September review

It's time to see what has happened challenge-wise this month.  Not that much...

Needlequest

The theme was Autumn and I got re-started on my Hardanger project, stitching the September block.



Sew Kitschy paper piecing bom 

September was the last month of this BOM and I can safely say I've failed quite spectacularly to keep up with this BOM.  Trivets WILL be made...

Something New for 2014

There was Zentangling and Micro macrame this month, not to mention my amazing Knooking!



A Lovely Year of Finishes

I said I'd finish the Mackintosh-inspired wall hanging which is a quilt pattern from Quiltessential.  I did get a fair bit done, but it's not finished.

I've done all the reverse applique, and the bias binding is now in place and stitched down.  I stalled when it came to quilting it as I'm not sure how to do it.

I wondered about a loopy FMQ in each block, but then I wondered about matchstick quilting.  Suggestions would be gratefully received.

As you can see, the edges are not perfectly straight, and one of the corners is very skewiff, this is also putting me off finishing it as I'm not sure how to go about binding it...

Craft Book Sew along

I reviewed The Zentangle Workbook 2 and Knook, I also made a bunny from Amigurumi.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

This month was orange and my 3 orange scraps weren't big enough to make a scrap bucket... I'll wait for October's colour.

Smalls SAL

Completely failed.  I blame the Hardanger!

2014 FAL Q3

We're at the end of Q3, so here's a quick rundown of how I faired:

1. Bag of the Month June bag - done!

2. Bunnie softie - done!

3. Placemats to match my chair cushions.  Still at the "scraps in a bag" stage

4. Flower Patch bag kit - nope

5. Hessian reindeer - nope

6. Mackintosh wall hanging - in progress but not finished

7. Circle of Geese mini.  Not even thought about

8. Recycling bag for our kitchen - done, and a matching hay bag

9. Quilt And Sew On - not touched

10. Cuzco quilt - all the blocks are made, I just need to sash and join them

11. Applique cushion.  FMQ not done

12. Latch hook rug - still sitting unbound

So I managed 3 out of 12, and worked on 2 others.  Not so bad.  Bet you can't guess what will be on my Q4 list!

Related Posts

August review and September goals
August goals
July review
July goals
June review
June goals
May review
May goals
April review
April goals
March review
March goals
February review 1
February review 2
February review 3
February goals
January review

Reverse Applique wall hanging

I've shown you a couple of sneak peaks of this project so far, and of course the entire solids fat quarter bundle I bought as I needed a couple of solid scraps, so I thought I should perhaps show you a bit more.

I'm making a wall hanging using reverse applique and fusible binding so it looks like a stained glass window.  I'm following a pattern for this one as I fell in love with it and hand to have it.  Above shows the coloured squares being sewn on and trimmed.

This is how it looks from the front.  I sewed down each marked line, I then had to cut out the white fabric from in front of the coloured pieces.

So this is where I am so far.  I actually started sewing on the fusible binding after taking this photo, I'll update you on that soon, but it's going so fast I think it might be almost finished... I hope so as this is my September goal for ALYOF.

reverse applique bookmarks

I've completely given up trying to think of witty, amusing or clever titles for my posts.  Or did you think I gave it up months ago?  Can you guess what I've got to show you today?  Yes, that's right, bookmarks.  Of the reverse appliqué type.

I kind of used this tutorial by The Girl By The Sea.   I used my own templates and sewed the backing fabric a bit differently.

I made them 2 weekends ago, up to the stage you see above.  I did the reverse appliquéing, the sewing round the motifs, the sewing up and the turning.  I knew I wanted to sew round the edge, and needed to to close the turning gap, but thought it'd be a 5 minute job.

Here's a bit of a close up of the reverse appliqué.  It's raw edge so it'll fray more but I like the look, it works well with flowers especially.

I added the button to the centre of the flower.

So, that five minute job to topstitch?  Took me bloody hours!  First up was the flower.  I sewed it up.  Missed the turning gap.  Unpick.  Sew up again, missed the turning gap.  I sewed and missed 4 times before I finally gave up and handstitched that damn gap shut.  Fifth time lucky.  Except I used the wrong colour thread.  You know what?  It can stay the wrong colour!

For the hearts, I sewed right through the edge of one of them.  Unpick.  Sew again, massive birds nest on the back.  Third time?  Yep, got it right that time.

The unpicking was made more frustrating by the fact I kepts sewing the topstitch with a tiny little stitch.  I'd sew them both, realise they were wrong, put them to one side, do something else, come back to it, unpick, sew again... all with a stitch length of about 1mm!!

They're done.  Finally.  Never again.  Also this weekend I made a bag for Purse Week at Lemon Squeezy Home.  There was some unpicking with that too, but more about that later.  I couldn't get a decent picture, the light is terrible as England seems to think it's deepest mid-winter... I really hope I can get a good photo next weekend, if not it'll be crap photos for me.

In other news, I ate my own body weight in cake on Friday.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.