Scraps here, scraps there....

scraps seem to be everywhere! And as I need an orderly place to work for myself the scrap boxes seemed to bother me because they were popping up in every corner of my working space. Reading about the many scraps projects I took stock of mine and started to work on it. That it would take a couple of more hours than expected didn´t bother me at all, because now everything is in a very tidy order, new (scrap)projects being planned and everything is now very easy to find.

I had two big boxes full of fabric scraps, some small, some big. I cut them into the following categories: 5x5 cm squares, 10x10 cm squares, 4 cm stripes, 6 cm stripes, fabric patches bigger than 15x15 cm and heavier fabrics than can only be used for accessoires (most of them from fabric swatches for upholstering).

The weather being again very bad it was the perfect thing to do and I am very happy about the result - although, it will probably take another year of scrap cutting until I have enough to make a quilt of it. But I will also try the use them in between on other projects, for appliqueing e.g., we´ll see.

small blog meet

I´ve linked up to Small Blog Meet on Lily´s Quilts blog - a fantastic idea for bloggers yet unknown (such as me) and to see more unknown blogs, link up to them, visit them. Thanks for that, Lily!!

And I finally updated my pages, added one called baby quilts - which I love to do. But after three baby quilts in a row I will be off to bigger ones this weekend - I´ll keep you up to date!

Flapping pinwheels

A call from a friend that I only get to meet once or twice a year got me on my feet to make a baby quilt as the baby´s already due in February (I am soooo happy for her!!). At the time I got her call I also got the newsletter from Southern Fabrics, an online fabric store in the US. 

I do not order fabrics there but they have great tutorials, a very creative blog (http://www.southernfabric.blogspot.co.at) and a lot of fresh ideas and things that make your fingers itch (well, they do that to mine).

When I saw the pinwheel quilt I knew that I wanted to make this block, combine it with another one I saw in a book. I really love to hand quilt but I know that I must practise machine quilting (which is not easy with my small home sewing machine). And practise I did - see for yourself.

I only have to quilt four more blocks, add the binding, a blue-white striped fabric and wait for the babys´name and date of birth.

PJ day extended

There was no storm yesterday but first it was drizzling and then pouring rain all day long, perfect for my PJ day. As it is no different today, I will continue doing leizurely work in my PJs until lunch time. These are yesterdays´ results for the mystery quilt "Surprise Box".

We have 5 different squares so far, any guesses? One more square to go (in February) and then in March the mystery should be unraveled. A long time to wait......

In the meantime I´m working on my Valentines Day Quilt, yesterday I cut the squares (fabric is from Makower, Essentials collection - I bought the fabrics last year at the Sew North Quilters´Gatherin in Inishown, Ireland). Today I will sew them together and cut the squares with curves. To be continued......

PJ day and mystery quilt part 4

Jiipeehh, tomorrow is PJ day! Once a month I do a pyjama day, meaning I spend the whole day at home, in my pyjamas and don´t go outside at all. I do that when the weather forecast is exceptionally bad (tomorrow´s supposed be a stormy and snowy day here). 

Breakfast will be very, very long (2 coffees instead of one), croissant (instead of nothing) and magazines and newspapers. After that I will do some planned projects (sewing) or reading or whatever comes along. And everything at a very slow pace, no rush at all. My Mum will come for lunch so I will spend some time cooking (which I love to do, but don´t do often enough). In the afternoon again whatever comes the way (but nothing that I usually don´t like to do, only likeable things).

Tomorrow I´ll be sewing the triangles for our mystery quilt part 4. I already cut them this afternoon. After that I´ll start a new quilt, a pixel-quilt for Valentines day. And as I already did a pixel quilt (owl Lilly), I will try to upgrade this one with curved squares, as shown in the book by Angela Pingel, A Quilter´s Mixology. So I hope the curves will be as easy as they say in all those books and all the blogs, I´ll keep you posted anyway. 

By the way, I love this book - I seem to grow wings, whenever I look into it!!

 

pink and green

I sewed this pillow for a little girl who is going to turn 8 this week, again with jeans scraps and other fabric strips, left over from other sewing projects. Her favourite color is pink, her room is Granny Smith apple colored. It was fun to sew the stripes and hoped that the green stripe would cross exactly and I think it turned out well. Why can´t office work be so much fun?

 

New year, new projects

When we visited the exhibition of the Klagenfurt Quilt Group last December we also went to the fabric store "Happy Home" which isn´t really a store but a huge warehouse, full of fabrics of all kinds, battings, buttons and everything else needed for sewing. 

I love to roam around in that hall and it takes almost up to 2 hours until I get to the cashier with my cart full of fabric rolls (they cut them on the counter). Those fabrics are not the latest collections or from famous designers. Nevertheless I always go home with a huge bag full of fabrics for my next projects. The thing is, those fabrics cost a third of the normal price, warehouse selling. Especially for backings those fabrics are perfect for. And I bought some Christmas fabrics for "this" years christmas projects, already planned.

jeans fabrics for a quilt and for some bags

 christmas fabrics for quilts and small bags

 and fabrics for baby quilts, 2 are already in progress