What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #180

Back to the kitchen table this week.

I’m cutting more pink strips for hexies. I started with this colour for the centre of the flower and then used the small floral print as the ‘petals’. The green stripe around that and now I need another round of the pink. You can see the other fabrics here.

I have a feeling that stitching these is going to be addictive. It’s the ideal thing to keep my hands busy, while I watch TV in the evening, or sit next to my husband while he snores in front of it!

Head on over to Julia’s place to see who else is taking part today.

Teal Flower Garden Block ~ Trial Run

I picked out some fabrics for my first attempt at a Grandmother’s Flower Garden block and cut a whole bunch of foundation papers ready to go.

Having the die was a blessing. I cranked it through the Big Shot with five layers of thin card, which gave me twenty hexagons. Plenty for the first block. I ironed the fabrics and cut some 2 1/2” strips with my rotary cutter. Then cut across to make squares. I followed this tutorial to baste the fabric onto the paper.

The next step is to whip stitch the pieces together. If all goes well with this one, I’ll make another for the Team Teal Quilting Bee. I think this one will end up as the centre of a cushion for my daughter’s bedroom. I know she has her eye on it.

Anyone else having a go? It’s not too late. You can find my preparation post here, if you missed it.

Stampin’ Up Saturday ~ Ornament Keepsakes #2

This is one of the cards we made in class on Wednesday. Another simple design, that can be mass produced fairly quickly, like the one I showed you last week.

I went for a neutral colour scheme this time and added a splash of festive red with some punched border strips. I think it has a nice vintage feel to it .

• Ornament Keepsakes stamps
• Holiday Ornaments framelits
• Naturals Ivory cardstock
• Crumb Cake cardstock
• Riding Hood Red cardstock
• Crumb Cake ink
• Soft Suede ink
• Crumb Cake seam binding

There is a great offer on these stamps throughout November, which you can find here. I can be found at angelfishcrafts{at}gmail{dot}com if you’d like to place an order, request a catalogue, or have any questions on the products.

I’ll be back on Tuesday with my hexie progress. Have a lovely weekend.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday #179

I taught another class this morning and I figured you probably wouldn’t want to see my kitchen table all piled up with supplies for a third time, so I’ll show you my ironing board instead.

Remember that transfer paper we were going to experiment with during half term? Well here is the result. One of my daughter’s drawings transferred to the front of a T-shirt. How cool is that? She loves it and I have to prise her out of it for purposes of hygiene! Luckily she is at school today, so I’ve been able to wash it.

There’s a little pile of fabric waiting to be ironed and made into hexies. One of you may recognise it. Mentioning no names. More details on that in yesterday’s post.

My children will be rushing through the door at any minute so I’ll be round to visit some desks this evening. You can see them all at Julia’s place.

Teal Flower Garden Block ~ Preparation

The last time I tried my hand at English paper piecing I was 9 years old. I didn’t know that was what it was called then. My Gran had a set of metal templates and we drew around them onto the backs of old Christmas cards and scraps of fabric.

My Gran was a very talented seamstress and she always had a big bag of scraps, left over from the lovely clothes she made for us. I remember cutting some of the hexagons from yellow floral fabric, which had been used to make bridesmaids dresses for my cousins. Well it was the seventies. My Gran showed me how to baste the material onto the paper hexagons and my cousin sewed them together. Eventually it grew big enough to make a cushion. My cousin was staying with us, for a week I think, that Summer and took the patchwork with her when she went home. I wonder if she still has it. I must ask her, when I next speak to her.

For this project I only need to make a 6” square block, which is a good thing as my hand sewing skills are a bit rusty. I emailed Hadley from Flying Blind On A Rocket Cycle and she had lots of helpful advice. There is a site called Incompetech where you can print out sheets of graph/grid paper, in any design you like, including hexagons of whatever size you need. My block will be made up of 1” hexagons. This measurement refers to the side and gives a shape that is 2” across. I drew a quick sketch in my daughter’s old maths book and I will need 7 whole hexagons for the flower shape and 10 halves to make the block.

Sizzix have recently launched a range of quilting dies and I decided to get one of those, so that I can cut my hexagons from index cards instead of paper. You could of course print your templates onto lightweight card, but I do not have the best relationship with my printer and thought this was the way to go. Once the paper templates are cut out, the next thing is to cut the fabric and baste that onto the paper hexagons. There are a number of ways to do this. A couple of them are shown here, in this great set of tutorials for a Flower Garden quilt.

There is an alternative, which does not require cutting out the fabric into hexagons at all. You start with a square a little bigger than the paper piece, folding and stitching each edge as you go. It doesn’t look as neat on the back, but I’m feeling quite drawn to this method. There is a detailed tutorial with lovely clear pictures at Kandi Pandi’s Pad or a video tutorial, if you prefer, at Katie’s Quilting Corner.

The fabrics you can see in the photos came from a lovely blog friend. I mentioned that I was hunting for some fabric with tiny strawberries on and she thought she had just the thing in her stash. I love it and I’m really hoping it’s going to work with the teal fabric that Jo has chosen for the quilt. Thank you Jan.

The die arrived this morning, just in time to make an appearance in this post. Great service from Country View Crafts as I only ordered it late on Sunday night. I’ll be cutting my hexagons later and if anyone would like to piece a block along with me, then I’d be more than happy to cut and send you a set. Just let me know.

Storytelling Sunday ~ Mr Sandman

It’s the first Sunday of the month and that can only mean one thing. It’s time for the telling of tales and the sharing of stories and maybe a few pictures to go with them.

Once upon a time, when I was a very small girl indeed, another little girl lived next door and we played together in our garden almost every day. By the time I started school her family had moved, but we still played together from time to time. We stayed friends into our early teens and then they moved a very long way away.

You might remember I went to 50th anniversary party a couple of weeks ago. That celebration was for the other little girl’s Mum and Dad. We had a lovely evening and it was great to see her again after 30 years. One thing she asked me was, “Did we play with a man that you could push over?” and the answer was, “Yes. Yes we did!”

I don’t actually remember him at all, but my brother does and says we called him Mr Sandman. I dug through the family photos when we got back home and found these two little gems. I was able to email them to her and I thought I’d share them with you today. I’m the little girl on the left, in case you were wondering.

If it’s a dark and stormy night sort of tale you’re after, then there are plenty to be found at Sian’s place. Mine from last November fits the bill too.

Stampin’ Up Saturday ~ Ornament Keepsakes

I almost forgot it was Saturday today. That’s what happens around here when it’s half term. Luckily I’d already made the card ready to share with you.

Some people have the perfect knack of layering up different patterned papers when they are making cards, but I am not one of them. I tend to keep my palette simple and my layers to a minimum. This comes in handy when you’re mass producing a design. One colour of ink and the matching cardstock on a white background.

Once I’d finished layering it up I felt it needed a little something, but I wasn’t sure what. Then I remembered these sweet and simple cards that Sian made last year and knew that a seam binding bow would be just the thing. A greeting from my favourite sentiment set and it’s done.

• Ornament Keepsakes stamp set
• Holiday Ornaments framelits dies
• Curly Cute stamp set
• Midnight Muse ink
• Whisper White Cardstock
• Midnight Muse cardstock

I can make ten of these in an hour. I know because I’ve just done it. Not bad eh?

As always please contact me at angelfishcrafts{at}gmail{dot}com if you would like any more information on the products I’ve used here. The online catalogue can be viewed here and if you would like a paper version, I’ll be happy to send you one.

Next week and throughout November I’ll be showing different ways to use this set.