spotty quilt

This week I've been making another quilt top a bit like the last one I made but just a wee bit different too. I decided I wanted all the coloured squares to be spotty-dotty.

Big spots, wee spots, tiny spots, teeny tiny spots, irregular spots. You name it, they're in there.

I also wanted the sashings to be dark so I chose navy blue and wanted to have cornerstones on the sashings in white. I finished the patchwork part this afternoon and I just have to say - OMG, I LOVE it! I think it's just stunning! I don't care if that makes me sound big-headed. It's true! :oD

I have to share the photo of my special wee helper who was guiding me when I was sewing in the cornerstones this morning. You can't really see her cheeky wee face because of the window behind her but she was determined to help me. Thanks, Tilly. You were a great help! :oD

Tilly

Just one thing to share today - Tilly playing in the garden with one of Molly's toys. Good thing Molly wasn't here at the time! :oD

a new quilt and a pencil case

I decided to make another quilt this week. Here it is laid on our bed before quilting.

And here it is with half the quilting done.

Hopefully I'll get the other half done tomorrow and then get it bound. Then I'll decide what to do with it. Use it? Sell it? Raffle it? Decisions, decisions!

I've also been playing around with a pencil case design this week. This is the prototype which has raw edges inside - very annoying to me - so that will have to be get sorted next time.

This is the bottom.

And, this was meant to show the felt I used on the inside but it didn't quite turn out that way!

It needs some more work but so far, so good. :o)

white blouse with fabulous buttons

I finished the white blouse this afternoon and I am soooooooooo pleased with it.

It fits me beautifully - all over. The sleeves are perfect so that 45 minutes I spent expandng the pattern was well worth the time.

Here's the pattern I used. I made view A with no pockets and the sleeves from view D. I just know it'll now be one of my go-to patterns.

Now, much as I'm really happy that the blouse fits me so well, that's not the best thing about this blouse. This is the best thing about the blouse:

Can't see them very well? Here's a closer look:

Aren't they fun? I bought these buttons when I worked in a fabric shop in Inverness. I left that job when we moved here in 2000 so those buttons have been waiting a r-e-a-l-l-y long time to be used. Well worth the wait, in my opinion! :o)

sleeves, pinnies and bags

I was playing around with another shirt pattern this week and decided to widen the sleeves by expanding them down the centre as explained in the "Fit for Real People " book. I had briefly thought about just adding half an inch to the top of the sleeve and have done with it but decided to "do it properly" instead.

After I'd done about 30 - 45 minutes worth of redrawing, cutting, spreading & taping the pattern together, I put the original sleeve pattern on top of the new sleeve pattern and guess what? It's basically just added half an inch at the side seams! *eyeroll*

I haven't sewn the blouse yet because I got a wee bit busy sewing other things.

A couple of pinnies like this:

2 like this:

2 like this:

And 2 like this:

And 3 bags like this.

Now I just have (to make myself) do the descriptions for them so I can load them into Etsy. Then I might be able to get that blouse made. I hope the sleeves fit!

blue elephants top

Over the weekend, I cut out a new top for myself. I used Simplicity 2599 view A shown in pink on the pattern envelope. I didn't put the fancy flowery bits around the neckline.

I've made this top before but I've always made the sleeveless version. I wanted to have sleeves on my new top so I had to do some redrawing of the pattern because I knew the sleeves in the pattern wouldn't fit my fat muscular arms. ;o) I am so pleased to say that the top fits me beeyooooootifully. I love it!

A close up view of the fabric - wee elephants. Aren't they gorgeous?

After I finished the top, I cut out some fabrics into pinnies (aprons) and bags.

Plenty there to keep me going for a wee while. :o)

dogs and dressmaking

Tilly continues to grow like a weed and has a lot of fun playing with new "toys". Like a big box.

Molly came to stay for the day yesterday and she spent a most of the time watching out the front window from the piano stool. When it eventually got dark, she was not chuffed when I shut the curtains!

I managed to get some sewing done this week. 4 pinnies which will (eventually) get listed in the tartan bee shop. 2 like this:

And 2 like this:

And a red blouse which was a redesign of my favourite blouse where I wanted to see if I could make the sleeves less of a dropped shoulder. It still needs lifted a wee bit higher but it made a wearable blouse which made me happy.

Although the blouse is plain, the buttons are anything but!

Update: My mum gets moved tomorrow from the rehab hospital where she's been for the last 3½ weeks into a care home. She's a bit apprehensive but she knows there's no way she can now look after herself at home. I think, if she makes the effort to be social, she'll be happy in the home. (Joanna and I went to see it a few weeks ago and we've both decided we want to live there. And we don't want to wait until we're old! LOL) I'm hoping that I'll get more time to do "ordinary" things again when she's in the care home - like blogging and sewing and baking and so on. :o)

jacket, trousers and my block design

In my week's worth post last week, I forgot to mention that I'd sewed myself a jacket. This is a (not-so-good) photo of it.

This is meant to be a close-up of the stripey piping I put between the yoke and the main part of the jacket but the photo didn't quite work. The piping isn't fuzzy like that at all! But, actually, this photo shows the colour of the jacket better than the last photo does so I left it in.

This is the pattern I used - view C like the model's wearing.

Today I finished some trousers which I cut out on Saturday. There was a time that I'd cut out and finish off trousers all in the one day but not at the moment. Right now I'm delighted that I got them done in less than a week! Again the photo leaves a lot to be desired. The trousers are navy blue!

This is the pattern I used for the trousers. One of my all-time favourites. In fact, it's so old, it's more than likely out of print!

The calculations for my quilt block are trundling along.

I don't think this design is unique by any means - there can't be many quilt blocks out there that haven't been made before! - but this is my version of this one. Even as I was sewing it together, I had to change some of the measurements on my pad as bits sewed up bigger or smaller than I expected them too.

I can see myself making this block up into a quilt top. I'd probably rotate each block through 90º along the row. Maybe. :o)

a week's worth

A week since I blogged? Really? So what's happened this past week?

Douglas had a birthday so we had sandwiches and cakes for tea that night.

Joanna made him cakes in the shape of a golf course complete with a fairway where the ball is, a bunker and green with a flag. Genius! And it tasted great too! :o)

Tilly was at last allowed out for walks so we took her to the beach. The tide was coming in (fast) and she wasn't really too impressed by that fact!

Douglas tried to reassure her that all was well but I'm not sure she was convinced. (I'm not sure what Joanna is doing here. I don't think Joanna knows what she's doing here! LOL)

We went up off the beach on to the higher path which she liked a lot.

She went as far as her lead would let her.

And had stops along the way just for a wee breather.

She's now been at the park too but I didn't take my camera so no photos of that. She enjoyed that tremendously and even met some big doggies there. Fun times!

As for me in the sewing room - I've done a bit of tidying and mending and other boring bits and bobs. Then I got myself a piece of squared paper thinking I might draw out a pattern for a quilt.

It's not nearly done yet - the way I've got it right now, the ninepatched bits will need to be 1 7/12". That's just not going to happen so I'm going to rethink those measurements until I have something I like - or at least something that I have on a ruler!

a couple of blocks

First of all, thank you all for your kind comments and best wishes for my mum. She has now been moved to another hospital where she will be kept until a care plan has been put in place. We're not sure if we can put that plan in place or if we have to wait for social services to do it but, in the meantime, mum is being looked after 24 hours a day so I'm (fairly) content with that for now.

The other day, my friend Freda - the empress of the universe - shared a link to a Missouri Star Quilt Company video for the disappearing pinwheel block. Oh. My. Word. I wanted to go and make it right away. Unfortunately - or maybe it was fortunately - it was bedtime so I had to wait to be able to give it a go.

I enjoyed making the block and can see myself making a few more. Isn't it great! You should really go and see what Freda made with her blocks. Fabulous!

Another block I've been wanting to make for a while is the "square in a square" block. Actually, it should really be called the "square in a square in a square" block but that's neither here nor there. :oD

I have quite a few of these squares with sewing paraphernalia in them so I'm definitely going to make more of these blocks and maybe make myself a lap quilt or wallhanging with them.