Sewing Time

Once I had carved out a little bit of usable space in my sewing shed, I was back into creating again, cutting and stitching.  The fact that I still want to reorganise the rest of the sewing space is a secondary consideration and will happen probably in the middle of Xmas.  As I want to get my Orphan block medallion quilt finished before Xmas... I figured this was top priority.

Working with a square design, I knew that at some point it would need borders top and bottom to make it a rectangular single bed size.  Now was that time!  I just needed to decide what size the blocks were going to be, and single out a block I wanted to add that complemented the design.  Easy peasy!

After much adding and dividing, ahming and ahing, I decided on a 13" block for the bottom border, which meant five blocks across.  Then it was just the easy matter of working out a block that finished at 13".  Did I mention easy peasy?

Rescaling the flower block from my Craftsy Dash to the Finish quilt worked out well.  And alternating with a Courthouse Steps block meant that I didn't need to join the triangles together at the block intersections.  That's called cunning design skills! 

Just the top applique border to complete now, and I'll be onto quilting.

On the clothes sewing side of things, I have finally found some fabric that I want to make up into some of the patterns I have bought over the last few months.

I bought this Sew House Seven Tea House Dress pattern after seeing it made up in a floral fabric.  It was really pretty and summery... so the picture on the front, and in fact the line drawing were a little bit of a surprise on closer examination.

Spotlight had some great sales on, and after locating this rayon fabric, I decided to take the plunge and hope for the best.  

I don't mind the tiled pattern printing exercise... although it does seem overwhelming at times.

After ironing almost 5m of fabric... I was finally ready to lay it out.  Of course, I still seem to have a whole heap of fabric left.  This fabric measured at 135cm wide... so I went with the requirements for the 112cm layout just in case.  I need to straighten, pin and cut but that can wait for another day.

I also bought some Tencel fabric for these Burnside Bib overalls also from Sew House Seven.

This lovely Olive Tencel has a lovely drape, and I am a sucker for overalls.  Just have to hope that they look somewhat like the pattern.

Oh hello...

Yes I'm still here!  We have had visitors for the last ten days... and my sewing shed and adjoining spare room (which is the quilt layout and basting zone) have had people living in them!  With my sewing machines pushed into a corner and my fabric unavailable, I've been busy reading and staying in touch on Instagram.

Some of you follow David on Facebook, and you'll know all about the daily adventures, while me and the kids have been at work and school.  Here we have just about everyone, the photographer was Amanda, a good friend who also came to stay.  But mostly our family just grew with some Australian based imports, and we all had a great time.

So this is my hubby and his kids and grandchild.

With his two eldest boys... Jesse and Josh

With Josh, daughter in law Steph and grand daughter... Leni

And just with a very cute little grand daughter... who grew four new teeth and was a bit grizzly but still managed to be the centre of everyone's attention (and boy she knew it!)

Although it was sad to see everyone head home, it has meant I can get back to my regular scheduled programming.   With my design wall completely free, I have put up my completed blocks so far for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.  Excuse the odd angle.  Measuring 52 x 82 finished, it is a long skinny quilt.  I am planning to add something to the sides to make it a bit wider.

There are 6 blocks left to fill in the gaps.  I repeat SIX blocks!  The pattern was in a Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr Modern Quilt calendar for 2017 - Katsura.

I did not manage to get any of the pink blocks sewn for Octobers colour of the month.  November is either a "dark" month - or alternatively make the colour blocks you need to make your design work, with the idea of putting the blocks together in December.  I think this is a really sensible way to end up the challenge, because it is often when you lay things out and assess, that you realise you need a certain thing to make it all work.  I think I will make some pink blocks (which will balance out the pink in the multicoloured blocks), and maybe some with black and white prints.

I also desperately need to catch up with my Bernina Triangle quilt Viper... have lost track of where I'm supposed to be, and what I've got done.  This will be weekend project number 1.