Blocks and Swaps

A new year brings new Flickr activities, swaps and Bees  I ran the lottery gaunlet for Doll Quilt Swap 10 and got in and I am very happy.  There is a very cool button designed by Amy, assisted by Smith and her miniature circle of geese.

I am also doing My Favorite Little Quilt Swap which you can join at any time as long as you make your quilt by beginning of February, it is a very flexible swap commitment, click the link to find out more.

I have 2 bee commitments and I am very happy with those.  February is my month in Bee (a Little Bit) Japanese so I have been devising a block and prepping fabrics to send.

Some of my all time favourites, Suzuko Koseki, Sevenberry, Lecien, Kokka, Kitchen rpints, sewing prints, I have an emotional relationship with each.

A pile of strips and a chunk of Kona coal ready to go.

This is the block design- i have called it Floating Bricks

It is designed to showcase the fabrics and is flexible and adaptable.  I did a lot of free cutting which frees up the shapes and creates nice seam lines too.  Here's another...

I will post a tutorial on how to make this but it is pretty easy.  Meanwhile for others I made, non wonky Drunk Love Denyse Schimdt inspired blocks for Tong in the same Bee

And a fun block for Lisa in Ringo Pie- here theme is Mid Century Modern doors- loved doing this and the other blocks have been amazing.  I was inspired by this photo on Flickr

It was a tricky one, quick unpic in use a few times but I was determined to get it how I wanted it.  The wall plate number 5 is the date of Lisa's birthday/  I loved the yellow- Cosmo Cricket Early Bird.  I loved it so much I had to buy a lot more whilst I could still find it.  I am definitely using it again, it makes me smile :)

Slice of Pie

Slice of pie anyone?  Hopefully this looks like lemon tart- tart au citron if you are feeling fancy- my November block for Anna in the Ringo Pie bee.  She asked for desserts.  

The inspiration for this came from  Nigella Lawson's Feast.

The photography in her books is always stunning- I return to her Christmas book each year to get myself  in the festive mood.  This block looks all clean and tidy and nicely together now but its construction had some challenges.

I like to paper piece with freezer paper and Damian often trims my pieces for me adding the 1/4" on the edges as too much rotary action makes my arms ache.  I only had a little yellow fabric ( from out of print Katie Jumps Rope, Denyse Schmidt) and had squeezed the pieces on.  For unknown reasons he trimmed all the pieces perfectly, except the three yellow triangles which either had one side 1/8 inch or in the worst case, both sides. (This makes me think of Both Sides Now- Joni Mitchell)

I had enough fabric to recut the smallest but the other pieces had to be rescued to make the edges resilient enough o be pieced with less than 1/4" seams.  Fray check to the rescue.

I ran this along the sides of all the affected pieces, left to dry and it saved the day.  I double stitched the seams for extra strength but the Fray check is what really helped.  I think I will use it again for tricky paper piecing, especially little shapes cut out of fraying fabrics, it really helped.  Don't plan for 1/8 edges again though- Damian said he was encouraging my powers of ingenuity.  Didn't feel like that at the time but as always to err is useful and I am so grateful that he understands 1/4" edges all the rest of the time

Elise from Elusive Reveries has picked me in her 15 blogs list for A Lovely Blog Award.  A big thank you to her, take a look at her blog, she finds the most lovely links and ideas to put on there.   I am always really touched when people take the time and effort to choose and list my blog in any way- following, blog rolls, award.  I know some don't always like to feature awards so I am treading lightly.  I always look at profiles of new followers or those of you who comment to see if you have a blog and I find some really interesting things so these are from the last 6 followers  where I found an active and recently posted blog link- you are an interesting and diverse bunch xxx

http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com/

http://stipje.blogspot.com/

http://jednoiglec.blogspot.com/

http://beeware-tuffinstales.blogspot.com/

http://sewquine.blogspot.com/

http://indigohoney.blogspot.com/

Blocks

Finally, I got my own block finished for Ringo Pie bee, a box of vintage thread spools, I think all sewers have a box or a jar of these, you can see one of mine in my header pic.  This has been one of those things I had in my head but it took me a while to get it all done.   I used freezer paper and pieced all the bits together so that each spool was a mini block.   Damian is now fully trained in rotary cutting and as each bobbin is at least 5 pieces it really helped- he even managed to keep his fingers intact- he can be a bit blade happy with a scalpel (paper cutting not self harming) at times.    There's a bit of new fabric-a bit of In the Kitchen by Alexander Henry, some given- the bobbin fabric is from Ayumi, some stash and some vintage.  

Let's hear it for the piecing thread YLI soft touch- threads don't often get a mention- it's all about the fabric, but this is great for piecing, it is thin but strong enough and allows me to piece with small stitches without losing bulk to the seams.  I need all the help I can get with accuracy!

Ayumi knows what I like and it all comes through in this block- kitchenalia, vintage fabrics, text, and so many of her likes to- she is representing the international element of our bee by the embroidered labels-  I love it!  You've got to read the story behind this block- a funny tale of milk cartons and soap!  Click here   She has two new cute projects and pics of her fabric stash in the new Stitch magazine, you can see more on her blog here.  There are some great contributions in Stitch from other designers, especially Kevin Kosab of feed dog designs.  He has a great tutorial on his site for making a mini all purpose applique board.

UK readers- you can buy this from a UK supplier, The Contented Cat, I have bought all my issues from them and they are very helpful, this copy came the next day.

Thank you to all who wished my hands and arms well, they are on the mend x

Ringo Pie - Collections for Kerry

I am in a new quilting bee with some amazing company- Ringo Pie.  I feel a little flustered been in there with such great creative people and I am calling the first month.  Officially October but many have made an early start and I am blown away by their creativity and response to my design idea.

My theme is Hoarding- I cannot seem to avoid this in my life, just buying two of the same thing kicks off a mini collection so I asked for them to do a block displaying a collection of their choosing- free size colour.   If possible I asked them to include a new bit of fabric, an old/vintage bit and some fabric borrowed or given to them. The end result will be a collectors cabinet quilt.  I love kitchenalia so Amy's canisters were a hit!

 by Amy of Badskirt

I did Eng lit at Uni years ago and it is impossible to go through life without reading Penguin Books and at least one of these titles- breathtaking block!  So simple but so effective.

Lynne of Lily's Quilts

And Marit of quilt it chose something we all can't get enough of, fabrics- showcasing 36 different squares and a subtle K for Kerry

I cannot quite comprehend that they will all come to me.  I love them all!  I am working on my own contribution, a box of spools/thread

  I have had a bad rsi flare up which was ok till I had a massage yesterday and now everything is on fire.  I am going slow, slow, slow so they recover.  Thank you to Damian for being a top blog assistant xxx

Wonky self sufficiency house

Wonky block number 2 for Paula 

Looking at the pic this could so with a better press but I am happy with it.  I did the garden free form and the house from drawing out a paper template.  My top tip is to make the block an inch bigger than you need to, even then when I trim it down it is often a teeny, tiny bit skant- only the tiniest bit I promise Paula!  I finished this before we left for a final holiday day trip to...

No photos allowed inside do landscape pics only! Located on the outskirts of the Georgian city of Bath, UK in the most beautiful setting and is a great museum, fully recommend a visit.

  

Family friendly, interesting, detailed and a whole load of beautiful quilts to admire.

Last of the holidays

The last bank holiday weekend before Christmas and beautiful weather.  I worked on a Bee (a little bit) Japanese bee block yesterday- theme of "Wonky Town" and finished it this morning before 10.  I played with the fabrics first, what goes with what- they are pretty small pieces so I needed to be careful

 drew out a design, added some extra fabric

I use photo mount squares- double sided stickies to hold the paper whilst I rotary cut these out with seam allowances

I look at this point and have a few doubts- too late.  It stitched up OK, I added a bird although it looks like the house has two chimneys!  Hmm...

On the second block there will be a lot of veggie garden, a self sufficient house as there is lots of solid green left.  I like the house bit in the middle, unsure about the rest.  

I needed sea today.  We are less than 30mins from a lovely pebbly beach, even on bank holidays it is  quiet and the colours are very calming.

Can you spot a small dog's nose in this pic?

Despite the warmth, Lottie did not settle the whole time, she wants a constant game of fetch the stone- we throw one, she brings it or a completely different one back; repeat

You can see the crazed look in her eyes!

Enjoy the late summer sun x

Foodie Blocks

I have promised Lula that I will complete her quilt this summer and most of the work needs to take place in the next couple of weeks.  This has been in my head for a year although it did change a lot, still changing now as I think about it a bit more.  The picture blocks are now finished- I did the last two today and yesterday.

Based on a Cath Kidston mug- the big kind, great for a morning cup of tea- I have my early grey out of one each day- although this is hot choc, not tea.

These blocks represent some of her favourite things and I thought hot choc and ice cream are still going to be in favour in a few years times (you can see some of the other blocks here).

Piecing time now, on the minty fresh featherweight- I am using a new to me quilt as you go method- I can't cope with great big bits of quilt!  I found a very interesting method here- I'm going to test it out.

Making

Looking for the Giveaway? Click here

I am having a lovely day with Lula making lots of bits and pieces.  She has just finished this

So cute.  She started this last school holidays.  It is very much her own work.  All the little cutouts are from a dollhouse supplies catalogue. The tin is approx 3.5" x 2.5"

It was her 10th birthday on Saturday.  We gave her a much longed for dolls house

The furniture will come gradually but she had a bathroom from my sister so requested a tiny bath mat.

More furnishings to come, curtains, quilts etc- good way to use scrappy bits.  Much better than making full size curtains- one of my least favourite sewing jobs.

I saw this on Lily's Quilts yesterday and made a couple of blocks with suitably masculine blue/grey fabrics asap, they are leaving today.  Follow her links if you want to Kick Trudy's ass 

Now to make circles, tutorial coming, the technique is fantastic!