Delilah 4 Patch Square Blocks Completed

The last two of these blocks have been completed:

Love the outward flying birds on this block, and just got the fussy cutting done from the small piece of fabric I received in the kit.  I’d actually like to purchase more of this fabric, but already own so much, I feel I should be using what I already own.  Nothing is to stop Santa from delivering some to me though.  😉

And here is the 4th and last block for the month:

Those fussy cut leaves ended up being a bit more dramatic than I thought.  They definitely overshadow the fussy cuts pansies, and I love the fussy cut pansies.

Those leaves are even dominate in the quilt layout:

It’ll be another week before I receive the next set of templates, so I will take this time to attempt making a top for myself.  I really need some new clothes, and might as well try.

Much as I love making quilts, they are piling up around Casa Diane.  I donate plenty, but somehow manage to keep a few, and I already own way too many.  I use about 40 of them for my trunk show – yes 40, but still have more in residence.

What I need are clothes, so I’m going to attempt making something for my three dimensional, curvy body.  Wish me luck with fitting myself.  I’d better figure out how, as this is the one I have, and it’s time to figure out how to adorn it.  😉

And yes indeedy, I used the word adorn.  I’m a senior, I’m not a conventional dress size, but I’m going to do my very best to shine in my me-made clothes.  I want my outer appearance to match my inner happiness.

Hugs…

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Delilah 4 Patch Square Blocks

 

I’ve made two out of four blocks for this month’s Delilah TOM, and made one according to the pattern:

And one eliminating the center 4 patch, and placing a fussy cut piece of fabric there instead:

Both blocks contain fussy cut fabric squares – little birds in the first block, and roses and the center in the second block.  I had fun selecting fabric for these two interpretations, and have to admit, I like the first block much better than the second.  Why?  The 8 different border prints on the first block appeal to me more than the repetition of the blues and greens in the second block.  I’m slowly but surely morphing into the Jen Kingwell frame of mind – the more fabrics used, the better.  😉

Also, I made the second block the second day of catching a cold.  Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong.  Messed up the orientation of the fussy cut roses.  Took out the seams, realized I took out the incorrect seams, sewed them back together, ripped out the seams that needed to be removed, and jammed a pin in my sewing machine’s feed dogs.  Luckily, was able to remove it – intact.  It was a minor miracle.

Started putting the border fabrics on, and of course, tried to match areas that weren’t supposed to be sewn together.  Thought about forcing the seam, then thought, I’m not making great decisions today, and turned off the sewing machine.  Came downstairs, looked at the photo, and realized I had oriented the border pieces incorrectly.  They fit just fine.

The cold is still with me, and there are 2 more blocks to make for this month.  At one point, I had texted my friends and said I was only going to make one block from each month from now on, and make a much smaller quilt.  Then I thought, I’ve come so far.  It’d be a shame if I didn’t finish this, so am now all gung ho about it – for the first time in a long time.  You see, blocks of the month or templates of the month are not for me.  I don’t like working on multiple projects.  I like focusing on one project at a time and finishing it.  Finishing up a month, and then having to wait for the next shipment to arrive drives me bonkers.

Yes, I made the purse in between shipments, but I really want to work on the Santa quilt I started last year, and know I would just get into the Santa quilt, and then the Delilah templates would arrive, and I’d feel guilty about not working on them.  Seems I can only concentrate on one complicated design at a time.

It’s all good.  Santa can wait for December 2018, and Delilah will be completed on time, and I’m really hoping to squeeze a top or dress in between the Delilah blocks.  I sorely need some new clothes, and have a few parties to attend in December.  It’d be very nice if I had something new to wear to those parties.

Hugs…

 

 

 

Delilah Orbit Blocks 2

Finished the last two Orbit blocks, and put them into a schematic of the entire quilt.

The colored blocks are the ones I’ve made, and they were superimposed over a grey scaled image of the finished quilt.

I’m learning quite a bit about color.  I purchased the fabric kit along with the templates, and can honestly say, I would never have purchased a good half of these fabrics.  Each and every fabric I receive will be used in this quilt though, and guess what?  They all play just fine with each other.  Oh, I’ve added some fabric from my collection, but the further the TOM progresses, I find I’m using more and more from the kit.   That’s a good thing.

This is the half way point.  Kit 7 (out of 12) arrived Monday.  4 more blocks will be added to the layout soon.  One is already cut out and waiting to be sewn.  Can’t be too long before all 4 blocks will appear on the blog.

Hugs…

 

Birdie Sling

I took a break from making the Delilah TOM, and made a much needed purse/tote for myself.  Now I’ve already made an Amy Butler Birdie Sling purse/tote, but wasn’t thrilled with some aspects of the purse.  I really like the design, so decided to customize it for my usage.

Here is a picture of the finished purse/tote

This suits me much better, and I think it still looks a lot like the original.  The changes?

1.  I altered the main panel so that it would fit on the fold of a 44″ wide piece of fabric.  This uses much, much less fabric, and I did it by folding the panel pattern piece  in 1″ on the edge that is supposed to be on the fold.

2.  Enlarged the small pockets so my cell phone would fit.  I made them a little wider and longer, and just made it when it came time to sew the gussets.

3.  Made 2 pleats across the top panel instead of 6.  This is a large purse/tote, but with 6 pleats, the top opening was pretty small.  It was hard to put large items inside.  Problem solved.

4.  The top band pattern had to be larger as the panel had less pleats.  I added 1″ on the band pattern piece at the fold, so got an additional 2″ for each piece.

5.  Removed 1″ in width for the base of the strap, and also added length to it.  I redrew the strap pattern piece, and the length is now 31″ + seam allowances.  I still think the base of the handle is too wide, and might change that the next time around.

6.  The handle was also made a lot wider at the shoulder.  I find a wider handle distributes the weight better on my shoulder.  Mine is now 4″ at the shoulder, and I fold it over for a 2″ doubled section that is nicely padded.

7.  I also eliminated the fusible fleece.  I don’t like a purse/tote that is too stiff and bulky.  This drapes nicely against my body,

Lots of changes, true?  And now comes the time of a big belly laugh. I happen to have a sewing machine with at timer on it.  It keeps track of how long the needle goes up and down.  It took me four 2-3 hour days to make this purse.  Fusing, redrafting pattern pieces, fusing, sewing, fusing, a little more sewing.  Can you tell most of the time was spent with fusing?  I would dearly and purely love a fusing fairy to move into my home when I make a project like this.

Back to time for the big belly laugh though.  It took a whole 41 minutes of actual sewing time to make this purse.  Yes, a mere 41 minutes.  Who would have thought?

Hugs…