Harrow Hexies

I have a hexies and triangles project I work on at mother-in-law's.

I had an idea for an arrangement: there is a blue owl in the centre followed by a round of darks, then a round of lights, then darks etc.

I spent a while of attaching pieces randomly: stopping and starting every few seams, but I have worked out a way to attach the pieces with continuous sewing

I hope makes *some* sense!
 
If I was working onto existing hexagons I would attach a triangle in the trough, then another on the flat of the hexi then another in the next trough.

When I'm ready to work onto the triangles I can sew down across and up one hexi, then the same again on the next.

And here is the lovely lady herself

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Hooked on Hexies

I clearly dont have enough hexie projects on the go at the moment - I rescued a bag of rainbow and grey hexies from under a pile of stuff on my workbench, and decided to do something with them!

I speed dated a few arrangements:

 

I've decided on the bottom right version.  There may be enough rainbow hexies to do another layer around the outside too, but I can make that decision when I've got this centre all joined together - sigh, just when I was starting to get my to-do list under control!!!

Very New and Very Old

I made an I-spy quilt for a new baby:

And the Magna Carta wall hanging, celebrating the sealing 800 years ago, has been finished, and is ready for framing

I can boast about how fab it looks as my input has been minimal!!!

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Congratulations!

 

You may recall I hosted a Ho Ho Ho and on We Sew linkie last month.  Thanks to a lot of hard work from Fiona and Paula, the people who finished something Christmassy and linked up were in a draw to win this fab tapestry:

 Congratulations to Sandra who was the winner - and who made these great stacking baskets

Wish you'd joined in? The next post in the series is from Karen at Practically Pippi, and should show upon the 18th May.  You can see the whole 2015 schedule here

Two finishes

We've been watching Breaking Bad, which means hand sewing and binding time . . . which means both the Orange Consequences Quilt, and the Red Christmas Scrappy Trip are FINISHED!!!!

First I attached a double band of hexies to the Orange Consequences Quilt

Then I bound it

And then I finished the binding on Lisa's Christmas quilt

The UFO list is getting smaller and the "done" pile is getting bigger!

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Fairies on Friday

I was one of the students at Chertsey Museum this afternoon - our project was new to me, but the lovely Kaye was our guest tutor and did a great job.

We used wool and felting needles to make fairies 

Everyone enjoyed it, and went happily home with their fairy

Some ladies also brought completed projects from previous month: 

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Rolling in Red

I seem to be on a bit of a red kick at the moment:

I've pieced and quilted Lisa's mostly red Christmas quilt

Some of the sashing is plain red, and some is printed with gold or silver Christmassy symbols.  The sashing placement is deliberate, and even required some un-sewing.  Can you see why I chose that placement? (see below for the answer)
    
And I made myself two red handy items in felt:  A wrist pin cushion and a needle case

 

And I've almost finished Niki's mostly red birthday quilt

 

  

No doubt which birthday she's getting it for (I cant believe I'm old enough to have a youngest child turning 21!!!)

(the number twenty one wasn't on the fabric so I've joined twenty and one together!)

And the printed sashing amongst the plain?  If you look for it, it spells Lisa's name :-)

 

What a Weekend

It's been a bit busy - but fun!

On Saturday morning I taught a kids' sewing class - they learned how to cut a pattern, and how to used to cut two bear shapes from fabric, how to use ribbon and lace and buttons to decorate their bear, how to sew the two parts together, the significance of an opening, and snipping into the angles, and how to stuff and sew closed . . . Not bad for 6 to 10 year olds (and parents)

Some didn't get finished at the class, but these progressed enough to be photographed:

Others got finished at home, and L's mum send me this

How cute is that????

I then whizzed to the village next to mine where I had a stall at the church craft fair.

I had set out my stuff on Friday night as I was busy on Saturday morning:

But it all looked very flat. So that evening Brian bodged a quilt rack for me:

It needs some reworking, but version 1.0 did a great job!

I had a lovely afternoon - I used to work at the village school, and at the church youth club, but haven't done for the last 4 years or so - it was great to catch up with people I haven't seen for ages. I also sold some bags and other bits and pieces which was a bit of a bonus!!

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A little bit of this and a litle bit of that

Being back at work means much less sewing time, but a few number of projects have benefited from half an hour or so sewing time this week:

I played with some ideas for two piece cuddly toys for a kids' class next weekend

 

And I made an I-spy quilt for our next-door neighbours who have just become grandparents for the first time, and I designed an in-the-hoop baby taggie for him too.

His was really a trial version, and here it is with two others which will be samples at next week's village craft fair.  Lets hope some people order them!

 

Christmas Crafting (again)

As I'm hosting the Ho Ho Ho and on we Sew link up this month I thought I really ought to actually do some Christmas making beyond my tutorial.

I started a Scrappy Trip Around the World late in 2013.  The plan was that it would be for Lisa for Christmas 2014.  At the time she was living in a converted factory in London and I thought it would be nice to have something warm and Christmassy to wrap herself up in

I got this far, and then realised my fabric placement was a bit naff:

Scrappy trips look better if they aren't alternating light and dark blocks - because they just might as well be alternating dark and light blocks!

 

So I considered a couple of sashing/no sashing possibilities

And there it stalled: partly because I couldn't decide, and partly because Lisa announced she would be going to Australia *just* after Christmas - so I didn't think there would be much point having a Christmas quilt which she'd get on Christmas day and leave behind on boxing day.

Anyway, fast forward a year and a bit: I seem to be in the mood for reducing UFOs at the moment, and the Ho Ho Ho linky got me thinking abut this one.  So I have now sashed the blocks mostly with plain Kona red solid.  There is some sashing with gold shapes on, and there is a reason, but I cant yet photograph it well enough to show you.  At the moment there are 5 separate strips of blocks, but in a few days I'm hoping to have it backed and machine bordered, and then I can show you.

 Have you finished anything Christmassy this month?  The linky is open until the end of the month if you want to link up - just click here to go to the linky post

Easter's (Nearly) Over

One of the major advantages of working in a school is the school holidays. For everyone else Easter was over and done with nearly two weeks ago, but I'm clinging to the last few hours before 'Easter holidays' becomes a normal working week!

So what have I been sewing?

I pieced and machine bound this quilt (it's twin was only finished 11 months ago!!!)

I attached the blue plus blocks to a fleece, and having mucked up the centering was driven mad by it's not-quite-symmetrical ness

And had to chop a bit off one side and the bottom

I made some little project bags to be sold at Richmond and Kew quilters exhibition in the autumn,

I made a sample tote bag for a customer,

 and a trial version which will hopefully lead to a whole load that I'm hoping to sell

 

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