June - round up

There are few bloggers doing monthly round up. I like that idea so here's mine. Enjoy! I set a goal for myself. Mostly I wanted to work on projects that were on my table and I was able to finish few of them. It was last day of school on Friday so little gift for teacher was essential. I like my girl to be involved in the making process. She learned how to write so she wrote dedication herself. I have 4 more to go (out of 10).

There was paper boat pouch, lavender house.

One more house ornament, bell pepper coasters, pillow case and some paper piecing.

My biggest achievement = newspaper quilt.

I'm also very excited about my new projects. I started Ballerinas neighborhood quilt and Diamond Tread quilt. Speaking of something new. My blog is also brand new so I would like to welcome all my readers! Thank you for joining in!

Yesterday I have finished summer hat for my nephew. I have couple of projects I promised to do. Those are the hardest to complete so I'm happy to tick off at least this one. Things might slow down a bit due to summer holidays but if I can continue with my goal, it'll be great. I hope to have clean table one day.

Linking up with Let's get Acquainted!

and

Newspaper quilt

Drum roll please! My Newspaper quilt is finished. What a relief! The top was pieced back in March and it took me sooo long to finish that thing. One of the reasons would be that I'm not really happy about the layout. I simply don't like the overall view. If I look at it closely I love the details but ... Well the story is. I bought these fabrics to make a male quilt. I came across the Something New Sampler SAL and jumped on board. I put the quilt top together based on the fabrics I had available. Made up the layout and that was it. I only have like tiny scraps left so that's a success in a way. I do like the blocks I made during the SAL but there is something, something not right.

I like the close up look though. I hand stitched all of the newspaper blocks and many of the sampler blocks too. Have you noticed that I tried some outdoor picture taking? I need to practise. I had the in laws to hold that quilt for me. They even borrowed old glasses and book to complete the picture. Isn't that sweet?

My favorite block from the SAL would be the trapunto one.

The quilting is very simple but it took me forever. I have kind of love and hate relationship with fleece. I love the warm snuggly part but hate to quilt with it. There are few little puckers along the binding but I can live with that. My feelings are very mixed up so I just digest it and we'll see.

Linking up with TGIFF @ Blossom Heart Quilts

WiP - diamond tread

Let me tell you. I have finished the Nightmare Newspaper quilt! Yipee! Anyway it't been raining since Monday and I was not able to take any pictures. I'm sure it can wait few more days.

To celebrate the finish I started something new. I really like the look of Lee's new pattern Diamond Tread. It was on sale so how could I resist? I have never worked with HSTs so this is my very first time. I don't have a square ruler which is quite essential for trimming so I made template out of Super60 triangle ruler I have. I tried to make plastic template but it was way too thin.

It might not seem very accurate on the pictures but it works just fine. At least I thought it's going fine until I cut myself. Yeap. Silly little finger got in the way and I have new rotary blade. It's sharp and I have little HST design on my nail too. No pictures. Thank you. It hurts. It bleeds. It sucks but that couldn't stop me. It did for couple of hours but later on I was trimming again. I have never done so much trimming.

I finished few blocks and so far I really like it. I'm using only three solids plus black and white print to make it more interesting. The colors are based on color scheme I have for the backing fabric.

Linking up with WiP Wednesday

June's block

I finished my June's block and it's still June! It's part of And Sew On BoM. There are already 6 blocks but I only managed to do three. I do plan to make some more though. Here's my fine china cup. Well the selvage on the cup it's not actually Chinese but we can pretend. It seems a bit bulky but the paper is still on so hopefully it'll lie flat later on.

I'm not huge paper piecing fan. I'm trying and the improvement is visible so that's what I like the most about it. When I started with this BoM I had no idea about PP. Check out my first block. I didn't even know how you should cut the seam allowance so it's all messy on the back side.

January's block = my first PP ever

I skipped few blocks since I had no concept. My sewing corner is too small so I have no space for hanging this "mini" once it's finished. Then I got the idea of covering some part of my bookshelf which I use for my sewing stuff. I decided to do the blocks in different colors. I previously made pink which was the March's block.

March's block

We'll see if I can keep up with this idea. If you want to know more about the BoM check out Kristy's blog.

I'm also linking up with Let's get Acquainted

Sunday Stash - solids

There might be some solids in my future projects. Few pieces of the local stuff for testing it out.

Plus beautiful Cotton Couture charm pack. I won this sweet pack over at Windsor & Main during The Easiest Sew Along Ever! This SAL started my leather scrap mania. You can spot some of the pouches I made during the SAL in my header. I'm not opening the pack yet but once I do it'll be splash of colors. I love it. Thank you Kim!

Linking up with Sunday Stash @ Finding Fifth

PPP - cup

Party time! This time I would like to join the Paper Piecing Party @ Quiet Play

I'm not a big paper piecing fan. I made only few blocks. This is probably fifth block I'm working on. So I'm still not sure if I like the technique or not. I like the outcome though. That's why I have to share my half way finished block. Isn't that just the pretties cup you ever saw? He he. It's part of June's block from And Sew On BOM. Yeah, Kristy from Quiet Play is all about paper piecing so you might want to drop by if this is your kinda thing. I would probably never start with PP if I didn't follow her blog.


This time around my block is going to be mostly orange. I have the perfect fabric for hexagons. I won this fabric during the BoM. It's real Japanese thing and I used the selvage for the fussy cut strip on the cup. I better finish that soon as the end of June is approaching fast.

WiP - ballerinas

There is slight progress on my Ballerina's neighborhood quilt. Last week I made one as a trial to see if it works. I cut the remaining colors and chain pieced the pieces into rows. I divided the house into three and I have pretty little stack to be sewed.

There are at least two more quilt I want to start but I'm holding back. I have the fabrics ready but I just have to finish the Newspaper quilt first. I'm not doing any FMQ. Just very simple quilting. I had to repin one side as the fleece on back moved a bit. Yeah it's the fleece that scares me away but I love the snugly feel. I just want to sew around few rectangles and that's it. I prepared the binding so I'm ready to work on that one. I only have tiny scraps from that quilt so I had to choose something else. I didn't like any blue fabrics from my stash so I'm going with stripes again.

That's the top.

In between these quilting adventures I like to work on small projects. So there were few finishes during the past week. I joined the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge. Plus I finished two projects that were lying on my table - paper boat pouch and lavender ornament house.

Last week I was asking for an advice on my commenting problem. I wasn't able to comment on some blogs and I had no idea what to do with it. My dear friend Sandra figured out all those blogs are powered by WordPress. Apparently my comments were going into spam. I found this discussion. I sent my request to akismet and it's all fixed. Thanks Sandra!

Linking up with WiP Wednesday

Lavender house

There is not much happening. The weather is very nice these days so we spent most of the weekend outside. I only managed to finish one little project. It's house ornament inspired by the retromama pattern. It's a theme for this month's Across the Pond sew along.

Mine is filled with lavender. I'm not sure how much you are supposed to put in. This one is entirely filled. The scent is too strong for me. It's giving me headache so I was wondering if I put way to much or am I just a bit sensitive. I have this issue with lilies so it might be just my nose. Anyway I made this one for my friend so hopefully she doesn't have such issue.

I actually like the back side of the house better than the front. Maybe that snail shell is a bit overdo.

The lavender comes from our garden. It was plant last year.

Linking up with Let's Get Acquainted @ Charm about you

Sunday Stash dilemma

This post is part of Sunday Stash. It's a linky party where you can share your latest addition to your stash. Fabrics, notions, books or magazines just about anything related to sewing. Anyone can join in.

On Friday I have finally received my copy of Modern Patchwork special issue. I fell in love with Retro Rubies pattern which is in this magazine and I really like the projects on the cover. There is also quite interesting pattern called Shards quilt and many more. I have kind of dilemma now. Should I rush myself and catch up with the QAL or just lay back and do whatever I'm doing at the moment ?!? I have my fabrics ready but I don't really feel it's right to start new project at the moment. Mmm mmm no, I'm not going to rush it, dilemma solved, lol.  You can find different versions and info about this pattern on flickr.

Friend of mine requested bag with Hello Kitty theme. Well I could do some appliqué but I found this fabric in my local store. Doesn't have a name or brand but it's just fine. I did not show it to my girls as I'm sure they need some Hello Kitty too. No rush on this project so that's a good thing.

I have also received some scraps. From time to time I trade my stuff for scraps. I love getting surprise envelope, sorting it out, thinking about the projects that were made out of these already. I especially like those that fit for some fussy cutting. I already have a use for those cute sheeps baaaa.

Linking up with Sunday Stash this time over @ Dreaming in Patchwork