Dandelion delayed!

I must start this post with an apology to Liz of Dandelion Daydreams for the lateness of her (November) Bee blocks.  I am so sorry that these are late.  Two words - Christmas Fair.  Enough said.

Never mind - they are done now!  I am doubly excited about this, because until I actually got going on the blocks this morning, I didn't have a clue what I was going to make.  Liz gave us a nice simple brief: Selvedge blocks.  Any size, any shape.  Argh!  Too much choice!

I had never sewn selvedges before so I thought I would start with the simplest of the simple to minimise the chance of me stuffing it up - Pinwheels:

 

 

Then I thought I would try to do some applique as I will probably be doing applique for my January block so a bit of practice could come in handy:

My first version of this went a bit wrong as I had envisaged outlining the blocks with bright zig zag stitch around each circle.  However, it looked dreadful.  Happily I managed to salvage the centre circle and half the little circles and start again.  It worked much better with a small blanket stitch in white.

The most fun thing about these blocks is that you can make something so pretty out of something that usually ends up in the waste paper basket.  I think I will be saving all my selvedges from now on.

Perhaps if you're feeling ambitious, you could attempt a selvedge dress, like these incredible creations:

Selvedge frock by Jodie who blogs at Vintage Ric Rac

Selvedge dress by Julia who blogs at Jules' Jewels

Wow - some seriously talented ladies at work!  Amazing.