I need a binding

For this table runner, 

Which looks pretty good with the irises, 

Maybe a dark gray like on the vase, 

I was trying out the new Quilt Curve Ruler, which worked pretty well.  So well that I've started another project with it!  

One mini charm pack table runner

I finished the table runner that I mentioned a couple days ago. I wish I could come up with a better name for it, maybe something like floating squares. Anyway, it's composed from one many charm pack and a background fabric.

And the big news is that not only did I finish the table runner, but I have written up the Pattern for it. :)

That's the pattern right there,

This afternoon I'll be taking it to Staples and getting lots of copies made. You can get one for the low price of one dollar.

Oh yes, another thing is if you get three mini charm packs you can make three sections and sew them together for a really cute little baby quilt that would measure about 42" x 50". Yay.

It was so sunny this morning when I got up, and I saw this vase of delphiniums that I cut yesterday from the garden and they look so pretty in the light.

Mini charm squares

I'm not sure if you've noticed this new type of precut lately. They're called Mini charm packs and each square measures only 2.5" x 2.5"

There are still I think 40 in each pack like a regular size of a charm pack. They are so cute. And each one costs just a little more than one fat quarter.  Many times, people say, "what do you do with them."

This is a good question, and so I have put my mind to what to use for. Actually we do have one table topper displayed with our selection of mini charms: Jen sewed it up a little while ago. She used four patches and set them with some setting triangles and it makes a pretty nice sized piece.

I brought a few packs home last night to try to play with and figure out another option of what to do with them.

 I have one pack of "Comma" and two packs of "Sunnyside".  

I think part of the challenge will be to find a way to add a background fabric that will contrast with the whole range of light and dark fabrics in the charm pack.

I'm not sure if I'll have to take out some of the squares or whether I can use the whole pack in one project. I think I will revisit a table runner that I sewed last year, if you can guess which one that was!

On another note, I am still working away at my propeller blocks. Just about ready to sew them into four patches.

I hope you're having a great weekend, it's a bit chilly this morning here out in Asquith, but that's okay I'm going to sew.

Sunday at the Landings

The long tablerunner:

Today the time had come to quilt it.  I haven't been doing much sewing lately, having been much taken up with working with clay.

 However, I tidied up my sewing room and sat down and started to quilt.  It just has straight lines running it's length.  As you can see, I am halfway through binding it as well, having chosen a nice bright green that co-0rdinates nicely with the back.

 I also spent some time today transferring photos around from my ipad to laptop, and having a little fun with them.  This one is a part of the previous photo,  tweaked by the "pencil drawing" effect on the Picasa photo software,

 The mandevilla vine has started blooming, which is nice, having spent the last several months twining itself around the banister of the back deck,

 I took these photos a couple of days ago, when it was really nice out.  Today it is nice too, but very windy as we are waiting to see what the tropical storm Beryl plans to do.

 I am starting to get excited about returning to Saskatoon and my yard!

Saturday Morning Stock taking

Having rediscovered clay, my sewing time has been somewhat curtailed, but last night I did start a table runner.  I just discovered the StringThing quilt along blog and almost jumped into starting a full-sized quilt, but caught myself just before I started cutting strips.  
The idea for the pattern is from a free download on the moda free patterns page, here
this is the quilt:  

 It is called Modern Workshop, by Oliver and S:
 (Of course, I didn't look at the pdf of the instructions until just now, so I can see that I am sewing it in a whole different way, which I actually had thought of doing, but dismissed, since I thought for a table runner it would be easier to mix up a more limited range of fabrics if I sewed it this way, )
I just sewed 3 strip sets that are about 20 inches long, using 2-1/2" strips of fabric,-- 3 grey strips and 3 colored strips in each set:  (I'm using grey for where the white is in the one above)

 --cross cut them into 2-1/2" sections.  When I counted them up, there were 24 of them, and so I just pieced one more from squares to get 25, an odd number so that the corners would work out the same. 
To 13 of them, I added a colored square to the ends, and to the remaining 12, added a grey square to the ends.

 I put them up on the design wall, and see that there are quite a few of them, so i might have 2 table runners when I finish.  now I need to sew a grey strip between each of the pieced ones!!
In working on a knitted project, I am happy to report that I have been happily knitting along on my very simple stockinette stitch sweater.  (alliteration :) )

 I have all the main sections finished and am now doing the front band that gets sewn all around the front edges.  I am now avoiding the blocking of the pieces before it gets sewn together.... should I wash them and lay them flat? or lightly press them?

If you feel the need to see close-ups of my first batch of mugs, you can switch over to "my life in clay" blog, on the links in the sidebar!!

Batik Table Runner is in Use!

I'm safe and sound, back in Savannah after that whirlwind trip. 

Last Thursday, I took some photos of the table runner that I made from batiks:

 This lovely cream pitcher and bowl set is from Vallauris (sp?) France, where I got it a couple of years ago. 

 I thought the colors look so nice against the batiks!

 One of my sewing group friends and I spent some hours making these yo-yo and button flowers, more on that later!

 In the afternoon, my daughter stopped in with her beautiful little boy,

 Isn't he a sweetheart?

 Starting to get inquisitive....

New Works (in progress)

Yesterday (Monday) I spent with some friends, sewing!  Of course.
This is definitely the best part of being in Saskatoon-- seeing friends, whether at the store, or elsewhere.  So, I didn't have a particular project to take.  I contemplated the stack of quilts that have the bindings just waiting to be hand-stitched, and then reached for a stack of batiks and black and white prints. Then I threw in a jelly roll by French General that I've had for quite a while. 
When I got there, I had a heap of fabrics, but no clear plan....

 So, I tackled the jelly roll.  A while back the "jellyroll race" was popular.  It is done like this:
1. sew the strips all end to end, cut a little bit off one end, like 15 or 20 inches.   
2. cut this huge 40meter piece into two equal 20 meter pieces and sew them together. 
3. cut the 20 m piece into two, and sew them together, and so on until you have a rectangle that seems like a good shape for a quilt.

 This is what I arrived at.  I thought that the stripes would be going vertically, but was told that I probably had used some of my strips for something else, and so it turned out different.  Okay, I won't quibble, since this could be the real explanation.
I think that this piece needs a little more work before quilting it, but that will be for another day.
On to start "New Project number Two"
I was intending to make some black and white nine patches to work into some sort of table runner.  Somehow, what with chatting and sewing, and resting, and eating, I ended up with rectangular nine patches and some leftover strip set parts.  So, I turned them into 16 square chequerboards and sewed a row of batik around each of them.  There are 14.  This project needs a little more work as well, but that can be a job for another day.

 On to the Third New Project in Three hours!
I started with the purple batik, and some orange ones cut into 2-1/2" strips--( just the same width as the strips in a jelly roll!)  I sewed them into strip sets, and then added a 2-3/4" strip of black and white print fabric to the sides of each strip set. 

 Then I cut the strip sets into 2-1/2" sections and sewed them together in a staggered staircase sort of way. 

 I was sorta suprised at how long it turned out..
Here is another view...

 It is pretty long.

hello down there......

But that's okay!  I have a long table.
Today I decided that another day had arrived and I'd better do something with one of my 3 new Work in Progresses, and so I am quilting this one.  (I just added 1-1/2" strips of the purple batik around the edges. 

Being a bit more adventurous in my Free motion quilting these days, I am doing some sort of vine.

Well, how many new projects have you started this week so far????

Break from the quilt-- new tablerunner!

The weather yesterday was gorgeous.  I did some tree pruning in the yard and planted some violas in the planters, but still didn't want to come indoors.  So I did a bit of hand-work on the deck.  When I was doing the little flower blocks the other day, I had some petals left over.  (I had just attached fusible rectangles onto several fabrics and cut out a number of petals freehand)

 So I laid out all the leftover ones into a larger flower onto the corner of the piece of cream linen, which was about 18" x 56".  Nice size for a table runner!  I love table runners.  well, I love making them, but I do like to use them too, although I tend to forget what I have and use the same ones over and over.

After I hemmed the edges by machine, I wanted to add a crocheted edging. 

 First I used the large tapestry needle to do a blanket stitch all around the perimeter.  This took quite a long time!  certainly longer than I had anticipated.  Probably nearly 3 hours to do that.

 Then I used a size 2.75mm crochet hook to do a single crochet into each space.  this went a bit faster.

Now, I think I need to do some browsing to find a nice crocheted edging that isn't too difficult.  I've seen some on pillowcases, and places like that.  I don't have a whole lot of the linen here either, and I'm not too sure whether I have more of this color at home in Saskatoon.  I might have to set it aside for a while.  Or, maybe think about doing some stitching right onto the linen part-- right now it just has that one flower on it.  Monday again, hope you get to do lots of stitching this week!

A Little Bit of Sewing

I've done a little sewing while up here at the lake,

This is the center of the quilt for the new pattern Marmalade I mentioned earlier.  The blocks are a smaller size for this one so that there are still enough of them to make a nice repeating pattern layout.   I think that it would have also been nice to use a dull purple where the blue is.  I haven't trimmed it yet to add the borders, but I have to wait to get the fabric for them since I didn't have any with me when I came here. 
I also sewed together this table runner out of 6-inch stars, and although the colors are a bit different for me, I used some of my favorite fabrics from my stash and quite like the result.  Again, no borders yet. 

It's funny that I didn't bring border fabrics, because I did bring along some batting and backing in the event that i got to the quilting part.  But a funny thing happened when I was setting up my sewing machine.  The walking foot was on the machine, and when I took it off to replace it with the regular sewing foot, the whole thing just fell apart in my hand.  Yes, it came apart into 3 pieces, which did not seem to want to go back together into one piece again. 
However, I must confess, that much of my time has been spent by the fireplace: reading my new Sue Grafton book, knitting, doing a little hand stitching and exploring blog-land!!!

I hope that you are able to set aside some time for just relaxing before the holidays begin too!

Miscellaneous Stuff from today, the first of December!

Aren't these guys cute?  They are getting me into the December spirit now.  (vintage candles, found in my favorite antique store in Ithaca, NY)

This is the throw rug I acquired on Saturday at the Weaver's Guild Sale.  It is quite lovely, made by Jane Evans of Saskatoon.  I'm not quite sure what the thicker insertions are, but the rest of it is cotton, I think.

Today at the shop, Jean popped in and brought us this lovely hand made Christmas card.  It is really pretty, with ribbon "braided" in a very clever way, and sparkly red berries. 

 It looks great with the Christmas quilt Nancy made out of the Basic Grey fabrics!

 Jean also brought us chocolates last week.  No wonder we light up when she walks in. 

 I downloaded a pattern from the moda Bake shop, here,

The instructions are really good especially for a new quilter, with detailed photos at every step.  It's made from a charm pack so it sews up really fast.
I am making it in 2 colorways:

 and:

 Maybe I'll get the bindings on tonight, who can say.
Can't you just hear them singing Christmas carols?