Birdy takes flight!

FQ Name tag ready to fly to a new home !


Well everyone wanted to give the bird legs and who am I to resist overwhelming popular opinion!??


I had though of creating some beaded legs on wire but thought they might catch on clothing so then I thought of legs that could be detached - at that point I thought Nicky you are going too far!  The bird will just have to stay legless.


After all your excitement about legs I thought about them again!  And with some helpful suggestions from the lovely Helen I realised they didn't need to be made of wire!  


So here is the birdy with cotton legs as suggested by Helen and a bit of wing stitching as requested by Katy!


Now I said I was going to bling things up with a beaded lanyard.


Well my partner has two options


Daytime with matching fabric lanyard

And Evening with beaded number

Now just to keep it all tidy I thought a pouch was in order and here it is... 


Quirky birdy side up....

The whole package...

Twitter birdy side

Close up of twitter birds... and what could be hiding under those gorgeous buttons?  I wonder!  Or should I say who?

Well until she gets it I couldn't possibly comment....!  But you can guess if you like....

Posting about posting!

I have been posting ....

......at the Post Office 

Civil War blocks to the US

Bee Blocks to the US

I found this tricky! - haha!  All those points, all those bias seams!

and Wonky Houses to Jude for Bee Blessed

Who lives in a house like this?  Some dotty bird!

Is she the landlady?  or perhaps the chairwoman?

And in return I have now got -

• my fabrics to turn my grannies into a giant churndash - will show those when they are attached; and

• Moo cards to swap at FQ Retreat though I may put up a fight !

You may have to steal them or fight me for one!

• and my very own stickers - woohoo!

Think I will be a bit stuck up!

I went to Dorking today to meet a friend and give her a birthday present.  I got it all ready, wrapped and in a bag last night, problem was I didn't take that bag with me! Duh!

So that goes in the post soon or I will lose it before we meet again!   Can't show you what is inside yet as she now has one of my moo cards so may pop in for a visit - Hi Fiona!  I got some homemade Damson Jam and some Apple Jelly with Chili - yum yum - guess what I'm having for breakfast!

And as I was in Dorking I did have to go to the Quilt Room and this just had to come home with me!

Some cute fabrics at the top for my Rose Star blocks - must actually make some more of those - and some daisies for my daisy project which I have a vague idea about ...still collecting daisy fabrics so let me know of any you see....

FQ Nametag Swap!

Yes I am going the London FQ Retreat in June!  Lucky or what!


I signed up for the Nametag swap, was assigned a partner, have thought about what I wanted to make, even decided what I wanted to make and then did lots of other things because I wasn't sure how to make it! [Do you do that or is it just me?]


Well I started on it yesterday!  Yahoo!  After a few bad starts I came up with this....

 Apologies for blurry shot but light levels are so low today - it's raining.....again!




I liked it but the linen I used was quite open textured and was fraying like mad so I had to try again today...


Mark II, which is a lot tidier and less likely to disappear into a heap of threads..

Missing something do you think?


Well if you know me then you know I make things with two sides and this is no exception.  So this is the other side....

Minus that giveaway name of course!


Now as it stands I could send it in the post like this but I wondered if I should send it attached to something like this?   Bling it up a little...

What do you think?

Weekend Activity!

I watched eldest daughter ride on my favourite horse Jack - she is beginning to like him!   She still prefers the mare she used to ride and knows quite well but I think he is starting to win her over!  Well done Jack!

  

I watched youngest daughter roller skating...she has been practicing during the Easter hols and wants to continue building her confidence and skill!  Good for her I say!

No my activity was of the sewing kind!  As usual here!

I picked up two projects that I started with Carolyn Forster one from way back and the other is a project from last year!

The UFO is a basketweave design the sashing gives you the feeling of woven strips going under and over each other  - well they are supposed to though I think my prints are possibly too close in value to really get that effect - hey I started this one some while ago!

The squares surrounded by the sashing are all pale creams - you know quiet colours because I was going to fill them up with glorious hand quilting and I did make a start on that...

From the front

From the back

Yup - I haven't even finished one block!


So in an effort to move things along a bit I started some machine quilting in the sashing and chose a motif from the printed fabric - an oak leaf!

Oak leaf from the front

 I used some variegated green Aurifil 40 thread and am pleased with the effect from the front anyway.  I have put this quilt together in the 'Quilt as you go method' so it is in four sections that easily fit under the machine and I will later sew the sections together and then quilt over the joins.

Just one little hiccough - have you ever done this?   Woops!

It pays to clear your sewing table  before you start machine quilting - am tempted to leave it in as a reminder...or is that an excuse for someone who doesn't like unpicking?



I will machine stitch all the sashing and around the four patch panel but the question is...... do I unpick all that handstitching in the one panel and do just machining to get this quilt finished or do I continue with the handstitching?  


Or should I change to cotton perle big stitching in those panels adding a bit of brighter colour to a subtle or dull ( depending on your point of view) quilt!?  


C'mon girls I could do with some advise here!  Personally I am leaning towards the cotton perle!

My other project was to make progress with my spools blocks

I diligently completed 19  last year 


And I have started 13 more this weekend

I think I can push this one along a bit!  For me this was a new colour palette to work with and predominantly solids - just one little print on the thread bit of the spool!  I think I need about 81 to make a quilt - still some way to go then.

Umbrella Prints Competition!

Yes that Karen from Blueberry Park tempted me into the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition! - well ok the lure of hand screen printed fabrics helped too....!

 Here is the fabric trimmings I received in my first package...

Wow I thought this will be a challenge to put all these little pieces of different colours together - not a colour palette I would have chosen myself!


Now I had an idea of something to help me keep little bits of fabric together while block building - you know you have cut them out but not sewn them up yet and more particularly you have chosen which bits go where and need them to stay in a special place!   


For me this applies in my sewing room between sewing machine and ironing board and when I am out and about hand stitching!


So do you want to see what I have made?


Well I bet you have just scrolled this far anyway....




The front

The back

I was channeling those Retro Flowers while making this! 

The inside in use

My first wee squares of a retro thirties mini quilt kit by Martha!  Totally small 1.25" squares

My scissors and mini pin/needle keeper

I added the ribbon to keep my scissors in place!

Some details

That ellie is thinking sew a little, live a lot - though how she sews with those big feet??

Aurifil thread comes in beautiful colours....doesn't it?

Now don't worry I won't be getting all big headed or anything - I don't expect to win though there are some nice prizes.  There is a judges' choice and a people's choice - so I may let you know and ask you to vote for me or some other talented person ( ok we all know I really mean me!)  but I reckon you may help me out unless like Karen - you are in the competition too!

I will remind you nearer the time if you don't mind!  Thanks peeps!

I used:

•  the trimmings from Umbrellaprints, 
• felt from Paper and String, 
• two glorious squares of Oakshott cotton, and 
• yummy Aurifil Thread!

PS I did say my first package ....more to come but I need to think of another idea!  Trying to think of something quite different...that's hard cos it's all out there already isn't it!

Does this say Civil War!?

I need your help!

I am sending some blocks away to be included in something for someone - bit hush hush - and I must send them soon!  

But they must be in Civil War fabrics.... now I have looked at my stash and come up with these two blocks but am not sure if I have used fabrics which are civil war stuff or even close.  

Not my usual style I admit but my stash goes back a long way - though not quite back to the 1860s!  Haha - I'm not that old!

In the past I bought fabric because I liked it or had some purpose for it or it was on sale!  I do try to be a bit more disciplined now - and usually fail miserably...heehee


Would either of these do or both?

A grumble of grannies?

Despite a few hiccoughs I managed to finish all the grannies and I have now sashed them together - they are quite happy in each other's company, looking forward to a cuppa tea and a Rich Tea biscuit I am sure and talking about knitting!....

Now that is not meant as a disparaging remark as I rather like knitting (oh and tea and biscuits) and if you look back far enough in my blog you will even find some evidence of that!   I should get out my needles again as we now have a local supply of nice yarn so some yummy knitting is a possibility...

But in the meantime back to the grannies....

This is the supposed two sides of the same quilt but as I have used up my thirties repros I have to stop making grannies...yup bit of a discrepancy all the way round don't you think!?

So I am thinking of borders - two at least.  But first I need to go back to Mandy for some more Simply Solids as I have run out again....most irresponsible....don't you think?

Too much haste, too little speed!

Just to show you that not everything goes well on planet Sew & Sow...






Two grannies gone wrong - I blame trying to squeeze another new make into a tight schedule!


Never mind  - yesterday morning they looked like this ....

And now they look like this....

A bit of sashing is required and I will be ready to put that quilt together.  I know I want to do an allover pattern in machine stitching but the question is what!?




Maybe some fans, maybe some clamshells, maybe some ditsy little flowers - hoping inspiration will come when I get it all basted but I am open to suggestion with this one!






In the meantime I have received this fabric in the post 

Which means I can now add borders to this quilt top!

Like so!

No excuse for not finishing this one soon!  Just got to piece that back!