Sunday, 20 July 2014

Ohh I just don't know anymore...



This one's a commission that needs to be finished by 2nd August and I am  JUST.  SO.  NOT.  FEELING.  IT.

Firstly, the person who requested it saw a nautical sort of one I'd done and said "one like that, please!" which is awkward, since I don't really like repeating myself, but I agreed, and she said she wanted me to incorporate some of the little boy's old clothes into the pattern, so I said of course, but please make sure they are cotton and not jersey.  Naturally she brought me a pile of polo shirts.  Ah well, you can always iron on a bit of interfacing, so I did, and then I had to work out how to work the green and yellow shirts into a red, white and blue colour scheme.

I decided to get into some of my best remnants to try to gee myself up a bit about it, so there's some lovely white stars on blue, and some from the quilt I made my son when he was two, and even the very last bits of my Cath Kidston cowboys.  I'm not sure about the colour balance of the layout yet, but I can have a fiddle with it tomorrow and with any luck I can get it sewn up by the end of the week.

But then, I've said that before...  yipes.  Wish me luck.

Thursday, 17 July 2014

I am the worst blogger!

To be honest I shall probably continue to be the worst blogger, so let's just keep moving forward, eh.

Things have been MADE, and blog posts written (in my head, where it doesn't really count of course...) and the odd photo has been taken.  So today I should like to show you a cushion, which was begun last week and given to its recipient today.  It is a very special cushion nonetheless.


I have teacher friends and relatives and I know there is a wild proliferation of chocolates and mugs at the end of each school year, so I wanted to make something, but really I wanted to make something with Trainboy.  Trainboy, who got a perfect score of "A" for effort in every subject this year... except Design & Technology.  Trainboy had no ideas.  Nor did I.





But then I scored some super-cheap fabric marker pens in TK Maxx and brought them home with a sudden brilliant idea.  I ironed a bit of white cotton, handed the pens to my son, and asked him to draw a train.  Then I suggested we went and chose some fabrics to use for the cushion.  My idea was to put the drawing on one side and a bit of pretty patchwork on the other, so his teacher could use it either way, depending which she preferred.  I mean a teacher probably collects an awful lot of other people's children's artwork...

What co-ordinates with a blue, red and green train?  Why, delicate shades of lime and sage green, and perhaps a bit of neon orange, of course!  And yes, that is some of my precious, precious Denyse Schmidt there.  He's got some taste, at least.  The block is basically "Scots Plaid" from the marvellous 500 Quilt Blocks by Kerry and Lynne.


It was a bit of a challenge but it worked, I think?  I ironed some lightweight stabiliser over the back of each panel, overlocked the inside edges, and put a reasonable zip in the side.  We gave it to Mrs K this morning and she seemed to like it.  She is a really marvellous teacher - I think Wilf and I will both miss her next year!

Thursday, 3 July 2014

First ever machine-sewn binding.

It's not perfect but I'm pretty pleased with it!  That's the back by the way - the front is better, obviously.



I'm starting to think I might actually finish these bear quilts at some point.  I have really no idea why they've been taking me so very long.  I'm not the world's fastest quilter but I'm not usually this slow!

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

When children dress themselves...




...I'm assuming that's green in honour of the Sprint Jersey for this weekend's Tour de France Grand Depart.  WHO KNOWS though.