Sunday Sewing

I have had sick children for over 2 weeks now!!!

Do you know what that means!?!?!

It means they are home off school,

they NEED constant attention

and they create a LOT of extra laundry.

Besides all that there is the worry...

you worry that they seem so unwell,

that some nasty bug just won't go away...

or some nasty teeth are causing pain...

and all you want is to see them better.

Then when they are vaguely better,

you want to sew!!!

Over the last week, I didn't feel

that I could spend much time in the studio

as there was always one child

either crying or being sick,

so I brought in some fabrics from the studio

 and just decided to cut, cut, cut!

(I cut scraps for easy use and I cut a new project.)

In my previous post, I showed the quilt

that inspired my Jelly Bean Borders.

I have really liked that quilt from the first time I saw it.

I also have quite a few Fat Quarters

that I have been 'saving' for a special project.

Well, I wanted to do this project

and I also wanted to use some of these 'special' fabrics....

Here are the first few sewn up.

I think I have another 20 something cut out...

I'm planning on making 48 blocks

and then I'll see what it looks like

with the same borders as before. 

I'm not sure all the blocks will 'work',

but I'll decide that when I have more.

It's really nice to use these favourite FQ's

for some of the blocks as it brings back memories

of either being gifted them or buying them.

*****

Here is one very good excuse

why my house is never tidy!!!:

How can you get cross with a face like this:

Innocence and light LOL

Jelly Bean Borders

I didn't mean to vanish off the blogosphere...

BUT someone in our house wanted the little people

to spend less time on the computer...

which meant I had no computer either :(

I do have a little (and I mean little)

tablet, but replying to comments, typing

and blogging are almost impossible

(uploading photos was indeed impossible!!)

Thank you for all the kind comments on

my rose hexagon quilt and apologies

if you didn't get a reply -

that wasn't intentional!

Anyway, I dug out my old laptop

and as long as I don't move it,

it should work!

So here are my 'Corn & Bean' blocks

with borders!!

I am calling this top

Jelly beans

because it is so bright and fun.

I'm sorry I didn't make more blocks and make it bigger,

but I am definitely making another one!!!

I found border inspiraton

from a pattern called 'Shadow Play'

In this magazine, that I have had for ages.

It uses Ocean Wave blocks that finish at 8 inches

(where mine are Corn & Bean blocks that finish at 6 inches.)

The pattern is also in a beautiful colour scheme

so it's on my to-do list too!!!

*****

When we first had snow I moaned about a few flakes

blocking my way to the studio :)

A week later,

we had a few more flakes!

 But it only lasted a day!

Somebody knew the best place to keep warm

when we had the snow

was on my newly finished quilt

on our bed!:

*****

Of course, I couldn't resist the
'Scrappy Trips Around The World'

blog madness...

I have been sewing my strips as 'Leaders & Enders'

and they mount up pretty fast!

My plan was to use lights and darks

and to have a dark blue running through

the centre of each block.

(One can't just let the scraps take over LOL)

I think I need to get a bit more variety

in the next few blocks I make...

*****

I managed to catch Bonnie's

Quilt-cam the other evening:

 Such fun!

Even if my husband does think I'm bonkers!!

While watching I managed to sew loads of leaves down on

my Carolina Lily borders so I've not got a lot left to do now.

Hope it won't be so long between posts again...

First 2013 Finish: Rose Hexagon Quilt

I finished this quilt quite a few days ago,

but the weather wasn't playing ball

to get a good photo.

As I was impatient to finally get it into use

 I decided I'd just take a snow photo!

 So at last, my rose hexagon quilt

with an Ula Lenz Foundation-pieced Rose...

... and a scalloped border is finished!!

I will definitely scallop some edges again -

a lot of work and a jiggle to get it cut out,

but so so worth it I think!

 The backing was pieced from leftover rose fabrics

and a larger piece of fabric cut into strips...

 The strips actually run horizontally,

but as it's such a large quilt it was difficult

to get it to hang nicely over the fence...

There was quite a lot of powdery snow on the quilt

after the photos so I gave it a quick wash and tumble dry

and it came out all soft and snuggly and warm!

So it's on our bed and I love it!!

*****

The sheep ran off when I came to take my photos!

Funny how fluffy white sheep turn brown when there's snow ;)

On the back of The Lily Quilt

Not what you need when you're trying to do

teeny tiny stitches to secure your applique vines down...

 

But she is very sweet

and I guess she's showing her appreciation

for the art of quilting...
and she is lovely company!
 

She's sitting on the back of a white quilt

(thankfully, it's the back!!!)

But it shows all the papers that are still in the quilt

from my English-Paper-Piecing method

of Marti Mitchell's Carolina Lily quilt.
 

 

As I've said before, Marti's pattern is for machine sewing,

but I like to hand-sew.

I also like to leave the papers in until I'm done.
(Luckily I have left the papers in as they act as a cat hair barrier LOL)

I Paper-pieced the borders on as well. 

That required sellotaping large pieces of paper together

to make my border templates.

All good quilty fun ;o)

Ice Beans

I managed to get into my studio

(after my DH put the wood-burning fire on for me!!)

and sew up the 8 'Corn & Bean' blocks that I needed

to make a sensible layout

for a baby quilt.

I laid them out on the floor,

took a photo,

but when I came back to pin the blocks together

I made a few changes

so the layout that will be sewn together will be different

from this photo:

I blatantly copied Sio's 'Candy Corn' (or Carnival Corn) Blocks!

She's one of my quilt hero's and is a constant source of inspiration!

What do they say? Copying is the purest form of flattery -

or something like that! :o) Thanks Sio!

I have another idea for the borders of mine though...

*****

The icy weather that we've been having

yielded a giant popsicle

(an old bin that housed some bits of garden equipment!)

and DS1 absolutely loved smashing it to bits!

Boys, eh!!??!

Long Lost Lilies

I still haven't done a blog post

listing my quilting goals for 2013,

but they do include this project

which I started in 2010...

 The pattern is 'Carolina Lily'

by Marti Mitchell.

I decided to English Paper-piece the entire quilt

even thought the pattern gives machine-sewing instructions!!

(I'm an English-Paper-Piecing-kind-of-girl!)

 I am presently trying to get the applique border on...

 This involves pinning the vines and leaves.

I made a mistake and now need 24 extra leaves

- when the error was discovered I took a break from the project,

but I have now decided to turn that 'difference'

in to my own variation of the pattern ;o)

During pinning, I had help!:

 Well probably 'company'

would be a better word than 'help'!

 So the game went something like:

'You pin, I pull!':

You tell me off, I pull again...

I chew...

Hold on a minute!! No chewing!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Onion Bhaji

To my absolute delight the other day,

I discovered Gram Flour.

(How can you not like a flour with a cute elephant logo LOL)

I was perusing the Asian food section 

of one of the larger supermarkets

and found Natco's Gram Flour...

 It's GLUTEN FREE!!!!

 And it had a really easy recipe for Onion Bhaji!:

 I have now made 3 batches.

So so easy!!!

 And according to the household food critic

"Very Authentic!"

No small praise!!!

Although, I thought as they were so delicious,

I wasn't too worried about authenticity myself!

 They are seriously yummy - try them!!

There's Snow Business...

It's been quite chilly here

the last few days...

Last night I found Abby keeping herself

warm with my eldest son's old soft toy

that he called 'Mau'.

That toy went everywhere when he was a toddler

(Thailand, Germany, South Africa...),

now of course, it's abandoned,

but at least it has a new friend :o)

 Perhaps it's time for a kitten??? 

- Perhaps not!!

*****

It's been great working on the scalloped border

because it has kept me nice and warm

while watching telly in the evenings.

 It's all done now, but no chance of a photo outside

just at the moment as we have a little snow:

It's still snowing now

so hopefully it will be enough for the boys

to play in with their friends... 

Me? I'll be staying inside!

Thoughts for Tuesday

My work table absolutely groaned under the weight

of this monster quilt.....

Probably not a good idea with a mainly cream quilt...

 A new project...

 Bang, bang, bang....

All photos taken on my phone (hence the quality!)