Mini Archie's September Furtle

September has been a hectic, stressful month with the return from summer break to full on schedule of activities and routines again.  On top of that, I seem to have spent much of it in advocacy for CT's pre-school provision. So, I'm a little surprised that I have anything stitchy to show for September at all, and not really surprised that what there is to show is a little bit all over the place (rather like my head).

Before my wee brain got super stretched I managed to exercise it a little in working out how to make a rather large sleeping bag for CT.  It's been well tested now and I'm pleased to report is doing the job nicely.

I finished my 'perfect pairs' block into a cushion which was such a pleasure once I'd decided which border fabric to use.  I just love this.

While I didn't actually do any stitching for my EPP Hexie Diamonds quilt in September, I did gather all the diamonds to play layout and then spent a couple of evenings figuring out a design to help frame and finish the diamonds centre panel.  Let's just say it's going to take a lot more hexies!!

The re-emergence of this Christmas project WIP did encourage me to progress it a little this month.  Not a lot of sewing admittedly - I completed the embroidered panel and then spent time at the ironing board setting bondawebbed numbers on the squares for the next stage.  A little progress is still progress.

So, that was my September in stitches. What about you?

 Linking up to Mini Archie's Furtle Around the Blogosphere.

Christmas Countdown Wallhanging

A long time ago (2014 actually) Hadley (of Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle blog) had a fab make in Quilt Now Magazine.  Not an advent calendar but a Christmas Countdown wallhanging.  I bookmarked it in my magazine at the time, you know, just case there was ever reason or time to have a go myself.  Then, of course, along came the reason but not so much time ;-)

Well, with the Lori Holt Cosy Christmas quilt finished I'm making the excuse of using up some of the scrappier leftovers and giving Hadley's pattern a go, at last!

The main part of the mini quilt is Christmas scrap heaven, of course, and perfect for Lori Holt's Christmas collection.  I've managed to complete the '...days until Christmas!' embroidery and have bondawebbed the numbers to some background squares.  A little bit of machine appliqué to secure them is the next thing - though I notice that I've forgotten to make a zero, so probably need to sort that out first.

Not sure that CT is going to grasp the backwards counting aspect of this any year soon, but one day I do think it will be a fun way to aid her on that skill.

EPP Hexie Diamond Quilt update

These five EPP hexie diamonds, in all their Bonnie and Camille beauty, are the final few full diamonds for my four year old WIP.  These ones were made this summer and I enjoyed the peaceful, rhythmic stitching of them in the evenings of sometimes testing days.  Handstitches of any variety can be very soothing, I find.

So, this is what 23 EPP hexie diamonds look like - each one about 3 hrs worth of stitching (I'm not particularly speedy).  It doesn't really look like much, does it?

Hopefully, it looks a little more substantial all laid out like this.  What do you think?

There were several layout options considered for this quilt, and I have at different times had different preferences for which to choose.  Now, though I think I quite like the full scrappy patterning of the layout above.

Mind you, having sat down to doodle out how to finish this quilt, I think I might only be just about halfway through piecing for it!  As you can see, this current layout yields a quilt wider than it is long and I don't like it so much turned through 90 degrees. So, it needs lengthening and some kind of bordering and squaring off.  Only a gazillion more hexies to go then!

That said, I have high hopes for how nice it will look when it's done!

"Perfect Pairs" Heart Cushion

I had a bit of a struggle choosing a border fabric for my "Perfect Pairs" cushion.  I auditioned lots of fabrics from my B&C stash, whittled it down to four, had an inkling that I might go for green, but opened the debate to the IG community for thoughts.

The IG vote was reasonably fairly split between the red and the green options.  So I took these two pics and pondered it for a bit while I was having an afternoon of cutting and prep for various projects.  These pics got a 'green' vote from IG and ultimately, I agreed.  The red did work beautifully blending with the heart block panel, but I think I liked the fresh contrast offered by the green and that it stops the cushion becoming 'too pink' perhaps.

So, borders on, I layered up the batting and hand quilted with some lovely Aurifil 12 wt thread from Pretty Fabrics and Trims.

I kept things fairly simple by just echo stitching the hearts, stitching a little inner border on each of the nine squares, and another little outline just into the green border fabric.

Enough to be well quilted.  Not enough, I hope, to detract from the appliqué and beautiful fabrics which should be the stars of the show, I think.

I backed it with more B&C loveliness using my all time favourite hidden zipper cushion backing method by Just Jude. You can find the tutorial for it here (I always add a little lining piece too).

If you are eagle-eyed enough, you might notice that my cushion isn't quite filled properly and is a bit lumpy and bumpy.  Not having a filler of the correct size, I improvised by wrapping a quilt around a smaller filler - see?  

I was quite proud of that effort until I struggled for ten minutes to get it back out again without damaging the cushion!!

Anyway, enough blab.  Isn't she pretty?  Still have a hankering to do a whole quilt in these.

BUT I MUST RESIST.

Sleeping Bag Challenge

In spite of having a quilting mum, CT does NOT sleep under covers of any kind unless they are attached to her.  She's a twister, turner, upside down, sideways, anyway but relaxed, kind of sleeper.  She DOES sleep though, so I'm not going to complain, and the quilts on her bed make the prettiest base sheets you ever saw!  But, she is not quite as little as she used to be and although I've been putting it off for ages, I had to bite the bullet last week and figure out how to make her a larger sleeping bag.

(In spite of much research in the hope of finding a suitably sized bag that would allow me NOT to have to make one, I could not find one bigger than the ones she already has. Now thanks to @patchworkummy on IG I have a link to a site that does sell larger bags if required, though oddly there's a gap in sizes between 4 and 6 years old.)

Using some gifted Australian cuddle fleece and repurposing a lovely soft brushed cotton cot sheet as lining, my plan was to make a giant sleeping bag which will hopefully give her a bit more fidget room and keep her cosy as the nights turn a little cooler.

I didn't really have a clue what I was doing, so decided to make a little trial version just to see if I could get the construction steps straight in my head.

It was a bit tricky and I even sewed it all inside itself but that was the point of a test version and I just made myself a note to leave a gap in the lining of the real thing!

Far from perfect, but almost there and with a wee bit more care and precision, perhaps I could pull it off.  I also decided to order the construction stages differently in the making of the real version.

Enlarged pattern drafted and pinned, I got out my scissors and let the shed-fest begin!  It looked like it had snowed all over my house and all over me.  I was warned the cuddle fleece might shed and fray and it did not disappoint!

But I did get there.  Zipper in a lined sleeping bag, reasonably well-shaped and top stitched around the neckline/armhole and fixed with kam snaps at the shoulder tabs.

Not looking too closely is the key to this, but hey, CT has a sleeping bag that is much less snug than her existing bags and mummy has a sense of achievement!

Mummy also learned that she never, EVER wants to work with cuddle fleece again (shed-fest be gone!) and is very happy (hopefully) not to have to make a sleeping bag ever again either - thank you @patchworkummy for sharing the link!

Mini Archie's August Furtle

August has mainly been about hand stitches of one variety or another because of time away from home and my machine on holiday.

There were some pretty appliquéd hearts

and more hexagon EPP for my Hexie Diamonds quilt.

I even tried a crocheted mandala in a hoop just for fun (and maybe as a trial run for future efforts).

I then indulged in a little more stitching from Carina Envoldsen-Harrison's book Mandalas to Embroider, choosing the lovely paisley mandala embroidery design.  I still need to finish off this hoop, but the embroidery itself is complete.

While on holiday I discovered that Karelia House was nearby, and I persuaded hubby that he could avail of the coffee shop and treat CT to half an hour in the little playground on site to afford me a quick snoop around.  As always, when I go into a fabric or wool shop without an actual shopping list for actual projects, I found myself overwhelmed, wanting to buy but not knowing what to buy.  I almost walked away empty-handed, but I spotted a cotton yarn (I think it's 94% cotton) in one of the special offer packs and made an impulse buy with a view to stitching up a shawl.  As you can see, I have already made a start with a very simple pattern - Candy Kisses Triangle Scarf by nanascraftyhome.com.  So far, it's working up well.  I have no idea how big I will be able to go with my 10 ball pack but I'll keep going and see.  I hope I can get a reasonable size as it feels so soft and has a beautiful chunky drape without the irritation of wool which I just can't wear next to my skin.

I also managed a sleeping bag for my Little Miss, just scraping a finish in the month by stitching the final stitches last night - which means I haven't blogged about it yet.

And then, there are these ...

I didn't actually work on these next two projects this month, but I'm sneaking them in here as a 'confession'.  I had forgotten about these two WIPs - a case of tidying them away having put them 'out of sight, out of mind' for a number of months.  I rediscovered them when pulling fabric for my holiday projects. 

This is a Christmas Countdown wallhanging

and this one is a heart wallhanging akin to the strippy heart quilt I made last year.   I really should make a better list of my WIPs and keep an eye on them!

So, lots of 'bits' this month which have probably just increased my Works In Progress numbers (not to mention the extras I 'found' - ssh! don't tell the Committee!

 Linking up to Mini Archie's Furtle Around the Blogosphere.