Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish. -Jean de la Fontaine

Hey y'all! So I haven't blogged in a little bit but I have a pretty good excuse - I started my new job last week! If you've been with me for awhile you know that I have been looking for work for quite some time now; it has been a stressful few months and the last couple especially have been really hard. I am still settling in and getting used to my new routine, but so far everyone is really nice and I'm able to give recommendations and have a say in the library services.

Anyway, because I'm still getting used to having far fewer hours in the day to devote to my own work, I have only sewn one thing since I started my new job (although there is other crafty stuff going on that I can't talk about right now) and that had to be done by last Sunday.

At this month's TMQG meeting we held a little blind pincushion swap! I've really been enjoying making one colour, scrappy pincushions so I did it again. Almost all of these purple scraps came from a little scrap pack I bought from The Workroom.

I fussy cut the centre motif from Tula Pink's Birds and the Bees and decided to go with a rectangular log cabin so that I could use as many scraps as possible. I don't know the identity of many of the scraps but I do know that there is some Lizzy House, Anna Maria Horner, and more Tula Pink in there.

My pincushion went to Sally (who also brought each of us a bag of crushed walnut shells to use in future pincushions) and I received a pincushion back from Sandy which I have, unfortunately, not had a chance to get decent pictures of.

I'm really hoping to get some sewing in this weekend, especially since I need to finish the quilt I started for Alex - wish me luck!

Sewing Summit Swap: Part One

After Sewing Summit finished up I received a notification asking if I'd like to participate in a swap being held for people who attended - of course I said yes! I received my partner notification a little while later and had been busily thinking of what I should make her; I looked though her blog, Flickr, and Pinterest and still had no idea what to do! Her style is close to mine in some ways, but many of the things I thought to make her she had already made something similar for herself. So I settled on "cute" with a few extras, hah!

Using a little munki munki from Heather Ross and a lot of blue scraps I made her a small log cabin-inspired pincushion! The finished size is about 4x4" so each of the little strips measures half an inch wide finished - I don't think I've ever made a log cabin using such small pieces before but it was pretty fun to work in miniature. The scraps are a mix of all kinds of things - Joel Dewberry, Heather Bailey, Liesl Gibson, Lizzy House, and a slew of others. I forgot to take a picture of the back but I used Mixed Signals in Sea Foam from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush and sewed on one of my own "handmade by" labels too! It's hard to see in the pictures, but I also added some batting to the top and did a little bit of quilting before putting it all together.

I thought I was being pretty clever putting the munki munki tomato pincushion in the centre of an actual pincushion... oh, I slay myself! It really is just the perfect fit too - miniature pincushion on a pincusion - good times!

My swap partner mentioned that she loves Denyse Schmidt's new Chicopee so I included a 2.5" square of all but two of the fabrics in the collection because I know she likes to make EPP hexagons. I also included two of my own handmade washi tape magnets as a little extra.

My partner hasn't received her package yet (so I can't reveal who she is), but I really hope she likes it! I haven't received my package yet either, but I've seen some really great stuff posted to the Flickr group and am really excited for it to arrive!

Quilt Uber-Fest Block 2: Flying North

Welcome everyone to the second day of the Quilt Uber-Fest quilt along! I'm really glad that you're all joining me here today and I can not wait to see the blocks that y'all come up with over the next little bit. I've called my block design "Flying North" because the flying geese and log cabin motif reminded me of Canadian geese flying over sections of farmland.

Fabrics I Used:
Three prints from Nel Whatmore's Sleeping Beauty for Free Spirit
Woven Haze Stripe in Denim Blue by Kaffe Fassett
Bonus Fabric: Kona Cotton in Ash

*Note: All seams are 1/4" and please remember to press in between each step. The block will end up being 12.5x12.5" square with a finished size of 12x12" square.

Cutting Directions:

-Cut two squares measuring 4x4" from each the Kona Ash solid and one Sleeping Beauty print (I used print #PWNW013Purple) for a total of four squares.
-Cut one 2.5x6.5" strip and one 2.5x10.5" strip from one Sleeping Beauty print (I used print #PWNW017Brown).
-Cut one 2.5x8.5" strip and one 2.5x12.5" strip from the last Sleeping Beauty print (I used print #PWNW015Purple).
-Cut one 2.5x8.5" strip and one 2.5x10.5" strip from the Kaffe Fassett woven.

  Making HSTs:

-Draw a line diagonally from point to point on the wrong side of your two solid squares.

-Pin a solid block, right sides together, with a print block and sew 1/4" away on either side of the diagonal line.

-Using your rotary cutter or a pair of scissors cut the square into two triangular pieces using the original line that you drew as your guide.

-Open up each triangle and press the centre seam open. Trim each block if necessary to 3.5x3.5" square and cut off the little nubbins that are jutting out.

-Repeat the above steps with your remaining solid and print blocks until you are left with four half-square triangles.

Constructing the Geese:

-Layout your HSTs as shown above.

-Take each of your sets of matching HSTs and sew, right sides together, along the joining edge.

-Now that your two geese are constructed place them rights together and sew along the centre joining edge.

The Log Cabin:

-Sew your 2.5x6.5" strip, right sides together, to the bottom of the flying geese.

-Sew the first of your 2.5"x8.5" strips, right sides together, to the right side of the flying geese.

-Sew the second of your 2.5x8.5" strips, right sides together, to the bottom of the block.

-Sew the first of your 2.5x10.5" strips, right sides together, to the right side of the block.

-Sew the second of your 2.5x10.5" strips, right sides together, to the bottom of the block.

-And finally, sew your 2.5x12.5" strip, right sides together, to the right side of the block. Look at that - you're done!

I hope that you all enjoyed being here and that you've also enjoyed making "Flying North" with me. I've turned this tutorial into a PDF too which you can find here! Remember to add photos of your completed blocks to the Uber-Fest Flickr group and please come back and visit anytime you'd like! Also, add your block to the Miss Print Tutorials and Patterns Flickr group if you'd like too!

Next up with block three tomorrow, we have: Karen Linton who, since she does not have a blog, will be guest posting the tutorial on Scott's blog!

Tutorial: Traditional Log Cabin over at Chasing Cottons!

Bec over at Chasing Cottons asked me if I would take part in her Quilt Class 101 series of blog posts by guest blogging a tutorial on sewing a Log Cabin quilt block - according to her I am the queen of log cabins (who knew?!) - and of course I said yes!

My tutorial for this traditional block is included in Part 2 of Bec's series; it finishes at 12" square (12.5" unfinished) and while it is a traditional block I feel that I pumped up the "fun factor" by my choice of fabrics and the fact that the fussy cutting in the centre square is actually off-centre giving the whole block a slightly asymmetrical look even though it is, in fact, perfectly symmetrical.

So head on over to Bec's today and check out my tutorial if you want to get the lowdown on making this block! I'll be back soon with some more crafty goodness, and don't forget on Sunday October 2nd I will be sharing the block I designed and the tutorial to go along with it for the Quilt Uber-Fest Quilt Along! Go ahead and grab our button if you'd like!




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