September round up

As usual the month just flew by. Instead of getting my act together after the summer holidays I'm a bit lazy. The weather got colder and it just slowed me down. All I want to do is to get warm and do nothing. That's pretty all right. Do not worry. I usually take breaks. Different excuse each time I do it. I'm not persistent and I don't have a constant speed. I either sew like crazy or do nothing. So let's have a look on the round out, shall we.

I started with fabric baskets.

Christmas approaching fast. Better be prepared.

Testing out the Broken Herringbone pattern ended up as two pretty pillows.

I was part of Pin it blog hop. I enjoyed it very much.

I had some fun and giggle with you during the Le Challenge - Heroes theme.

I made another version of the Hexagon trivet and I love the outcome.

I finished fun House pouch and it was well received.

I finished and old knitting UFO as part of Crazy about wool blog hop.

I played with fabrics. I started the Broken Herringbone quilt as part of MSBHQAL. I got stuck for few days. I have to leave my original plan and I'm still working on a new one. It keeps changing or I better say evolving to make it more interesting, he he. This is where I'm at right now. Time for some purples and pinks. That might increase my speed.

Not so bad after all. I had fun for sure and that's what counts. No obligation but fun.

Linking up with

I'm stuck

Last week I precut all the stripes for Broken Herringbone quilt. The idea was that I sew pairs together and then I'll make large stripes instead of squares. When I started I wanted to see the pairs that go next to each other and my matchy side got into it. No more sewing pairs but planning ahead.

Since I couldn't just leave it on the floor I even set up "designer wall". I hung piece of batting on my bookshelf. It works.

I was playing with the fabrics and I didn't notice that is going off center. I had to adjust the width.

Then see what happened. My precut stripes were not wide enough. Ooops. So I ended the main stripe and I'm stuck. Not sure what I'll do next. Add one block to make the length I originally planned? Keep making stripes in this length and than add some kind of border to the bottom? Truly I don't know.

Linking up WiP

Crazy about wool blog hop

Welcome to my stop of Crazy about wool organized by Denise from Pieced Brain.

At first I wanted to share about felting wool but on Thursday I had my aha moment and thought about knitting project. I used to knit a lot. Since I was kid I tent to handcrafts rather than sports. My aunt taught me how to knit and crochet. These days I only knit socks from time to time. Those are not intended for regular use but I call them sleeping socks. I have cold feet and I wear those to bed. When my feet get warm they slide off quite easily. When making socks the first one goes well and quick but then there is a trouble to finish the second one to the pair. This time around I tried to make both at once. Good idea right? Well I had those unfinished in the box for almost a year so this was great opportunity to finish my UFO.

Bunch of needles. These are more than 20 years old.

It used to be scarf. So they kind of upcycled. Only tiny bit left.

With other recently finished pair. You can see how thick they are :-) Extra thick.

I planned to make project out of these pretty pinks. I have started but it's not finished.

Early stage of felted ball. I use felting needles.

Some previously made jewelry using felted balls.

Paired with wooden beads.

Have a look what others created:

Monday, September 23

CJ Stitching and Blooms

Negligent Style

Sweet P

Reluctant Quilter

Racie Baby

Patchouli Moon Studio

The Raspberry Rabbits

Zakka Along prize

Woohoo, happy dance! Look what I got in the mail :-)

I was lucky to win this huge prize during the Zakka Along 2.0 - 1/2 yard bundle of Essex and Essex yarn dyed linen from Robert Kaufman + $20 gift certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics.

I never even had Essex linen in my hands so it's much appreciated. I'm not making plans for those yet since I have way too many things on the go. These will sit on the shelf for a while.

As a cherry on top here's what I got from Pink Chalk Fabrics. Two charm packs of Winter's Lane. I saw this line on Kristy's blog and also Amy made some pretty pillow. Can you believe they were on sale for $4.73 each, yay!! So I added some Michele D'Amore Word Play Dots White. Win, win!

Big thank you to sponsors plus Lindsey and Debbie for organizing the Zakka Along!

Linking up with Sunday Stash over @ Finding Fifth.

Fun house

It is small finish for this week but I'm so happy it's finally done. It took me forever to finish it. I have couple more on go for ages and I'm not sure when I get to make those since my mind is buzzing with other ideas.

It's modified version of House Pouch from book called Zakka Style. I made few and each one is different. The requirement for this one fun and cheerful.

The cow just suit the bill.

Plus some sheeps on the back.

Heart shape beads for the flower center.

Linking up with TGIFF and Crazy mom quilts.

WiP - cut, cut, cut

Sometimes it's all about cutting. You know those prep works than needs to be done. No more looking at the fabric stack just cut into it! Those are meant to become the Broken Herringbone stripes.

I'm not done yet. I need the sashing as well. Plus this is like 3/4 of the lot I need for the quilt top. If I calculated it right. Well, we'll see about that.

Last glimpse of those pretty scraps before they jump into bin.

Here's finished hexagon trivet I shared as a WiP last Wednesday. I absolutely love it. I love pretty much every finished project, lol.

Linking up with:

Craft Book Month

September is Craft Book Month at Craft Buds. I took part in this hop last year and I'd like to take part this year as well. It's great opportunity to learn about those books out there. That's actually how I found Elizabeth Hartman and her Modern Patchwork book. I'm currently working on one of her patterns in it. I don't have many craft books though. I'm not really a collector. If I buy a book it means I have great intention to use it.

I'm going to share my favorite project from Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi. I made the first one during the Zakka Along 2.0 which is still running. It turned out pretty well but it wasn't exactly the effect I was going for so I made second one. There is not much room in modifying paper pieced pattern but you can definitely make it your own by the fabric choice and few hand stitches. At least that's what I have done.

The second one is a gift for a friend of mine. She likes purple and blue so the color choice was based on that. I wasn't happy with prints so I went with solids this time around.

I pulled out some pearl cottons to create the center. In between the purples the turqouise sneaked in. Then I had hard time to decide on binding. Honestly I find the combination of purple and turquoise rather strange but it seems to work for this particular project. I wanted to use neutral at first but the turquoise just really brighten the whole thing.

The back is fairly simple. It looks like denim but it is regular cotton in purple shade. It'll be hard to let this one go. I might make one more for myself :-)