WIP Wednesday No. 9

Shabby Wedding Rings
Is there anything more satisfying than neat piles of freshly cut fabric?

These are the former Frosted Window Pane fabrics which are now going to be made into a Double Wedding Ring quilt. I adore these fabrics and can't wait to see what they look like. 

I am a little extremely scared about actually starting to piece this top. Scrappy is a step out of my comfort zone and curves make me shake in my shoes.

Hexalong

I don't think I've touched my hexagons in over a month but Tonya over at Hillbilly Handiworks has started a new hexagon project and it's spurred me into action.

So I've cut a pile of new diamond papers and cracked open the handy-hexagon box. Time to tack some new fabrics.

Other Projects

• Strawberry Patch - No progress. The lesson here is that if you tidy something away, you will forget about it all together. It's now back on my desk and making me feel guilty.
• Neutral jelly roll bear paws - waiting to be Long-arm quilted at work. 
• It's a hoot and Antique quilt - No progress. 

Why not pop over to Freshly pieced to see what everyone else is up to this Wednesday.

Wonky rings and frilly rings

Having spent a week contemplating my pile of vintage style fabrics (you can see them here) I decided I needed to make them into a traditional quilt. I have always loved Double Wedding Ring quilts but the urge to make one has always been equally balanced by my fear of curves.

I decided to face my fears this week but I was nervous so I started with some scraps. I copied these templates from a book I own:

and set about cutting out all the little pieces to make one section. It took ages to trace around the templates and cut them out and here's what I ended up with:

As you can probably tell this was not a very successful experiment. no matter how much I press it, my curves are frilly and the squares on the ends don't match up at all.

Undeterred, I went back to the drawing board (otherwise known as google) and found this tutorial on the Frees Spirit Fabric website. It uses foundation piecing for the curves which makes it a lot more accurate.

I'm a lot happier with this version and I learned as I went along. When I was attaching the curves to the central eye shape, I sewed the top seam first and you can see it's a little wibbly. When it came to the second seam I went with a lot more pins and it's come out pretty close to perfect.

Now I'm off to cut up my lovely fabrics and get foundation piecing some curves.

Block swap complete

I'm a couple of days late but I've finally finished up all 25 of my block swap blocks. 

I just need to sign them all - not my favourite job - and then I can get them in the post tomorrow morning. Then I all I have to do is wait for my package of goodies to arrive back from America!

WIP Wednesday No. 8

Just a quick post while I babysit for my sister. Brother-in-law has just had an accident on his bike so sister has had to rush him to the A&E, not sure of the details but I hope he's OK. I keep telling them exercise is bad for you but they never listen!

Block Swap
I'm very tight on time. I have a couple of days to turn these three piles..

...into 25 of these...

It's a race against time!

I'm working so much at the moment that there isn't much other sewing going on (or, at least, no sewing I'm allowed to keep). Most of my WIPs look like this

So pretty but it doesn't belong to me - boo!

Why not pop over to Freshly pieced to see what everyone else is up to this Wednesday.

Brain fart

I've missed making quilts so much but yesterday I finished the final small item for sale so I get to sew a great big quilt again! Have you ever wondered what was going on with the Frosted Window Panes quilt that's been on my sidebar for 2 years and is still at 0% progress? Me too. I figured it was about time I made a start.

I sprang out of bed this morning and pulled out my bag of fabric and started reading the instructions and matching up the fabrics to the ones in the pattern.

I found I have:

20" of 4 different blue prints

12" of 3 different cream prints

12" of 4 different pink prints

20" of 3 green prints, 12" of one of them and a yard of the bottom one in the picture (huh?) 

They seem odd amounts and it's even odder when you compare them to the amounts in the instructions. They just don't match up at all.  It asks for:

• 1 1/2 yards of assorted reds
• 1/3 + 5/8 yard of assorted blues
• 1 3/4 + 1/3 yard assorted greens
• 2 3/4 yards assorted creams
• 1/3 + 3/4 yard assorted browns

I really struggle with the weird imperial measurements but they don't even add up to the total amount I need. I'm about a yard of fabric short.

I love the fabrics but I really can't be bothered to figure out what my 2-year-ago self was planning to do so, after 2 years the Frosted Window Panes quilt is going out the window.

It is now being renamed the shabby chic quilt and will be designed this week.

Stuck for Christmas presents

If you have a lot of quilty friends or relatives and are stuck for Christmas present ideas, take a look at this fantastic idea from Lily's Quilts.

She's running a series of posts that give small, medium and large gift ideas for quilters. With lots of great ideas and some fantastic sponsors it's a win-win situation. Actually, since there are lots of great giveaways included, it's really a win-win-win situation.

This post's giveaway is this amazing 14 FQ bundle from Sew Fresh Fabrics.

Who wouldn't want that in their hands?!?

The best laid plans

All weekend I've had echoes of quotes about the futility of making plans going around my head. I watched the season premier of Private Practice which used the following quote a lot:

"Men plan, God laughs" - Yiddish Proverb

It seemed very fitting for my situation and then for some reason random quotes started coming into my head.

"The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry" - Robert Burns

and my personal favourite:

"Everybody's got plans... until they get hit." - Mike Tyson 

My magic timetable went completely out of the window this week when one thing after another went pear shaped. I was on schedule up to and including Wednesday but then when I went to knitting club on Thursday night I didn't get home until after 10 which meant I couldn't finish my Ellie tea cosy.

Then, on Friday, I couldn't get drunk and fall over because I had to go to work on Saturday. The final disaster was when I discovered that mum had let a friend borrow the Tilda book so I couldn't make the elephant toy.


However...
I did manage to finish elephant version 2. He's a much better overall shape

and now he fits my tea pot perfectly

but I think that elephant version 1 is cuter. Proportionally the original elephant's head was larger which made him look more of a baby.

So I think I'll have to have another go at the design. It's not so much of a problem because I have a queue of people willing to give them homes.

I'm  having quilt cravings now. I'm going to have to make something bigger than a tea cosy soon or I'll go mad.