Make Me Laugh

I found some gorgeous variegated DMC blue perle in my stash, and wanted to use it to do a hoop. It's a bit chunky at Perle 5 to use for this really, but whenever did I do what I was supposed to do?

I've made a good start.

So, go on, make me laugh. What do you think the rest of this quote says? Sarcasm welcome.

Susan

Pay It Forward of a Different Kind

A few weeks ago the always lovely Judith helped me out by sending me some wadding, and in the package she included this lovely charm pack.

I've been having a think about what to make with it, and my mind keeps being drawn back to this quilt that I pinned a little while ago.

Photo from ps i quilt
Rachel sells this pattern.
I am just using a small part of it for inspiration but love, love, love this pattern.

So I got some plain Moda Bella white from my LQS yesterday and today I started making disappearing nine patch (D9P) blocks. Which I then put some sashing between before joining them up. I am loving it so far.

What I thought was that as Judith gifted me with this charm pack I would then pay it forward and use it in my Siblings Together quilt, which these blocks will eventually become. If you are not aware of Siblings Together then it is very well explained here and a very worthy cause. I think these bright colours will make a great quilt for a girl to call her own.

Susan

And Back to the Sewing

Some days don't go to plan, but they still work out despite that. My car needed its tyres rebalancing today. That cut into the sewing plans. The school rang and asked me to get Helen just before lunchtime as she wasn't well. That cut into the sewing time. Domestic drudgery was required. That cut into the sewing time.

Yet, my day went remarkably well (other than the bit where my finger met the shiny new and very sharp rotary cutter blade - that bit didn't go well at all). And yet I sewed during the free time I did have and everything just seemed to work today. It was great!

I quilted some grey linen for front and back panels for a tote bag. I attached the epp lozenges I had made previously by machine appliquéing them. And I constructed the tote.

By the time I had to go get Emily from school I was done, which surprised me more than anything. It also pleased me to no end as it allowed me to take some photos before any and all decent light had disappeared.

The tote is made using Stof grey linen, scraps of aqua fabric, and lined with Aneela's Sew Stitchy aqua pins.

This was most definitely a good day.

Susan

A Busy Weekend

It's been a busy weekend here, but not of the sewing kind. We had visitors; Helen's best friend from the Isle of Wight and her mum. We had an absolutely fabulous time with them. Yesterday another of her lovely friends joined us and we went ice skating, before going off to see just how much twelve year olds were capable of eating from a buffet. Let's just say I feel I got my moneys worth!

Today Emily had her first formal horse riding lesson. This was the only thing she wanted for Christmas and has been asking for them for years. She got to try her first ever teeny wee jump. Her face positively glowed with happiness. While she rode Helen made friends with some of the other animals in the yard.

So it has been a great weekend. Just not of the making kind. Which is fine by me. I've had too much fun to get withdrawal symptoms.

And besides, there was another birthday cake as well.

I suppose the diet will have to start tomorrow.

Susan

Invisible Binding?

I had a sudden burst of energy last night and got on with cutting, attaching and hand finishing the binding for Singing the Blues. I had an idea in mind, but wasn't sure I could execute it properly or that it would look good in actuality. What I wanted was a binding that didn't really show, blended into the quilt top and didn't give a defined edge to it. The obvious answer was to bind it in white. Which is what I did, with just a little tweak here and there.

Where the pluses touch the edge of the quilt I matched the binding to the plus fabric. It was easier than I thought it would be, though it did feel strange joining binding strips without the right angle. The only thing I would change if I was to do it again was to trim the quilt by a quarter of an inch all round before binding so that the added colour in the binding didn't distort the shape of the pluses that it matches up to.

This quilt isn't perfect, but it makes me so happy. I learned a lot in the making of it. Especially about straight line quilting close together. I have ripped out much of the original quilting and restitched it but made myself stop. This quilt is what it is, and I like its wrinkles, crinkles and bumps. A bit like how I view myself.

I especially like my shots of colour in amongst the blues.

The original basis for this quilt were the ten inch squares sent as an extra to me from Toni in the Love of Solids Swap last year. She seems to have stopped blogging but her work can be found on Flickr here. I hoarded the fabric she sent until I was certain of what I wanted to do. I then added more blues of my own, and the orange solid - and this is the quilt I made. I pieced together several bits of wadding to use in this, and raided the linen cupboard for the back. I just used a white sheet that was of no use because we no longer have a bed in the same size.

I have documented my learning curve in straight line quilting in earlier posts. I used my go to for everything favourite Aurifil 50w 2021 to piece and for the top quilting, and on the back I used Aurifil 50w orange 2150.  95% of this quilt was made with stash, scraps and stuff I already owned. I like that.

The final measurements for Singing the Blues is 42" x 50". Not big, I know, but maybe a good size to hang on my dining/sewing room wall.

Susan