All 10 placemats delivered

 I continued on with the placemats. Different colours, different looks but using a lot of scraps.

2 green

A lovely bright yellow & orange

Then on to 2 reds.

Here are all 10 before being handed in to the group. 

I plan on getting about 50 made by December. I have now completed 13 so I am on track to achieve this.

I have a few friends that are collecting toiletries from motels when they travel. When I get a few bag fulls I donate them to SHARE THE DIGNITY. These are for women and children that are removed from their homes in cases like domestic abuse. A lot of times they don’t get to pack a bag. So bags are made up and given to them with personal products included.

You can also donate any unused handbags you have that are in good condition. They don’t have to be brand new but must still be nice and not damaged.

I plan on making some patchwork bags throughout the year too.

Chaos # 5 - flying geese

Wednesday is the day the next clue comes out. This clue is a large flying geese block. 4.5” * 8.5” unfinished. Cut out the large block in a colour or many. Then one pile of light colours and one pile of med/dark colours for the smaller blocks.

Draw the sewing lines on to smaller blocks

Layer the smaller med/darker blocks on opposite sides right sides together.

Cut and iron. Then do the same with the lighter fabrics.

You will end up with 4* the larger square. Each flying geese has one light and one dark wing. 

64 made. Half one direction and half the reverse.

Now to trim them all.

A busy day… 5 crumb sewing placemats

 I have had a fun day sewing up my scraps.. I am making up some placemats for meals on wheels at the end of the year. I hope to get 50 made so I can donate them for Xmas gifts to recipients.

I have already handed over 3 and have now made another 5. I’ll have to keep track of the count.

So I see blogger is putting the photos in a different order so this will take some time to post…

I’m working with my scraps. It’s time to tackle this basket.

I found these in amongst my go cutter dies. So thought I should use them up first.

Flying geese blocks already cut out but needed sewing.

I am using a new machine foot I bought 2 years ago. We always buy these gadget things but don’t use them enough. It is a quilting in the ditch foot. Oh wow. I was scared to try it but I will be using it in many more future projects. It was easy and gave an amazing finish.

And the quilting is finished

Next up was another pink scrap project. Look at the pile of scraps."

And it is done…

Next up is a bright coloured placemat.

And it has worked out so well.

Then there was a lot of purple.

It looks so good finished

And then there was blue. The colour for February 

This looks good.

Here they are all together. They look great.

Here are the next 5 piles already sorted into their colours for my next sewing day.

Black/Grey, brown, red, green and yellow/orange.

Block 4 CHAOS Mystery

  This one was an easy block. Make 16 QST that measure 4.5”.

We were asked to cut 8* 5.25” squares each of 4 different colour fabrics. Do not use your neutral fabrics though. Use your scraps. 

I’m making a green quilt so chose a few different shades of green with very different patterns.

Marking them with my little 1/2” ruler.

And here they are.

****** So, what I worked out is that if you cut 8 blocks of your 4 colours (32 squares) you will end up with 32 quarter square triangles. 16 colours one direction and 16 in the reverse colour direction. We only need 16 blocks so the extras can be used in the borders. You can choose to use all the same direction blocks or you can mix them up with the reverse blocks. I suppose if you don’t want to make all the extra blocks up and are happy with mixing the block orientations you only need to cut half the total blocks to yield the 16 blocks we need. You will be limited with colour/pattern though.. *****

Now for the trimming…..

Happy Anniversary

 After so much going on over the past 7 months my husband still remembered our anniversary. He asked to be taken to the news agency to shop for a card for me. This was special.

HAPPY 42nd ANNIVERSARY

Then this evening our daughter and family dropped in too.

They bought us something to celebrate.

Thankyou Kristy, Damien, Nick & Xav

Preparing my backing for Bordertown B’s

 It’s time to get my backing sorted. My quilt measures 96” * 112”. Yes, it’s a biggin’.

As you know we need to make it a bit larger for the longarmer. Now the fun begins.

The wide back I bought is only 108” wide which seemed ok but only 98” long. I knew I had to lengthen it by at least 22”. I was also advised to wash it first as sometimes they shrink. I have never washed my fabrics first. A new experience for me. Having to wash, dry and then iron this one fabric. Thanks Judy, it’s washed and ironed. PROBLEM.it shrunk. It now only measures 100” wide so definitely not big enough. Mmmmmmm.

Okay, get out all my scraps from the quilt top and join them together. 

But first I have to lay out the backing on the floor. I move my furniture to give me room and my living/ dining room become my workspace. First cut done and a strip sewn in.

2nd cut done.

Oh this was scary.

Next, layout my leftovers on the floor in my hallway/sewing room

I worked out which sections I could sew together and I moved them onto the sewing table

They went back together a little different to what was planned. But I got there.

Here it is big enough for my quilt top. 

Not to go and join the batting to get it to fit.

I used the iron on batting joiner but stitched it as well. Sorry no photos of that.

Okay. My back went out doing this and the next day I had trouble walking. It popped back in but took about 5 days for the pain to ease. Please remind me in future that I am not to make a quilt bigger than the width of a wide back or the wadding . I am not joking them to get a bigger size. It wa stop much hard and painful work. Although I will love my quilt when it is finished…

Now to deliver them to Judy for quilting. Thank you 💕

February & March CHOOKSHED challenge

 I know it’s a bit late but here it is.

February I was to work on making project bags/pouches. 

So here is bag no. 7. I think I like how this one is working.

I decided to put a plastic front so I can see what’s in the bag. I received this fat quarter for a birthday swap a few years ago. I love it. I started by sewing a border around the plastic edges so there was no plastic in the side seams. So much easier.

I started attaching the zip before I realised I should have turned the top strip up the other way. Oops. I’m not changing it.

I did all the sewing and am really happy. Time to turn it out the right way.

So the printed panel that was supposed to be the front of the bag I put in as the lining in the middle. It can be seen through the plastic window. I think this is my favourite so far. 

All up, 7 project bags made and 1 chocolate zippered pouch.

I did email the chocolate company the photo of what I did.

11

This was their reply….

“ Hi Jo,

Thanks for reaching out and for your patience as we got back to you! It's been a busy choco season at Tony's, and that can affect our response time.. we make sure to answer every message, and we're happy you got in touch with us. :)

OMG we love what you did with our wrappers! We shared the photos you sent with the whole Tony's US team.. definitely a highlight of our week. We're so grateful to have such creative chocofans, and we're so thrilled that you shared photos of your bag with us.  

Thanks again for taking the time to reach out to us with your awesome bag.. we hope you have the sweetest weekend!

Choco cheers, 

Megan
 
“

Now for March # 2 challenge project.

Mine is to get this quilt quilted. 

I have started, actually, done more than I thought.

As you can see by this block the top was done in 2019-2020. 

It has some quilting done already so it’s time to get it done. 

Now is time to link up with Deana and go see what everyone else has done in February and what they will be working on in March

https://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/2025/02/top-done.html