The House with the Polka Dot Door

This little house was not on my UFO pile. I started it on the weekend and finished it up this morning. I needed another pin cushion you see, because I have but one and it never remembered to come back with me to the sewing machine when I'd been elsewhere pinning, so pins ended up loose and not very convenient.

I got the pattern for this from the retro mama blog. Cute, huh? I don't know if I will end up using it as a pincushion now. It looks rather comfortable hanging on my craft room door.

So, maybe another one is in order, in colours to go with my sewing machine, or my iron, which happen to be very, very similar. And without a hanging ribbon so I don't get tempted to hang it up elsewhere.

But NOT until I've finished another UFO.

Finish Number One

A little while ago, I made a foundation pieced star, from the pattern provided by Quiltjane, as part of the Desperate Housewife's Quilt. I was going to make four and put them together into one cushion cover, but  I rather dislike foundation piecing like this, and so just made the one. I had to make one, because I loved the block. 

So, that's one of my UFOs now finished. Getting there. :)

Broken

Two more blocks done, and if will power permits, that's it for a little while till I get some other bits finished. So, we have Broken Dishes:

This gave me some grief. I had to leave it last night and come back to it first thing. Some of the pinwheel points are a bit off for my liking, but I've just gone with it. They're not all that bad, I'm just fussy.

This is Broken Sugar Bowl. I changed the colour placement slightly.

I am happy with the colours in these two blocks. The broken dishes block makes me think of beaches with turquoise waters. :)

So, now the book and fabrics are being put away, and the UFO pile will soon start to dwindle.

Bowtie and Bouquet

So, two Farmers Wife blocks done yesterday. Bowtie and Bouquet. The names of these blocks together make me think of weddings. :)

Bouquet:

Bowtie:

So, now I have done 15, that leaves just 96 more blocks to sew. And cut. And cut and cut. That is the most time consuming part, I think.

Introducing Purple

I decided this week to add a bit of purple to the mix of colours in my blocks, and so we have Box:

I don't like to cut up regular polkadots or stripes or checks or any of that sort of thing, and have them join in an odd way, so instead of two triangles of purple for each purple section, I did it in one piece.

The second block, Contrary Wife:

This should have been really quick, but I had to unpick two rows, because after going along just fine sewing three rows, I then sewed the bottom row to the top, didn't notice when I pressed it, and proceeded to sew the top row to the bottom. I debated leaving it, but preferred the 'correct' layout, so unpicked and re-sewed. Oh well, it may teach me to pay attention.

Of course I was doing it between various parts of cooking a roast, so was a bit distracted, and in particular my Yorkshire puddings had me quite distracted indeed, they turned out so well. Here's a pic, 'cause they deserve a pic, 'cause they were good. :)

And another one, just because:

And now, I'm hungry!

Birds in the Air

Only one block this weekend, as I was busy doing other things. Not entirely sure I like the mix of yellow and pink, but not sure I don't either. I would have done more on Sunday but spent my spare time reading HG Wells instead, trying to get my mind off the poor little lizard I accidentally hoed to death while weeding and kinda got a wee bit hysterical over...

Temperance Tree and Big Dipper

Two more farmers wife sampler blocks. Temperance Tree caused me issues - I didn't like my first block so unpicked it all and resewed it with the yellow fabrics instead of my original choice. Also unpicked and trimmed the blue triangles because they finished a tad too big. So twice sewn, but finally acceptable to me.

Big dipper came together wonderfully. The yellow and pink don't want to photograph nicely though.

I'm thinking I'll start going in order again, because I spend far too long looking through the book deciding which block to do next otherwise.

Wrench

Here are two more blocks made for the Farmer's Wife sampler. Calico Puzzle and Wrench: 

I went for nice simple ones yesterday. The cutting out of lots of triangles was giving me an aching back. I think I need a slightly higher table.  

Buzzard's Roost

Another Farmer's Wife Sampler block, called Buzzards Roost, made on Tuesday. Poor dismembered Frog Prince.

Nothing made yesterday, too much other stuff to do. Hopefully today though :)

Frog Prince

I really am loving making these Farmers Wife sampler blocks. My favourite so far is probably this one, which is called Star of Hope, or by me, Frog Prince:

I love the Prince Charming range by Tula Pink, and this Frog Prince fabric is the only piece I own. It was almost painful cutting into it, but I love the block with the frog in, and think the darker triangles are kinda like a crown.

I've done another two blocks too, Basket Weave:

And Bat Wing:

I've got some bits cut up for the next one, but really should get on and do other things. It's hard when they are so much fun to make!

Autumn Tints

Block two in the Farmers Wife sampler quilt, Autumn Tints, is done! It was a nice quick one since I could rotary cut and they're all squares. I had to join the stripes, which came from the Rose Parade jelly roll, but am still happy with how it looks.

The colours in this range are so bright and lovely. I think the block would be more aptly named Spring Colour, since there are really no autumn tints in there.

Next!

Hello Mrs Farmer

I wasn't going to cave in. I had plenty of other things on the go, so didn't need a sampler quilt to add to them, but I was finally convinced by Susan and her beautiful Rose Parade blocks that I had to get the Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt book and sew my own little blocks.

I am using Rose Parade by Moda, and adding some other fabrics I've got laying around. I just finished my first one earlier today. Here it is, Attic Windows:

I used Rose Parade in the middle only, but it's there. The Eiffel tower triangles should have probably been put on their opposite corners. As it is, the only complete towers are upside down. It doesn't worry me enough at the moment to bother changing it though.

So many more to do! Kinda exciting. :)

Catch-up

I did a bit of sewing earlier this week and caught up with the Bloggers' BOM blocks. Here are blocks three and four: 

I did block two a while ago, but haven't posted till now. Here it is: 

I love these colours so much. They just give me a real lift when I see them together. 

Bye Bye Christmas, and 2011

Hello New Year.

Here's a pair of cushions I made my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas. I think the recipients liked them. I was told I'll have to do another one when number 3, currently brewing, gets here, but I think that was just politeness. I don't know. It is hard to tell when you don't really get an enthusiastic response at all.

Anyway, to make them, I took a couple of side-on photos of the niece and nephew, turned them into silhouette outlines in Photoshop Elements and printed them. Traced onto fabric, ironed onto Vliesofix, cut out about 1/4 inch outside the line, then ironed onto background and stitched around, on the line, by machine.

They are very recognisable as my niece and nephew, and I was quite pleased with how they came out. What topped it off for me though was the little tags, done with Moda twill tape from a jelly roll, and a laundry marker. Simple, but it added a spot of colour and a kind of professional touch.

I enjoyed making these, and though I wasted a bit of time doing needle-turn applique first up, not liking the nose area, unpicking, retracing etc... it all worked out in the end.