Penguins In The Sewing Room (And On The Coffee Table)

After I'd added the two Christmas cushions to my Q4 FAL list, I decided a table runner made from the leftovers would also be nice so added that too, as item nine.  I said that it would use strips and squares as that's what I thought I'd have left, but what I actually had left was this:

I couldn't decide how best to use them and Sarah brilliantly said 'Well I want to see a long thin solids only blue sky top, darker blue sea on the bottom right, white on the bottom left as ice floor and snow hills. With that penguin far left.' I loved that idea and laid out the fabric on my coffee table straight away:

All the blue is leftover from other projects and the whites are the small pieces left from the penguin cushion, along with about ten charm squares of a Bella solid (snow?), which isn't the same bright white and so provides a bit of depth.  I've decided to share all my progress photos with you so you can see how I made it.  And also because I like to see other people's progress photos rather than always just a photo of the finished item.  Feel free to whizz past them to the photo of the finish and then Archie!  Some of them aren't the greatest photos as the light levels have been awful, even when it's (supposedly) day time.  And those taken around dusk and then once darkness has fallen aren't marvellous, but they're all I have!   I used my Oakshott runner as a size template and laid all the pieces over that to make sure it was large enough, just in case you're wondering what it's doing in lots of the photos!

I started with the easy bit: the sky!

And then had a think about how I would manage the transition between sea and sky:

before starting on the left-hand snowy bit:

The safety pin is to help me keep track of the vertical as I kept getting confused!

I then jumped over to the right-hand side, where I had to start taking photos of my new few steps to avoid unnecessary partial seams or unpicking:

And then wondered why I hadn't made all the sections and then appliqued them together instead of stubbornly sticking to piecing!

Two brave penguins jumped in the icy water, but had to wait overnight before they got their bottoms wet!

They took the plunge!

And I pieced the rest of the water, before pondering how best to join the sections:

I joined the left-hand side to the middle:

but didn't like that big expanse of blue, even if it was Oakshott, so I unpicked and sliced into it to insert some different fabric:

I could then no longer put off working out how to join the middle to the right-hand side, so after a couple attempts (two where I machine tacked the seam and the final one where I gave it a really good press, pinned it in place and just went for it), I had the bottom section pieced, albeit with a seam which, perhaps, no sensible person would tackle as one seam:

And here's how it looked pieced but untrimmed or quilted:

I added lots (and lots!) of quilting, mainly curved lines going across/through/down sections, to try and add texture and movement.  There was the usual point where it looked like a dog's dinner, but it was too late to unpick so I had to just keep going and trust that it would look better with more added:

As you can see, I had lots of ends to darn in, so I spent a Saturday night in front of the telly doing just that:

And was very pleased when I finished before bedtime!

I didn't trim it before quilting as I wasn't sure how much it would shrink or where exactly I wanted the edges to be until I saw what it was like quilted, so removing those tatty edges made it look quite different!  I had a bit of a dither over binding:

before solving it with mainly the blue Oakshott (which was my original plan) and a flash of red to bring out the hats and scarves of the penguins.

And here ('Finally!' I hear you cry!) is how it looks now it's finished, and freshly washed and dried:

Have you spotted the camouflaged polar bear?

Here's the back, which was a piece of plain white something I found in a drawer (a polycotton, perhaps, judging by how it dragged on the machine bed), so you can see all the quilting, and the texture it has added:

No wonder it took almost two bobbins of thread!

I took a photo of the front with the threads I used for quilting, just to give you an idea of the colour/shade changes:

And, just in case you haven't spotted him, here's the camouflaged polar bear (you can also see the subtle difference between the two white fabrics):

As this is a finish from my Q4 FAL list (item nine), I'll be linking up when the time comes!

I've also managed to (finally) finish hand quilting one background triangle on my Christmas Cherry quilt:

and am hoping to get this crocheted wreath finished before Christmas:

I need to fasten off that end and block it, and make the bow for the centre top. I may just manage, although I do have an awful lot of Christmas jobs to do as I haven't started writing cards or wrapping presents and my tree and all the decorations are still in the loft...

I'll leave you with a photo of Archie looking outraged because, so far, he isn't in my Instagram 'best nine' of 2016.  If you're on Instagram and you haven't liked his post, please do so or he's going to chunter about it well into next year!

Thanks for popping in!  (And well done for making it to the end!)

P-P-P-Pick Up A Penguin!

Anyone else now got a craving for a chocolate biscuit?!

Item eight on my Q4 FAL list was a Christmas cushion using the penguin fabric and octagons (surrounded by white frames so they'd look like they were on ice/snow), and it looked like this at the start of the quarter:

As I said, my plan was octagons and I'd carefully measured the penguins to check what size octagon they'd fit in without having disembodied flippers appearing in the frame, and that size was 2" x 2  3/8" with 1/2" triangles taken off the corners to create the octagon.  However, when I spread the fabric on the ironing board and started ironing the templates in place, it became apparent that there were three or four sizes of penguin and my original plan wouldn't work.  You can see here how few penguins fitted.  And it's also a lesson in opening up the fabric before making a plan as it's much more obvious from a distance that not all the penguins are the same size!

So, time for a new plan.  After a bit of thinking, I decided to cut out as many penguins as I could and free piece the white round them, rather than having them framed.  I used a small ruler to draw a line 1/4" from the edge of each penguin and then cut them out with small scissors.  Here's the first one I released from the fabric:

And here's how many I managed to release in the end - I started with the whole penguins and then moved onto any partial penguins who would have both eyes when cut out.  I still can't quite believe I got this many from a fat quarter!

I then set about framing them with white solid in a liberated/free piecing style (no measuring, no pinning, just lop off a bit of white, sew it on and then trim before tackling the next seam):

Soon I had eight:

Then the thirty-six I'd been aiming for (although I counted thirty-seven but couldn't find the thirty-seventh when I laid them out):

And after a bit of dithering (which I think was the last time you saw them), decided on leaving them all the right way up (apart from one, and yes, it's deliberate!).  Then I had a dither about borders:

and settled on the turquoise snowflake when I discovered I didn't have anywhere near enough of the red.  Suzanne on Instagram suggested red cornerstones and I thought that was a great suggestion, so went with it:

  
And then, when I was getting the bits out ready to join some scraps of wadding for the backs of the cushions, I found an unexpected penguin in my sewing room - he just appeared from nowhere!!

After yet another bit of dithering over the quilting, I decided to do random lines round all the penguins so that it would look as though they'd been ice skating.  I used my walking foot and just moved the cushion round whichever way I fancied.  And, as per Clare's suggestion, I used a stripe for the binding.  I bound this cushion first to ensure I had enough to go all the way round.

The back is just the same as the back of the polar bear cushion, so I haven't taken a photo of that.  Well, I say it's the same, there's just the small matter of it being on upside down, but we won't mention that, will we?

And here are my two #Christmascushionalong cushions with their inspiration, my penguin cushion from Joanne, which she made for me last year.  I realised he was getting lonely as he was my only Christmas/winter cushion, so I was determined to make him a couple of friends. 

This is a finish from my Q4 Finish-Along list, and I'll be linking up when the time comes (not long now - eek!)

And excuse the grainy low light photo, but it's safe to say that Archie loves it when it's tuna for tea!

I love tuna night!!!

Thanks for popping in!

Polar Bears Everywhere!

The last time I mentioned my polar bear cushion (I think), I was having a bit of a dither about what to use to fill the spaces where I didn't have enough polar bears and snowflakes and had decided to start piecing and leave gaps where I thought something might go.  It turns out that piecing gaps is harder than you might think (I kept thinking I'd leave a gap and then finding I'd filled it!) so I decided to scrap all my ideas of using grey or turquoise fabric for the gaps and instead sacrificed part of the remaining polar bear fabric I was (still) hoarding, and cut more polar bears and hexagons.

Once the hexagons were pieced, I checked that my plan for the trapezia and triangles round the edge would work (I'd deliberately kept the red snowflakes away from the edges so I wouldn't end up with two prints together):

 And hand pieced those in place before choosing a border, which was attached using the machine:

I pressed the seams and marvelled at the polar bears' neat backside(s):

And then admired their front(s), with Eddie standing guard in case one of them wandered off:

I then marked vertical quilting lines (using a hera marker) and layered up the front and back pieces.  I machine quilted in Gutermann white thread (which is lovely to use) and then added the binding.  I didn't have enough to bind the whole cushion in the stripe, so added a couple of strips of red snowflake to make up the shortfall:

The back is quilted with wavy lines (no marking, just set off at a clip and wave from side to side like a boy racer until you get to the far side) and has a covered zip:

This is a finish from my Q4 FAL list and I must admit that I'm rather chuffed with it!

Archie grabbed the opportunity for some sunbathing the other day:

I do love the feel of the sun on my back, even when the ground beneath my tummy is damp.

Thanks for popping in!  I hope you're all getting on well with your Finish-Along lists?  Do shout if you need Archie to come round with his big stick...

Pulled Thread Hoop

On Friday, I knocked something else off my Finish-Along list and considering it's been on my list since Q3 2015, it didn't take long to finish.  Less than an hour, in fact *hangs head*

Here's how it looked at the start of the quarter (it's item four on my list), when it was going to be turned into a pin cushion:

I decided that I didn't really need another pin cushion where I had to be careful of where I'm putting pins.  In the end, I decided to stretch it in a hoop so it could be hung on my sewing room wall.

I found a strip of turquoise solid that was almost but not quite wide enough to go behind it, so I pieced another bit on with a quarter inch seam and then top stitched it to make sure it would tolerate the stretching required.  I then stretched it over the hoop and secured the back. You can just make out some of the seam at the bottom of the hoop:

I then did the same with the pulled thread work (after giving it a quick press), but used a pale pink thread to secure it so I could easily see which thread to pull when tightening it:

And here's the finished hoop, hanging out with the sweet peas (yes, I still have sweet peas hanging on through the frost!):

I'm really pleased with how this worked out, and it's nice to be able to finally say it's finished!  When the time comes, I'll be linking up with the Finish-Along:

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a cup of tea and a nap calling my name.  And several penguins clamouring for attention and wanting to be made into a cushion front, would you like to see?

Or maybe they should be jumbled up so the cushion has no right way up?  Let me know what you think!

Eddie's come to stay for a couple of days, and Archie thought he'd try out the cage for size.  Eddie didn't want him getting any ideas:

No, I won't shuffle back, I didn't ask you to come in here with me to show me round, please get out.  Or stay there, because you make a very good head rest.

And Eddie can't quite believe what a relaxed attitude we have to teatime:

Archie: I'm telling you, it's not time for tea yet.

Eddie: It must be!  I'm famished!  Honestly, my stomach thinks my throat's been cut!

Archie: Too early,  I've heard that many times before and I know the signs.

Eddie: No, I don't believe you.  If we sit here for long enough and look appealing enough, she'll give in.

Archie: (sighs) She won't.

Thanks for popping in!