September Row

Hello

I’m just back from the Land of LobNobs*, aka Norway.

 

The picture above was taken on one of the only dry afternoons. I had a wonderful, albeit wet, holiday where I did absolutely no sewing whatsoever. I’m still confused as I did bring my usual EPP project that I like to work on when I’m there but this year it never came out. Instead I did lots of crochet and some reading. I also received a beautiful puzzle from a friend of mine which I brought with me and finished really quickly. So I went and bought another one.

I crocheted two hats. The pattern is The CableOpticCrochetHat by Anna from Crafty Owl and I fell in love with it the second I saw it on Etsy. Sadly the first hat turned out to be too big but I refused to give up and went to the wool shop and bought more wool for take two. This blue hat was given to my mother as her head is a little bigger than mine. I then crocheted a green hat for myself but haven’t got a picture of it yet as I’m still debating whether I should add a pompom or not.

 

Right, the September templates. Here they are:

September 1

September 2

September 3

September 4

The September 4 templates are marked, so that it’s easy to know where they go.

Happy sewing!

 

*LobNobs are pretend bits of lobster. Their name makes me giggle every time I buy them. They’re rather tasty in my humble opinion.

August Row

I’m still trying to catch up with my own Block of the Month, which makes me feel slightly bad. Only slightly, though, as I’ve learned that the more pressure I put on my self the less I get done. So my mantra these last couple of years has been ‘I’ll get to it when it’s the right time to do it’ and it’s helped me tremendously with my anxiety.

This little miss is making it slightly more difficult to sew but as she makes my life so much better I don’t really mind.

You’re not here to listen to my psychobabble, I’m sure, so without much further ado here are the August templates:

August 1

August 2

August 3

I normally print out my templates to check the size but my printer sadly refuses to print at the moment. So please let me know if there are any problems with the templates so I can rectify them. They should be fine, I’m probably worrying for nothing.

Happy sewing!

July Row

Hello, hello!

Another month has passed and I’m still working on my March row. As our summer holiday is fast approaching I’m hoping to get more done and will do my utmost to catch up with my sewing.

However, I’ve been naughty and have started a new crochet project. Three friends of mine have asked me to design a flowery crochet blanket. One of the girls saw a beautiful crochet blanket but we couldn’t find a pattern for it so designed a similar one. I’m making mine for my daughter and she’s picked lots of lovely pastel colours:

I’ve made a start and the blanket will look very soft and delicate. I’ll show you my progress in a separate blog post as I’m really pleased with both the design and the wool.

Here are the templates for the July row of the block of the month:

July 1

July 2

July 3

Happy sewing!

June Row

Hello, hello!

Happy to see you here. I’ve no BOM sewing progress to report, meaning I’m still stuck on the March row. I can, however, report that my gorgeous cat Flynn is recovering well. He’s always hungry and slowly putting on weight. He loves to play and run around the flat like a madman again. I’m really happy and I hope he will continue to do well and recover completely.

I have been sewing a little bit. My former boss retired this week and is now off to Norway in her camper van for two months. So my colleague and I decided to buy her some goodies to take with her: a book, a crossword puzzle, mosquito repellent etc. I then made her a big pouch to put everything in.

 

Right, here are the templates for the June row:

June 1

June 2

June 3

Happy sewing!

 

May Row

First of all, I have to apologise for disappearing and not posting the May templates earlier. Work has been very busy but mostly it’s been a difficult time for me as my gorgeous cat Flynn Curlytail is very poorly. As I’m writing this post he is at the animal hospital in Bern. We still don’t know exactly what’s wrong with him but all the options are scary to say the least. He turned three last Friday (the day he was admitted to the hospital) and I really don’t want to lose him. He is the sweetest cat: loving, funny and clumsy. He finds the weirdest places to sleep in and loves his food.

Right, now to get to the templates. Here are the templates for the May row:

May 1

May 2

May 3

Happy sewing!

 

April Row

Hello, hello!

Are you ready for the next row of this Block of the Month? I’m still running behind. I’ve only just finished the February row this morning… I was really stressed out about it for a while but then realised that it’s all good. We sew because we enjoy it and we’ll finish our projects when we finish them. I might be able to catch up this month or I may not. I’m going to try but if I’m still behind at the end of the month then that’s ok with me.

As you can see Olive has been helping me.

Right, without much further ado. Here are the templates for this month’s row:

April 1

April 2

April 3

April 4

Number four are the ‘connectors’ between the other blocks. The whole block was basically too big to fit on one page so I had to add another page to the templates. There are lines to show you where the templates go.

If you have any problems, please let me know and I’ll do my best to solve them.

Happy sewing!

Almost

I’m still running behind on my Block of the Month. Work has been hectic and when I haven’t been working I’ve been sleeping, eating or cleaning. At least that’s what it feels like. I’m almost finished with the February row and I’m looking forward to adding the March row. Which might be some time in April, if I don’t get to do a lot of sewing over the Easter holiday.

 

I was rather worried for a little while as I didn’t like what I’d done but after a few fabric switches, I’m pleased with my first two rows. I’m slowly adding some blue to the pinks, turquoises and greens. The grey and white stripe will be used as a kind of background to let the eye rest between all the different prints and colours. I might use a solid or two but am still on the fence about it. How is your version of this quilt going?

Happy sewing!

March Row

Hello, hello

Ready for the March row? I’m not. I’ve started a new job and am continuing in my old on this month so my days are full and I have hardly any sewing time. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish the February blocks this week as I’m excited to start on this new row.

Right, here are the templates:

March 1

March 2

March 3

I really hope you’re enjoying this quilt as much as I am. This is a picture of my January row. I’d love to show you my progress but as that is minimal at the moment I’ll wait till next time.

 

Please let me know if you have any problems downloading the templates. I’ve been asked whether I would consider sending the templates by email. Of course I would. So if you’d like to receive the templates directly in your inbox, send me an email or add a comment to this post and I’ll put you on the list.

Happy sewing!

February Row

Goodness, time flies when you’re having fun. And it goes even faster when you’re organising a BOM and are way behind on your sewing. So much has been happening this last month and sewing has therefore not really been a priority. My gorgeous cat Flynn has been poorly and ended up at the vet’s twice. He’s not eating and for a cat who’s normally a walking stomach that’s really bad. He’ll eat anything and everything, even salad, so to see him turn away from food is disconcerting. He’s only two years old and should be stuffing himself with all the food, play and sleep but at the moment all he does is sleep and feel sorry for himself.

Secondly, I’ve found a new job. I’m moving away from sales and going into an office job. It’s scary and exciting all at the same time. I haven’t worked on the computer for quite a while so it’ll be interesting to see how long it takes me to get back on the ‘horse’. Going from a fabric shop into an engineering firm is quite the move. As I’ll be commuting to Berne I will have more time to EPP which will be fun and will hopefully help me get this BOM sewn.

Right, let’s get to it. Here are the links for the February Row:

February 1

February 2

February 3

As always: please let me know if there are any problems with downloading the templates and I’ll do my best to solve the problem.

Olive is the best little nurse. She’s doing her best to look after Flynn, cleaning him and checking on him every now and again. Although she’s also happy to steal his food and oust him from her favourite places…

Happy sewing!

 

On the Edge

How do you make sure your English paper pieced quilt has a nice edge that’s easy to trim and bind?

I used to get folded over bits of fabric and little holes but after a while I found an easy way to get a nice straight 1/4″ edge. I simply add a 1/4″ to the template and cut it out. I always cut the seam allowance at a 90ยบ angle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I wrap the fabric around the papers I leave that edge unwrapped and trim the fabric flush with the paper.

Then I sew the pieces together with my usual whipstitch and end up with a wonderfully flat edge that is easy to bind without losing any of my points.

I hope that helps.

Happy sewing!