Not easy being green...

Here are four of the finished 12" green scrappy blocks - in this photo, the greens look quite brown - this is partly because they happen to be fairly brown greens, but it's also a trick of the light...



Here are some in progress on my chair...



...and sewing table...



...and cutting table.



And here's what was left of the stack of strips once enough for 20 blocks had been cut - this is quite impressive as none of the strips left are long/wide enough to even get a 1.5"x18" strip from, which is one of the smallest requirements (other than the 1.5x3.5" centres for some of the blocks - those, I could have made a few more of...)

What doesn't show is that I also dug into my stash of smallish bits of green (these range from about 10" square up to larger than a FQ but smaller than 1/2 metre) and managed to use up quite a few of the smaller pieces in that box. Which is great. Of course, I still have to finish assembling the 20, 12" squares, but I think I'm going to be very pleased with the result!

Green scraps

The colour for the scrappy challenge this month is green. I saw a project on Julie's blog, and decided to unashamedly pinch it for my green scraps this month. So, here's a bit of a start on cutting - so far, I have only used pieces from my stash of green strips:



though I can tell that I will have to cut into some larger pieces before I finish all these green blocks - I have a limited number of strips which are long enough to accomodate the longest strips needs in this pattern. But that's alright.

Postage Stamp Cards

A couple of different takes on the theme Postage Stamp - this one mimics the stamp itself...




while this one uses the stamp as part of the scene....

Queen for a Day

Another couple of ATCs - these for the swap Queen for a Day - just had to have a crown. I used rusted paper as a background, punchinella (sequin waste), green paper, etc.

Jack of Hearts

One of four cards for an Altered Playing Card swap - I went with a Lily, Rosemary & Jack of Hearts theme, from the Bob Dylan song. The other cards are similar - lyrics, a person or two, a flower of some sort, green stems.

Cross stitch update

Finally finished the snowy lawn tonight (hoorah!) - so there's not a huge amount more to be done - some trees, a border, the word winter in the background and a few other bits of filling. I'm hoping I'll get it done before I get so tired of winter I want to run away screaming - oh wait, that was several weeks ago! Anyway, should be finished soon and then I can move on to something a bit more cheery... Or perhaps something completely different! Goodness knows I have enough stuff knocking about.

Here's where it stood last time I posted about it - about 2 weeks ago.

Lady of the Lake

Two blocks by this name, for a swap I am doing with my friend Cathi - one is on the way to her with some other bits and pieces, the other is going in my drawer here to someday be made into a quilt top. Ah, triangles. Gotta love 'em!

Brown and Blue D4P

With some border fabric added, this one is all ready to go now - off to a friend for a charity quilt. I do like the colours in this one, though - might have to do something similar again.

Little Robin's Egg quilt

While digging through a basket of stuff in my sewing room, I found a small stack of 4" squares in browns and blues which I forgot I had made from a charm pack I had received - so I went ahead and sewed them together! The piece is intended for a blank space on the wall in Sarah & Olivia's room:



which has similar colours. I still have to quilt it, of course, but now that I've remembered its existence, perhaps it will get done soon!

Music in the Air

Yes, more ATCs (I make a lot of these at night, while watching telly) - these ones for a swap with a music theme. Everything on these cards, except the music themed tissue tape, came from a guitar magazine that my nephew left behind in the recycling (and which I promptly pinched back out again!) when he was visiting last year.

Spring trees

Some ATCs for a tree themed swap. A red velvety background, which doesn't scan at all well; variegated pink thread and then sequins for the leaves and flowers. I actually made four, but they are very similar, so no need to show them all...

Pretty in Pink

Three ATCs (very similar) for a pink themed swap I am hosting on ATCs for All.

More disappearing four patches

So, I took the block lotto idea, and decided to use it to get rid of a few more scraps - this time I used pre-cut 5 inch squares in browns and blues. I had intended to make 12 for a small quilt, but when I went to sew them together, I realised I had made 13, so I set them on point instead and used a very old piece of brown calico someone had given me for the setting triangles. I will add a small border to it in the same brown, then send it along to a friend for her group to turn into a charity donation as well. Still not much of a dent in the little drawers of 5 inch squares, though...

Another row

Up to 5 rows now - two more rows to go and then, I think, a black border.

Block lotto, revisted

So, here are all nine of the blocks I made for this month's block lotto - I like these and wouldn't mind winning them; they'd make a fun quilt.

I also made a load more for Clare's Quilts for Leukaemia challenge (she's sent me the code for a blog badge - I really must put that in my sidebar, or at least in the posts I make on the subject!) which I will send off to her next week some time. Not quite sure how practical 22 blocks are, but I'm sure she'll manage to do something with them!

Tarot Card ATCs

These done for a swap with a Tarot (Major Arcana) theme. I'm not particularly into Tarot Cards, but I thought the subject matter would make for an interesting set of swap cards...

Ransom Notes

Another set of swap ATCs - these for a "ransom notes" theme - i.e. they had to have some sort of slogan or message on them, pieced in letters cut from magazines or newspaper - like the stereotypical ransom note (I'm guessing most ransom notes aren't cut from Fibre Arts, though, which is what this came from!).







I used pre-printed papers for the backgrounds on all of them - it was time-consuming enough cutting letters!

Disappearing Four Patch

This is a great block, which is this month's block over on the Block Lotto - I have made more than two of them, but as I haven't taken a photo of them together, I thought I'd just share a couple. I have some more to finish, but I have enough cut out and started to make 9 for the lotto and still have a good handful left over to send to Clare for her Quilts for Leukaemia challenge.

Cross stitch update

That time again - time to show what progress has been made on the cross-stitch with the tiny linen (actually, I'm getting used to the small count - not that I will necessarily ever do it on this small a count ever again, but at least I can finish this one without having to go completely mad...).

There's a lot of white in this one (ok, it's not technically white, it's DMC 712, a kind of pale oatmeal colour) - I'm trying to intersperse some of the colour in with the white rows. But I'll be glad when the snow is done. At least it's small!

Lighthouses

You'll never guess the theme of this ATC swap, which I completed a little while back. I used torn paper and transparencies (acetate). Acetates are frequently becoming one of my favourite media - they are just so good for layering...