Sunday 1 April 2012

Rockets and Round-ups

Happy April Fool's Day, I hope it heralds Spring wherever you are. Although not yet Spring here the gardeners are out in the parks sprucing up the city, so it can't be far away.

This week saw the last of Katy's FPPFTT lesson, and what a lesson it was! Our challenge this week was to master picture blocks, and in Katy's introduction to the block she tells us that she assumes we now understand the basics, like lining up odd shapes of fabric. Alas, I need to go to the back of the class as not only did the acute angles on a couple of the pieces do for me, so that blocks had to be re cut, but I also managed to piece the windows with the fabric the wrong way round!! Ripped paper foundations were only the beginning of my problems with these tiny windows :) So, here, anyway, is the rocket block in its less than perfect form!

More practise undoubtedly needed! I would never have even managed this much 6 weeks ago, so I must thank Katy for her excellent tutorials, and point out that all mistakes are my own! Despite the obvious errors this piece is now framed and ready to be hung in a prominent place, (well maybe not that prominent!).  Thanks Katy.

As it is a new month (already?) here is my round up of projects completed in March. I am delighted to see that if I get the latest NYB QAL completed later today, I will be completely up to date with all the various projects. This state of affairs will not last of course, so I will make the most of it whilst I can!



My copy of Zakka style arrived in the post on Friday, just in time for the start of the Sew Along tomorrow, so I am really looking forward to cutting into my linen stash for some of the lovely projects in the book. The first project is a tote bag with a HST strip on the front, so the practise I have had with  In Color Order's HST BOM will come in handy!

As I mentioned in a previous post, we spent a couple of days in Tallinn, Estonia this week. The Old Town of Tallinn is more compact than its counterpart in Riga, and, due to the cruise ships calling in everyday in the Summer months, can be very busy in the peak cruising season. So, this time of year is a nice time to visit, the snow has gone but the cruise ship tours have not started yet, so the city is still fairly quiet and easy to get around.

Here is a quick taste of Tallinn

The beautifully decorated staircase is the entrance to the Bank of Estonia Museum and even more beautiful in real life. The patterned tiles were at the entrance to offices and apartments on the edge of the Old Town, and would make a great quilt pattern, wouldn't they? I loved the old (I am assuming it was old!) umbrella being used as a flower holder on an Old Town door, compact umbrellas just don't have the same appeal!

If you have young sons they will probably, like mine, enjoy the name of the Tower in the bottom row. It is called Kiek in de Kok, which means Peep into the Kitchen, but needless to say my sons were not interested in the translation!

The ladies of the knitwear market in the second row are real stalwarts and man their stalls throughout the winter, despite the weather. That is real dedication!

Linking up to Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet here ,Sew Modern Monday here
and BOM's away here

23 comments:

  1. Wow - nice work getting caught up on everything! Very impressive. You did really well on the rocket - it certainly looks complicated.

    Love the pictures from Estonia, and yes my inner 12yo had a giggle at the name of the tower too ;)

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  2. Lovely photos of Tallinn .. I especially like those tiles and yes, what a fantastic quilt they would make!!

    I clicked across to the instructions for the rocket block and they blew my mind! I think you've done a great job!

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    1. Thanks Fiona, there was an awful lot of head scratching involved in putting it together. For the life of me sometimes I cannot my head round the fabric placement, so a fair bit of seam ripping involved too!

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  3. The rocket looks fabulous!!! I can't see anything wrong with it. It'll look great framed and hung on the wall. We're in the middle of glorious Autumn weather here... just perfect for gardening.

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  4. Great rocket! You've got some beautiful finishes for the month!

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  5. Fab rocket! I can't even begin to imagine how you did that!

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  6. That is a brilliant rocket! I can't see any mistakes. You have made some lovely lovely things in the last month. It was Spring here for approximately 2 days and now we are back in Winter too. Oh well what is a bit more snow.

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  7. I think your rocket is brilliant! Such talent!

    Now, sorry to rain on your parade, but they are quarter square triangle and they are a pain in the butt! Yep, I cheated, I made the tote today to make sure I don't get too behind too quickly. All I can say is DO NOT BOX THE CORNERS AT 3" LIKE THE BOOK SAYS. I've got a square, not a bag!

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  8. Beautiful makes and beautiful Talinn!

    Your rocket looks great to me - haven't started on Katy's tutes yet - too terrified especially by the rocket!

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  9. Hiya! Have come from the small blog meet. I love your New York Beauty blocks - I am one of the crazy people doing 4 of each block, but I'm still on week 3! Am hoping to catch up this week. Check it out: http://missbeaujangles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/wip-wednesday-5.html

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  10. Wow, your blocks are so amazing. I especially love the rocket.

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  11. Great mosaic, love the red and aqua quilt.

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  12. Stopping by via Lily's Quilts. That rocket block is awesome! Your success with the foundation quilting is inspiring me to give it a try.

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  13. Well done for tackling the rocket, it looks great!

    Great job on the rest of the month too :o)

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  14. Cool rocket!!! I'm just learning how to do "fancy piecing" as I call it if it isn't done on a machine, so this looks inspirational!! Just popping over from Lily's Quilts. Amy from www.craftyshenanigans.blogspot.co.uk

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  15. Love the rocket and your mosaic looks gorgeous :)

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  16. Love your rocket. I really like how you used different colors for the sections of the rocket! Mine didn't turn out so well lol

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  17. I LOVE your cushion that The Littlest Thistle has posted, today! It's a beauty. Love your rocket, too! Deb.

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  18. Very cute rocket :D And I'm insanely jealous that you're caught up with things! I'm in a state of limbo with this moving stuff, and I'm not liking it at the moment. I need my sanity sewing time! lol :D

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  19. My gosh that rocket is cute!!! I just got my copy of Zakka Style too! I can't wait to get sewing!

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  20. Love your pics of all your projects - all your curves, and of Tallinn! Awesome! The beautifully decorated staircase is wonderful. Thanks for sharing your part of the world :)

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  21. Love your pics of Tallinn - makes me want to travel!:-)

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