Wednesday 21 June 2017

Garden Snails Mini Quilts


Remember all the Garden Snail Quilt blocks I was making at the beginning of the year? This is what became of them.


I turned them into mini quilts and then I turned these two into a cover for the fan in my sewing room. It gets very very dusty here in summer and I’m not that keen on cleaning in hot weather so a cover is a necessity. I took the photos before they were sewn together (and so no binding) because I wasn’t sure how the project would turn out. Just as well. It’s functional but not highly photogenic.


The quilting for these was done in a diagonal cross hatch that I really liked.


Along with those I made these two minis for my international Pay it Forward Craft recipients. I quilted these in an experimental random criss cross way that I regretted pretty much immediately. You win some, you lose some *sigh*.

I enjoyed making these blocks… Or wait, did I? I remember complaining about them at the time but I think, looking back, with some other more time consuming blocks under my belt since, that they weren’t too bad. I had a few deadlines at the time and that didn’t help my attitude. I think I would possibly even make them again.

They certainly give great opportunities to pick a favourite fabric or two to showcase and the block pattern has an option to paper piece the shell using different fabrics. Now that sounds like a great scrap buster but could be a tad time consuming for a working girl.


The pattern is by Pen and Paper patterns and is available here.

Wednesday 7 June 2017

May Block Round-up


Last month’s Bee Inspired block was for Irene at Patchwork and Pastry. She asked for a 9 patch in a 9 patch in a 9 patch in soft grey. You can only see two? The smallest one is part of the centre block, second down on the left. The squares for that one finished up at a very small ½” each!


For Stash Bee, May’s queen Julia (@sparkymonster) chose the X and plus block and gave us the option of using purple, orange, hot pink and blue-green on a low volume background. I enjoyed making this block and it has set in concrete my plans to make a whole quilt using it. I have a dedicated Pinterest board to this design already and the variations are endless.


My last Inside Addition block from my Bee Inspired mate Emily at The Darling Dogwood finally arrived after more than 2 months of travelling. I’d given up on it arriving and Emily had plans to start a replacement for me when it arrived. This gives me hope since the crows I made for Velda for April have still not arrived after about 5 weeks.


I’ve been spending the last week or so making another 18 to go along with the ones I received, or so I thought. When I went to lay it out on the weekend I found I was one short *sigh*. There may have been a short outburst of bad language. It should be exciting when the top starts coming together.

Happy sewing and stay safe!