Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Getting Nowhere Fast.

I've had a little lull in sewing for a quite a few days.  Just haven't felt like stitching anything.
Must be the Winter blahs!
However, I'm happy to say the feeling is returning.  Thank Goodness .
I need to get moving on the centre of my Love Entwined quilt.


SO, I cut and basted the circle of  blue triangles.  Great, I thought, I'll stitch them down.



  Not.  I then realised that I needed some green stems to go under the triangles.  OK, so bias strip cut and stems made.  Great now I'll sew.


 
Not.  Last realisation hits- need some leaves that go under the stems that go under the triangles.


Oh Dear.  Not really up there in the brain stakes at the moment!
Thankfully, I've now got all my bits done and I can start to sew.
I'm just trying to work out whether to stitch the little flowers in just like the pattern, or fussy cut these little flowers instead.



Wednesday, August 7, 2013

WOW - WIPS on Wednesdays.

Amazing what a fabric delivery will do for you.
Yesterday afternoon, I cut, pressed, starched and sewed some guiding marks onto my large background piece.

Trimmed the pattern, and stuck it all together.  I found this to be quite tricky to get all nice and square.  There are 20 pieces of A4 paper in this part.  In the end I made sure the outer edges and the border are all nice and square, and did the centre as best as I could.  Didn't turn out too bad!
I also transferred some small pencil marks as guides for the flowers and leaves.

So, now I'm good to start stitching.
Whilst still waiting for the background fabric, I went on a shopping excursion for some more fabrics.  I've found that yellow in the shad I want is hard to find at the moment.  Maybe yellow is always hard to find, I don't normally seem to use it in my quilts.
 I found some great yellows and some blues at The Village Patch in Maldon, and also dropped in at Threadbear in Castlemaine.  Corliss at Threadbear had just the right blues for my outer border.  Perfect! 

I'm linking up with Esther Aliu's Blog for her WOW- WIP'S on Wednesdays.  A snapshot of what other quilters from all over are doing this week.  Please stop by and have a look.
So, now I'm so happy to be sewing the next little bits.
All in all , a great couple of days.  (now that the background has arrived).

Creature from Space!

This is the sight that greeted me this morning...

Like a creature from outer space!
But no, something a lot more interesting.

The biggest pin-cushion I've ever seen.

I just love the tin base that it sits in.

A little more embellishment with some beads, and it's on to making the crowning glory.
Not over the top for a pincushion is it?  LOL.



Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The best sight ever...

I'm following along with Esther Aliu's wonderful 1790's quilt Love Entwined.
However, I've only finished the centre compass and surrounding little spots due to a LACK of background fabric.
Not sure how this happened, but I was merrily sewing along on the centre when I realised that I had nothing to sew it to!
A quick look at the internet fixed that problem, but then I had to wait.  And wait.  AND wait.
So 3 weeks later and the postie has just been, I'm a happy camper with a great pile of lovely background fabric.


Bindings galore.

Having a lot of fun (not!) trimming quilts, cutting bindings and sewing them on.
Am I the only person who finds this part tedious?  I know I should be excited, another quilt nearly finished, but really- struggling a huge quilt under my machine isn't my idea of fun.
Anyway, trim and sew I must!
I do think it looks lovely in the late afternoon sun. 


Trimming, trimming, trimming...


Just a simple all over quilting pattern for a very scrappy quilt.



Squaring up the corners.

Oh so scrappy.


A lesson in what not to do when sewing on the binding!