Alfred Htichcock...

... and his birds have nothing on the flock of them gathering in this house.

I've done a bit more work on One for the Birds.

It is now measuring approximately 38" x 40". I am starting to feel like it is looking like a quilt top. Not nearly big enough obviously, but on its way now.

I want this finished before the end of September. Sooner preferably. It is at the top of the list with a couple of other things. One more day to the summer holidays to go. Then I just might have some time on my hands occasionally.

Susan

What I Planned All Along

It was Saturday night and Helen asked me what I had bought for her friend's birthday present. The one she was going over to have a sleepover with the next day. Since 'B****r all!' would not have been an appropriate answer, I told her I would make something. Yes, of course I would. Wasn't that the plan all along?

So make I did. Oh, and I sent Helen to the Coop to get some chocolate to put in the make. And to our neighbour, who very conveniently has just started setting up to sell craft supplies for children online. (Phew!) Present sorted, just in time.

Right, that's me off the hook. This time.

Susan

One Little, Two Little, Three Little...

... Churn Dash.

Four little, five little, six little churn dash.

Seven little, eight little churn dash; all pegged out in a row.

My September bee blocks for Brit Bee for Miss Laura Jane, aka Miss September. The humiliation of my August bee blocks drove me into a frenzy of piecing today, determined that  if I was going to stuff it up I wouldn't do it at the last minute and render myself late again. Needless to say I only stuff things up when I am going to be late. (Obviously not true as I tend to make  mistakes on a regular enough basis to keep me from ever mistaking myself for perfect.)

Laura sent the fabric, all nicely cut for us, to make eight six inch churn dash blocks. Chain piecing came into its own here. I shall now add these to the pile of 'things I need to post'.

Susan

Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades

We all know that close does not count except with horse shoes and hand grenades. So when I say I completed my bee blocks for August in August, I did, almost. Close is not good enough!

Worse yet, I didn't finish them because of my own numptiness. I had to send to my August mama and ask for more fabric in one of the bees because I didn't check what the iron was set on and (whisper) I scorched a piece of the fabric. I feel so stupid! Either way you look at, I failed. Sob!

So there you have it, two sets of bee blocks - almost. We have retro flowers for Katy, Miss August in the Brit Bee Round Two.

 And granny squares for Leanne in the Modern Stitching Bee.

I shall slink off into my corner now.

Susan

School Supplies

Done it. Two pencil cases delivered to the recipients. Tick that box! And put away all scraps of the denim before my machine really spits its dummy out. I think the bent needle was the shot across the bows and its less than subtle way of telling me it has had enough. On the bright side, if you are ever looking for men's jeans - these M&S ones seem really well made and the denim is very thick!

First up, Emily's pencil case. She wanted a flower too. And for me to use the denim. I used some It's a Hoot and my last red zipper. The pencil case is very simple for a simple reason. She doesn't actually need it. For those who don't live in the UK it sometimes comes as a surprise that children in schools here, especially primary schools, do not have to bring in their own supplies.

All pencils, work books, rulers, paper - pretty well everything but the uniforms - is supplied by the school. So much so, that when Emily asked if she could bring in a particular pen she liked last year to use in class she was told no. It seems that the perceived wisdom was that her having her own pen might generate pen envy and suddenly all the Y5s would want to bring in their own as well. This pouch won't exactly be filled with pens and pencils, but I am sure it will come in handy anyway.

Helen's pouch is bigger and slightly more elaborate. She wanted it to match the book bag I made her yesterday. I wanted it to have a special pocket for her geometry set. In the false hope that this would prevent her from losing mislaying it. Only time will tell if the pocket does its job. Her pouch is lined with the same fabric as the book bag. It is a quilting cotton that I have a heap of. I think I entrusted himself to pick some backing fabric up for me once when we live on the IoW. I know! What was I thinking?!

The fabric is neither to my taste particularly, nor as soft as most quilting cottons despite being from Moda. Tell me, are backing fabrics sometimes made more robust? Anyway, it hangs about in the bottom of a storage box and comes in handy for projects like book bags and little else.

Finally, I got some happy post today. I won a prize from Alison at Little Island Quilting a little while back. I now have a fantastic supply of threads and some great Egyptian white cotton fabric. All from Empress Mills, right here in the UK. So a big thank you to Empress Mills and to Alison for this fabulous haul. Cotton threads, polyester threads and invisible threads. Brilliant! I've never tried invisible threads. That might require a bit of experimenting on my part. Always good fun.

Right, I have bits of black denim to pick up from all over the dining room. That stuff gets everywhere. I also have a poorly child. Not complaining, just stating the facts. In the scheme of things Emily has got the timing just right. After any exciting summer stuff has happened, and before school starts.

Susan