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…

Running with Scissors...

Sometimes the fun I have with sewing just makes me smile inside and out...

Who'd have thought a pair of scissors could be this much fun?

Paper piecing along with Kristy @QuietPlay's "And-Sew-On BOM" This pattern is free till the end of April.
May's block is not too far away either.
My January and February blocks are here...March is still on the cutting board...oops!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

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...

Better than Chocolate…

Two very nice surprises in the last two days...

This book has come into my possession, via a win from the StitchThis! blog anniversary giveaway…

photo credit Shop Martingale

It is an eBook so I was able to download it instantly…and it has some great quilt ideas for jellyroll and charm pack precuts! It was such an easy and quick process and so very, very tempting to browse their other titles...restraint is called for!

Then there is this lovely bundle of goodness

photo credit Plethora of Pinata's

it will be coming my way…courtesy of Caitlin from Plethora of Pinatas.
It was her first blog anniversary give away and I was the lucky winner...

Yep...I'm very happy to pass on the chocolate this year.

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

Bye Bye Reader...Hello Bloglovin'

I'v decided to use Bloglovin' since Google reader is about to bite the dust. It doesn't have all the organising features that I liked in reader, but at least all the blogs I follow have been moved to a safe place!

This link will allow you to follow my blog, if you choose to use this platform too.
It will work even better if I actually post something....

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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...