Granddaughter's shoulder bag

My one monthly goal for August was to make a bag for my nineteen-month-old granddaughter. I posted a photo of the pattern and the fabric I'd be using. But then plans changed.

It started with the partial collapse of a wardrobe, followed by the removal of the contents into storage boxes and the transfer of a lot of old stuff to the recycling and the dump. Among the mixed handwork items on one of the shelves was a little piece of machine sewn crazy quilting that I had tried my hand at eight years ago; just the right size for a bag for a little girl to put her hanky in!

No pattern, just improvising by trial and error:

 With a fun lining:

And a sweet little owner called Roos (pronounced Rose);

 

who wasn't sure about it at first ...

 

so her twin brother decided he'd like to try it

It looks like I'll have to make something for him too.

I'm linking to:

              

Keep safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

A new scrappy project

Angela at SoScrappy gives a colour each month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and a lot of us pick out our scraps in that colour and use them.

I showed my pink bead blocks last week, but while I was looking round on the SoScrappy and Oh Scrap links-up last weekend I saw something intriguing. Julie in GA showed a photo of her progress in her rainbow project. However much I looked at it I just couldn't work out how Julie had made the blocks. She kindly pointed me towards the Scrap Snap QAL and I'm hooked!

Here are my first Scrap Snap blocks:

The blocks all finish at 6" in the quilt and are made up of different combinations of just four pieces. That makes the cutting easy and the piecing not boring! I made these this week as leaders and enders while working on another project.

The QAL started in January so I'm rather late, but I'm not going to play catch up; I'll just make the other colours next year as we come to them.

I'm linking to:

 

Click on the buttons to see more scrappy projects.

Stay safe and healthy,

Happy Sewing

Marly.

We're in the pink in June!

For the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month, Angela has chosen pink. If you click on the RSC button, you will be able to visit more bloggers looking through rose-coloured spectacles!

My six pink bead blocks:

I didn't make any bead blocks last month; dark green isn't very successful paired with charcoal.

I haven't blogged much recently, and now am facing the extra challenge of Blogger's new look! Incredibly it took me ages to locate the "new post" button! But then I have never been good at reading icons. I hope I can find the "preview" and "post" buttons!

Our lockdown here has been lifted, although we have to maintain 1.5 metres' social distancing. This means we are now able to invite friends for coffee or drinks, as long as we have enough room to leave at least 2.5 metres between the chairs. So no big parties yet, but at least non-digital conversation is possible. That's such a relief!

I'm linking this post to:

    

click on the buttons above to see more scrappy goodness.

Happy sewing

Marly

The last of the pink.

July has been in the pink for the participants in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. In just a few days Angela will reveal the colour for August.

In attempt to use some of the scraps in my stash I made these ten pink bow-tie units:

Each unit finishes at 6" square. Most of them were made as Leaders and Enders, but yesterday I cut off the bonus triangles from the last four and put those bow-ties together. Now I'm wondering what to do with 1.5" unfinished HSTs. Any ideas?

and these are just the pink ones!

I'm linking up to

       

Click on the buttons to see what other people are making.

Happy Sewing

Marly.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge pink in July

A short post this week on just one topic!

Each month Angela posts a different colour and this month she has chosen pink.

pink bow-ties

I'm not making the RSC sampler this year, although I like the blocks, but making the same blocks, bow-ties, each month. I have four more pink ones in various stages of completion waiting next to the sewing machine; I'm using them as leaders and enders.

I'm linking up to



 Click on the button to see more scrappy  (pink) delights.

Happy Sewing

Marly.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2018 halfway summary

Each month, for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Angela chooses a colour and Mari chooses a block and gives the instructions for the Squared Away sampler. This month's block is Baton Rouge Square  in pink; I posted about my pink blocks here. As the RSC is running for 10 and not 12 months this year, May marks the half way point. It's time for a summary so here are my blocks so far.

 And here are my squares with wonky stars:

I just finished the yellow star, and the green one I made a couple of months ago. The others I made last year. These started as leaders and enders with 2" squares, and when I have enough of one colour I make them into a big square with the wonky star. Last year I had cut a lot of red squares apparently! Some months I just haven't accumulated enough 2" squares to make a square.

I'm liking up to:

Click on the button to view the display of RSC pinkness.

Happy sewing

Marly.

May pinks

Each month, for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Angela chooses a colour and Mari chooses a block and gives the instructions for the Squared Away sampler. This month's block is Baton Rouge Square  in pink (with that name it sounds as if it should be red!).

I have done more pink sewing in the last month:

My starting block for the Dutch MQG (district West) bee round robin. I really made it at the end of April, and it's due to be passed on this Tuesday. I posted more about it here.

Soon I shall have more time for sewing as I have now finally retired. My first task, however, is to sort through, and largely throw away, my teaching materials accumulated over the last 43 years! It really doesn't seem that long. For most of that time I was working from home and visiting client companies which is why my materials occupy 4.5 metres of shelf space. Just imagine how much fabric and how many project boxes I can stash there! Even so, it feels like I'm taking my life to the paper recycling bin; so much effort went into those 4.5 metres!

Sewing has always been my hobby, and quilting since I officially retired 6 years ago. Everyone needs a retirement challenge: mine was to be patchwork and quilting. Unfortunately a few days after my "retirement" my boss asked me to return. It's nice to be thought indispensable, but I was finding the pressure increasingly difficult to deal with. Hopefully now I can pick up where I thought I would be six years ago.

I'm linking up to  

Click on the button to see more pink delights.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Modern Pink

Each month Angela at Soscrappy gives a colour and a lot of quilters focus on using their scraps in that colour: the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. October's colour is pink.
I've made two pink blocks this week for the "make a block a week challenge" for the Dutch Modern Quilt Guild.

The block patterns have all been submitted by guild members. Some are traditional but most, I believe, have been specially designed.

These are both foundation paper pieced, and far from using up scraps, generated them! I'm useless when it comes to foundation piecing! Enter Mr Murphy and his famous law: it can go wrong, and it does!! So for all the fabric you see in the photos there's an equal amount reclining in my lovely new pink basket!

I made some progress on my improv floating squares quilt this week too, until I ran out of navy solid. Not only did I run out, but the LQS had also run out! That's life! Fortunately they agreed to give me a call when it comes in, so I'll be spared another trip for nothing. No recent photo yet of the floating squares quilt which is approaching lap size.

I'm interested to see which colour is coming up for November. I've got way behind with my sewing this year, and I really need to catch up with the missed colours, so maybe I'll be concentrating on them.

I'm linking up to the RSC link-up where there are already a lot of pink beauties to admire.

 

Click on the button to join the party.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Starry pink

October's colour in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is pink.

Cutting 2" squares to make this generated some more scraps for making the basket. As I still need to make a blue version of this block I also cut blue squares and started joining them in pairs as leaders and enders while I was assembling this one. I'm learning!

This week I also decided to cut a 2" strip and a 2.5" strip from every FQ I buy, as these are the strip sizes I use most. I'm not sure that this is a wise step; I don't want to find myself running out of fabric partway through a project! Only time will tell!

And here, finished this afternoon, is my pink basket:

I love seeing all the baskets lined up, and they are SO useful! How did I ever manage without a scrap saving system?! Finally I think I'm getting organised!

I'm linking to

 

Click on the button to see more pink delights. 

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC 16: September is pink with yellow

Each month Angela gives a colour to be used from the scrap bin, and this month the colour is pink with some yellow. We had already used pink earlier in the year, but I managed to find some pink (some the same fabric I used before) and some pink and yellow. I made half an extended bear paw block.

I think I'll still be making these next year!

The last few days I've been working on a present for a friend:

which also has a lot of pink and yellow. As she sometimes reads my blog I'm not publishing photos of  the whole thing until next weekend!

Now I'm also trying to quilt my Star Light, Star Dark quilt before the QAL deadline at Quilty Habit on Monday week. This is a view of the three blocks on the dark side:

and a close up of the quilting so far:

not much done yet!

As I'm quilting each half separately and then joining by QAYG technique I have a feeling I'm not going to make the deadline!

A short post this week, but now you know why! I'm now off to fit the supreme slider and the BSR and hit the FMQ big time!

I'm linking up to:

      

 so pop over there and see what others have been doing with their scraps this week.

Happy sewing

Marly.

July's RSC blocks: pink.

A short post this time as I finally got back to the sewing machine yesterday after a break of more than five weeks. My hip has continued to heal steadily, thanks to everyone's good wishes, and I can now walk without supports for short distances (like 50 metres!), but that's a start. However, I still have a rolling gait, as if I've just spent the last five weeks at sea!

Once at the sewing machine yesterday I sewed these bear paws:

Oops! Bottom left looks larger than the rest .. I didn't get round to trimming before the photo!

and then put everything so far up on the design wall.

Bear's paw blocks will finish at 13.5" square.

The block top left is the only one finished, and I'm thinking of unpicking the sashing and redoing it at 1.5" finished width, the same size as the squares. I shan't be joining any of the other units until I have all the colours finished and can make combinations I really like.

I'm linking up to

 

so nip over there to see masses of pink perfection!

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC 15: week 9: the last of the pinks

Each month, Angela, at Soscrappy, chooses a colour, and a lot of people make blocks in that colour. She also gives directions for sampler blocks, and in February there were two:

Lady of the Lake in Sawtooth Star

Marley in Sawtooth Star

After making those I cut some small pink pieces into 1½" squares and and added to the left over sashing strips from my RSC 14 and Little Letter quilts to make 9-patches:

From the pieces that were too small, or not straight enough, I "made" fabric. Not much yet, but I just found another bag of off-cuts.

I have no idea what I'm going to make these into, but I think they'll come in useful some day. I plan to do this each month in the colour of the month.

I am at a screen printing workshop today, so shall be linking up later than usual with

Hop over there, and look at all the pink delights made this month.

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC 15 week 7: Pink points

Each month Angela at So Scrappy gives a different colour, and this month's colour is pink. She is also giving some sampler star blocks this year, and I'm making the sampler blocks, with midnight blue as my background colour. When Angela posted this block she didn't know its name; I don't either, but it's reminiscent of the block in my jig-saw quilt.

Jig-saw block (?) in Sawtooth Star

First I made the star points of the bright pink fabric of the large square, but when I laid it out it looked frightful, so I made new stars of a lighter, and more importantly, low volume print. Now I have a set of blue geese on a very bright background to incorporate into the back!

January's colour was medium blue, which meant medium blue centre block and star points in the Sawtooth Star. As there wasn't enough contrast with my background colour, I reversed the scheme: neutral blocks and star points. finally I've managed to finish the Sawtooth Star surround of the Card Trick block

Card Trick in Sawtooth Star

I like this colour scheme, and bought another 3 metres of the blue fabric this week. Not exactly scrappy!

I'm linking up to SoScrappy for

So hop over there to see more starry pink points.

Happy sewing

Marly.