More Scrap Play.

 This week has been busy with family commitments and not as much time for stitching. I have been able to use a few spare minutes to play and sort more scraps and I've started to join the 2 inch half square triangles into the format for a new quilt. I need to finish quilting the top that's still on the quilting machine but I can only quilt when my DD's sleep and work patterns allow so I hope to get it done soon.
   In the meantime I'm sorting through more scraps and making more 2 inch half square triangles.
  I'm back to work again tonight so not much stitching for a little while but the scraps will still be there. Lol
Hugs, Jan Mac

Building Blocks.

 Not a lot of stitching this week due to a busy week of paid work and sleep. I did manage to work on using up more scraps by using them to build more blocks. I've been making quite a few 2 inch half square triangles and have chosen a pattern for them. I need at least 620 of them so there's still a lot to go but I've made a start at joining them together. These measure 3.5 inches in size so they will be 3 inches when 4 are sewn together. It' s a great way to use up scraps.
  I've also made a few more of my paper pieced blocks as well. Hopefully I'll have time to finish quilting that top soon. Oh and I have more older UFOs to finish too. Just as soon as I've caught up on my sleep again.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Not Another UFO.

 I really wanted to finish this quilt so it doesn't become another UFO. I finished sewing the blocks together and attached the borders. It really should have been easy to finish it with the quilting as I'd also pieced the backing fabric.
  Unfortunately my quilting machine was having a bad day. First it kept breaking thread and then when I advanced the quilt I found I wasn't happy with the tension of the stitching underneath. So I spent the rest of my quilting time taking out two rows of quilting. I did manage to make a few adjustments and quilt another row but I'm not really happy with that either so it can sit and wait while I go off to my paid job. I'm determined to get it done and will leave it on the machine until it's quilted. It's disappointing as I have the Split Nine Patch top to quilt as well but there will hopefully a better result later in the week.
Hugs, Jan Mac

I've Changed My Mind.

 I only needed to make 5 more of these Sarah's Choice blocks so I had enough for a top. However when I looked at the 20 blocks set 4 by 5, I decided that it would be a better size for an adult if I made 4 more blocks and added another row. This will give me a setting of 4 by 6 blocks and with borders will be better suited for an adult. I've chosen more masculine greens, browns and some yellows so it will be suitable for a male if I donate it.
   As I still have plenty of fabric it didn't take long to make four more blocks. I plan on adding the borders before work tomorrow. If it's not too hot I might even get it quilted.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Work, Sleep, Dance.

 It's been a very busy week with working nights, sleeping to recover and then traveling to Melbourne. I took another set of finished curtains down for DD and she was happy with them. I have two more sets to make for the bedrooms and then I can take a break for a bit as they haven't finished the Painting the rest of their home yet.
From there we went in to the city and saw the stage show, Strictly Ballroom. We both really enjoyed it despite a late night trip home again.
 Today was spent on making some more of these Sarah's Choice blocks. I plan on making 20 and hope to get it finished in the next day or so before I need to work nights again.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

Scrap Play and Building Blocks.

 In between curtain making I took some time to sort more scraps and make more blocks for future projects. These are 4.5 inch long scraps which are less than 1 inch wide and I'm just sewing them together as random strips, making the squares 4.5 inch in size (4inch finished).

These are blocks from one of Bonnie Hunter's (Quiltville) design from Quiltmaker magazine. I paid $2.99 for the online magazine copy. The pattern is called Wild and Goosey and the squares measure 3.5 inches (3inch finished). They are put together with 1.5 inch joining strips and a corner square but they would also look cute just using the squares.

These are some new squares for a new project and measure 2.75 inches. I had a few minutes so it was good to work with some new fabric and not just scraps. I need 144 of these half square triangles and have made 60 so far.
  I'm back to work again tonight so hope to get some more work done on the curtains first. The weather has been a bit cooler which has been a help for those bigger jobs. I'm enjoying working with my scraps but these patterns don't use up much fabric.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Playing With Scraps.

 I was supposed to be making curtains but I started sewing some of my scraps while the family slept and then found it was too much fun to stop. I printed out the patterns yesterday and I'm surprised at how such tiny pieces of fabric are still useable. The squares measure 3 inches finished and there are 17 pieces in each 3 inch square. I've decided to alternate the position of light and dark in alternate squares and it's becoming a memory quilt as I'm working with lots of scraps from previous quilts. I'm joining 4 of the blocks together so I have something I can show but also mix up the fabrics as I make new blocks. These pieces are really small enough that you would normally discard them but they are fun to work with and the curtains will have to wait a bit.
I've made 18 squares so far and still have plenty of scraps although I have less light fabrics than any others. I want to get another UFO done too but these are fun to make when I only have a little time to sew.
Hugs, Jan Mac