The square circle

I have spent the whole weekend making this cushion: and it was totally worth it

Just before Christmas I bought some of Karen's scrap packs and in keeping with Sarah's ethos of using up our scraps and me needing a new cushion for my bed, I set off.

I knew HSTs would be the way to go to show off these fabrics and decided to go with Lynne's Lynne bob square pants. That block is 12" and I needed 26" so I knew I would be adding fabrics. I also knew I couldn't just do quick HSTs and chain piece them as I needed certain layouts - that took a long time to sort out....

This morning I tried lots of options for the rest of the cushion

And eventually settled with the light and dark grey. Then I decided to keep the block square but set the light grey on point, but this then made my cushion bigger than it needed to be, so I had to trim, leaving a gap in my triangle

Which gave this circular optical illusion, which I thought was just the way it was draping

But no - it looks just the same now and I couldn't have done that even if I had tried!! It's fabulous

 I finished off with lots of straight line quilting

Whoop! I love it AND I have managed to use up more scraps !

Scrappy

The lovely Sarah has been encouraging us to use up our scraps, which worked perfectly for me as I only have time for little projects at the moment.

So I made a couple of place mats

I wish I had had enough to make 4!
I also started a scrappy spool block mini - inspired by Cindy's mini

This one is destined for my sister in law.
And to finish off the scrap theme I used up some pastry to make these!

2014 FAL Q1

So here we go into the third year of the QAL.  This fabulous invention has really helped me get some of my WIPs finished off. 
Leanne did an amazing job last year and has now handed over to Katy.

So here is my list for this FAL

1.  This project has been carried over almost since the start - no idea why because I really do love it

2.  My Hipbees blocks from November.  I have just received the last ones back, so at some point I need to find some time to get all of them together and made up

3.  I think that this needs to become a cushion and go in to my Etsy shop

4.  I have started some more EPP with some Scrumptious - would like to make these in to something

And that's it - rather a small list considering.  However, life is set to become busier over the next few months, so thankfully I may just be keeping it real!

Linking up with Katy


   
                                    

FAL Roundup

So, today is the last day of the 2013 QAL: and I think I did rather well with 6 out of 8 from my original list

1 & 2:   My DWR AND my orphan blocks went from this

to this - completed and I love it.  2 items ticked off.

3  This baby quilt, which I was making for my work colleague's daughter

Which I completed (and never actually blogged about!)  The block came from Quilters Cache

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

4  I had two Christmas projects to finish, but only managed one

 

 

Didn't get this one finished - and hey, there is no rush with it now!!

 

 

 

 

5  I needed another sock.... and got that finished

 

6  This was an EPP block that I needed to do something with

And thankfully managed to turn it in to a cushion (got to love cushions!!)

 And these are the two that didn't make it so they will go over to Q1, which Katy will be hosting.

Sneaky

I am sneaking in one last FAL - because Leanne did say we could :-)

My Carpenters Star is finally finished!  I think it may have been on every FAL list for 2013, so nothing like sneaking in right at the last minute!  This was all EPP'd and I actually have another one on the go as well, although I don't love that one as much

I have also been busy with Lucy's bee block for January: we had the option to do one of two butterfly blocks: I started with this one

Now this one was tricky.  I have never really sewn curves before, but have watched Leannes amazing you tube video, so I decided to give it a go.  After all, it's all about trying something new!  As you can see, the block is a bit wobbly and I don't know if Lucy will be able to use it, so I did the other two as well: much easier.

 And all these nights sitting in front of the telly meant I have completed another pair of socks.  I have another two balls of this wool, so will find another pattern for them.  These were flat knit socks, which were fine to do, but I didn't enjoy sewing the seams much so will stick to knitting in the round if I can

Tomorrow I will put up my FAL round up, I don't think it will be too bad!

December

Well, December did the same as every other month and went by in a whizz.  The only difference being that I had some time off and I managed to get a few makes squeezed in.
I was sadly lacking in the Christmas cushion department so managed to get a few done: two of these were already blocks that I had made with no specific purpose

 Got these cushions made up for my Step mum as per her request - for their new summer house

 I got my friends daughters baby quilt made - she had a boy on Boxing day

 

I am now also in the process of making some of these for her:  so cute and quick!

 

 

I also finished another pair of socks.  This pattern was for making a 'flat' pair of socks, which you then sew up at the end.  I hadn't done that before, so I knitted them in the round using a combination of patterns - which was very confusing

 

 

I am now on to my next pair, which I am knitting flat, so will see how they turn out

 

The next couple of mosaics are really so that I can record for myself what I did in 2013

Finished quilts



cushions

more cushions



other makes

other makes

And I had my bee block commitments on top of this too.  It makes me very happy to look back at all of these: knowing why I made them and/or who I made them for.  Here's to a lot more makes in 2014

 

Happy New Year to you all xx