Be Free Little Birdies!

I know I've shown you my Birdie Stitches quilt before, but since finally finishing it in June those wee birdies have been all folded up beneath my sewing table because I haven't got around to hanging it. Shame on me!

But thanks to a nifty new power drill and my son's helpfulness cutting my bamboo hanging pole, we managed to hang it yesterday afternoon and I now have something to fill this boring, blank space above my sewing station.

And those wee birdies have come out to play!

Birdie Stitches finished

Birdie Stitches is finally finished.  I waited all through last week to be able to take a decent photo but lack of sunshine (even lack of daylight) means this was the best I could do with the pics.

As a wee reminder, and because it doesn't show up too well on the main pic , here's a mosaic of each month's block.

I enjoyed the process of stitching these blocks by hand over the period of the year that the BOM was running.  Somehow in that space of time the blocks took on a little history (the when and the where and the how of being stitched) that has been built into and will now always be part of the finished quilt.  Now all that's left is to find a (rather large) wall space to hang it!

Weekend Stitching Snippets

Been sneaking some moments to stitch over the weekend.

A block for Bee Blessed (instructions here) -

Trying to quilt and bind a Bee Blessed quilt which was beautifully pieced by Heather (almost finished but not quite) -

And, a UFO becomes a WIP - I finally picked up those Birdie Stitches blocks and gave them the sashing and borders they've been waiting for.

Terrible pic from my mobile phone 'cos the camera disappeared on a father/son camping trip.

To those of you who made it to the FQR (and survived) - I hope you had a great weekend and look forward to the many posts and stories that this week's blogs will no doubt bring.  It's been awfully quiet around here without you!  My reader's been practically empty all weekend!

December Birdie Stitches

I managed to finish up the final Birdie Stitches block on Christmas Eve -

I changed this one a little bit from Little Miss Shabby's design because with the parcels in the original it was quite similar to my redesign of the November block (which I redesigned because Thanksgiving is not a holiday I celebrate).  In part, that's been the beauty of this BOM - Corey's designs have been gorgeous but there has been plenty of scope to rework those that didn't quite work for me.

So, to add to my 2012 stitching plans I now have 12 Birdie blocks to make up into a quilt.  One of these days ....

Hope you are all putting together your 2012 stitching plans too - look forward to seeing what 2012 will bring from your creative hands!

Birdie Stitches November Block

A little bit later than I'd hoped my Birdie Stitches November block is finished.

I have so enjoyed these little Birdie blocks throughout the year and it's exciting that there's just one left.  I'd really love to have the December block stitched before Christmas (not a big fan of stitching Christmassy things after the season), but we'll see ...  maybe, when all of my gift sewing is completed I'll find a few minutes in front of a festive movie to work on it.

Busy, busy

Life is rather rudely getting in the way of a hefty sewing To Do List and my blogging time these days.  At this point I should be well immersed in my festive sewing projects but instead I'm tinkering around the edges.

The return to work post-op, combined with an office relocation which means I now have to waste spend time travelling that I didn't have to before, is seriously impacting my productivity and fun - ie sewing.  Life chez Sew Me has become manic in the past two weeks and since I'm not envisioning that an extra 3 hours a day will be created just for me, it looks like I'm going to just have to get used to it.  Anyway, moan over!

In a spirit of defiance, or perhaps just hopefulness, I am still clinging to plans to get my projects sorted in time for Christmas gifting.

Last weekend I squeezed in a few hours to make a wee bit more progress on the quilt that's a secret.  There's not a lot I can show you that's very interesting, but here's a wee peek anyway -

I do need to discipline myself and make this one a priority to finish as there will be one terribly empty stocking if it's not ready for the big day!  It is getting there, some bits are turning out better than I expected, but the maths challenge continues on the making of this from the outside in. Another two stages and I hope to leave the sums behind!

Little Miss Shabby has also posted her November Birdie Stitches block (only one more to go!). She has designed a lovely Thanksgiving themed block with the cutest turkey I've ever seen, but sadly since Thanksgiving is a holiday we don't celebrate in the UK this one doesn't feel like it would have much meaning in my quilt.  So time for a redesign ...

November?  November?  It was harder than I imagined to come up with a design that speaks to me about November.  The only 'holiday' I could think of is Guy Fawkes on 5th November, but here in Northern Ireland I'm afraid we don't really celebrate "bonfire night" either!  So what then?  Well, here's what I settled on (with a little artistic assistance from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching) -

It's a wee personal one and not very obvious to anyone outside my household, but as November is the month we celebrate the arrival of our beautiful son into our lives this one is Birdie Mum wishing Birdie Son a Happy Birthday!  Well, that's the plan anyway, show you more when it's done.

Now I need to head off and make the most of the few hours that are left making some progress on something!

Birdie Stitches and Bees

It's been grey, wet, windy and generally miserable all weekend so here are a few bright and cheery bits from my weekend sewing time.

Yesterday afternoon we had another gathering of Bee Blessed and busied ourselves making disappearing 9 patch blocks

I did make more than one block but just forgot to take the photos!

and piecing a quilt top together from all the fabulous D9P donations from our blogging friends.  Check Judith's post for a photo of the gorgeous scrappy D9P quilt top.

We also have our Bee's first fully finished quilt top this weekend -

First Bee Blessed finish - "Monkey Fun" quilt

Isn't it great?  Thanks to Susan for sending us the quilt top and the fabrics to complete the border and binding.  I think you'll agree this will be fabulous for any little boy!  Fear not, there are several other quilts approaching completion as well - we've been working hard to keep up with all the beautiful blocks you've been sending and that we're whipping up ourselves!

In the hope of not falling behind again with Birdie Stitches I put a boost on the stitching of the October block.  Just in time for the November one to come next week!  I omitted the spiders from the original design - spiders and I cannot co-exist even in stitchery!

Not so sure if this one is still a bit Hallowe'en-ish for me (I don't do Hallowe'en) but I did like the voluptuous pumpkins.

Hope your weekend has had some bright and cheery in spite of the wind and rain!

Birdie Stitches BOM - September

It's lovely not to be playing catch up on this BOM.  Isn't the September design from Little Miss Shabby's Birdie Stitches Block of the Month just gorgeous?  No need to make any adaptations at all this month.  I love the little swirls to show those leaves falling off the tree!

Happy to add this to the other eight - wonder what next month will bring?

You are NOT the only one

Not so long ago, my lovely blogging friend Susan asked if she was the only one.  Well, Susan, this one's just for you to assure you that YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE.

I posted about my birdie stitches blocks on return from holidays and a few days later as I caught sight of the photo of the August block on my blog post, I noticed that something was slightly amiss.

Would you notice the problem?

It took a few minutes to work out why it just didn't look right, but it's all to do with the alignment of the script prints in the Sunkissed fabrics.  They should be running horizontal and right way up, but I must have transferred the embroidery design at a 90 degree angle and so they were running vertical instead.  Not a huge crime but because all the other blocks were consistent and 7 others were already stitched this one just looked a little odd.

So, with trusty stitch ripper in hand I unpicked the block borders and reassembled them.

Aaah, much better.

So you see Susan , you're definitely not the only one!

Post Hols Hello!

Hello again!  Just got back from two lovely weeks holidays in the Lake District where it felt like going cold turkey with no access to blogland!

Me and my Bean at Sizergh Castle.

All ready for his big climb!

Stunning view from top of Helvellyn which the boys climbed while I sewed!

I am beginning to realise that I have a problem.  These two -

were taking bets on the return ferry yesterday afternoon as to how long it would be from arriving home until I turned on the Mac to check out the blogs again!!  What started in December as a tiny toe in the water of blogging has somehow, without me really noticing, become a big part of my week - that's a bit crazy really!

Probably a good thing then that I took the sewing machine on hols as I'm not sure what state I'd have been in if I'd had to survive two weeks with no internet AND no sewing machine!  So, on the rainier days or just in the peace and quiet created when the men in my life went to be adventurous in the great outdoors, I did manage to catch up on some sewing that had gotten a bit behind.

I stitched away happily in the evenings at Little Miss Shabby's Birdie Stitches.  The pics all have a slight blue sheen to the embroidery because I haven't just gotten around to washing out the transfer pen yet - sorry about that.  So here they are ...

April

May

June - redrafted from the original a little

July - redrafted from original 4th of July design

August

And, I spent a LONG time beavering away on the kaleidoscope blocks which you may recall I messed up and then have had to re-work by paper piecing in order to make the most of the 360 pieces of fabric I had already cut (wrongly).  I wish I could say it was fun and relaxing, but it wasn't.  The kaleidoscope blocks and I developed a hate-hate relationship.  Suffice it to say, I reached a point of frustration where I had to decide that I was either going to stop and never EVER touch them again in my lifetime or I had to just plough on through the hatred to get them done.  I ploughed on and they are done and maybe, in a few weeks time when I come to sew the blocks together I will actually like and appreciate them, but the wounds are still a bit too raw!  (Melodramatic enough for you?)

There are 30 blocks in all
but that was too many to lay out for this photo.

I also worked a little on my hexagon quilt (no pics as it doesn't look much different from last pics).  I started this quilt top in the Lake District last summer and it was the project and the holiday which made me decide I needed to find more time for sewing in my life.  I think looking back over the past year I can certainly say I've done that (and more).  There are some practical changes about to impact our work and home life routines around here and I'm not sure how much time I will find for my sewing this coming year, but perhaps now that this hobby is part of the fabric (apols for the pun) of my life, I'll at least be able to create a little space for it and benefit from the therapy it provides amid the chaos!

Good to be back and looking forward to catching up with everybody else's blogs soon.

Birdie Stitches BOM - another one done!

Yes, I know that these Birdie Stitches blocks from Little Miss Shabby's BOM were meant to be being saved as my portable holiday project, but I have caved and stitched up another one.  Their cuteness is too hard to resist, and you all know what my willpower is like!  This one is the March block with its promising rainbows.

I am taking the remaining blocks so far (Apr - Aug) with me on hols to while away a few hours of an evening or when I am enjoying peace and quiet as the boys head off mountain biking.

Before I do, I'm just trying to decide how I might adjust the block designs for June and July to sit a little better in my quilt.  The original June block is a typography based block and while I think it's lovely, I might just like to simplify it a little (as a personal preference, and if I'm honest to cut out on a little of the stitching - there's a lot in that one).  Not sure which words to leave in and which to leave out.  I have pared it right down to just the name of the quilt and the year of stitching, and think I'll maybe go with that, and maybe add my signature too - would kind of make it the quilt label but in a whole block.
Hmm ....

Also, the original July block is fabulous but, not being American, the 4th of July doesn't have the same significance for me, so I was thinking maybe a picnic basket birdie - what do you think?

Before you go thinking that I'm in any way talented with a pencil, let me let you in on my secret ... I used a few motifs (picnic basket, bee and butterfly) from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching - The Motif Collection book for the redesign of this block.  And since Little Miss Shabby cleverly matches her birdie's tummy each month to the rest of her design, I gave this birdie a checked picnic blanket tum too!

If you like this simple kind of doodle embroidery, this wee book is a very useful resource, particularly if, like me, your own drawing skills are a little challenged!  The book comes with a CD-rom which has all the motifs on it so that you can open each one, re-size it to suit your project or combine it along with others to create you own design.  I used it before to help plan my design for Judith's birthday mug rug in June. (I bought the book from Amazon, if you're interested.)

So, as long as I don't change my mind on these, I'm all set for some fun holiday stitching!

PS - here's what was waiting for me in my son's room this morning -

Isn't that sweet?

Then we had fun knocking them over!

Easter Update

Over the double bank holiday weekend I downed tools for a while to catch up with my little family and our extended relations.  So, with the sewing machine silent we decided to make the most of the glorious weather and headed out and about for walks in the forest, along the towpath and to the beach.  (NB This is also a great way to avoid chocolate!)

My two gorgeous ones!

As "real life" approaches again I feel as if I wasn't quite as productive as I could have been or should have been over the hols but I also realise just how much we all have needed the break from the normal madness of the school/work/family routine.  Never fear, I wasn't a complete sewing slob and did pick up a needle and thread in the evenings to try and extend my hexagon quilt top a bit further ...

I promise it really is bigger than the last time I pictured it.

... and yes, I did succumb to another Birdie Stitches block which I am supposed to keeping as my summer hols project (oh well!).

This one's February
in case you didn't guess with its profusion of love!