Thursday 14 January 2016

Shoe mat in the works

I know this is a crafting blog, but my bunnies do sometimes make an appearance here, so I wanted to give you the sad news.  On Sunday morning we lost our beautiful little Ellis.


She had lived with us for 7 years, she was a rescue rabbit.  Needless to say me and Mr CA are so very sad, but poor Colin (her companion) is devastated, I have never seen a more lonely or depressed bunny.  Although it's a bit soon for me to have a new rabbit, I think we'll have to find Colin a new friend this weekend as I don't want to lose him from a broken heart.

On with the crafting...

On New Year's Day I started a new project.  We leave our shoes in the dining room as our hall is very narrow.  They're just plonked under the radiator and this includes Mr CA's boots when he's been out doing archery on muddy fields.  I get tired of sweeping up the dried mud, and the hay from my shoes (I always have bits of hay sticking out of my hair, sawdust clinging to my jumper, straw stuck to my jeans...) so decided a mat was in order.  Something I can throw in the wash.



I picked out a charm pack - Fancy by Lily Ashbury for Moda which was a present from the lovely Kerry.  I'd roughed up a quick sketch on graph paper and worked out some sizes and I knew I wanted fabric with 2 distinct colours.  In the end I went for 2, but colours that could be paired - green and blue and yellow and orange.



I added some Kona Coal that I'd bought for another project and made some HSTs.  They were cut down to 4" squares, so there was plenty of room for error!



Even so, I managed to make some mistakes... I think I had my ruler upside down.  I replaced them and made another 8 as I'd managed to completely miscount!



This is the final layout, it just needs sewing up.  And quilting of course!  I know it's not the most original of designs, but I've pinned a lot of chevron quilts so I was bound to make some chevrons at some point!  Hopefully I'll be able to show you this all finished soon.  It may be the guinea pig for FMQ on my new machine.

15 comments:

Rachel said...

I'm sorry to hear about your departed bunny. They do become part of the family!

The mat looks a good size project for experimenting with your new machine!

Anita said...

Beautiful fabric, very sad news.
Sorry to hear about your bunny.
Hugs, Anita.

Christine B said...

So sorry to hear about Ellis and I hope that you can cheer Colin up! Your new mat is going to look lovely! Christine x

Rhona said...

Sorry to hear about your bunny, hope poor Colin is ok.
Love your chevron mat...it's wonderful!

Bethany said...

Hmmm.... I have 2 fat quarter stacks that go together really well (unplanned)--one is bright, the other low volume, and I'm thinking a chevron quilt like this might be just the ticket...

Kerryp77 said...

Sorry to hear the sad news. Hope you can get a companion for Colin. Love the colour choice on the mat.

Sandra :) said...

Awwwwwwww Wendy I'm so sorry about Ellis - she was such a pretty girl :( Poor Colin missing his buddy :(

That's a pretty start to a shoe mat - what we have in the hallway is pretty ugly, since muddy or snowy construction boots (X3 sets, when both kids were still at home) make a real mess on anything fabric :D

Melody said...

So so sorry to hear about little Ellis

Ellie Foster said...

Sorry to hear your sad news about Ellis. I hope Colin likes his new companion when he/she arrives. The quilt mat is looking good too.
Best wishes
Ellie

Jane said...

So sorry to hear about Ellis, I do hope Colin gets a new friend soon.
Love the chevron quilt, I've doodling with the idea of doing a chevron quilt, must be something in the air

margaret said...

so sad to read your bunny has died, they say guinea pigs work well with rabbits that is if you are looking for something rather than a rabbit as from what you say you would rather wait awhile.
Your mat is far too nice to put muddy and hay ridden shoes on

Chris of UK City Crafter said...

So sorry to hear about your bunny and good luck with the Colin companion hunting for the week end.
Your mat looks bright and cheerful, love the way the orange seems to merge into yellow.

Vera said...

Sorry to hear such a sad news. Your rug is going to be so pretty. I can't imagine the dirty boots on it :)

Sarah in Stitches said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your bunny. That's going to be a lovely rug! I love the colors

Sheryl said...

Sad news Wendy, so sorry, best to keep on with the mat.