Grecian Waters HSTs - Return of a WIP #2

I'd like to say thank you to all of you who were as thrilled as myself to see this quilt return and have made useful suggestions helping me with my colour choice dilemma as well as providing creative input - looking at you Molli.

To avoid buying more fabric than necessary I trialled Kona charms from the dark palette.

I'm drawn to the less purply, less blue, less dark colours so these three are out: purple, midnight, raisin.

These two are much closer: eggplant (left) and hibiscus (right). Surprise surprise, they're both from my original set of choices! Guess somebody might be a little bit biased...

Berry, number three, isn't part of the charm pack but I'm now convinced it's a tad too light anyway. The picture doesn't capture the colours perfectly, meh, but they do look great in daylight. Both are sizzling contenders, however, I have made a decision and will be ordering yardage soon to keep this project going. Stay tuned to find out which one made the cut!

Happy sewing!

TGIFF - Picture Roll

 

Happy sewing!

Leaving on a ... Sailboat?

Nah, but I whipped up these yesterday evening for the two boys who won't get a baby quilt since they're not babies anymore and received theirs a while back, respectively this one and this one. Can't have them feeling jealous or left out, especially as one's the big brother of a recipient.

Needless to say, but lovely to brag anyway, I finished my baby quilts yesterday and they're looking really good after their wash. I'll be posting a bunch of pictures soon. Here's another teaser.

That being said, I'm having a fabulous week. On Sunday my sister and I went to see Dallas Buyers Club (go and see it if you haven't already) and tonight we're off to a concert. Then it's only one more workday for me and on Thursday morning I'm off to visit a bunch of lovely friends and their babies and toddlers in the UK. Which means I'm already pretty much in a holiday mood - and it feels so good.

Happy sewing!

This Weekend Is Sew...

...dedicated to my sewing machine and having fun with gorgeous fabric.

After spending the first three weekends of 2014 with friends and family and awesome activities such as going home for my grandmother's birthday or dancing the night away at my favourite club I'm finally picking up the squares for that baby boy quilt again. Huh, three months since I last did so? Geesh, well, I guess the little one's birth and a potential visit of the family in 5 weeks is a rather good reason to get it done.

Right, back to my love affair a.k.a. stash and machine. I need to pick some backing and sew on.

Happy sewing!

Skirt Update of the Quick and Short Kind

As I'm not going to finish this in time for TGIFF I can post my skirt update just as well tonight. Skirts always look a bit boring on a hanger but please bear with me. I'll try to deliver a "worn" picture as soon as possible.

A few more things need to be done, like sewing down the yoke inside (hence the pins), prettifying the side seam allowances and, of course, hemming by hand. The pockets are all done, though.

Yay, another skirt with pockets - so useful, especially when you're someone who often doesn't know where to put her hands.

Happy sewing!

Layout Fun

Serious progress has been made on the layout front this weekend. First of all I put a lot of squares aside, all the wood and sky themed ones, and focused on the plants and sea creatures.

I sewed up two nine patches, cut them up and got working around the resulting blocks. The gaps will be filled with either a print or a solid but first I need to figure out whether I'd like the centre piece to be really fishy, har har, or surrounded by plants. I'd hoped the pics would help me to figure it out but I'm still not entirely sure. What's your take?

Either way, I'm pleased with the route this is taking and confident to be able to send it off in time for the expected January arrival of my UK-based friends.

With that I'm off to a Sunday dinner with friends. Last time I made two large lasagnas but this time around I'm responsible for dessert and have made a walnut cranberry cake tweaking this recipe by making double the dough and replacing the pecans with walnuts since I couldn't find any pecans on my shopping trip.

Hopefully it'll taste as nice as it looks and smells!


Happy sewing, knitting and a few more wonderful Sunday hours!