Mini Made

I finished up this mini quilt for the DSDQ swap#4 while I was at the GWSMQG Sunday Sewalong.
I've used Flea Market Fancy in this quilt and at the guild meeting, I got a good look at Sheridan's original FMF stash, to compare colours and see first hand those lovely prints that didn't make the reprint.
The solid is Kona Ash.

I made a single fold binding and machine sewed it down. I'm getting much better...I only missed two corners...easily and neatly fixed though!

I have one sad little reject block - I forgot to leave a 1/4" seam allowance along the diagonal,

so I am going to make that into a potholder today (I knew that Insul-Bright I bought all those years ago would eventually get a run) and I can use Leona's timely "insertion strip" tutorial

Hope your Tuesday is full of sewing...

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

February Finishes - Swaps and BoMs…

With a rush, a sense of purpose and armed with the real thing, I set about making February's paper pieced block for QuietPlay’s - And Sew On Block of the Month. - suddenly it was 28 February and I had no more days left!

You can find the link to March’s free block on Kristy’s blog - Quiet Play. It’s free for the month and then will be available for sale after that (just so you know).
Here’s a reminder of what my January block looks like.

Looks like I’m going for a blue, green, orange and yellow theme.

Another Feb finish is this basket for the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap on Flickr

It’s a generous 13” x 9” x 6”.

I laid out the charm squares in 4 rows of 3, 5, 5 and 3. I added a 2” x 14" piece of solid to fit the 3 block ends (at the top and bottom of the picture below) and a 2" x 9 1/2" to fit the 2 charm square sides (on the left and right hand sides of the picture below). This was to make the side heights up to 6” finished – otherwise they would have finished at 4 1/2” and I think that would have looked a bit skimpy.

The handles are two pieces of 4” x 8” pieces of Kona Ice Frappe solid. I ironed a thin pellon to them, folded them in half, and sewed a 1/2”. They were turned right side out, the seam centered and then top stitched a 1/4” in from each end and then another 1/4” in from the first lines of stitching. The look just the right amount of puffy and sturdy!

The lining is a lovely piece of McKenzie by Dena designs that I have held on to for a while.

It’s really quite therapeutic to cut into something that has been hoarded for almost 2 years!

I have a book on making paper boxes and this template format is a simple way to make fabric bags too. It’s just a matter of doing the maths and having faith that the pellon will give the basket a bit of shape and body. If you Google “diagrams for fabric baskets” or words to that effect you will find plenty of inspiration and maybe the maths done already.

It’s a simple matter of sewing the matching short sides together to get a lovely rectangle bottom basket, that I hope my secret swap partner will find very useful.

Of course, it’s not called a "scrappy swap" for nothing…here’s a sneak peek at some of the fabric scraps that will go with the basket.

More sewing is on the agenda this weekend…I have to make the most of the days before Netball and Soccer start again…and I've still got the DS Doll Quilt swap on Flickr to begin making as well as the 21st quilt to finish

While I'm off sewing, I'll leave you drooling…
Look what arrived yesterday…

A whole FQ pack of Flea Market Fancy...I just love flicking through it.

and a charm pack of more DS fabric

Do you know I have never bought anything from Etsy? This is my first ever purchase and the lovely Constance from The Spin Cycle was kind enough to send this little surprise piece too.

Etsy I think I'll be back...shhh...

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

...and I'm linking up with...

Some Swap Sewing...

This quilt is for my partner in the DS Doll Quilt Swap.

I seem to have acquired an bit of a stash of Denyse Schmidt fabrics...I am laying the blame squarely on Spotlight (and maybe some came home from SIT 2012), but what better way to use them than sending some off to another DS liker.

Have you tried these magic little Clover binding clips yet? I'm totally converted...I love them...they do just what I want and I only missed a tiny bit of the binding on the reverse. *little happy dance*.

By the next quilt binding I reckon it'll be perfect.

Love the way this mini quilt turned out. It's based on this tutorial, but I initially cut out  3 3/4" squares of the DS fabric and 2" white strips. Then I squared them off to 5", so when they are cut into 4 quarters, you will end up with 2 1/2" squares, rather than the 6 1/4" that  Amanda made using the layer cake. (If that all sounds like gobbeldygook, it just means I made this quilt waaaay smaller than hers.)

The finished size is 14 1/2" square.

The other swap finish is my September block for Sew & Bee Happy

Judith asked us to make a crazy patchwork block using this tutorial. The blocks are being made into a quilt for her charity group. Pretty happy with this one too and it's ready to be mailed (except I forgot that this is the long weekend so it won't go now till Tueday...oops).

Here are some of the blocks I've got back from my turn as queen bee...

I need to use these holidays to make quite a few more, but they are looking great and this quilt is getting a big head start thanks to my lovely bee ladies!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...