The Benefits of a Long Weekend

Queens Birthday weekend means an extra day of weekend!  Terrific!  We also celebrated our 13th year of wedded bliss with a family dinner out.  Very Nice!

Charlotte (aka The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady) has had a couple of posts about various areas of her quilting studio.  A discussion between us about ironing stations led her to change her own layout, making use of space underneath a re-purposed ironing surface for storage.  My own ironing station came about because I just got sick of the weird space beneath the ironing board.  Hubby came to the rescue, cut the legs off my ironing board, and affixed it to a metal shelving unit.  It is perfect. The only adjustment I would make would be to put it on castors so it can be moved a bit easier.

And the home to a few projects at the moment :o)

I have a subscription to Homespun Magazine, which has a fresh and pretty Granny Square quilt in the current issue. OMG this is the perfect project for my collection of florals.

Putting them all together in one place has made me realise that I have way too many!  But I fall for these romantic blowsy florals every time.

And then I'm a sucker for the little ditzy floral print too...

And the subtle taupes, greys and creams...

This print is just so delicate.

OK so stacked up this pile measured almost 12".  That is scary.  And now it has all been moved to the side for another day.

I can blame Charlotte for another little project that came up over the weekend.  Infinity Scarves!  I had purchased this fabric a few years ago... and finally decided it was time to give this whole infinity scarf thing a go.

Reading the instructions... they are pretty fabric greedy.  Instructions that call for 2yards of fabric... for a scarf?  Seems excessive.  These patterns cut the scarf piece along the length, so gives you fabric for two scarves, with only the one join.  Of course, it is OK to cut it across the width, just means you need an extra join.  After a bit of experimentation I ended up cutting my fabric 16 1/2" wide x WOF because this was the width of my ruler.  It gives me a scarf that loops around the neck twice... and fits nicely with my body size.  I have a funny feeling this fabric is not intended as patchwork fabric, but it is similar in weight.

And today while I was *tidying* AKA finding all sorts of things I haven't seen in ages... I found this material and actually the pattern I was intent on making with it - several years ago.  But a scarf was so much easier and do-able.  Also cut with the same measurements as above, I can see this one becoming a favourite.

OK, the facials were a bit growly, I don't know that I'll ever get the hang of selfies, but this shows the length, and how it drapes.  This fabric is a soft knit, and it just sits beautifully.

Keeping with the clothes sewing progress, I cut and finished sewing the second dress/tunic.

 This was the pattern inspiration... and it is pretty similar.  My version is probably a bit looser around the hips than the model, but sits nicely around the neck and shoulders.  I just need to work on the attitude :o)

 I wore it out to our dinner... styled with my nice orangey red cardy, neutral slim pants with taupe boots, and a nice necklace with orangey and red-dy beads. 

While *tidying* I also found this block.  I have no idea what the plan was for it... but I do vaguely remember it, and isn't it cool??

I found these other two orphan blocks, but am not sure whether they "go" together well enough to turn it into something?  I think I was supposed to crop out the feet.

I also found this small cot quilt, which was made from my very first charm pack that I won online.

The quilting is really dodgey... probably why it was stuck underneath a whole heap of other junk.  I really should get this bound and given away.

And I did manage to get a small amount of applique ironed down.  This basket block is just so pretty.  Just the wreath bit to construct now.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour for this month is Yellow.  I knew yellow had to hit sooner or later.  My yellow scraps are pretty dismal, but I was surprised by what I found... and in fact have enough cut for three blocks.  Squares cut at 4", 2 1/4" and 1 1/2".