Bits and Bobs

It is and possibly will be a bit quiet over here. A bunch of exams spread over the next months and starting at the end of this one do force me into bouts of hibernation, weighing in on life in general but especially my cherished sewing time. This is tough because there's so much I'd want to get done before getting married in August, first and foremost a dress for my hen night and a large wedding quilt for our bed. However, I'm (sensibly) even more keen on getting these exams done in time. Fingers crossed that I manage all the exams and at least the dress. Sad but true, I don't think it's realistic to expect making a full size quilt with everything else going on and try not to stress myself about it. I'd rather have it done well in time for our first anniversary than rushed for the wedding.

Anyway, I still sneaked in a travel sewing kit last Saturday afternoon - I had to after seeing Jenelle's. Finally the right project for my sewing baubles fabric, plus it went really quickly. 

Like Jenelle I used Amy's tutorial, though I altered one tiny bit. For some reason the thread strap just wouldn't wouldn't work with my spools so I opted for two pieces of elastic with knotted ends. Also, I really liked the contrast of purple and aqua so I topstitched my tie with one of the few fancy stitches my machine offers.

Finally, a much more sophisticated way of carrying my hand sewing essentials - no more old plastic earplug boxes! The kit's storage options were also a good excuse to have a go at English Paper Piecing. It's been tempting me for a while and with my lack of sewing time it's nice to have something at hand for the odd half hour in the evening. Not that I knew exactly what it'll turn into but it's good for a quick fix when that nagging desire to sew takes over. Last week I found time for these.

Originally I thought I'd make an equal amount of both but I think I prefer the flowers with the grey petals and will make more of them. Either way, I'm curious where this will take me, possibly applique rather than joining them into one panel. Yesterday I managed to spare some time to cut a couple of squares.

These will become my first attempt at half-square triangles and then be turned into at least one pillow. See, despite my attempts to not stress myself and take things slow, I'm still trying to come up with a design for our wedding quilt (seems I can't stop calling it that). At first I considered large squares because my fiancé prefers simple designs but I'd also like to push my boundaries a bit and expand my skills. HSTs sprang to mind after having seen all those beautiful projects of the HST festival. I think a small project is a good way to see how I'll like them before I jump into something large and also help to imagine better what it might look like in a quilt.

This is a shot of the fabrics I originally intended to be in the quilt. I think I might take out a few, the two prints on the lower left and the two on the upper right. Should I decide on HSTs, I think I'd sort the fabric into two piles, "dark" and "light", which I'd then combine into HST.

 To wrap up this post, one last gratuitous picture of pillows.

I made the red one for my cousin's birthday a while back, as some of you might remember, but have finally bought an inset. Looks much nicer in 3D than just lying flat on a table. It works great with Maureen's appliqued fox pillow, so well actually, I might have to make one for myself! On the fox, isn't it adorable? It was one of the first things that drew me to Maureen's blog and I simply had to have one for myself and finally got one this Easter. I love it to bits!

With that, I'm back to my books. Hopefully it won't get too quiet. Happy sewing!