July round up

At the beginning of July I set up a list of 10 things this summer. I tried to stick with the list. It more less concentrate on the plan I already had. Finish those things I have started and clean up a bit.
First I finished the pile of mug rugs. I made ten in total. They all cute and each one is different. Perfect little gift for any occasion. Pattern by The Patchsmith.

I cleaned up my sewing corner a bit so I was actually able to quilt there. I used to bring it over to kitchen table but not this time around. Here is what it looks like and more pics here.

#1 Diamond Tread - DONE

#2 Ballerinas quilt - not much progress

#3 Crib size quilt - DONE (I changed my plan a bit but I'm happy with the outcome so it's all righ)

#5, 6, 7 and 8 no progress what so ever so I'm gonna work on those during August
#9 Photo gallery is in progress, you can find the Quilt page up there
#10 DONE - my machine was serviced and is happily back in use

Plus I took part in this month's Le Challenge and I won it. My prize arrived already so I'll share that soon. Here's what I created for the theme Toffee.

I made some sleeping bags out of trial quilting piece and Christmas pouch for Across the Pond SAL.

Linking up with

and

Christmas in July

It's last day of July and here I'm with my Christmas in July project. I wasn't sure what to make so I stick to my regular pouch making. I added two little presents/boxes. Easy peasy. I was thinking if I should make a tutorial but I think it's so simple there is no need to. You choose your fabric for boxes, add little ribbon, sew it on and there you go. Few hand stitches are needed to hold the ribbon in place (the top part).

Check out what the others have created. Amy shared tutorial for pillow plus some Xmas tags. Amanda shared gingerbread bunting plus some gingerbread mug rugs. Also Susie had some fun projects with tutorials included. All these wonderful ladies are part of Across the Pond Sew Along. To learn more about this group check their blogs or flickr group.

If you are looking for more Christmas inspiration check out the Ho Ho Ho blog hop which just started today.

Sleeping bags

Prior the real quilting on my Ooh la la quilt I ran little trial. Well I did not make any points as this is just small scale and as a trial doesn't have to be perfect. I also tried another way of quilting this pattern as suggested by my friend. It goes from side to side making curves all along. See picture below. First I made the red line than the blue line. Not foot lifting whatsoever.

But what to do with such trial piece? Trash it? NO WAY! I made two sleeping bags for dolls. I need little gift for my niece plus I promised to make some to my girls as well. I might actually make some more as I have this fabric in pink/red color way and there is alway a need for little gifts.

Linking up with

and Let's get Acquainted!

Ooh la la finished

I started this quilt on Monday as a little experiment and it turned out better than expected. Everything was going well. It must be the simple layout. It's inspired by this quilt made by my friend Monika. She's local FMQ superstar and she quilted this as FMQ. She send me little diagram how she made it.

Well I knew mine is not going to be as perfect as hers but I was ready to try it. As I like things simple and easy I figured out there might be easier way to achieve the same result. I made little trial and it worked. Easy peasy. First I marked points. These helped me to make the curves even. Then I made all the vertical lines. Going from one corner passing marked point and finishing at the other corner. Nice and smooth, not foot lifting included. I only lifted the foot to position for the next curve. I used my regular foot and quilting gloves for better grip.

I don't mind to hand stitch the binding but this time I went for machine binding. One of the reasons I'm happy with this quilt is the fact this whole process just went so smooth. Sometimes everything just works out.

Linking up with finish it up Friday and

WiP - Ooh la la

I'm keeping up with my list - 10 things this summer. I finished Diamond Tread quilt. For more pics check out my previous post.

#1 Diamond Tread - DONE

I totally changed my mind on the #3 - crib size quilt for my girl. I wanted to use the already made circles and make bubble quilt as planned year ago but it's not happening. I'll make some cushions instead. I decided to challenge myself a bit with the quilt. It's nothing difficult just my personal challenge which means do something you wouldn't usually do. In my case it means random placement and squares. Mostly I'm not really keen on the classic square look especially if it's scrappy and random. I couldn't do scrappy vomit that would be way too much so I picked the rest of Ooh la la charm pack and added some dotty fabrics from my stash. There is one more challenge in the quilting plan but I'm not gonna tell you. Just in case it won't work out, lol. Straight lines quilting is my back up plan. So we'll see. The crucial part is usually the basting and I already passed that one. Yippee.

Linking up with

Diamond Tread - Aeroplanes

Today I washed the quilt and it's officially finished. It didn't crinkle too much but just right. I love the simple design that's why I bought it, right. If you not familiar, it's called Diamond Tread by Lee - Freshly Pieced. There is a meaning behind those aeroplanes. It's for little boy. Yeah. In his family they like aeroplanes. There are some aeroplanes models involved and also the real thing. No kidding.

Being not too experienced quilter has few advantages. The main thing is there is so much to try. I love to try new things when it comes to sewing or creating. It's first time I used HSTs. First time I cut myself with rotary blade, lol. It healed well so I can make jokes and laugh about it now. First time I actually quilted on my table as I managed to clean it up and I can go on and on.

I'm not sure where I spotted the Quilting Gallery blog and theirs Show & Tell but I'm linking up this week. Quilts for the Little Ones is the theme of this week. The voting will take place on Friday.

TGIFF - quilting part

You would expect I sew up a storm as I received my machine from service check but nope. I'm taking it easy. I played around with Le Challenge project on Monday which pay off since I won it! Yay!
I slowly quilted the Diamond Tread and I'm happy to claim this quilted. It's not exactly as the original. This is only like half of the quilting that's on the original but sure enough for me. I used masking tape to mark the lines.

Since I'm not very experienced quilter all my quilts are learning lesson to me. These are my first HSTs and there is particular place in the block that created a bulk. I don't know if I iron that in wrong direction or what the problem is. When quilting around it few stitches got long. Not sure what to call that in English. I tried to fix it by going slow. I changed the needle for the strongest but I gave up. It's there and we'll see what's going to happen once I wash it.

It's also my first use of cotton batting as it's supposed to be summer quilt. I read once to wash it first and add the binding afterwards. Have you ever tried that? Should I finish the binding prior the washing? All advices either on the bulk part or binding part are welcomed.

My matchy heart sings to see how well the back side goes with the front, lol.
Linking up with TGIFF over @ Molli Sparkles

Update: I finished the binding prior the wash. It looks lovely. I'll share some more during this week.  Linking up to Let's get Acquainted!

Le Challenge - Toffee

My plans for Le Challenge #4 with the theme Toffee were totally different. The trouble maker is my old sewing machine. Well it's not that old but compared to my Brother which is on the way from service is rather odd. Please meet Sister, ehmm I mean Singer. I got it in the supermarket. It has just a few stitches and sounds like tractor. I haven't used it since Brother joined our family. Oh boy, I had trouble to wind the bobbin. I had trouble to use the spools I'm usually using and I got stuck with the fact I don't have zipper foot for this one. I tried but it was horrible looking. Have in the world I could work with it! I'm wondering if there is a point for me to keep this one.

Well back to the challenge. That was a bit detour. I went through my beads and picked up those that fit the theme Toffee. Don't you think those tiger eye crystal chips look just right? So yeah. That's my project for the Le Challenge.

At least I took a picture with the pouch to be and the new necklace I made. They match pretty well.

Do you think the Le Challenge button just fits the theme as well? Or is it just me :-)

UPDATE: Brother came home earlier than expected. He sneaked in during nap time, begging me to give him test ride. So I did. I rather finished the pouch right away otherwise it would become UFO. The front is little wonky so let’s call it true sign of negligent style. 

Matching zipper pull is must.