My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Some small gifts —

— and a short show-n-tell.

In amongst the bigger projects I've been working on lately I've made a few smaller items as gifts.
Now that I've finally gotten these to Mum, I can show you the covered coathangers I made for her...
I always struggle to make something that I KNOW she will use and was happy I came across this idea.
To my local SS friends, (and other learner crocheters out there)
these are just a combination of treble and double crochet.
(Single and double crochet in American terms?)
I've also recently made this little hanger for a friend. As soon as I came across this tutorial I knew I had to try it, especially as the instructions included a 3" version. SOLD!

I have fallen in love with this disappearing pinwheel block. The technique makes it not-so-fiddly to make the small block version, but Helen also has done the maths for larger blocks as well.
It was so much fun that I took a few photos while I was making one of the blocks.....
Start with a pinwheel block.... 
Slice it into thirds....
Rearrange the outer pieces...
Sew it back together...
Voila! One block. How cool is that?!
Click *here* for the tutorial.
 And now for the Show and Tell. You may remember that last year at the shop I designed a free motion quilting block of the month called Birdy Love. I made it 'quilt as you go' style so that the pieces were easier to manage and so the participants could focus on quilting a little each month rather than wrestling a large quilt. To my absolute delight the other day Nancy brought hers' in while I was at work. It was so good to see it finished. She has done such a lovely job of the quilting.
Nancy's finished 'Birdy Love'.
She said she learnt lots and it has given her a lot more confidence so I was very pleased :-)

The sun is rising so it's time to get on with my day. Hope you're managing to squeeze some creativeness into your day, I'm going to try to do so!
Happy stitching,

33 comments:

  1. Great gift for your mom and I love the disappearing pinwheel , that is very neat and I will have to give that a try someday . Your friend did an amazing job on the quilt you designed , wow , very impressive !

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  2. Your mum will love the coat hangers...and the hanging is so sweet...awesome quilt...

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  3. Those coat hangers are so pretty. Love your little hanging and that tutorial is brilliant.. guess who else is going to try it.. at 3"
    Wow! As for your Birdy Love block of the month... it's gorgeous and Nancy did you proud with her rendition of it. Hugs

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  4. What cute gifts! Is there a pattern for the hangers online? I haven't crocheted in years but these tempt me. How clever is that disappearing pinwheel! Nancy's quilt is beautiful. That must have been very gratifying for you to see and hear her appreciation.

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  5. So nice to give a gift that is pretty and practical!
    Okay, I have resisted those churn dash/pinwheel blocks until now! You sold me. Gotta make 'em!
    Birdy Love is so very sweet--and beautifully done!

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  6. I love that transformation of the pin wheel block - so very clever. A truly beautiful quilt too.

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  7. It is so nice to make a gift someone will actually use! Love the hangers! I also love the little hanger with the disappearing pin wheel blocks. That block is really amazing, I will definitely have to try it! What a great quilt you designed! How wonderful to see Nancy's version finished!

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  8. All beautiful projects Raewyn - those coathangers are just lovely & I find covered hanger so useful too. That pinwheel block is just lovely & you make it sound so easy :-) Nancys bird quilt looks amazing too, how wonderful to see it all done.

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  9. All beautiful projects Raewyn - those coathangers are just lovely & I find covered hanger so useful too. That pinwheel block is just lovely & you make it sound so easy :-) Nancys bird quilt looks amazing too, how wonderful to see it all done.

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  10. Love the coathangers Raewyn, hope your Mum loves them. Your mini is so cute!! And the Birdie quilt is amazing!

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  11. The disappearing pinwheel looks like a lot of fun. Wonderful Birdy Love quilt done by Nancy. Thanks for the show and tell!

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  12. I love those hangers! The Disappearing Pinwheel is fabulous.

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  13. You always have such varied and fun projects in each post. Love the little hangar (you made it??) with the two mirror-image 3" blocks side-by-side. Yes--great projects from top to bottom. I've saved the disappearing 9-patch tutorial and will be making them one of these days.
    I'm guessing that your mother liked the covered hangars -- very pretty and very practical. Mothers like those 2 qualities.

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  14. Oops -- in previous comment I meant disappearing pinwheel (not 9-patch)

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  15. Wow! You designed that quilt . . . it is absolutely gorgeous. Nancy did an amazing job. I love the hangers that you made for your Mom . . . I have some like that, that my Mom made for me, many years ago. They are wonderful. Nothing slips off them and they never leave those awful shoulder marks in sweaters, that some hangers do.
    You are not only creative but a sweetie pie, too.
    Have a lovely week.
    Your blogging sister, Connie :)

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  16. I love the coat hangers Raewyn and I bet your Mum does as well. Great gift. Thank you for the tutorial on the cute pinwheel hanging. You always make the miniature projects you come up with sound so easy but I bet they are tricky. I am very lucky to have been gifted the hanging. I just love it.

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  17. coat hangers look so pretty now a lovely gift. Love the disappearing pin wheel and good to have such a range of sizes bur could not fins how to follow the blog with the instructions on. That is certainly some lovely quilting, Nancy must have done quilting before to make this surely she was not a beginner

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  18. Gee you make the crocheting look easy peasy! Cute hangers.

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  19. The coat hangers are great. A perfect gift.
    I think the pinwheel block is great, too. Haven't put all the blocks together yet.
    Your Birdie Love is a great quilt. How great to see one of your students finishing it.

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  20. Lovely little projects and Nancy did a great job on her quilting. You must be so proud of her and yourself for inspiring someone to try it. I for one am definitely going to try the disappearing pinwheels. Looks amazing.

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  21. well done to nancy on quilting her beautiful quilt.
    love the disappearing pin wheels, so nifty. The little hanger is gorgeous.
    the covered coat hangers look great too!

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  22. Love the coat hangers Raewyn and I am sure your Mum would have like them as well. As for the crochet lesson hmm think I need a few more, thank you for your patience was a good lesson xxxxxx

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  23. The coat hangers are gorgeous and the perfect gift for your Mum.
    Cute tiny hanger..
    Yes I love the disappearing pinwheel too. I recently discovered it myself.
    Your quilt looks awesome.

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  24. Dear Raewyn,
    Nancy´s Birdy Quilt just looks awesome!!!
    And your dissapearing pinwheel is very pretty. Lovely little quilt.
    Hugs
    sigisart

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  25. You have made some gorgeous gifts, the coat hangers are a wonderful idea for gifts. Nancy's quilt is amazing, it must be nice for you to see the quilt you designed made by others. Hope you have a great weekend.

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  26. I love th coat hangers and what a fun block!

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  27. Now that pinwheel trick is clever... I had to look several times to work it all out in my head. I suppose the trick is to make the pinwheel accurate in the first place. Are you trying to convert the girls into crochet-ers? Good luck with that one!

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  28. Oh wow! I love that wee block! I will have to try that one out! :D

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  29. That disappearing pinwheel block is ingenious! Thanks for sharing.

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  30. Hi Raewyn I love these coat hangers and thankyou for sharing how you made your block,you are so clever,well done.xx

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  31. One day I am going to try to do those hangers. I love them.
    WOW! Nancy's quilt is fabulous.

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  32. I love the hangers. Reminded me of my MIL. She used to make these for me and others years ago and I loved them. I'm anxious to check out the tutorial for the little hanger. It is adorable and I have the perfect "hanger" to use. Thanks for sharing the tutorial site. Can't wait to try the disappearing pinwheel. I saw it posted somewhere else but couldn't remember where, so now I can try it. Nola

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  33. You've been so busy! Great gifts :) And goodness, what a wonderful wonderful moment to see that quilt all done. It's awesome and inspiring :)

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