Work in Progress Wednesday - Christmas

 I have been working on a set of four Christmas scrappy trip placemats. I have foolishly decided to quilt them with gold thread. That stuff is a bother to work with. It keeps splitting.

 Anyway all four are now quilted. I didn't get to sew the binding on though because I had to supervise pumpkin carving. The girls want to do it on their own but I have slight issues with them and knives and hard skinned fruits.

 Both pumpkins are successfully carved and in place to scare people.

They are mighty proud of their handy work.

Maybe I'll manage to sew on the binding later.
I am linking to Freshly pieced WIP Wednesday.

More Scrappy Trip up cycling

 Turns out that shirts have way more fabric in them then I thought. Also my mother dug up some more old shirts.

 I have decided to make another scrappy trip quilt. Again for my dad. I hope he likes it.

Looking at it on the "design floor" I think this looks great. I do however have to put this one on ice for now. I need to get on and make Christmas presents. The daughters' school is have a Christmas raffle and I thought I would make some Christmas placemats for that.
I hope to have some Christmas things to show you next week.

Have a great weekend.

Friday Finish Scrappy Trip in soft colours

 It's officially finished! It is quilted and bound. One item to strike of the to do list.

 I am really please how it turned out. I chose to use five rows rather than six. I used the same lay out as Quilt Taffy. They have made a useful addition to the original tutorial. My quilt measures 60" by 80", just right for a 10year old or so she tells me.

 Husband should be pleased with this quilt. The only new fabric I bought was for the back; even the wadding is from the stash. I fankensteined two large pieces of wadding together for this quilt. Not pretty but it's on the inside, so no one will know.

It's not all "up cycled". Most of the fabrics were left over from dress making, some however were bought previously on a whim because they were cute and were never used.

 A close up of my not so fab quilting. Again, no new thread was bought. I have done more quilting on this than on any other quilt.

Daughter wanted it every row quilted. I felt every other was more than enough. I like the pale butterflies she chose for the back. Very in keeping with the rest of the quilt.

Now that I have used up so much fabric I have made room for some more. I think I know what it will be too. ;-)

Picnic rug

Starry Night

I have finished my starry night quilt top. There are those who say it is not my best work but I decided to put my fingers in my ears and go Lalala. I like it because it is mostly "up cycled". The stars are all made with left overs from dresses or other quilt projects. I confess that the sashing is not up cycled. I had to go out and buy that. Turns out I had less dark blue in my stash than I thought.

Now here in the UK a picnic rug, and that is after all what this quilt top is destined to be, needs a waterproof back. I have worked with waterproof fabric before and find it rather slippery. Any ideas? Should I use spray baste?
Husband is worried that if I quilt waterproof fabric it will no longer be waterproof (water will be able to come in through the stitching).

It's been a while since I had a Friday Finish. Hope you all have a good Friday and weekend.

Fabric shopping

 I have been a bad girl. I have been fabric shopping, I am supposed to be a fabric diet but I did use up lots and it is almost Christmas and I need to make presents. Anyway. I bought these lovely little Geisha girls at beautifulwork on Etsy. As I was paying for postage anyway I bought the owls as well.

  Owls are in, my daughter tells me. They are a need to have item.

I also bought these cute little flamingoes, zebras and molecules on ebay. They will be made into little things for my nieces and nephew.
There is a little sneaky moustache fabric peeking out. That is for one of my friends. She likes moustaches.

Need to get back to my sewing machine. The weather is chilly but sunny. I hope to get something, so I have a Friday Finish.

Buttercup bag.

 I have finally gotten round to making one of these little beauties. I found the pattern last year on Rae's blog. I knew it was cute and I wanted one. Cute bags need cute fabric, so I chose these little rabbits. Not too cute I think but cute enough to satisfy my girlish side. 

It has taken me almost a year to make one. Well I needed a reason for a small bag and I am going out on Friday. Without children or husband. Nothing terribly wild. One of the mothers at the daughters' school has organised a meal out. Still exciting though. I don't get out much. Well people don't understand that I want to take my sewing with me.

Not the biggest bag ever as you can see from the size of the phone but should be big enough.
Rae's pattern is easy to follow and the make was quick too.

Upcycling

 I am not sure if this quilt would be considered up cycling. The shirts had pretty much had it as shirts. Well That is what my mother and I thought. My father and husband don't seem to mind fraying collars and cuffs.
The back of this quilt (sorry no photos the weather is a bit grey today) is vintage but has never been used as such. The bolt of fabric has just been sitting in a wardrobe for a good 50 years. Not up cycled really.

The quilt is lovely a warm though and has been dog approved. I used quilter's dream white polyester wadding. This is lovely wadding to use. No fluff, easy to quilt and is warm and light. It has to be light this quilt is 2.2m long, so would weigh a fair bit if I had used cotton wadding.
My father is coming to collect it tomorrow. He wanted to come over today but I haven't quite finished stitching down the binding. Not my favourite job. Fingers crossed there is some good TV tonight.