Oma's Blues- I've started!

A new sewing week and hardly anything else in the diary this week at all. All my fabrics are washed and pressed, I have all the notions I need, so, no more excuses, I'll start Oma's Blues.

I traced all the elements of the centre straight onto the Wash-Away appliqué sheets. These are cut out now and put into separate plastic bags. Some of them are so tiny that I'm afraid of losing them.
My first real sewing is the round border for the medallion. This is pieced from alternating light and blue triangles. I traced the ring onto the sheets which I had joined together, numbering the triangles. I separated the sheets and cut the arcs of the circle with a rough ¼" border. The fabrics I chose are a pale blue and a dark blue and white flower print from the Oriental Blue fabric range from Makower. If you are sharp you will notice I have reversed the placement of the dark and light fabric. I would like to say this is a design element but truthfully I got them the wrong way round and there is no way I am doing the circle again!

I will finish the circle today and trim the fabrics to ¼" from the triangle points. I am undecided about the technique I will choose to turn the seam allowance under. Leah Day has a You Tube video where she makes a template from bonded sheets of freezer paper. The strengthened template is inserted behind the fabric and then the edges are turned with starch and pressing before the template is removed. The turned edges are then sprayed and pressed again. The alternative is to snip the inside circle, apply glue stick to the back of the Wash-Away sheet and turn the edge to stick down which is a technique used by Lynette Anderson. Advice has been offered on the Esther Aliu Yahoo group for both methods but I may go for the more time-consuming template method as it is said to give a smoother curve.

The weekend passed so quickly. My granddaughter Isobel turned 2 and came to stay with my daughter and the rest of the family. Aunties, Uncles and cousins arrived along with the other grandparents and we had an old fashioned birthday tea with cake and jelly and then a couple of party games. The adults all stayed for supper too so it was a very full day.

So by my next post I hope to have finished the ring, prepped the white fabric square and started on making a few of the elements for the centre.

Time flies (when you're having fun)

Where does the time go? I had not found the time to write a post for just over 2 weeks and I had been feeling terribly guilty. Then I remembered why I was blogging (as a diary of my quilting/crafting) and not necessarily for anyone else. It is wonderful that I have friends both in the real and the internet world who take the time to read and occasionally comment on what I have written. Please bear with me if there is a gap in my posts in the future. Life just gets chock a block full with some good things and then again, with some bad. This month has been particularly trying with health issues in my close family which are hard to deal with. However, I have kept busy with projects and support from friends.

Where to start?

I went to a fun UFO day with a local group called Cutting Edge in Ystradowen Village Hall.  There are photos of the day on the link. I had several small projects to finish including a Christmas stocking which needs to be ready for early December for a sewing bee competition. I did a simple quilted front and a saw-tooth star appliqué on the back. The stockings will be donated to the local children's hospital. I plan to trim the top with some white "fur" or gold ribbon when I get the time.

I am trying to keep up to date with the English Flower Garden BOM but I am still avoiding September's block as the background consisted of a set in circle. I'll leave that one until the New Year. Instead I went full steam ahead with October's block- a rose. The pieces have been applied with bondaweb and I machined the raw edges at Ystradowen. I am going to unpick it though as I do not like the spiky stitch I used. Too much talking and not enough thinking going on!
 I will probably do a fine blanket stitch by hand but it is still to be finished.

 I decided that I would make a Christmas tree quilt for the sitting room as I have had a charm pack of Aspen Frost by Basic Grey for Moda hanging around since last year. The fabric designs appealed as they were traditional but in a more modern colour palette.

I am teaming the Aspen Frost fabrics with a Kona Bay basic white which has a subtle white on white fleck(not sure what it is as I lost the selvedge). I found the pattern, Oh, Christmas Tree,  on the Moda Bakeshop website. It is simple yet effective and should be good to snuggle up under on the sofa in front of the fire.
The 4.5" HST blocks were made yesterday and trimmed to size. I will be sewing them together this afternoon.

I think this will be a fun quilt for the sofa. I just need to get the backing fabric and wadding now.

It was my birthday yesterday so I had a day off from sewing. Breakfast in bed with my cards and presents, pre-lunch fizz and canapés then a delicious lunch at Pier 64 in Penarth with friends. I am so lucky to have my lovely girl friends. Mike says I am not to get too used to the breakfast in bed!

And finally, I had almost forgotten about the fab giveaway I won when a package arrived from Vicki of A Quilter's Mission. The giveaway was to celebrate her 200th blog post. A pre-birthday surprise full of quilting treats just for me. Vicki had even made me a cute strawberry pincushion. Thank you so much, Vicki. I have followed Vicki's blog for a few months now. She posts regularly (unlike me, lol) and has a ton of fun finished projects and always something on the go.

  

Until the next time,

Catherine