A New Home For A Gnome

Around 18 months ago I showed you this gnome that I had made using the foundation paper piecing method……just because.

It’s a twelve inch finished block that ended up in my Parts Department as I didn’t really know what to do with it after I made it.  Ever get that feeling?

Anyway, the crafting group I joined a few weeks ago is committed to supporting Project Linus UK** and, although I can’t face piecing and quilting anything large at the moment, a small baby quilt measuring around 30 x 30 inches is eminently doable and will fit nicely under my machine for some rudimentary quilting (which is the only quilting I do).

So, the first step was to cut off those little black beads I’d used for his eyes, promptly lose them down the cracks in my floorboards,  and replace them with my even more rudimentary embroidery.

Then, using my stash and scraps, I did a spotted border to reflect those spots on his top and red cornerstones to pick up the hat.

Also in my Parts Department, I had the remains of a batik charm pack and then cut the cornerstones from fabric left over from a quilt I made for my niece’s baby a couple of years ago.

I used a cream fabric with a slightly embossed design for the border and the same fabric I used for the cornerstones as a backing.

Then I marked the quilt top with a simple, diagonal cross hatch design ready for machine quilting.

I had a fat quarter of Provencal fabric in my stash which, with a few joins and a bit of luck, was just enough to make the binding.

To give credit where credit’s due, Miss Tialys the Younger joined a lot of the ¼ inch seams for me while I did the measuring and cutting and, because she’s learning, she probably took much more care than I do.

I hope the baby and his/her parents like this little quilt and it brightens up their days which might have had a traumatic start of one sort or another.

Next, I have a paper pieced dog’s face in the Parts Department which I might treat in a similar way to this but make it rectangular for a bassinet.

While Miss T. the Younger was in the swing of things we made some tote bags together so now she has her own hand made ‘bags for life’ to go shopping with and I have another two to add to my collection,  We made them with box corners rather than the more simple shape as I find them much more useful for grocery shopping,

Again, I did all the measuring and cutting out but, hopefully, she’ll show an interest in doing that too eventually 🙄  Still, even if she doesn’t, it’s nice to spend time together doing something creative when she visits.  Plus, yet more stash fabric gets used up in a useful way.  Those first two fabrics are from Ikea I don’t know how many moons ago.

 

** from the Project Linus website:

“Project Linus UK is a volunteer organisation. We aim to provide a sense of security and comfort to sick and traumatised babies, children and teenagers through the provision of new home made patchwork quilts and knitted blankets, and give volunteers across the UK the opportunity to contribute to their local community.”

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Talking About ‘Stuff’ – A Moving Story With Some Welcome Diversions

A word to the wise.  When you accumulate a lot of ‘stuff’ the day might come when you need to reduce the amount of ‘stuff’ you can keep and I am here to tell you that getting rid of that ‘stuff’ is no easy task.

We are going to be moving from around 300 square metres into 150 square metres and, as I have a knack of expanding into the space available to me, something (or lots of things) will have to give.

Our furniture doesn’t owe us anything.  We’ve had most of it for a long time and some of it was vintage/antique when we got it so that’s not so bad.  It’s the ‘stuff’ that will be the problem.  My ‘workroom’ is bigger than any of the bedrooms will be in the new house and Mr. T has an industrial sewing machine and rolls of leather as well as all the usual power tools, gardening equipment, etc.  but at least he will have a large garage in which to disport himself.

Selling things is time consuming and annoying and giving things away is almost as time consuming and more annoying as there are more takers but the demands on your time are just the same.  We only have one or two charity type shops and, soon, they will probably ban me.  Mr. T and I take turns in our different cars so that they don’t realise it’s all coming from the same place.  The déchetterie (rubbish dump) is complicated and everything has to be separated into categories – I leave those visits to Mr. T.

Anyway, more on that as things progress and, just to show that I am doing things other than trying to keep the house clean and tidy in case of viewings (few and far between in the current ‘situation’) and fretting about the sheer logistics of the whole thing, these are the blocks I did for Kate’s turn in the F2F block swap.

She asked for greys with pops of colour.  I didn’t have much grey so, as it was for Kate, I ordered some special Indonesian batiks in dove grey and paper pieced all three blocks as paper piecing is a great way to put everything else out of your mind while you concentrate.  Plus, I am much better at paper piecing than regular piecing for some strange reason.

So here are the three I made for Kate.

Hovering Hawks

Twin Star

Marley

Are you worried about the amount of ‘stuff’ you have and what you – or whoever has to clear out your house should you unexpectedly drop dead – will do with it all?  Or are you one of those enviable people who can keep a rein on their crafting supplies, crafting outcomes, pictures, clothes, shoes, bags, collections of ———–(insert whatever it is you might collect), etc. etc.  I think I’m actually going to find the downsizing process quite liberating (she says hopefully) and, in future, will never acquire anything without thinking about how easy it will be to dispose of it in the future.

Christmas in February F2F5

Organised again by Kate over at Tall Tales From Chiconia, the latest Footsquare Freestyle (F2F) patchwork block exchange kicked off in February with ten participants from different countries and Tracy was the first drawn out of the hat to receive three blocks in her chosen colours from each of the other nine participants.

Tracy picked red, green and brown as her colours using photos of cranberries and a Christmas pudding to help us and, having checked with her that she is hoping to make a Christmas themed quilt, I foraged for those rare pieces of festive fabric that I have in deep stash.

I made this Churn Dash because I wanted to feature the lovely stag and deer image in the centre.

I love this foundation paper pieced banded star design and made quite a few for the participants in last year’s swap.  Tracy didn’t join us last year so I decided to make her one as there should always be stars at Christmas.

Despite having a lot on this year, I decided to go ahead and join in the swap again as I think I should be able to manage three blocks a month and I like to keep my ‘patchwork hand’ in.  I did say to Kate that I’d have to keep it simple this year but I couldn’t resist this pattern for little fir trees but, as it only makes a 6 inch square, I ended up having to make four of them to make a finished block of 12 inches which is, of course, why it’s called footsquare freestyle.   So, in effect, I made six blocks for Tracy rather than three. 🙄

Also, I made lots of stupid mistakes while putting this one together, including the final join.

Oops!!

Still, I’ve moved on to Sue’s blocks now as she is the recipient in March and she has asked for shades of true blue and brown.  I’ve made two and will start on the third today so I can get them off to the States sharpish.

I am next to receive blocks after Sue, I am ‘Miss April’ this year and I’ve gone for a dramatic colour palette reminiscent of peacock feathers.

Rather more dramatic than my neutral(ish) palette of last year which resulted in my lovely superking size quilt.

I’ve made one block for myself but will probably use April to get ahead with the blocks for the other participants in case I don’t have time later on in the year – I can always make my own ones up at the end.

My use of an ombré effect green fabric has made the shape of the Churn Dash a little more difficult to focus on but, if you squint your eyes a bit and/or look at it from a distance, you can still make it out and it shows the sort of colour scheme I have in mind.

Seeing Stars

Kate, over at Tall Tales From Chiconia is, once again, assembling and quilting a teal coloured quilt to auction at the Nude Lunch in September to raise funds for ovarian cancer awareness.

This time, the theme is stars.  Kate does like a pun so this quilt will be named ‘Scinteallate’ – get it? – and some of her quilty followers are helping out a bit by making her a few blocks.

These are my three which are all foundation paper pieced

 

Banded Star (from a design by Sewhooked.com)

 

‘Out There’ (from a design by Esther Frenzel)

and my favourite

 

May Flower (from a design by Carol Doak)

All on their way to Australia as I type.

A little heads up to Pelenna Patchworks in the UK who sent this (much needed) stash pack of 10 x 10 inch squares of assorted teal fabrics in a brown paper package using non-plastic tape and, just when I thought, ‘oh, they’ve spoilt it by using a plastic bag’, noticed this on the bag.  Baby steps!

What A Lot Of Blocks!

The 2018/2019 Footsquare Freestyle (hereafter known as F2F3) has come to end with organiser Kate’s blocks for February being sent, received or in production.

I haven’t been showing you the three 12 inch patchwork  blocks I made each month to send to the nine far flung participants in the colours they chose so I’ve picked my favourite one from each month to show you.

June 2018

I was drawn out of the hat to receive blocks first and made one of my foundation paper pieced (or FPP) Hedgehogs as one of my own three blocks towards the quilt I will eventually make from all the blocks in my chosen colours.

July 2018

Sue wanted blue and white and I made her an FPP banded star.

August 2018

A Nell’s Star (or Charleston) block for Claire

September 2018

A special request from Nanette for a hedgehog.

October 2018

A Nova for Moira.

(A pattern designed by one of our participants, Esther.)

November 2018

A Circle of Geese for Robin.

December 2018

The only traditionally pieced block in this selection was for Esther.

January 2019

Everyone, after the first couple of months, got a Zeppelin and this one was for Kathy.

February 2019

Finally, Kate’s turn came and I stretched my paper piecing skills with this unicorn just for something a bit different.

I can’t tell you how much this block swap has once more challenged and encouraged me to do more patchwork.  Working with colours I perhaps wouldn’t normally have thought of using and indulging in my new found love of FPP – it’s been a blast!

It looks like we might be going to do it all again for 2019/2020.  If you’re interested, let Kate know in a comment on her blog here.  Not sure? Have a look at the website she has set up especially for the F2F swaps – Footsquare Freestyle – 3 x 12 inch square finished blocks in whatever design you want just as long as it’s in the participant’s chosen colours.  We need a minimum of 9 people  – Kate and I are definitely in so another 7 and we’re off.

p.s. I’ve just realised my title sounds slightly ‘off colour’ but only if you say it slowly and, why would you?

ScrapHappy Zeppelins in October

When the new session of the F2F block swap started (details here), I decided to make a scrappy block every month in the colours each participant had chosen – partly so I’d have something to show on Scraphappy day if I’m honest – which I always try to be with you dear readers.    I made a couple of blocks with random scraps then changed my mind and decided to make the same paper pieced block for each person plus one for myself using the remains of the fabric used for them or similar colours from my scrap bin.   I confess the scraps are quite big scraps (more like small remnants ) as anything too small wouldn’t work for the design I’m using.   I’m still putting it forward for ScrapHappy day this month though because the fabric was all leftovers and because I haven’t had time to make anything with smaller scraps as I’ve been in a bit of a dressmaking frenzy which will be the subject of a future post.  I hope Kate and Gun will forgive me for using biggish scraps instead of littleish scraps.  (‘Littleish’ – now there’s a word you can really get your tongue around.  Is it even a word? If not, it should be.)

On a side note, if you think paper piecing is wasteful of fabric – what about dressmaking?  I can’t believe how much goes in the bin and most of it’s no good for scrappy stuff being too thick or thin or whatever.

Anyway, I have adopted a paper piecing pattern called Zeppelin which you can find on Craftsy here as a free downloadable PDF.  It doesn’t have too many pieces which is good when you have to make quite a few of them and I like the clean lines and contemporary look of it.

I started in July with Claire’s colours of turquoise, grey, black and white.

Then, in September, Nanette’s colour choices were blue and blush pink.

I parted with some of my precious ombre fabric for this one.

Moira chose browns and creams with duck egg blue as a highlight in October.

Earlier on in the swap, I was ‘Miss June’ and later made one in my own neutral(ish) palette of greys, creams, and vintage pink.

I still need to make one in Sue’s colours  – I missed making a ‘Sue Zeppelin’ in July.  Her choices were similar to Nanette’s but with white instead of blush pink to go with the blues but, eventually, once I have a Zeppelin in all nine participants’ colours, they will make a small quilt or throw which will be quite a nice souvenir of the 2018/2019 block swap.

The four scrappyish Zeppelin blocks so far flung against my  design wall.  I say, ‘design wall’ though it is just a flannelette sheet held in place by books on my bookshelf – but you get my drift.

Wondering what ScrapHappy is?  Have a look on Kate’s blog here and join us once a month – or less if you can’t come up with a duplicitous way round it like me – well, let’s call it a ‘compromise’.

Big Scraps, Little Scraps And Some In Between

Can a person get addicted to a crochet pattern?  If so, I’m on my way to rehab.  Remember these two Little River Blankets? (pattern designed by Emma Varnam )

The one on the right is made with Scheepjes yarn from the original kit and, to be honest, is still my favourite due to the softer feel of the cotton/acrylic mix and the more carefully planned out colour scheme which the pattern provides.  The one on the left is made with 100% cotton yarn and I made the colours up as I went along.

All the yarn came in cute little 10g balls and, in the original, only one row is crocheted with each ball.  Even so, I still had some leftovers from both projects

Perfect for yet another version using the scraps and enabling me to participate in ScrapHappy day this month.

I am breaking the rules with this one due to the limitations of using scraps and am having to change colour part way through a lot of the rows.  I’m just trying to keep some sort of blending going.

This is it so far,  unwoven in ends and all.  The blue I’m using to create the unifying ripple every 7th row and the eventual edging is the only new yarn I bought for this version.  The 7th row should have been the 5th row but I forgot and didn’t want to frog it so decided to keep it at every 7th – who will know?  Or care?

I think the reason I’m addicted is the pattern is easy, though not totally mindless, so perfect for getting something useful done when I’m Netflix bingeing in the evening. It also keeps me from having a glass of wine or falling asleep – the two usually go together.

A double whammy from the scrap department this month.  I made these two blocks for Kate’s newest quilt project for Ovarian Cancer Australia.  Their colours are teal and cream and Kate likes to indulge her love of puns when naming the quilts.  We’ve had ‘Tealed With A Kiss’, ‘Signed, Tealed, Delivered’ amongst others in the past and this one will be called ‘Go Teal It On The Mountains’.  So, Kate and some of her readers of the patchwork persuasion are making blocks with a mountain theme.  For some time now I’ve had a stash of of teal blues (and similar) kept specially for these projects.  The blocks are assembled, quilted and finished by Kate and then auctioned to raise funds. You can read a bit more about it on Kate’s blog here.

This first block of mine was just a case of joining strips really.

I found the original idea online here

My second block was foundation paper pieced, a method I have come to love.

Free pattern found on Craftsy here 

Kate asks for 12 inch finished blocks and this one was only 7 inches but I found this useful guide on how to enlarge and reduce paper pieced patterns here

Here’s another little scrap

Yuki hunting grass

Joining in this month with Kate and Gun’s Scraphappy Day for some inventive uses of scraps and interesting blogs. If you want to use up some scraps and show what you’ve done with them – could be paper, yarn, fabric, leather, wood, whatever, just let Kate know here and she can add you to the list of participants even if you don’t want to do something every month.   Find more details on Kate’s blog here

Signing Off

Just a quick post to show you that I really did manage to finish my ‘man quilt’ in time to give it to Mr. Tialys for Christmas.  Thanks to Kate for organizing nine quilters for the F2F block swap again this year  meaning that,  apart from the blocks I made for myself , I also received 24 blocks from Australia, the States, Sweden, the Netherlands and France all diverse and gorgeous in my chosen colours.  This swap,  just as last year,  helped me to improve on my existing skills and develop some new ones –  foundation paper piecing is my new addiction.

Thanks also to Kate for encouraging me to finish it by blogging about the Quilt As  You Go method which we were both using  to finish our quilts, mine for a Christmas gift and her own for another charity auction to raise money for Ovarian Cancer Awareness which you can see here.

Here’s the back in case he gets fed up with looking at the front where you can see more clearly  – though not too clearly I hope as my seaming wasn’t always spot on (or anywhere near) –  how the blocks are sandwiched together, quilted and then joined with strips.

This quilt will go and live in London to keep Mr. T. warm in his ‘commuter flat’.

Some lovely blocks were sent to me and, because the full length photo doesn’t do them justice, I folded the quilt in half and photographed them separately so you can see each block more clearly.  Unlike Kate I don’t live in Australia and the quilt was too long to hang on the washing line without draping on the frosty grass so I had to take the photos indoors on a larger bed than the quilt is intended for – although it is fairly large at about 65 inches wide x 78 inches long (1.6m x 1.9m).

Here’s the top half

and the bottom half

The new – and unintentional – member of the family was testing it out for comfort while I was attaching the binding and I think it passed.  (More about him at a later date!)

I just need to ‘sign off’ on the quilt by making and attaching a quilt label which I will do tomorrow and I will sign off on the blog now until just after Christmas when I will hopefully be able to share the contents of my Stitching Santa parcels with you. (Update – received the knitting one today – phew!)

I hope you all have a very enjoyable festive season with lots of good food and good company. Lynn x x