A busy few days

I love winter especially for the fact that with cooler weather it is much easier to sit and sew, something I find a tad difficult when perspiring profusely.

I haven't wasted these cooler days; the sewing machine has been whirring busily.

 

A little mug rug where I could practise my Paper Piecing.  I find mug rugs excellent to improve skills as they are not big enough to completely ruin, and are small enough to finish relatively quickly which adds to confidence.

 

The Mug rug was for a swap, and of course I added a small extra ... a little Christmas tree decoration.

 

 

Recently I had my attention drawn to instructions for a purse based on the cover of a book.  This captured my imagination, and while the 'readable' part of the book had to be cut out, I have kept it ... fortunately this book came with an extra cardboard cover. 

At first the instructions appeared difficult, but as so often happens if one starts at the beginning and follows the instructions to the end all is well.

 

 

Yes, there were moments when I wondered what to do next, but with the use of glue several times meant I had time to sit and think the instructions through while the glue dried.  Over all I am pleased with the result ... in fact I have eyed up another book to lose its middle!

 

 

The book is sitting on a small Snowball quilt that didn't take very long at all to construct.

 

 

Star in a Star

When one has a cupboard almost overflowing with fabrics what can one do?  Make a quilt of course!

 

A recent purchase of fabric had me searching for a suitable pattern, one that wouldn't take forever to assemble, and one that wouldn't cause too much stress.  Something simple and hopefully effective.

 

I found McCall's 'Star in a Star' block and went from there.  The finished effect was in my imagination ... and having a relatively over active imagination the complete quilt was easy to envisage.  In fact this quilt didn't take much time, no more than one month which to me is quick.  I named this quilt ... Twelve Star ... no great imagination in that title!  [sorry about the little extra light that sneaked into the top left corner ... it came uninvited.]

 

Once again I used the quilt as you go method dividing the quilt in half and quilting one half, then the other, before joining them up and quilting along the join.  I do not have a long arm quilting machine, just an everyday Janome and am happy to have almost mastered this QAYG method.  Today the final stitch was put into the binding, and a few tie knots [more for decoration that use] were added ... now what's next on the agenda?

 

 

Towels and other things

After admiring these little useful projects at last I have managed to make a kitchen hand towel or two, or three.  June sped away from me, and July is promising to do the same. 

The impetus to actually make some handtowels came once I entered a swap.  And ... after owing my Janome sewing machine for over six and a half years and at least three tries at using the buttonholer [to no avail] I finally solved my problem ... there is a little lever that I hadn't previously pulled down.  Once I found that oh how simple it is to make a buttonhole!!  It could [accurately] be said that I made more towels than needed at this moment [the extra are in the 'gift box'] just to practise the execution of button holes.

First attempt ...

 

Swap items that included a dish cloth and a recipe ...

 

 

Towel and plastic bag holder, and hat ... for a birthday gift ...



The hat was an after-thought but with this being winter and the fact that I have an over-abundance of wool; hence the multi-colours.  I don't think it would be a mistake to say there will be more of these towels made before the end of the year!

Another quilt

At the beginning of 2013 I began a BOM in Our Craft Forum using blocks from http://www.quilterscache.com/ but by the time I was half way through the blocks I decided I wasn't all that keen on my colour-way.  However I persevered ... one mustn't waste good fabric! 

 

With my daughter coming for a few days I decided now would be the perfect time to complete this quilt.  Dark two-toned gray fabric and a cream colour combined to make sashings that complement the blocks and add a certain elegance ... well that is my thought anyway!

Table topper and cushions

When one hears of giant alterations to a home what does one think?  I decided to make some cushions and a table topper to complement a new colour scheme.

 

Magazines were perused and quickly I made up my mind; the fabric was purchased and last week the gift was posted away.

 

The table topper with cushions in front

 

Cushion 1

 Cushion 2

 

Cushion 3

Hopefully the parcel will arrive sometime this week, and fingers crossed, the colours I chose do add to the overall effect to the newly renovated living area.

A bear that I named Brenda

Another challenge over at HGTV Board, and being one who thrives on a challenge, had to enter.

 

This time we forwarded payment for half a yard of 'ugly' fabric which featured where the wild things are.  Evidently this is a book, one of which I have no knowledge but by all accounts it is quite a favourite.

 

In due course the fabric arrived; already I had chosen a pattern, that of a bear that appeared in a recent magazine.  I had thought of making a quilt, but in all honesty just could not see who I could present a quilt that incorporated this fabric. 

 

Although the bear in the pattern had another name; to me she was Brenda.  I was in the 'also rans' and Brenda was the only entry that wasn't a quilt, all of which showed great imagination and talent. 

Don't you just love that face?

 

Sentimental Journey

At the beginning of 2012 I made a start on the Sentimental Journey BOM making excellent progress on the twelve main blocks.  I placed them carefully in a large zip top plastic bag intending to complete the quilt the following year.  Several times I pulled those blocks out, read the instructions, and after realising just how large this quilt would be and the difficulty I would have in quilting it on my Janome QC6260 popped them back into the bag for later.

 

One day while surfing the 'net I came across a U-tube on 'Quilt as you go'.  Aha!  Perhaps this was the answer!  In the meantime I made another quilt that I divided into three parts and did use this particular method to put the quilt together.  But ... that method used strips to join each section; not exactly what the Sentimental Journey quilt required.  So back into the bag it went.

 

Earlier this year another U-tube showed yet another method ... a light bulb moment.  Over the last several weeks I have joined blocks, quilted them row by row and joined them together.  The borders were completed and this morning I put the final stitches into the quilt!!  Yay!  A project completed and a satisfied person who now can almost claim the title of "a quilter".