The first item for my new sewing room wall: Starburst

As mentioned before, we're in the midst of moving home. What I may not have told you is that I'm going to have half the spare room / loft conversion as my very own sewing room!

Job number one (in my head anyway....) is hanging some mini quilts, and this little one will be the first up on that wall.  

I started this in January 2013, and finished it right at the end of Q1, although the phone photos I took were rubbish, hence why I'm sharing again. The pattern is Six White Horse's Lone Starburst paper pieced, and the fabric a mix of my Simply Solids Stash Crew, and various scraps and bits from swaps.

I hand quilted and machine quilted this for the texture  although this means that it sits quite proud. Nothing that a few drawing pins won't fix!

Baby baby!

Two quick finishes, both from my FAL list:
http://sarah-lou-sews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-honest-list.html

Baby blanket number 1:

(please ignore the toes!)

My first crochet finish, worked on at FQR last year, and ripped out four weeks ago when I realised that I had forgotten to chain on at the end of each row - rooky mistake!

Baby blanket number 2:

This is made of three cuts from Sherbet Pips, backed with minky and with applique in Flurry from my winnings from Lily's Quilts. This had to be done twice, as I stupidly stuck the seam ripper through the first time.

One has been hand delivered, one by post - which is probably a good thing, as I don't think my broodiness could take two tiny babies in one week! (and that's from a woman who's vowed to have no more.....)

Progress update on the crazy list of madness....

Even though I wrote down everything I could possibly think of that I might want to sew this quarter (http://sarah-lou-sews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-honest-list.html) , I have managed to work on a number of things that I didn't think to include... More on these later. For now, here's an update on what I've done that does count.

1. Economy block panel done for the cushion , just needs sashing, quilting, embroidering and turning into a cushion (just!)

2. I had start the Crochet blanket again after making a pretty fatal error, but we're nearly done, which is lucky as the recipient should be born by Friday at the latest!

5. The minky baby blanket was almost totally rethought when I ordered the wrong colour of minky, but plan B went into action and it's all done bar the applique initial.

10. I've cut one rings worth of fabric for the EPP quilt, I think this is a long term thing.....

11. The pile of badges still left to add to the blanket might look huge, but believe me, it's much smaller than it was!

I don't know how much progress I'll be able to make on the quilt front, but it's for a good reason - I'll have much more space to baste them when we move and I get the spare room to play in, so I'm saving that job! 

PS - can anyone recommend a better Android App than Blogger? It's driving me crazy with its refusal to organise pictures properly!

The Honest List

Part of the power of the FAL ably hosted by Katy at The Littlest Thistle is the accountability - at the end of the quarter, I'll have to fess up to what I've finished (or not!) Last time I was quietly cautious with list - this time I'm linking up everything that's eligible.

I wrote this list a few nights ago, when the boy was asleep and I was staring at the ceiling (first time ever!) but some of these projects are still in my head. Here's the list of WIPs that are at least at the fabric / pattern chosen stage.

1. Cushion for my new nephew - fabrics picked, this will be another Economy Block cushion
2. Crochet blanket - carried over from Q1
3. St Louis 16 patch - I finished this top during Q1, and have the fabric picked out for the backing and binding
4. Giant Star Quilt - 4 of these are needed at some point, and I've had the fabric for ages, so hopefully there'll be some progress during Q2
5. Blanket for baby H - I'm going to use the yellow chevron fabric that I bought last year for a swap but couldn't use - maybe with a minky backing?
6. Quilt for the little man - every else is getting one! I've got lots of novelty prints and I'm planning to use the Picture Box pattern from SewFairyFace
7. Apron for Dad - needed for his Father's Day present, he wants a butcher's style apron, I'm going to use a Martha Stewart pattern
8. Hub's tshirt quilt - I found this buried in the WIP pile,  half pieced - I'm quite tempted to unsew some of it
9. My sampler Cuzco quilt - I made 3 blocks last year and would love to finish
10. Liberty DWR EPP quilt - made from fabric inherited from Hub's grandma, I've got the EPP papers ready. I think this might be my new car project when the crochet is finished
11. Scout camp blanket - a never ending project in reality, but it'd be nice to get it up to date with the pile of badges from the last few years sewn on

Amongst all this, we're in the process of selling our house - but I'm also going back to work in September, so this is probably my best chance of a very productive quarter!

Sneaking in at the last minute - a Q1 finish

Last minute finish here - teething, a horrible cold and moving the boy to his own room has halted the productivity recently. I'll come back later with better photos and more detail, but here's the overview:

Paper piecing template - Six White Horses

Fabric - various Kona solids from the Simply Solids Stash Crew,  Kona Bone and a range of different charm squares from swaps. (Plus premade binding, because sometimes you have to cheat)

Quilting - a mix of straight line quilting to echo the stars and a bit of hand quilting in the white stripe of the stars.

This is finish number 2 of a possible 4 - although I'm not really counting one of the cushions as it's owner has only just made his entrance into the world, so it's not too bad!

FAL Cushion #1

It's become a bit of a tradition for me to make cushions for my nieces and nephews (and its on my FAL list too), so when I got the phone call the other week, I went straight to the scrap pile to pull fabric.

I've been trying to be realistic about my aims,  so I decided to make the cushion out of economy blocks rather than adding an economy block quilt to my list of quilts-that'll-never-get-made.

As I was using scraps, I went with a paper pieced pattern so that I could use smaller pieces, especially as I wanted to add some pieces from her older cousin's first birthday quilt.  With quite a neat zip insertion (for me!) and a slightly dodgy bit of personalisation, this was ready for delivery before the little lady was two weeks old.

I might even get the second cushion completed by the Q1 deadline, as we've just got the phone call to say that our extended family has been extended even further!

Winner (and how not to wean your baby)

The boy was very helpful today and helped me choose a winner for my giveaway - he very nearly had his first taste of food too! I know that they say to avoid anything too sweet so that they don't get a sweet tooth, but I'm not sure that paper is a great choice...

He chose Kelly from http://www.aplaceofmyown.co.uk/

so I'm off to do some fabric shopping!

PS - still no sewing to share,  the house hunt is now on so my machine is hidden :-(