Woah! Talk about blog neglect! It feels like ages since I last posted! Safe to say, lots of busy things have been happening in this little room of mine and I’ve finally found the time to tell you all about it!
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First off, I took a day last week to finish one of the two baby quilts I’ve been currently making. It was this one with the little Pinwheels in the centre…
Because of the design I chose to quilt, it only took me a few hours to get all of the quilting finished! Yay! And I just have to say, I absolutely love how it’s come together!
When I was quilting, I took the opportunity to use a special tool I had recently purchased to help mark and quilt straighter lines. It’s called a Clover Hera Marker. It’s an awesome little tool that helps to ‘mark’ or ‘bruise’ lines into the fabric so that you can either follow them, match them up with another point or sew over.
Since using it, I’ve seen a definite improvement in my quilting and how neat my lines seem to be. If you’re having issues with quilting straight lines, I would 100% recommend you to use this tool to help you out! It’s brilliant!
Tomorrow I’m hoping to retreat back into my room and get the second baby quilt finished! This is the one with all of those super-sweet Granny Squares blocks that I’ve fallen head-over-heels for! It’s such a cute little quilt and I can’t wait to see what it looks like once finished!!
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During my ‘down-time’, I’ve been very patiently unpicking the horrible FMQ mess I made to my ‘Like Diamonds In The Sky Quilt’ sometime last year.
When I posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook, I had so many lovely comments from you asking what was wrong with it as you all thought it looked okay… Well, that was so super-nice of you all to say that, but to me, the stitching just doesn’t suit at all! It’s way too busy and ‘messy’ looking for the overall feel of the quilt. The squiggly stippling line clashes with the already busy layout of the quilt top and geo-print fabric I used and I now can’t stand the floral fabric I used as the backing! Urgh, what was I thinking! Nah, everything about it I just hate and it absolutely needs to come out!
So almost every night for the past week or so, I’ve been unpicking, unpicking and unpicking while watching either Game of Thrones or Studio Ghibli movies like Laputa: Castle in the Sky, The Wind Rises and Kiki’s Delivery Service! And even now as I write this, there’s still more to unpick! Phew!
But with patience and a good cuppa to the side, I’ll get there and I’ll be so much happier with it once it’s free and can be made into the beautiful quilt that it is! And also, in a bit of an odd way, I’m finding unpicking the stitches quite relaxing and strangely hypnotic… It gives me a chance to just sit and think about things while keeping my fingers busy… So it’s not all bad! 😀
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Another thing that happened last week was the opening of my Etsy shop! Hoorah!!
In there at the moment are a few Little Wallets that I always love making and usually sell the best, plus a sweet baby quilt perfect for any new little girl in world!
I have a few new Little Purses that are almost ready to go on sale and another little quilt that I only just started yesterday afternoon.
I’ve even already got a name for it: “The Stash Quilt’, as all of the 2.5” squares have come from my stash of scraps! There are fabrics in there that I had completely forgotten about and swooned all over them as I pulled them out! I love it when that happens!! So once I’ve got all of these little squares pieced together, I’ll sash it with either a white or cream homespun cut at 10″ or 15″ and then get quilting it!
You know, I just had a thought… This ‘to-be quilt’ reminds me so much of those I-Spy Quilts that are made for kids! There are so many great little prints to search for and discover! Love it!
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And finally, over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a video tutorial that seems to be taking forever to edit and perfect! It’s all about how to make one of those simple half-aprons using just one fabric.
The bulk of the video has been edited, but it’s just the little cutaway parts of the finished project and my speaky-bit at the start and end that need to be filmed and added. I just haven’t found the right time to get it done! Plus our internet is having issues at the moment, so uploading a high-def 10 minute video will literally take the rest of the year to upload! That’s how bad it is!! And I’m still also tossing up whether I need to write a pattern for it, as it could be possible for people to get a little lost in what needs to be done, especially during the cutting step… But apart from all of that, I should have it ready to go up by Friday! (I’ve decided to change my upload day from Sundays to Fridays. I’ll be posting another video soon explaining why this is!)
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Now, I think that’s everything up to date in what’s been happening in and out of my sewing room…
I’m curious (and nosey), what have you been up to in your sewing/quilting/crafting adventures?? You’re more than welcome to leave a comment letting me know!
Happy Sewing, Friends!
xx
PS. I can now finally share with you the little mini quilt I made using the block I made in my Diamond Square Block tutorial!
During the past week I held a little giveaway on my YouTube channel as a thank you for 5000 subscribers, and this mini was part of the main prize! Sadly, the giveaway is now closed, the winners have been announced and all prizes are on their way!
Thank you to everyone who entered!!
x
3and3quarters 