Archie The Wonder Dog

This test block has been on my FAL list for a while now and I've just never got round to making it into a mini quilt.  This quarter ( Q4 FAL 2015 ), I was determined to cross it off! Here's how it looked at the start of the quarter (and at the start of several quarters before that!): The block is hand pieced and was made to test the templates for the block.  I (eventually) want to make a quilt using this block, in pale Oakshotts and pale grey backgrounds.  I have the fabrics, just not the time/energy to start! Impetus to finish this mini quilt came in the form of a new to me in the ditch/edge stitch sole plate for my walking foot (thanks, Sheila !) and a need to test it before I embarked on a bigger quilting project.  I quilted in all the ditches and found that the foot was great for straight ditches but not for curved ones, mainly because the design of the foot means that you can't see where the needle is going to land.  It's also easier if the ditc...

Back in July 2011, Lynne and Gayle started the Hexalong .  About a month later, I decided to join in and, just over four years later, I've finished the quilt!  (I'm not sure how many other Hexalong quilts have been started and/or finished but there are times when I've felt like the only one still plodding hexing along!) This was my initial fabric pull, bought from various UK shops: Not all of these fabrics made it into the quilt (second, fourth and fifth from left were culled) and lots more stash fabrics were added as I went along.  In the end, I used just over 60 different fabrics. This was the first hexagon I made: I found pieced hexagon patterns from all over (Lynne and Gayle's blogs, traditional quilt block books, my head) and decided what to make as I went along.  I took group photos at various stages to help keep me motivated (although that wasn't really necessary, I loved every minute of piecing these hexagons and was sad when I finished t...

Another item on my FAL Q3 list  was to turn these fabrics (half a metre of each) and this trim (all brought back from France by a friend) into a simple tote bag: I used this as another distraction activity while Archie was poorly but again I couldn't be away from him for long as the whines were really quite mournful and he kept getting distressed.  I'd like to blame this for a certain 'design feature' inside the bag...you'll see what I mean in a moment! I decided to keep the bag as simple as possible, just a straightforward tote bag for carrying parcels to the post office, etc. and so I kept nipping upstairs to cut fabric or sew a seam, in between sitting in front of Archie's cage and reassuring him that everything was okay.  After an afternoon of nipping, stitching and unpicking (that sounds like a sewing class in an infant class, doesn't it?!) I had a bag! And now it's time to reveal my 'design feature'.  I made the outsi...

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, I really have finished something - my Summersville house is now a pincushion! Before the big reveal I just want to say "thank you" to a few people as I've received more splendid post this week.   I bought the fabric in the first photo (it doesn't belong in my 'thank you' mosaic but it filled a space!) - two fat quarters that I'm planning to add to the pile  set aside for my ET phone home quilt .  The fabric is from Brighton Sewing Centre - it's the first time I've used this site and had fabulous service (and free UK postage on orders over £30) and would definitely shop there again.  They also sent a mini Moo compliment card with a couple of snippets of fabric they thought I might like (presumably based on my order) and they're right...I do.  I won't be ordering them but I think it's a good idea. Item two is from Nicky - the hardware needed to make some key fobs (you can see ...

When Lynne blogged about her ET phone home block a couple of weeks I knew I wanted to make lots of them into a quilt using my Terrain charm packs (plus extras ) and, inspired by Susan's Terrain quilt , a navy solid for the background and I waited patiently to see if she would be making her pattern available for us to buy. Last week Lynne (who is one of the most generous and talented quilters I know) published the (free) foundation piecing templates for the block and, after a request from me, she set to on her ipad and created some hand piecing templates for me to try.  (Honestly, I think I gave her a headache...or an ache somewhere lower...trust me to be awkward!) After printing out the templates on freezer paper I spent quite a while sorting through my scraps to find fabric that would work with the navy background.  I didn't want to use any of the fabrics I'd set aside for the 'real' project so I searched my scraps for four colours that would work together an...