Sew-ers Block

I've not written a blog post for a couple of weeks because I've not had time to do much crafting. Life just sometimes gets in the way! In between times, I have been reading lots of blogs - it's like having an ever updating magazine at your fingertips.

Yesterday, I dusted off my sewing machine, determined that I was going to Do Some Sewing. And what happened? Nothing. No inspiration. How can I have a Things To Make list as long as my arm, and boards full of inspiring pictures on Pinterest and yet not be able to decide what to make? I thought I'd start with July's Bee Block and decided on the "colour" but realised I didn't have a suitable low volume background to go with it. So I moved on to practise the teacher gifts I wanted to make, and couldn't appliqué a butterfly if my life depended on it. I made a practice gift card wallet that turned out really well, then wondered if I'd ever use such a thing? And then a practice baby bootee which was SO cute, but I realised that I didn't have the right fabric in my stash to make a pair to gift. In a desperate attempt to sew SOMETHING I started sewing together scraps. Why? Who knows. It just seemed like something to do. 

There are more, but I'm sure you get the idea.

One successful project from the last couple of weeks was my Bee block for June. It was quite a simple block (note: it was simple the way I made it, some of my fellow Bee-ers made theirs fantastically tricky and consequently wonderful to look at) but I dithered over it for a while. It feels like a lot of pressure trying to decide what another person might like! Any-hoo this is how it turned out:

If I recall correctly, I'll be Queen Bee for August which is exciting, I had thought I was going to ask for log cabin blocks but I fell in love with a chevron block I saw in a magazine so might change my mind.

I'll be linking up with Handmade Harbour today for a catch up with the other crafty types. Here's hoping next week proves to be more inspiring!

Love Natalie

Quilt #2

I bought number 2 son a duvet cover for his birthday last year that was made with such slippery fabric, it was impossible to use it on the bed - the duvet literally slipped to the bottom of the cover every night.  During a clear-out a couple of weeks ago I realised I had a couple of IKEA fleece blankets that I no longer useu and thought that they would be the perfect wadding to turn this cover into a quilt.

He is thrilled with it, and it has been dragged around the house ever since (why don't boys realise that if they put more clothes on they'd be warmer?). In truth, this project doesn't showcase my best work. My basting was much improved, and consequently I had only a couple of puckers. 

I decided that the pattern of the emblems on the reverse of the cover meant that straight line quilting would be best way forward. When I say straight line, I mean lines.....

You can just see in this picture  that my lines were a little wonky in places but I was eye-balling rather than following a marked line so what did I expect? Also, my hand binding wasn't as good as it was the first time I did it on a quilt (ie the OTHER time I did it on a quilt!). In some places at the edge of this quilt sandwich, the layers were a bit thin (dodgy cutting of the edges) and so I often caught the right side of the quilt with the thread. But remember - Finished is better than Perfect! And finished it is. I decided that life is too short for me to have gone back and unpicked all the binding to re-stitch it perfectly - I'm not sure my son will notice whilst he is dripping milk down it when he's eating his cereal!

I'll be linking up with Handmade Harbour today, so join me there if you can to catch up with other crafty types.

Love Natalie