Hand Sewing WIPS

The trouble with hand sewing is that it's slooooow, which doesn't make for lots of photo opps. So you see, I haven't been slacking off the last few weeks, it's just that most of my sewing has been by hand. I'm working like mad to get Waif's "Fenced In" quilt finished before the cold nights set in. Plus adding the odd few hexagons to my charm quilt here and there. I tend not to make much progress on EPP in the darker months, because I find I need natural daylight to be able to see well enough to sew them together and there's not enough of that to be had :-(

Anyway, here's some work-in-progress shots of Fenced In (apologies for the scruffy basting threads that I haven't yet removed!):





And a little one of my charm quilt. I am about two-thirds of the way round the next "ring":



And I have added borders to Harry's name banner. Next job to get this quilted, which I will probably do by machine:



And yes, I have been continuing with the ICAD Challenge. I have even been following prompts from Tammy. Here's "scissors":



And this one's "zebra" (although it does look somewhat like a stripy cow I know!):



I think I may tackle "pineapple" next :-)

Paint, Stamp, Stick, Sew

Well, I've been a bit more creative this last few days, I think!

For my index cards, I prepped up a bunch of cards with gesso and acrylic paint, then each day picked out a card and added stamps, collaged bits, words etc. This was a fun way to work, cos it's not practical to paint every day (I make such a mess!) but I like the depth a painted background adds to what I make. Anyway, have a look:



Sewing wise, I have made a start on the last of my niece/nephew name panels. This one is for my youngest nephew, baby Harry:



I have to add borders, then quilt and bind but I've done the tricky letter making bit, and love how it looks. Something about the way the "a" sits next to the "H"...

Otherwise, I have been beavering away hand quilting "Fenced in". I am quilting with big stitches in pearl cotton, and *hoping* to get it done with the next month or so ready for the winter but we'll have to wait and see. Hand quilting should not be rushed I feel :-). At least, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it!

ICAD Challenge - October

Another month of the ICAD Challenge..?



...oh, go on then!

Index cards and....well, that's it really

It's been two weeks since my last blog post and I don't have a lot to report...seem to have lost my sewing mojo somewhere. Anyone seen it?

But I have continued with the ICAD Challenge and here's a few of my favourite recent cards:



Maybe normal service will resume soon.

Checkin in with the Challenges

Another ring added to my Hexalong project:




That's 331 hexagons stitched together. Phew.

And, yes, I've been continuing with the ICAD Challenge:



As you can see, I haven't really stuck to much of a theme with these ones and I did (shock horror!) even miss one day, though still on track to complete 25 for September :-)

Now all I need to do is start on something for the Christmas Through the Year Challenge for September. I am feeling a bit uninspired :-(

Seeing Red

I've gone with a red theme for my most recent index cards:



I did prep 7 index cards with red acrylic paint, thinking I would do a week's worth of red cards, but I feel all red-ed out now so maybe I'll save them for later.

I thought I'd better share a bit of sewing, just in case you thought I'd forgotten this was meant to be a sewing blog. Here are a couple more blocks for my Liberated Wife quilt:




I love the "Waste Not" block but not so keen on Linoleum...I think it's the colour of the solid I used. It's just a bit too pinky pink. Meh.

I am still beavering away at my hexagon charm quilt, I have about 6 or 7 more hexagons until I have completed the next light coloured round. I have had to raid my mum's stash tho, cos running short of light colours, so not sure what I will do when I get to the next round! Maybe a white/cream charm pack..?

That's all, folks.

It's Over - The ICAD Challenge Summer 2011

Stackin up the ICADS

My cards:



Buddha statue in the garden looking after my cards:



All of our cards:



Gman's cards:



Only 10 more days to go! Eeeek!

Let the Liberation Begin!

Well, I made it to the Festival of Quilts and yes, it was awesome and no, one day wasn't enough. But this year I prioritised seeing the exhibition quilts (I did take photos, but not sure of the copyright issues of putting them on the interwebs) over and above checking out all the stalls, so came home with a relatively modest amount of stuff:



Mostly some delicious Kona solids from the Simply Solids stall, plus a spotty Kaffe layer cake, and a charm pack...and yes, I succumbed to the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book! I have been studying the blocks and a lot can be liberated by using corner cover triangles for HST and flying geese type units; or cut wonkily by stacking fabrics; and some could be made conventionally but oversized and then wonkified by recutting on the slant. It's going to be a fun project for sure :-)

And I made a start on it today. Here are my first two blocks. First up, Autumn Tints:



As you can maybe tell, I messed up with the placement of my four patches, but ho-hum, this is a liberated version and I like the way they look, so I won't be getting out the seam ripper!!

Second up is Big Dipper:



Love how it turned out :-)

I can't quite believe that I have managed to keep up with the ICAD challenge, although I admit some days it hasn't been easy:



and then the boys show me up with their creativity (first by Gman, second by Waif):



We will definitely keep going until the end of August. But after that, I think we will all be desperate to create something BIG!

Unruly Nephew (and Wife?)

True to my promise to myself, I have made a start on my next present for Allie's Christmas Through the Year challenge. I am making name panels for all my nieces and nephews using Unruly Quilter Tonya's techniques. You can see previous panels here, here, here and here. This one is for my second eldest nephew, Charlie:



As you can see, it's not quilted yet. I think I will have to keep the quilting pretty simple given the crazy nature of the background fabric!

And, then I have this Unruly Farmer's Wife thing going on in my head. You will probably have seen all over blogland, peeps taking part in the Farmers Wife Quiltalong. Now, I don't really *do* making other people's quilt patterns, or following rules and templates but I keep seeing the blocks and thinking "ooh, that could be free pieced". So now I'm thinking "how about a liberated/free pieced/wonky farmers wife quilt?". And I could call it the Unruly Wife, which would be much more up my street!! I'm still thinking about it...but it is growing and growing in my head :-)

And I realised I haven't blogged about the ICAD Challenge for a while. I have still been creating an index card a day, although I admit it is getting harder to know what to do each time! Here's a few recent ones:

Cards inspired by my love of quilts:


Doodley ones:



Favourite poetry:


Cards reflecting my spiritual journey:


But of all the index cards I have made, none of them make me smile as much as this one made by my six year old son, Waif:



I love it!