Progress being celebrated

Hello there

Last week I told you about the first patchwork block I had made from the Craftsy 'Re-piecing the past' class I subscribed to. This week, I've completed my second block. This one is called Sherman's block or barn door in America.

We had some sun, so I took it outside,
as you do :-)

I used up the last of the fabric I had leftover from cutting the lounge curtains shorter. I will never work with that again; it's too stretchy for patchwork and it frays far too easily. I have some leftover still but that's getting thrown out.
The other material I got from America last year from Joanne's and is Batik in style.

I had a few issues with cutting and sewing the
 triangle pieces together but I got there in the end

Finished block

 After finishing the block I made some 2 inch wide strips of way too long length ( I told you I was keen to use up as much of this fabric as possible) and sewed them round all four edges of the block, as this meant it would be big enough for the front of my cushion cover. The back of the cushion cover I made with the curtain fabric (yes, using it up!) and created an envelope seal.

Seams like these make me feel good :-)

Both cushions are now in place in the lounge and I'm a happy bee for achieving something this week. I even managed a button closure on the back of one of the cushion covers, which was good, as I haven't done a button hole on my machine for a long time.

Take care out there

p.s 
outtake from the photo shoot session:

Seconds after taking the first shot of the cushion, I took another one (just incase) and of course both Chris and Nero decided they wanted in on the act, so Chris promptly put the bottle of Prosecco on the chair and Nero sniffed at the cushion he'd never smelt before. We wanted to celebrate the new patio, new relaxer garden chairs and my cushions, so the wine was necessary. Chris was outside with the bottle as he always pops the cork in the garden, as he likes to see if he can get it to land on the decking from the back door and because the dogs get all excited and run to get it and see who is the first to chew it and leave bits of bloomin cork all over the garden.... oops I slipped into fuddy duddy garden mower then :-)

Dogs

Hello there

Here's a little card I made for a dog loving friend of mine. It was made with the help of several things including the dog (terrier) from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge and some paper from Pebbles. I did my usual little look around the internet for ideas/inspiration and found a couple of cards which got me thinking, including this one and another from the Cricut community site who used the same paper.

I couldn't believe my luck when I realised that I actually have some of the tiny little bells in my stash, as it really helps the card 'pop'.

The little bell is so cute

I put this on the inside for extra smiles from the recipient  :-)

Fun and games

Take care out there

Happy dance!

Hello there

'Remember me'

Oh yes, I've been dancing, which only serves to rile the dogs up but hey ho, it works for me :-)

The photo shows you my very first 'proper' patchwork block and I'm rather jolly content on how it looks. The curious amongst you will click on the photo to see it larger and spot the two imperfections, although you'll have a job, as one of them only shows on the back :-)

At the beginning of the year, I signed up for a Craftsy class called 'Re-piecing the past'. It's based on blocks from American Civil War time but I just wanted the skills and video information. Kaye England is the teacher and boy, is she ominous. Her knowledge is vast and skill to match. My trouble with her is that she's so intense in the video that it put me off from starting, as it seemed too much of a task to complete. This week though I set myself the goal of starting it and it was easy. I had to buy a few things such as a 1/4in foot for my machine and a couple of rulers but that's fine, as I know I'll love doing it, as I really enjoy Jennie Rayment's quilting shows on Create and Craft and I love sewing.

In this project, I've learnt that I'll never use that red fabric again for quilting, as it frays at the slightest touch and it's got too much 'give' in it, so it makes it harder to align the pieces. It's some fabric leftover from the lounge curtains, which I bought but then shortened; for that reason, this block will be perfect as a cushion cover in the lounge.

The next block in the class is called Sherman's March  - wish me luck as it's got triangles in it :-)

Take care out there

Live

Hello there

Here's Diane reporting live from Warrington, U.K. It's mid April and we're having minutes of sunshine followed by humungous hailstones and then back to sunshine. Mental!

Chris and I are both pleased though and had 'yee hah'! moments, as I took the dogs without a trace of hailstones and Chris just nipped to the shop for a paper without getting battered, yet moments after arriving home, it started again.

Much as I'm sure you love knowing what the mental weather is doing around me, I hope that you're more interested in what I'm doing.

I've started my very first patchwork. I've done patchwork before many times and created home furnishings but I've never followed a proper pattern, with scary instructions using allsorts of fancy rulers.

I've got a proper 1/4in foot for my machine too and I've got full instructions, including video, from the Craftsy class I signed up for in January. So no excuses for me!

The sun is now back, all within 5 minutes that this post has taken me to write.
I'm getting back to sewing too. Wish me luck!

Take care out there in the crazy weather we have

Spring crop

Hello

Here's a little catch-up for you on what I've been up to this weekend. I've been in Rochdale for a crafty time with some lovely, fun loving ladies. Carole Bryson Wood organised the weekend for us and along with Marlene and lots of other helpers and it all went very smoothly indeed and jam packed full of happy memories of very loud laughing mixed with random mannequins (it's too long a story to explain :-) ) and quiet creative times.

Rebecca on the left, Cherry being
naughty and 'Dolly Daydream'
on the right :-)

The weather was very cold but sunny, so that helped the mood along too I'm sure, as there were lovely big windows in the venue. We had loads of space with a fully equipped kitchen (from where Carole and the gang made us loads of food) and a well stocked craft room, so it was brilliant.








On the first day I made five cards instead of six (I'm too embarrassed to say why I only achieved 5) and a layout and some playing about.
Today I made most of a layout; an 8 x 8 scrap page for a challenge and a 12 x 12 'no photos allowed' challenge page. This isn't very productive for two days I know but I had a ball and played with some stamps and colouring too, so who cares?! 

This is the 8 x 8 page. We had to use the paper from a scraps box; we could use two embellishments; no stamps and we could create a title and use a mask; we were also allowed to use our own page base.

I used Catherine's sketch of the month to inspire me; which is just one example of one of my gorgeous friends helping me over the weekend.

The photo-less page was started by me wanting to use the negative of some die-cutting I'd been doing and then Rebecca took it from there to the fantastic place it ended in. I was talking to Kathie about what I could possibly do with them, when Rebecca overheard and came up with the fabbo idea of filling each star shape with places I'd been on holiday to and Kathie said 16 reasons why I think you're a star (aimed at my daughter). So then I thought of doing 16 places I love. The whole process of us making decisions together was great fun. 

Kathie made sure that my negatives weren't
'too' randomly placed

Fabbo Kathie having a fun time

I consider myself very lucky to know these ladies and having met even more caring, sharing ladies this weekend, my luck clearly hasn't changed. One lady for example gave up her raffle prize (a large album) for her friend, who'd said earlier that she really liked it.

Take care out there, let the good times roll and have a go at doing your own list of favourite places and note them in an album, so that you could share them with your family and friends and get them to do the same and learn more about each other.