Couldn’t resist those Bear Paws!

 I have never made a Bear Paw block before. No idea why because I always thought they looked great. I think it might be because over the years I’ve probably looked up patterns on Google and found they need odd sized pieces, cut at 2.875”, for example. so I was put off trying.

I follow Cathy’s blog Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting and this year she finished a gorgeous turquoise, purple and white Bear Paw Quilt and  since then has been making more Bear Paw blocks in all sorts of colours and fabrics. Well, of course they caught my eye and then my eyes positively gleamed when I read that she used 4.5” and 2.5” scraps. In my head I translated that as “squares” so I sorted out some yellow scraps ( still March yellow ) and kitted up 7 blocks. Sewed the first making the HSTs as I always do but when I came to join those to the square they were too short, so I had to swap out the 4.5” squares for smaller 3.5” ones. That worked, ending up with 5” Bear Paws.  I’ve since kitted up a few more in the original size and I’ll make the HSTs by sewing 1/4” away from the diagonal and snipping of the bonus triangle corners.

Of course I’ve since learned that Cathy used 2.5” strips, using her Easy Angle ruler for quickness. 

I do have one of those rulers so perhaps next week I’ll try that method for some Pink blocks.

Here are my original 7 Bear Paws and the one Ticky Tacky House I made.

And that was all the sewing I managed to do. On Monday I started a cold, Tuesday felt a bit better and went out to my Volunteering work but on Wednesday I felt dreadful and ended up in bed - still there. I was having these unbelievable bouts of coughing and yesterday morning I literally couldn’t breathe and we called the ambulance as I have several heart conditions and was afraid this wouldn’t be good for my heart. The two paramedics were fantastic, checked me over thoroughly with their battery of machines and decided I had a viral cough. So, no antibiotics, just time, before I start to feel better. Really frightening, but the things the guys suggested are helping and my husband has been great calming me down and helping to get my breathing under control when I’m having a bad coughing spell. 

So, an odd week. A shame because our weather has been beautiful and that is due to change to cold again. 

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog.

RSC roundup of the Yellows

 Had a busy week with yellow scraps, adding 2 more Sawtooth Blocks to the ones I finished last week.

4 Twinkler blocks

L

12 String blocks 

18 Little Wonky Stars

And 2 little Ticky Tacky houses

 Now ready for the new colour for April.

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

Finishing the reds

 Last week to use red scraps for RSC blocks. Here’s my haul for this week:

                                                         4 Twinkler Blocks

I made a Wonky Shoo fly trial block which wasn’t entirely successful because the top left corner is too small. I was using a few red bonus triangles I had. I will make more in other colours but won’t have such a busy background and will make sure the triangles are bigger.

The Ticky Tacky houses and little 4 patches were made as Leaders and Enders throughout the week.

                            Discovered these little houses after I had taken the previous photo! 

                                

     And 6 of my favourite String blocks. Don’t they look good in red?

I must have been tuning into Angela because during the past two days I’ve been putting together a little baby quilt to donate to the local hospital - and all the fabrics are shades of aqua.

Linking with Angela’s So Scrappy blog.

RSC flimsy

 I put together a Ticky Tacky House baby flimsy using some of my RSC blocks alternated with 3.5” squares from stash. Quickly sewn as all the pieces were to hand.

It will be quilted and donated to our local hospital’s Maternity Unit. I don’t know if they have now bought larger cots but the required size has gone up from 15” x 20” to 24” square. The arrangement of  8 rows x 8 columns comes to pretty much the new size.

Just going to find a suitable piece of backing fabric from my stash so I can baste it ready for machine quilting.

I sent off my 10 Sunshine Lotto blocks to Tammy in Texas and knitted a dozen poppies which were used as part of a decoration at church for a Memorial service on Friday.

I knitted another baby cardigan, finishing yarn leftover from making a cardigan for my great niece Maggie earlier this year. There was JUST enough left!

Knitting another garter stitch striped baby blanket, using up odds and ends of yarn and also some extra small balls bought from one of the Charity shops we have in town. We had so many of these shops pre Covid but one big one closed just before the first Lockdown in March 2020 and two others haven’t reopened since the Reopening of shops in July. Another of them is only operating for part of the week- I assume that’s because some of their elderly volunteers have decided to call it a day. 

So, quite a busy time since my last post.

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy RSC blog.

An RSC flimsy in the making

 Now my Sewing Room is tidy and I know where things are I decided to see how many Twinkler Blocks I had - a lot but I thought I needed a few more of some colours to add a little more variety.

Made two Ticky Tacky houses along the way - sorry the photo has turned out sideways!

 

I put the blocks out on the Design Floor and managed to sew the rows together before it was time to cook the dinner.

This will be an Incubator cover for the hospital.

I still have 38 Twinkler blocks left so enough for another cover.

I also knitted another pink cardigan this week.

And I’m halfway through knitting a baby blanket in lavender - the colour on the wrapper says “Wisteria” which is a very apt name.

Linking with Angela’s Soscrappy RSC blog.

Christmas in July

 First of all, the RSC blocks I’ve made recently. Some Wonky stars and three Ticky Tacky houses.

Not much sewing in the last couple of weeks because I’ve finally had my Christmas present!

Back in November last year my husband asked what I would like for my Christmas present and I said a new sewing table as I have been using my son’s old desk for the last 24 years. Not ideal because the desk had drawers on the right and with the kneehole on the left it meant that my sewing machine was on the left of the desk and nowhere for my sewing to rest. Particularly difficult when I was machine quilting or sewing on binding when I had to balance the work on my knee to take the weight! I also decided to have two shelves put up on the wall above the sewing table and a set of shelves too. Our carpenter was too busy in the run up to Christmas and then another long Covid Lockdown and our carpenter became difficult to contact. Eventually the job was done on 21st July! Better late than never, I’m delighted with the result.

I spent a long time last weekend sorting out all the things I had taken out of the room ready for the carpenter to assemble everything. I sorted out all my RSC projects, putting them into labelled plastic  boxes which went onto my new shelving units.

Then I sorted out all my tins containing all sorts of bits and pieces and labelled all of those too. They went up onto the wall shelves. All my other equipment, plus rulers etc are in the drawers, all to hand when I’m sewing. 

In between I’ve been knitting. One of my quilting friends has a young friend who is training to become a midwife. She is at a hospital in London which has a lot of mothers living in deprived conditions, so the Maternity staff try to make up baby packages for the Mums to take home including baby clothes. They welcome hand knitted jackets, hats and little blankets so I’ve started knitting. I made this little cardigan and am now knitting a second one. I have lots of yarn so I’ll continue knitting until I run out.

Yesterday was a big day as I went to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC,Birmingham. Obviously there wasn’t a Show last year due to Covid so it was exciting to go yesterday. Lots of differences: 10, 000 less tickets on offer over the 4 days of the Show, an extra hall(which are like aircraft hangars), wider aisles, everyone had to wear a mask and observe social distancing and so on. Most of the larger traders didn’t attend which was a shame and there were not many people there either. I don’t think there were as many Competition quilts and all the Galleries were home grown people and collections, not the world wide variety we are used to. Glad I went but it was all rather surreal. Nice to have fewer people though as I was able to see the quilts easily, photograph the ones that particularly caught my eye and move around quickly so I covered the whole Show very easily. Other years I’ve gone two or three of the four days but one day was more than enough time to see everything. I didn’t make many purchases but I did buy two metres of this rainbow fabric which will be a useful backing for an RSC project.

I’ll write another post just on the Show as I have lots of photos to sort through.

Joining up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog for RSC 2021.

Sewing purple in June

 I haven’t done much sewing this month as we have had a nice spell of weather so I’ve enjoyed sitting in the garden reading lots of library books. 

But I have made some RSC blocks using this month’s colour purple.

Firstly I was tempted to make some little Flower Baskets which I had seen on Cathy’s blog Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting. Cathy used 2” squares so I worked out how to make them using a cream background fabric, a purple square for the basket and various coloured waste triangles for the flowers and the base of the basket. I’ll add more blocks as the colours change in the coming months and probably continue into next year.

Then I made some more Wonky Stars - I never tire of making these.

And 4 Ticky Tacky houses.

I turned the two Premature baby quilts into fished quilts, measuring 15” x 20”.

I’ve read some books I saw mentioned on various Quilting blogs: 

This is set in WWl and I have the sequel to read too. A good story giving an insight into how soldiers tried to cope with horrific life changing wounds.

And these three:

Sorry this photo is sideways! 

Peter James and Peter May are both authors I enjoy and both books have topical themes. 

Dead at First Sight by Peter James deals with Internet Dating fraud, the story moving along at a page turning pace with a satisfactory ending.

Lockdown by Peter May is very topical as it deals with a pandemic. Apparently it was written before Covid as the author had done a lot of research on Bird flu and decided to base his next book on that theme. However, he had difficulty publishing it as it was thought to be too far fetched! It is surprisingly close to what our world has and is still dealing with during our current Covid Crisis.

Anne Tyler is a new (to me) author. She has written lots of books and I picked this one, A Patchwork Planet, for obvious reasons! I enjoyed it, she has an interesting writing style and her storyline appealed to me. I shall read more of her books, our library has lots more titles.

Joining up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog for RSC 2021.

RSC Premature baby flimsies

 I’m continuing to use some of my RSC Ticky Tacky houses and have made two flimsies which will be donated to our local hospital. I understand they put them in the base of the cribs.

The little quilts will measure 15” X 20” when they are finished.

Joining up with Angela’s Soscrappy blog for RSC 2021.

Ticky Tacky Houses flimsy

As part of my RSC blocks I have been making Ticky Tacky Houses, inspired by Cathy of Sane Crazy and Crumby fame.

My tin of these lovely quirky blocks was overflowing and I needed to start using some of them. The Patchwork Group I belong to makes little baby quilts for our local hospital. Our leader recently took in a batch and asked if there were other things we could donate. Yes, covers for incubators, approximately 1 metre square. So I decided to use some of my Ticky Tacky Houses and this is the flimsy I put together: 

Of course, as Leaders and Enders I made another couple of houses!

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy RSC blog.

Rounding up the Blues

 I have had a productive Blue month. Just made a total of everything I’ve sewn this month.

First of all, those already written about this month:

Blue Patches Cat Quilt 

Cool Strings Quilt

15 Wonky Stars 

12 Easy Breezy blocks

24 Ticky Tacky Houses (17 shown last week, 7 more made yesterday)

Underneath the latest Ticky Tacky houses are 2 piles of Pink and Green Easy Breezy blocks.

I discovered 8 cut out and kitted up Pink ones when I was looking for something else in my stash and then decided to cut out and make some green ones. Before I knew it I had 14 Green ones too.

Laid out all 34 blocks to see what they looked like together:

I can see the blocks will need some careful laying out eventually, those with strong deep coloured diagonal blocks will need to be placed in the same direction for a good effect.

And I also knitted another little cardigan for Seren, my 6 months old Great Niece.

The buttons came from my stash and were ones I inherited from either my Mother in law or her sister in law, Aunty Gertrude. Both were relatives on the same side of the family as Seren’s Mum, my niece Philippa, so it’s nice to keep the buttons“in the family”.

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy RSC 2021 blog.

Happy Mothering Sunday

 Here in the UK today is Mothering Sunday, traditionally the Sunday when girls who were “in service”, that is girls who were maids, scullery hands, in general service, ladies’ maids etc were allowed to go home to visit their mothers. Today we remember our mothers: gifting cards, flowers and chocolates and so on.

Normally for Mothering Sunday we would meet up with our family and either eat out or go to their house for a meal. We are of course still in Lockdown so such visits are not possible. Instead our family arrived on our doorstep ( fortunately they live nearby otherwise that wouldn’t have been possible either, only journeys for emergencies are allowed) and I was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers, wine, chocolates, a fragrant room spray, cards from DD and DGD and a lovely framed photo of DGD last Halloween when she came to our house and we made Spider Puddings! Mothering Sunday is the traditional name which I prefer and Caroline  always does her best to find cards that don’t say Mother’s Day. This gets more and more problematical  every year that passes but she found two- one from her and our son in law and another from Annalise.  So, I was thoroughly spoiled! It is very cold today so my husband made cups of tea to warm us up as we stood chatting on the doorstep!

So to mothers (grannies, sisters, aunties, godmothers) everywhere, Happy Mothering Sunday!

Then I spent a happy afternoon sewing with green fabrics for March’s RSC. I was able to use up lots of odds and ends too. The points for the Wonky Stars were waste triangles from my Sawtooth Baby Quilt, the strips for the Strippy blocks  were leftovers from the Spring Tulip QAL which Ann is running on her Fret not yourself blog. And I finished the ends of 4 reels of thread.

So, what did I make? 12 Wonky Stars

4 String blocks, a Ticky Tacky House and another Wonky Star I hadn’t seen when I sewed up the other ones!

The colours are poor in the  last photo because it was then dusk and I photographed it in artificial light. The blocks look more interesting than shown.

So,  a good day for me. I hope everyone enjoyed their day too.

Linking with Angela’s Soscrappy blog.

Yellow blocks for February RSC

 I normally don’t have many yellow scraps ( I probably write the same comment every year!) because when I buy yellow fabrics for a project  I’m never left with many leftovers. However I stocked up on yellow a while ago and have been using them in projects and also for my February blocks which I’ve been making all month, dovetailing them with quilt making.

So my total for February:

 13 Ticky Tacky houses

11 Wonky Stars

5 Twinkler Blocks and 2 Roman Stripes 

Love all these blocks and all, except the Wonky Stars, are ongoing RSC 21 blocks, carried on from previous years. And all were ideas I gleaned from Cathy’s blog, Sane, Crazy Crumby Quilting. I wonder what colour will be chosen for March - Green?

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog

Red Round up for September

 I never have many red fabrics in my stash and at present I have virtually none because I used most of what I had making the baby quilt I am currently working on.

So I literally used pretty much all of my Red scraps using 3.5” squares gifted to me by Wendy early this year and bits left over from the baby quilt.

So, here are my Ship blocks, only 5 because I didn’t have any different scraps to make a second Tall Ship.

Then I made One 49 x 1.5” squares block, a Crumb block and 8 Ticky Tacky houses. Happy with them all.

Joining  up with Angela’s So Scrappy RSC 2020 blog.

Total Purple 2020RSC blocks

 Last Saturday in August - where has this month gone?

I never have many purple fabrics or scraps in my stash so I am surprised how many blocks I have been able to make.

From top to bottom: 1.5” 49 patch block with a Roman Stripe block either side,

                                  13 x Ticky Tacky houses 

                                   2 of each my the three sizes of Sailing Boats.

Linking up with Angela’s So scrappy blog

    

RSC 2020 July Ticky Tacky Houses

This month’s colour is Dark Blue.

As I use a lot of blue and therefore create a lot of scraps I already have quite a lot of blue blocks made up in other RSC projects so this month I haven’t added to some of those.

However, I have made a few Ticky Tacky Houses with some blues in there. However I did have some other scraps cut in the required sizes so I used those too. These blocks are fun to make and once you have kitted up each they whizz along. Thanks to Cathy (Sane Crazy Crumby Quilting blog) For the idea. 

Do take a look at Cathy’s blog to see the finished quilt and for more RSC bock ideas.

 

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog for RSC2020