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!

 

January Row

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a great start to the new year.

Let’s start this block of the month. I’m incredibly excited to get back to English paper piecing. I’ve been neglecting it as I’ve been focussed on the granny square blanket and a cardigan I’m crocheting. I’ve also done a lot of bag and pouch sewing but almost no patchwork or quilting.

Right, here we go:

January 1

January 2

January 3

You need to print out January 1 and January 3 once and January 2 as often as you need to get the width that you’d like. I’m going to print it out eight times which results in a quilt that is 60″ wide. The quilt consists of twelve rows and will end up being 72″ long. You can, of course, make the quilt smaller by making less rows. I might add some squaring up lines to the templates after a few rows.

As you’re printing, make sure you don’t scale the printout. Keep it at 100% and check the little square is 1″x1″.

I can’t wait to start this project and see what you guys make of it. Happy sewing!

Bright Pink and Orange

I love bright colours and picked bright orange and pink when I started my latest project. It was slow going. More because I didn’t take the time to work on it, than because it was complicated or that I wasn’t sure about it. I loved it from the start and never got to that ‘meh-stage’ that I usually get somewhere in the middle of a project. All in all it took me more than a year.

This project bag has been a blessing as my project was always ready to take to work, so I could sew whenever I had a minute or two.

This piece doesn’t have a name yet, which is highly unusual for me. I usual call my patterns or projects something, even if it is really banal such as ‘The Purple Quilt’ or ‘The Green Cushion’.

On the day I was appliquĂ©ing the finished EPP piece onto the background, I was actually wearing an orange t-shirt, pink trousers and my mustard shoes. It did make me laugh and I was wondering if I should turn this into a trend and only work on my various EPP projects when I’m dressed appropriately.

Almost Done

I enjoyed seeing this piece grow. I never plan my pieces in advance but just work in ‘rows’ or small sections, auditioning fabrics. It sometimes happens that I unpick and change fabrics but very seldom and I usually realise it before I’ve sewn on all the pieces.

Olive had to help, of course. This cat is driving me bananas! She’s the cutest, most loveable kitten one could wish for but she does destroy a lot. Together with her ‘brother’ she’s destroyed most of my plants and pots, she chews on all the pencils (I hide them), she finds and kills my woollen socks, hats and scarves (it’s a good thing I have an endless supply as my sister is a very talented and prolific knitter) and sits on every plate or bowl I get out to put food on. I do, however, forgive everything as her face lights up and she runs towards me with the cutest little meow whenever she sees me. She sleeps in my bed and every morning I’m greeted with enthusiasm.

I’ve attached the piece to the background and am now going to turn it into a tote bag. I always end up making cushion covers, but how many cushions do I really need?

The pattern for this piece is part of a very exciting project and will be available at a later stage.

Portable?

I love EPP because it’s portable. I can sew at home on my sofa while watching tv or I can take it with me on holiday. I can sew on the train, in the garden and many other places.

However, I’ve now started a project that is EPP but most definitely isn’t portable. My Floral Star quilt started with a stack of fat quarters I was gifted by my lovely friend Paula. She knows how much I love anything designed by Kate Spain and I was thrilled to bits when she gave me her stack of Canyon fabrics. I knew I had to make something special with it and decided to try and supersize one of my designs. The choice fell on Floral Star and I couldn’t be happier so far.

The colours aren’t the same in my version so it looks quite different.

As you can see I’m not finished yet. I had to let Charlie sit on it as no one really understood just how big it is already. I don’t mind, though, as he is the cutest cat in the whole wide world. The smallest piece is about 3.5″ x 4.5″, most of them are over 7″. It’s quite a challenge but fun too. I had to use slightly thicker paper as normal 80g/m copy paper bent too easily with such large pieces. It makes the whole thing harder and heavier to handle so I can only work on it when I’m sitting on the floor or at a table.

Since taking this picture I have finished sewing on the magenta triangles and am now going to continue with some green, I think.

If you’re on Instagram you can check out my progress with the hashtag ⌗sharksdinnerfloralstar

Magical Diamonds

I like having an EPP (English Paper Piecing) project on the go at all times and I am constantly designing new ones in TouchDraw on my iPad. This summer I went off to Norway and decided to start ‘The Big One’, a quilt for me which Little Miss Bossy-Boots has named ‘Magical Diamonds’. It’s going to fit my queen size bed and I’m using some of my all time favourite fabrics, Denyse Schmydt’s Florence and Oakshott shot cottons in blues and greens.

Magical Diamonds

I wasn’t sure at first how to place the fabrics but then decided to use the Oakshotts as a sort of frame for the prints. I was so excited about this project that I started before travelling and ended up with two very quickly. Each segment is 10″ x 14″, so they’re quite big.

Once I arrived in our cabin in Norway I set up my little work station outside. I was blessed with the most wonderful weather.

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I continued sewing a little every day if I wasn’t reading or cycling to the shops or the beach.

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This is what they are going to look like: 48 of those segments sewn together like this. I’m still thinking about colour placement but as I have a few more – 41 to be exact- to do, I have some time to think about it.

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This, by the way, was my view while sewing. I have to admit that I was distracted every now and again. Especially when big boats were passing.

It was a most wonderful and relaxing holiday. I managed to sew five segments which was less than I had hoped for but I also read four books and cycled quite a few kilometres. Bliss!

 

EPP

English Paper Piecing (EPP) is something I have seen but never tried. However Katy from I’m a Ginger Monkey (I know, I know, she’s mentioned on this blog every few minutes… I admit it, I find her incredibly inspirational) has been very busy paper piecing the most wonderful cushion covers and quilts.

Curious I went on the hunt for some nice shapes to try out EPP and found the tumbling block. It makes a lovely star shape when sewn together and that is what I did. I didn’t like it. I probably would have loved it if I had done it scrappy but I did it all pink and as I looked at it I felt bored and uninspired.

Out came the seam ripper and the star was no more. I then started playing with the shapes and colours until I found a pattern I liked. Sorry about the bad pictures but they were taken late at night on Instagram.

Next I decided to add some white in the centre and also use the white to frame all the blocks.

I’ve been sewing together my tumbling blocks every time I have a spare moment and the project is growing rapidly. This is going to be a cushion cover and it’s going to be mine. Little Miss Bossy-Boots has tried to claim it but this time I’m not giving in. Hands off, it’s mine! Mine!