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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Sewing this, sewing that, and some mending

After keeping warm and cosy inside while the snow came down after the last few days, it was time to get on with some long overdue tidying up.  On went a load of washing,  and out came the vacuum cleaner to pick up the multitude of threads on the carpet.  As I work on my shaggy quilt, loose  threads seem to migrate from the snipped seams onto the floor.   With DH on bathroom cleaning duties, all the jobs were soon done and I could get on with some stitching.  First job was to bind some wool flannel blankets for the prem babies in the Neo Natal Unit of the hospital.  These little blankets are wrapped around the babies, then one of the little baby quilts stitched by members of my quilt club, Pinestream Quilters, go on top of the cribs.  The Neo Natal Unit had been given a quantity of wool flannel and the club  was asked if members could bind around the edges -  I stitched binding on three to help out, two with scrappy binding and one with a blue and white print.
DSCF7136 Wool baby blankets
Mending was next on the list.  Robin’s jeans needed mending so I placed some dark blue drill fabric under the tear and zig zagged all around it.  That should do it, and his jeans will now last a little longer.
DSCF7139 Mending jeans
With those two jobs out of the way, I could then get on with some of my sewing.  I stitched the last few blue Healing Heart blocks into sets of threes, and made some sashing strips.  I’ll need some time to lay all the blocks out on the floor to arrange them, but not today, so all the pieces went back in the bag.  But this project is now one step further on.
DSCF7143 Blue heart blocks and sashing strips
What next?  Oh yes, I think I’ll work on some more string pieced blocks for my “Roll, roll, cotton boll” quilt.  These blocks are quick and fun to do, and I am stitching the strips on a fine Vilene rather than on paper as per the instructions.  These are neutral blocks and the idea is to use any and every left over bit of white, cream, pale tan that is lying around, using only what is in your stash.  A bit of colour is fine and the strips can be any width.  I have a box full of left over strips and pulled out all the neutrals and was amazed when I ended up with a big plastic bag full.  The first strip is laid across the middle on the diagonal, then the other strips are added, stitched then pressed. 
DSCF7144  Two blocks all stitched
DSCF7145Trimmed blocks
This will probably be a long term project, as I haven’t worked on it for a while.  But never mind, I will get there eventually, I’m sure.  And to tell the truth, I quite like having a variety of things to work on, depending on how I feel.

3 comments:

FlourishingPalms said...

Ditto on your last comment about "having a variety of things to work on..." Me too! Most definitely! My RRCB quilt remains unfinished, with only the outside borders waiting to be sewn on. But it's nice to have multiple projects, and I have three that take priority over RRCB. Have fun with yours. You'll enjoy that good feeling of frugality, using up your neutral scraps.

Frances Leate said...

You have certainly been very industrious Jenny and it is good to progress some larger projects. To me it is a luxury to be able to flit from one thing to another and I always have lots of WIPs at any one time. I particularly have a lot of hand stitching because I love watching TV and doing it then. Thanks for leaving me a lovely comment. Take care

Viv said...

I love your heart blocks. I have just finished 3 heart quilts for my grandaughters.