December Day Three and butterflies

Today was a drizzly sort of day - very welcome for the farmers - so after the necessary stockwork I was happy to shut myself in The Palace and have a bit of R and R after the busy day yesterday.

A little while ago Jo put out a call for some purple butterfly blocks to make a quilt for the birthing unit at a local hospital. Sure, I replied, but I won't be able to get them made until the end of October. NO worries, that would work, she said.

(Cricket Butterfly)

So here I am at the end of November (ahem, I know, that's a stretch). Jo has reassured me that she will still be able to use them if I send them now.

(Gidget Butterfly)

Many of you know that I enjoy Foundation Paper Piecing so I decided to use the really cute butterfly pattern offered by Lillyella.com. My brain wasn't working particularly well and I didn't do a sizing check - Jo asked for 12½" blocks and the butterflies were 5½"!!

So after a bit of maths, and trial and error, I came up with this block —

(And for my own future reference as much as anything, the rectangles I cut to tilt the butterflies were 6½" x 3½") (For the length of the rectangle add one inch to the unfinished size of your block).

This block wasn't without its dramas. The body sections of the first butterfly didn't line up when I sewed the two halves of the block together. I unpicked that seam (too many times) and finally got it right. I later realised that if I had pressed the seams slightly differently there wouldn't have been a problem.

Consequently the second butterfly went together like a dream!!

Then, I discovered I didn't have enough of the solid for the background, to make the whole thing 12½". After much hunting, I found another piece and completed the block. And in the light of day, realised that it was a different shade of solid!!! I'd had to join two bits of fabric for one of the 'setting rectangles' - of course, I had used the two different shades and it stuck out like a sore thumb. 

At work the other day I found some the correct colour - but only replaced the joined piece. The fabric used to tilt the flutterbies is some of the wrong shade but it looks uniform enough - and worse in some lights and not at all in others so it will be fine in a quilt of blocks from lots of different makers!

From here on it was plain sailing. I enlarged the pattern to make a third butterfly and here she is —

(Pepper butterfly)

She went together beautifully!!

So now I can get these in the mail asap. I look forward to seeing them in Jo's quilt.

I can't believe I've managed three blogposts in three days! I think I'm starting to get into a bit of a rhythm. 

My dear friend Joanne of the Threadhead blog has decided to join me in my challenge and spend December catching up on her year with a blogpost a day. She is very clever, skilled and creative and I will enjoy seeing what she has to share!

'til next time

happy stitches 

Raewyn

Weekend Greens

I resolved this year to try to use up a few more scraps and decided I would sew along with Angela and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
Green is the colour for January and Green is what I sewed this weekend.

I really wanted to sew some blocks to send over to Australia. The Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild has put out a call for 12½" tree blocks. They're assembling them into quilts for those who have lost everything in the terrible fires they're having.
There's been quite a few block patterns shared lately online to encourage people to sew up a block or two.
I decided to go through the patterns I'd come across and see how many of them I could make over the weekend —

These were the first ones I made, Impro(vish) Tree Quilt, by happy sew lucky patterns. I enjoyed making these ones. There's a great video showing us how to draw up these blocks. The rest is adding bits on until it reaches the right size.

Then I made this tree block by bonjour quilts.  Again, another good tutorial. Make a few HSTs and the rest goes together pretty quickly.

The Regenerate block below was kindly given by Anorina Morris of Sameliasmum. Fun to do, her's is finished using raw edge applique, but I chose to do buttonhole stitch instead.

This block below is my least favourite, largely because of the fabrics I chose. It looks better on the pattern and ever so slightly better in real life than it does in the photo! It is a simple foundation pieced block which sews together nice and easily. The pattern is found via the Wollongong Modern Quilt group page *here*.

It's hard to tell but I popped a couple of wee kiwis in the tree trunk so the recipient gets a hint that someone in NZ was wishing them well.

For some reason I ended up making two of the Improv blocks but that's ok!

I used a constant light background fabric though out because I found a decent sized scrappy chunk of it, and I know me, I could spend forever hunting through trying to find different suitable backgrounds for each block!

Here they all are together.

Really, I see I struggle to do Modern as such but I do hope they work in with the other blocks they receive!
I'll post these off next time I go to town.... they want them all by the end of February. That gives them a  month to get there - surely the postal service can handle that time frame!

Not getting posted just yet is a wee pile of Joey pouches I made a couple of weeks ago. A call was put out for them but I think we all jumped on board so well that they quickly got inundated with plenty! I'm happy to wash these and store them away until another call goes out for more.

Time to do a few jobs before I get busy doing an easy Sunday night tea. It's still very hot so I don't feel like moving much but I need to.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Community sewing

How convenient it is that the blocks I have to share today all fit nicely under the title of community blocks! Sometimes I really have to scratch my head to come up with a blogpost title that encompasses everything I'm talking about but whew- not today!
First of all I made a healing heart for a friend, using *this* tutorial by Allison of the Cluck Cluck Sew blog —

Allison has a chart for making all different sized blocks so I was inspired to make a couple more hearts for the Arohanui block drive Adrianne of On the Windy Side is having. She is making quilts to donate to the Aotearoa Quilters Cosy Kiwi Kids programme - at the moment these quilts are going to families with children in Kaikoura and earthquake affected areas.
She's asking for 12  ½" pre-quilted blocks that she can sew together Quilt-as-you-go style.
After the first heart —

I had enough scraps of the red flower fabric to make a smaller heart and frame it. I much prefer this second block so wish I'd done this for both blocks. Never mind.

Then I hunted out an orphan block, (more about this *here*), framed and quilted that, and so had three to send to Adrianne.

I hope they will fit in with some other blocks to make a lovely child friendly quilt :-)

Adrianne is collecting these until the end of the month so if you want to contribute I'm sure she would love to hear from you.

And to carry on the community theme, my local quilt shop is doing a fun little challenge this year, Friday's Village. Last year Moda ran this programme; this is a 'revved up' version with the inclusion of challenge fabrics we must use in our blocks. Fun.
In the two blocks below the yellow on the breast of the bird was the fabric —

This block, it was the red in the top house (I think they look like boat sheds) —

The blue print used in the silo tower is the challenge fabric below —

Also used in one of the roofs (or rooves? Apparently both are correct) here —

After making the above one I realised I'd made a boo-boo and the centre panel should have been another roof. It does look better.

Final photo with Emma, who wouldn't leave me alone! She supposed to be a farm dog but she doesn't realise it!

Sometimes it seems like lots of bits-and-pieces sewing but it's nice to have the variety! (If you can keep track of it all!!)

'till next time,

happy stitches,