Quilting for Project Linus

If you've been following my BlogtoberFest posts this week you'll know that i'm making a quilt for Project Linus this month.
It's totally scrappy and most of the fabric has been donated to me. Whilst I've been cutting up the little squares of fabric needed for the quilt I've been thinking a lot about Project Linus, the children who receive the quilts and the co-ordinators who liase with the hospitals or refuges to distribute the quilts.
Project Linus was started in 1995 in the United States with the mission to provide comfort, love and a sense of security to children who are seriously ill, traumatised, or otherwise in need.
The project takes its name from the character in the comic strip Peanuts who was always seen clinging ti his security blanket.
In the UK there are several Regional Centres where donated quilts are collected and distributed to local children in need. I know the quilts received in my area go to Heartlands hospital in Birmingham, a teenage unit in Moseley and Charles House care home among other places.
The quilt I am making is not specifically for a child. It could easily be given to an older child or teenager and would last them into adulthood.
Whilst thinking about the project I coincidentally got an email notification from Amazon this morning advertising a book which is due to be published in a few weeks time which is all about Project Linus.
The book Quilt it With Love has several projects to make and tells some heartwaming stories about the children who have received quilts in the past. The projects are fun and vibrant and would cheer any child. Many have hidden extras like little pockets or double up as a game, but others are simple enough for a beginner to make.
Needless to say, the book is now on my Amazon Wishlist, and I look forward to making a really fun quilt for Linus in the near future.

Compton Verney

 

No rotary cutting tiny 2 1/2" squares or even decorating for me today. I had a glorious day out with a good friend to Compton Verney in Warwickshire. We were so lucky with the weather and were able to enjoy beautiful autumnal sunshine all day long. Compton Verney is an art gallery housed in what was until relatively recently a derelict historical mansion.The house has been in existance for over 500 years. What we see of it today was designed by a famous Scottish architect, Robert Adam, and the grounds were laid out by Capability Brown.
When we arrived, we happened to notice that there was a guided tour of the grounds about to take place, so we abandoned our plans to browse the gallery and joined the tour instead.

The tour went at a leisurely pace and it was so very pleasant standing in the autumnal sunshine listening to the history of the grounds.

The sun shone on the lake, and we appreciated it all the more knowing that days like this are surely at their end for this year, and that the next time we visit it is likely to be a lot colder and grey skied.

We learned about the restoration of the Ice House, which is in effect a large covered pit . In winter ice would be taken from the lake and stored in the ice house, where it stayed frozen ready for use in the kitchens during the summer before the days of the modern fridge!

The ice house is no longer used to store ice, but looks wonderful with a new thatched roof, and has a new purpose as it has become the home to a few bats.

All in all, it was a lovely day out, a well needed break from the sewing and decorating and a memorable way of saying goodbye to summer



Scrap Attack!

OK, It's Blogtoberfest Day 2 and I've been planning my Linus Scrappy quilt.
I haven't actually made a scrappy quilt before! I've made "thoughtfully random" quilts, but never one with the intention of using up lots and lots of scraps - and I have a lot that need using up, believe me!

So, I Googled scrappy quilts this morning and came across a book called "Cut the Scraps"
I did the "Look Inside" thing, and started to read some extracts. The author starts to talk about how we all save our scraps, but then start to feel guilty about them. She says "Echoes from childhood remind us - Eat everything on the plate, don't let anything go to waste - you paid good money for that, don't throw it away. It's the same thing with our fabric stash. Those voices warn: Don't waste, save the leftovers, you might need that someday, be frugal. But the scrap piles continue to grow. Unused the scraps accumulate in bags and boxes and seem to take on a life of their own."

The "eat everything on the plate" analogy resonated with me - not so much as something I think of myself, but as being exactly what my mother would have said! My scrap guilt is weird, to say the least! I look at my scraps and think to myself - "Just imagine, if I died tomorrow, how awful and embarrasing it would be for my children to have to sort through all those scraps! They just wouldn't understand!" Can you be embarrasssed from the grave?
Anyway, the author went on to say that you should cut your scraps into 3 different sizes ready to use.
I just can't do that! That piece that I just cut up might have been the perfect size for a later project.
I didn't buy the book, but I did enjoy reading the excerpts.
I settled on a Scrap Vomit style quilt similar to the one in Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey's tutorial here

It uses 2 1/2" squares and as I like using Jelly Rolls, I have a lot of pieces that are already 2 1/2" wide.
I decided this is the moment to break into my Klona Solids bundle that I bought at the Festival of Quilts a few weeks ago, and I chose a navy and a turquoise solid, which I will use in every alternate block to give it some continuity.





I will need more than just a fat quarter of each, so I've ordered some more from Backstitch. I guess that makes it not completely scrappy, but never mind, I'm having fun!
I've sorted and pressed the scraps, and tomorrow I'll find time in between the decorating to start cutting all those little squares.

BlogtoberFest

Wow! It's October already, and time for Blogtoberfest. This is being hosted by Kat at I Saw You Dancing. The idea is that you challenge yourself to write a blog post every day throughout October.

As it says on her blog, the aims are to :
* challenge yourself to blog every day for 31 days
* discover kindred blogging spirits
* carve out a tiny slice of time each day to write and to read
* share any creative projects you have on the go
* host a giveaway, if you feel inclined to spread the love
There are over 200 participants so far!

For me, this will be a very big challenge indeed! I write plenty of blog posts in my head, but not a lot of them materialise in blogland.
Realistically I don't think I'll make the 31, but I'll give it my best shot, and we'll see in a month's time how well I've done.
It's going to be a busy month - I'm in the middle of decorating a bedroom, I have the garden and veg plot to tidy up ready for the winter, I have two new knitting patterns in my head that just need writing up and testing, and a whole load of samples to make for a talk that I'm giving early in November, but Hey Ho, nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say..

To help me have a focus for these blog posts I'm thinking of making a couple of quilts for Linus - one totally scrappy and one with some simple rotary cut blocks. I think making and sharing my progress  with you on these will actually take less time than me procrastinating over finding something different to write about each day.
I just hope I make it past Day 2 !!
If you want to join in the fun, just sign up here

Bee in my Bonnet Row Along - Rows 2 and 3

Hurray! I've caught up with the Row Along Quilt over at Bee in my Bonnet at last!

Although there is only one row every two weeks, I missed Row 2 when I was holiday, and I really wanted to get up to date so I've spent the past couple of days doing rows 2 and 3.

I find it so relaxing just following instructions sitting with the laptop next to my sewing machine, but I have to admit I'm not used to working on such a small scale as these tiny blocks.

The squares for the easy triangles in both rows were just 1 1/2" square.

 

There were 44 of the little blighters to rotary cut and draw diagonal lines on for Row 2 and 48 for Row 3! To be honest I didn't mind the cutting and marking. It was the sewing that I found rather challenging. If your accuracy is not quite 100% on, say, 4" blocks, you can usually fudge the piecing and make them line up (or is it just me that does this?). But with really tiny blocks there is no room for fudging!
The seam ripper has been put to good use over the last few days... first, the butterfly row ended up too long! Lori told us to measure the completed blocks before joining them.... and I did! No, I hang my head in shame - I measured the first butterfly block I completed... I got too complacent after that, so it serves me right that I had to undo quite a few of them!

They did all fit second time round, and when they got their borders added and I placed the row next to row 1....

..... I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

I carried straight onto Row 3, feeling quietly confident as the tutorial said it was only a filler row - one that could be done in an afternoon. Well, yes, I did manage it in an afternoon - first time round! Again, accuracy was my problem. I've been very selective about which bit of the row I photographed here! - no, that's not cheating... it's just called saving face! I had to bring out the seam ripper again, and I know I'm not going to have an easy task when we come to put these rows together, because the top and bottom edges of this row are definitely not straight.
Once again, I've learned a lot by doing this Row Along. I've learned I need to slow down and sew more accurately when working small scale. I'm rising to the challenge though. I'm actually looking forward to row 4 already.

Back from my Holiday

I'm back in blogland!!!! I've been on holiday and it seems as though I haven't blogged for ages.We took a family holiday in North Devon last week. The weather was extremely kind, the company good and the scenery spectacular.
We explored quaint Devonshire villages.....

We climbed steep paths.....

which are part of the long distance coastal path which goes all around Britain, and once at the top we were treated to views such as this.



We spent time relaxing, and wriggling our toes in the sand.

So now I'm back and can't wait to spend some time with my sewing machine again. I've (nearly)

 finished all the holiday laundry, so it's time to get creative. I missed the second week of the Rows Quilt Along over at Bee in my Bonnet so catching up on that is my first priority, and then I have some sewing I want to do for my Etsy shop. I have lots of  ideas for new sections that I want to put in this shop, so watch this space.... it's going to be a busy, fun week!

 

Fresh Sewing Day - September

 September - the start of the new school year, and for my daughter-in-law the start of a career as a teacher. We all think about the kids, but sometimes it's a new start for the teacher's too!
So what was achieved in August? Looking back, I finished a lot more than I thought I did.

First there was the Garden Trellis quilt, I'm really pleased with this.

Then there was four-patch baby quilt, with some hand quilting. I really enjoyed doing this, but the baby that it was for, that I felt certain (but for no good reason) would be a boy, turned out to be a GIRL!!!!

So I had to quickly turn round and make this bunting for her instead!

And finally, not a complete finish, but a segment finish - the first row of the Row Along (quilt along) over on Bee in my Bonnet

 

Hopes for September? Well, firstly get further than putting the fabric together for the How Far Will You Go Quilt Along which is all I've achieved so far!, and secondly make a Kindle cover before I go on my hols and get it all scratched with sand!! The rest can be serendipity.

 

Linking up to Fresh Sewing Day  and Small Blog Meet over on Lily's Quilts