Liberty Cowl for Me!

I bought a fabulous hat and scarf at the One of a Kind Show last winter. The hat is loop back jersey, as is the scarf, which is actually more like a cowl. The only thing I don't love about them is that they are black, and my winter coat is navy.

When I saw the gorgeous Liberty jersey that came in at The Workroom this week, I knew my problem was solved.

The first step was to create the pattern. I traced my existing scarf and added a half inch seam allowance. 

Making this cowl took no time at all. I used pearl covered snaps to finish it off. Next step? Finding a jersey hat pattern. Does anyone know of one?

WIP Wednesday: Back to the Farm

About three weeks back, I wanted a quick finish and decided pull out the little pink case that holds my Farmer's Wife.

I keep all of my blue, green and teal scraps in this cardboard briefcase, as well as my farmer's wife book and the handouts from the Secrets of the Farmer's Wife class I took at The Workroom. The brilliant Johanna Masko created this class and even if you aren't making this quilt, the information she shares is invaluable!

No. 78, Shoot Star. Paper pieced.

No. 20, Churn Dash. Machine pieced.

 No. 24, Country Path. Paper pieced. I made an error when putting the pieces together, but decided to leave it be. It was too fiddly to rip and recreate.

 No. 19, Checkerboard. Paper pieced.

 No. 88, Star of Hope. Paper pieced.

 No. 87, Star Gardener Machine pieced. Yes, really! I used the bias strip method to cut these 1" HSTs.

 No. 22, Corn and Beans. Machine pieced.

It's been a very long time since I've linked up, but this week I'm linking to the Freshly Pieced WIP round-up and to the Canadian Needle and Thread Network.

Little Mats to Brighten my Days

Well, would you look at me? I committed to blogging about each and every finish of 2015 and here I am, ready to share yet another mug rug!

The mug rug I made to decorate my desk at work has proven to be too small for the various drink vessels that I collect throughout the day. You know, the coffee cup, water glass and soda can. A six inch square can only hold so much!

This little mat is mine, all mine. I wanted something that would make me smile when I looked at it, and this lion print by Sarah Watts from her August collection does it for me every time. In fact, the bag I carry every day uses a different colourway of this very print in canvas.

This coral and navy combo is one of my ultimate favourite colour combinations. And who can resist gold metallic pearl bracelets? No one can. It's a fact.

I also wanted a quick finish. As I've mentioned in my last post, improv piecing is a current obsession, but I couldn't get too creative this time, because I wanted to use a good sized piece of the lion print and a mug rug needs to be small. But I did have fun adding the coral and gold pops to the navy strips on the right. I ended up adding the gold strip in between the lions and the navy because I wanted an entire arrow across the bottom of the mat. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out!

P.S. If I was a better blogger, I would have waited until there was daylight tomorrow to take this photo. But alas, I am impatient.

First Finish of 2015

I love to do improv piecing when making small pieces like mug rugs or coffee cozies . It's a chance to play with fabric, lines and angles and since the project is little, it's no big deal if the outcome is less than fabulous.

For this mug rug, I used jelly roll strips from Punctuation by American Jane, which are left over from the very first quilted piece I ever made, a yet to be hung growth chart for Levi. I'd initially planned to use this for a coffee cozy, but decided to make a gift for a colleague instead. So, I added the top section to the bit I'd already pieced and voila! Mug rug!

Lately, I've been skipping bindings on small pieces like these. I just turn it like if turn a bag or lough and edge stitch. Much faster and still very cute!

Last finish of 2014

I like to have a separate pin cushion for each type of pin. Lately, I've been loving my red and white clover pins, but they didn't have their own cushion, so I whipped one up yesterday. I used a few of my 2.5 inch charms, including my very favourite Lizzy House hedgehogs.  I knew charming my scraps was good forward thinking!