A tiny slice of my life

This is a look at my life, and the many things I try to learn and do.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mothers Day

For all of the Mums out there have a very happy day.

Friday, May 3, 2013

New Starts & Catching Up ...

Well for the catching up I am up to date with the the Sarah Fielke BOM "On the Pond" for Spotlight.

These are blocks 13 & 14 we must be getting near the end soon.

 

As for new starts I have been saving the assorted star blocks for the Country Thread 2013 Online Sampler Quilt., and thought as Mays blocks I had better get moving to catch up so I cut all the pieces on the weekend and this week have sewn them all.

I decided on red, black & white after seeing Bev of 44th Street Fabrics blocks, but I gave slipped in a little grey as I don't have much black & white fabric . Also these is some hot pink in a couple of the fabrics so I might slip some in. We will see as I go on.

All in all I am very happy with my commitment to keeping up this year.

January love the gumboot fabric.

 

February

 

March love the little teapots

 

April going dotty !

 

May all of a whirl

Now I am off to cut and sew Mays block for Amy Gibson's Sugar Club Quilt.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

A Lot of Lovin of Blogs on Blog Lovin

A lot of the blogs I read are shifting to BlogLovin as Google Reader is shutting down. So I thought would join them.

The link below will get you to my blog on BlogLovin, so come join me.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6340737/?claim=g9cvfgzsajw">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>


 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A finish a catch up and a Sneak Peak

Well I am on a roll the week and last a quilt quilted and bound.

 

I have caught up with the Mystery quilt by Sarah Fielke.

 

 

A sneak peek of what I am designing and working on with stars.

 

More updates when I get them done.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Tutorial - Wonky Star Blocks

Here is a tutorial for very little wonky star blocks which finish at 3" square, which means they are 3 1/2" square before being sewn together.

 

This is a good block to use up small scraps because you only need 1 x 1 1/2" square for the centre plus 8 scraps the make the wonky star points. The minimum size I would use is a 2 1/2" square cut on the diagonal.

Now I only iron this a 2 points when you iron the points flat and when you iron the finished block. See not too much ironing. Also a little bit of scissoring to trim of excess scrap when sewing star points.

Then a little bit of rotary cutter action to tidy up the point blocks.

I chain piece these to speed up the process.

For each block you need

- background fabric 6" x 3" which you subcut into 8 x 1 1/2" squares

- a print fabric for centre and star points cut 8 triangles these don't have to be perfect as this is the whole idea of this block

First sew a triangle onto the top left corner of one of the background 1 1/2" background squares, making sure that when folded back the fabric will cover the square. It doesn't matter if it is bigger as we will be cutting them back to size.

1- With the triangle facing towards you using scissors cut of the excess background fabric.

2 - Finger press triangle towards top ensuring that the seam is pressed away from the background fabric.

Sew another triangle to the other corner. Making sure you cover the end of the previous triangle seam.

Cut the excess background & triangle fabric off.

Now iron flat. Then cut back to a 1 1/2" square.

Now for some cutting.

Now you don't have to cut even with the original base you can move it up as long as you have enough overlap of triangle fabric.

All neat and tidy now.

Next chain piece the pieces together first a background to the right of 2 point blocks.

Then a point block on the centre print 1 1/2" square.

Then repeat on the left side of the blocks.

Now don't press at this stage because it is easier to sew the 2 rows together by just nesting and holding the seams flat as you sew. I always have the edge row on top with the centre row underneath. I fold the seams on the centre square towards the centre and the seams on the star point towards the outside.

Sew on one side piece then the other.

Now press and you should have 3 1/2" block. Because these blocks are so little they might be a little out but this will be taken care of when you sew the blocks together.

 

 

You can even fussy cut the centres.

 

Here they are all pressed and cute ready to be sent off to the Queen Rainbow Bee.

 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Some More Finishes

Here are the February - April blocks finished for "Sugar Block Club" by Amy Gibson from Stitchery Dickory Dock.
I was so pleased that I caught up till I pulled out January's block :-( I had done the background in cream ! Back to the cutting board this morning to re make it with a white background - insert grinding teeth.
Oh we'll when I have made it I will definitely be up to date.
Also yesterday Miss Le Coiffure basted a quilt for me so I can quilt it.
I ho I ho off to the sewing machine I go.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Finally Some Quilting Finishes ...

Finally I am getting somewhere with all the half finished quilt tops. Now this isn't a bad thing except as I empty my baskets I try to put away the leftover fabric and to my horror "tongue in cheek" I have found my fabric cupboard is full to over flowing.

Now when I mentioned this to Mr CLI he thought another cupboard was needed to take the overflow, now aren't I lucky because little does he realise to quilter a half full cupboard is a challenge to be filled.

Here are some of my finishes or finished as far as I can go at the moment.

 

 

Sarah Fielke's mystery quilt. I have finished the first 5 blocks. Blocks 6-8 are cut out but I ran out of white fabric, which I have now got so after this post I will be cutting and sewing them.

 

"Traffic Jam" by Pat Sloan using scraps, sadly I had previously hand cut all the little 2 1/2" squares to use as leaders and Enders. Why sadly it just shows what I spend my time on. No cost for this quilt except the grey.

Now I have never used grey in quilt before yet this is the second quilt this year I have used grey!

Now these 9 blocks are for a "Swoon" quilt by Thimble Blossoms. I was going to hand stitch these but the restrictions of my arm, yes I am still in pain & still waiting to have an MRI on my neck to find the cause of the pain, so reverted back to the sewing by machine.

Now these blocks are whoppers, 25 1/2" square, most blocks are only 12 1/2" so there was serious sewing. Now I just have to sew them together!

 

That's it for today till next time have a happy day.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Row 13 of the "Row Along" by Lori Holt of Bee in Bonnet

Well I am on the home stretch I have sewn the last row number 13, tulips. Then I have spent the morning sewing all 13 rows together.

One half of the row,

Mine isn't as bright as the other ones I have seen , but I used what fabrics I had and it isn't bad when all sewn together. A more muted version.

 

I definatly need to get more "bright" fabrics for more stash. Next step is borders that's for another day.

 

The other half.

 

All sewn together.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Divided Organiser Bucket by Busy Bean

Well I have as a good mornings work today.

As I was waiting for Miss Fishes taxi this morning I was going through my Facebook and found this how to.

So I popped over and had a look. I new I had some loose fat quarters floating around and new it would be perfect to store Little Miss Sweet Pea's play mat & toys in, instead of the broken box that it came in.

So this morning in under 1 1/2 hours it is all sewn up and filled with her things. I did alter the pattern a little , I didn't make the garbage box as I didn't need it. Also instead of unpicking some of the bottom seam and sewing the outer and liner together then turning it inside out then re sewing the bottom. I turned the tops of the inner & outer over a generous 1/2" then top stitched in a fancy pattern. A much easier way of finishing it off.

 

If you would like the pattern here is the link.

http://artgalleryfabrics.typepad.com/weblog/2013/02/fat-quarter-gang-divided-organizer-bucket-by-the-busy-bean.html

 

 

Friday, February 22, 2013

Row 12 of "Row Along" by Lori Holt of Bee in Amy Bonnet

 

Well we seem to be nearly at the finish line, as Lori told us in this blog that when she sends out the next row instructions in 2 weeks, she will also be giving us the fabric quantities to finish this quilt.

As much as I have enjoyed this quilt I will be glad to tick off another BOM off my list for this year, as I seem to have started a few !

Well back to the sewing machine for a little while as it is heating up again :-( and I can't sew in the heat.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Rows 1 - 11 of "Row Along" by Lori Holt from Bee in My Bonnet

Well best laid plans don't always work out. I took the photos of all my rows early yesterday all ready for when I returned from the Osteo, so I could write my blog and what happened the photos wouldn't upload.

So I am writing yesterday's blog today, never mind.

This is another little "mystery" quilt that I had a serious head down bum up sessions at the sewing machine to catch up. Phew.

Now when this stared last year I couldn't afford to go buy a whole lot of bright fabrics that everybody else is sewing this in. So I used the same color family but what I had, therefore it is much more muted than other peoples.

Never mind I still think it is going to look good.

So far we have done mittens, leaves, apples, butterfly's, houses, stars, flying geese blocks, chubby chevrons, cups, 4 patches & thread spools.

I am quite excited to see the finished quilt I think there maybe 4 or 5 more rows to come.

So we will have to wait and see.

Here is the link

http://www.flickr.com/groups/beeinmybonnetrowalong/

Til tomorrow Mr CLI, myself, Miss Le Coiffure & the little Sweet Pea are going away for the weekend. We are going to watch Mr CLI race his race bike a motorcycle not a push bike lol.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Craftsy - Chain of Stars - Mystery Quilt by Kimberly Einmo Quilt

Well I am back have I been busy since Christmas & New Year. I have been Grandaughter minding, Daughter minding - Miss Le Coiffure - & also caring for her her partner.

 

So between Nana, Mum & Mum-in-law duties as well as sewing to finish the quilts for the quilt show, which was on the end of January. I have barely had time to scratch myself.

Here is the latest quilt top I have just finished it is a mystery quilt. What is a mystery quilt ? You ask.

Well you get the fabric cutting instructions first then you sew step by step then in the end you are shown how to put all the blocks together to create a quilt top. This is the mystery part as you don't know what the finished top is going to look like till the end.

I have made it in the bright & fresh colors that are being used now. It is only my second quilt that I have used white for the background.

I am trying this year to create out of my normal quilting box.

Well I had better be going as I want to sew the latest step for another mystery quilt that I have worked hard on the last couple of weeks to catch up.

 

 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Tadah The 3 Quilts for the Show are Finished

A couple of months before Christmas I was asked by the local Quilt shop if I would like to enter 3 of my quilts in a quilt show. Well I thought why not.

So in the midst of Christmas preparations , Nana baby sitting duty, Mum taxi duties and the heat l I started and finished before Christmas a quilt for Miss Le Coiffure and her partner as Christmas present a rather large quilt 2.4 metre x 2.8 metre.

Then I decided to finish quiltIng a quilt I had started earlier in the year for Miss Fish.

Then to just make my life even more interesting I decided to design and sew and quilt another quilt between New Years and now.

Phew I'm tired just thinking about it.

So here the are ...

 

The quilt I made for Miss Le Coiffure

 

Miss Fishes quilt. The pattern is called Nana's Garden and yes everyone of those 2 1/2" squares I cut by hand !

 

This is the quilt I designed a simple 4 patch with borders done in baby pink, lemon & grey.

It's time now to drop off the quilts then I can get home. Catch you tomorrow.