knowing when to stop

I have sewn the same two pieces of fabric together incorrectly about 4 times now...

apologies for the creases in the fabric -my MIL's cat prefers to bed down on my
perfectly cut and pressed fabric when I forget to put it away (i.e. all the time) 

And the bulb in Bertha has gone (it was only changed in January).  I think the sewing goddesses are trying to tell me to stop and have some wine. I mean what else could it be, right?

Anyway, here's where I'm up to...

Charlie's quilt in the making

Oh, and my February Lovely Finish is staring at me... untouched...judging.... So I'm definitely calling it quits for today.   

big girl pants

Firstly, thank you for your kind comments on my wee triangles tute.  I felt a bit strange doing it as I see myself as a beginner and follow so many amazing sewinistas but it's all about sharing your experiences, right?  So thank you also to those of you who kicked my a*se when I went all shy about it - you are right and I appreciate it.

So, bouyed by a first tute and my ability to live in a banana hell, I dived into paper piecing for the first time this week. I say for the first time...I took Kerry's freezer PP class to last year's FQRetreat, which was brilliant but I just couldn't get my head round it all (it was the first class of the first day and we had only just arrived on time so I think I was a little giddy!).  PP was put on the "try later" pile til now.

I wanted to make a block for AnaCraft's FQKinky Bumblie Bee block - she wanted sewing related blocks.  I decided to go for BadSkirt's pedal to the metal block and make a sample block first to see if I could do it without ruining Ana's lovely fabric.  So here's my first attempt:

It's not perfect and I'm not entirely sure why I chose some precious architextures fabric for a trial block but I love it!  What's more, I loved the whole making process and managed to dredge up some of the great tips that Kerry gave in her class last year, which made it much more straightforward.  I think this is destined to be a cushion/pillow cover soon.  I used a 1.5 stitch length which made it nigh on impossible to unpick so some emergency fixes were required.  There was a time where these oopses would have resulted in a massive strop and the half made block getting consigned to a dark corner, but I stayed cool and did the odd work around #properchuffed.

Here's the block I made for Ana.....

It was an improvement on my first attempt but there are still some wee mistakes that I need to work on.  I'm going to check with Ana to see if she wants any words adding. I'm pretty stoked to have finished a block BEFORE the end of the month too - result!

The big girl pants work wonders so I'm off to make some trial sandwiches for me to try FMQ!  EEEK!

Linking with Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts

sewing triangles

When I posted photos of Jacks' quilt, a couple of friends mentioned that they worried about sewing triangles and asked if I could do a wee tutorial.  So here we are. 

Jack's quilt is made up of 60 degree triangles.  There are some great tutorials out there on how to cut 60 degree triangles - Faith from Fresh Lemon Quilts has a great one.  I used the 60 degree line on my ruler and cut the widths to the width of my rules (6 inches) to make it a little easier.

So once they are cut, take two triangles and place them on top of each other (right sides together), sew together, using a 1/4 inch seam...

then press the seam open...

IMPORTANT: Don't trim the dog ears yet. It's not like HSTs where you trim them down at this stage. Resist the urge! Take your next triangle and place it on top of the triangle you want to join it to, lining up the corner of the single triangle with the dog ear part of the seam of the other one...

the triangles should line up the length of the side you are planning to sew.  Sew together using a 1/4 inch seam and then press your seams open

the distance between the top of the middle triangle and the top of the sewn strip should be 1/4 inch. You can now trim the dog ears if you want (I didn't and it was no biggie).

I hope this helps.

bananas

Back from our hols, refreshed (sort of) and raring to go (within reason obvs.).  The wee man was an absolute star on the flights so we can now think of planning another holiday - huzzah. 

he's got all the gear!

Unfortunately I can no longer ignore his love of bananas after he chowed down a whole bunch over there so I put on my big girl pants and bought some *shudder* and now I peel them *dry boak* and cut them up for him *a mother's love has no limits*. Still it's better than biscuits #it'snot.  For most of my life, I have had a pathological hatred of bananas and they are usually referred to as "the spawn of Satan" so you can appreciate that this is a HUGE thing for me.  That and the fact that I took my cardigan off once or twice (SPF50, natch).... the holiday was a game changer!

 

Which is why I'm gonna try some paper piecing tonight, for Ana's Bumblie Bee block.  Wish me luck!

 

In the meantime, I've done some blocks for the FQR Kinky Bee's contribution to this year's Siblings Together quilt drive...

boys blocks

girls blocks

Now, where are those big pants?

ploughing my own path...

..nothing to do with snow as we have none. Nope, I did something I've never done before.  I diverted from a pattern and went my own way.  I'm such a wild child!  I had planned to make this pleated tote, using Ellen the Long Thread's tute, as a thank you gift for a friend of mine.  I just couldn't get my head around the pleats, which is crazy cos it's actually straightforward but I found the instructions not so clear.  It was the morning after the valpolicella!

So having cut out the pieces of fabric, I decided to go with a centre pleat instead, make the handles a wee bit longer and add a magnetic closure claspy thing. Et voila!

I'd quite like to keep this one :(  Also I need to iron it, obvs.

Made totally from my stash so a big brownie point FAA wise.  I bought a chuffing shed load of this AMH Drawing room fabric a couple of years ago as I wanted to make this dress and possibly reupholster a chair with it.  But Laughing Boy nixed the chair idea and I have chickened out of the dress so far (maybe this year!).  So in the cupboard it has languished.  The lining fabric is Patty Young Flora and Fauna that was bought initially to back this quilt along but I decided against it and bought some more. So in the cupboard it has languished too.  I'm actually enjoying this "use it or lose it" vibe I'm on.  *polishes halo*

skirts

Many moons ago, my friends and I were tagged with the nickname "the turbo skirts" which was not really meant as a compliment ;).  However, we decided to reclaim the term and have been known as the skirts ever since (mostly by ourselves!).  Skirts Lunch is one of my favourite things to do - we don't do it often these days due to geography and family commitments but we have one planned for March so I'm already getting a little bit excited (it usually starts with Prosecco - eek!).

The thing that got me thinking about Skirts Lunch today is my planned lovely finish for Feb.  My sister P asked me to make a skirt using this panel from Spoonflower...

you can tell by the creases that this has been sat around for a while!

Here's a link to the panel on Spoonflower for a more accurate idea of what it's all about - http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/667737.  The thing is P asked for this to be made as a present for her birthday LAST October - oops!  So it's my deffo finish for this month and hopefully will kickstart my dressmaking dreams (I do hope so).

In other news, I have finally made Trash's January bee block for the FQR Bumblies.  the brief was our interpration of a dish and she provided some Pinterest inspiration.  So here goes....

my own design!

 It still needs a good iron but it will be heading her way this week.  And I'm all caught up on bee blocks for once :)

Linking with:

numbers

It's the 1st of Feb - a pinch and a punch and all that.  For me it's all about the numbers... 

7 sleeps until we go on the wee man's first overseas holiday (a flight into the unknown!)

31 days of no booze behind me.  Team Nelly (named in memory of my mum) has raised just shy of £2,000 between us and this puts us amongst the Top 20 fund raising teams in Cancer Research UK's Dryathlon.  Our team target was £1,600 so we're stoked.  Many thanks to those of you who have already donated (expect a little something something in the post).  There's still time to donate if you'd like:  http://www.justgiving.com/dryathlete-moira-scothern.

1 quilt started and finished in the same month - this is a first for me!

Jack's quilt, simply quilted but effective I think

1 quilt top finished...

rory's quilt

8 scarves made and 7 gifted to friends...

and almost no new fabric purchased!  I say almost because John Lewis had a half price sale and I bought some butterfly fabric to back a quilt I'm planning for my niece.  I'd show you a photo but I've tidied it away in that special place and will need to find it again first.

Phew!  Before I wander off and open this....

I'm linking with A Lovely Year of Finishes 2013, Crazy Mom Quilts and Fresh Sewing Day