Tidying my room (aka playing with my blocks)

I realised today that I couldn't get to my computer because of the various quilt blocks and pieces of ball dress that are scattered around my room. It's not an ideal working condition so I decided to have a tidy up. Unfortunately, a constructive idea led to me spending quite a while playing with my blocks on my pinboard.

They are off my desk so I think it counts as tidying. However, when I then started slicing up fabric I knew the procrastination had gotten out of hand. 

I cut up the rest of my layer cake ready to be made into blocks but now they look so tempting in their neat little piles that I really want to scrap the work and start sewing. No! Must work on boring project about mud .... must not play with pretty fabric .... must not start cutting solid layer cake .... Nooooo!

They way I've cut these blocks has left me with 1" strips which seem too small to be of any use but they just look too cute to throw away. Does anyone have any ideas?

Something more important than quilting?!?

Today I found out that the annual college ball is being moved forward 5 weeks which may not seem like a big problem to most but when you take into account that I'm too tall to buy a dress and I need to make it, it's made me panic a little.

So the cotton is being put to one side and I'm attempting to make this:

Not in white (I don't want to scare the boyfriend!) but in a lovely teal colour:

Pattern ordered, fabric ordered. Fingers crossed I can make it in time!

The first cut is always the hardest

I've been hanging on to this Verna Layer Cake for a while now. I love the colours and the patterns, they really make me smile just to look at them. Sometimes when I buy a fabric I get scared of cutting into it in case I ruin it!

I suddenly realised that it would be so much nicer to snuggle under a quilt made out of them than to just get them out and flick through them. I had a play around with Photoshop and came up with a couple layouts. I like the Bento Box but I think it'll be a bit busy with all the different prints (or that might be the migraine talking).

I muddled the blocks around and came up with this second layout. I think it showcases the prints better and doesn't hurt my eyes as much. 

Since they're both made out of the same blocks I thought I would just go for it and I can decide when the blocks are all made. I'm using two layer cakes - the Verna and a Bella solid in snow. A 10" square of each makes two blocks, one with a coloured outside and one with a solid.

A little bit of cutting, some essay avoidance and here are my first blocks:

I'm glad I took the plunge, these are giving me an even bigger grin than the fabrics on their own.

Back to school

I moved back to Durham this weekend to get some work done before term starts next week. Being a university town means that it's eerily quiet around here out of term time but the peace does mean that you end up getting a lot done (the peace and the fact that the bar isn't open!).

I've redesigned my banner (do you like it?) and I've managed to make a start on the quilting of my bear paw quilt.

It's larger than I'm used to (86"x70") and it takes a lot of effort to get it through my little machine but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. 

I'm the only one in the flat so I've commandeered the kitchen for sewing purposes.

The positives are that I have more space, there's wifi, it's festively decorated with a mixture of Alice in Wonderland and Halloween bunting and the tea and biscuits are only a couple of steps away. On the downside, we live on the ground floor so I have the bored porter lurking outside my window giving me "helpful" advice.

Just before I came back I went to The Fat Quarters and they had 20% off everything! I picked up a jelly roll in Bella neutral colours and started wondering what this quilt would look like with plain paws and a patterned background. It was just too tempting so I bought the jelly roll and some coordinating fabric to have a go.

The fabric is from the Zippity Doo Dah range by Sandy Gervais. Two of the neutrals match the cream and tan confetti pieces perfectly so I can't wait to see how it comes together.

Hiding from the babies

It's amazing what you can do if you set your mind to it (and ignore the fact that you have 2 essays to write!). In the last couple of days I've managed to finish off my bear paw quilt top and piece the back together.

It's all folded up over the banister upstairs while the kids rampage downstairs. Hopefully I'll be able to get it layered up and quilted this evening after they've gone home. The back is made form one of the French General woven fabrics, which is absolutely lovely to touch. It's soft and gloriously silky.

I've also managed to piece together these blocks:

They may look familiar. They're an exact mirror image of the blocks for this quilt. I made a bit of a boo boo while cutting so I ended up with twice as many pieces. The other quilt was sold so I hope I can sell this one on too.

Mad rush over, time to settle in to some sewing

It's been a mad couple of weeks. I've been ill this term so missed a lot of work at university, which I had to get extensions for. That meant that I was working right up until the 23rd December which left very little time to get the Christmas presents all sewn up!

Two straight days at the sewing machine and I managed:

Six coasters on a tea and coffee theme for my dad and step-mum. Dad's a big coffee drinker and Barbara's a big tea drinker so they can have three each.

Two sets of these lovely bright squishy cubes for my step-sister Jenny's new baby and Clare from Clarebears new baby. They are both adorable cuddly boys and I had a lot of fun playing with them.

and - last but not least - Owly the tea cosy made for my mum. Although, he's so adorable I think I'm going to have to make a matching one for myself! 

It just goes to show how much you can do if you put your mind to it and now all that's over with I can settle in for some proper quilting. I hope to get my bear paw quilt finished and layered up and start on my "It's a hoot" jelly roll quilt tomorrow.