Make do & Mend weekends

I decided that before I start on any more art & craft projects that I should tackle all the jobs that I've been putting off. So, I've had 2 or 3 make do & mend weekends. I've mended about 5 pairs of trousers, sewing on buttons, mending holes & I've been through lots of old paperwork. 

I've been meaning to recover the dining room chairs since last summer when I decorated the living room.

A 25% off weekend at the Fabric Warehouse was a good excuse to finally update them to a silver grey to match the room. 4 chairs recovered for under £10.  

The job that was really bugging me, was the bare patch of wall where the old boiler used to be. I've been looking at for nearly 2 years.

I painted over it with some left over paint I found in the garage.The pin board that I made at the Fabric Warehouse was always going to help fill the space on the wall. I have a friend who loves to travel and always sends a postcard. I've saved them over the years so that I could do something with them.The postcards help finish the cover up. The corner's tidied up now without having to re-plaster or redecorate the whole room - a very frugal make do & mend.

1st Steps in Quilting - Part 2

A few more Sunday afternoons & I had enough square blocks to make my quilt.

I laid them out on the floor & Bea helped me to decide the final pattern.

        

I sewed the blocks into rows & labeled them, then sewed the rows together.

After a lot of sewing & ironing the quilt top was put together.

.

I taped it right side down to the kitchen floor & sprayed it with 505 temporary spray adhesive.

I sandwiched some wadding between the quilt top & the backing - an old duvet cover that I cut up. It's upside down to most of the advise on the internet but it work for me.

Everything was pinned in place before I removed the tape and lifted it all from the floor. To finish off I quilted the large blocks by sewing over the existing seams and then turned the edge of the backing over to form a border. 

My finished frugal  quilt. It cost me less than £7.50. I only bought the wadding and some thread. Everything else was from my fabric stash.  

Billy - doesn't help with the making but always approves of the finished item.