Scrap busting

I am a bit of a last minute person - especially when it comes to Christmas. I am the one frantically racing around on Christmas Eve shoving Christmas cards in letterboxes at 9pm. And I'm usually up til the small hours the night before Patricks annual fancy dress competition. Last year about 3 days before the big day I decided to make a friend a quilt. Yes 3 days - lol ! Never again - I was like a bear with a sore head. No-one could speak to me as I practically chained myself to my machine and sewed like something not right. I got it done and my friend loved it but it was a BAD idea.

This year I decided to make Jasons parents a quiltand not to do it right at the last minute. Not a bed quilt but something they could throw over their new sofa and use when it gets cold. As some of you know I don't really have a local quilt shop. There are a few nearby but they are really expensive so I tend to buy most of my fabric from US or from that fabric warehouse I go to. I also buy a lot from the lady who comes to our quilt group about once a month - she came last week and I got some lovely stuff !

Anyway as the lid would not fit on my scrap box ( and it's a big one ! ) I decided to look through my odds and ends and see what I could come up with. I picked out all the beiges, browns and tans and threw in a bit of red and green to add a bit of interest. I cut them all into 2 by 6 inch strips.

When I made the bag for the SSCS I made a braid for the first time and so the first part of the quilt was put in action. I liked making the braid and it grows quick.

After making 2 long strips I got bored and started sewing 4 of my little strips together and re-cutting. Now what to do . . .

Add a nice brown spotty border

And choose a fabric for the alternate strips. It was looking a bit busy at this point and needed an unpieced panel I thought. I went with the darker fabric after a bit of deliberation.

A quick piano keys border with some of the rest of my strips and there you go.

The colours on this are not showing completely true - it's a lot darker and more subtle in real life.

I have loads of these little pieces left and am making some 9 patches to use at a later date. I've done such a lot with dark colours lately that I am now itching to do something lighter and brighter. I have a delicious basket of 1930's prints somewhere needing attention.. I hope my in-laws like this. I love scrappy !!

I had a really frustrating day yesterday. If you remember my sewing machine was making a funny noise so I took it in for the chap to have a look. I could have took it to a local shop but was told that they really weren't very good there and I was better off taking it to a shop further afield ( about 45 miles further actually ). I took it in and the man told me to come back in an hour. When I arrived back at the shop it was all done and I was told it was sewing a treat. I paid my bill - drove home and plugged it in. Can you guess what's coming next ?? The machine was still making the exact same noise. I couldn't believe it !! Straight on the phone to ask what on earth was going on...He told me it was sewing well when it left the shop to which I replied that wasn't the problem - it was always sewing well - just making this grinding noise. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - I wish I had insisted on hearing my machine going when I was in the shop but it was all packed up and ready to go. Anyway I now have to go back on Monday ( another 90 mile journey and the waste of another morning ). At least I have my other machine which I have now bought a quarter inch foot for but honestly how annoying !!

Anyway times getting on and if you're still reading - well done - this has turned into a really long post. Going to do some nice relaxing hand piecing after tea to de-stress me.

Have a great weekend !