Über-Cute Quilt

 This the "Über-Cute" quilt. It's very Very cute. My daughters think it looks very Cath Kidston but not a single fabric of hers has been used.

 The drunkard's path blocks were easier than I had anticipated. It did take me a while to decide how to quilt it. I thought my normal cross hatch might be a little too minimal. I am pleased with the overall look of it.

I even splashed out on an expensive back for it.

Lime twist with a twist finished

 I finally have this one finished. I was finished end of April but I had quilted it using a blue green colour.

 It didn't work for me. The colour had to go. I spent a fun day with a seam ripper and quilted it again.

 This time I used cream. Much Much better. It blends in with the scooter fabric. So much happier.

"Lime Twist" with a Twist.

I decided to make the Lime Twist quilt from Quilt Now issue 6. Except as 2015 is the year of the stash reduction I am using fabrics I already had. I had this pile of fabric already together wit the scooter fabric as background but never quite decide what to make. Well now I have. 

In my last post I mentioned I was going to Henley to "only" buy fabric for the back of sweet Drunkard's path quilt. That plan went slightly wrong. I did go to Henley and I did buy back fabric and then I looked at the FQ packs. I think that's where I went wrong. 

 All that talk about not adding to the stash was forgotten. This will make a great boy quilt.

I will be able to incorporate some of the stash. Look the orange and green go really well. I am sure I have some blues that will go as well. So actually it will help reduce the stash - it will really. I think Mr Made By Frederica believed me.

Good Friday Finish

Yes, I know it's Easter Sunday today and Good Friday is long since gone. I did however finish this on Friday. I really like how this Sweet Drunkard's Path has turned out. It's only small 110cm square but super cute.

I had declared 2015 the year of the stash buster (yes, I know all years are proclaimed as such) and was planning to piece a back from the stash. However the top is all stash, no new fabrics used, so I might just treat this super cute quilt to a new back. Lady Sew and Sew have the big polka dot fabric in their sale and also some others that might be suitable. I think a trip to Henley is in order. It's Easter Holidays, so the daughters and dog can come and we will have a walk by the river after the fabric shopping.

It's better weather today, so I will try and get some outdoors shots to show it in a better light.

Happy Easter everyone.

Finishes

 Finally finished these quilts. It was a long wait but I think it was worth it. I like the red with the Aqua. The fabrics are two fat quarter pack Rowan fabrics and the Aqua is Valori Wells by Westminster fibres. The centres of the log cabins are lilac polka dots. You can't see them very well on the picture but they are there.

The back is an Ikea print. It's just shy of the width I needed, so I added this lovely strip of pink hearts. They are leftover from a dress Daughter2 had. I quilted diagonal straight lines (almost straight) in Mettler topstitching thread. It works quite well and my Pfaff seems to like the thread.

I also finally finished the Shirt scrap trip. And yes, Shirts were harmed in the making of this. I prefer to call it upcylcing though.

The back is another Ikea print. I must learn to make my quilts at little less wide though. I added another upcycle element here though, an old pillow case from Habitat. The wadding was made from recycled bottles, which fitted well with the upcycle theme here.

Home life has been a bit all over the place Husband was in a car crash. Luckily he wasn't seriously hurt but he is home for at least another four weeks nursing his broken vertebra. He has commandeered my sewing table. It's height adjustable, so he can stand and work. I have had to move back to the dining room table this does slow down progress though.

Two more of my finish list for Q1.

Work in progress round up.

A quick round up of my works in progress:

Quilt back for the shirt scrap trip quilt. I have booked the basting table and tomorrow is the it will get basted.

 Finally cut into some fabrics I have been hoarding for about a year. This will be a sampler quilt. The fabrics are Tula pink saltwater and Karavan by Valori Wells and other fabrics from my stash that I think match.

I started a skirt for myself during half term. Probably progress has been slower than I would like.

 Village haberdashery Star block of the month. They are on instagram as starbotm. Can't seem to find hashtag on my keyboard. I am such a techno wizard - not.

 Again finally using some fabrics Karavan fabrics I bought about a year ago. It was a really good deal at Lady Sew and Sew; a giant fat quarter pack, which worked out at £1.50 per FQ. Bargain.

I am trying to improve my curved piecing. The fabric choices are a little cute. My daughters love it though. I worry that is is too sweet and will cause dental cavities. We will see how it turns out.

Linking to Freshly pieced WIP Wednesday.

Hello still here

Well it turns out I am seriously rubbish at keeping up with the blogging. I have have been sewing though.

 I have finished my red white and blue quilt top. This is entirely made from the stash. Total bonus I have managed to get rid of some fabric.

Lots of people we know are expecting. These are for a baby born last week. 

 This a quilt I was commissioned to make for a little girl. The brief was not too pink. Well pink did sneak in but I am not a fan of pink, so I understand about not liking pink but some pink is necessary.

 Bibs for a new year's eve baby.

 Makeup pouch for an 11th birthday. I was filled with makeup and hair suff, just what you need if you are a pre teen. Also great to see the father of pre teen realise what the future holds.

Table runner for the parents.

So this month the plan. Quilt some quilt tops and a table runner and make a another baby quilt.

The bibs are part finishes from my Q1 list.

Finished winding ways

 I finished my mini Winding ways quilt. No it's not big it's only 60cm x 60cm but it is a finish. On close inspection you will see that all blocks are perfect. However there is improvement The last blocks are better than the first.

I like how the patterns work. There are circles and ovals. I will have to make a larger version of this.

Because this is going to a young lady who is now 15 days old and around 9 lbs I decided to use fleece as a back for the quilt.

The stats:
60cm x 60cm finished
Accuquilt winding ways 8 inch finished die
Fabric from the stash; no new fabric was bought. The fabrics were all bought at Lady sew and sew.

First strike of the finish list for Q1.

Resolutions for 2015

Apologies for the long absence. I have been a little bit busy with Christmas etc. My blogging is sporadic at best, so here comes my first resolution: Blog once a week. 

• Join the Finish Along 2015. This year On the Windy side is hosting it.  Let's hope this will spur me on to have more finishes. 
• Get better at curves. In a view to achieving this I aim to finish this winding ways quilt. Only nine blocks, so not too hard. It should then be big enough for a baby quilt. Luckily one of my friends had a brand new baby girl on new year's eve. 

•  Quilt my rowan red and aqua log cabin quilt. I have the back. I have the binding. I just need to go out and buy the wadding. 

•  Quilt Shirt of my back scrap trip quilt. This top has been finished for almost a year. Better get this sorted. I have everything I need I jus haven't done anything about it. 

•  Make eight bibs. Two for each baby due at husband's work. This needs to be a Q1 project as all the baby's are due between now and March. 

Not overly ambitious I know. There is a whole long list of other things I want to make and need to make. I am fairly sure that the daughters have outgrown most of their summer clothes and then there are the dress up days at school and school disco to consider too. 

I would like some new skirts. Husband wants a quilt to take in his car. I know there are at least three quilts I have pulled fabric for. I also started a red white and blue scrap quilt, which is making slow progress. 

Wish me luck with all this. 

Friday Finish and start

I have finished a little project for my Neighbour. Her husband passed away suddenly from a stroke two year ago. It has taken her a while to clear out his cupboard. She asked me if I could make cushion covers from his shirts. 

 She grouped together three set of colours that she wanted as cushions. We had a fun afternoon looking at different patchwork patterns and she chose the Crystal star, the hands of friendship and the Ohio Star.

 I tried really hard to make these as neat and straight as possible for her. I don't want her to regret asking me to do this.

 I hope she will like these.

Another little commission I am working on is a Christmas stocking.

The brief is Christmassy but not too much. These are the fabrics I chose. There are Christmas fabrics but also just normal dress fabrics and the lesser spotted Christmas Camper van.

Have a good weekend.

Scrap Fest 2014

 The quilt top for Scrap Fest 2014 has been declared large enough by my daughters. It covers a 9 year old child, just. If you look closely you can see her toes and the top of her head.

I am not sure if it needs a border. It's an all right size for a lap quilt (120 cm by 140 cm). I will need to think it through an see what I decide. I also need to raid the stash to see if I have anything for the back. I probably have some Ikea fabric I can use up.

Work in Progress

 Daughter 1 has finally finished her quilt top. It's not perfect. Some of the corners are cut off by the sashing but considering she is not 11 yet I think she did a great job.

 Also I think I deserve a pat on the back for not interfering with her colour choices or getting over protective of my fat quarter stash. I think she has chosen an Ikea print from the stash as back but I  want to be doubly sure before I baste this puppy.

Scrap fest 2014 has grown, maybe not as much I would have liked but the dangerous duo are back at school, so they don't have as much time to help. Also I have some work at the moment, so sewing time is limited. Great to have work but there is so much other stuff I would love to be doing instead. Mustn't grumble. I had better get on.

Scrap Fest 2014

 Rachel over on Stitched in Color is having a Fabric purge. I figured it would be a good plan to join in.

I have been trying hard this year not to buy new fabric and to only use up what I have. So far I haven't done too badly. I have made 4 tunics out of stash, a top for a friend's daughter, a skirt for myself and two dresses for daughters. On the positive lots of things no new fabric bought. On the downside though I have created more scraps.

I have emptied (some) of the scarp baskets and cut the fabrics into 2.5"scraps. The daughters sewed the squares into blocks for me. This was too random for me I have decided to add some cross or X type blocks to get over the random. I hope to get some more done but the weather has been too good to stay indoors and do much sewing.

Linking to the Stitched in Color "Purge".

Scraps

New set up with two machines

I have made painfully little progress this month. The Girls have been off school since 4/7 and I have managed to make a dress. I can't show you pictures because the daughter has worn it and it is in the laundry basket. 

I have however finally gotten round to getting my little Pfaff serviced. It was sewing forward fine but backwards no thank you. It needed a new step motor. Not a cheap repair I can tell you but cheaper than a new machine. I thought it would be worth it as in 2015 the eldest will go up to senior school and sewing is part of the curriculum. 

 The daughters needed to be kept occupied, so I set to cutting the odd shaped bits that are left over from dressmaking into 2.5inch squares. Brother there are a lot of odd shaped bits. There are the dresses I made, the dresses my mum has made and that means dresses for four granddaughters and one daughter and herself. There are some real vintage scraps.

There also leftovers from other quilts. Lets just say that there is a lot. Never ending as far as I can tell. 

Well better get back to being a peace keeper. The amount of squabbles pre teen girls can have is amazing. If the UN want to come and practice they are welcome. 

I am linking to Lily's Quilts small blog meet. Fingers crossed more will get done in August. 

Work in progress Wednesday - or why I would like a design wall.

 I think I need a design wall. That way I can keep track of my UFOs. I try to only have one quilt on the go at anyone time. This does not always work. For starters there are two quilts that need to be quilted.
After much uhming and ahing I have decided to make a log cabin quilt out of some lovely Rowan fabrics. Again if I had a design wall and not a floor the colours might have looked better on this photo.

 I got distracted by trying to sew curvy patchwork. This is mainly to prove to a friend that patchwork isn't just "cutting squares and sewing them back together".

 I am trying out a red white blue thing here. Might need an orange back for this one to make it really Dutch.

 I am helping my Eldest (10 years old) to sew her first quilt. It is very colourful. I am quite impressed with well she is doing.

Talking of the 10 year old. She has grown again and needs a new summer dress. Luckily I had this lovely Benatrx print stashed and will be cutting into that soon. I have traced the pattern and altered the back. She felt it was a bit bare for everyday but might like it with the heart shaped back for her leavers party next year.

So all in all I'll be quite busy. Fingers crossed there will be a Friday finish but I don't think there will be.

I am linking to WIP wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.