Ins and Outs…

IN
A gorgeous quilt from Lorraine (Vid70) on flickr…I can’t tell you how much I love this maxi mini and how gorgeous the colours are…so much DS in one place… love!
and a happy little house…with our house number on it…goodness beyond bounds.

and again because it is so lovely!

This is part of the DSDQ swap…a truly brilliant bunch of swappers...keep a lookout for the next round!

The next IN
is this rainbow basket of scrappy goodness…

This is from the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap on Flickr. My partner was Stacey and she got me totally right!  If you want a bit of eye candy, have a look at her Madrona Road challenge quilt...she sent me some of her lovely hexagons in the basket!

And some NEW (look out for corny word plays) INS:
souvenirs of fabric and thimbles from Marisew’s trip to the US:
NEW YorkNEW Orleans

I don’t really have a thimble collection

do I?

OUT
I made a flag to send to Boston. My local guild, GWSMQG are sending some off. I foundation pieced this kangaroo and the heart and fmq’d (sorry for using that as a verb!) "peace". There will be thousands of flags from all over the world and I wanted to show that peace and good wishes were coming from as far away as Australia.

For more information about “to Boston with Love” go to this link
You'll need to get a wriggle on though…they have to be in by MAY 21st.

The last OUT to talk about is this sewing machine cover I made for the Modern She Made Swap – also a Flickr swap...my partner hasn't got it yet, so I won't say who it's for or show it all.
I found this one a real challenge, as I couldn't quite work out what to do for my partner…her mosaic had a water theme, lots of blues and greens and a liking for things “British”. Also the item had to have a “star” somewhere in it. Here’s what I ended up making.


In the end I am really happy with how it turned out…it took a while to work out the design, and it changed regularly, and I did some pebble quilting, so I stretched myself and learnt something new about technique and design in the process.
And as a tie-in with both swaps, some of the hexagons on this project were sent to me from Stacey in her scrap pack...clever huh?
And one other piece that literally 'fell' into place - I couldn't work out what to bind it with, none of the solids would work properly and then my precariously balanced DS fabrics fell onto the floor at my feet and out of the bag spilled the blue bubble colourway...spooky!

And I know you are asking “but,where is the theme star?”…

…a pair of “friendship” stars on either end panel!

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...

Party Time…

Well Hello…it’s been a while…but for good reasons…

There’s been a 21st birthday party here for this little fellow…

Preparation for a 16th birthday party for this little lady…

Though I know the answer, I still keep asking “where did all those years go?”

As the children grow up, the theory is that I will have more time to do what I would like to do…sadly it is still just a theory…big ones are hard work too!

All is not completely lost though, the sanity saver, and friendship builder, that is the GWSMQG Sunday Sewalong, happens once a month. My sewing machine gets dragged along to get a bit of a run! One day I will have something finished to show!!
In the mean time, here is the paper piecing I have been partying along with:

and a whole lot of partying with these….

This is the quilt for the 21st…it’s alright I’m only keeping to my tradition of having these late for my own children…

***************************************************

So I don’t run out of things to do I have joined up for:

* 2 Flickr swaps – The DS Doll Quilt Swap and Modern Scrappy Bits Swap are both due early to mid March…I’d better get a wriggle on there and start turning up on Flickr!

* My other favourite Flickr group – Modern She Made, is opening up signups on 25 February…do you dare? DO I DARE?

* Quiet Play’s  And Sew On...BoM- the next one is an "unpicker"…I should have a competition to guess how many times I need to use the real thing to make the block…at least there is no deadline for this one.

* GWSMQG has started a challenge and the info is on their facebook page – for this one, I have till April to finish –  plenty of pondering time to work out the main colour.

Well that’s me back on the blogging wagon – till I next fall off…

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

What Goes Out, Must Come In…

...or something like that!
While I have been getting swap items made and posted, they have also been arriving in my letterbox.

I was in the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap and these arrived from Leah (Smoochee on Flickr).
I just found another great use for chalkboard fabric!

Leah sent me an amazing and varied amount of swap fabrics and I can’t wait to get playing with them…lots ofwonderful things to make on the flickr swap page, if you are looking for some new ideas!

Another fantastic swap was the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap #5. Here is what came my way…an absolutely gorgeous crochet creation – it combines 2 of my favourite things: books and crochet.
I
It’s from Carol Ray who is a fibre artist from Southern Iowa here is a link to the Iowa Studio Tour…if you’re from that way you might pop in and say I said hi!

This isn’t from a swap, just a lack of will–power!

But really…what would you do if you were confronted by Denyse Schmidt fabrics at $6.00 per metre?…

…or a bit of text fabric that grabbed your attention?..

…and I really needed a 60 degree ruler (at 30% off)…but the reason for that will have to be explained in another blog post!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

September Swapping and Sewing

During the last couple of weeks – yeah I want to know where they went too – I’ve been getting my swap projects together.

For the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap,  I turned these scrappy blocks…











…into this pencil case with a “warm” colours side,

and a “cool colours” side.

I love this interior, my swap partner will always know where it came from!

…and sent off these lovely scraps as part of the swap too!


Miss Bee had a 13th birthday to go to. We know this family love handmade and heartfelt, so we had fun making this “Whimsy Wallet” pattern that I picked up from the 
Mad Quilters Gathering a few weeks ago.






















The DSDQ Swap isn't due till the end of September, but I just couldn’t wait after I found this tutorial
…here’s a look at the unfinished quilt top…would you be happy to get this? It will end up 14” square.


The last bit of this post is for Cas…

...but I think she’s going to win this little knit-a-thon! (and she hasn't mis-read the pattern rows like I have, but there was no way I was going to undo the rows, so the top part of the cushion will have the stripes deliberately "wrong" as well, so I don't run out of this beautiful yarn)

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

Secret Squirrel Stuff

A bit of a look at my exceedingly classy scrap storage *ahem* system

…but I’m carefully turning piles of scrappy bits into…

...usable bits of fabric…for this lovely swap group


…but the best secret squirrel item is this little block…                                      

...on it's way to it's new home...hope it makes it in time!!!