Linen

 I hAve made one lavender sachet so far.  

It smells wonderful.  

I have a few more ready to be sewn,

I had a leftover piece of linen about four inches wide, So I am just marking off squares along it and hope to do a few more.

Speaking of linen, we just got in some linen and cotton linen fabrics at the shop. I am intrigued by these fabrics. Of course you see Linen used a lot in small sewing projects.

I got this book last week and it has some really cute things in it, 

Such as this pencil case

And this apron,

They both seem like doable projects. I think I might try washing the linen first before using it and see what the texture will be like, whether it will change at all. I'm thinking this fabric will be wonderful to use in tote bags as well.

Deirdre will be here in a week or two and she does screen printing on fabric, I'm looking forward to her opinion on these fabrics as well.

good Morning,

This is just a quick post before we drive up to Hardeeville to meet my Brother in law for a BBQ lunch!
Projects are progressing here, I even have a finished project!  It is sort of appropriate to post this on a friday, as I saw on another blog the acronym TGIFF, or "Thank God it's Finished Friday"

 This is the linen table runner I was working on earlier this week.  I found a nice easy crocheted edging to add, and I was quite happy with the results.  It just needs a longer, or shorter table to go on.

 I washed it in the washing machine, and laid it out flat to dry.  The edging is a linen yarn, so I was quite sure it wouldn't shrink.  I might try another one of these.
I was also inspired to do a bit of actual machine quilting as well, so I hauled out this top that I had pieced in November.....

progress indeed....
who knows, maybe if I get the binding on quickly I'll have two TGIFFs!

progress on x and plus quilt

I had a pretty productive sewing time yesterday!  I worked on the x and plus blocks that I'd started the other day with the pale turquoise and taupe and grey fabrics.  Most of them are from "Hometown", by Sweetwater, for moda. 
The block uses these shapes that have connector corners that flip back.  Usually I trim away the extra fabric behind the top triangle, but because these are white, I left them there so that the seam wouldn't shadow through to be visible.  It doesn't add too much bulk in the seams, and I'm pretty sure I won't be handquilting through the layers!

When I set the blocks side by side to see how they would look together, they seemed sort of darkish.  I wanted to get more of the light fabric into the design, so I thought about adding some sashing between the blocks. I decided to piece the sashing with more of the dark fabric to amplify the pattern.  I think I like it, although it is a little different from what I had expected when I first started sewing the blocks.  However, I have to remind myself to be open to what happens, even if I have to see it as a different kind of quilt. 

I wasn't expecting it to be as dark as it's turning out to be.  the + designs are very dominant.  It reminds me of the snowball-ninepatch combination,

like this one by Bonnie Hunter, found here

I really like those quilts, and have made one before, but I like this effect too.
Still thinking about getting an overall lighter effect, I placed some of my leftover  (partway through, I changed my mind from making 30 blocks to 20 blocks) sections together to see what they'd be like as a border.

I'll have to think a bit more about that, and welcome any input you might have...

On another note, this is what I came home with the other day after shopping!

 Some Alexander Henry fabrics, and some others, including more of the beige linen! yay, they had more.  Also I went to the yarn store, called "Wild Fibre" to get a bit more of the red that I need for the scarf I have in progress, and some beautiful shell pink that I'm thinking of using for a cushion cover,
Isn't it strange how even when you are shopping for various projects, the elements often seem to go together really nicely?