End of June BOMs Away

Not a lot of sewing going on in my fun room over the past week or so as I sort and organize and get ready for the move back to Nova Scotia.  It's always a bit sad to pack up all my wonderful fabrics and tools and gadgets and must haves that don't often get used ;)  But than I remember all the wonderful fabrics and tools and gadgets and must haves that don't often get used waiting for me at home!  Plus, if I'm honest, most of the lovelies travel with me :)  Who needs clothes ;)
Not much sewing = lots of EQ7 practice.  I decided to use my currant BOMs as exercises for EQ7.  So far I've only tackled pieced blocks, drawing paper pieced and applique/embroidery blocks are a little beyond my skill set, but I hope to tackle them one day.
The only haven't-been-posted-yet BOMs are the blocks for Dear (Grand) Daughter.  Chapter 6 was a short one, and since I haven't settled on the words and how I'm going to do them (I'm thinking embroidery, my latest add on obsession) the full 'chapter' isn't put together.  But the blocks are :)

EQ DD Block 25

DD Block 25 x 4

EQ DD Block 26

DD Block 26 x 3

The rest I've posted before :)  None of the EQ blocks are my design, I copied them from the pattern/tutorials  purely as an exercise to build my knowledge of the various tools in the EQ program.

Aurifil Designer BOM of the Month (May), Cups and Saucers by Amy Friend of  During Quiet Time.

Maple Stack, June's block for Sugar Block Club, hosted by Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock.

Rockpool, Block 12 of Modern HST Sampler, hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts.

Garden Path,  Block 5 of In Our Garden, hosted by Sew Incredibly Crazy.

Linking up with Lynette's BOMs Away at What a Hoot Quilts.  I hope you all enjoy the last days of June :)  I'll catch up with you from the 'other side of the pond' next month :)

Middle of the Week

Most of my projects are caught up and packed, except for Rainbow Rose (Week 4 instructions will be posted today) and Repeat.  a a i and u were posted on Monday and I got mine done yesterday.  The letters are 5 1/2" x 4 1/2" (i is 2 1/4" wide), paper pieced and came together quickly.  As with the eeeees last week, mine are scrappy... though not as scrappy as some others, who are making each letter multiple prints, soooo lovely.

a a i u

e

While sharing on instagram I saw some HST Sampler 2nd Quarter finishes and dug into my suitcase for my previous 5 blocks and fabrics for June 20th's block Rockpool.  Another quick come together, in spite of all the trimming.  The 2nd Quarter Link Up won't be until the end of July, as the hostess of HST Sampler has some real life stuff happening.  How dare she!!!  LOL
When I put all of the blocks up for a 'group' picture, I realized that my Intersection block (top right) is put together wrong.  The HSTs should all be turned so that there is a B/G (cream) X   LOL  I'll decide later (next month or never) if I'll 'fix' it.

Rockpool

Top = Pointed - Intersection
Center = Diagonal - Faceted Stripe
Bottom = Starshine - Rockpool

Linking up with Quilt Fabrication 

A Purple Finish

I finally got the zipper and pillow form for the Purple Butterfly cushion and got it put together over the weekend.  I quilted it with meandering stitches in the white and some decorative stitches on the border.  I left the paper pieced butterfly un-quilted because it has lovely texture as is.

The butterfly pattern is from The Tartankiwi and is excellent and reasonably priced.

I followed a May 6, 2013 Hidden Zipper Tutorial by Chrissie D for the zipper, perfect!

The cushion finished at a plump 18" and will be travelling to it's home in Cambridge over the weekend :)

Linking up with TGIFF at Arabesque Scissors.

Keep Busy Projects

Not much sunshine on this side of the pond so I've brightened up my sewing room with some 'keep me busy' projects.  On Monday the 'e' paper pieced pattern was released for Repeat, designed and hosted by Patty D at Elm Street Quilts.  Mine will be scrappy, another way to use up all my lovely scraps :)

Yesterday the tutorial for the 'corners' of Rainbow Rose was posted at Modern Quilters Ireland.  Another scrappy bit of brightness on my sewing table.  They came together quickly, so now I have time to watch the England V Wales game.  I say watch... but I'll likely be doing puzzles and listening ;)

   Linking up with Modern Quilters Ireland, I hope you all enjoy what your Thursday brings.  Be happy, stay safe and share some smiles :)

Ticking off June BOMs

I've been working away at my June BOMs, just one left really (Quilt Doodle 2016) and I should get that one done before I pack up my sewing room.  Left side, top to bottom = Modern HST Sampler - Starshine, Sugar Block Club - Maple Stack and In Our Garden - Garden Path, I'm not doing the applique block, I haven't been having much luck with my applique blocks so think I'll shelf them for the time being.  Right side = My Favorite Things - Knitting Needles and Crochet Hook, I did the 6" Blocks this month... can't decide which I prefer...  I was also the Sew Hooked Flickr winner for May and should have a charm pack of Moda La Belle Fleur, French General and two Texas themed charms waiting for me when I get home.

 I also got Maggie's First Dance Block 1 done.  I decided to try some Embroidery, keeping it simple.  It went much quicker than I remember :)  I think my 'Maggie' blocks will become mini's to brighten up a stairwell wall at home.

Linking up with Lynette's BOM's AWAY at What A Hoot Quilts.  I hope you all have a wonderful month of sewing goodness and find some time to share with others :)

A Finish and A Start

I had a couple of finishes this week and one almost finished and also added some hopefuls to my ever growing list.  Two of those I got a start on, the others start (or I'll get caught up with) after I'm back in Nova Scotia.  My return flight is July 3, so the next three weeks will be finishing up any loose ends on this side of the pond and packing.  I'm hoping I'll be able to fit all that I want to take home with me into my suitcase and carry on.  It'll be tight for sure, I may have to leave all of my clothes behind.

The Finish = Dreamcatcher, from issue Thirty Two of Love Patchwork and Quilting. (click on the label if you want to read past posts)  It's not perfect, anything with curves, templates and trying to match up small pieces never is with me.  The quilting gave me some grief and I ended up with several wrinkles quilted in... from a distance they look like seams ;)  I still may do some meandering quilting around the hoop and feathers and I need to decide what I will do about the 'string' tying the feathers to the hoop. BUT, it is mostly finished, even bound,  and on the wall.  I love it, wrinkles and all.  It adds a nice pop of color to a really plain room.  I guess it will stay on this side of the Pond :)

The Start = Summer Solstice, a QAL hosted by Happy Quilting and running from June 9 - September 15.  Lots of options regarding size/layouts, multiple sharing options (Flickr, Instagram, Link Ups) and prizes (if your into that). Plus it will be a quick QAL, a break from my normal 12 month BOMs and once a month QALs.
The Introduction and Fabric Requirements were posted yesterday and since I had some Fabric that didn't have a project, thanks to me taking the wrong slip of paper to one of my LQS', my selection was made a little easier.  Wanting to see if my fabrics would work with the pattern I did a Mock up of the pattern in EQ7, scanned my fabrics and played around.   It's great when a project gives me a chance to build on my EQ7 knowledge :)  I'm not 100% sold on the flower background... I might switch it up for something a little quieter.
I'm going to be making 3- 24" Blocks for a Bed Runner and 1- 20" Block for a Cushion.

Wednesday WiPs - June 8

Worked on a couple of projects today.  I got 32 Unit 1As and 32 Unit 1Bs sewn together for Just The Basics QAL, hosted by Leanne at Devoted Quilters  and 4 'Middles' done for Rainbow Rose QAL hosted by Modern Quilters Ireland.  I've been nursing a sore thumb for a few days and after the pressure from cutting yesterday and this morning the pain is shooting up my arm, time for a break I think :)

Linking up with Rainbow Rose QAL at Modern Quilters Ireland,   Let's Bee Social #128 at Sew Fresh Quilts  and Midweek Makers 123 at Quilt Fabrication.

Spool Star

I purchased this pattern a year or so ago, took it out several times and just couldn't get my head around it.  It just looked like a picture to me, one that had to be cut up and sewn back together x8, adding the seam allowance of course.  What the heck did I pay for when I actually had to make the pattern myself???  That ordeal alone had me in a sweat, several times.   I wasn't at all impressed with the pattern so won't link back to where I purchased it, suffice to say, I won't purchase from them again :)
Those spool ends are narrow!  That's what I'm blaming the miss matched seams on ;)  When I was finished I had an octagon, and contemplated not adding the corners, but in the end I went for the square look.  I free motioned a meandering stitch in the negative space and left everything else un-quilted.  I haven't attempted FMQ in a long long time, so I'm well pleased with this :)  End result  =  14 1/4" x 14 1/4" Mini for my sewing room wall.  I hardly notice those miss matched seams ;)

Dear (Grand) Daughter

Over the last few days I've been working on Chapter 5 of Dear (Grand) Daughter and this month I actually added a word!   I'll have to add something to the strip piece beside the crayons, maybe embroider 'your world' in bright colors. The crayons were a change up from dresden petal blocks.  I wasn't in the mood to moan my way through templates so decided to paper piece the smaller version of May's block for My Favorite Things... 4 times (2 for this Chapter and 2 for future Chapters).  I also changed the bottom right corner.  It was supposed to be an applique flower (I'm done with applique, it's just not my thing).  I made the star/pinwheel/kinda flower too small (errrrggggg at my shoddy block resizing skills) so added the border.  :)

Chapter 5 = 7 - 6" blocks 2 - 6"x 12" blocks and one 12" x 12" block.

Top = Chapter 5 & Chapter 4
Middle = Chapter 1 & Chapter 2
Bottom = Chapter 3

 I still have lots of stitching to do on the applique blocks... I really should stop procrastinating! And some words to add into those blank blocks, as soon as I decide WHAT words.  And Penny's name needs to be bolder, more like the COLOR block instead of the pink hearts (Chapter 1 top left).  But it's coming along nicely, very scrappy and purple :)

Woo Hoo, BOMs Away at What A Hoot Quilts has returned!  So pleased that Lynette has just been busy busy busy!  Linking up with BOMs Away