Challenging Myself

I've tried to challenge myself a bit this week as regards to the Farmer's Wife Quilt.  When selecting blocks to make I tend to play safe - mainly choosing blocks that I either like the most or I know I will be able to make!  This week I decided to go for blocks that scare me a little - those ones with lots of little pieces.  I chose 'Hovering Birds' and 'Whirlpool'.  The success rate was 50 % - 'Hovering Birds' was completed, 'Whirlpool' was abandoned! 

Hovering Birds

As 'Whirlpool' remains in little bits on my sewing table, and to keep up with the two blocks a week demand, I chose another block to make:

Windmill

 A far more straightforward block!!  I think I will try and make one out of the two weekly blocks a more difficult one thus avoiding being landed with all the technically challenging ones at the end!

Birthday Cushion

We have a birthday party tomorrow afternoon - my friend's little girl, Phoebe, is turning two.  I'm finding it increasingly difficult to buy for children's birthdays these days.  It seems they all have pretty much everything and their tastes change with the wind it seems!

I decided to make something for this particular party - a more personal touch I think.  So I present the Birthday Cushion:

As is obvious, I absolutely love quilting, but I don't often embark on smaller, quicker projects which is rather silly considering the pleasure and satisfaction this little project gave me - made during naptime yesterday afternoon.

The basic assembly of the cushion, which is of the envelope backed variety, was inspired by this tutorial, although the front of the cushion is different and constructed by myself.  I had to use my brain and do the math though as my cushion pad was a different size.  To be honest I am quite impressed with myself as I find constructs in my head don't always work in practise, especially when calculations are required!

The fabrics are mainly from a Robert Kaufman line called confections - they are 2.5" strips sewn together.  The plain pink fabric is by Amy Butler and I embroidered Phoebe's name in a running stitch onto it.  A little bit of quilting completes it - just straight line quilting with my walking foot a quarter of an inch from each seam.

I loved constructing this cushion so much that I think I will make some Christmas cushions in the same way!

Dreary Days

It has been grey here - mostly wet and windy - all week.  It's dry at the moment but Radio 4 predicts a deluge at midday!  This has been the view from my sewing room most afternoons:

  Ordinarily the sea is visible above the houses, and the 'skyscraper' (ahem ...) clearly seen, but this week it is grey, grey grey, and the grey sea and the grey sky are one!

It's lucky that I had these cheery fabrics to brighten up my days:

I bought this fabulously colourful jelly roll whilst at Quilts UK in Malvern - Oh deer! by MoMo for Moda.  It is the one item I specifically had in mind to purchase when I went.  The prints are so funky!  I've just been swing the jelly roll strips together as I couldn't bear to cut them up - the plan is to create a border with the left over strips.

However, the basting and quilting is unlikely to happen anytime soon.  I'm trying to be slightly more austere as we approach Christmas so I'm limiting myself to very little fabric or batting purchasing.  Completion is therefore, to some extent, dependent on what I already have in my cupboard!

More blocks

I managed two blocks again this week which was very surprising.  Well, if I'm honest it's nearly two - one of my blocks is missing a small piece of fabric which needs to be ironed on with bondaweb.  This week's blocks have largely been determined by which templates I already had in my possession - the printer has been having technical issues so I had to make do with what I had.  My Very Useful Husband has now cured the problem and thus template heaven will ensue.

Flower Basket

Well it will be a flower basket when the handle is added!  It is to be a curved handle applied to the large white floral triangle on the upper left.  I should get this done over the next couple of days.

Practical Orchard

I ADORE this block and I am so pleased with it :-) all the corners seem to match up!  I love the pretty fabrics too.

Got other little projects on the go as well and these should hopefully make an appearance this week.

Pro12 rugby beckons soon so Happy Saturday!

Farming

I managed two more Farmer's wife blocks last week.  I'm not sure if I've ever been this disciplined about a long term crafting project before.  However, I did struggle with finding the time to post on here though.  We're into our second week of this school term and it feels like much longer.  The Christmas term is a manic one and my daughter is already rehearsing for the school Christmas concert!  What with looking forward to all the Christmas activities at church and all the preparations at home I have a sneaky feeling this project may dwindle to one block a week soon - but I'm really hoping to keep the momentum!!

Last week I made these two blocks:

Firstly Big Dipper

I love the little hourglass blocks (or half square triangles if you prefer!) and I can't seem to get away from using red fabrics.  I decided to add variation by using two different red and white fabrics and i really love the result.

The second block I made was Friendship Star:

 Loving this one too - especially the red and white polka dot fabric :-)  I used two yellow Lecien fabric in this block, but decided to fussy cut the central square to make the most of the large print.  I think the polka dots frame the central square really well and the rosebud fabric surrounding the star finishes it off nicely.

Two done and shared - now to make this week's two.

Princess Millie Quilt

I love freshly laundered, crinkly quilts and here is a brand new one straight from the dryer .... and it is scraptastic!

One of my pre-Malvern promises to myself was to use up as much stash and scraps as possible.  I've bought sooo much fabric over the years and most of it has remained unused so figured I should try and make a dent in it before I accumulate more!  The 'Princess Millie' quilt is testement to this and was great fun to make.

My starting point was a fairy princess fabric panel which I cut into individual squares - these formed the centre of each block:

I didn't do any strict measuring with this one, just bordered the central squares with various 2.5" wide strips and kept going!  I added some white sashing and pink squares inbetween to make the blocks stand out a little. 

This is a gift for my friens Mel's little girl, Millie.  I've been promised her a quilt for months, especially given that the quilt I made for her sister, Sienna, is one of the first quilts I ever made!  Very appropriately, Millie was 2 last week so the finished article has been well (albeit accidentally) timed!

I took a break from stippling this time and quilted this one with horizontal straight lines - a washa nd a dry later and it is all lovely and crinkly!

Half Term

We've had a lovely half-term here - the weather hasn't been great but we've enjoyed cafe trips and grandparents visiting and playdates! I even managed to use some of my end-of-summer 'harvest' to make an apple and blackberry crumble!

I had a lovely time at Quilts UK in Malvern last weekend, despite the cold weather it was easily the best day of the holidays weather wise.  A few purchases were made and I will endeavour to get these blogged soon.


I've continued to make good progress with my  'Farmer's Wife' quilts blocks - so far, so good.  I'm not entirely convinced I will keep up this momentum  now that the Christmas term is looming, especially given all the Christmas projects I'm contemplating...

Here are this week's offerings - firstly 'Snowball'

Not the best photo I'm afraid,  also I was trying to move away from red fabric in this block so it's a bit washed out compared to the previous blocks.  However, I love the fabric, which is by Lecien, and I hope to incorporate more of it in other blocks.

The second block for this week is Calico Puzzle:

I won't lie - this one was a challenge for me what with all the corners, but I think it is one of my favourites so far.  A little busy, some may say, but I love the over all effect.

Let's see if I can keep up this week!  Happy weekend!