Sampler Quilt Drunkards path

So after the stall on the Split rail I expected progress on the next block with curves to be slow.

The book has this as a hand sewn block, for the curves at least and described the pining as looking like a hedgehog.

I can see the correlation....

my BFF asked how do you sew that, the answer...carefully.

Sixteen blocks later and much quicker than I had anticipated there is the fun part of looking at the layout to see if I prefer an alternative to the version heading the chapter in the book.

So some options 

There are two that call to me more than others.  One is the chapter picture, one a variation.  I may not need to choose one or the other.  I had a little miscount and made 4 more blocks of the blue and pink than I needed.  So I can make another twelve and try both if I feel like it.

Click here

for an update on the end result and to see what happened to the extra 4 squares.

Eat the Frog and the sampler quilt's progress.

 Well there was a big time gap in the progress on the last block.

The strips of material having been sewn together on  19 November 2017

The next stage of that block and in deed finishing the block waited till September 2018.

Why and what has that got to do with consuming a frog?

Well I have been reading a book about time management and planning, getting more done with your time called Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy (and yes like the old joke I have not finished it yet as I need to find the time to do so).

The theory being that if the worst thing you have to do in a day is eat a live frog you ought to do that first and get it out of the way rather than put it off.

So how does that link to crafting?

Well, I have generally applied the theory that if something has gone wrong in either a cross stitch or a patchwork or a section of quilting that it is better to grit my teeth and  apply the Frog as soon as I see the problem.  Rather than put it away in frustration till I feel like getting it out and fixing it.

Why?

Well the block in the Sampler quilt is a good example.  Just a little bit of unpicking , or as it has become known, frogging was required.  Had I stuck to my normal practice, done it as soon as I realised it was needed I am sure it would have stayed small.  However, as I put it away, it became a bigger issue in my mind and each time I thought about picking the project up again  the thought of starting with a negative action, frogging, which always feels like going backward put me off and I focused my time on something else instead. 

It stalled the whole project, and it was not until the date on my blog brought home to me just how long I had been procrastinating that little bit of unpicking that I made myself "Eat this particular Frog" and it was so easy and quickly done!

So whilst others bemoan the arrival of the Frog, as it is referenced on many a sewing Facebook group I think it is a positive thing that there is the option to put something right.

Sampler quilt..been a long time

since I worked on this, the last update I thought I had the strips done.  But when it came to the next stage, well they just did not measure up.  Literally, they did not make the required measurement and a bit of unpicking was required.

So re sewn, and the two panels of strips cut into squares and triangles and sewn back together and this patch is done.

Strip Rail

It fits beautifuly with my blog ethos..

Well the seams and the points are unique!

It is not giving me much confidence for the block after next which has even more seams and points to tackle.









Who would have thought that I would approach a block with curves as being a buffer between me and a scary scary one with straight edges.

Lawn Bowls Season over

and my dad is packing away his gear for another year.  I have previously shared a humorous piece I stitched for him bowls-season-openfire.

That was not the only bit of stitching I have done for him.  Much earlier I hand stitched his club crest and attached it to white towelling making a neck scarf for those rainy matches as he hated drops or rain getting down his neck.

It is about three inches square.

I took a picture of it before it went away till next April when the season starts again next year.

I remember stitching it on the weeks my dad was doing a 3 - 11 shift and keeping hidden till Christmas.  I was very pleased with the way it turned out...I still am as it has worn well I made it well over 30 years ago...

Card or Frame

that was the question that I was asking about the mouse with daisy

answer

frame 

I found this frame in my stash of frames.

it just looked right 

so

here it is framed.

Mouse and flower

quite pleased hope the same can be said of the recipient. 

And then there were three

mice that is, from the same series of Get Well Soon card designs.

Well four actually, mice not designs that is as there are two mice in the first one,

 sending-hugs., just the one in Lots of Love .

This one is

 Hope you feel better.

Cup a Mouse

there are four more to go, I may well stitch the whole set if the pattern holds up.

Patchwork Rabbit....update

All finished and gifted.

I almost had an issue with this finish.  I worked out the lettering for the name using my normal go to alphabet.  It was too small. So I set to with a different slightly larger alphabet. 

So what was the problem?

Not sure if it was something on the TV in the background, but the second set of names in the new alphabet was not the name the parents had chosen!  Still a girls name and starting with the same first letter.  Good job I noticed before I finished the stitching.  Never done that before, almost missed double letters out yes but a completely different name...oh dear.  

So the IOU from the baby shower is redeemed.

I am quite pleased with the finished piece.

Thankfully so were the parents and had a chuckle over the almost renaming to Edith.

Another mouse

I do appear to be drawn to mice. Not Tom this time but still one from a designer that has appeared before  .

I had started this as a Sunday stitch, I did not get around to sharing it as such and then at work I heard that another of my managers was leaving.  So the sewing speeded up to a finish.

I am not sure if I will look for a little frame for it or use it for a card.  I need to make my mind up soon.

Patchwork Rabbit

For the first time I have made the birth sampler before the birth, with the spaces ready for the name and other details when the baby arrives.  Also, with the issues in mind from the last birth sampler / announcement the design has been modified to fit the frame.

Patchwork rabbit

I also changed the colours from the original.  My pallet is a bit less pastel and a bit brighter.

I added a lot more patches making a full boarder around the central rabbit.

The original design as you can see below also has a stripe of colour, mimicking a dado rail, behind the rabbit's head.

I did not think that fitted in with the change to the shape from square to rectangle required to fit the frame I have chosen to work with.

This is a picture of the original design as featured in Cross Stitch Card Shop issue 47.  It is one of six pastel patchwork nursery baby cards designed by Lucie Heaton.

Of the six, having found this pleasant to stitch I can see I might also do the patchwork teddy and rocking horse. I find the Rocking chair, bassinet and mobile less appealing.

From Aunties' tin

I have mentioned my Aunt before in a post about a quilt I made for her. and in posts for quilts I made for my uncle after her death.

I was given some of her sewing notions and unfinished projects. My Aunt liked to embroider table cloths till it became difficult for her to see and painful to sew.

I had sorted out much of the bits and bobs and all of the thread but I had still a few things left in an old biscuit tin to relocate to my own various bits and bobs containers.

Buttons to my button tin (itself inherited from my grandmother and holding almost as many memories as buttons) snaps and hooks and eye popped in there too. A little transfer book of flowers off to live with my patterns.

Rusting pins and empty button cards into the bin, I may be a hoarder at heart but at least for now I have my limits on what to keep and what can be used.

That left this little collection of stuff.  

The brown screwdrivers say singer. The orange red has no makers name. I am sure I can make use of the little brush.  I have never used the tool with the little wheel before, although I have a general idea what to do with it.

Then there are the somewhat more interesting bits.

a sewing machine foot. it also says singer

It is tiny, well compared to the feet I am used to handling for my machine.  I don't have a singer, although I do recall with fondness the singer treadle machine my grandfather had and used .  Sadly there was no room for that in my parents home after his death and it journeyed on, I hope as a sewing machine being used to make things and not getting "up-cycled" to something else. Any way I digress, what to do with it. Keep it in case I ever do get a machine it fits?  Well yes for now at least.

And what about the green metal thing resembling an airplane propeller? 

Well it spreads out to this.

Not seen one of these before either. Any one know for sure what it is?  My thoughts are it is some sort of template either for quilting or for embroidery.  Of course that might never have been its original purpose and it is for something else completely unrelated to sewing and just made its way into the sewing tin because my Aunt used it for that.

This next item, well it is a bit of shaped plastic with a magnet in it for picking up pins and needles.  But what form has the plastic taken?

I think it looks like a serpent with a hint of the Aztec about it.

My mother takes a different view.

In more ways than one and thinks it is a perching owl.