Churn Dash Mini Challenge

Yes, this month our challenge was to make a mini quilt using the churn dash blocks.  I had to go and look to see how this block was made up (Mr Google is so good at searching) and I found lots of different styles but decided to go traditional.

I did start small

These papers make perfect  half square triangles 

Oops! a mistake about to happen

Just 2" unfinished 

Second mistake  Boo Boo!

I am now sure I am not happy with this

 So back to the cutting board ......

This was a sneek peek for flickr photos

 Only a little bigger, but I felt I could get  a better seam match

Not perfect but getting there

 Finally I like

Final size 9" x 9" 

Tomorrow we get our next challenge here and as we have Christmas coming up we have decided to let the next challenge spread over two months, so you have plenty of time to get this one done.......come on join us.

Slacking !!!!!

I feel like my feet have hardly touched the ground, so crafting has been a bit on the slow side . Still I have a couple of things to show and tell today.

Firstly my daughter bought some yarn at Yarndale back in September and asked me to make some fingerless mitts for her.  I was a little bit unsure as I thought the pattern I had was going to be a bit big for her, so I just knitted them on smaller needles and goodness they knitted up quickly......she may even get another pair before Christmas.

Nice and Lacy

 On Saturday I went along to make a Christmas wreath.  I am just not good at flower arranging unless it is a step by step arrangement, but the lovely Glynis was at hand to show us just what to do.  We were given a ring of wire which we had to bind with more wire then add the moss and bind again.

Should I just leave it like this???

 Everyone had brought greenery, so the hall smelt like a forest, and the floor looked like a forest floor.....  but we were having fun.

There's always one that's sensible and brings her apron !

Heads down and working hard

After adding the greenery (which I have to tell you took a lot longer then imagined) we could add some fancy bits.   There was a great choice laid out on the table, and I really thought I would go for all the baubles and beads, but in the end decided less was more.  I am thrilled with my creation and can't wait to hang it outside on the first of December.

Tah Dah!

I'll be back soon to show you the next stage of our Mini Mania Challenge....Yes -November has whizzed and its nearly time for us all to show and tell about our Churn dash minis.

See you soon x

Baubles and Beads

Ooops!  I seem to have been missing from Blogland for a while and there are really no excuses.  Have I been busy....Not really, but I do have a couple of things to show you.

Last year I tried beading baubles, loved the sparkly little things so bought a number of packs of baubles ready to be beaded (as you do). Of course time ran out for Christmas 2014 which meant I stored the baubles ready for this Christmas.  I looked on Pinterest and decided to try my hand at making the patterns up as I went along.  Voilà! look at this little lot....

They are of course a variation on a theme, it takes so long to get the patterns right.

Just another two boxes of 12 to do!!!!!!  May be they will be ready for 2016

As some of you know I have a smocking group that meets once a month, and its always nice to make something special for Christmas.  This year the main 'show stopper' (what a laugh) was a mini wreath.  There were a couple left over, so I thought I would make one.

Its only about 8" in diameter so not quite big enough for the front door

The weather this weekend is supposed to be awful, so I think I might spend some time in my sewing room with next months challenge, if you don't know what I'm talking about go over to flickr and have a look - you might like to join us.

Mini Mania Challenge time

Oh yes, today is last day of the month and our big reveal day for Mini Mania Challenge.  Our October mini had to be Appliquéd, no more than 14" (any shape), have some Orange in it, and remind us of the month of October.  I have to tell you it took me a bit of time to fall in love with this one.  I sat and sulked  thought about it for a couple of days, then started to look through my scrap box.  I have had some leaves left over from this quilt which was made back in 2010 so thought I would try to use them.

but would it be to boring to have Autumn coloured leaves on the tree and appliquéd  on to some fabric.   YES it would, so off I went to look through cyber world after all it  might inspire me.  I found a drawing of a tree that had hearts instead of leaves so that was my plan.

Some big (well about 1")hearts and some tiny ones

My minimal bit of Orange.

Raw edge appliqué 

This was where I began to like it 

 I started to quilt this a couple of times and just didn't like it so unpicked (luckily it didn't leave stitch marks) so I just trailed some leaf shapes around the tree. Unfortunately the quilting doesn't show up on the photo, in fact it just looks a mess, but up close and personal it's not too shabby.

This will end up as a cushion

If you want to see all the others pop over here.

Wonder what next month will bring!!

Feeling Good

You know there are times when you make something that you are thrilled with, well, that happened to me the other day.  Mr D had some earphones for his birthday (back in June) and wanted some sort of wallet to keep them in.

They will be used mostly when we travel, so something with a little padding would be great.  I had been looking on Pinterest, and there have been a few ideas, but none were exactly what I wanted so I had to get into pattern making mode........

Just a start

will they fit

It might be a snug fit

bit of padding ...... scraps sewn together...

I think it might work

lets get this sewn.  I sewed a zip on the long curved edge to make it easy to get them out.

Think it works

snug as a bug

Ready for our next trip

Nice and neat

I had been putting this project off, but think it works really well......think I should get a fanfare!! 

Bit of this and bit of that......

I thought I had a been a bit quiet with my hand crafts, but after sorting out some photos it seems my little hands have been busy as usual.

I decided to make another Road Trip Scarf, if you remember the last one I made I donated to Higham Piecemakers bi annual exhibitions sales table.

A percentage of the cost of this yarn goes to W.I

and a selfie

They say it is going to be a cold winter, so I am prepared

I was also asked to make some more of these........

believe me they do keep your hands warm

 At the NEC Exhibition of Quilts I bought a pattern for a miniature that needed little sewing, but a glue pen would be handy.  The glue pen was indeed handy when it came to attaching those tiny houses and trees, but cutting them out took an age. You do have to sew to keep everything in place, but the secret is laying a piece of Tulle over your scene then quilting through all layers.  I am not sure if you can see that on the photograph, 

Finished size 7.5" x 9.75"

What next..... Oh yes, its getting to the time of year when the big December celebrations are creeping up (don't want to say it out loud), and a friend pinned this so I thought I would play.......

You never have the right beads but I can try

Not bad...

they will all be different I suppose

The red looks good

and while the beads were out I made a few stitch markers

a bit fiddly but hopefully will do the trick

I am off on Sunday to Malvern Quilt show, so we will see if that inspires.

Tah Dah!!!

As I said in my last post I was going to try to get together all of the Mini Mania Challenge quilts (made so far) to make a single bed quilt.   Well, its done...Yeah!

You may remember the mini's but just in case you need a reminder

I think these were the first two

Then I added some more blocks that I just loved

The one on the left is a pattern that a quilting teacher allowed me to use

The one on the right is another version of the log cabin. 

and this pattern was one from the Moda Bake shop, but I reduced it.   Instead of these being 12" blocks, I made them 7" blocks, so this one ended up 21.5" square

None of these blocks are the same size, so there was quite a bit of planning (I think not). but I did have to quilt together some white fabric to fill in some gaps. Putting this together was a bit like doing a jig saw that has no picture.  I first laid out all the blocks.

The first lay out

To fill in some gaps I added the white

Now to make them bigger

I changed the lay out a number of times, but this is the final

It took longer than I imagined to get this far 

But the big reveal.............

Tah Dah!

I am very pleased with the result.......after all it could have turned into a 'Dogs Dinner' of a quilt.

What's next I ask myself.