I can't believe it's September already! With one thing and another August was a busy month sewing wise, with wedding outfits, finishing projects and starting new ones. So here goes....
A family wedding mid-month prompted a flurry of stitching with a new frock, two new purses (1 for each outfit I had to choose between), and a tie for the other half made from my hoarded Birds and the Bees by Tula Pink.
Then there was the wall hanging I'm mid-way through for one of my sisters. She wanted a beach scene, so I drew on the improv teachings from Lu Summers at the Fat Quarterly Retreat and made this up, using Kona solids and all pieced with Aurifil 50wt - my new favourite thread now I know how to stop my machine rejecting it!
While I'm waiting on spray baste for that one, and deciding on a backing, I got going on the quilt for another sister (yep, we're never ending!) this time made from Melody Miller's various Ruby Star collections. I've been wrestling with the best way to display her fantastic designs with the huge motifs and eventually decided on super-size hexes. Photos of this on Instagram lead to my most exciting quilt related experience when Melody herself commented how much she loved it!
And last but not least is Fairground Attraction, my mini quilt made from the Triangle City EPP block I started with Katy Jones at FQR, in Mirror dots, and posted today on the Aurifil Facebook page and tweeted by Alex Veronelli himself! What a weekend! Thanks to Kelly at Jeliquilts for letting me know it was up there along with her fabulous Rainbow quilt.
Last but not least, I currently have a giveaway running in conjunction with The VIllage Haberdashery, so just click here for more details.
Linking up with Lynne over on Lily's Quilts for the Fresh Sewing Day. And by the way, according to Aurifil, this month is National Sewing Month, so let's do it proud!
This happened to me today.....
I'm not sure I've ever been so proud of something I've done,
I've been kind of sleepwalking through life lately. I can't believe I haven't blogged since the 16 January. I missed my blogiversary and everything!
However, I've decided that's enough time spent feeling sorry for myself, and it's time to get back into the swing of things, doing some sewing again, and generally enjoying myself.
So I started with a to do list. I didn't manage to link up with any of the FALs and I've missed a lot of trending QALs, and although I can't believe it's March already I'm hoping it's more than 100 days till the end of the year. So I'm on my own with this, and here goes, my 2013 plan:
Quilts:
1) I still have my Cherry Christmas quilt to finish for my sister and her two kids - I think this will be one to get done early ready for Christmas 2013. Shouldn't actually take long to finish.
2) Another sister has asked for a quilt for the new house she is finally getting to buy with her childhood sweetheart. Originally she asked for burnt orange and the 'b****' word, but I've mysteriously managed to win her over to Melody Miller love and now we'e excitedly planning something completely different, using a pattern from Modern Patchwork.
3) Macho quilt - I think I'm fairly safe in mentioning this here as although he says he reads it, I'm not convinced! I want to make a quilt for my other half, as he loves snuggling under the raw circles one at the moment. I did want to do a t-shirt quilt with vintage football, rugby and band tour shirts, but some research has proved that might be too expensive! So time to think again...
4) Welsh flag quilt - our nephew Dylan, brother of Megan who got the two-sided quilt last year, would like one of his own - a Welsh flag , no less. So I thought I would collect lots of different red, white and green fabrics and make the background from 5" squares and the dragon from 2.5" squares which I would then applique on. Ambitious? Yep probably, but this is one I'm really looking forward to. If anyone has any of the aforementioned fabrics in pieces that fit those measurements that they'd be willing to swap for FQs or something, please get in touch.
5) My baby sister has adopted the quilt I made for mum as her own now, so with quilts planned for 2 of the other 3, I need to make one for sister number 4. I think a hopscotch quilt from a jelly roll, or possibly Tula Pinks Love Pattern, can't decide that yet, but that will be one for later in the year. It also needs to be munching-spaniel proof...hmmm.
6) One of my work colleagues has commissioned me to make a quilt for her 4 year old son in blues and greens. I've got the fabrics for the top based on the Havana range and supplemented with lots of different Kona solids.
Other things I want to do are some boxy pouches which I could sell, I've got one to make this weekend for a friend's birthday which I'm adapting from an Annela Hoey tutorial, so that could be interesting. I have a couple of wallets and a make-up bag left over from Christmas gifts when my machine was sick, so they also need doing this weekend and delivering to the patient recipients.
Lastly I have some lovely Melody Miller Vintage flowers fabric that I am desperate to make into a messenger bag, but I haven't yet found the right pattern. So at some point, I'm going to have a go at developing my own.
There's lots of other things, a weekender for instance, a t-shirt from gorgeous Nani Iro jersey, another hopscotch quilt, a pluses quilt from a layer cake and a couple of charm packs.....
not to mention all the other things that will no doubt crop up over the course of the year.
So looks like it will be a busy one. I'll try and post a monthly update on progress.
There's a few things that have been said to me in blog comments over the past couple of days that have either made me laugh out loud, have brought back memories of happy childhood times and made me realise why I chose a certain covet of the week, or just made me think twice about the simplest things and the way they make other people feel.
So, the first one is Jan's (Isisjem) comment about having a yellow telephone like the one in Melody Miller's Ruby Star Vinyl - it made me remember that we had one too, back in times when I was much younger, still had both mum and dad, and life was very much simpler. I can even remember the number still, which my dad taught me just in case I ever needed to answer the phone at age 4! It was Chesterfield 78688, and it was our number till I was 14, by which time life had already changed in a way no child's should.
Then there was the reaction from Annie about being covet of the week... well, the fabric she stocks rather than her personally! And a designer yesterday, who I emailed asking if I could use some images of her fabric on a covet post next month, and who told be she was 'excited to be officially coveted'. I'm in awe of these people, and it's amazing to see them being made happy by my little covets! That's made me smile again.
And then there's Susan (Canadian Abroad) who I exchanged some blog reply emails with yesterday, and who made me laugh out loud and who I hope won't mind me sharing this with you:
Susan: "I just used up my allotment of brain cells in one day which left me buggered for
the rest of the week."
Me: "Welcome to my world! Every week's like that in my house! :-)"
Susan: "Someone should put the cells into one of those little pill boxes for me so I can
dole them out in equal amounts through the week."
Now, how many of you would like one of these brain cell pill boxes once we get them patented.....
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