Neglecting the blog!

Oh dear. It's been a while and believe me I have been sewing like a mad woman on caffeine....Only without the caffeine!
I've been instagramming as its so much easier to snap a picture and post it for all to see...
I have returned to share some pictures of the progress made. I don't like how you can't take your own pictures to use from instagram off the internet....weird!!!
I've rambled enough take a look for yourselves..

I've been cake decorating with Father making this Cake for Mother dearest!

Layout done and being sewn for the BerryIndieRomance quilt! Love these fabrics!! Glad I have some leftover pieces...They could become a cushion cover....

Decided on the layout for the Citrus berry quilt and also already have a backing quilt fabric for that too...So practical me!

I then thought to myself I'm making all these quilts to be sold...But nothing for myself to keep. So I pulled out all my Lotta Jansdotter stash and set to work on a HST quilt of my very own...It's going to be big!!

This is the first one I made for myself..Plus quilt with a few thrown in extras...this lives in the front room downstairs and has served us well on the cold nights.

The back of the quilt was just a simple rail fence design. It seemed to cruel to make the bars any smaller. Had to show off those prints!!

I also made myself quite some time ago now a large zippered pouch. Which contains my stash of EPP!

I set to work on My Lotta quilt. Making HST's the easy way...... 130 blocks! 6" in size

I then joined a fun looking Instagram swap.....

I'll be sewing the quilt tops soon. Deciding on a layout for the Lotta quilt and Making further Purge projects

Watch this space!!

Cherie =]

A whole lot of WIP's

So far I have managed to finish 3 of the 5 quilt tops I've been working on these past few months. If you follow me on Instagram @ibecheraldine you would have seen the progress....been bored to tears with pictures and laughed (possibly) at the shear randomness. I've also managed to catch some destashes and gotten myself some good fabric scores!! I subscribed to the Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine!!

So here are some pictures of the progress so far

The Berry Triangle Quilt top is now completed. I added one more row to the bottom/top as it was a little too short before. I’ve also got a backing fabric for it too. I’m using a duvet cover as you get soo much more fabric...I’m keeping the pillow cases for myself.....

The backing was bought on sale.. It's also reversible so I can use the other side for another quilt in the future. I’m still deciding whether or not to bind this quilt...I really can’t be bothered to make any.... Maybe I should just buy it ready made so all I have to do is sew it on.....

The Citrus Quilt top is also complete...It came out much larger than I expected...No need for extra rows here! Again I may buy some binding to around it...or I'll go with the pillow case method and quilt it.... The backing was also bought on sale! Took me ages to find something I liked enough.....

The Orange, Grey and Blue quilt top also complete. Once again not sure whether to bind or not...any volunteers to make a whole load for me? I'll send you the fabric!
The backing duvet cover lol! Caught my eye.....was also on sale and I thought would be different from what I'd normally go for.

With me being me and believing too many projects can never be enough I pulled out some more fabrics....But not just any fabrics.....

These are fabrics from Pat Bravo-Indie, Rock and Romance..... And Joel Dewberry-Notting Hill

I knew I wanted to make a HST quilt and these fabrics sung to me! The quilt backing sung to me also and was purchased when I found the backing for the Citrus quilt.

Then I went back to my purge fabrics as I need more projects on the go!! I've been flicking through my issues of Love Patchwork and Quilting for inspiration and have a few dozen ideas... So far............I've cut off the selvedges.....

Watch this space!

Cherie =]

I would like you to meet Ovis

When my Aunt passed away everyone when kinda crazy grabbing pretty much everything in site. There was just one thing I requested that would mean a lot to me if I got it as she used to sew as well. Whilst she wasn't a quilter she did used to make clothes and she would knit as well. I don't know who took the materials and knitting things....

I didn't expect to get it either, but when my Father came home for a weekend he bought it with him. I was surprised and moved that he had kept it back for me as she requested it go to someone who would love it. 

So without further ado this is Ovis

 The flatbed is much larger than the one on Jano...though surprisingly Ovis weighs a lot less....

 He has a digital display and variable stitch dial

 Buttons and switches for use without the presser foot....

A handy thread guide and even a separate bobbin rewinding section. 

He has a less than weird needle threader, which took me a while to figure out how to use....until I gave up and threaded it the normal way......

He cam supplied with a little bag of accessories which look like they were never used...

As well as these feet...I had to check the manual to see what they were all for .... 

The lower bobbin case..which luckily one was already in place as for the life of me I can't work out the instructions on how to refit one.....

The less than attractive cover....I will have to make him one...His measurements have been taken.....hehehehe.

I haven't yet given him a test run, but that will be all in good time. 

Watch this space.

Cherie =]

Finding my Sewjo

So these past weeks I have been awfully quiet, rarely blogging or even blog reading for that matter. Truth is I just lost the will to blog. I would think about it then just not bother. Even with a mound of things to be sharing I just didn't have the heart.

My camera is overflowing with pictures and yet hardly any have reached the blog. There are certain points where my mind gives up on itself and the will to do anything is lost. Things are left untouched and I find myself in front of the TV not really watching it. Well except on certain days when the Junior Apprentice comes on (The younger Giants friend is on there!) or George Clarke's Amazing Spaces (Such a great show amazing what you can build a house in/out of!) or the Heston's Fantastical Food (Supersized foods. Need I say more!!)

Work seems to be on my mind, in my dreams and attacking my thoughts. Does anyone else get that feeling? You're not awake but in a loose dream where you feel like you're at work though you know you're in bed?

I guess I should let you in on what I've actually been up to. The past week has been taking pictures of my hand made items for my Etsy shop! Father took most of them and I took some close-ups to show the use of the items. It was a battle to get the lighting right! Even with photo editing some came out looking really terrible!
I have more to edit but here are some trial and errors to show you

The first is natural light. The second is with bright/clarity and the last is with boost/bright/clarity

I wasn't all too happy so waited for a good day with some natural bright lighting. Sunday was that day! They looked brighter on the camera, but at least these were easier to edit!

I began to edit a few pictures with some simple touch ups. I used the colour/exposure/sharpen for these ones. Far better looking and more natural.,

I've also been making some more items to sell. I had a rummage through my pile of things that had been started and not finished from earlier on in the year as well as starting and finishing some new projects. The market stash has come in to play in a lot of these projects as I thought hey they're sitting there so why not make good use of them. So the following post contains a lot of pictures!

 I got to work on some zippered pouches using the market stash. These were leftover pieces from making some cushion covers (you'll see those later...)

I finished my Modern She made mini quilt and a fun pincushion. I didn't feel to make anything more as my partner didn't even leave one comment! I did throw in some scraps leftover from this...

I've also finally gotten round to using those HST's I had...I know one certain reader will recognise them....

Those earlier mentioned triangles, the larger ones and a few of the smaller have become cushion covers. I've finished one so far. The other is backed, pinned and ready to sew

I even finished off my rainbow inspired cushion covers, complete with labels!

I've got more things to show you soon as they just need finishing off ! 

So I'll be back...hopefully sooner than I have been returning, hope all is well with you all in blogland.

Siya'll later =D

Just keep Tri-ing....

In this case the Tri stands for Triangle! I had a load sitting on my to be sewn into something pile...I'm sure you all have one. You know those pieces you cut for a project...then they go to one side, you make a dozen other things then find them again?
I do that A LOT!! Around April/May time I cut all these triangles

They sat in a box until September when I took out a few with plans to make a few things....Only I forgot about those plans..

They could have become...table runners....hot pads/mug rugs.....placemats......mini quilts....a baby quilt....table toppers.....

Now it's October..well like coming up to the end of it...see how I like to procrastinate on making certain things...
Upon not even remembering about those ideas (I came across them and thought hmmm what was I using these for again..)...Some of them have become two cushion cover tops

This one I forgot how to sew the strips together so they are actually on a slant...it's not your eyes deceiving you! I do however like the style... I made this yesterday and it looked way worse before it was cut all nice and neat today....(meaning it was going to go back onto the one side pile and be forgotten until months later!)

Today I remembered the second time round how to sew the strips and this one came out a much straighter, I even managed to keep most of the points!

Making the second one helped me to cut the first one out to a usable size and shape! They should become 16" cushion covers....
I still have quite a few left over...they could possibly still become the above mentioned...maybe the mug  rugs....

I then decided to have a look through my to be sewn into something pile TBSSP...I found a random assortment of things...leftover wedges from my cushions (which could possibly become table runners...)....my 2nd MAM quilt that needs the backing made....random scraps of fabric...other cushion tops, that need to be neatened and backed......

Then there was this cushion top

I had taken out the backing to finish it only it ended up not being ironed and left to one side....I have to unpick it as I'm using a pillow case...(ah the irony!) I have since ironed it...now just to unpick it...
Then as I was still in the mood to sew something I made another one

I staggered the pattern slightly and changed the colour arrangement (Read realised after sewing it was too small and I had to add in some extra rows of colour)  These are on the larger side and should finish to roughly 19" or so...good for a 20" cushion pad or a looser 18"

I'll get around to unpicking the cases then ironing them again and cutting out panels for the back of the two rainbow covers....For the triangular ones I'll have to raid the market stash and see If I have any polka dot prints...

Mind you as those were sitting around for a while. So knowing me I might just do some more sewing and worry about backing them later...my weekends are for those jobs! I want to line the tops too and do some quilting on them so I also need to dig out some plain fabric....(funny how I can quilt those and not a full sizes quilt that has been waiting for months!)  No fancy FMQ more using my standard foot to quilt...which is surprisingly easy to make shapes with....

Anyhoo I best be off...sleep is calling to me! 

Siya'll later =D

Saturday finish up!

Well technically most of these things were finished during the week but due to awful weather and exhaustion no decent photo's were taken!
So coming in early where there was still some day light left I finished the Christmas hot pads, then pulled out my camera to take some pictures of everything finished this week!

First on the finish list is all the hexie cushion covers I started last week. That's 6 covers to add to my stock. All I can say is thank goodness for the market stash! Without those fabrics it would have been much longer before these were finished. I would also like to thank to good people who invented hemming web, making hems so much easier and neater.

Then I got all 6 hot pads finished too I made a start on those a while back and was waiting for the amazing Sarah-lou's package to come in the post. She offered to send me some insulated batting she had spare! She also sent a quilting magazine and a sweet belated birthday card!

I also with the help of Jano tried out some new stitches for some fun quilting styles! Jano QUILTING!!!

Tomorrow I hope to get the wadding cut for the table runners and work on a few other things for the shop. I found some large mailing bags at the post office the other day which are just the right size for those cushions I made! I'm sure a quilt could fit in them too.
I do so love the weekends! I can get so much done...(when not procrastinating that is!)

Siya'll  later =D