Sorting out WIPs and tidying up

Had a busy time sorting through the cupboard in my sewing room.  All in a terrible mess! Finished quilts, unfinished WIPs, batting, etc etc. It's a job that I have been intending to tackle for some while but felt daunted by the task so it was put off and put off.

I treated myself to 4 new plastic storage boxes with lids then set about creating some order.
I put all the finished quilts into one storage box, the WIPs into another and smaller pieces of batting and stuffing for cushions into the 2 smaller boxes.  Looking better already!

I was ruthless with very small pieces of batting and threw them away. Sorted the other pieces into similar sized ones, ready for Premature baby or small cot quilts. I was surprised by how much batting I have and will not have to buy any for a long time. Good job as batting is SO expensive these days.

Then I discovered an abandoned quilt which I started many years ago at a Workshop.  It was going to be a Seminole Patchwork single bed quilt in turquoise and purple.  I had made all the strips, each one a different Seminole patchwork pattern and had started to put it together........................ then I obviously lost interest!  Looking at it now I know that I don't like the colours or the fabrics any more and that I will never finish it.  So, I have pressed all the Seminole strips and will pass them on to another quilter I know who has a group of ladies making Linus Quilts from donated fabrics and  left-over blocks.  I am sure another quilter looking at these strips with  a fresh eye will come up with a pretty Linus Quilt.

I found two of my little Premature Crumb Quilts which were almost finished.  I set to and have finished both in the last couple of days.

This one with Blue Sashing:

 

and one with Pink Sashing:

 

 

And now I have 6 ready to donate to the local hospital:

 

 

I now feel justified in starting another project which is on my "To Do" list, the I Spy Freckles quilt for little Robert.  I have made it larger and pieced the background from left-over pieces of cream fabrics.  There are 49 I Spy bubbles which I have fused to the background and this afternoon I started to hand blanket stitch them onto the top. This is my favourite kind of handwork so I am enjoying myself.

 

Busy sewing cushions for birthday gifts

At the moment it is a flurry of sewing cushions for gifts. Several friends have "Significant birthdays", an 80th, a 50th and in December a 70th birthday and I have decided to make String cushions for all three.  I have had such marvellous treatment from my physiotherapist, Sue, I decided to make her  a String cushion too!

Here's what I've made so far:

For Sue:

 

And for Doreen's 80th Birthday:

 

 

Finished today, another String Quilt to be gifted in a couple of weeks' time:

 

All three cushions feature Amy Butler fabrics, the first two use a vibrant hot pink and yellow fabric called Chrysanthemum and the turquoise and green fabric is Amy Butler's Daisy design.

I love making String blocks and hunting out scraps to tone and/or contrast with the main fabric.

Now starting a fourth cushion for a Patchwork friend who will be celebrating her 70th birthday in December. I'm really on a roll!


Having a great time sewing at present. I have several baby and children's quilts to make so in between sewing strings together I have pieced a cream background for another I Spy Bubbles quilt, using up several old pieces of cream fabrics I had gathered together for this purpose.  It's for a 2.5 year old little boy, Robert, my husband's cousin's grandson. We didn't know about his expected arrival until it was too late for me to make  baby quilt so Robert had a regular shop bought baby outfit.
When his brother James came along 9 months ago I made an I Spy quilt for him which has been loved and admired by all the family.  As it was such a great hit, when I saw Robert two weeks ago at his Grandpa's birthday party I asked if he would like an I Spy Quilt too?  Yes, please!

Here is James's quilt:

 

I have decided to make another I Spy quilt using the Freckles design from the Scrap Republic book by Emily Cier as I love making them and they are a great handwork project.  I have decided to increase the dimensions by 10" in each direction so I will need lots more fussy-cut "bubbles".

So, the backgound for Robert's quilt is made and I now have the exciting task of looking through all my fabrics for interesting I Spy motifs.

 

At the same party I met another of the same cousin's grandchildren, a delightful 19 months old little girl called Ava.  Again we didn't know about Ava's arrival until the last moment so I hastily stitched a set of burp cloths and two-sided flannel cot sheet to mark her arrival. 

 

 

 

 As I'm making a quilt for Robert I feel I must make one for Ava too.  I have an idea in mind, a strip quilt of various pretty girly pink fabrics.

 

Three more babies due next year, so I have lots of quilts to make!  But I LOVE it!

 

 

Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child

Well, I spent an enjoyable time this morning gathering together the little gifts I have bought or hand made ready to put in my Shoebox for my contribution to my Church's donations to the
Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child.

Here's a photo of the small presents:

 

My box is for a little girl, aged between 2 and 4 years old.  Hence a lot of pink!

 

Then I covered a shoebox with Christmas paper and wondered if I would fit everything in!

 

Amazingly I fitted all the gifts in and there is room for more!

Look how easily I put the lid on the box!

So now I will be able to look for a few little extras to fill in the gaps! This is the sort of shopping I enjoy.  Perhaps a little purse, a bracelet, a pack of stickers? And a few more sweeties?

 

Scrap Vomit squares have arrived!

I enjoyed taking part in the Swap-bot Scrap Vomit Squares swap organised by Angie gnomeangel.com who lives in Canberra.

Angie also ran a Giveaway of a set of 49 SV Squares which I was lucky enough to win.
Here they are:

All three of my packages from my three swap-bot partners have arrived, from different parts of the globe. Always exciting to receive goodies in the mail!

From Dhia Peach:

From Barbara Walsh:

 And some really quirky ones from Dorte Petersen  ( Not yet the Dodo! ):

They are all great, a good mixture of colours, fabrics and shades.  No two alike!
I'm really hooked into this Swapping and hope Angie organises another one as she had promised. She was thrilled with how popular this one was and everyone taking part in the International Swap honoured their promise and sent their 49 x 2.5" squares.
Well done to everyone!
And VERY well to done to Angie who did all the hard work organising the Swap.  Much appreciated! Thank you!

Another NEEDLEBOOK & SCRAP VOMIT SWAP posted

A busy couple of days, some sewing and a little knitting and I parcelled up my 3 sets of Scrap Vomit squares for the Swap. 

The SV Swap was organised through Gnome Angel (gnomeangel.com ) but managed via swap-bot which worked like clockwork!  As soon as the deadline for registering as a participant expired I received an email linking me to their website and discovered the names and addresses of the three people I had to send my sets of squares to.  This was the International Swap and 80 people had signed up for it.  My three partners were from three different continents........ Europe (Germany), Australia and North America (Canada).  All very exciting. You can keep track of who has sent their packages via swap-bot and I know my Canadian partner has sent her packages out.  What I am not sure about it whether the folk I send to actually send their sets to me.  We shall find out when our Postlady, Julie, starts popping packages through our letterbox!
This swap reminded me of when I was about 11 years old........ a very long time ago!...... when I registered with the girls' comic School Friend for a penfriend living in another country.  I was really disappointed when I ws given the name of a girl living in Yorkshire! However, we happily corresponded for about fifteen years and then, sadly, lost touch.

I have had quite a productive few days, managing to finish another little Crumb Quilt and I am ready to bind another one.  I have also sandwiched the Siblings Together Project quilt, a job I heartily dislike.  Difficult to do as I don't have a large table or a hard floor so I crawl around the bedroom floor trying to pin the layers together without getting loads of creases.  Very tiring and time consuming!  Anyway, it is now ready for me to start the hand quilting. 

My church is again taking part in the Samaritan's Purse Shoebox Scheme.  You pack a Christmas paper-wrapped shoebox with gifts for a child in parts of the world where they wouldn't receive any Christmas gifts.  You decide whether to make up a box of little gifts suitable for a boy or girl and the age range you have aimed the parcel for.  Gifts can be little toys, toiletries, warm hats, scarves, gloves, etc. We were provided with a knitting pattern for a simple Beanie and I have enjoyed making two so far. They look very pretty in the variagated white/pink/mauve wool I chose. I'll make a few more which can be popped into other Shoeboxes.  I now need to shop for some little gifts, hair slides, crayons, soft toy etc.  Good fun, the sort of shopping I enjoy.

 

We are going to a family wedding on Saturday which should be great, a lovely chance for a family get-together.  One of the bride's cousins is Helen who has been so kind and supportive during the past year since my cancer diagnosis. She loves knitting and sewing so as another little "Thank You" I have made one of my Strawberry Needlebooks to give her on Saturday. I'll pop some pins and needles inside too.

And another photo showing back and front.

 

Off now to get ready to go to a friend's for coffee. Haven't seen her since she returned from holiday so lots to catch up on!

SCRAP VOMIT SWAP, ready to go

As I have a busy couple of weeks coming up, including attending 2 weddings!, I decided to get ahead with my Scrap Vomit Swap squares. Yesterday I cut all three sets of 49 x 2.5" squares.  Each set contains basically the same fabrics, with a few differences in each set.  Hope they are the sort of Vomit squares folks will be looking for!

A few photos:

One set, fanned out to show the variety of prints.

 

All 3 sets, neatly piled up.

 

And finally ........................

 

 

All packed up in clingfilm, ready to pop into envelopes!

 

If you want to take part in this swap, there is still loads of time to sign up.  Go to gnomeangel.com where you can find all the details about this swap.

 

Cut off date for registering is 22nd September and the sets of squares have to be posted by 5th October.  The last time I looked at the International Swap there were 48 taking part.  I'm sure that figure will get higher!

 

Happy 2.5" square cutting!

 

Exciting Giveaway on Bearpaw

Giving you the heads up on a really great Giveaway currently running on Bearpaw's blog. Some fabulous Liberty prints that you can win!
Here's the link:
myBearpaw.com
Liberty fabrics are so beautifully soft and the colours are fabulous.
Go on, enter the Giveaway!