Catching up on July – What I Created

I thought July was going to be a quieter month, but it certainly hasn’t turned out that way, so once again, I will have a few catch up posts. 

As Kris would say, grab a cuppa for this one.

Firstly, so that I can report in to Peg and Kris with my OPAM finishes, I will show what I have been up to on the crafty front.  I actually have done quite a bit by my standards.

My main priority, as it has been each month this year, was Nature’s Journey.

It was even completed with a day  to spare....for a change.

I really enjoyed playing with this block.  Firstly piecing the background and making the most of the toile fabric.

Then it was time to sit and do the appliqué.  I even tidied up my sewing table.

The appliqué actually took longer than I had expected.  Once again I had to use some fabric from my stash, as my little scrap bag didn't have any decent sized pieces left.  There are still a few I can cut squares out of for the next borders.

And here we are, all done.

I'm very happy with the way it has turned out and am loving seeing the many other versions that have been completed, especially the bright ones.

Now I have to decide how I will attach the diamonds on the next border.  Will I use blanket stitch or will I have to bite the bullet and do some needle turn?  Decisions, decisions......

Thanks to Chooky and Susan as always for keeping me accountable.

As I have done each month this year, I made a little something Christmassy.  I made a few of these balls a couple of years ago and they were definitely on my to do list this year.  The only problem was that I couldn’t find my pretty Christmas Chocolate tin with all the pins and ribbons – they had been packed safely when we moved.  Luckily, when I was looking for something completely different early in July I found it.

I spent a rather lovely afternoon one Sunday, sitting in the sun on our front porch pinning away, with quite a bit of assistance from our six year old next door neighbour.  As he liked it so much and was so involved in the making, it has now been sent to their house to put on their tree at Christmas time.

When we travelled to New Zealand earlier in the year one of my shoe bags ended up commandeered to be used as a “sox and jox bag”.  It proved to be very handy, but being black and having a shoe store emblazed across one side wasn’t ideal.  I vowed to make a proper lingerie bag for travelling, in a colour that would stand out in my suitcase. (You should see my handbag, everything is a different colour and quite often a different texture to make things easy to find.  Call me silly, but it works for me.)

Shortly after we returned from our trip I stumbled upon two fat quarters of Lori Holt’s fabric with coat hangers in Big W.  (You can sometimes be lucky with fabric there, although it is a bit of a lucky dip.)  I had it on my list for a few months ago, but it became a low priority.  I thought about them again before we visited Chooky, but ran out of time.  We went away for the weekend last week, so this time I actually got in and made them. 

I followed a very simple tutorial here as I had minimal fabric and wanted to use French seams.  I used the full width of the fat quarter, folded in half and cut them 14 inches in length. A French seam across the bottom and up one side.  Just a simple casing with ribbon drawn to one side. They worked a treat.

Another thing that I had planned to make earlier in the year were these Origami Butterflies.  I saw them on Fiona’s blog back in May, when I was making the origami Christmas decoration and hoped to make them in early June when we visited Chooky.  It didn’t happen.  Eventually, at the beginning of July I cut them out, then a week or so later sewed the two fabrics together, and finally this week I finished them off. 

I love the way they look so different just by reversing the colours.

I’d hoped to make one into a magnet, and was delighted that when finished there is a little triangular pocket on the back into which you can pop a magnet.  Happy dance!  They look nice and cheerful on the fridge. You could easily stitch a brooch clip on as well.

I used this tutorial.  It was very clear to follow.

Next on the list for this month was to make a couple of bibs.  We have quite a few friends having babies in the near future, so time to top up the gift box.  I love getting a chance to use cute fabrics.  The pattern is just one that Mum had used for donkey’s years.

Remember back in May I bought the colourful homespun yarn.  Well, now that I had finished my purple cowl it was time to do something with it.  As there is so much colour variety in the yarn, as well as difference in thickness (it ranges from about 2 ply, if that, to about 12 ply) there was no point in doing any fancy pattern.  I’m just knitting a 4/4 rib until I run out of yarn and will turn it into a cowl.  I got this far in a couple of nights knitting and have done nothing further.  I need to get going again or winter will be over before it is finished.

I’ve even made a little progress on our project from Girls Day in the Country from this year. I had originally decided to tweak the colours from what were in my fabric pack, but now that I have seen some finished table mats I’ve decided to start again with the original fabrics.  I hadn’t done very much, so it didn’t take long to undo my stitching.  For the record, Sue Daly’s “knicker knots” work well.  The stitching between the corners came apart really quickly but the corners all held.

So I now have a total of a whole three hexy blocks made.  Woo hoo!  Next to cover some more papers and try to get the rest of the blocks done in my lunch breaks.

I even took up some jeans that had been sitting in the ironing basket for about three months.  Gosh, it must have taken me a whole half an hour. Huge job.

And finally, there is progress on my drunkard’s path quilt.  I completed the top at our retreat at Cottage on the Hill last August.  I purchased fabric for the backing shortly afterwards and then packed it away for moving.  In June I took it all up to Chooky’s and got the backing pieced.  Now, nearly twelve months later I have delivered it all to my friend Anne to quilt for me.  This quilt is B.I.G. – coming in at 96 inches square, so there is no way I was going to tackle the quilting.

We called out to visit this afternoon, so I took a couple of progress photos.  The pattern and colour of the quilting really suits it.  I can’t wait to get it back all done………except for the fact of nearly 10 metres of binding to attach and then stitch down.  Wish me luck.

So there you have it.  Lots of little things.  Let’s see what I can get done in August.  Probably not as much as this month, but we’ll try.