be one of the winners...

Spring - for a moment, anyway

Finally, a day with some more time in the sewing room! First order of business was actually to get the binding on Alex's quilt, which I did - a photo of that tomorrow, once I've finished sewing it down.





But while out and about on errands today, I couldn't resist popping in to our local haberdashery/craft department, and picking up a few treats. This morning was lovely and sunny, and springlike - as you might expect from May - though it got less nice later. Still, I was enjoying the spring weather enough to tempt me into buying some spring-like goodies (and some other goodies as well, of course), which I later used to make a batch of ATCs...



I also picked up this scarf in a charity shop - I saw it hanging in the window and was tempted in to acquire it. The nice little old lady working in the shop commented on it, but I didn't have the heart to tell her I planned to cut it up and use it as the base for an art quilt (just as well, really, as it's made from some really dreadful material and has the most synthetic texture imagineably - it was the various shades of blue which attracted me, and the lettering, of course).

Triangle meander

...is what I used to quilt this - doesn't really look that finished in this photo, but the observant among you will note the lack of safety pins... It's not heavily quilted (for once) but it will certainly do for what it is - a quilt of favourite fabrics of a small boy. Binding soon, I hope!



A closeup of the triangle meander - not very exciting, but gives an idea - it's like a loop meander but with triangles instead of loops. It's actually a hard one to do on the DSM as you need to move the quilt quite freely, which I find tougher under the DSM - probably why I usually end up doing dense quilting - not so much need to always be travelling large distances!

Giveaway results

Many thanks to all of you who offered to home my lonely, unwanted blocks recently. There was lots of response, so I have had to divide the blocks up based on a variety of factors - balance, long-term blog devotion, what you intend to do with the blocks, and ultimately, a little randomness.  But because there were only 4 different sets of blocks and lots of people offering to rehome them, in the end, some of you haven't got any blocks - sorry about that, but do keep visiting anyway, lol. I'm sure, knowing me, there will be more in future!

So - leftover black and bright blocks from the birthday swap with be going to live with  Dagmar. (Quiltmoose) - Dagmar - can you send me your address. I probably have it somewhere, but it's too much like hard work to find it, if I do!



The black and white HST blocks will be going to live with Margaret - not only is Margaret a longtime reader and fellow swap hostess, but she's making a charity quilt with an Olivia theme.  Having an Olivia myself (who predates the books, though not by much), how could I resist? Olivia, Queen of the Trampoline! I'll get them in the post to you soon, Margaret.



The little log cabin blocks will be going to live with Gene, who comments on my blog nearly every day I write something, bless him. I hope you can find a good use for them, Gene!  Send me your address and I'll get them in the post to you soon.




And finally, the group of orphan and miscellaneous blocks will be going to Lisa (miniaturequilter), who again is  a long time reader and commented and who I've swapped with a number of times. I hope you'll be able to find lots of interesting things to do with them, Lisa - and I know if there are blocks you know you won't use, there are loads of people who would happily re-re-home them for you!

Reeds and more

Well, there was no sewing today, as we were due to meet up with friends for a walk and picnic - given the horribleness of the weather, we decided a pub lunch was more in order than a picnic, but at least the rain let up enough to do our walk. Which was nice - but with most of the day out, no sewing. So, here are a few other things to show - two blocks for the May Block Lotto, which I made last week during the sneak peek period. I love these blocks - and I am going to make some more for the lotto, but only had time to do a few during the sneak peek period...




And, as it's been a long time since I did a cross-stitch update, I thought I'd share that - the main reason being that I haven't done much lately. But there has been some progress since I last showed it, and now that I've got it back out, it may progress a bit more...

Shoes - really really done

So, here they are - finished, including the binding. Shoes. The infamous (to some) shoe quilt will be ready to travel over the seas this summer and go to its new home... Not much else to say, really! I did start quilting Alex's quilt today, but I'll show a photo later as it's still precariously balanced upstairs under the machine. Anyway, it's not that exciting as it's only a simple triangle meander...

UFO progress

I forgot to post this yesterday - it's one of the things I worked on. First, I made the binding and attached it to the shoe quilt, which I will probably finish off completely this weekend. Then, I pieced together the backing for this quilt (piecing backing is probably - no, definitely - my least favourite aspect of quilting!) and layered and pinned it. No idea when I will get around to quilting it - probably not this weekend, as there are other things waiting to be done. But at least it's there and ready...

Getting rid of stuff...

I had a clear-out of my sewing room over the Easter holidays, and clearouts always mean there is stuff to get rid of. So, I'm offering this stuff up to interested parties in the usual sort of way - leave a comment about what you are interested in and names will be drawn. Some priority will be given to longtime readers, makers of charity quilts, etc, but honestly, I don't want the stuff, so I'd rather some who did want it, had it. If that's you, leave a comment and in a week or two, I will choose some people to send it all to. One item per customer unless you are the only one who wants two different things! No obligation to do anything with any of it, but if you do, I'd love to see it. And feel free to cut things up, use only part of a set, pass stuff on, re-giveaway if necessary. Whatever.



First off, 7 blocks which are black and tonal fabrics. These are the leftovers from the Birthday Block Swap. There is nothing wrong with any of these blocks, they are just the ones that, for whatever reason, didn't fit in so well when I put the blocks together into four (or was it five?) different smallish quilts. In a few cases it was size, in at least one case the black fabric was a bit lighter than most of the others. All nice blocks, they just didn't fit quite right. And I just know that all they will do is sit around my sewing room doing nothing!



Next, 7 blocks which originally came from the HST swap I did (half-square triangle). Again, these blocks are fine in themselves, but didn't work as well with the others when finally got around to making my blocks into a top. These are all 12" (finished - i.e. 12.5") blocks except one, which is about a quarter inch too small. Can't remember which off the top of my head. A couple of these weren't used because in the end I decided to go for blocks which used smaller triangles, one has a bit too much white in the black print, etc. I can't remember just why they weren't chosen but again, I'm sure someone will be able to use them for something interesting and worthwhile!



This is a mini quilt - not sure how big - maybe 18x24? maybe not as big as that. It was originally made for the BQL Challenge last year, but the thing is, I don't really like it. Longtime readers here may remember I was a bit ambivalent at the time; well, I still don't really like it. Someone will! Needs binding of course, and you may want to quilt a bit behind the flippy strips (one of the things I don't like is the bagginess there), or not - up to you.



A set of 3" log cabin blocks, paper pieced (paper still on). Originally made for the Christmas 4SQS, but the contrast wasn't good enough, so I redid the mini with light blue and white in the background. In fact, I made two of them. I'm not going to use these for anything; if I manage to turn the second set of blocks I made into a quilt for myself, I'll be impressed. There's a strange number of blocks because the planned layout originally was on point.




And last but not least - in my opinion, the most interesting of the lot - the Widows and Orphans section. This is my bag of extra bits and pieces from finished projects - where you have one or two blocks too many, or where you are testing something out but don't use the tester or where you put a block together wrong and can't be bothered to take it apart again but don't feel you should throw it away... this really is a scrapbag assortment, but all the bits are pieced units of some sort or other; some are full blocks.

Shoes done...

...and upside down in this photo, I have just realised - the black should be at the bottom of the windows. Not that it really matters. I do still have to add binding, of course, but the quilting is finished. Wonder what's next? Nothing tomorrow, as I work all day on a Monday. Though I do have a small pile of things to give away from the last sewing-room clearout - maybe I'll get around to finally doing that!

Shoes. And UFOs.

I did manage to squeeze some sewing in today, despite the 1001 errands and the temptation to sit in the sun all afternoon and read (I still did that - just not ALL afternoon). First, I made a couple of blocks for the May block lotto, but as that is still in sneak peek phase (i.e. secret until 1 May) I can't show photos. I can say, though, that the block was good fun to make, easier than you might think, a very cool choice of block to do, and involved lime green. What's not to like? I promise to post photos once it's public as I want to encourage people to give the block lotto in general and this block in particular a try.

Next up, I pulled out one of my UFOs (actually, I left it out the other day when measuring up) and layered, pinned and started quilting it. After a little time spent perusing Dijanne Cevaal's 72 ways not to meander or stipple, I decided to use a spiky frond pattern (or rather, my personal variation thereon). I love this book - it's great for ideas for quilt fillers which are a little different (especially for very small quilts, as some are quilt labour intensive). I frequently change the design slightly for one reason or another - and sometimes more than slightly - but it's a fabulous jumping off point when you are uninspired about what type of design to use. I am seriously thinking of buying the second one.

Anyway, this is the infamous (to some) shoe quilt. It's intended as a belated 40th birthday present for a friend in the US. I look forward to it being the first item crossed off on the UFO tabs.

And speaking of UFO tabs, you may notice there are now 4 of them - just too much stuff for one (or even two) so I have divided them up. Now I'm thinking about a finished quilts tab - or two...

UFO tab

The observant among you may notice a new tab at the top of my blog - I am going to set up a page for my UFOs - starting today, but I don't think I will finish it today - there are a lot of them (nearly 40 complete tops of various sizes needing quilting, as well as a few block sets and miscellaneous other things - mostly the tops, though). Last year, I made a major push and got rid of nearly all my sets of blocks, either by turning them into quilt tops (hence the large numbers of quilt tops!) or giving them away; the next year or so is the turn of the UFO. A few of them, I am setting aside for longarming, but lots of them are small and can quite easily be done on my DSM. Several of the baby-quilt sized pieces I will probably keep as is until needed as gifts, as they take less space to store when they are only a top, but even allowing for those exceptions, there are still quite a few I could be working on...

I do have a list of UFOs already in my sidebar, but this is a bit more detailed - and is really as much if not more for my own sake than for those who may read this blog. I hope to get them all listed, along with a photo, the size of the piece (if a finished top) and some sort of date related to the project - when I started it, when it reached finished top state - something of that nature. I know one or two of these are really old...

I'm going to try to list them in size order (hmm - smallest to biggest or the other way around - decisions, decisions!) as that scares me less than in order of how old they are or how likely they are to get finished!

And of course I will also put up the handful of other things which aren't finished tops - but there are not very many of those at the moment - less than a dozen I think. And that includes a few ongoing things as well as those which are stalled.

So anyway, watch this space. Or rather, don't watch this space, watch the UFO tab! Hopefully there will be some crossing off of things on this list quite soon...

(edited to say, I have only done 5 tonight - I think it's going to take longer than I thought, lol. And I think I might divide it into several tabs - small, medium and large, perhaps?)