Sunday 21 July 2013

I have a plan

Rainbow Hexie: depending on what's on the cutting table, the character of the hexies available will change for this project, as I don't cut specifically for it. So, to get an even distribution of fabrics, I'm going to work on three sections at a time until I reach the optimum size, yet to be determined. By then the mix will have changed and as I do the other three sections, the stripes wont look the same in each round.  

I had quite a few greens and blues sewn up, so I added 6 to each length, it seems to have grown quickly!  I probably won't do much more of this now, as there are more papers to sew in, yellow is still in short supply.

Saturday 20 July 2013

Bookcrossing

I have two books on the go at the moment, not a usual state of affairs for me.  I have been coming across references to Moby Dick for about a year, so I free Kindled it.  Wayward Girls and Wicked Women is for another Bookcrosser, from my 'Mount To Be Read': I tagged someone this book in the wishlist tag game.  I was tagged back with Fahrenheit 451 from my wishlist.
I have so many secondhand books to read that sometimes I need help choosing-I recently ran a UK competition to choose my next read, then I would sent it on-as there were only about 7 entries, they are all winners and I'll read each one and sent it to the choose in the next few months. If you are a book fanatic, take a look at Bookcrossing and join the community, its free!

Not much sewing done today, horrid headache,the pressure is on as I have to quilt a baby quilt tomorrow, not much time left!

I sat down with the box of crumbs and rummaged
A few half-and-half hexies and about 30 normal ones. It appears they are very nice!
I didn't want to trim up big pieces from the crumbs box as I can make better use of these somewhere else.  I will look out for more appropriate trimmings like these as they will look good in the random hexie quilt.

Rainbow Hexie

Every day I sew a few hexie papers in, sometimes 10, sometimes 50 or more, depends on how much TV I watch, as I can't  just WATCH.  I fidget something terrible!

They go into two bins:


the random hexie bin
which ends up a bit pinky-brown

and the rainbow hexie bin
which is much brighter.

I coudn't remember why I stopped working on the rainbow hexie.
I laid it out in the garden
Ah! shortage of yellows.

So I sorted the rainbow hexies and bagged them up to see what I had (lesson of the day: do it as you go!).  Much better idea of where I'm at now........
There are enough of these to start some yellow rows.

And lots more to sew up.
I'm not sure I will ever get to the end of hexies, I will still be doing them into old age in this size as I cut a few every time I buy fabric, or cut for another project!



Thursday 18 July 2013

Weekend work

This weekend, a little bit of outdoor work in the shade.......


Green Darwin's flower garden corner section
 and 4/8 VE1 series table mat  done

Friday 12 July 2013

VE1 series

Now bordered, 2 and 3 of 8.............
I like the solid blue on the best.

Sunday 7 July 2013

Self induglent industry

Last night I put together a quilt backing, the fabric was just too narrow so I inserted strips. It will coordinate with the front of the quilt.

I haven't done any Kiss in the Corner for about three weeks, I woke very early as we have a heatwave, and propped myself in bed with Quiltcam on the laptop for an hour.  Then it just got too hot to be wrestling with a double quilt!



Next was orphans: one orphan block from the quilt I'm working on now, one random rainbow orphan; technically the 14 red bow ties are orphans too as the knots were cut from the leftover red sashings from yesterday.   I try to sew up the orphans to a usable state now, ready to drop into something, rather then put them away half done.

Then it was VE1 series playtime.  I didn't mean to get hooked on this toady!  The yellows are a little bleached in the photos and you can't see the quilting too well as its so sunny, high 20's, not my favourite time of year for quilting. 




I played with the stitches on my machine and just let the quilting happen. And its still only 2pm!

And its still only 2pm!  Still time for some free motion practice!




Getting down to business

Last weekend I started quilting one of the charity play mats. I used the walking foot for this design but the back still has a couple of wrinkles in.   I will look at it tomorrow and see if it needs to be unpicked.  I put it aside, frustrated, and haven't looked at it since!  The quilting is done in back and white variegated thread.  I'm not sure how I will quilt the borders yet.



I am determined to crack free motion quilting, so I made up some practice sandwiches  with an old poly cotton sheet and scrap wadding.  You aren't seeing the results, they are awful!  Doing more of this tomorrow.






Today I cut the red sashing and made up this quilt top, the picture is of a border audition:  I went with this fabric.   Can't say too much about it at the moment as it's a gift and someone may just sneak a look!






Tonight I sewed the binding for  1 of 8 table mats in the VE1 series.  For those not regular readers, here is the inspiration.







Tuesday 2 July 2013

Roundup


Too much paper piecing in progress!
This weeks read, for another Bookcrosser: after the first few pages I realised I saw the film a few weeks ago.    I like to read the books first, usually.   Seems like a bawdy romp!