March round up

As explained in my previous post here my 1st new project for March was cutting into the beautiful Oakshott cottons.....

Next up was the Small Quilt Challenge set by Kathy Tracy, to use our ugly fabrics to make a small quilt, I chose this drab repro fabric that I've never liked and added red, blue & yellow  to brighten things up

Still enjoying making these small quilts, especially the hand quilting part of it! Got carried away and made another one for fun.

This one is a gift for my Mum's birthday and is winging it's way to France, hope she likes it.......

March also saw the end of the log cabin blocks, I ended up making 80 in total and now have a completed top. I'm thinking about hand quilting this one with baptist fans, do you think that would look ok?

.........and finally, whilst i had all these repro scraps lying around, I just couldn't help myself and started making some scrappy stars, so this is my final new start for the New FO challenge for March, all in all, another busy month!

8.5" & 4.5" scrappy star blocks

Durrell News

We have a new arrival at work......

Meet Jantho, born on 1st April, the latest addition to our Sumatran Orang utang family.Baby & mum Annette are doing well :) To read all about it click here

February catch up

1. Well February went by so quick & I missed the New UFO link up party as I just haven't really felt like blogging, would rather be sewing! So what did I get done?

I did actually get the Sue Spargo Bird Dance BOM started & need to crack on with this as this is only as far as I've got, Feb's kit has arrived & before long the March one will be on it's way!

2. A lot of 1.5" strips were cut in preparation for these........

I've been wanting to have a go at making some of these scrappy log cabins for a while & inspired by Kathy at Inspired by Antique Quilts post here, decided to dive in and make some. These are not as small as Kathy's but fun to make, we have 40 so far.

All the scraps left over & too small to make logs are cut into 1.5" squares & made into scrappy 4 patches by being used as leaders and enders. A few others have also been trimmed to make these mini flying geese which are a mere 1.5 x 2.5 inches. All this is really good practice for me as machine piecing has never been my forte!

3. and finally I played around with some old recycled shirt fabric for some mindless sewing........

...............which is going to evolve into a baby quilt of some sort, after adding some applique to this background. So what did you get up to in February?

Keep on stitching :)

  

Busy January!

For the New FO challenge this month hosted by Barbara at Cat Patches,  we have EASY STREET, the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt

The 3 blocks that went a bit haywire have now been corrected & we have a completed top! I'm still debating whether to add borders or not and & thinking I may hand quilt this one.

Bottom row missing - not enough room to get the whole top in the photo

I really got into the swing of piecing by machine with easy street that I just carried on when I came across this Swoonalong & before long.........

Parts 1 & 2

became......

........a completed top!

 (I was too impatient to wait for the rest of the instructions)

Last weekend it was basted & quilted(very simply)

Lucy helped with the binding!

Ta Dah ....finished. 

I used Kaffe Fassett scraps in reds & yellows but not having any modern neutrals I went with shirtings, marrying the old with the new. I was initially worried that you shouldn't really mix the 2 styles, but then thought why not? and am now pleased with the result, i think it works out ok, what do you think?

This month I also managed to finish the big stitch quilting on my Hot Wheel quilt and bind it, so that is another WIP completed.

This one now stays on my bed as my winter quilt & is super cosy!

 ......and finally, I thought it was about time I cracked on with the Sue Spargo Imperial Blooms BOM, before I get stuck into this year's Bird Dance lined up as a New FO for February.

 The first pack arrived this month & I'm itching to get started 

Block 7 done

Block 8 in progress

Oh...and I nearly forgot, I also added another 2 rows to the Japanese boxes EPP top.

So, to recap, January has been a very productive month, foul weather has helped as well as staying away from the laptop, the latter for which I hope you will accept my apologies for not having visited your blogs or responding to messages promptly.......I promise to do better next month :)

Keep on stitching........

New Year - New project

Happy New Year to you all, hope you had a lovely holiday break. We had a pleasant stay in France visiting Mum where I managed to get another fair bit of hand stitching done to add a good section to the thimble top (the weather was so damp, so we didn't venture out much).

As I had a few days holiday left on our return before going back to work, I was determined to get a good start on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt  Easy Street .......so glad I decided to have a go at this, my first ever mystery quilt, as I learnt so much along the journey :)

Not having a ton of suitable scraps I used yardage I had available for the grey, black & white & turquoise and Kaffe Fassett scraps for the green & purple & just hoped they would look ok.

Step 1 - Remember to check the thread is suitable for the project before sewing!

 4 patches - 192 done, lesson learnt here - spinning seams

First ever attempt at flying geese units......a bit tricky to start with but after 128 of them got the hang of it and learnt to use the easy angle ruler in the process.

64 sitting turkeys !

More flying geese......getting pretty good at these now!

All the units now done

Step 7 done but tricky trying to press those triangle blocks!

Step 8 - 1st block ready to sew

Attempt at layout but design wall a tad too small......loving the design!

So resorted to the floor with some interference - notice the bump?

Guess who?

All this sewing can be so tiring

Finally got it all stitched together and felt quite proud of myself and it wasn't until I checked the photos that I noticed this.........urghhhhhhh! How did that happen? I blame the cat!

Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

Thank you Bonnie for designing & sharing this wonderful pattern and providing such great easy steps to follow, I would have never attempted such a project with so many pieces on my own!

Do go check out all the other great tops created by other participants at the link up here and in the Flickr group here

2013 New FO Challenge

Barbara at Cat Patches is hosting a New FO Challenge for 2013 which allows you to start a new project each month guilt free! I really like this idea and have decided to try and play along, time permitting......

 So, for 

January 
The new project will be Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street mystery quilt, no pictures to post as of course it's a mystery! lol Quite a few (over 200) have got a good start on this quilt already & I was hoping to this month also, but have run out of time :(

February
I will get a start on Sue Spargo's BOM for 2013 Bird Dance

March
Would like to make some more mini quilts this year so will probably make one from Kathleen Tracy's book Remembering Adelia.......not sure which one yet. Kathleen is the queen of reproduction mini quilts!

April
I would love to start a quilt inspired by this one......

unfortunately I can't remember where I saw this photo taken at a quilt show & forgot to note the details in order to credit it correctly (if you recognize this please let me know in order that I can rectify this)

May
I have had this BOM pattern for a couple of years so now's as good a time as any to start.

Pockets of Posies by Hatched and Patched

June

A log cabin quilt has been on my to do list so this could be the month to start one, really like this Mountain Trail by Lori of Humble Quilts, it looks like a variation of a log cabin......could be a contender......

July

Also had the Scandinavian Christmas by Lynette Anderson pattern in the draw for a a while so why not Christmas in July? May even complete it by Christmas if I stick at it! LOL 

August

A star quilt would be a nice addition to the mix, I really love this one from one of Kim Diehl's books - Simple Charm, really like the burgundy background on this,  would make a great autumn quilt to snuggle under as the days become chillier

September

Maybe time for another mini quilt......which ever takes my fancy, Kathy at Inspired by Antique Quilts blog makes so many beautiful minis, I'm always inspired by her gorgeous quilts!

October

Would like to start on some varied 2 colour blocks to add to a sampler type red & white quilt which would just evolve as more blocks were made, kind of make it up as you go along (a bit like the Just Takes 2 quilt along that has been running this year),

November

Can't have a 12 month plan without a bit of EPP!........ so this Rose Star could be the next contender, great tutorial by Clare of Summer Fete blog

December

This month will see the start of a scrappy/recycled fabric quilt of some sort, maybe string pieced but definitely using repro or old shirt cotton scraps

So, there we are all set for 2013, this list may well change as the year progresses, in fact, I'm sure it will as there's bound to be something that catches my eye and has to be started there and then!

We're off to France to spend Christmas with my mum on Saturday, so wishing you all a wonderful Christmas & Happy New Year, full of good health & stitching :)

See you next year

Gisele