mad pillow making woman

I've been on a mad cushion making spree over the last couple of days!
Besides the ones I showed you here already,

patchwork squares...

log cabin..

I made another log cabin...

and more patchwork squares!

All four of these have flown out of the shop faster then I could whip them up, I am most pleased!
I will be busy making some more, but I probably will not list them until I get back from my little break next week :-)

 I also found time to sew myself a little cushion to keep.

This is a wee 14" cushion, the house block is a pattern from Kumiko Fujita's patchwork 318.

I'm thinking my month in this bee will have 'Home sweet home' as a theme. There are some really cute house blocks in this book. But there are also lots of applique blocks, a combination of both would be lovely don't you think?
I am not sure if this is a worldwide thing, but I think it is.. We get these decorative wall tiles, you know the ones I'm talking about right? They usually have a decorative motif stenciled or painted on them with a corny saying like ' home is were the heart is or 'seize the day' (I mean no offense by calling them corny- if you have a whole collection of them you rock!)
I was thinking of mixing up house blocks with these flowery applique blocks and corny sayings about love and home and family to turn into a large cushion or wall hanging or something.
I still have time to change my mind,  what do you think?
 

x Leila

Oh and one more thing, you may have noticed (Anna!) I'm wearing a new Nani Iro skirt in the last two pictures. I will show it off properly soon!

October Bee Blocks

Thanks to all your wonderful tips I finished this months cocorico bee block .
I tried most of the suggestions for the antennae, before settling on these .The bias tape applique looked too whimsical, which is not what I was after with this block. After a few stitches of embroidery I thought it didn't show enough contrast.. I can not for the life of me master free motion so I just 'stitched and turned'

Annabel's Orchard

 I'm pleased with how this block came out and I do think it rather looks more like a moth/butterfly than a half dresden now. Annabel asked for 12" x 16" blocks to make placemats for her dinner guests. Although I do think she has changed her mind on letting food touch her blocks now ;-)

Next up is the block I made for Kerry for our Patchwork 318 bee.
Kerry chose 'afternoon tea' as her theme, which I love. I drink it by the bucket so this was definitely a theme I could work with ;-)

I actually think Kerry's afternoon tea is a lot more refined than mine. No buckets there but a fine collection of vintage cups and saucers she picked up on one of her trips to the car boot sale.
This block measures 6 1/2" unfinished.

Next month we'll hit the slopes with Krista, she and her family enjoy skiing something I know nothing about! The bar has been set amazingly high already have a look at Amy's block!!
And I get to choose a theme for the 318 bee, I have not settled on a final idea yet but I will keep you all posted.

x Leila

sewing a shirt

September is Amisha's month in Patchwork 318 the bee.
She chose the sewing themed blocks for her month, which is a most excellent theme! I actually wanted to do something similar for my month but I think I'll come up with something else instead. After all we want to make the most out of the wonderful block patterns in this book.

Anyway I picked the shirt block because I'm still new at paper piecing and this block seemed so straight forward. No curves just a few triangles. Simple right?

Well looks can be deceiving! See the small strip of white background by the collar?  Those are itty bitty inset seams!!

I struggled for two hours with that collar yesterday before I threw in the towel. But a new day can make all the difference and today I managed to sew those corners down correctly - pfiew!
The rest of the block is simple and I got to do a little embroidery as well which was fun.
The block measures 6 1/2" and is made with DS Quilts and Kona snow fabric.


This bee certainly is challenging but lots of fun and very inspirational too. Did you see the amazing sewing machine block Kerry made yesterday?

 x Leila

August Bee Blocks

Today I want to share my most recent bee blocks with you.
First up is the block I made for Lauree in the Cocorico bee.

Her theme for the month is 'Kitchen Couture'. I drafted up this little pattern of a Japanese style teapot my mum used to have.  Hers was black, as most of these iron cast teapots are but I decided to make Lauree's teapot yellow just for fun!

Next up is my block for Patchwork 318 bee. Ayumi chose "Sweets' Shop" as her theme for the month.

I made a green tea and vanilla rose ice cream cone, topped with strawberry whipped cream and red chocolate bow. I managed to square this block up wrong at the very end! But thanks to all the wonderful people over on Flickr I'm now convinced this mistake isn't too bad after all :-)

I don't know about you but starting in a new bee always gets me a bit nervous!


Last up is Reene's block for Fresh Modern Bee 2. She asked us to make our signature block, and sent some wonderful Hope Valley fabric paired  with a bit of solid. I asked her if I could add some bits from my stash to make this + & x block.

Not sure if it fits the bill as my signature block but I so enjoyed making my + & x blocks quilt that I really wanted to make another one of these blocks!

x Leila

July {or it's all about Lynne..}

It's the first day of a fresh new month and that means Lynne @ Lily's Quilts is hosting another Fresh Sewing Day. If you have not seen Lynne's blog yet you're missing out- seriously! She's a bit of a quilting goddess you know, always coming up with great new designs wich she most generously shares with all of us and to top it all off she's hysterically funny!

Well I suppose you have all run off to her blog now but for those of you still reading...here's what I've been up to in July

1. Fluffy Pom, 2. Pom Pom's, 3. Pom Pomalong with me?, 4. For my partner.., 5. Pretty {little} Pouch Swap, 6. Pretty {little} Pouch Swap, 7. Rice Bowl Potholder., 8. Rice Bowl, 9. FMB 2 July block, 10. Teacher's gift Bunting., 11. #55 Linoleum, 12. #12 Broken Sugar Bowl

I'm still enjoying some time off making pom poms and the odd yo yo here and there but I'm starting to seriously miss my sewing machine! {addicted who me?!}

This month I'll be practicing some more paper piecing. I was lucky enough to be invited to join two new bees that I'm very excited about! I'll be blogging more about them once we get started some time in August/ September. But here's a little hint...

My very own Snow Scraper ;-)

 ---------------------------------------------------------

Now head on over to Lynne's to add your link and if you're new to blogging and would like to connect with other new bloggers and maybe get some more followers you should definitely link up to her Small Blogger's Meetup!

x Leila