Friday, November 24, 2017

Scrappy mats

I tend to work on several projects simultaneously and of course my sewing table tends to end up in a riot of colour with half finished lengths and left over scraps everywhere. When I had finished a quilt top I have yet to share here I started sorting through the scraps and found that I had cut too many squares for the flying geese. I had 35 squares left and laid them out in rows, 5x7 and realized that this would be just the right size for a placemat. Before I had finished the thought I was sewing and in no time at all the placemat was there.
While I was at it I also stitched the remaining narrow strips from that project together, adding a few extras and ended up with four mug rugs. Now that's the kind of tidying up I like!

Grey and yellow tablecloth

As I was sorting and folding fabric one day I noticed that I had quite a few pretty yellow ones that went well together and I started pulling them out and looking for other colours that could go with them. I decided on that true and trusted combo of grey and yellow. I ended up with a pretty stack that lay on my table for weeks while I waited for inspiration.
I picked a length of Kona Snow to go with them and eventually cut squares from all the vellows and grays, adding a wedge of white to each square, stitched on at varying angles. I tend to find improv quite challenging, but this was not too bad and I quite liked the finished result.
I thought this would make a nice tablecloth, so I quilted it in big loose curls, using a thin batting to give it a nice drape. I had a piece of grey with a pattern of yellow dots that worked well for the back, and just needed a bit of the unexpected to finish it. After searching through my stash for ages and not finding anything, my gaze fell upon a strip of leftover pink Bali from another quilt I'm working on and that proved to be just right as a finishing touch.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Dotty purse

I found this Jelly Clip Purse frame from Lecien at a show a while back, and one day I just decided that the right time for using it was now. It came with a pattern and in no time at all I had cut the pieces, stitched the darts and stitched the pieces together. It took a bit of poking to glue the purse into the frame, but it wasn't too difficult. The most complicated parts were in fact choosing the fabric and deciding to start, which just proves that one should just do it!
And that goes for quilting too - I have been quiet here for a while, but there might be more sharing now, just wait for it...

Open out

I had to try my hand at the Open-out Box Pouch by Aneela Hooey a while ago, just forgot to share the evidence. I must admit I struggled a bit with the zipper, ripping and restitching a few times, but after basting it in place before stitching I finally succeeded.
I really like the design, though, as it works as a tray with easy access to your sewing gear while working and closes to a flat pouch, so I might make more of these now that I know how.