Tuesday, 31 January 2012

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.

Monday, 30 January 2012

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. :)

Saturday, 28 January 2012

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.

Thursday, 26 January 2012

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.


Wednesday, 25 January 2012

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!

Monday, 23 January 2012

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...

Friday, 20 January 2012

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.