a whole quilt made from scraps

I spent some time at the beginning of the month (August) going through all of my boxes of scraps and cutting them into usable sizes.

For me, my most usable sizes are 2½" squares:

3½" squares:

4½" squares:

and 8" squares:

After doing that, I used some of what was left to make blocks for another scrap quilt.

I used leftover bits of sheeting on the back as a stablising fabric - last time I made this quilt, I used paper but I wanted to use up the sheeting so that's what I used.

There are 49 blocks altogether. I know there are more than 49 in the photos above - I must have taken duplicates photos of some of them! Oops!

I then used scraps of fleece on the backs and joined them using my QAYG (quilt as you go) method. This is the resulting quilt. I LOVE it!!

Using scraps of fleece for each block makes the back really interesting. I didn't pay any attention to where the 7 yellow ones went and I'm perfectly happy with the way they've worked themselves in.

I made a label on my embroidery machine using the same yellow fabric I had used for the sashings on the front and the binding.

All in all, I'm just so happy with this quilt. Everything I used came from my scrap boxes of fabrics and fleece and the green stripe I used for the sashings on the back was leftover fabric from the green stripey blouse I made earlier in the summer.

You would think that I'd managed to empty all my scrap boxes. Nope. There are still loads left but that's the nature of sewing. You always end up with scraps. Using them to make other things is just the best feeling! 😀

what? where? why?

If you used to read this blog back in the day, you might wonder what happened? Where did I go? Why did I not post here? Well, to be honest, nothing happened, I didn't go anywhere and I was posting on another blog that I'd started instead. There was nothing wrong with doing that but recently, I've been thinking a lot about this blog and wanted to come back to it. So I have.

I've just spent the whole morning reposting posts from that new blog on to this one - hence the new name on the photos. There's no point in looking for the other blog as I've set it to private so it'll not show up. No point in having 2 blogs that say the same thing!

Now I have to re-set my profile so it's this blog that shows up. I wonder if I can remember how that's done? Then I need to clean my sewing machine and get down and make something from my list of things I want to make. There's a lot on that list and sitting here just playing on blogger won't get any of that done.

So that's the what, where and why. Now I have to get on with the doing and posting on here again. My happy place. My blog. It's lovely to be back! I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes. It comes from Nora Roberts' book "Tears of the Moon" and was said by a father to a daughter.

July bits - a bit late!

I'm a bit late showing off the things I made in July. Oh well, better late than never, eh?

I started the month by making another Monty shirt - the last one for now.

I've been wearing all 6 of my Monty shirts all summer and love each and every one of them!

I noticed one day as I hung out the washing that a couple of my nighties were showing signs of wear. No shame to them! So I dug out a couple of pieces of fabric and made another two to replace the old ones.

These are using an old, old pattern which I got to make nighties to go into the maternity hospital when I was having Debbie. Debbie has just celebrated her 44th birthday! Yikes! This is the pattern - long out of print!

I was watching a youtube video about making a Christmas quilt in July. I decided to join in and made some of the blocks:

After making those four, I decided I wasn't going to join in after all. The blocks weren't hard but, oh my goodness, the amount of work involved and all those bumpy seams just weren't my idea of fun. So, for now, those blocks have been put into the "orphan blocks" box and will, no doubt, be added to a quilt some time in the future.

Next, I made some cloths out of old towels. I get 6 cloths out of each handtowel so, in a very short time, I had 18 new cloths. Very happy with that!

I had enough fabric left from my nighties to make each of the girlies a wee top for the summer. Their favourite colours are pink and purple so that was lucky! They're already in Canada with my girlies.

Lastly, some blocks for my next quilt. One of my plans for the year was to use up more scraps. (I don't call them New Year's Resolutions as that's a sure fire way of failing!) I LOVE these blocks - so easy to make and, because I'll do the QAYG method to join them together (quilt-as-you-go), they'll be made into a quilt quite quickly.

I've actually finished the quilt - as of yesterday - but I'll save the post about it until I show my August makes. :o)

shorts, shirts and dresses

June was definitely the month of shorts, shirts and dresses. Let me show you.

First, the shorts. These are all made with the Jalie pull-on pants and shorts pattern I showed in my last post. Sorry about the display of tummy skin! 🫣

I then made another two pairs:

This pair was actually a pair of trousers I'd made from that pattern years ago which I had hardly ever worn. I decided I'd get more wear out of them as shorts so just whacked them off at the appropriate place and then hemmed them. I've already worn them more times than I ever wore them as trousers so mission accomplished!

Next I made more dresses for Emily and Isla. These are all using the Kitty dress from Puperita.

I wanted to use navy buttons on the backs but didn't have enough. I ordered some but, when they arrived they were definitely not navy - more royal blue. I then ordered some from another seller but they never arrived - lost in the post apparently! I got my money back for those and just decided to use white buttons on 4 of the dresses and cream on the others. Perfect!

Next it was back to the Monty shirt pattern which I showed last month. It's pretty clear I like this pattern as I've now made five!! I do have another piece of fabric I might use for another one - maybe!

Then it was on to some dresses for me. This is the Lena Shift dress which I made a few of last summer. I had some fabric which Santa gave me last year that I wanted to use so I did. I made a size smaller than I made last year - go me!!

When I asked Jo to take photos of me wearing them she told me to strike a pose so I did! 🤣

I have to say, I wasn't sure about a dress with chickens on it but I LOVE it!

I love these dresses - so comfy and cool in the heat! Let's hope we get enough heat this summer for me to be able to wear them!

the rest of May

I spent most of May sewing the quilt I showed in my last post but I did make a few other things.

First I made some pincushions to hold the new pins I'd treated myself to. Let's face it, pins don't last forever so I decided to renew some and, naturally, had to make pincushions to hold them. I made some square-in-a-square blocks using sewing fabrics for the tops. For the backs, I used the same sewing fabrics in single pieces - ie not patchworked - and I filled them with crushed walnut shells. They're just perfect.

Here they are all filled with my new pins. I love them!

Next I made myself a couple of new blouses. These are made using the StyleArc Monty dress and shirt pattern. I always buy StyleArc patterns from Etsy as they come in PDFs and there are 3 sizes in each so you can adjust the pattern to fit you if you're not the exact size. Luckily I am so no adjustments for me - other than lengthening the pattern by 6" as I really didn't want it as short as they had it! Anyway, I LOVE these blouses and they're never out of rotation!

Lastly, I made myself some new shorts. I'd been hunting in the shops for knee length shorts and couldn't find any anywhere. I'm not of an age to be wearing short shorts any more so I decided I would just have to make some.

I used my favourite trouser pattern - the Jalie pull-on pants and shorts. I realised the shorts on the pattern were the short shorts kind so I measured the shorts I had in my wardrobe to find the length I wanted and went from there. These are soooooo comfortable! I don't think I'll be buying any more ready made shorts any time soon!

I have already made more Monty blouses and more Jalie shorts but I'll show them in the June makes post.

a baby quilt and some dresses

I spent most of April and half of May making appliqués on my embroidery machine for a baby quilt. I was going to show all of the appliqués individually but, to be perfectly honest, the idea of posting 49 photos of appliqués kind of horrified me so I decided to just post a photo of the finished quilt. I am deeeeeelighted with the way it turned out. I hope the baby's mummy and daddy will love it and that the baby boy will have lots of fun with it.

This is the top:

On the back I used a royal blue fleece which matched the spotty fabric I'd used for the sashings and binding perfectly.

In the midst of making the 49 appliqués I made a couple of dresses for Emily and Isla. They've got them in Canada now and will hopefully get a lot of use out of them this summer.

I used the Kitty dress from Puperita. It's a nice pattern to sew and the girls LOVE the pockets - who doesn't like a dress with pockets? This photo shows the true colour of the green.

I used some flowery green buttons on the back. To be honest, when I went looking in my stash for buttons to match, I really didn't think I'd find any but I did! And they're perfect!

When I told Isla on Facetime that I was making dresses for herself and Emily she asked me if I could make dresses for their dolls as well. So I did!

When I sent the dresses, I put the dolly dresses in the pockets so that was a fun discovery for them!

There are a few more makes to show for May but I'll leave them until the month has finished as, no doubt, there will be others to add to the list! 😀