We Can Do It! Skill Builder block 4

Week 4 for the Skill Builder QAL was a bit of a surprise.  Leila decided we were to design and make our own blocks!   The first part was to draft some block ideas.  Mine are below.  The four colours are meant to represent the Bliss fabrics I was planning on using.  I have no idea if these blocks are existing blocks, they might well be commonly used blocks with names but if they are, I didn't know, this is what came out of my head.

 

I chose the second from the left on the bottom row.  Oh yes, pinwheels again!

I selected some fabrics, did the maths and got sewing.  It wasn't all plain sailing.  Ooops...

With the half square triangles sewn together (correctly in the end!), I laid them out to check it would work.

Does it?  I don't know!  Ah well, sew them up anyway.

Ta da!  Some of the points on the pinwheels are better than others, but my square blocks all matched up pretty well.

I can see in the photo above that the seams of the 4-patch don't match the seams of the pinwheels.  I don't know if I'm ever going to be any good at this!

I know what I'm going to do with this block.  I'm going to make a few more in Bliss fabrics, then I have a "master plan".

I have got over 400 blog posts to read as I went away for a long weekend.  A friend recently got married in Australia and she'd come back to England with her Aussie husband for a few weeks.  They had a little wedding reception which was great fun,  then we went on a horse drawn narrow boat!  That was pretty good fun.  No photos, I hate taking photos so I generally don't bother!!  I did manage to get a bit of charity shopping in, I was eager to see what Charity shops "down South" are like and I picked up two craft books.  I know I'm not supposed to be buying any more craft books, but at a pound each, who can resist?  I don't have them to hand to tell you the titles, but one is a book of cross stitch motifs which also includes sections on drawn work and cut work etc.  The other is about crochet lace so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into them.

Wow, that was boring wasn't it? Remind me not to write about my life again as it's dull!

Skill Builder Block 3 - Churn Dash

I'm a bit late posting this, I actually sewed up this block last weekend, but didn't download the photos.  For those that don't know, I'm joining in with the Skill Builder Sampler QAL over at Sewn!

This week it was the Churn Dash and I have to say, I was terrified!  It wasn't as scary as I thought.  Once again, Leila's instructions were really clear.

So, without further ado, here it is

I used the same Fig Tree Patisserie and Breakfast at Tiffany's fabrics as for the previous 9 patch block.  I have been asked why I'm not making a quilt and the answer is that I just don't own enough co-ordinating fabrics and I can't afford the investment in enough fabric for a quilt at this time.  So, I had to put my brain at work to decide what I could make with this block and last week's.

I decided that one thing I really could do with is a grocery bag dispenser.  I have quite a lot of plastic bags from the days when I didn't carry reusable ones around and also there are a lot that Mr CA brings home.  I had a flick around the net to find a tutorial but didn't like the dimensions of any of them so I just winged it.  Should that be wung it?

I sewed a couple of strips at the top and bottom, made a hem to feed through some elastic, then sewed the two blocks together.

Pretty and functional!

Right, onwards, I've got the next block to do.  Oh, I've finished the rainbow placemats and completed my binding challenge, I will blog about that later!

Skill Builder Blocks week 2

Oh dear, it would seem I put these photos in a post, then scheduled it without ever actually writing the post.  Apologies to anyone it may have confused!

So, this is my attempt for the Value 9-Patch block which is block two of the Skill Builder QAL at Sewn!. I'm really enjoying this QAL, even though I'm not making a quilt, it's good to practice the skills and learn a lot along the way.  It even inspired me to buy 2 quilt block books, more about that another time.

Above are the fabrics I chose all laid out and ready to go.  I chose fabrics from Fig Tree's Patisserie range, given to me by the wonderful Nancy.  There's also some Breakfast At Tiffany's spots in there. 

And, without further ado... here's my finished block:

I'm pretty happy with it.  the points all match up nicely, but I really don't understand the colour value thing that Leila is trying to teach us, I don't really know what that means and I don't think I achieved it as I don't see a square within the square.  I think I'll have to do some more research unless anyone can enlighten me?

Does anyone want a close up so you can scrutinise my points?  No?  Tough!

 

  

Just a quick reminder about my LANT challenge in case you missed it.  I'd love for people to join in.  Information here.

I know I've been doing a lot of patchwork recently, I hope that hasn't put people off my blog.  This isn't going to be an exclusively quilting blog at all, it's just that certain commitments (my placemats, the Skill Builder challenge and my table topper) all seemed to collide.  Life's also been a bit hectic and a little bit rubbish recently.   Long hours mean less stitching / crocheting / beading.  Enough whinging, it's Friday!