Five minutes of sewing here and there

I've been busy and have managed to stitch up a bunch of blocks. I always have a little sewing kit at the ready so if I go out and have five minutes of sitting and waiting I can take a few stitches. It might not be much sewing but all those five minutes sure add up! This is my sewing kit and it was made for my by Bunny of The Creative Hare. It was made from a free pattern that you can find here.

It is very spacious inside so I can fit a few spools of thread, scissors and my EPP (English paper piecing) pieces. I store spare needles inside the flap. I use my little pouch every day and just love it. It would make a terrific holiday gift for a sewing friend!

So what have I made in those five minutes of sewing here and there? Well let me show you some Lozagon hexagon blocks and Gardens of a King blocks that I've managed to finish in those sewing minutes! This Lozagon is kind of wishy washy isn't my favourite but it will work just fine in the finished quilt.

Some years ago I had been at a White Elephant sale in a church basement and I bought a bag of old scraps, many of which were cut as blades for Dresden plate blocks. I am using some of those scraps in my Lozagons quilt. In the next block you can see some of the prints in the hexagons that surround the solid centre. Unfortunately I was only able to cut five hexagons from the scraps so I went through my stash and found a fabric that was a similar colour but a different print. Even though it is a striped fabric I think it works just fine. I love having the occasional odd patch because it adds interest! The purple flowers on the white background in the outer border are also cut from the old scraps!

How about some Gardens of a King Quilt blocks! This is a pattern I'm testing for Missie of Traditional Primitives. The more blocks I stitch the better I'm getting at making them and I adore these tiny treasures! Missie is also testing the pattern and you can get a sneak peak of what's to come here! For now I'll share some of my blocks with you.

Originally I had dark brown for the outer round of triangles but it was too close in value to the green fabric. I tried the gold scraps and they work perfectly.

I didn't throw out the brown triangles; instead I used them for my second block. Blue and brown are a great colour combination so I searched my stash for the right blue (I needed a blue that was a lighter value than the brown) and this is what I came up with. Notice I rotated the centre pie wedges. This was a mistake and I considered correcting it so that it would be the same as the previous block. My attitude is fix the things that will bother you and leave the rest alone. This is a mistake I can live with so it will stay as it is!

The next two blocks have more pieces (each has 56 pieces). I was dreading sewing this block because of all the pieces but I took care when prepping the patches for EPP, stitched carefully and the blocks came together nicely. I particularly like the red/pink ring around the first of these two blocks. I used a single grey fabric so that the centre star could really pop and I think that this was a good choice!

This second block is much darker and more dramatic. It isn't perfect but I can live with it!

Right - I'm off to see if I can find some spare minutes so I can get cracking on more Lozagons hexagon blocks and Gardens of a King blocks! Until I post again I hope you are able to find five minutes to take a few stitches!

Karen H