Scraphappy Saturday - Green around the Gills

It's Saturday again so time for a Rainbow challenge update post. I have to admit I'm feeling a little frustrated at the moment, I've been feeling under the weather on and off for a few weeks and it's really dragging me down now. I'm trying to carry on but just feel that I'd be able to get so much more done if I was feeling well.

Anyway enough moaning - it's time to bring on the green. That messy pile of scraps on the cutting table the other day has now been turned in to a few ATCs.'Ticker Tape''Dream''The Jungle King'

These are all up for trading so if anyone is interested just leave me a comment and make sure I have a way to get in contact with you - there are no rules for the trade, you send whatever you wish and you don't have to be part of the Rainbow Challenge.

I have also started on a much larger project which has used up some of the green scraps. It's an applique quilt of a frog pond - the design is from Lynette Anderson. This is my progress so far.There is a long way to go and I know I started this too late on in the month to have it done by the end of the green round but hey we don't have to follow the colours strictly so it'll still count next month too.

Purple Patch Pillow Party

While I'm still struggling with the greens I thought I'd work on something else until inspiration hits. So it's time for an interlude in purple.

At the beginning of the year I signed up for a 'Pay It Forward' challenge on Facebook. I'm sure you've all heard of the concept, but just in case you basically sign up to receive something handmade from someone and in return you pledge to 'Pay It Forward' and make for others.So I have been making something for my friend, Claire. When I asked her if she had any requests she came back and said she was happy for me to make anything I liked but added that she particularly like purple, red and cats. As I've already made a red quilt and we had red month last month I decided to go with purple.Can you tell what it is yet? .................Aren't these guys just the cutest? I made a new pillow, using a pattern from 'Alley Cat Tales.The pillow has been delivered and Claire loves it, I have to say I do too. I can see another one of these getting made just for me.This is also going to be my entry for the Blogger's pillow party this month.

Don't forget to click on the badge to go take a look at the other entries. There are some amazing pillows being made!

Scraphappy Saturday - Here come the reds

I managed to actually follow the colour theme this week and have been stitching up a red storm, well red and white to be precise.As I haven't had too much time to think and plan this week I figured I'd start off with something pretty straight forward so I made up with checkerboard blocks for the rainbow quilt I'm hoping to have at the end of the year.I thought they'd be together in a jiff but they actually took a good while to put together........but thinking about it it's really no wonder. Every where I turn these days the cats have already beaten me to the space!!Oscar on the ironing board

Pip on the cutting mat.

Is it any wonder that it takes an age to get anything done in this house ;-)

Mug Rug Number Two

Have been lucky enough to have yesterday and today off work. I have a tonne of things to catch up on so am trying to squeeze in as much as I can before I have to get back to work tomorrow. Of course that includes plenty of stitching time.First thing on the list was making the second mug rug for the Quilting Gallery swap. My partner had two colour choices, the brights which I made last time and the second was black and white. I have to say when it came to it I was really surprised at how few black and white prints I had, literally just a few scraps, but luckily just about enough to come up with a simple mug rug design.I hand stitched the lettering on to finish. So now I can get these packaged up and sent off in plenty of time for next weeks posting deadline. I just hope my swap partner likes what I have made for her.

Scrappy Happy Saturday - Red is the colour of February

February's colour of the month is RED. I have plenty of red scraps left over from the red and white quilt that I made last month and have lots of ideas on how I might use them.

But this week I am cheating slightly. I have made a scrappy project but it doesn't follow the colour scheme.You might remember that I showed you this pile of bright fabrics the other day. I have been busy turning them in to a mug rug for the Quilting Gallery SwapBasically I've been randomly joining up some of the tiniest scraps I have, using a lovely black and silver starry fabric as sashing. I kept joining pieces together until I ended up with this........ which then got trimmed down, straightened up, and bound until it looks like this.....My first ever mug rug, had lots of fun in the making of this, and I love bright colours so think I probably ended up with the perfect swap partner. I have one more to make, which will be totally different to this one, then I can get my rugs sent off on the journey to their new home.Not much stitching will get done this weekend as I am away visiting family but I do have a couple of days off work next week so hopefully I will indulge myself then :)

Red and White - Part Eight, the finale

Everything is happening at once. All the projects that I've been working on this month just seem to be coming together at the same time. I guess it's serendipity. I'll be able to start a new month with some new ideas.

Speaking of serendipity I got the quilting finished on red and white bricks and stones and was thinking about doing a random binding made from the fabrics that had gone in the quilt. While I was hunting through a pile of junk in the sewing room trying to locate my tape measure I found the perfect fabric.If I remember rightly this the red and white polka dot was free with a magazine, I think it was for making a bag. The fabric is a bit thicker than the usual quilting cotton and it was a bit hard going as I like to finish the binding by hand.At one point the needle just slipped right across my finger and sliced right through the top which meant a bit of extra red got added to the back of the quilt ;) Still I worked through the pain, isn't it amazing how the smallest of cuts often inflict maximum hurt! I'm happy that I stuck with it because I think the fabric makes a great end to the quilt.Here it is finished (I'm having to apologize again because I can't get the photo loaded up the right way).I love how this turned out. Just as a reminder in case you hadn't seen the earlier posts, the pattern can be found here. It's a small quilt about 44 inch square so perfect for any rainbow challengers out there who might be reading.The quilting on this one is much more of a feature than I've done in the past. Usually I just quilt in the ditch, but I'm really happy with how this turned out, and although it's far from perfect having the walking foot on made things go a lot smoother.

Red and White - Part Seven

As hoped I did managed to get in some stitching time over the weekend. I've been working on a tonne of different things though, flitting from one thing to another and not managing to actually get anything completed, lol. But here is a little progress report on Red and White.

To try and combat the usual problems I encounter when quilting with puckers appearing on the back I decided I would take my time in the basting process this time. I laid everything out carefully and as tautly as possible. I turned my back for a couple of seconds and look what happened .........little paw depressions all across my nicely laid out fabric. Thankfully not dirty paw marks or someone would have really been in trouble!!With a little help from my kitty friends (or should that read in spite of my kitty friends) I did manage to get the layers together and under the machine. I have had my sewing machine for coming up to 5 years now and I have never used the walking foot that came with it.I'm hoping that this will also help with some of the puckering issues. Only time will tell, but the first quilting lines are in and all is well so far.

Red and White - Part Six

The back is pieced.Sorry about the picture, there hasn't been too much opportunity for me to photograph in daylight being at work, and its not really as creased as it looks, I just didn't lay it out very well.

Anyhow you get the idea and as you can see I've just gone for something really simple. I gathered up some of the offcuts of red fabrics left from cutting the pieces for the front, matched up strips in 3 different widths and then just pieced them together in 3 long strips.

Next it's the bit I don't enjoy so much, basting the layers and quilting. I can never seem to get things quite right and always end up with a few puckers on the back, but hey I've only so far completed 3 quilts in my life and practise makes perfect so I'll just keep going and hopefully one day I'll get better :)

For any rainbow challengers reading this, don't worry I still have plenty more red scraps left for use in future months :)

Red and White - Part Five

It's almost the weekend. We'll be escaping to Plymouth for a couple of days away so hopefully I'll have a few fun pictures of our adventure to share when we get back (and I have scheduled a couple of posts to pop up over the weekend, so you won't even notice I'm gone).

Before we go there is just time for one more red and white post. The bricks and stones pattern, doesn't really give any definite instructions for the back cloth. I had a lot of odds and ends left over from the cutting of the red fabrics that went in to the front.So rather than have them sat in the scrap pot for another project I've decided to make use of them right away.

You know it's time to give up piecing for the day when you manage to join things back to front like this!

Red and White - Part Four

As I hoped I managed to get some time sat at the machine over the weekend and the red and white top is actually finished :) The third round got stitched together and added on in no time and looked like this.The final round gave me a few problems. I'm still not sure why I suspect that I managed to cut a couple of pieces slightly the wrong size or something, but after a couple of attempts I managed to get it all stitched on.So this is what the finished top looks like. It's not a huge quilt at about 44" square but perfect for a lap quilt, something cosy to snuggle up under while chilling on the sofa.I love how this is turning out. I love the scrappy feel of all those different red fabrics that have been thrown together and how the red really pops against the contrasting crispness of the white borders.

Next thing to do is piece together something for the back and then the quilting can begin :)

Red and White - Part Three

I've been busy cutting, stitching and rejoining. You can tell how much I'm enjoying this project just by how quickly it's coming together. I've given up making resolutions this year but I have made a little promise to myself to try and do something creative everyday, even if I only get to squeeze in 10 or 15 minutes. The last few evenings have seen me squirrelled away in the sewing room using the creative time I promised myself to make the next units for the red quilt. I love that they are all formed using random combinations of fabric and different size strips, yet the pieces themselves all wind up the same size. To these yummy red squares got added some strips of white and voila the next border is done and joined to the chequer board. I've managed to upload this picture upside down and I really can't be bothered to delete it and try and sort it out. To be honest I don't think it really matters, you get the idea.

Two more borders to add and the top will be finished. I have the pieces cut already so just the stitching together to do, which I'm sure I'll make time for this weekend :)

Red and White - Part Two

I am really enjoying working on the red and white quilt and touch wood it seems to be coming together without too many problems so far. It's fun working with all the different reds and I think the crispness of the white makes the colours and patterns pop out even more. I have to admit that I didn't really like a couple of the fabrics that were in my box of reds, but actually when they are cut down in to smaller units and rejoined they take on a different look and I can say there isn't anything in this first part that I don't like anymore. Here is the first part complete. I now have to make a border of square within square units to add to the chequer board. So I'm off to starting chopping up the reds again. :) Am still feeling hopeful that I might meet my target of getting this quilt made by the end of the month.

Red and White - Part One

Well I figured a good way to kick off the year would be to tell you all about my new quilting project. My partner Dave really liked the quilt I made for Nan and as we've been happily together for a while now I thought it was high time I made him his own quilt to snuggle under while on the sofa in front of the TV.
I'm using this lovely pattern which I purchased on Etsy here.

I decided to do things slightly different in that I'm going to use all red fabrics rather than a mix.First step has seen me cutting 256 (yes you read that right!) little red and white squares. I have been out and specifically bought the right yardage of the white fabric but all the reds are coming from what I already had. I think I used just about every red in the collection.
Am now in the process of chain piecing these squares. It's going to take a while to get these all joined up in to rows but I'm sure it'll be worth it.
The pile of joined squares is already building up on the desk behind my machine. Hopefully I'll have the first part of the quilt ready to share soon. I'm setting myself a little goal of having this quilt done by the end of January, but it's a very loose target and I won't be beating myself up if I don't get there. At the end of the day there is still life to be lived so it will take as long as it takes.