Blocks, blocks, blocks!

Thank you so much for your words of support. Luis is home again and Hanna is back to normal although Amelie has been struck down. Still it is much easier to manage a 3 year old. She can understand a little better what is going on and is able to let me know how she is feeling. But I sure can't wait for Spring!

So I was able to work on a few blocks for the various bees I am involved in.

First up are Sarah's wonky houses for Another Bee 1. These are very quick and fun to make and I am considering making some more, or adding embellishments to the ones I have! The tutorial to make them is here.




One of my screenprinted bunnies is peeking through the window of this house!



Not sure I blogged about these blocks I made for the other Sarah in Another Bee 1. So while I remember here they are! They were also fun to make.




Dianah from Bee Inspired also wanted houses this month. This time however, she was very specific about what she wanted both in terms of fabric and block. She sent very detailed instructions, so sewing this block was a doddle. Although I had to substitute my own fabric for the roof and header as I couldn't make the fabric she sent stretch quite far enough.



I had time too to play around with the layout for the birdie dqs6 quilt. Still haven't decided on whether to send this one or the tea dqs6 but it is fun to work on both.



This is the label I made for the quilt. I copied Viv by printing on fabric. It is dead easy. First iron some fabric to a piece of freezer paper and then run it through your printer like normal paper. It isn't waterproof but I don't think the doll quilt will be washed. I will let my recipient know in any case! This is so easy and effective. I am definitely going to do this again.



Phew - that was quite enough for one weekend!

Is there light?

at the end of the tunnel. I sure hope so. These last 10 days have been trying. My husband was off at a wedding in Chile and we decided since we had just been that I should stay home with the kids. Neither of our girls qualify as good sleepers at the best of times so the last 10 days has been spent bed hopping and trying to avoid mentioning Papa in front of them!

To make matters worse, all the teeth in Hanna's mouth have decided to try and push through her gums agonisingly slowly. Her gums are so red and swollen. Poor little mite. Then yesterday she suddenly got a fever out of the blue and started shaking so much I was afraid she was going to go into convulsions. I had them when I was little so I whisked her off to the Doctor. He was so blase about the whole thing.

Yeah, it will probably happen. He told me.
OK so what do I do? Strip clothes off, sponge down with warm water, call the ambulance?
Not a lot you can do, was his very helpful response.

Why do these things always happen when I am alone? I have good friends here but they all have little ones too and can't easily drop things to help me out especially in the middle of the night.

Add to this the fact that it snowed again and I seem to have lost my ability to sew, seams don't line up. Nothing is coming out the way I picture it. I have been quite down.

I am supposed to be finished with my row for my Round Row Quilt. But b****r me if I can get it right. First off I wanted a woodland theme. Then found out that almost every other person wanted that too. So I thought a garden theme.



There are so many wonderful quilts for inspiration. I set about making my row. But it seemed so twee. Perhaps a bit of overdose. Or maybe I just prefer this in a mini quilt.


This is my feeble effort.


Next I thought Houses. I set to work again on a row. I had plans. Big plans involving embroidery, embellishment etc.


This is my row - I even embroidered a cat and dog I was about to embroider a girl walking the dog when I lost my mojo.

Then came the problem of fitting the individual houses together. What colour scheme did I want? Bright in your face. Dull and subdued. What would I do with a huge quilt of this kind at the end? Where would I hang it? Just wasn't feeling it.

So I started cutting up my birdie fabric which I bought on a whim after seeing Katy flashing her stash.



This is where I am at the moment. Although I am having such problems this week with making my points line up. I am about ready to hand in the towel except whatever I decide needs to be posted by Monday.

Scratch and Sniff Quilts

Have you seen DMC's Secret Perfume embroidery floss? I read about it here and I just can't get it out of my head.

This is the blurb.

The "Flower Bouquet” includes fresh fragrances such as Rose, Lavender, Lily of the Valley and Honeysuckle. The "Tutti-Frutti" includes tangy scents including lemon, orange, apple and strawberry. And the "Delicacies" includes delicious aromas such as vanilla, almond, caramel and chocolate.

It reminds me of scratch and sniff stickers that were all the rage when I was at school. We used to scratch those stickers to death. There was one particular brand, forgotten now which one, that was particularly good. I think in the end they were banned. Probably highly toxic.

Anyhoo, back to these threads. Does that mean that your embroidery will reek of chocolate, caramel etc?

DQS6 Dilemma

I had 2 ideas when I got my partner's info for the DQS6. The first meant that I had to buy some new fabric as surprisingly I had nothing suitable in my stash. Hardship I know! So while I was waiting for it to arrive I started working on the second idea that I had. Then the fabric for the first arrived and I couldn't help it but to plunge in and start putting together my original idea. So now I have 2 DQS6 quilts on the go and I just can't decide which one is the winner.



My original idea was to make a coin quilt and do some applique to do with tea. I am thinking of adding a couple of wonky log cabins for the backing. The colour scheme is light pastels and the fabric mostly floral.



The second idea that came to me was circles. And birds. You can never go wrong with birds. This quilt is a mix of aqua, brown, green and white.

Both are so different in style and colour scheme. It is very difficult to know which might be a better fit for my partner. Which is your favourite?

A good craftswoman doesn't blame her tools....

but wow what a difference a good squeegee makes! I thought I was just rubbish at screenprinting but it turns out that with the squeegee that NEHOC sent with my lovely Gocco machine, I am a screeprinting wizard! Well, I might be exaggerating a little but the ratio of good prints to duds has significantly improved. I could quite happily have printed all weekend.



It was also my birthday at the weekend and my lovely husband bought me some Japanese craft books which I have been coveting for a while. I wasn't able to sleep last night and I think it was because my brain was whirring with all the new inspiration! You can tell I don't get out very often.

This is one of my favourite books.



Story Quilt. ISBN 978 - 4-391-13331-8



Unlike most Japanese craft books it is not a how to book but a wonderful coffee table book featuring the beautiful work of TAKAHARA, Yukari. Her work is quite spectacular. The detail in the applique. Mind boggling. I would love to have the patience to make something like that but the fiddliness would drive me crazy, so I am content to stare in wonder.



There are some rudimentary explanations of how to go about creating your own applique picture along with some outlines of girls and furniture which I am very tempted to use as embroidery patterns. I highly recommend this book. It is just wonderful.

Circle Tutorial

OK so here goes. Before I start I want to say I am by no means an expert on doing circles. The method I use has striking results but is not supposed to produce perfect matching circles. So if that is what you are after, this tutorial is not for you.

• First decide what size you want your finished block to be. Then divide that into 4 smaller blocks and add seam allowances. So for instance I would like to have a finished block of 8 inches square. That means I need 4 blocks each measuring 4 inches. Add seam allowances and I would need 4 squares measuring 4.5 inches.
  
  Next add 0.5 - 1 inch to that number. So I need 4 blocks each measuring 5 inches.

• Next you need a template for your circle. Remember the larger the circle the less background fabric will show and the smaller the circle the more background fabric will show. Draw your circle on some paper and cut it out. I am using a Nutella lid for mine. Even more reason to buy Nutella!

• Fold the circle into quarters. Place it on each of the four blocks and draw around.

• Cut out the quarter circles.

• Decide the layout of your block.

• Take one of the 4 squares and fold each piece in half with wrong sides facing. This helps to find the midpoint of each piece in the curved seam.

• Lie the quarter circle on top of the other piece.

• Pin the centre point and open up so right sides are facing.

• Pin the curved seam.
  
  Sew with the quarter circle down and the background fabric on top. This way you can move the background fabric to avoid tucks.

• Press Open.

• Trim to size (In my example 4.5 inch block)

• Sew Together.

I am not going to show you my finished block as it might or might not be part of my DQS6! Here is a sneak peek.

Rachel's Block

Phew the fabric for bees is landing in my postbox left, right and centre! I barely churn one block out and the next is waiting to be made!

Rachel, from p.s. I quilt, wanted pinwheels for her block. Any type of pinwheels but only using the nikki fabrics by Pat Sloan. I found the selection of fabrics quite dark. I am not a big fan of dark and it took me a while to work out how to put the fabric together into a block that was not too drab. I only had a small piece of white and I was nervous it would not be enough. It wasn't but I found something extremely similar in my stash.



I decided instead of one big pinwheel I would make a number of smaller ones. This took some time. I thought it would be a great idea to paper piece but wow was that a chore to take all the small bits of paper off at the end. Does anyone have any handy hints as to how to do it? Do you do it dry or wet the freezer paper?

I do like the end result but I will not be rushing to make another of these blocks any time soon!

Check out the rest of the group here.

On another note, I was very lucky to be the winner of the Think Pink giveaway by the Mum and daughter team of Spoonful of Sugar. Lisa and Sarah have a terrific blog packed full of fantastic ideas. It is for me a must read.

This is what they sent me. I am so very lucky. Thank you soooooo much.

Nettie's Block

March is also the month for Nettie in the Cottage quilting bee. She sent me a lovely selection of fabrics in orange, pale blue and brown. She wanted blocks of varying size from 14" to 8" and was not fussed as to what we made although she did tell us that she was into improv blocks at the moment.

This was the first 10" block I came up with.



I added in the solid brown and the blue circles (which are Timeless Treasure from goodness knows when, they have been in my stash for donkey's years). Really the motifs on the fabric dictated this block to me. I was also inspired by these blocks by Film in the Fridge.

When cutting the squares for the block above it suddenly dawned on me to do some circles. I have made a few circle quilts and have always liked the results. They are not difficult. Partly because the way I do it is not supposed to give you results that are perfectly lined up! As you can see in this block the centre circle is a little off. But I think it makes quite an effective block.



If anyone is interested I could show you how I do it. Just leave me a comment.

The block itself ended up just a tick over 12.5" and I was really reluctant to cut it to 12.5" since that would mean the outside circles would be smaller than the inner circle. Nettie is happy with it as is. So a little bit over 12.5" it stays!

Finally I put together another 10" block from the scraps I had left over from the first two blocks.



This was a LOT of fun! I am really enjoying being a part of a quilting bee. I highly recommend it to anyone interested.

Poor Postman

Almost every day this week the doorbell has rung and our chirpy postman has brought me some new goodies! Fabric for the quilting bees, the spring swap, a giveaway I was lucky to win and some sneaky Japanese fat quarters I bought as an early birthday present to myself.

Just look what the lovely Joanne, from a Little Patch of Heaven, sent me for the Spring Swap, organised by Darci.



Some Easter fabric panels!



Some flower buttons, yellow ribbon, green ribbon with hens on, 2 lovely fat quarters, 2 curly wurlys and what you don't see here is the big bag of Maltesers - they disappeared pretty quickly ;-)

Joanne very sweetly included little packages for both my girls. Inside was a Kinder Egg and a tissue holder. It goes without saying that the girls loved the eggs! But I was a little surprised to see how much they adored the tissue holders! Amelie insisted on taking hers to Kita to show all her friends and Hanna spent the whole day taking the tissues out and trying to stuff them back in again. Thank you so much Joanne that was so sweet of you.

Jacqui, of Hazelnuts had a giveaway and when the random generator came up with the number 7 two times in a row she thought it was a bit dodgy and decided to have a third go! This time it was my lucky number! Thank you very much Jacqui. The fabrics are gorgeous. I already have plans for the pink coriander and I have fallen in love with the grey and yellow print. Not my usual colour tastes but I REALLY like it!

Viv's Block

These are the fabrics that Viv, from Highway Cottage, sent me for her block in the Cottage Quilting Bee. Very different to what I usually use. In fact, I have hardly any black in my stash at all. Something that I need to remedy.

Viv printed images onto fabric using her computer printer. The image I received was fantastic quality. I think she used freezer paper to run the fabric through the printer. Something I am going to have to try. I have used freezer paper to print on brown packing paper but not to print on fabric. I am not sure how the image will handle being washed. Viv's quilt is going to be a wall hanging so that isn't an issue, but I have heard there is a solution that the fabric can be soaked in that makes it permanent. Definitely something to keep in mind for future projects.

Viv's quilt is all about Emily the Strange. I had never come across her before but have since googled her and have found out how all over the place she is! How come I never came across her before? The image I received is of Emily's four cats, Mystery, Miles, Sabbath and Neechee. Each is also represented by a symbol.



Viv told us to go wild and that we could embellish if we wanted. She also told us that the image didn't necessarily have to take centre stage. So I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to do stuff I don't usually do on a quilt block! Hopefully Viv likes it!



I added some red and black and white polka dot fabric, mounted the image on some frayed white fabric and divided the block into three sections with ric rac.



Lots of deliberately wonky embroidery stitches, some plain buttons and some stripy buttons that I embroidered with the symbols that represent the cats.

Old Macdonald

My Gocco has been sitting in the corner winking at me since I picked it up from customs. The pressure of using my precious supplies for something worthwhile has been tormenting me so much that I could not think of any ideas at all. So I decided to hell with it. I would just dive in and use a screen to get over my nerves.



These little chappies have been hanging around in my notebook for a while now. I used a couple of them for the Easter Fabric Book. So I scanned them into the computer, touched them up a little bit and printed them off.

Hanna and me whizzed down to the photocopier shop and made a carbon copy. And gave me a mini heart attack. She is so little and quick on her feet I thought she had made a run for it out of the shop when she was just hiding around the corner of the machine.



The gocco part of the process was actually relatively easy! And very satisfying when you see the flash of light and hear the crack of the lightbulbs! It is a shame it is over so quickly.



Next I chased Hanna around the sitting room until she was good and tired. Then naptime! Or rather print time for me!



It felt great to do some printing again! Now I have to think what to do with them. They are about 10cm square. I was thinking of making a wonky star quilt with these at the centre. But that feels wrong somehow as that pattern is really all about the Australian Bushfires. So does anyone have any suggestions?