Archie The Wonder Dog

After I'd added the two Christmas cushions to my Q4 FAL list , I decided a table runner made from the leftovers would also be nice so added that too, as item nine.  I said that it would use strips and squares as that's what I thought I'd have left, but what I actually had left was this: I couldn't decide how best to use them and Sarah brilliantly said 'Well I want to see a long thin solids only blue sky top, darker blue sea on the bottom right, white on the bottom left as ice floor and snow hills. With that penguin far left.' I loved that idea and laid out the fabric on my coffee table straight away: All the blue is leftover from other projects and the whites are the small pieces left from the penguin cushion, along with about ten charm squares of a Bella solid (snow?), which isn't the same bright white and so provides a bit of depth.  I've decided to share all my progress photos with you so you can see how I made it.  And also because I like t...

Hello! (I know, I'm here again!  I can't quite believe it...) This week has been a week of dithering and hand quilting yet more stars.  I've quilted just over two-thirds of the stars on the blue and white quilt, here are the latest two: I started cutting the hexies for my first Christmas cushion, and discovered I was eight hexies short of a cushion (a phrase I'm hoping passes into common usage!): so I set about trying to work out what to put in the gaps, which is where the dithering started.  First of all I removed the plain hexies: which I liked, but something's going to have to go in the gap so I searched through my stash and found some options: and the only thing that helped me decide was that I'd use the stripy fabric for the binding.  (Thanks, Clare !) I thought that laying the hexies over the options might help (that was less fun than you might think!, but it didn't: but it didn't stop me trying again: Still no dec...

Did I mention that I keep volunteering to make things for Mam?  It's no wonder my list just keeps growing, is it?!  In addition to the two cushions for her front room, she needed a new runner for her dining table.  We didn't want to use the same coral fabric as the cushions as it didn't go well with the cherry wood of the table (it made it look orange and cheap!) so we found a soft coral which still went nicely with the new carpet and curtains.   This is how it looked at the start of the quarter, when I made my  Q3 FAL list : I don't have many photos of the progress of this runner because it was another really quick make and didn't really make interesting photos (although that doesn't usually stop me!).  I often find it hard to remember to take photos because my sewing machine is upstairs and my camera and phone (which isn't really a phone because it doesn't have a sim card in it, I just use it as a tiny tablet!) live downstairs. Anyway, I st...

Today is my turn on the Oakshott Lipari blog hop , which is being hosted by Lynne  and runs for the month of May and showcases  Oakshott's Lipari collection .  I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a huge fan of Oakshott's fabrics - they're beautiful to look at, as well as being lovely to sew and I'm honoured to be part of this blog hop.  Thank you, Lynne and Michael, for inviting me to take part and trusting me with the fabric! Oakshott's Lipari collection contains eighteen colours, and each of the colours has a black warp and a different coloured weft which results in luxurious colours that shimmer and shine.  The fabrics subtly change shade depending on the light and this gives projects a really special look that you just don't get with other fabrics. Also, the fabrics are 54" wide so you get a lot more than you'd expect in a fat eighth bundle, which is always good!    You can find out more about the inspiration for this collection he...