Slashing, Swapping and Stashing Saturday

This weekend my husband and son are overnighting in Brisbane. My husband is off to the Super14 Rugby with some mates and Duncan is staying with my parents and going to the Planetarium.


So that leaves me with just Tristan and Frances. We did a lot of playing together most of the day and after rest time the kids watched 'Mr Bean' whilst I got stuck into some serious cutting for all the 3 swaps that I am in this month.

So I put in a new blade - very important - and set up my cutting mat on the kitchen bench. (I got to watch Mr Bean too!). 


Novelty Charm Swap - with Threads and Mess

1 yard of 3 different prints = 168 charm squares

Tone on Tone Charm Swap

1 yard of yellow, green and pink = 168 charm squares
(I was slated to do red and orange but another lady from QCA was hoping to join in and she took these off my hands - I am so grateful to not cut more). 


Colour Rainbow Charm Swap - with Sally Bally Creations

10 FQs of dominant yellow prints = 120 charm squares
(I have been trading with ladies from QCA for these because I have hardly any yellow in my stash)


Trading Fabrics


I have posted off a lot of fabrics to ladies in my QCA swap group this month.


3 yards of Kona 'Snow' to Lara  =  some yellow and 'Peeps' FQs


1/2 yard of 'Astor Manor' brown to Elaine  = 2 FQs of yellow

1FQ each of 'A bit of Whimsy' to Sally  = 1 FQ yellow
                                                         Lauren  = 1 FQ yellow
                                                         Olivia = 1 FQ of 'Castle Peeps'

1FQ of 'Forest Creatures' to      Lindsey = 1 FQ of 'Castle Peeps'

So I will have to post all of these off tomorrow.

Black and White Fat Quarter Swap

These arrived earlier this month from Danielle of Threads and Mess. She has a contest that has more FQs offered as a surprise but I am not sure if I will actually get around to making my B&W project for more entries.


Denyse Schmidt Charm Swap 

I also received some charms in the post yesterday. They were part of an international swap organised through 'That Moxie Girl' on Flickr. I had quite forgotten about them actually - so it was a pleasant surprise. 

Even though they are from different collections some of them look really good together. And some of them are prints I have never seen here in Australia.

And it feels nice to finish after many hours of cutting. 

What about you? Do you participate in many fabric swaps? If you are looking for a place to  swap, I am part of a small group on Facebook called Fabric Swaps - Australia & International. Come and join in.

Cutting Denyse

Denyse Schmidt is a very popular fabric, quilt designer and author of quilting and children's books. She comes from a background of sewing and graphic design. I read on the Free Spirit fabric designer page that she has her couture quilts handmade by Amish women. 


It is easy to collect her fabrics and hoarde them away however, today I spent most of my time cutting up my DS fabrics.


DS Charm Swap


When this was run by That Moxie Girl, last time it was only open to US residents. This one was only open for a couple of days before it filled but thankfully I got in with a pledge of 2 sets of charm squares. 

Inserting a brand new blade (joy of joys) into my rotary cutter,  I cut up 112x5" charms. 


Katie Jump Kites

This project has been on hold for about a month but I finally cut up my recent 'green' arrivals.

Then I cut into my Kona Ash to make 112x 6.5"x3.5" rectangles.


So now the quilt is ready to be sewn up and I am excited.

Something sweet

Sometimes, as quilters, we are so caught up in the BIG projects that we don't really take the time to do some cute, achievable in an afternoon, mini-projects.

I have just discovered the mother and daughters' team at 'Sweetwater Designs'. After I received their book for Christmas and tried one of their patterns, I visited the online shop and bought this little kit. Then my friend Marieka kindly sent me a packet of 'Hometown' charm squares for my birthday this week. 

The instructions were a bit oblique in some places but I muddled through.


1. Sew strips of 8 x 2 1/2" squares together. Press.

2. Pin and nest the seams and sew 4 rows together. Chain piecing saves time and thread. 

3. Turn over and measure around your notebook for sizing. Mine was a bit too tight as my notebook was bigger than the pattern allowed. So I added an extra row.

 

4. Cut inside fabric and wadding slightly larger than the front patchwork. I used 2 scraps of wadding and used basting spray to fix it in place.

5. Using the plain inside fabric, cut the 5" book flaps slightly larger than the width of the notebook and sew a turned over 1/4 " hem. 

6. Lay these on the batting and inside fabric, right side up.

7. Lay the patchwork on top creating a sandwich.

8. This is where I deviated from the pattern. 


Measure your notebook size again and draw a line1/4" from this border. I added extra width because my notebook is spiral bound and would not be wide enough to fit when closed. I also found that if I moved my notebook up into the top corner, I didn't need the 5th row or 8th column. So when I trimmed, these strips were intact! (I hate wasting lovely fabric!)

9. Sew around the notebook line on all 4 sides and leave a 2" gap along one edge. Make sure that all your raw edges are lined up in your sandwich.


10. Trim away the excess. I also cut the diagonals off the corners.

11. Pull through the fabric to the right side and sew the hole closed.

12. Peel off the label and iron onto the front. Stitch around the label being careful not to stitch over the flap.

13. One sweet notebook cover finished!

Great for about 2-3 hours of fun with your 21/2" square stash. I am keen to make some more. They would make a sweet gift.


Also, today I posted out 3 of the 4 'fugly fabric' giveaways (still waiting to hear from Leena in India), 36 vintage sheet fat quarters for the swap and some 'little girls' squares to a good friend in England.

36 Vintage Sheet FQs all rolled up to save space. An extra treat for Kellie who is organising the swap.