See you in September

The summer break is over and the new season kicks off with one of Mdm Samm's blog hops. This one involved making three items and one had to include Riley Blake Design gingham. Mdm Samm does love her gingham and so do I and the RBD gingham is rather special. Our cheerleader for the hop is Shari from Living with Purpose

My first project is a quilt. Hannah who is a Young Leader with our Guide unit is leaving to go to university. She joined Rainbows when she was 5 and has gone through Brownies and Guides as well. She loved our unit project to make prem baby quilts so it seemed appropriate to make her a quilt as her leaving present. 

The next problem was what pattern to use. Hannah's name at Guides is Sparkie because she is such a lively, happy young woman. When I saw that Amy from Sew Incredibly Crazy was looking for pattern testers for a couple of her designs I jumped at the chance. The patchwork star was the perfect pattern and I was able to make the star from scraps of fabric left over from the baby quilts.

I'm sorry that the photos are a little dark but I had to take them in doors as it was raining and went very dark. The blue backing fabric is actually much brighter.  I chose fabric with musical instruments for the backing. Hannah loves her music. I pieced the backing using a strip of the blue from the front on either side.

I love the patchwork star.

The star and the border are quilted with a large meander and the rest of the quilting echos the star shape.

Amy's pattern was very well written and easy to follow so the quilt just flew together. I am so pleased with the result and I think Hannah will love it. Thanks Amy for letting me test your pattern, I love it

My second project was a cushion cover and this is where I used the RBD gingham. I love gingham as it always looks so fresh. In addition it always reminds me of my childhood as my school uniform summer dresses where always gingham. I used a pattern by Sarah Soward which appeared in British Patchwork and Quilting in August 2013. I chose the medium red gingham for the flowers.

Again I'm very happy with the result. I had a FQ of the gingham and have enough to make a second cushion cover. This will be made over the next few days. My son suggested I make two more but with the gingham as the background and use white for the flowers. I machine appliqued the flowers and found it a little tricky going round all those curves.

My final project was a summer dress. I've had this fabric for a while but hadn't got round to making it up. I chose a simple shift dress style by McCall. Their patterns are easy to follow and go together well. I didn't need to alter the pattern to get a good fit. My only problem was that no one was around to take a photo of me wearing it. I'll see what I can do over the next few days.

So there are the projects I've been working on over the holiday. I have also managed to finish another dress that I started last year and put away for some reason and I'm currently making a pinafore dress. As the weather here in London turned wet and cooler in August I picked up my knitting again and I've been busy trying to finish John's jumper. It's nice to have a break from work and be able to catch up with some projects.

Now you need to visit the rest of the hop. Here's the list of today's participants.

Thursday, September 4Jane's Quilting
Life in the Scrapatch
Sew Many Yarns - you are here
Gracie Oliver Arts
Everyone Deserves a Quilt

I hope you've enjoyed visiting today, it was lovely to see you. I hope you'll come and visit again soon.

Lyndsey