Leafcoasters

https://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/friday-spotlight-beautiful-quilted-coasters-by-sedef-imer

Moda Bake Shop: Lawn Chair Quilts

Moda Bake Shop: Lawn Chair Quilts
Would really like to make this quilt, i am going to have to make it from FQs though and buy myself some plain solid metreage for the contrast, will have a sort through and pick out some complimentary colours and also will have to work out how many FQs i will need!

Patchwork notebook cover

This tutorial popped up on my Facebook page the other day and reminded me that i have wanted to make one for ages so today i had a free afternoon for the first time this week and decided to spend it in the kitchen sewing  my new squared paper notebook it's very own cover :D

i started by choosing my fabrics

and ended up with this!

Inside

Pen holder and elastic closure

Button closure with felt and embroidery!

With hindsight i should have used a plain fabric to line it as it is not visible at all but other than that i am very happy with it and my new notebook will be nice and easy to spot on the bookshelf now too!

The fabric is from Ikea, i bought it years ago but have always loved it too much to use it. Now i get to see it all the time! :oD

Now it's time to crack on with the Great Cowl KAL, i have the last short row section to do and then a couple of rows of edging and i can cast off all 368 stitches which i have a feeling might take a while!!

Feb Challenge - finished top

I'm not doing too badly on my challenge, i settled on a layout last night and joined all the blocks today and here's the finished top!

All it needs now is layering, quilting and binding :D

Hopefully i will have a sewing machine again soon so that i can get on with it!

I absolutely adore the colours in this range, i'm so pleased i bought the "Moda Scrap Bag" and didn't put it off "cos i've got enough" lol

It was a joy to work with and i love what i did with it, it's based on a quilt in a book but i didn't set it on point and it was my first sewn log cabin blocks too which i really enjoyed doing.

A February Challenge

The challenges continue! Following Januray's success i have set myself a tougher target this month.
I want to make a whole quilt from scratch for my m-i-l's birthday at the beginning of March :oD
It's definitely not impossible given that i pieced 36 blocks yesterday afternoon :D

2½" pieces joined (on the right)

Halfway...

All the prints done...

First border added...

All done!

I played with them last night and settled on a layout so that's this morning's job.
The sewing machine needs to go in for a service as it's really been complaining lately so i'd like to get the blocks joined just in case i don't have it back for 3 weeks!! :o(

Blogger's BOM #2 - Part 2!

So here is my finished block, the red is not as bright as this but my camera refused to believe me!

And here is Lisa's block.
I love how different they look despite being made from the same pattern!

So what with making all these half square triangles and triangulated rectangles we had lots of little bitty half square triangles left over so i spent the rest of Monday doing more sewing and made these scrappy blocks.
It took ages to do as i had to first sew and press all the half square triangles and THEN i had to arrange them all.
I am rather pleased with how they've come out though :)

That little pile of miniscule clippings and the four brown/blue pieces are all that is left from today's sewing sesh!

Blogger's BOM #2

So after a week of sitting and looking at my pattern printout i finally decided on how i would cut the fabrics for this block, here are all 96 pieces ready for some patchwork magic!

It might not seem like it but this photograph represents quite a lot of sewing, these units are now all ready to be paired up and joined.

One block made

Bloggers BOM (again)

This is my finished block.

Had i known i was going to change my mind before i joined the four blocks together i would have rearranged the dark and medium squares but i just love the star in the middle so i am prepared to deal with it :oD

Lisa also finished her blocks today, she's using her precious stash of Central Park fabrics (designed by Kate Spain) and i adore her results

Isn't it fascinating how two people can use the same "template" and come up with such different results.

Gotta love patchworking eh?!

At some point this week i need to cut the fabric for Block #2 as we are going to sew them next Monday, i have my fabrics picked out already ;o)

Blogger's BOM #1

I'm a little late in getting started on my blocks but today Lisa was here for sewing so we both worked on this project. I had prepared slightly in advance and all my fabric was cut and i had made my little half-square-triangles at the weekend.

Oooh bunting!! :oD

A little head start

I was having terrible trouble deciding on my layout - but i am rather pleased with how it looks after much dithering and rearranging.

Block #1 done!

Decisions, decisions

Here are the various layouts for my Blogger's BOM quiltalong

It's quite surprising how the placement of certain colours really changes the whole look of it, and it's not necessarily a good thing that, as i find it really hard to make a decision at the best of times!
I've had these photos on my phone since Sunday afternoon and i was periodically flicking through them to try and narrow it down and as today was sewing day i really needed to decide before Lisa got here.
I was all set to go with the top right and sewed the 4 blocks accordingly when i just happened to reverse the left and right blocks and discovered a star hiding in the middle!
I'm a little disappointed i didn't see it before i had sewn them as i would have arranged the dark squares differently but i am pretty happy with it and there's no way i am unpicking and resewing so i am dealing with it :oD

Happy Birthday Mummy

So, it was Mum's birthday last Sunday which meant i had to get cracking and finish her quilt, luckily for me she went on holiday so i had a few extra days to dither about it! Lisa came over for our sewing day on Monday and helped me layer it up and then i spent the day quilting it. 

I went for a very simple "in the ditch" quilting, just round the kaleidoscope blocks, i did think about doing the same round the red border as well but i decided not to in the end, although depending how much it plays on my mind i might well steal it back and do it at some point!

I used a black bias tape for the binding as i didn't have enough of the border fabric to make my own and the my original plan of using the backing to bind it didn't work out as i hated the red border, i think it looks much better with the dark border and all the red "contained".

I delivered it at Quiz Night on Thursday and she loves it :oD

Mummy and her new quilt

BOM - #2

The second block is out! I must get cracking, i haven't even cut the fabric for the first block yet!

Blogger's Block of the Month, it's my turn! - Field Trips in Fiber - Adventures in quilting, hand dyed fabric and fiber art.:

'via Blog this'

Another QAL!

This one features a block a day for 16 days - i don't know when i will get round to it but i like the half square triangle and log cabin theme so i am saving all the instructions to my computer and will work on them in my own time :)

Block of the Month

I've taken part in knitalongs before but never a quiltalong so i thought i'd give it a go and sign up for the BOM at Canton Village Quilt Works

I've no idea how much fabric i will need but i have devised a small plan which i will reveal next week ;o)

The first block was posted on the 25th and there are already 51 blocks posted to the Flickr group!!

BOM Block #1

A Quilting Life: Blogger's Block of the Month

More so i don't lose my instructions than anything but why don't you join in too :o)

Kindle Cosy Part Deux

This one is less "patchworky" but i just adore the fabrics and as a second attempt i have managed to iron out the wrinkles in my pattern and think i've got it sorted now. It's not much of a pattern admittedly but i've got the sizings right now and am happier with it than the first one - not that i mind the first one, it's for me anyway so any faults don't matter, i know they are there but i also know it was my first attempt so i appreciate them for what they are - lessons :oD

This is the front of the cosy

This is the interior

As is this, but with the Kindle pulled out a little - it actually goes all the way inside the pocket now whereas the Japanese-y one came up a little short ;o)

Paranoid!

Bloke bought me a Kindle for my birthday earlier this month and i am very paranoid about smashing the screen so i decided that wrapping it in a wolllen hat was no longer a suitable solution and decided to make a patchwork cosy for it :D

There's a particular quilt in the Japanese Quilt Inspirationsbook that i really like so i decided to base my Kindle cosy on it. Unfortunately the quilt block in the book comes out at 10" so i had to downsize using my maffematikal skillz :oD

It was actually a bit easier than i thought it would be and i soon had all the pieces cut out and ready to sew. Still on a part sewn seam kick i used them again for these blocks.

and then i sewed them all together...

And HEY PRESTO! I have a squishy double-fronted Kindle cosy which will hopefully protect it when it's in my handbag and stop the screen from being smashed in!!

That's the front, i really love the fabric with the cream background, it's so pretty <3

And that's the interior - the stripy fabric is from the same range as the Kaleidoscope Quilt that i was going to use as a border but once i saw the quilt top in progress i knew it wouldn't be right!

It's a very snug fit when Kindle is wearing it's silicone skin but i am very happy with it :o)

Almost there!

So it is slowly coming together :)

The blocks with the borders and vertical sashing...

And the whole top with the horizontal sashing and the cornerstones...

As you can see i have just two more rows of sashing to make and attach and then the top is ready to have borders added! I haven't rushed with this project because i am hoping to buy the border fabric at Ally Pally next week when Lisa and i head off for our annual pilgrimage to the Knitting and Stitching Show :D

Cornerstones

So, once the blocks had their borders and vertical sashing in place i had to decide how the horizontal sashing would look.
I could just use the orange patterned fabric so it looked like the blocks were in a grid or i could use cornerstones for a bit of variation... Guess what i decided to do?
That's right, make 16 ONE INCH blocks!

I fussy cut the black flowers from the leftover piece of fabric i had, luckily there were just enough!

Then i cut the red borders to go round them

Then i sewed all the little bits together with part sewn seams again - oh my goodness they were fiddly!!

Kaleidoscopic Update

So i had a dilemma when it came to the patterned sashing, i felt the blocks lost some of their impact and it all looked a bit messy. I tried different colours behind the blocks thinking i could do a narrow border, on the left is a sparkly off-white and on the right is a tonal red...

I settled on the red as i think it gives a really nice line of definition between the block and the orange pattern.
I learnt a new technique when it came to the borders and have made them with "part sewn seams" so it looks like the border is kind of weaved round. It's very eefective and much easier to do than the instructions made me think. I am really glad i tried it :)