Another week..

..has gone by. It has been hot and dry here so I have started my annual round of quilt and cushion cover washing! Having washed and dried this cushion cover

I decided that the time had come to replace it as it was getting just too frayed in places!

Lots of rubbed spots on some of the patches and the binding had worn away around the edges too.

Wanting to use some of my Scraptherapy squares I found just what I was looking for on the cover of the book.

The cushion cover uses 18 dark and 18 light 3.5" squares used to make 36 x 3" HST blocks. 2" squares are pressed diagonally in half and added when the squares are machined together.

The 2" squares make little pockets which I like but felt could easily catch on something or might not wash well so I decided to catch them down with the quilting.

So simple diagonal ditch quilting using 'invisible' thread which went across the middle of the triangle pockets where it met them. Itgave just enough puff to the cover to give it an interesting texture.

Very pleased with my new cushion cover.

Not sure why that block in the middle looks puckered - it certainly isn't in real life!

I am slowly preparing the applique flowers and leaves for my tablecloth

Long way to go yet though!

Have a great week.

FNSI for July

Thank you Wendy for hosting us again this month - you can see who else took part on Wendy's blog Sugarlane Designs.

First up, I have reverted to Legacy Blogger simply because of the labels system. On my last post I trawled the whole list of labels ticking boxes and then when I added a new label all my ticks disappeared. So annoying.

Earlier this week my fabric order arrived from UK which meant that I was able to add the sashing to my Red Manor House.

And also the border to my baskets.

Which means that on Friday I was working on the applique pieces that will go onto the border. I made a large quantity of bias strip to use as the stem. And then I started cutting out flowers and leaves.

Not good colour repro on that photo sadly.

The applique on the original design really stands out and I realised this was because zingy batik fabrics had been used.

So I went through my scrap box pulling out any batiks and my other fabric boxes and found that I had far more batiks than I thought! I am looking forward to seeing this come to life.

In other news, I finished the two string projects from last weeks scrap haul

And I worked on the applique for my autumn wall hanging.

It now needs a scattering of red berries and then I can add the border.

I have a pile of masks cut out in readiness for a delivery of elastic - but I think we have all seen enough pictures of masks to last for sometime!

So that was my week - hope you all had a good one and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone did for FNSI.

The week that was!

Another one has gone by so quickly. The temperature has gone up again and looks set to continue for the next 10 days at least. So back to gardening in the mornings and staying indoors in the afternoons. Lots of sewing that I can be doing of course and there is test cricket to watch! - summer is finally here.

Having gone as far as I can with my Red Manor BOM until my fabric order arrives, I turned to my flower basket tablecloth. When I left it I had made these diamonds to go into the flower baskets.

So I carefully cut out the pieces to make up the baskets and started putting them together. The Y seams went in like a dream so I was disappointed to find that nothing was quite square! The baskets are all together now as you can see here.

Unfortunately where the flower blocks meet there are a few points that are severely chopped, however there was nothing to be done about it so they will have to stay. This is now another project on the back burner until my fabric order arrives.

So what to do next? Well I suppose I could have got out one of my many UFO's but I didnt want a major project that I would have to put aside again when the fabric arrives. So after reading a couple of blog posts recently about organising scraps I decided to tackle my scrap box. Here it is pre sort - it is shoe box size.

I decided to sort it all into three piles - anything 2" square or larger, strips less than 2" and crumbs which went back into the box.

I decided to tackle the larger pieces first and spent an afternoon pressing and then cutting into Scrap Therapy squares to add to my collection. The squares are 2", 3.5" and 5". They work well together and I regularly dip into them when I am looking for something to make a border.

The next day I was side tracked as I came across a new pattern on Instagram called the #weeboxybasket. The pattern is available from @sweetcinnamonroses Laura Cunningham and comes in two sizes - the rectangle I made and a small square one that sits inside. The original pattern uses mesh for the pockets and although I have mesh I dont have any elastic for the top and anyway I find the mesh a bit annoying as things get caught in it!

This didnt take me very long - the instructions are clear and easy to follow.

It holds the machine threads and feet that I use most and sits neatly under the arm of my sewing machine when not in use.

So then it was back to the scraps and I wanted to tackle the strips. I pressed them and straightened those that needed it then sorted them into two colour groups - pink/purple/green and red/yellow/brown autmn colours.

I have used the pink collection to make 6 x 6" string blocks which are all ready for me to turn into a new sewing machine mat.

I think there are enough autumn strips for a couple of pot holders so they could be next.

Just time to show you a small piece of applique I have been working on in the evenings.

This is to be the centre of an autumn mini quilt. Before I go any further though - I am changing those end leaves for something larger!

Hope you have all had a good week - speak to you again soon.

Friday Night with Friends and a catch up.

First of all thank you Cheryll for hosting us again this month, I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on.

It was one of those odd, pleasant days. It started out with an early trip to the market for our sausage and bacon supply for the next couple of weeks from Franklins Farm Quite chilly at 8am and I had to find a jumper. 

Then we went off to the hairdressers, our first trip in 4 months as fotunately we had squeezed in a visit just before lockdown. Perfect timing really as our hairdresser has been open since mid May and busy catching up with all those people who would have visited in March and April. 

Then a socially distanced visit with a friend on the way home who was busy spraying everything in sight with Zoflora!

After a late lunch it was time for some 'me time' and as the fabric samples I had ordered at the beginning of June had finally arrived I spent a happy time deciding which to order and browsing the web site for anything else I might 'need' lol.

I took photographs of these butterfly blocks which are this months task for the Red Manor House BOM

Such a pretty design which I think will make a great table topper at some point. They will be the corners of the border which includes these Flower pots which I completed earlier in the week

and the petals from May.

They need sashing in between each block, hence the fabric samples as I dont have enough of any one fabric that is suitable.

By the time I had printed out pictures of my June finishes and added them to my journal

it was time to water pots and the afternoon was over.

In the evening I worked on my RSC Dresden. Dark blues this month and I was struggling to find different fabrics to the ones I used last year until I remembered the lovely dark blues I have in my Christmas stash.

This has given me an idea and there may well be a red and green Christmas Dresden before the end of the year!

During lockdown I was busy working on some secret stitching which has now been gifted so I can reveal all!

My neice in Australia was expecting towards the end of June and so I had plenty of time to work on a quilt for her new baby. I used this pattern from Annies Craft Store

swapping the pieced elephants for appliqued ones. This was a lovely project to work on - I had all the fabrics in my stash apart from the grey elephant fabric which I ordered and it came from UK very promptly despite lockdown. (Far quicker than the fabric samples!!)

So the quilt was all ready to post off as soon as I had a name to add into the label. As soon as Dylan arrived I was able to post it off and it arrived in Australia 12 days later - never known the post to be so quick!

And here he is with his quilt!

Big brother Cooper insisted on getting out his quilt too

So thats me all caught up - I am getting out my diamonds for the table cloth today to make into basket blocks and theres an autumn mini that needs working on too. Have a good week.

A Biscornu Pincushion

I finished the embroidery for my pincushion during the week. It did not go together as well as my first biscornu but then choosing velvet for the base was probably not a good idea! Anyway after a bit of unpicking and restitching it went together and I was able to add the spider to my last corner and tassels to the points. Using a shanked button was not such a good idea either but then, after much deliberation, it was the best for size and colour of what I had so I went with it.

Very pleased with how this turned out although a few lessons learnt for future reference!

This week I also completed the last flower pot for my Red Manor House BOM

so now I am all ready for the next part which should arrive on Wednesday.

So far the only big problem I have with the new blogger is that I am receiving each comment twice by email. Is there someone out there who can tell me where to go to report this please? Also the only way I have been able to add labels is by running through the whole list and checking the boxes - anyone know of a quicker way?

Have a good week and hope to see you on Friday for Friday Night with Friends.

WIP's and trialing the new blogger!

Well so far so good - now to add a picture

That was easy but how do I get back to the left hand side of the page?

Anyway, I think I have done as much as I can to my piece of crazy so the next stage is to machine it to the pincushion base. Then I will be able to add the beaded tassels and put a spider on the web.

So I just found left alignment in 'other options', thats good.

I have finished working on my pomegranates page in my sketchbook. The one on the left is with water soluble pencils which I have washed with water. The one on the right normal colouring pencils.

The photographic reproduction is not as good as I would like - the whole page glows a much more golden yellow.

Now, I wonder if I have added any labels - cant see anywhere to save. But having found preview I can see that my labels are there so that is fine.

OK, I shall publish and wait to see if any comments come through as that seems to be the problem most people have had.

See you next time

June FNSI

Many thanks Wendy for hosting our Friday night get together - you can see who took part on Wendy's blog here

I started off after lunch with some drawing - back to pomegranates but this time in colour.

The yellow in the background is a little more golden than shows on my picture and I worked with coloured pencils. Today I started on another pomegranate on the oposite page using water soluble pencils. Still needs more work yet before I let loose with the water!

Anyway, after my play with colours we went off to meet a friend who had transported some things for me from UK earlier in the year. This was the first time we had been able to meet up since then. They were things that came from my parents house after they died last summer, the main thing being this sewing box that my Dad made for Mum about 30/40 years ago - maybe more.

Inside there are three removeable trays - perfectly sized for storing reels of Sylko sewing cotton - and a nice deep storage space underneath.

There were plenty of reels of thread left in the box - I do love reading the names of the colours on those old reels.

Having completed my two flower pots for the week, I allowed myself on Thursday a new project and I had put together some fabrics for a square of crazy quilting - yes, I couldnt resist making a start on a crazy biscornu!

It was good to have my completed pitncushion to hand when I worked out where to concentrate my stitching. The four corners of the top come down to form the sides and therefore wont have any pins in. So they will be focal points. The top four points of the finished pincushion are the centre points of each side - so that is where I shall put my beaded tassels. The four corners of the base will be very visible so I made sure that the fabric I chose works really well with the colours of the top. Whew - hope you got all that lol!
Anyway, yesterday evening I made a start on two of the corners.

I was really pleased with how these roses turned out.

Not a huge ammount done over the evening - the trouble is I pick up my crazy quilting book for a quick flick to pick up ideas and end up spending ages looking at all the gorgeous pictures!

Hope every one else had a good evening. See you soon - I have to try out the dreaded new blogger!!