Monday, February 27, 2017

One quilt leads to another...

In my last post I showed a scrap quilt made of my big bag of strips. Thrilled that the patchwork was finished, I completed a blog post. The next day I found a pile more strips from that same scrap bag that in my sorting I had put elsewhere.
scrap patchwork
So all inspired, I thought I should crack on and get all the scraps used. 
I sewed them as before but into a long oblong that when folded in half created two squares. Then I put the squares right side together,. sewed it as though I was doing half square triangles.  
And I got it wrong!!! I wanted the stripes going the opposite way. 
So a bit of unpicking and some resewing and I ended up with a different pattern.
I had seen this on someone else's blog but can't remember whose. If I find it then I will add the details to this post. 
never ending strip quilt
In the spirit of using every single one of my scrap strips I then sewed the remainder around as borders. It still needs to be a little bit bigger. So as I cut things wrong in the next few months I will add them on to finish the quilt. So another quilt for Hope Homes International. And a finish enough that this can go into the cupboard until later.

Linking to these places and crazy mum quilts.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Never ending strip quilt - Finished

Finally another patchwork top finished for the Orphans at Hope Homes International. I still have one waiting to be quilted and bound but decided to do some simple sewing instead.  Over my two convalescences I have found it very hard to concentrate on projects etc. So I wanted something that would fill a need but help me to be creative without being taxing. 
I emptied my entire bag of leftover strips. slowly over weeks I put them into piles of their respective widths. Then I chain sewed them together. From there I used the technique that Missouri Star Quilt Company call - The jelly roll race.
It is a very quick assembly, though because I had different sizes I had to put it together in sections rather than one whole. Using a whole bag of leftovers has been great - BUT there are still some leftovers so that might be the beginning of the next quilt!!!

Thrilled to have a finish, it has been great being able to craft without it being taxing. This is a finish for FAL2017 and I link to Crazy Mum Quilts and these places.

2017 FAL

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

An upcycle finish

For a while now I have been upcycling shirts into other clothing. The one I consistently do is to make business shirts into nighties. I choose linen and cotton so they are lovely to wear. This is three shirts into one nightie.
refashion
I actually had it cut out before I went into hospital last time, but did not get it made. My other ones are wearing thin so I had to hop to it.
I started with these three shirts
It has been a good time to sew as the summer weather has been like winter. Colleen and I at the river on a day which was meant to be 26 degrees C but, like all other days, ended up cold and windy.

Linking to Crazy mum quilts and these links as well as being my first 2017 FAL.
2017 FAL

A gorgeous break in Rarotonga

Woo hoo, A holiday with no kids for 11 days. Bliss, relaxing and warm! BTW it was an early 20th wedding anniversary present to ourselves....