So long summer and September sewing plans

Well today is the last day of my summer holidays.  The five and a half weeks have gone quickly despite some days dragging on and on.  The children are looking forward to seeing their friends once back in school next week.  I too am looking forward to seeing my friends at school - oh how I have missed adult conversations!

A spot of sewing took place yesterday, a new pump bag and lots of name labels - a sure sign that the holidays are coming to an end.

September usually is busy with school work, settling back into old routines whilst sorting out a new class of children with evenings taken up with the usual teacher tasks of marking, planning and preparing.  Sewing normally takes a back seat at this point but this year I'm going to make time for me and my sewing machine.

My September sewing plan includes quilting the 'Little Apples' quilt for my eldest.  I've promised to get it finished for her birthday at the end of the month.

Other projects that I want to have a go at over the Autumn months are:

1) New quilt for our bed - I have 6 yards of Primativa for this project in the purple colourway.

Not sure what pattern or style - I might just keep it simple and do squares or a brick wall effect.

2) Scrap quilt - possibly a Spiderweb - this would be an ongoing project.  My scraps are building up and I love the look of these string quilts.

3) I still want to do a Swoon quilt - maybe a single massive swoon block?  This has October half term written all over it!  I just need to decide on the fabrics but I'm definitely doing a swoon.

Not too many things on the to do list, I could add a whole lot more if I put my mind to it. 

This summer I've loved doing the BQS3 (posting my mini tomorrow!) and so maybe I might look around for another swap to do as I think a couple of smaller projects would be managable as well as the planned pieces.

Back soon - promise!

1 reunion, 2 reunion....

Reunion 1 - the husband is back from his 5 days away celebrating his 40th at the Reading Music Festival.  He needs a bath, some decent food and some sleep - proof if any is needed that he is now TOO OLD to do it again (I hope).

Reunion 2 - the 40th birthday quilt is now finished.  Quilting done over the weekend and binding hand sewn on late last night.  I quilted round some of the squares - in no particular order, pretty random really and a couple of rows either side of the main seams going across the quilt.  To be honest I was wrestling with it trying to get it quilted on my standard machine......perhaps I should ask Santa to buy me one of these. 

It measures a full single bed size - approx 70 x 85 inches, so it should be big enough for the husband to sit underneath on a winter's night or early morning. 

So photo overload here we go:

The backing is a stripe bought from Seamstar and matched perfectly with the colours in the Reunion line, plus I added a little of the jumping jacks print, nothing to do with me not having enough of the stripe, no not at all.  Binding was the date print from the range - my favourite I think. 

Ready for the wash and then the wrapping paper.

Blue Monday

It's August Bank Holiday Monday, it's raining.

But my stash stack club bundle arrived over the weekend from here. I joined this month and I'm glad I did.  I don't do blue (see previous post on not doing 'boy') so nice to have someone else do the choosing for me and to take me out of my comfort zone.

The only blue that I do love is this.

Simple Seuss

My nephew turns 6 next week.  I don't tend to do 'boy' very well and I usually struggle to find him a pressie but this year I've gone with this:

Using what was left of a panel, yard and FQ bundle along with a few solids and some black and white stripe for the binding.  A little lap quilt for when he's snuggled on the sofa watching one of his favourite films.  He's also got a Seuss treasury and a 'Thing 1' t-shirt. 

Tonight's job is the binding once the girlies are in bed - peace and a spot of sewing, what more could I ask for?

BQS 3 - complete :o)

All done and dusted, ready to head to the Post Office next week.  A little bit of playing around with the final placements of my HSTs and then the quilting/backing/binding saw this one completed.  For the backing I chose a piece from my It's a hoot stash and then went with the turquoise mini butterfly print from the Just wing it collection.  I think it looks good, but then again I might be a tad biased.

A little bit more sewing of a matching pin cushion and a whizz through my stash to put together a little scrap pack - I hope my partner likes it.  It measures 18" square and has been simply quilted with straight lines, picking out some of the shapes in the block.  After spending hours trying to figure out what my partner would like from her mosaic I finally decided on a Lynnebobsquarepants.  The individual squares measure 3".

I can't wait to find out what my partner has made for me - I've been online looking at lots of minis that have been made and I've seen loads that I like with a couple that might be for me.  Guess I'll just have to be patient and wait and see!

BQS3 - so far

Step 1 - Decide on fabrics

Step 2 - Carefully cut fabrics to desired sizes

Step 3 - Make lots of HSTs for the first time (ever!)

Step 4 - Work on the layout

Step 5 - Tweak the layout again (and again and again)

So far......so good :o)

How to make a bride cry (and other quilting news)

Well we are back from SIL's wedding in the Lake District where we all had a fab time in the sunshine (Sun in the Lakes, in August I hear you cry but it is true!).  The Delilah quilt was handed over on the wedding day but let me fill you in on what happened before that.....

Tuesday night (Day before we travelled) I started to wrap the quilt very carefully in lots of layers of tissue paper when I noticed some small cuts to the binding.  Slight panic followed.  I then took said quilt out of the tissue and found several more small cuts and a few larger ones!!

AAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It seems that my youngest (aged 3) has discovered the joys of cutting fabric, just like her mummy - but in a totally different way.

Emergency repairs followed.  The binding became a bit more scrappy in pieces but I think I just about managed to save it.  At least she had used my fabric scissors and hadn't actually hacked away at the main part of the quilt.  If she had done that......well let me just say we would have been missing a bridesmaid at the wedding.

So, back to how to make a bride cry.  Simple.  Give her a quilt.

As soon as my SIL opened it she burst into tears.  Happy ones I might add.  It seems that the Delilah quilt is a huge success in terms of meeting the brief.  Happy days.

In terms of other quilting news........

The Reunion (Husband's 40th birthday) quilt is now all trimmed and ready to be pieced together - I think this is the final layout.  I have some striped fabric for the back and some more Reunion prints for the binding.  I'm planning on quilting this one over August Bank holiday weekend whilst he is away with 'the boys'. 

I've also started on my BQS3 quilt - but more about that later in the week.

Moving on....

I've moved on to my next project, straight after the Delilah quilt was done and dusted.  No time to waste, lots of projects to get done during the summer holidays which is good as it's the only time I really get to do any sewing during the day time.  Most of my sewing is done late at night when the kids are in bed and when I've finished my school work.  So this week it's been all about sneaking an hour or 2 whilst the kids have been busying themselves during the day.

So what have I been working on.....well another quilt, who would have guessed!  This one is a super secret sewing mission.  My husband turns 40 at the beginning of September and so this is for him.  In the winter I often find him snuggled under one of the girl's quilts, usually a really small one and many, many times I have asked him if he would like a quilt of his own.  The answer is usually no.  But then the following night he'll be found under a girly quilt.

I've gone with Sweetwater's Reunion fabric from Moda - manly enough for the husband but also colourful enough for me!  The plan is lots of different blocks sashed in a mid grey (bit darker than Kona Ash).  This lot started out as a charm pack, scrap pack and 2 yards of solid. 

I'm really enjoying piecing the blocks in different ways and am going a bit improv with this as I haven't planned one bit of it.  I'm sure it'll work out.  I think.

The plan is to have all of the blocks made by the end of tonight.  Once done I'll work on a final layout ready to stitch together next week so I can move on to making my Brit Quilt 3 Swap quilt - lots of ideas about this one and one I will plan out before randomly stitching away.

Oh and then there are new PE bags to be made, another birthday quilt for the end of August.  Looks like I'm going to be busy!

Delilah - done!

This week has been all about getting Delilah finished. Lots of semi-straight lines quilted approx 1.5 inches apart.  I say semi-straight lines because I struggled to get them perfect due to the size and heaviness of the quilt.  Once washed and dried I'm sure no-one will see the slight imperfections in my quilting.

Measuring 108 inches x 72 inches this is a whopper - due to be a runner on a superking sized bed.  Given only the brief of 'pink and green, vintage style' by my sister in law, I think I've done well.  Despite not loving it at first, I've come round and I like the way it looks on the eldest's bed! 

The back is pieced using some solid pink, pink gingham and a massive piece of Deliah range print (not sure which one!).  This picture shows just how 'organic' my quilting is!  Forgive me.