Christmas Placemats & Itty Bittty Pinwheels

I played this week with a couple of new projects. The first was the 4 fat quarter placemates. I hadn't planned on doing this but they were in "Quilters World" December 2012. In it they didn't do the easy cutting method, but they look the same. The colours didn't show up true on the picture I just took. They look more orange and light green, rather than red and green, but the picture does give you the idea of what they are. You cut out four 18" x 18" squares, slice them horizontally, rotate the colours and sew them back together. Then you slice them vertically, rotate them and sew them back together, trim the edges and a strip across the bottom (can be added to the backing to make them more decorative). This is what you end up with. I just need to cut out backing and batting sew them together and then quilt them. Very quick and easy! I attended an open class at my local quilt store Tuesday night, and got instructions on how to make a chenille rug from three panels. I finished it late on Wednesday. I love it! This is a Stonehenge panel from Northcott. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. This close-up gives you an idea of the texture you end up with! The other thing I worked on this week was 2 1/2" squares for my Itty Bitty Pinwheels. As usual I got carried away and ended up with 20 x 20 = 400 squares. I will go crazy sewing these together and then cutting the pinwheels out with the little template which is only 1 1/2" square. I played around with the pattern a bit and came up with this layout. I hope it will result in a nice pinwheel pattern when I am done. The print at the side will be my border fabric. Here is a close-up to let you see the border fabric better. I bought it back in May (2012) so it isn't too old! I am back at work for the next couple of weeks. I am hoping to have enough energy to sew a bunch of the 400 squares together and get the border cut and sewn on, but that might be a little optimistic! Then, I have to use my small cutter to cut it all into the 1 1/2" squares and then sew all of those together! Maybe I would do better sewing the sashing onto my blocks of the month? I will let you know next week! Have a good one and enjoy your sewing.

Table Runners

I couldn't post this last night as my youngest daughter's birthday was today and I didn't want her to know that I finished her table runners. They are from Eleanor Burns Day & Night book. I had to change the sizes, etc. and cut 1 cm squares out of the corners for an inset little square that is part of the table legs. It took me quite a while to quilt them and then forever to get the binding right in those corners. There is an outside corner, then 1 cm away is an inside corner and then 1 cm away another outside corner. I did two practice ones and then tried the real thing. Several corners took a couple of tries to get them right. I made good use of my seam ripper! The close up picture makes the corner look crooked, but it is the way it is hanging from my design wall. I couldn't take another picture as I no longer have the runners in my house. They went home with my daughter this afternoon, along with 14 cupcakes and some Yorkshire pudding. She was happy! My next project is going to be a chenille rug, made from several Stonehenge panels. I missed the class for this, so am planning on going to the sewing night at my local quilt shop to get some help. I just have a few questions, like how far apart your sewing lines should be and if you cut between the lines of sewing before or after you bind the edges. The owner has this open class most Tuesday nights, where she will answer any questions you have about quilting. She says it is a fun night with lots of laughter, so I am looking forward to it. I am hoping to have the rug all finished by Wednesday night, so should have time to start something else. I am thinking of my "Itty Bitty Primitive Pinwheels - 1" Finished". The finished size of the project is supposed to be 10" x 10". I think I will make mine a bit bigger than that by using more squares to begin with. It should be fun to play with. I go back to work next week for a couple of weeks, so that will be a good time to get back to the sashing on my block of the month project. After that I am supposed to have another six weeks off, so will have lots of time to play. It sounds good to me. As well as giving me more time to sew, I will also have lots of spare time to get ready for Yule this year, which will be nice for a change! I hope your projects are coming along nicely! Have a fun week!

Nothing To Show

It has been a very busy week for me. Housework, laundry, yard work, shopping for yarn to finish a project of my sisters, a trip to Mount Forest to visit my brother, a girl's dinner out with friends & a bus trip to Toronto to the Creative Festival have all worked against me getting any sewing done. I did get the three table runners for my daughter layered and pinned, all ready to quilt. I have hopes of starting the quilting tomorrow. I will try to have pictures for next week. The festival was lots of fun, with lots to see. I now have a couple of more projects to do, in all my spare time!

Table Runners Get Attention

What a great two weeks! (Sorry I missed blogging last Sunday.) Let's see...I helped with more painting of our deck, went to London & stayed with my sister for a couple of days, including the Ingersol quilt show, finally got blinds for the living room window, did more painting on the deck (It is a big deck, 8' x 16' where you walk out from the kitchen with eight foot wide stairs leading down to our patio and the one end of the 16' lenth joins a 16' x 16' seating area.), managed to cook a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner for company, did part of the Images Studio Tour and even got to sew! I finished sewing the frames around my block of the month squares! Then I numbered all of them (on a paper pinned to them - letter (for the row) & number (for the column) so I would know the correct order they go in. I was finally able to get them off my design wall! After that the table runners for our youngest daughter won my attention. The long one for her coffee table is an Eleanor Burns Day & Night two colour pattern, and the two end table runners are made from the leftovers. She really wants them and has been waiting since we bought the fabric in April (2012). I had to put the year as I have projects that have been waiting much longer for my attention! Anyway, all three runner tops are now complete. This coming week I will try to get the runners layered and quilted, then there will just be the binding to do with the funny corners and I will have them done (hopefully in time for show & tell at my October guild meetings). The "funny corners" have a square (1 cm x 1 cm) clipped out, so when I do the binding I have to make a regular outside mitred corner, then an inside corner and then another regular corner. It wouldn't be so bad if they were spread out a bit more, but they are really jammed together. Hopefully I will have pictures by next week to show how they turned out. I only have three weeks left of my vacation, so I better get moving! So many projects and so little time! Have a great week!