Tula Pink City Sampler Sew Along–Blocks 1, 2 and 3

Have you heard about the Tula Pink City Sampler Sew Along? If not then go and check out Sara's blog Sew Sweetness who is hosting this Sew Along.

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I was lucky enough to see the quilt on the front cover of Tula's new book when she did a trunk my local quilt shop, Olive Juice back in March.

 

 

 

 

 

I have made the first three blocks in the book.  They are extremely easy and quick, and if you haven’t got much time to sew some weeks then they are ideal.

 

Angel Apron

I recently co hosted an Apron Swap with Fiona who blogs over at Celtic Thistle. 
Everything ran pretty smoothly and I received a gorgeous apron and so did everyone else in the swap, apart from one person. 
Which is pretty good going for a swap, sometimes it really can be a little hit and miss with some participants.  Sadly one of the participants in this Apron Swap just disappeared off the face of the planet!  I really do find this annoying.  We do know that this particular participant was sent an apron but never replied to say she received it or thanked her partner.  Her receiving partner in the swap did not receive an apron from her.  I hate to think something bad happened that stopped her from sending but at the same time if all is well and good her end, but life got in the way, then a short/quick email is all it would have taken to let people know that she could not reciprocate. This swap was not just a small swap with maybe a block or a pouch, but an apron, which required more than just a couple of fat quarters worth of fabric! (OK rant over)
Seeing as this swap was cohosted by Fiona in England who blogs over at Celtic Thistle Stitches and me here in the US, it was decided that it made sense for me to be the Angel to make an apron for this Swapper.
Well I made a few enquiries about what sort of apron this person would like and found out that she liked a particular apron in the swap! one that was a little bit out of my comfort zone! I can’t say what that was just yet! So I fired off an email to someone, who shall remain nameless at the moment to see if she could help me and let me just say she has!!!
In the meantime I went to work making another apron and here it is. 

I made the pocket with 1 inch squares and lined it, and also I added a little bit of Englishness to the pocket with an English Vintage button!

I had so much fun deciding on what fabrics to use for the patchwork of this apron.  Usually I just use one piece of fabric for the front and one piece of fabric for the back.I also made a patchwork waistband

And seeing as this person is a messy cook (her words not mine) I knew that a reversible apron would be just perfect. I used Kona Cotton in Turquoise.

I went to the post office this afternoon and mailed the apron, so hopefully by the weekend she will have received it.I hope she enjoys this apron just as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

Anna Maria Horner’s Feather Block

 

June, my favourite month of the year, and it just so happens to be my birthday this month!

It is also my month in the Stars in their Eyes Bee, so I will no doubt be stalking the postie (Mail person) for Bee Blocks. 

So while I am waiting to receive some gorgeous Union Jack Blocks from my hive friends, I thought I would have a go at next months block (July) which is Linda's month.  She requested the gorgeous AMH Feather Blocks (now why didn’t I think of that).  When I first saw that she had chosen them as her block for the month, I was a little nervous about making them.  I have long admired all the blocks I have seen in blog land, but did not think I would ever make them.  But I can now say I am so glad Linda chose this as her block.  It meant I had to attempt to do them.  They are much easier to make than I thought they would be.

These blocks are great for using up your scraps of fabric and I had a lot of fun deciding what to use.

You can find a link to a PDF Pattern that is free here

Linda chose Fall colors, including bits of turquoise, plum, chartreuse and magenta along with the usual orange, brown, gold, and red. Background: gray in medium to dark values, or black.

As you can see I went with a grey background, which I think is perfect for this block. It really makes the colours stand out.

I think I got a little carried away doing a photo shoot!

No Sewing

Even though it was a long weekend I didn’t get any sewing done! Can you believe it!

But I did get to play with my blog a little bit and with some help from a friend who pointed me in the right direction I have added some Social Media Buttons to my side bar.

So if your out and about and have a smart phone and you have nothing better to do you can check up on me and see what I am up to. 

So don’t be shy  come and say hello.

 

 

Hopefully next weekend I will have something to share with you.

I am in the planning stage of making something small for a special someone!

26 Inch Swoon Cushion

 

The last time I went on a trip to Minneapolis not only did I go to my favourite fabric store but I also went to IKEA, I had a plan in mind and dragged along hubby to be my helper!  I wanted some cushion inserts and knew that they were pretty cheap at IKEA.  Well I hit a jackpot they  also had duck feathered cushions.  I bought 6 of the 20 inch cushions and also bought a 26 inch cushion too.  I had plans to make the 26 inch cushion into a swoon pillow for my bed.  After using up some of the half square triangles the other day I was on a roll with making cushions so decided to make a Swoon Cushion and here it is

This time I fussy cut the centre square of the star using the same fabric I used for the border on my quilt and then incorporated the binding fabric into the star and used up a fat quarter I had left over from originally making my swoon quilt.  I think from now on when I buy fat quarters to make a quilt I will buy a few extra just in case I want to make cushions or I mess up cutting.

 

This cushion is just perfect for relaxing in bed and reading a good book. I am currently reading 40 Love by Sophie Kinsella, a completely easy read that requires no effort the sort of book that you read just before bed. What are you reading at the moment, have you a favourite book you can recommend.

Half Square Triangles–Cushion

 

You may have seen the Swoon Quilt I finished up recently, if not you can read all about it here and here.

If you have made one of these quilts and you make the half square triangles (HST) as shown in the pattern you will know by the end of piecing the quilt top that you will have absolutely loads and loads of HST left over! They measure approx. 2.5" inches

A little bit like this

 

I have been wondering what to do with all the HST for a while now and I decided  it was about time I did something with them, So on Saturday evening at  about 9pm I got the bright urge to make some cushions! I then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening sewing searching for ideas on a design. I saw some great photos and found lots of inspiration but to be honest I have no idea where I got this particular idea from as I looked at so many different photos and blogs. What I have found out is that I think the pattern I settled on is called “Raising the Barn”. Please let me know if I am completely wrong.

So at about 11pm I sat down with my design board  poster boards covered in batting and my HST I came up with a layout that I liked, and I was going to say I whipped it up in no time, but that’s not true at all, I was tired and went to bed, and started sewing the next day. And this is what I ended up with……………

I used the  Zippered Pillow Back Tutorial by Amy who blogs over at Amy Made That and if your interested my new blogging friend Chrissie who blogs over at Made by Chrissied  also has a great Cushion /Pillow Tutorial  it  is a little bit different and uses double sided fusible to attach the zip into place to make it easier to sew, I am sure if you are zip challenged like I am then this will certainly help you. I  added a bright turquoise zip to contrast with the zip flap on the cushion which I forgot to photograph!  For the quilting I  sewed two diagonal lines across from each corner.

 

 

I am pretty pleased with the way this cushion turned out as it matches my swoon quilt beautifully.

 

The cushion insert for my pillow is a duck feathered  filling, 20x20 inches, from Ikea, if you need cushions this is the place to buy them,  they are pretty cheap too at $6.99. I can’t wait for another trip to Ikea to buy more.  Luckily when I was there last time I bought a few!

Union Jack and Bee Blocks

I missed WIP Wednesday this week, probably due to the excitement of finishing my sons graduation quilt!

but I am working on something, a little something for ME!  These are my tester blocks for a Bee I am taking part in (see details below).

I am  participating in a online Bee with a group of ladies I met from a 3x6 Bee that I took part in on Flickr.  We all got along so well we decided to have our own Bee, we have named ourselves “Stars in their Eyes”  With this Bee we choose what blocks we would like other members to make us and they use their own fabric, so it saves on the cost of sending out fabric, I like it this way.

May is our first month of doing this and its Lisa's month, she requested +&X blocks, these are so much fun to make.  We will normally be making 2 blocks for the persons whose month it is, Lisa's blocks are only 8 inches so instead of the 2,  I made four, also because I wanted to see how this would go together, Lisa is making this quilt for Molly.  I am excited to see how this all comes together, its going to be beautiful.