the Japanese charm cushions

I got another wee tick on my finish along list last night. (for the sake of Katy's questionable sanity my original list is here) I ran up these cushion fronts the weekend before Christmas and then needed zips and inserts and ran out of steam. Well, last night was their time. A little light quilting and an invisible zipper and we were all done!

The backings are a mix of odd fat quarters I had on hand. I've loved those foxes for years!

And in their new home. They're nice big 20 inch feather inserts, too (from the weekend Dunelm Mill visit) and give such a nice weight I might never go back to cheapo synthetic ones.

Not bad. 10 days into my pledge and two ticks! Okay, they're the smallest things on there but still!

Just stuff.

Chook had a very early birthday party on Sunday morning so we were away from the house at 9am. By 9.45 I found myself in a near-ish retail park while she was shooting other kids with a laser gun in the dark. I really wanted to get into Hobby Craft for a nosey but it didn't open til 10am so I thought I'd kill 15 minutes by having a wander round Dunelm Mill. I'd shopped online with them but never been in a shop before and thought it might be worth a look.

Well.

An hour later I was flying through the checkout with a basket full of....stuff.....and racing to pick Chook up from the Laser Quest before she thought I'd abandoned her in favour of tchotchkes! What a great shop!! They even had fabric bolts of home dec weight prettification. I started with a couple of new bathroom towels and facecloths which was soon added to with a seahorse, box for my perfumes and a rather lovely glass buoy. I do like pretty dust collectors. Be proud though, I put back the giant wooden acorn! I might go back for it once I've been paid.



There were also 2 smashing feather cushion inserts that fell into my basket - intended for the Japanese charm cushion covers that still just need their zips put in. I'll get to them soon! Although my wee room is in an uproar so there might not be much sewing going on the next wee bit!

my first finish along finish

No surprises here, really,  this cushion HAD to be done before tomorrow,  preferably before yesterday. My friend and work colleague turns 30 on Saturday and loves owls and cushions. Her husband (my boss) was typically man-like in his description of cushions she has when I was digging for colour info.

"Er...brown, I think. Maybe with gold?"

So I kept it kinda neutral and used the same pattern from Christmas (an Etsy download) while discovering I have almost no brown in my stash. So grey stepped in. (Bad work photos but I'm only at home during daylight at the weekends at this time of year)

The backing I love! I honestly don't know if she'll think it's 70's ming or not but it's too late now! (for the sake of Katy's questionable sanity my original finish-along list is here)

I also whipped up a mug rug to go in with another friend's birthday.  She requested one (always nice when that happens!) and is a roller derby girl. It's surprisingly hard to make something when you don't know what it looks like.  It was a bit like drawing a car - you know the story,"how on earth are the wheels attached?!" but we got there.

So next on the list is the Japanese charm cushions for my bed.  But I've a busy weekend ahead so don't know how that will go. But it's nice busy so can't complain!

2014 finish along - quarter 1

I didn't join in the Finish Along at all last year but have a few bits and bobs lurking around needing a nudge to get finished so I thought I'd sign up and join Katy.

So here we go.

1. The Japanese triangle cushions for my bed that I started before Christmas. I need to quilt these and make them up but that's not too onerous.  But they've started hanging about like a bad smell and I want them done.

2. The owl cushion. My friend's birthday is looming so I need to get my finger out on this one!  I'll see her husband on Thursday - that would be the perfect handover!

3. Christmas stars. I decided to hand quilt this (the top has been hanging around since 2010!) as a practise for my Baby Love clothes quilt. I am now not planning to quilt all of Baby Love by hand! Just some finishing, I think.  Meanwhile this guy has 3 squares to still be stitched round and all the stars in perle cotton.  Yay.  *sarcasm*

4. Baby Love. I'm actually okay if this rolls over a quarter. It's too precious to feck up so I'm happy to take my time. I'm debating quilting - see no.3.

5. Family tree cross stitch. This has been needing that final row of single crosses as a border for 11 years. It's about time it got finished, yes?

6. Anchor chevron. I got a fab bundle of blues and - yes, sue me - brown fabrics from Dee for Christmas with this fab pattern. I'm waiting on background fabric to arrive but hope to free-motion quilt it. I haven't FMQed anything since 2011 and am really rusty.  But I do love it so must get back in the swing.

I think that's me! There's never too much hanging around here - I like seeing stuff through to the end too much - but they're starting to accumulate! Feel free to join in (if there's any of you NOT doing so already!) since there's one entry into a fabulous prize draw for every finish on your list!

P.S. I realise I haven't replied to any comments for my last two entries. Do forgive me, it's been harder getting back into the work/home routine after the holidays and sickness than I thought! But I think I'm back on track now!

econominal of taste?

This New Year's must-make Instagram driven quilt-along involves the traditional economy block. You can paper piece it, Rita at Red Pepper Quilts had a great rotary cut version of it that finishes at 5 inches but that was on the small size for me to make a whole quilt of so I dismissed it. I had been wanting to make a dent in my scraps though, so when Katy showed the sizes for a 12 inch block?  Sold.

I had these four done on the evening of Hogmanay (Party Central! *g*) and managed another four before my chesty virus thing laid me low again last weekend.

I did cut fabrics for the remaining 12 blocks and got them pieced at the start of the week. By this point it was very much Chook's quilt. She loves the flannel backing of the Ginorma-Minis and I'd promised her a quilt using the leftover duvet cover. Nothing like a nagging 11 year old to make you get your finger out! She chose and matched the fabrics and while the individual blocks range from pretty cool to okay, all together? It's a riot too far for me!

Like I said, it's backed and bound in the white and blue flannel and I admit, it's maybe fugly but it's cosy! I machine bound the binding for speed (nagging, remember? ) which I hate doing but it's on. And has been slept in already so it's a success as far as it's recipient is concerned.

I plan a version for my bed using the navy/brick/white fabrics I bought in the Black Friday sales but I need to do some sums. You only get 1 12in block from a fat quarter, that's a LOT of waste. So I plan to scale down a bit (11 inches?) to get 2 blocks from a cut while maximising block size.  So I don't have to make so many! I also discovered how NOT to press the seams! So it was by no means a wasted exercise - at the very least it gave me low pressure sick sewing, ate some scraps and made my kid happy. Actually,  that's a result! But it's no braw...

Quilt deets:

Pattern : the economy block (also known as square in square, I think.)
Fabrics: everything!  All designer stuff, though: Anna Maria Horner, Denyse Schmidt, Cloud 9, Heather Bailey and a million others!
Size: 48 x 60

Christmas bonus shopping.

Hmm. My blogging has had a bit of a sickness-induced break the last couple of weeks. The chesty virus thing seems to be finally on it's way out, I've just got a 60-a-day cough left and it would be really lovely to get an uninterrupted nights sleep.  But it's definitely better.  I do have a lovely dose of conjunctivitis to add to my general miseries. So I am attractively pink-eyed. But, hey, mustn't grumble!

I meant to share what I spent some of my Christmas bonus from work on. I was determined this year that nothing practical was getting bought. And what is less practical than a teddy bear?

I spotted him in a local bistro which is attached to units for independent artists. The cafe sells arts and crafts from all over the local area and Winston sat and watched Chook and I all the way through our hot chocolate and cookies. And then came home with us. He's made from blanket, I think, and is happily at home on my bed even though he is permanently pensive!

And on about the same day as Winston was rehomed, Nikki was showing off on Instagram a new necklace she had bought from Songbead I absolutely loved it and went for a squizz in Rebecca's shop. And saw a wee necklace that was made for me.

It was only about 18 inches long, though, and I like loooong necklaces. So Rebecca customised it for me (adding the extra chain and more beads that you see in the photo) and it is absolutely perfect. I love green and daisies,  Chook horserides and Spouse's wee mini is called Lucky. It called my name right from the first time I saw it.

I've bought some fabric and scrapbooking supplies, too and done a tiny bit of sewing (the ubiquitous economy block-along!) but I think that's for another day. I hope you're all warm and dry and healthy wherever you may be!

Fresh Sewing Day - December's makes

Hmm, Quite a lot of cushions getting made in the run up to Christmas! Most of these you've seen but there are two new ones.

These chaps are using the grey/neutral/red charms from the Japanese charm swap of autumn 2011. Whoops. As long as you use them eventually it's okay though, innit? Right. They will be cushion fronts for my bed, a backdrop for my new handmade Winston Bear (he's another days showing along with other festive goodies!) just as soon as I get a couple of big zips.

And these were what I was playing with on New Year's Eve last night. I've loved the economy block since it first started popping up in the summer but couldn't face making 5 inch blocks. Well, Katy Jones showed measurements for a 12 inch version on Instagram last night (that's a link to her blog which doesn't have the sizes yet, sorry!) - that was all the encouragement I needed!

I've no idea where I'm going with it but one of my new year's resolutions (and my only hobby related one) is  to use lots of my scraps so this is my first foray into that. It's not super easy since you need 7 in squares and a lot of my scraps are 5 inches and smaller. But it feels good to be hacking away at the boxes nonetheless! 

I'm linking up with Lynne and her Fresh Sewing Day and waiting (im)patiently for the new Sherlock to start. Woo-hoo!