Halloween sampler week 3

 

So this week, the final three squares of the Halloween sampler have been released and we have eyeballs, eerie and ninja. I fixed the mistake I made last week on one of the lollipops and it's now ready for framing.

 

 

 

The first five blocks of the autumn sampler were also released yesterday so I have something else to occupy me on a Monday. Tomorrow we have an all day sewing session so I plan to restart my quilt as you go bag.



FQR bee for September

 

 

Moira requested the canoe block and kindly provided fabric from the Glimma range by Lotta Jansdotter for Windham fabrics and the printed foundations. There wasn't quite enough fabric to make the stripes go in the same direction, but I think the overall look is good.

 

We got off very lightly this month, next month is going to be more tricky as we have to choose what to make to go with a theme.




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Halloween sampler II

The pattern for week 2 was released yesterday and allowing for three hours of playing canasta in the afternoon, I was pleased to get it all done in one day. It's coming together nicely.




I understand the more elaborate frames will be a feature of the seasonal patterns in 2014. Not that I have finished the 2013 spring sampler yet. Right, time to get moving and work on my Deckade the Halls quilt which just needs putting together as all the blocks are now complete.

September woodland sampler

You would have thought with four child free days, I would have a bit more to show. Nick has been at home ill and I've lost my mojo. However I'm now ready for week two of the Halloween sampler tomorrow.

Calling all honey bees

And it's finished. I was the bee mama for the FQR honey bees in July 2012, not all blocks came in immediately but I have had sufficient blocks made for about six months. I managed to get it quilted in the few days before leaving for the 2013 Fat Quarterly Retreat and zig zagged the edges of the quilt to take it with me.

It is now bound and has one hanging sleeves, one of which incorporated the siggie squares I received.

As I can't count I had some extra blocks and bits which I pieced into the backing. I also hand stitched the writing on a block to make a label.

 

 I love all of the blocks, here you can see the quilting in a design called Japanese clouds.

 

One daughter dropped off at the ferry this morning for a school band trip to Paris and Euro Disney. Unfortunately I have a sick husband at home who is missing a free lunch and the Battle of Britain air display. So I guess he must really be ill. Eight of us are meeting here for a few games of canasta tonight and Lizzie ahs left us some nutella cup cakes.

 

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More frames finished

My plan today including going to my morning quilting group. I had a call yesterday afternoon from a repair garage asking if they could take my car in immediately to replace the wind screen in which a chip had appeared. I immediately agreed and said I didn't need a loan car as it was going to be ready for collection this morning. You can imagine where this is going. it's almost 3 pm and no sign of my car and I need it to go out later this afternoon to play petanque with my WI group. The garage just called - the car will be with me in 20 minutes.

So my day at home has been spent stitching the frames for The Frosted Pumpkin's autumn sampler starting in two weeks time. And I'm pleased to say it's finished. I think next on the list is the hanging sleeve for a quilt whose binding is almost hand stitched on apart from the top where I need to add the hanging sleeve. Then I'll tackle three months of the Woodland Sampler.

I also need to have my car back to take Lizzie to the harbour tomorrow as she is going with the Beaulieu and De la Salle Big Band along with the Beaulieu choir to play in Euro Disney and Le Jardin du Lexembourg in Paris. Four days with no children. What will I do. :)

Speedy stitcher

 

The Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween Sampler started yesterday. We had been provided with the pattern for the frames in advance, which enabled us to get straight into stitching the blocks when the pattern was released yesterday. I made sure not to have anything on yesterday apart from Lizzie's music lesson and WI. I stitched in the car whilst waiting for Lizzie and just finished before Chris picked me up to go to WI. So I get the speedy stitcher award for week one for finishing first. I think the prize may be a future pattern.

 

Today I've been to Zumba and am working hard on finishing the frames for the Autumn Sampler. And the Woodland Sampler is definitely on the back burner for the moment.

Friday Night with Friends September 2013

 

A quiet evening to myself with both Lizzie and Nick out and Matthew is back at school in England. I managed to fit in some pre-dinner sewing and finished the last blocks of the

Deckade the Halls quilt along. This block includes three cocoa mugs combined with a star from an earlier handout. I've combined Simply Style with Moda essential dot in lipstick with Bonnie & Camille.

After dinner I got out my abandoned Autumn sampler frames. I have half done quite a few but now's it's time to knuckle down and just finish them in time for the Halloween Sampler which starts on Monday. I've completed frames 1 and 2 this morning and hope to do some more today after a trip into town for bits and bobs.
 

I don't know if you've tried any Craftsy classes, but I had signed up to one that didn't enthuse me, I dithered and eventually e-mailed them about their refund policy. Damn it turns out you have 30 days to get a refund. They generously offered me another class in exchange and I chose "Quilt as you go patchwork bags". I watched a couple of the episodes in bed last night and I need to stop myself from starting another project. It's improve but with rules which I like. Check out her recent post for a quilt as you go clutch.

 

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Farmer's Wife Progress

 

I spent Monday afternoon sewing with quilty friend Anne. We were trying to get the group Farmer's Wife blocks sewn together. For some reason, no one else has offered to join us for the three sessions we've had over the last few months. We did laugh trying to get a good picture of the quilt top in the strong breeze. Then we found it fit perfectly onto the island in my new kitchen.

 

 

 

We have enjoyed our time putting the top together but will be taking it to our guild meeting in a week's time to get help with removing the foundation paper patterns before applying the borders. We are pleased with how it has come out. It's interesting to see how different people have combined different fabrics from the same box. The blocks were put together as demos by numerous people over more than a year. I can't lie, I will be pleased when this is finished.

Patchwork Please Triangle Patchwork box pouch

Happy dance for several reasons:
1. A project started and finished in the same week
2. Done in the right week for the sew along
3. All scraps used including the zip from the vintage haberdashery I was recently given.

Lori Holt is hosting this week's sew along and I fell in love with her version so I photocopied the foundation piecing pattern and put it on my sewing table. every day I've sewn a little, but on Tuesday I finished a client quilt, so that gave me carte blanche to work on this and a ST2 bee block.

This has turned out well and I sewed it at the same time as some Bee blocks and foundation pieced blocks for Swedish Bloom Time quilt from the same book.

 

If I were to make another of these box pouches, I would use the correct length of zipper and quilt the bottom of the pouch so it's more sturdy.

 

 

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Siblings Together Euro Bee

 

I was delighted to be asked by Betty to make a block for her month in the Siblings Together Euro Bee. She has a clear diagram on her blog with the measurements for each unit and it was a delight to dip into my scrap bag and pull out leftover pieces from lots of other projects from the year. There's some Zen Chic, Bonnie & Camille, Collage and Simply Style. I struggled slightly with the neutrals, but hope my choices

 

I'm still plugging away at the ST2 bee block for July. I have made my pieces too small for improve and it's taking lots of seams to piece together and 18" block. However I have finished my two client quilts, so the ST2 block is the next to be focussed on.

Ready for Halloween

Not really, but I am ready for the start of The Frosted Pumpkin Halloween stitch along on 9 September. I am pleased with the linen I am using and the mottled colouring works well with the hand dyed threads used for the frames.

Both Matthew and Lizzie are at Jersey Live for the weekend so I have been very selfish and spent the time working on these frames. It looks very striking and I'm looking forward to starting on the designs on 9 September. We will collect Lizzie from Jersey Live at 11pm so I have a few hours more spare to start hand sewing the binding to my FQR Kinky bee star quilt.

Halloween Sampler

 

 

It's August so that must mean it's Halloween??? You've got to start early to get ahead especially with The Frosted Pumpkin's stitcheries. The stitch along starts on 9 September and lasts for three weeks. This time they've turned it up a notch. The borders are fancy with skulls and spiders, the fabric is mottled and the thread for four of the colours is hand dyed so has small variations in the base colour. I was able to buy Zweigart 32 count Belfast linen in Vintage Dune which has a hand dyed look. I also forgot to say this sampler is on 32 count linen. I don't know if my old eyes will cope.

 

from the sneak peek above posted on their Facebook page it looks like each block will contain one of the nine letters that spell Halloween. It looks very cute.

 

 

As the borders have very few straight lines and neither does the linen, I did start the autumn sampler borders first. However I realised this week that with nine days to go, I ought to start the borders, if I want to be a speedy stitcher. It's coming together and even if I just finish the top right corner before 9 September, I'll be ready for the first week, but I hope to get it all done over the next few days.

 

Jersey Live is on this weekend, so I will get some time to just sit and stitch, once we've dropped the children to the venue. 10,000 festival goers are expected. I have finished the first of two customer quilts, so I'm on target for getting them both finished this week.

Deckade the Halls

 

Woot woot. I have caught up with the Deckade the Halls quilt along by the Fat Quarter Shop - just in time for part 9 to be released on Monday then two weeks later, the finishing instructions are released. Even I might have it finished by THIS Christmas.

This is part 9 Trim the Tree with fabrics from Summersville Spring, Bonnie & Camille and a random spotted fabric.


This is the last block set (Season of Giving) I made with Bonnie & Camille and Aneela Hoey prints with some Moda Essential dots in red.

 
And last but not least the Holiday Home coming set in Simply Style, Pearl Bracelets and the random green dot again. The last set is of cocoa mugs and I'll try and repeat some of the fabrics I've already used in the other seven block sets to try and pull it together. Time to get back to my long arm.


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Simply Solids swaps now up to date

Yesterday was a satisfying trip to the Post Office to post a thank you card for the lovely haberdashery, the Sewing Room swap (photos to follow once it's arrived) and three months of Simply Solids swaps - only one of which was late and one is early.

Firstly we have the curvy block for Alice, which I have avoided as I don't really wing it. however I came up with my own method which worked brilliantly. I placed two rectangles of fabric on top of each other and cut a curve down the middle. Then I sewed two pairs together. Repeat several times and then when it came to sewing pairs together, I stacked the pieces again and cut and joined. Really pleased with this one.

 

This one was harder than July's and I'm not happy with the centre points but I unpicked it more than I usually would so had to call it finished. This was pieced in four quarters but may have been better as two foundation pieced halves. All those points converging was never going to be easy.

 



 

And lastly Amy's block for September was improve which is out of my comfort zone again but I'm pleased with the results. note to self - start with a bigger centre. I trimmed the block before posting so I stitched 1/8" in all the way around the block to minimise stretch.

 

Tomorrow I'll share my Deckade the Halls blocks which are now up to date but today I need to load up a customer quilt on the long arm and finish it no later than tomorrow. Then I have another customer quilt to quilt and then I can work on my own projects.

Habby treasure

 

About a week ago, a school friend facebooked me and asked if I knew of anyone who would be interested in her Mum's stash of haberdashery. I think my response may have felt like I was snatching, but let's just say my response was an enthusiastic "Me please". I turned up earlier than planned and Janine was not yet suitably dressed but I had a lovely chat with her and her mum. There were five boxes in all, the first was full of assorted useful zips. The second above has useful trims including gold ric rac and some pale blue daisy trim. I remember Mum made Joanne and I matching dresses with similar trims. I may use some of this on my applique cushion to trim the roof of the little house.

 

 

 



The next box was full of delicious lace trims including several that were crocheted - not machine made. They would look great on some pillowcases.

 

 

The last two boxes are button tins - many of the buttons are from Janine's grandmother and aunt. Inside the big tins are these sweet smaller tins.

 

 

Lovely little mother of pearl buttons which are very useful.

 



 

Look at that little Oxo tin. I was particularly intrigued by the buttons on the blue cards. Apparently they are linen buttons and were used on underwear and night clothes. I've never seen their like before. Have you?

 

 

Another box of even more mother of pearl. Look at those lovely buckles. I think I should go and have another rifle through the boxes, to see what treasures I haven't yet uncovered. Lucky me.

Slower progress

Progress yesterday and this morning was slower. However Matthew has now passed his motor bike test, so cause for celebration. Today I've finished the Deckade the Halls part six - season of giving, so just one more part and I'm caught up.

This morning I managed to break a needle trying to improve the matching of the points on this August block for the Simply Solids Amaranth swap. I have unpicked it more times than I would usually and I've now called it finished. Not as good as I would like it to be unfortunately but it's also ready to post on Tuesday.

I have finished the social tote and contacted the designers to let them know about the errata. The pin cushion just needs to be slip stitched closed. I'll share some photos once it's been posted and on its way to its recipient. I will aslo have some photos to share on a friend's mother's haberdashery stash that she has passed to me. Linen buttons, crocheted lace and of course a great button box.

Catching up with commitments

I have decided that this is the week to catch up with my sewing commitments. I think I have the following to do:
Sewing room swap
Siblings Together block for July
Simply Solids for July and August

Alongside these commitments I want to catch up with the Deckade the Halls sew along. The seventh part was published on Monday and I have completed the first four.

Yesterday I decided the most important one to do was the social tote for the large item for the sewing room swap. I had the pattern all ready and I bought the fabric at Fat Quarterly Retreat. It all went swimmingly until I came across a piece that wouldn't fit no matter how much I stretched it. In the end I think it is 1" short and there's a typo on the pattern so I added a little piece of another fabric to make it work. Our guild meeting last night was surprisingly short, so I managed to fit in another hour last night. It is now ready for the binding to be hand stitched tonight and I hope there's some half decent telly to watch whilst I do it.

Today I decided to work on the September Amaranth block as it seemed an easy one and then I'd get ahead along with the Trim the Tree block (part 7) for the Deckade the Halls. I chose this block as it also looked easy to put together. I was right and got the trees made quickly and then started on the August Simply Solids block which I should finish tomorrow.

The September block for Amy is improv. Eek. Not my thing at all. However it's finished and I'm happy with it. Another time I need to remember to start with a larger piece in the middle as this is a 15" block. Ready to pop in the post.

Unfortunately we are no further on with our kitchen as the red glittery splashback had a chip in it. No amount of persuading would get me to agree to take it so there's another two to three week wait for a replacement.

Tomorrow I plan to do the gifts part of the Deckade the Halls sew along and finish the August Simply Solids block which is about 60% done already. I also need to locate the pieces for the ST2 block which I started about three weeks ago. I found one piece so the others must be close by.



Progress

The fence has been painted, so I celebrated by painting my nails before falling asleep at about 8 last night. I hadn't felt well all day and this morning, I still feel shaky. The neighbours at the Trinity property were kind enough to tell me that part of the side fence is falling down which will just have to wait.

I have also worked on my autumn sampler frames. However today I need to focus on the sewing room swap as that needs to be posted by 25 August. I have the pattern and fabric and that's as far as I've progressed.