Lots of not doing too much

Oh my.... it's been over a month since my last post??? Time sure does fly! And I don't really have much to show. I have been working a little on my secret project (I have talked about this before, sorry not to be able to show!), I have finished cutting up my jelly roll for Mon Ami - the lePetite project for January

I only pieced 13 of the 48 blocks so far - I want to use up the JR so there will be more blocks than there are in the original quilt. Since this is very much a project in slow work, I haven't even gotten around to thinking about the project for February... really not sure I'm going to do that one.

Know I'm probably the slowest hand quilter in the world. I still can't believe I got talked into quilting this by hand:

Remember it? It is a swap block quilt from 2007. I was good for a while and quilted about one thread a day for a few months, but once I had quilted about 2/3 of the blocks I put it in the cupboard because I had to focus on other stuff, and it was stuck there till last December when I brought it with me for Christmas holiday. I have set a goal of keeping this on the sofa till it's finished!

Progress has been made over the last few weeks. I still have five and a half setting triangles and one corner left to quilt, then I can go hunting for the perfect binding - woohoo! :o)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

First little finish

Wohoo! I have a finish for 2011!! December's LePetite project, and it really is petite *lol* This is how my little Prairie Point Christmas quilt turned out:

It is ca. 8"x6" finished, and was a great opportunity to use up some very small scraps, but very fiddly to put together and quilt. It is now on it's way to a non-blogging quilting friend, and hopefully it will come to use come Christmas :o)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

LePetite

I didn't get around to finishing the December LePetite in time for the deadline, but I hope to have it finished in a few days, and also have this month's project finished by the end of this month. Think I can do it? The centre of the top is finished:

It is quite a lot smaller than the original. I started out with 1.5" squares for the prairie points, and I have fewer rows. But I think it turned out pretty cute so far - just need to figure out what to do for borders.

For this month's LePetite - the "Mon Ami" Schnibble - I'm using a jelly roll of Jennifer Chiaverini's New Year's Quilt collection for Red Rooster. I have had this roll and some yardage in my stash for quite a while and I figured what better use of it than the first quilt of the year?

Four first blocks are together, and using the Easy Angle ruler they are quick to cut.

The blocks turn out a bit bigger than Carrie's pattern, as the HST are 2.5" rather than 2", but I don't want to trim them down, and I don't mind a larger quilt.

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Butter Churn - finished

Actually I had planned a part 2 before the finished post, but once the blocks were pieced this little project came together a lot quicker and easier than I had thought. The top was all done by bedtime last night



Finished it measures 16" - and in that square there are 284 little pieces - yikes! As I mentioned I wanted to make another cushion for the sofa, and this is how it turned out

For this one I quilted a quick and simple loop d'loop meandering. It is backed it with a neutral fabric and turned and stuffed through one of the sides rather than making a pocket at the back. I then tied the centre and added a button covered with a scrap of one of the fabrics I had used in the patchwork.

Happy girl :o)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Butter Churn - part 1

It has been quiet on this blog lately, and the explanation is that I really haven't been sewing much. But I have made a start on this month's Le Petite project: "Butter Churn" by Sherri Falls of This & That



As with last month's project I have made a dive into the scrap bag, and make a mini with some of the smaller pieces I have hoarded. Each of these 16 blocks finish at 3". Cute and fun - and I have a feeling there's another cushion on the go here :o)

Now I need to scavenge up some pieces for the scrappy border and get everything together, and hopefully finished by the end of the weekend...

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Paganimini - finished

Pretty happy with it ;o) It finished 18" square before I chucked into the washing machine - then it shrunk about an inch. Since it is so small I used a thinner thread than I usually do for quilting - not sure that was a good idea - it didn't wash too well... but done is done, and I have learned something!

And no matter what I had lots of fun playing with the quilting! I have gotten a bit bored with my usual stippling so I wanted to try something different, and this was a great practice sandwich! A close-up of a corner



As I mentioned in a previous post I didn't really know what to do with this project, but I found I had a pillow form in my cupboard, so another sofa cushion wouldn't be out of the way. When I added the binding I stitched an "envelope" to the back of the quilt, and tucked the pillow form inside - after it had been properly shrunk in the wash - and this is now how it looks



Happy me! ... and I know I really need to re-cover that blue bolster cushion one of these days...

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Paganimini - quilting and having loads of fun :o)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Paganimini

Yes, I do know the name of this month's "Le Petite..." project is "Paganini", but...

On the one hand:

1. I really want to try to make all the little projects Sherri and Sinta has picked for this year
2. I really loved "Paganini" from the moment I saw a picture on Carrie's blog.
3. I had fabric more or less all picked from my stash.

On the other hand:

1. I really don't have much time for another project at the moment,
2. The fabrics I had picked didn't really inspire me once I sat down to cut them up,
3. I don't know what to do with the quilt once it's finished (bad argument since I have made so many quilts without having a purpose for them, but sometimes it is a block in the creative process)
4. I'm running low on batting and I can't prioritize batting shopping at the moment...

Get the picture? Everything negative started piling up in my head! Then I gave it one more thought... what if I dug into my scrap box for some little pieces, and used them as leaders/enders while working on other projects? If it didn't work out, I could always save the pieces for some other scrap project. At the moment we have:

Cute, aren't they? *lol* My blocks are made from 2.5" scrap squares, and 1.25" light squares so my quilt will be about the quarter size of the original - hence the name "Paganimini" *lol* I have high hopes of having the at least the top together by deadline - perhaps even quilted and bound?
Happy quilting!
Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Ironing board

For a year I have been eagerly reading Sherri and Sinta's "A Year of Shnibbles" posts, but never got around to join in. This year they are doing "Le Petite...A Year of Small Projects" - me gonna join this year?



They are starting off the year with a new cover for your ironing board. Hmmm... Let's have a look at mine:



There are actually two store bought covers on there, and you can see the metal straight through both of them...



over the last couple of months I have used a bath towel on top ...starting to get a bit brownish...



I stripped it down, and see how those covers look on the inside - no wonder it has been a burnt smell in the room whenever I have been pressing!

I definitely need a new one!!! Ok, I have gone through 1-2 covers pr year on an average the last six years, so I don't want to put too much work into it - and I don't want any embelishments getting in the way when pressing or ironing - so a simple one piece cover it is! I dug up a fabric that look a bit patched from my stash, attached four layers of batting and a cord, and this is how it looks now

It even matches my steam iron! *lol* Me a happy girl!!!

Have a fab Sunday!

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida