OH LAWKS

Of course, the ridiculous thing is that while I haven't blogged for months, I have been sewing like a mad thing the entire time.

In the spirit of my "use stuff up" project, I've been doing 12.5" quilt-as-you-go blocks for the wonderful Soy Amado project:

And I made some pot-holders for a wonderful friend of mine who got married last week in the US.  I wish I could've been there but from what I've seen it was a fab day and she made a gorgeous bride.

And I've joined a real actual sewing bee!  The Siblings Together Bee (mk 2), where we make 2 x 12.5" blocks per month for a year.  These are November's rainbow coloured slab blocks, although I got a bit carried away and made 3...

I also made a commissioned toddler quilt which I didn't even take a photo of, and half a dozen baby quilts for Project Linus which will go to the Calderdale babies ICU.  I didn't take photos of those either.  I am USELESS!

Worst of all, I've realised I never posted the finished Bear Quilts.  So here they are, two disappearing nine-patch quilts in "Indie Chic" by Riley Blake fabrics and a few stash bits and Kona solids, for a pair of twin boys:

Here's a close-up of the Bear Block at the top of each quilt (based on this block at Quilter's Cache, but tweaked a bit for my purposes):

Each quilt had a little teddybear to go with it, made from a Love Patchwork & Quilting pattern.   Unfortunately the bears had to be posted off before the quilts were finished, so I didn't get a proper photo, but I managed this one while the quilt tops were still on the design wall:

There, that'll do for this post.  Now let's see how long before I post again...

Plan for today...

A Fairy Door!  My son and I are big fans of our local toyshop, The Magic Box, who recently started stocking Fairy Doors from the Irish Fairy Door company.

Now, I am all about supporting local business, and I would always buy Trainboy's endless stash of Brio from the Magic Box, but these fairy doors cost £20 and I was pretty sure I could make one myself.  So when Trainboy stated categorically that he wanted one, I got on Google and eBay and sourced the items above for £6.05, including postage.  Now I just have to get on with painting enough coats of enamel paint to make an MDF door glossy, and hopefully Trainboy won't have lost interest by the time I'm finished...  

Piles of neatly-starched 4.5" squares waiting for corner triangles + wicked, muddy hell-cat = GAHHHH

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1n0Us7t

Rather enjoying how these hexies co-ordinate with my cutting mat...

Fantastic birthday card designed by Trainboy for his cousin!

...there's even the right number of knobbles on each brick for both rows to fit together.  Genius boy. 

TWO finished quilts. Yes, two.

Hurrah for finished objects!  

Fired up by my quilting success last Saturday, the past two evenings have been spent putting bindings on those two unfinished quilts.  I was so buoyed up with success that I even thought it might be a good idea to emulate one of those lovely, aspirational quilt blogs, full of wonderfully artistic photos of quilts as held up by members of their family.  Sadly I didn't have any antique barns or wildflower meadows to hand, but it was reasonably sunny so I popped into the garden with Trainboy and a camera.

...BRILLIANT.  Stay like that, just keep still so I can get it in focus.

Er... please could you hold it up again?  No?  Okay, let's try spreading it out on the bench... 

Better.  How about a smile?  ...is that a smile?  It is?  OKAY THEN.

This one was machine bound with zig-zag stitch, which I seem to be getting a bit better at.  It has certainly used up a big stack of repurposed and vintage fabric scraps, and I was genuinely surprised at how pleasing I found the light/dark contrast in the blocks.  A point to remember for my next kaleidescope quilt, I think.

The second one was the pink quilt of 5" scrap squares that I backed with a woolly blanket.  I am delighted to report it stood up to washing and tumble-drying on low heat excellently well - look:

Another machine binding, too!  Straight stitch this time, visible on the back inside the binding line which seemed to suit the quilting pattern I'd used - 1/4" lines either side of every seam.  To my surprise, although the zig-zag method is probably more forgiving, I much preferred using straight-stitch.  Here's how the binding looks on the front:

It really is beautifully thick and snuggly, this one.  I'm very pleased with it - look how pretty it is!

And speaking of pretty, here's Trainboy again, insisting that this time he will "smile properly"...

Hum.  Yes.  Ah, bless him.

I shall probably put both of these in the Slaithwaite Emporium and list them in my Etsy shop fairly shortly.  Who knows, I may even sell one of 'em.  See you soon!

Two quilts, quilted. Binding tomorrow. And now, a spot of tea.

It's the summer holidays, and if sewing time is hard to come by, blogging time has entirely disappeared - by the time Trainboy is in bed I can barely string a sentence together.  But I am here, I am here at last, and after a full day of sewing, too:



These two are quilt tops that have languished in a to-be-finished pile for many months.  When the Husband decided to go off for a weekend (riding bikes, naturally), he very decently arranged for Grandma & Grandad to take Trainboy off my hands for a night while he was away, and I set to with the sewing machine pretty much as soon as I'd waved them goodbye.  After roughly 7 hours of sewing, these two now only need binding and they're done!

The one on the left is quite small, but the pink one is single-bed sized.  I've backed it with a thrifted wool blanket, too, so we'll see how that looks after washing - I'm quite intrigued to find out.

I also managed to finish off the quilt that was giving me such headaches in the previous post, and the recipient loved it, which is deeply satisfying.  I was pleased with it in the end, I admit, although it was only finished in the very nick of time, and I forgot to take a photo before it left...

...yes, I am definitely the worst blogger.  Ah well!