Showing posts with label beads of courage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beads of courage. Show all posts

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

WIP Wednesday #8 and a big finish!

I haven't done a WIP Wednesday since the...wait for it...drum roll... 25th of April! So I've had a few finishes since then.

Finishes:
New York Beauty Quilt Along (30th April):

Travel changing mat (20th May):
THE BIG FINISH!! 'Binkies on Broadway' baby quilt (6th June):

Melody Miller coffee set (6th June)


Some progress:
Bead bags for Bead of Courage
I've got 4 or 5 little ones to make from the scraps that were left over.

No progress:
Nicey Jane quilt-as-you-go
Flower quilt made from leftovers of Oasis by Three Sisters jelly roll
Bali Pops Peace Medallion
Brown and pink bag
Alphabet baby quilt
Batik mini quilt
Not started yet:
Butterscotch & Rose jelly roll quilt
Hunky dory jelly roll quilt
Bag made with fabrics from Malta
2 x Red and black jelly roll quilts (new addition! Yes I've been buying again!)

Stats:
Finished: 5
Made progress: 1
No progress/not started: 10

I am of course linking up with:
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

WIP Wednesday #1

Well this is my first 'WIP Wednesday'.
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Completed projects
Since last Wednesday I have completed:
My 'quilt show' bag:

My bead bags for Beads of Courage (see linky on the right):

A pouch for my partner's portable hard drive, with accompanying tutorial:

Some travel tissue pouches:

Ongoing projects:
I am attampting to make a 'quilt as you go' quilt out of the remaining half of my Nicey Jane jelly roll. I thought 'quilt as you go' may be the solution to all my problems, as I *hate* machine quilting, largely because my machine is prehistoric...no really...it's this one:
but I digress.... anyway, I officially *hate* 'quilt as you go'!! The pieces keep warping, the ending squares aren't big enough...it's all gone horribly wrong :( I shall persevere, and just trim each square to 10in square instead of the 10.5in they are meant to be. But I shall state here for the record, I am not happy. NOT HAPPY. Anyway, here is my progress so far. Two squares. Too measly squares. And about an hour of unpicking. And they're not even the right size. Grrrrr

No progress:
My second ongoing project is this:
My mum bought me a 'Bali Pops' pack by Hoffman, to say well done for completing my first year on my return to teaching (bless her, she really is too good for me!). I believe this set is the sherbert colourway. We played with them for ages, and I decided that because the fabrics each had colours in common with other fabrics, they would work sort of like a colourwheel. So I looked for a pattern that would show this off and decided on a peace medallion. I think this will be really beautiful when finished, but I put it away last year at what must have been a critical stage, and now I am met with this and can't quite get my head round where to start:

I am also working on this:
I am slowly working my way through hand stitching the appliqued flowers. This lives in my handbag so I can get on with it whenever I get the chance! (gives self pat on back!)

'At the design stage':
(yes, this is a thinly veilled euphemism for 'not started yet', shush!)
Wandering around blogland is just *so* inspiring! So as a result of this I have various projects in mind to start this week:
1. A mini quilt for the modern mini challenge:
Modern Mini Challenge
2. A loo-roll cover for 'Dress up your roll' challenge (see linky to the right)
3. A heart garland to decorate my workspace, using this tutorial:
http://www.quiltstory.blogspot.com/2012/02/simply-charmed-blog-hop-valentines-tour.html
4. Dresses for 'Dress a girl around the world'
http://littlebiggirlstudio.blogspot.com/2009/02/pillowcase-dress-tutorial-dress-girl.html

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 4
Progress made - 1
No progress - 6

Also achieved today:
I have been a good girl and done housework before doing any sewing, yay me! This is a particular achievement as my partner has started his new job today, so a) I have no one to tell me to do the housework and b) I am going to have to start doing housework again, having eschewed it since my partner became unemployed (boooooo!!). So I have sorted out the spare room (which was a tip!), sorted out the piles of stuff that had accumulated in our bedroom, sorted out the pile of clothes in my wardrobe, packaged and addressed the various things that need posting later, rung the bank and claimed back some unfair charges, rung the council and claimed back an overpayment on my council tax and run a bath which I will go in once I've finished this post! Oooh, and worked out how to put buttons in my blog posts, yay! Quite a lot achieved, if I do say so myself!

Monday, 13 February 2012

Two projects finished!

I have had a pretty productive day, if I do say so myself!

Firstly I made 4 bags for the Beads of Courage Campaign (http://www.bechildcanceraware.org/beads-of-courage/). This is a really great cause and I'm so pleased I will be able to contribute in some little way. Here are my contributions:
The instructions to make these little bags are on the website, at the address above, and they are a doddle to make once you've done one. It takes 2 fat quarters and 54in of cord to make each one, so a great stash-buster, and a great cause, so I encourage you to go to the website, check it out and get involved.

Secondly, I have made my first foray into the world of tutorials! A couple of years ago when I bought my partner his portable hard-drive, I promised him I would make him a little pouch for it. In due course I bought the fabrics - he's a bit of a film buff, so I got a lovely set of four pieces of fabric (roughly fat eighths) on a movie theme: popcorn, ticket stubs, etc... which then languished in my stash until today. Naughty, naughty!
But today I have not only finally made him his little pouch, but made a tutorial for it. So here's the finished article:
...and if you'd like to make your own, just pootle along to my tutorial page to make your own!

And finally... MY PARTNER GOT A JOB!!! WHOOP!! After being unemployed since last September, which has been an enormous strain, he has finally got a new job, and he's really looking forward to starting on Wednesay (and I'm really looking forward to having him out of my hair so I can get onto some serious sewing!). So well done baby, I never lost faith in you! xx