Sunday Stash #68

I had been sooooo good of late with not buying anything sewing related!!!!! However, I do have a few things to add to my stash this week.

First of all I was a part of The Aussie Fabric Train that was happening over on a FB group that I belong to.

These are the two fabrics that arrived - the idea is to keep and replace 1 of them. I chose to keep the leaf fabric as I thought it would make a nice bag or fabric basket lining.

I replaced it with some Sock Monkey Argyle fabric that I had in my stash and I honestly can't remember why I had brought it originally.

I also snapped up this gorgeous top pattern from another FB de-stash group that I belong to. I was thinking that if I made it now, Miss 9 could wear it over the top of a long sleeve T-shirt and then once spring/summer comes, she can wear it by itself. But honestly who am I kidding - we all know that I will be lucky enough if I do manage to make this pattern any time this year.

Not much to show I know, hopefully next week my 2013 BOM from The Fat Quarter Shop will have arrived and not to mention some other goodies that may just mystically appear.

Anyway, linking up with Fi from Finding Fifth.....

WIP Wednesday

I have been meaning to join in over at Freshly Pieced for a WIP Wednesday for a while now! Why? I am hoping that it will be enough to motivate me to keep going on some projects - especially those with deadlines.

My closest deadline is this little baby.....

A bright Hot Purple and Lime Green Square in a Square Quilt for my baby sister who turns 21 in September. I am hoping to have this one completed and ready to take to the quilter for quilting at the end of July. I originally was going with the pattern shown, but I have since changed my mind and have something else planned instead! These blocks were my Bee Block from last year! So stay tuned for that one.

This one is my oldest WIP to date! It is the Everday Angels BOM program that was offered by Honeysuckle Cottage all the way back in early 2000. Somehow I managed to sweet talk my mother into buying it, yet I ended up with the sewing it part.

There is so much wrong with the quilt - as I really had no idea what I was doing all those years ago. So we will just ignore the fact that it has 1cm seams instead of 1/4" or the fact that I have used far to many strands of embroidery floss whilst doing the applique.

To be honest I am so over all the hand applique - the only thing that is pushing me on to complete this quilt is that it is for my Mum and her health has not been the best for the past couple of years. I couldn't bear the thought of her not getting any benefit from all my hard work. 

My Mum also shares the shame birthday as my sister - so I am hoping to finish this one up in time too - that way they will both get a quilt. Although I will quilt this one myself as it will be a lot smaller and just simple in the ditch quilting.

This is my Non - thinking WIP. It is to be a knitted bed runner for the end of my bed. I have a blue/maroon colour scheme and when I found this wool in an Op Shop I could instantly see it on the bottom of bed over my pale blue slight self checked doona. I am knitting it on huge needles - size 12 so it is coming out very loopy and chunky - but I am loving it. 

This is the project I worked on when I am watching TV etc - basically when ever I want my hands to be busy, but something that does not require my brain to have to think.

Anyway, that is three major WIP's that I am working on at the moment, although, I really should get a move on my latest nephew's bunting and some new pajama pants for myself to replace my threadbare ones.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshley Pieced!

June Queen Bee

YAY! June has arrived which means that I am Queen Bee for the month.

I have chosen the Road to Fortune Block which I stumbled upon over at the Blueberry Patch during the Sew Mama Sew Competition period.

As much as I loved the block the way Cathy had made it, white is really an impractical colour in my household, so I decided to change the background colour to a light grey. The other colours are to be what I call bright "Hot" colours in pinks, blues, greens, purples, yellows and oranges.  I was luckily enough to be able to use mostly scraps on this block. If you need some scrap colours, just give me a yell and I will pop some in the post for you.

This quilt is going to be for me! Something that I can snuggle up under when I am watching TV or reading a book and also something bright and cheery to decorate my hospital bed when I spend time in there with my Asthma etc.

You can find a template here - although I found I had to save the file to my computer and then reopen that file in order to print it out. If anybody knows how to fix this - please let me know.

Since I couldn't find any written instructions for this block, I have done a very basic set below, but I am taking under my wing that you already know how to do paper piecing.  Kristy from Quiet Play has some great tutorials on paper piecing if you would like to learn more. 

Trim the paper down and arrange the templates in correct order. I also wrote a larger B & C on them to make sure that I had them right.

My advice before sewing would be to pick out your fabrics and place them roughly on the template. This way you can play with the colourway, making sure that two of the same colour are not placed side by side.

As you can see from the photo, I was eager to get sewing and learnt the hard way.

Paper piece all of the blocks!

Time to join the triangles together to form 4 smaller squares. I made sure that I lined up the outer strips.

Pins are a must, as they help keep everything in place. Yep learnt that one the hard way too.

Once sewn, remove the paper from the seam.

Iron an open seam on each of the four blocks. Be careful not to burn your fingertips. 

Now sew the top two and the bottom two squares together. Once again making sure that you use pins to hold it all together with the outer ring lining up.

Iron the seam open.

Sew the top and the bottom pieces together, you should know the drill by now, pin, sew, iron! LOL.

Ta Da - your back should look like this ^^^^.

Please don't remove any of the paper backing other then the seam parts. I have learnt in the past that blocks can stretch once the paper has been removed, so I prefer to leave them on until the entire top has been sewn together.

Now you should have one completed block!

Thanks for helping me make my Bee block. Plus a huge thanks to Cathy from the Blueberry Patch for the inspiration and my Quilt Group Girls who were my sounding board for colouring.

Sunday Stash #65

WOW - I can't believe that I managed to forget Sunday Stash yesterday - I even took photos yesterday! 

Anyway, so here is my Sunday Stash  the Monday version!

Well so much for my self imposed Fabric Ban and not to mention my plain to boycott Spotlight! I went in to buy some Light Grey Homespun for my Bee Block and ended up walking out with all of the above. Some of the highlights in this buy included.......

You have got to love Selvedge fabric though! I have big plans for this metre piece - either a scarf with a minky lining or the inside of a bag. Either will be a little bit of indulgence all for me.

This is what I was meaning to buy (Light Grey Homespun) but when I came home I realised that I had actually brought 3.5mtrs of Iron Grey! GRRRRRRR - I will eventually use it, but it doesn't help me for my Bee Block. The four colours are also for my Bee Block, which I had better get a wriggle on with seeing that I am Queen Bee for my group this month.

This lot of fabric is destined to become a Roly Poly Pinafore for Miss 9. Stay tuned as I am really excited about this all thanks to a blog post over at Rose & Deliah.

And I just couldn't walk past this satin at a huge $2 per metre - downside there is only 2.7mtrs here - but enough to make myself a pair of satin jamma pants and possibly Miss 9 as well!

Anyway, that is my Monday version of Sunday Stash.

Linking up with Fi from Finding Fifth.

Modern Blocks Quilt-a-long!

YAY! After almost a month of choosing fabric and then finally getting the nerve to actually start it - I have finally finished my very first block in the And Sew We Craft - Modern Blocks Quilt-a-long.

You can find out more about this Quilt-a-long here!

But in a nut shell it will be 1 block per month over a 12 month period = finished quilt top.

The blocks are coming from the book Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favourite Designers, compiled by Suzanne Woods.

The Book Depository currently have it on sale for $21.70 with its usual free postage world wide.

This book is on my drool want need wish list! Feel free to buy it for me if you wish - you can find it here.

You don't need to buy the book - as there will be posts with instructions for each block - but the cover just looks so inviting and I think it would be a good book to have on the shelf for future quilting reference. 

As I mentioned in one of my Sunday Stash posts - I plan to make this quilt for a very special friend who is always there for me and nothing is ever a problem for her. Truly a friend to cherish for life. An added bonus is that our hubbies both get along as to do our kids .  

I have decided to go with a range of solids, using light grey homespun for my base and also a small amount of the Woodland Whimsy range from Spotlight.  I have chosen these colours from a large wall hanging that my friend has in her lounge room, it is basically a deep brown with green. She did explain to me the significance the other night - but to be honest that was after we had had the contents of a bottle of wine and I really can't remember. I will try and sneakily steal a photo of it one day to show you all.

The first block is - Follow the leader! You can find the post about it here.

I have never ever sewn flying geese before and was very nervous about it - but overall I am very happy with my attempt. I did originally have a lime green where the brown was - but it just didn't sit right overall.

A close up of the points! Did I say I was pretty happy with my first attempt.

Now to sit tight for a couple of days until the June block is posted!

Game / Puzzle Bags

Does anybody else make these????

Gorgeous little fabric bags that house games or puzzles so that vital pieces are not lost, particularly when the cardboard box splits etc. The beauty is that they are so super simple to make - just take a rectangle of fabric and sew up the sides. Add a casing to the top, thread in some cording and viola! 

I have also started placing a plastic piece on the front of the bag so I can slip in the name from the box if possible making it a little easier to identify which is which. The bags are also very forgiving in the sense that they can be made with a variety of fabrics. I mainly use leftovers of poly/cotton or quilting cotton.

I would be at a total loss if I did not know about this brilliant idea - not to mention it would just be utter chaos trying to find the million pieces for each game etc. We now have heaps of these little bags with their precious belongings in a big clear box!

Sunday Stash #64

Gosh - is it really Sunday again????

Not much stashing happening this week - I just have had one of those full on weeks, with zero time for me and unfortunately it looks like I won't get a day to myself until at least Tuesday when I have to start back on cleaning the house from the bomb that has hit it due to Miss 9 getting a new bed.

Anyway, onto the good stuff......

The Lego fabric has finally arrived from Spoonflower - so I can now get on to a very special birth present for my latest nephew Harrison!

Despite my saying that I was planning to avoid Spotlight - I did call in during the week to pick up some Red/White dot fabric and some white netting. Hubby has a Scout Camp coming up with a Disney theme and since Miss 9 already had this set of ears, I thought it would be a hoot to make a Minnie Mouse outfit. I laugh every time I think about this - Hubby is a rather solidly built fellow with red hair! I can just imagine him wearing this outfit complete with white gloves and a black handbag going down the Flying Fox at the camp - don't worry, I will make sure I get some photos to show you all.

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And finally I managed to get all of this Poly fil for a mere $3 at one of our local Op Shops. I was just stoked. So now I have no excuse to make Mr 4 those Dinosaur softies that I have been putting off making.

Well I hope you all have had a much quieter and less stressful week than I have. Happy crafting to you all.

Linking up with the delightful Fi from Finding Fifth - make sure you head on over and read her post today about how she started the Sunday Stash posts a little over a year ago.