Piecing

It's not perfect, and I am still second guessing what I put where with which fabrics - but it still makes me happy.

Just need the borders and then I can baste it and decide how to quilt the cushion. Now that I have properly cut into the HR my mind is going a mile a minute with quilt ideas to really get stuck in to a big HR project. Only I also have low volume ideas, and my bee blocks, and, and, and...

There will always be another quilt to be made, more fabric to obsess about, inspiration to be found. Isn't it great!

Susan

My Precious

We've all got it, fabric we love so much we never use it. Other than the occasional fondle why do we buy it then? So today I sucked up my courage and cut some small bits from my precious Heather Ross stash.

I starched, and I cut some of those squares into triangles, and eventually I got to the sewing bit.

Five down, eleven to go. Cutting my Heather Ross has not been near as traumatic as I thought it would be. Do you have fabric you never touch for fear of using it up and never being able to admire it in your stash again?

Susan

Brain Freeze

I really wanted to work on my Starflowers today. It was my plan. And I would have if I could have found them. You know the way it goes, you look high and low and it turns out they were right in front of you the whole time.

Instead I worked on my half hexies. As they are both WIPs it didn't really matter.

It kept my fingers occupied and my mind busy while I enjoyed the company of my friend Ange. I was glad to have company today. I needed it. Thanks Ange.

Susan

Finally...

... I've taken one of my favourite pieces of English paper piecing projects and turned it into a cushion. I am so pleased to have finally pulled my finger out and done it. Especially as Emily declared it the coolest cushion ever. I do love how some projects totally capture their imaginations.

I backed it with some brilliant blue Stof linen. Actually put in a zip (as the only really long one I had was just the right colour), and with a little quilting in the ditch to give it a bit more substance and attach the backing fabric to the block to protect all those perle thread ends, it really wasn't a big job. Which begs the question, why did I leave off doing it for so long?

Today it is gloomy again, but yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. We have officially spotted the first new born lambs in the field up the road. When the girls were home from school we celebrated that very happy feeling the beginning of Spring and glorious sunshine gives you and had ice lollies before we had a good bounce on the trampoline. Winter can keep trying to creep back but it is nice to know it really is on its way out.

Susan

Three Little Fishies Finished

I have gathered up the projects I have on the go that need finishing, and today it was the turn of the fishies.

It makes rather a large cushion, once I had added on the solid blue border. I think it measures up about 22" square. I didn't have an insert big enough to put in so I shoved in a feather bed pillow. That wasn't enough so I squeezed in another. That might have been a bit too much, but it looks better extra puffy rather than sad and floppy.

I topped stitched the border with three rows of navy straight line stitching. And gave the fish little French knot eyes. Not sure if those were necessarily big enough, but I tried to position them on the fabric so that it made the eyes look larger using the fabric patterns.

I backed it in a dotty fabric that I thought suited it very well. And used some more of the blue solid to add a bit of contrast - and extra width as I was using every last bit of the dot that I had large enough. I just went for a simple envelope closure.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and am already thinking how I could turn it into a pattern for a larger quilt. And what changes I would make if I did it again.

Susan