Been Missing!

I really haven't been doing much posting lately! I have to say I am normally a really healthy person but over the last three months I have had three colds, the last of which really knocked me around a bit.  Just to gild the lily today I have a dose of gastro - terrific!

One lovely thing happened today though - a surprise squishy parcel in the post - who doesn't love those?  Couldn't have come on a better day for me.

I received my lovely surprise from Fabric Direct after I made a comment on a post on their Facebook page a while ago - ironically about everyone in the family being sick!

What was my surprise?  A charm pack of Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille from Moda.

Lucky me - now to work out what to make with it!  Thank you Eve at Fabric Direct!

Craftsy BOM for August

Well I've been very slack at posting lately, not sure why just didn't have much to say I suppose! Anyone who knows me would be laughing at that but there you go!

Today I worked on the Craftsy BOM blocks for August, the Ohio Star and the Double Star.  I quite liked the Ohio Star but was having an off day today as far as my 1/4" seams go and had to fiddle with it a bit. Still not exactly perfect but close enough for me.  The Double Star was a little bit the same but just with the outer flying geese.  Anyway here they are:

Only four more to go now!  Here is what I have so far:

Still not happy with that one on the bottom right, its so much darker than the others and just doesn't seem to fit.  I'll have to see, might have to make something else and swap it out.

My Red, Black and White Quilt is still waiting for one more block.  I haven't received my July block from Encarna in Spain yet so I'm waiting to see if she made that option and if not I'll have to whip up another block to give me 16.  I did find the perfect fabric to use as a border though so I trialled it with some sashing and with and without a red peeper border to see how it looked.

Here it is with a red narrow border before the outer border:

and here it is without it:

I remember when I took these I preferred with the red, thinking I would probably use the red for binding but now looking at these I think I prefer the look of the black against the zig zag fabric.  What do you think?

Speaking of block swaps I have two for August, Raelene in NSW and Ruth in Idaho.  Raelene is after a log cabin in black on white and white on black with a red centre and I'm waiting on some fabric to arrive from eQuilter.com so I can start putting her block together.  It just so happened I had ordered some black and white fabric before I found out what I had to make and now I'm glad I did as I'm sure it will be just what I need!

Ruth is a new swap member and suggested a Churn Dash block and didn't really have any firm ideas about colours but suggested something Australian.  It just so happened I did have some leftover fabric from the Under the Australian Sun 1 & 2 range by Leesa Chandler and so I've made her Churn Dash using these.  I haven't mailed it to her yet so I won't post a photo until I know she has received it.  I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of her first swap!  I hope she likes it!

Anyway, that's where I'm up to at the moment.  Have a great week,

Happy Sewing!

Scrap Reduction Session

As I last posted, I have been reading this book which I found at my library about a system to use your stash of scraps.

I've since decided to buy the book and it is currently winging its way to me from Fishpond.com at the princely sum of only $23 (or thereabouts) with free postage. Bargain!

The basic premise is to cut your scraps into 5", 3.5" and 2" squares and the book includes patterns which use these specific sizes. I really like this one called Runaway Thread:

and aren't these cute - they use leftover binding pieces for the frills.

I was inspired to get stuck into my scrap box and get cutting.  Here it is on the left AFTER I took out all the strippy pieces on the far right to save for a strippy project I want to make and some of the larger chunks of fabric!  Not sure how I ever got the lid on it!

Here is the same fabric in a more organised state:

I used some boxes I had been saving as I knew they would be handy one day. This one is great, has a clear lid and a magnetic closure and just happens to fit 9 piles of 2" squares perfectly!

This one has my 5" and 3.5" squares and some triangles which happen to be half of both of those sizes. This box is really a little too large and I might find an alternative option but for now this works:

These are all my strippy pieces which I plan to make into string blocks using this tutorial as a guide from Anna Lena Land blog.

Now the book suggests anything smaller than 2" square you throw away but I'm keeping all my odd bits and pieces, well anything more than at least .75" to make some crumb quilt blocks.  We'll see after I try it whether I change my mind and throw them out if its all too much bother but for now this is what I have put aside for them:

And lastly these are my orphan blocks, leftover pieced bits, anything already sewn to something else. Some of these are tiny and may well make it into the crumb blocks too.

Now I realise I haven't really got rid of much, other than really tiny pieces however I feel that what I have now is just ready to go. I can pick up the boxes of squares and whip up a scrap quilt when the urge takes me, which I can guarantee won't be until more Christmas presents are out of the way. It feels much more organised and now I know what I have available to use in each box.

Couldn't go without another photo of my lovely purple storage box (which was a box I received earlier in the year filled with bath goodies).

And don't you just love this little circular box? I've had it for a couple of years just waiting for the right thing to put in it.  It originally had a teacup saucer and plate set in it. I love it, reminds my of a mini hatbox!

Anyway, that's what I've been up to this week. Feels good to have the scrap box sorted out. Now I really want to use them up but must not start another project just yet!

Thanks for reading my blog today!

Black, White and Red Progress

When I joined the Quilting Block Swap Australia swap I didn't have a clear idea in mind of what I would do with my blocks when I started but I decided after a few months that I would make a black, white and red quilt (lets call it BWRQ for now) for a Christmas gift for someone (who shall remain nameless at this point).  Since I'm also working on the Craftsy BOM quilt and want to gift that for Christmas as well (and the last blocks for that don't come out until October) I decided I should get cracking on making sure I had enough blocks for the BWRQ and get it put together and quilted before October so I would have a free slate to get the Craftsy one done.

So I've been adding a block here and there to my collection and this is where I'm up to:

Its coming along. I think 16 blocks will be enough by the time I add sashing and I think I might add a border as well and that should get me to the right size. I'll wait and see what my block swap partner sends me this month and if its a BWR block I'll only need one more - yay!

I found a book at the library this week that I thought sounded interesting and so far it has been. Its called Scrap Therapy - Cut the Scraps! (7 Steps to Quilting Your Way through Your Stash) by Joan Ford.  I had a bit of a look through it last night and it sounds like a good approach. The idea is to cut your scraps (over a period of time) into either 5", 3.5" and 2" squares according to the size of  what you're starting with and then when you want to make a scrap quilt you grab the pieces and away you go. These sizes will work together well too.

She does suggest anything smaller than 2" square you should throw away but I'm determined to have a go at a crumb quilt this year so I think I'll hold on to them for now until I've given it a go and know whether I like the process/result.

What does everyone else get up to with their scraps?

Have a great weekend!

A New Quilter is Born!

Yesterday I had a lovely day teaching one of my son's friends, Candy, how to quilt. Candy hadn't used a sewing machine since Year 8 in high school but she did a great job, she's a natural!

Despite the fact that my cold turned on me and threatened to take my voice away, we made it through and finished a little mini quilt.  I recently won this lovely little quilt project on the Finding Fifth blog (thanks Fiona!)

and I thought it would be the perfect project for Candy to see if she liked the whole process and it turns out she does.

She was surprised though how long it all takes but really enjoyed seeing all the little bits of fabric turn into blocks and then into a quilt. First we started with a cup of tea (as you do!) and a Mars bar cookie for energy  and then we practices rotary cutting and came out the other side with all our fingers!

Then she had a refresher on sewing machines and sewing straight lines!

Then after lots of sewing, pressing (and some more tea!) and coughing (on my part!)
Ta Da! A quilter is born!

We even did some design modification (see the cute little purple insert in the binding) since the black fabric in the kit was about an inch too short!  Candy was really pleased with the way it turned out and now she's planning her next project and how soon she can buy her own sewing machine.  Great work Candy!

Thanks also again to Fiona from Finding Fifth for the mini quilt kit, it was just the right thing for today!

Craftsy BOM July and a Fat Letterbox!

Well, the Craftsy blocks for July were dresden plates, which I quite like and have made before but not with as many blades as these.  I did find that the blades were too short for my liking as I prefer a smaller centre but that was after I made two sets!  The first set is to go with the rest of my Craftsy blocks:

These I made to add to my red, black and white blocks from Quilting Block Swaps Australia:

I quite like them in black, white and red! I also made a couple of other blocks which I was happy with:

and one I'm not so thrilled with!

Its a little busy I think! Oh well, can't all be successes!

I've had a lovely couple of days with interesting parcels arriving.  First yesterday I received a surprise from Sue at Quilted Hugs. A lovely bag of scraps which Sue was going to throw away and sent to me instead after a comment I made on her blog!

What a lovely surprise! I'm planning on tackling a crumb quilt soon so these will definitely get used for that! Thanks so much Sue!

Then today I received two more parcels. One was a DVD called Our Idiot Brother that I won on the Samelia's Mum blog!

Looking forward to a video night on the weekend now! Thanks Anorina!

The second parcel was my eagerly awaited order from Pink Chalk Fabrics.  I bought some lovely fabrics recently, not with any real projects in mind but they just called my name (and they were on sale) - you know how it is!

Aren't these lovely?

I seem to be having a lime green phase at the moment (not to mention pink!):

And these, well just because!

Lovely fabrics, can never have too much! (Just don't tell my other half!)

Thanks for reading my waffle, er blog today!

A Giveaway!

You might like to head over to Colour my World as Ellie is having a giveaway on there to celebrate having 100 followers.  Good luck!