Sewing time at last

Two finishes today as I found a little time for sewing.

Firstly, the long overdue replacement Wonky Star Block for my Siblings Together Quilt.

I didn't want to have to cut into any more of the Fat Quarters but couldn't quite manage that without having to cut ONE more 1.5" square! How annoying is that?

But I do think there is enough contrast now to make the star stand out from the background. I now have to find time to sew the Wonky Star blocks together to form two short borders for my Siblings Together Quilt.  Such slow progress is unbelievable for me but I have had a very "full on" time the past six weeks which has made machine sewing impossible.

And now the poor contrast Star block can join the other scraps in my Scraps for Crumb Blocks tin.

I have however, when time allowed, been plugging away at Gemma's Quilt. This evening I finished hand sewing the binding. I had in mind two spotty fabrics in my stash but when I auditioned them, they were both the "wrong" pink which shouted at the rest of the pinks.  So I went with the same sugar pink Kona Cotton that I had used on the inner border.  Really pleased with the whole quilt and I hope Gemma is too when she receives it.

Wonky Stars and being spatially challenged

For my current project, using a Gwen Marston idea of a Liberated Medallion Quilt, I decided I needed some small Wonky Stars for the border I am constructing at the moment.
I made a few several days ago and today jumped at the opportunity of having a little sewing time (the family were out!) to make the rest.
When I started quilting I realised that I was spatially challenged ....................   for instance I found Foundation Piecing an impossibility ............. and I really have to concentrate when making Gwen's Wonky Stars.

I obviously didn't concentrate when I made this block:

As you can see, I have muddled the lime Green Kona squares with the Savannah Bop fabrics so you can't really see the Star!  This block has joined my biscuit tin of scraps for future Crumb Quilt blocks!

When I made the last one I didn't want to cut anymore fabric strips, just wanted to use up what I had on my cutting mat.  MISTAKE!  I knew there wasn't an awful lot of contrast between the background squares and the star point fabric but thought it might work.

As you can see, it didn't.  So another consigned to the Crumb block tin!

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THEN I ran out of time! Lovely little Granddaughter back from her bike ride with Daddy, so all my sewing had to be packed away until another opportunity presents itself.

In the meantime I have these Wonky Stars (including the one with no contrast).

This is part of a Quilt I am making for the Siblings Together Project.  I won a set of Savannah Bop Fat Quarters from Katie Jones, of imagingermonkey fame.

Very behind on this one as my sewing time has been severely restricted over the past month due to little granddaughter living here temporarily with her Mummy and Daddy.

So, Katie, if you are reading this post, appologies but I am doing my best!

Great Giveaway

Just seen a Great Giveaway on Lily's Quilts. A wonderful box of 32 fat quarters of Oakshott fabrics!have a go and enter eith draw!

Retail therapy

Well, no cutting out and machining going on here at present as we have our daughter and family staying with us. An extremely lively 2 and 5 months old little girl (aka Little Beauty!) is not easy to work around so everything is on hold until they move into their house in about ten days' time.

But I did go to John Lewis and treat myself to some gorgeous Amy Butler fabrics in the sale ( a metre of the top 4 and 0.5 metre of the bottom one) and a new sewing machine. My cheap Toyota model finally bit the dust and I have been using my late mother-in-law's old Janome whilst I considered what model to buy.

I decided I didn't need anything fancy or too pricey as I do straightforward sewing for my quilts. Popped into John Lewis about a month ago and saw this model, liked the price and decided to go home and have a think about it.

However when I went back last week I had another look, still liked it, so here is my NEW Janome!
You can see my old Toyota lurking in the background. I wondered if my local sewing machine repair man might like it for spare parts.

As you can see my new machine is still in its box, I haven't even opened it yet let alone tried it out!  Not until Little Beauty is safely in her own house and I can concentrate on the instruction booklet!

I have managed a little hand quilting when Little Beauty is in bed.  I'm making a cot quilt for my daughter's friend Gemma. It is for her 6 month old daughter.  They are also moving house and Gemma requested pinks, blues and yellows so she could base her Baby's Room colour scheme on the quilt.
Gemma wanted a quilt in the same style as my Emerging Butterflies so here are the two versions:

Emerging Butterflies Quilt

and here is Gemma's Quilt, still being hand quilted.

The outer border and backing is Robert Kaufman's Paradise Pareaus fabric in a fabulous Girly Pink and white!

Now off to watch the Tennis!  My hero Roger Federer is in the Final at Wimbledon so I shall be rooting for him........................ I expect the rest of the family will be on Andy Murray's side!