This Week in the sewing room

Has been about using up scraps from those small overflowing plastic containers that are cluttering up my sewing room.    At some stage in the past they were in colour order but over time they have become a jumbled mess.   This does not include the six drawers of my sewing table jammed full of scraps.    Embarrassing.  

So you can see the need for my fabric baskets that are being made from these scraps.   So far I have made green and yellow baskets with good progress being made using purple fabrics.  The squares for the outside are all sewn together and the sides have been sandwiched and pinned ready for some FMQ.

I also finished off my shower cap for a blog hop using pink scraps.    

My WOOFA challenge for this month was to continue organising my scraps and use them in projects which I think was met.   To see more WOOFA challenges pop on over here.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all 

From the Heart

My first thought when signing up for this blog hop was to make something personal and pretty - preferably in pink.   I spent sometime going through craft magazines looking for ideas but nothing jumped out and said personal and pretty.  I got on and did some other sewing always with thoughts going through my mind of what to make and one day when walking into bathroom I spotted my shower cap that I made last year  hanging up  - it is the best shower cap I have ever owned - and my mind was made up of what to make.    

Now I could have gone into my stash and found many pretty pink fabrics to make the cap from but no why take the easy way when you can "make" the fabric from 2 1/2" squares.   The piece needed to be  22" x 22" so all that was needed was 11 across and 11 down - a total of 121 squares.     Easy peasy.  Making the fabric  

All the squares are sewn together and starting to mark out the circle for cutting.  I use ripstop nylon on the inside to make it waterproof.  

And the final result.     A gift from the heart incorporating the challenge that I gave myself  of  4 "P's" -  personal, pretty, pink and patchwork.    

Thanks Carol for organising another fun blog hop.    To see more pretties head on over to the following blogs.   

October 26

Creatin' in the Sticks

Ms P Designs USA

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Websterquilt

Selina Quilts

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Quilting Gail

Scrapdash

Ridge Top Quilt

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

That Fabric Feeling

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

 October 27

MooseStashQuilting

Just Because Quilts

Day Brook Designs

Karen's Korner

Quilt Schmilt

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Karrin’s Crazy World

Words & Stitches

Vroomans Quilts

Sew Many Yarns

Songbird Designs

Samelia's Mum

 October 28

Just Let Me Quilt

Quiltscapes

Beaquilter

Seams To Be Sew

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Bumbleberry Stitches

Days Filled With Joy

Quilted Delights

Den Syende Himmel

Life in the Scrapatch

Storied Quilts

Kathleen McMusing

Food for Thought

Linking with Put Your Foot Down

                      TGIFF

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

This Week in the Sewing Room

Was spent working on and finishing off my Halloween wallhanging.   While Halloween is not celebrated in Australia like other countries I have always thought that it would be fun to have a small wallhanging so time was spent "googling" colouring in pages to find some ideas.    I came up with a couple of pictures and combined them to come up with this

I also added in a few star buttons  in the sky and of course a frog near the base of the cauldron.  It is hanging in my sewing room and everytime I look at it I have a little chuckle to myself.   This was my OMG project for October and I feel pleased to have it finished well within the timeframe.  

More time was spent on cutting up purple scrap fabric for my next fabric box and making a start on getting the squares sewn together.  Progress so far looks like this.  Believe it or not there is some sort of order and system in this. 

It is still a bit too cool for me to venture into the water to start swimming but I have been walking along the beach or above it.    How blue is blue

Or green is green

During the week I was given a whole lot of 8 1/2" batik squares.    My thinking cap has been put on  and the challenge is to come up with something to make with them.    Not all of them are my colour choices so it will be interesting to see how they end up.

Off to start the day - a day of domestic chores - and hopefully an hour or so in the sewing room if I am lucky.

Linking up with Put Your Foot Down

                           Finished or Not Friday

                           TGIFF

                           OMG

                           Meadow Mist Designs

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all  

FNSI

An early start was made today on FNSI as hubs and I had other arrangements for tonight and one could not possibly miss out on sewing time.    During the week I worked on and off on my yellow fabric basket

And being so close to a finish made it my priority to get it done today.  I am finding that the long sides are a good place to practice my FMQ.   

Once that was finished a start was made on cutting up purple squares for my next fabric basket.  

 

Better head off and get organised for dinner with friends and don't forget to pop on over to Wendy's blog and check out everyone else's crafting efforts.  

Linking with TGIFF

                      Put your foot down 

                      Quilting and Learning

                      Finished or Not Friday

                      So Scrappy

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Holiday Happenings

Miss M joined hubs and I for the last few days of the school holidays.   Activities included  a bike ride around the Lake - she rode and I walked behind.  Showing me the way.

Waiting for grandma to catch up

A walk to the top of the headland

We had a fantastic view along the coastline and out to sea but sadly no whales in sight today.   After all this exercise it was time to cool off with a paddle

It was not long before she was submerged - clothes and all.    Just as well it was a warm day and we had a boot full of surf towels.

After heading back home to clean up and a change of clothes some quiet time was spent in the sewing room.    Miss M had fun sorting through the overflowing scrap piles.   She was helping sort the colours for the next fabric coloured box.

My only finish this past week was a cord caddy.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

The Strawberry Thief

I have been blaming possums and bandicoots for eating the strawberries that keep appearing in the garden, getting to a certain size and then just disappearring but my thoughts were proved wrong the other day when the  resident blue tongue was caught busily chomping away in the strawberry patch.

Back in the sewing room and the green fabric basket is taking shape.    I decided to go with doing some free motion quilting on the long sides - 8" x 10".    On the 8" x 8" ends and the base cardboard was inserted between the outside and the lining to give a bit of stability.  

Finished and bound with bias binding.   A handle was put on both ends to make it easier when grabbing and moving it around.   For some reason only one handle can be seen in the photos below.  

A peek inside the basket.    A total of 184   2 1/2" squares were used in the making of the basket which took up most of my existing green scraps.    There is plenty of room for future green scraps.  

Yellow is the rainbow colour for October  so my next fabric basket will be yellow.  Gathering up all the yellow scraps sitting around the sewing room.    Three squares cut with only 181 to go.     Now you know what I will be doing over the next few days.  Better change that cutting blade.    The plastic container holding the cut squares was one of many that are currently being used to store my scraps but being small they were all full to overflowing with the scraps falling out and becoming all jumbled up.  It  was becoming a major exercise to try and find the exact piece that was wanted when doing some applique.   

Time to head off and start the day.  

Linking with Patchwork & Quilt

                      Finished or Not Finished Friday

                      Put your Foot Down

 

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all               

2 1/2" Square Obsession

Like most quilters there is always an abundance sitting around the sewing room of leftover 2 1/2" squares from previous projects, small pieces of  fabric just waiting to be  cut into 2 1/2" squares as well as bits of leftover bindings which are already cut into 2 1/2" strips that only need to be ironed and cut into 2 1/2" squares.      Last night when joining Cheryll and the others for FNwF the time was spent sewing more green 2 1/2" squares together.

This is an experiment which hopefully end up being a green fabric box measuring  8" x 8" wide by 8" x 10" long.  Time will tell. 

During the week my walking companions and I headed south and did the coastal walk between Curl Curl and Freshwater.

                                      

                                     

                                     

It is a long weekend here in NSW but at the moment every weekend is a long weekend so it will be no different for hubs and I but there are plans to spend sometime in the sewing room working on getting those green squares looking like a box.    If it works out more fabric boxes are in the pipeline.   

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

OMG For October

Halloween is not something that is celebrated in a big way in Australia like it is in other countries but I felt it was time that there was a small Halloween themed wallhanging to decorate my sewing room.   

These are the chosen fabrics

How many rulers, pens and pairs of scissors does it take to get the job done??

My OMG for this month is to have a small wallhanging ready to share with you.  To see more goals hop on over to Patty's blog.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all