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 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.