Monday 29 July 2013

A little red work.

Yesterday was a good sewing day and also a good ironing day. I decided that I really must finish my swoon blocks so my objective for the day was to make several blocks. Most of the swoon quilts I have seen have used different colours or patterns for each block. For my quilt I am using white, grey, red and purple. There will be 5 red blocks and 4 purple blocks.  Because I haven't worked on this quilt for a while I had forgotten how the block went together so I had to keep on referring to the pattern at first. Once I'd made the first block the rest went quickly. 


I finished all the purple blocks (4) and made a red block. The colours are not showing true in the photo as the grey is the same on all blocks and actually looks like the grey in the red block below but the red is not as bright as it appears here. 


So I hear you ask where did the ironing come in? Well I decided to leave the ironing board set up (as usual) whilst I was sewing and each time I ironed the seams open I would iron a few items in my ironing mountain. I tried to do a bit of everyone's ironing but the end pile shows I favoured ironing my own clothes. I shall finish the rest of the ironing today and tomorrow as the temperature is cooler and the humidity is down.

I also started a NewFO for July. I had ordered an embroidery kit from BirdBrain Designs called It's a Dog's Life. Barbara from Cat Patches made a red work quilt from the same company called Love me Love my Cat. Since we have a cat and a dog it was a difficult choice as to which one to make.


I am using Fabric Solvy to transfer the pattern to the fabric. This is the first time I've tried it and so far I'm impressed. I copied the pattern onto a sheet of the Solvy. This has the stabiliser and a backing sheet. You copy onto the stabiliser and then remove the backing sheet to place on your fabric. The back of the stabiliser is sticky and you hand press it onto the fabric. Once the embroidery is finished you use water to dissolve the stabiliser. One comment I've heard says you need to make the stitches a little tighter than usual to allow for the stabiliser being removed later. Here you can see the corner stuck to the fabric.



I haven't got very far as I only received the fabric Solvy on Saturday. My stitching isn't very even as I was trying to use an embroidery frame. I don't usually use a frame when I doing back stitch. 


Last night we had quite a lot of rain which the garden was desperate for and today the temperature is much cooler so I'm off to take the dog for a walk. He hasn't enjoyed the high temperatures at all. According to the Met Office the high temperatures are set to return on Thursday. Once I get back from our walk I must finish my project for the HO HO HO hop that starts tomorrow. Here's tomorrows schedule.

July 31


I hope you all have a good day .

Lyndsey

4 comments:

  1. I love that quilt! I'll have to check out the cat one since we have cats!

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  2. That will be absolutely adorabel when finished.

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  3. The quilt with the dogs will be lovely when it's finish!

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  4. Now that's what I call multi-tasking! What a great way to get the ironing done!

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