A bit more Blue

During the week I found more light and bright blue scraps and this is how they have ended up.  While doing a bit of a tidy up in the sewing room  some leftover bindings from previous quilts were  uncovered which when joined together made enough to go around one of the quilts.   Two more quilts to add to the others for the PICU.

My WOOFA challenge for this month - and will be for sometime to come - is to continue tidying up the scrap patch and trying to use them up  in various projects.   As you can see the scraps in the left quilt are smaller than those on the right - the scraps are reducing so I think this meets my WOOFA challenge for the month of April.  To see more WOOFA challenge finishes pop on over to Cheryll's blog and while you are there do not forget to sign up for FNwF#1 for this month.

May sees a new colour announced for the rainbow scrap challenge - I wonder what it will be.

My OMG for April was to find suitable fabrics for my It is Cool to be Square project and make a start on it.

I can report that this goal was successfully reached.     Here are the fabrics

And a peak at progress.   The yellow fabric is only covering the project.

Linking with Midweek Makers
                     Put your Foot Down
                     OMG April
                     TGIFF
                     Finished or not Finished Friday
                     So Scrappy

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Pretty in Pink

A couple of weeks ago a start was made on sewing up some pink scraps into what looked like a brick wall but it was put aside while other bits and pieces were attended to.   I am pleased to announce that my "bricklaying" has been completed.

More  2 1/2" strips - this time pink and purple -  being pinned ready to quilt.  

Hubs is making good steady progress on his COVID-19 project.    The dining room table now looks like this.

Boxes have been labelled and now the process of putting the photos into their respective slots is taking place.      Once that has happened a more refined sort will take place and then the job of scanning some of them onto the computer will begin.  

Thanks Wendy for hosting another fun FNSI.
                                                             
Linking with Put Your Foot Down
                      Midweek makers
                      TGIFF

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNwF

The scraps have been put aside for this week and I have been concentrating on completing the pre-cut skirts that were allocated to me.   Ten arrived in the bag but one had its back panel cut upside down so back into the bag it went and here are the completed 9.

 As can be seen below they are a simple skirt with an elastic gathered waist and each one has a concealed  side pocket.  Between the overlocker and sewing machine it takes just under an hour to complete each skirt so they go together quite quickly.   The one below was the last one to roll off the production line late this afternoon when I joined Cheryll and the others for FNwF.

I am waiting on another delivery of fabric from the co-ordinator in order to make some more but as you know we are all in a virtual "lock down" and as non essential travel is not permitted I am guessing it will be dropped at the front door one day when she is  passing by my house in order to complete a necessary task.

Hubs is definitely making "in roads" into his COVID-19 project.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Linking with Put Your Foot Down

Happy sewing all

What day is it today.....

Is the question that I ask myself each day on waking now that all the normal routine and usual commitments have been removed from our everyday lives.

I have devised a daily schedule to keep myself both physically and mentally active but it is same each day with not much variation hence each day seems like the one before the one before.

Hubs has given himself a COVID-19 challenge.   A job which he contemplated  doing when he first retired 16 years ago and for various reasons it was shelved and never really got started so now that we are housebound like everyone else it is an ideal time to finally tackle the job and get it completed.

A hobby of hubs has been photography from when he was a teenager and went most places with his camera  so you can imagine how many thousands of photos  were taken over the years.   Thankfully we now have digital cameras so this problem of storage no longer exists.   The above is the bulk of them but there are boxes and boxes of slides stored in the garage and also a few photo albums still  lurking in the bottom of a couple of cupboards.

I think that he will be kept busy sorting, boxing and labelling for sometime to come.  Fortunately we do have a smaller dining table that we can use especially now that no one is joining us for meals.   Once he has reached that goal the next step is to pick out the best of them to scan and store on the computer.   Then he can come up for air and declare the job finished.  

Whilst all this sorting has been taking place my time has been spent in the sewing room whipping up skirts for 14 year old girls.     More on that later.

We really did feel isolated here this morning - not only are we in lock down but there was no internet access, tv or landline due to an Optus tower "being down" in our area.   The service was back up and running some 4 hours later.   It was very frustrating for us but must have been extremely annoying for others trying to run a business, work from home or access schooling.      I am just thankful that the power did not go out in sympathy.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Bright and Light....

Blue is the colour chosen for this month's Rainbow Scrap challenge.  Funnily enough during the week I was working on getting some more blocks sewn together for another small quilt for PICU and quite a few of the blocks do have either bright or light blue in them.

I had enough light blue fabric to use for binding this one with which I finished off when joining  Cheryll and the rest of the "gang" for our regular first of the month Friday night FNwF.   Just letting you know that while we all have to "socially distance" ourselves from family and friends Cheryll is running FNwF on both the first and second Friday nights of each month.   Something positive and fun to look forward to.

My garden is looking so much better for all the attention that it has been receiving over the last couple of weeks.    On the way to  my sewing room I pass by this gorgeous hibiscus.    It is enjoying all the overnight rain that we are having lately.

As is mushroom field that has sprung up in the front garden.

And the neighbour's tibouchina gives a lovely splash of colour over the fence.    

Back into the sewing room to make a start on pinning together some of those scraps that have been cut over the last couple of days.  

These have been put aside for the moment in order to make a start on sewing up those girl size 14 skirts.  

Linking with So Scrappy 

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Show me Something Impro

Is the theme this month at Sarah's  blog.   My first thought when  reading the title was "I am not an improvisor"   and would not link up this month as I like to have control over colour and design even when making a scrappy quilt there is a fair amount of control as to where the colours are placed next to each other.

Then I remembered quite a few years ago my quilt group had a challenge where each month one member nominated a block and the other members made that block for them.   It was during the time when I had decided that whatever I made was going to be from scraps so my choice was to request 3 strips each 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" to be sewn together so that a rail fence quilt could be made at the end.

When I finally received all of the blocks and started putting them together in the rail fence design to my horror it was discovered that that pesky 1/4" seam which appears to differ on every machine reared it ugly head and none of the blocks were lining up properly.     Feeling very disappointed I did think of unpicking all the blocks and re-sewing them on my machine in order to get the same 1/4" seam but that idea did not appeal to me so the blocks were put aside until a "light bulb moment" struck in the middle of the night.     Do not unpick the blocks pick another design which is what I did.

Chinese coins was the chosen design so I guess this can be considered something improvised.

While the blocks are still out of alignment it is not as obvious with the sashing between each column.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

OMG for April

Back to the first of the month again - we have already had 1/4 of this year - means time to set  a goal/goals for the month.

Carol over at Just let me Quilt is organising another fun blog hop called It is Cool to be Square

So my goal for this month will be to work out what I am going to make to show for my designated day of 20th May and make a good start on it.  

Once this project is under way it will be back to cutting up more scraps.

Linking with Elm Street Quilts.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all