A Bag? Or a Basket?

What is the difference between a bag or a basket? I made two today: same method but different measurements.

The one I made for husband's lunch is probably a bag:

While the one I made for my recently created 'hexie kit' is probably more of a basket

My hexie kit fits perfectly!

Is it a bit OCD to like to have my hexies all lined up neatly? It may be, but it makes me happy! (And that toothpaste boxes make the perfect size boxes for these hexies makes me happy too!)

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Orange is OK

I've never thought of making a mostly orange quilt before, but the FQ pack I chose for my Consequences Quilt came with an extra half yard of orange, so I knew that would be the sashing, borders and binding colour.

It's been quite a busy week, but I managed to steal a few half hours here and there, and have mostly assembled the strips I received back

Then yesterday we had an hour's drive to Portsmouth, so I took some hexi templates and some of the left over fabrics and tacked myself a whole pile of hexies

and have now stitched them together and auditioned them as a final row

I think I'm quite happy with the result!

Now I just need to get round to removing the templates and sewing them on, then I can add the border.  And d'you know what, I'm very happy with my orange quilt!

Books and Bunnies

Last Thursday I taught an adult education workshop in the evening.  I wasn't sure how many would come as it was enrolment on the night and the local authority hadn't advertised it much.

I put it on the Windsor Parents facebook page, and the Hive office (Military and Community information) put it on their facebook page . . .  and we had 11 ladies wanting to come!!!!!

They all worked hard

 and we had nine fab book covers finished by the end of the evening!

Well done ladies

And I've been making Easter Bunnies again!  This is another recommendation from the lovely Plum (the notebook are her instructions too).  The bunnies originated from Urban Threads - they are called Giving Bunnies, and you can read about they and the random acts of kindness they support here.

These are being made for the assorted great nephews and nieces as Easter pressies - the first batch are ready:

And I'd like to make some more to leave for children to find over Easter

Sample Sewing

I'm teaching an Adult Education workshop on Thursday, and am hoping that it will lead to a few more, so I thought I'd bring some samples to see what else the ladies might be interested in making.

I found a gathered round basket on Pinterest, and thought it might be popular.  The link took me to A Spoonful of Sugar, and her very comprehensive instructions led me to make this

Reversible too:

I think that should go down quite well!

Finished, Nearly Finished, and a Friday Fail

A friend has just become a grandmother, so a special quilt was called for: I made a bright sunny bricked I-spy quilt for baby Sophia

With her name on too

The binding has been stitched since these pics, so it's ready to be delivered.
I've also added the binding to the Red and Numbers quilt, so that can move to the-sewing-in-front-of-the-TV pile.  I think this may have a home to go to when it's finished

And the kids (big and small) at school were very excited about the expected eclipse on Friday. The children came to school with their heads down, having understood how very dangerous it was to risk looking at the sun, the science had been explained, trays had been filled with water so the reflection could be viewed, but no one remembered to tell the clouds to take the day off!

Finally, we had another lovely day at Crafty Church on Saturday: Cushions, cross stitch, tapestry, beading, felt Easter eggs, and a young man making masks, along with plenty of chat, a lovely cuppa, and even muffins - thanks Lynne!!

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Ready for some Red!

I know there a *few* started quilts in my sewing room, but I was browsing my Pinterest boards and kept coming back to these two

I have had that Ikea number fabric for years, and I have a collection of red with white fabrics

And I had an afternoon to myself, so I did that cutting and sewing back together thing that I love, and now I have 80 blocks like these

And next time I get a few hours to sew I shall start mixing them up and joining them up :-)

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Since my last post ...

Life seems to be whizzing by - not much sewing time and even less blogging time!!
I have finished the binding on this wonky stars quilt

I have finished this birthday reminder (although I wish I'd bought "family" or even "birthdays") but it is changeable

I've started embroidering this 36 times for a customer

And I've requilted the house group quilt - previously the lines were just under 1.5" apart, I've now quilted between each of them, so between about 1/2" and 3/4". Very, um, free range!

And I've added the binding. It's a wide one as I want all the ladies to write their names on the back of the binding

That's it for the weekend - hope you had a good one!

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A Few Finishes

The bulk of the work has been done on these quilts ages ago, but the binding needed finishing.  A few seasons behind the rest of the world we have got into Game of Thrones,  - and plenty of binding can be sewn on during a 50 minute episode!

So the final Cars quilt is finished

And the Bonus shirt fabric quilt for my cousin in Norway is finished - the second *proper* quilt is still in strips on the work bench, sigh, it will be done eventually!

Bits and Pieces

I've been clearing a few things from my work bench:

I had a boring black and a very right red rose printed pashmina -

but scarves annoy me as they come unwrapped from my neck, so a bit of cutting and a bit of sewing later . . .

I have a black and rose infinity scarf

I don't think I've shown one of my more detailed machine embroideries - a customer asked for a traction engine (!!!)  It took a fair amount of research to find an image I felt I could trace and he felt represented a traction engine - but we finally got there, and he got these

 

And I bought a small portable charger for my phone, but the leads kept hiding in the depths of my hand bag, so I made it its own little case

(annoyingly there is too little fabric at the bottom and you can see the stitching, but it's for me, and for a first attempt just one mistake is acceptable!)

Plenty of Plusses

I've been looking at arranging my Plus blocks:

Staggered?

Wide sashing?

Thin sashing?

 I'm a bit short on the blue so the thin sashing is looking promising!!

I spent a fab afternoon at Chertsey museum yesterday - after the fake cathedral windows last month we started on real ones this month

 

Didn't they do well?

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