21 December 2016

2016 Review

I will be taking a computer/blogging break for the next couple of weeks.  It has been a bad year for me health wise and I lost my sewing mojo for a long time. Arthritis has made anything other than knitting difficult :(  I have a pitiful number of finishes this year...

Only one quilt, a gift for my son and his finance
http://emilyscupboard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/washed-and-delivered.html

 My cosy autumn shawl
http://emilyscupboard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/four-seasons-shawl.html
A gorgeous baby jacket
http://emilyscupboard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/baby-jacket.html
 another lacy shawl
http://emilyscupboard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/a-glasgow-rose.html

The good news is that my hands are much better and my quilting mojo is back :) I am busy trying to finish My Liberty Quilt and have a lots of hand appliqué prepped, I am hoping to do some stitching over the holidays.


Until 2017 - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

15 December 2016

Down the Rabbit Hole - Fabric Selection

Sarah Fielke's new 2017 BOM 'Down the Rabbit Hole' will start at the end of January.
Details are here  https://www.sarahfielke.com/pages/block-of-the-month-2017


I am really enjoying working on the 2016 BOM 'Happy Days' in my Liberty fabrics and so of course I have signed up for 2017!

The nice thing about these BOM programs is that they are pattern only, we are all free to chose any fabrics we like - perfect for my stash diet! Each month there are instructions and videos by Sarah demonstrating the process, and a very friendly Facebook group where we can all share progress.

The fabric requirements were posted today, and it's a perfect quilt for scraps. I have had great fun raiding my stash this morning!  I have also indulged in an early Christmas present to myself and bought a piece of gorgeous Liberty Tana Lawn to fussy cut. Isn't it fun? It's called  'Gallymoggers' which I think means 'crazy' and comes in different colours, this is cream.


I have tried to pull scraps using colours from this feature fabric to avoid the quilt looking like a dogs dinner! I love scrappy quilts and really admire people who can seemingly throw anything together and have it turn out great. That never happens in my experience, I need to have some sort of plan - either a theme like my Liberty quilt or a set colour scheme.

I will use the same background throughout the quilt, which I think will tie it all together, that way I can go a little off-piste with the scraps. I have an unnamed white cotton that is big enough and a bolt of Kona Cotton in 'Snow' bought on sale. I am leaning towards the Kona as it is a lovely soft cream


I find my Jinny Beyer palette tool really helpful when selecting colours as the swatches are actual fabrics. I have selected the colours that are in my feature fabric. This is on the white b/g

and on the Kona 'snow'

I have pulled anything that I think will work, this may look like a lot of fabric but all of these pieces are less than a FQ

I have also raided my scrap bin - I keep anything bigger than 1" square, so lots of variety here :)


While I am waiting I will keep working on the appliqué for the 2016 BOM 'Happy Days'



05 December 2016

Baby Jacket

I am not sure that I have ever knitted a baby garment before, but I had so much fun knitting this one! It is a gift for my embroidery teacher who is leaving us today to have her first baby. She knows she is having a girl, so I was able to chose a gorgeous shade of lavender. I naively thought a small baby jacket would knit up in no time, but I swear it was as much work as a full size one!