Personalised Pencil Case

Little Miss CT starts P1 next week!  

I think with all of the surreal things happening in the world these last months I can hardly believe that it will actually happen next Tues, that school will actually be back up and running. 

School bags are currently disallowed and pencil cases are to be left in school rather than transfer back and forward between school and home. So I'm glad to have made her a special pencil case that is easily identifiable from the others in the class, and of course it meant I got to indulge in all the cute fabric and buttons and ric-rac and embroidery.  Playtime for mummy!

Coasters galore!

As we were deep in plans for our house move in January, I stitched up some tiny hexies flowers with the intention of finishing them as coasters for our new lounge.  

Rummaging in boxes recently I found the hexie flowers again and finished them into the coasters anyway.  We can always use some new ones even if we aren't in a new house.

I love them, especially the little bit of hand quilting I added.  Of course, they are Bonnie and Camille favourites, too.

I made two more coasters for our bedside tables just because I have had the pattern bookmarked for ages.  It's Sedef Imer's Quilted Coaster Tutorial.  They were quick and fun and used up a few more B&C scraps. I made a little change to the tutorial though. Rather than piecing the back of the coaster from two pieces of fabric and leaving a turning gap there, I just used a single fabric on the back and left a couple of inches open on the side of the leaf.  I felt it was a little neater overall, and the topstitching around the edge closed everything in again nicely.

No excuses for coffee marks on furniture in our house now!

Lunch Aprons for Primary School

So, as well as planning for my eldest offspring to head away to university in September, I am planning for my youngest to start Primary School!

Aprons for school lunch!  Some fun polycotton prints from The Remnant House (just £2.99/mtr) and we have hippos, birdies and flamingoes on her aprons.  This is what is known as optimistic sewing.  I am hopeful that wearing one of these at lunch time might help keep her uniform clean for a second day's wear.  Living in hope folks!

Triangles Cushion

I enjoyed piecing a second cushion for DS in July, especially as the HSTs were already pieced and trimmed.  They were the bonus offcuts HSTs from his university quilt.

I made him a cushion cover to go along with his quilt and to accompany him to Durham next month (sob, sob).

I love how the triangles work together in those colours - one of my all time favourite combinations.

All of that science/maths fabric on the front combined with the musical print from Aspen Frost on the back.  One way or another DS hopes to continue with both subjects areas next academic year.  It makes me happy to make for his big new adventure!

Drunken Curves Cushion

In between the Jelly Snowflake pattern releases I worked on some smaller projects.  This curvy cushion of drunkard's path blocks was one.  Originally, the colours were chosen for a decor plan in the house that we haven't moved in to.  DS had some lovely new bedding in mind and together we had figured out fabrics and a designee liked for a co-ordinating cushion for his bedroom.

I think he made a great design choice.  My drunkard's path piecing was refreshed by Leanne's brilliant video, which I was so glad is still on her blog.  Unfortunately, I think my trimming was little dodgy and so not everything matched up as well as I'd have liked but I decided to live with it as it's not the end of the world.

I found a perfect bright zingy yellow zip in my stash and then duly went and hid it behind a lovely zipper enclosure!

As always, my go to tutorial for this kind of backing is Just Jude's great tutorial.  I add a little lining into the backing as I go, but this tutorial never fails to get me neat results.

And hey presto, one grey and yellow drunken curves cushion!  Now all he needs is a newly decorated bedroom to put it!

Jelly Snowflake QAL

After months of just hand stitching, in July I finally caved and unpacked my sewing machine and some supplies.  Without much of a plan, and existing WIPs yet to be rediscovered among packing boxes, I did start some new projects.  As well as the Scrappy Table Topper which I am using as a sewing machine mat, and my Applique Hearts Boxy Bag, I allowed myself to fall headlong into the Fat Quarter Shop's Jelly Snowflake QAL.

I did talk myself out of it at first, but among the boxes I had re-opened, this Makower Scandi fabric was sitting on top winking at me and pleading to be a snowflake!! Honest ;-)

Week 1 blocks

I think like the embroidery SALs in April, May and June, I have really enjoyed stitching along with something a little bit at a time. There's been no pressure to rush through anything because you do this week's section or blocks and the release of the next part is another week away.  It's a project progressing without pressure and it provided a little structure in a way; structure that Lockdown seemed to wipe clear from my days.

Week 2 blocks

Each week FQS popped up a free pdf for new blocks and each week I cut and sewed them happily. Even though I didn't know how the finished quilt would look - gasp! Risky business! Thankfully, each week was a pleasure - nice simple piecing and very satisfying 'ticking off the list' a little at a time.

Week 3 blocks

At week 3 it was possible to get a better idea of the quilt by laying out the story so far.

Week 4 blocks

At the end of week 4 the centre of the quilt remained a mystery.

Week 5 added centre and borders and sitched all the blocks together

It turned out to be just a 6.5" square of background.  Lots of folks in the IG # opted to piece alternative centres - lots of them look amazing - but I chose to add a square of the same cream/red contrast fabric that I used in the centre of the sawtooth stars.  It works well for me.

Since the Jelly Snowflake pattern finishes at just 50.5" square, I decided to use up the remainder of the Scandi fabrics by piecing some borders.  It was a bit of a brain tease to eek out the fabrics and leave enough for binding but I did manage (even with a cutting error).  It measures 61" square I think. I had to compromise on binding cuts though, as I only had enough of one fabric to cut binding strips at 1.75". So single fold binding it shall be, when the time comes.

I'm quite pleased to have gotten this quilt out of my stash.  Avoiding further purchases at this time feels like a positive achievement!

I'm not sure how I want to quilt this and I need to unearth wadding and backing supplies from somewhere in the box piles, so I'm going to leave it aside for a little bit, but I do fully intend to finish it before December, so that it doesn't become a long term UFO.

The other pleasure in this QAL was that some of my lovely sewing friends joined me on the journey.  It was fun to have stitchy chat about your common project and I'm sure that Trudi and Di and Shiela will have amazing quilts when they are finished, too!

This simple Christmas quilt pattern from FQS is still available if you'd like to have a try yourself!

Response to RetroFabulous

 Hi RetroFabulous!

Apologies for not being able to reply directly to your comment about the Triple Pouch but you are a 'No-reply blogger' and therefore I cannot return your email.

I can't really remember the specific of making the pouch two years ago now, but as the blog post says, it is really important to read every word and just do what it says even if intuitively it might not feel right.  It did come together for me when I did that especially with the folding and tacking parts.  I hope you are able to complete the pouch without too much stress and that your daughter loves it!!

Kind regards.