Very very annoyed

As I said last time February is my month for the Fresh and Funky Bee. I spent ages last week cutting up my precious fabric and then sent it off to the lovely people who will be making blocks for me. But there's a problem....I seem to have bought a dodgy batch of envelopes and, so far, two out of three have reached their destination without any fabric in them. Kind of defeats the purpose of an envelope really! So far I only know about three UK ones but I can't believe the USA and NZ ones are going to have a higher success rate.



It looks like I'll have to send out lots more packages of fabric - and I've just ordered some more Kona white accordingly (I think I'll have enough of the rest for sending out but probably not now to complete the quilt). Fingers crossed it's just been these first few that have been dodgy. If not I'll try and take it up with Tesco - it's horrible to think of that lovely fabric floating around in the postal system somewhere. I thought twice about mentioning that the envelopes came from Tesco - maybe the BBC has had an influence on me, however they do seem to be truly dreadful envelopes, they weren't cheap ones and quite frankly one grumble from me complaining about their shoddy goods won't make so much as a minute dent in their profits......especially since I have to do most of my food shopping there as it's the only shop within easy reach of here.

Hexie tree sample block

So onto a happier note. I had a lovely time preparing a couple of example blocks for the bee. Just to give some ideas for the sort of thing I am after (along with the inspiration gallery). Both need some more work. The hexies (my first ever and quite fiddly at 1/2") need to be sewn onto the block but I'm not sure whether to set them centrally or offset and add something else - a sun perhaps? The branch and leaves block needs some definition with machine and hand embroidery - and definitely the purple pears which don't really stand out at the moment.

Branch and leaves sample block

I made both blocks at 8" square but I found that size a bit restrictive, and doesn't really do the fabric justice, so I've said anything up to 16" square would be good.

Log cabin blocks for Mandy

I also made my first ever log cabin blocks for Mandy (January Fresh and Funky Bee). I really enjoyed making these up and have my fingers crossed that will be one of the successful packages as I sent them back along with my fabric for February.

Excluder without stuffed inner

And finally I had a lot of fun making a draught excluder for a local friend. I do like being asked to make things and hopefully she'll like it. Her kitchen is yellow with a touch of blue and brown but she didn't want much yellow in the excluder. I've made an outer with envelope closing for easy washing but the inner is stuffed with polyester and can be washed too. With two kids and a young dog that is pretty essential! I did enjoy picking and mixing the fabrics and colours. But draught excluders have one serious downside - being long and narrow (this one is over 1m by 15cm) I couldn't really work out how to photograph it successfully. Oh well.




Here's to a good week for everyone. And, for me, less stressing about little envelopes of fabric. I'm going to try to focus and finish a few of my new projects.