Ridge and Furrow

Finished!

2011-11-20T20:36:00.009Z

Hallelujah, yesterday I finished my Modern Christmas table runner, and today I have finished the 2 christmas ornaments. I had to go into Leicester today to get a move on with the Christmas shopping and to buy some red ribbon to hang the ornaments.

Here's the runner on my kitchen table, and here are the ornaments.

I have 4 rejects - started but unfinished ornaments - I found the ornaments quite difficult.

I need to pack them up tonight and tomorrow I will take them into work to arrange for it to go via DHL.

Housework has taken a back seat whilst I've been doing the sewing this last week or two so I have a lot to catch up on. Think of me....

Christmas Ornaments

2011-11-08T17:17:00.001Z

I have had a bit of a "think", and a look through various magazines and supplies that I have and am going to try several things.
1. A check heart. I need to finish stuffing it and stitch it closed, which will be a challenge as I left the gap on one of the curves. I should have left the opening in a straighter section. I may then attach a button or two, or perhaps just a hanging ribbon / cord.
2. This is something I've been meaning to do for about 10 years! I bought some gold bugle beads as many years ago I saw a beaded star stitched on red velvet. I don't have velvet, I just have cotton or silk. I have small round beads and bugle beads. In a copy of "Quilts Japan" ( I used to have a subscription) there are several ideas for stars. I've located my embroidery hoop.
3. A red heart with small beads sewn all round the side seams.
4. A red reindeer. Felt antlers and red cotton body?.
5. Buy some large ( 3") metal rings, crochet a star in the middle of them using gold thread.
6. Shisha mirror - I've had these rather a long time too. Use it as a centre in a log cabin block - I have some gridded vilene which I could sew on to. I'd probably have to glue the Shisha on first.
7. I have some natural buttons - so natural it'll take a bit to pick out the best ones. They are probably horn but I'm not sure. They are ivory coloured, heart shaped. But they're not Christmassy on their own. I also have some small square single hole mother of pearl (?) buttons. I could sew them in a pattern.
8. Felt leaves and berries on a florists wire wreath - 3 inches across.

I have really enjoyed doing this swap, not that I've done yet, and I only have just under 2 weeks to go! I like the focus that it gives, it encourages you to try new things - patterns - techniques. And there is a deadline, and it's great looking at what everyone else is up to.
A non-sewer I know said it seemed like an awful lot of effort for someone you don't know. But that's the point isn't it?. We enjoy sewing and we willingly create these things for someone. We stalk their blog and see what they're up to, and hope that what we are making will be liked and used.
I have participated in 3 swaps before - 2 of my quilts are in the States, and one is in New Zealand. I enjoy tracking my parcel - wishing I could travel with it.
I in return have had one from France, one from Norway and one from Singapore. It's great getting a parcel, but if you receive before you've finished your own it piles on the pressure!
When this is over I will have to do a few things for Christmas then will try to finish my postage stamp quilt. If I see another 1 1/2" strip ....I'll explode!.
I've had to dig deep through my cupboard to find all those bits and bobs. Whilst it's annoying that some things took a bit of finding ( beads and Shisha mirrors in particular) I have actually enjoyed sorting though things. I have the opportunity to sort out and trim down. Oh the things in that cupboard - I'll post a picture later - most of it is sewing stuff but there are lots of other small bags of miscellaneous stuff -old pens, hand creams, bits of paper I wanted to keep, all my old note books. why do I keep all of this? I'm going to have a serious trim down, it is not good surrounding yourself by all this clutter. Our bin ( refuse) collection is fortnightly - alternate weeks for general rubbish and recyclable cardboard /paper. I always used to pride myself on not filling the bins but now it's my challenge to fill the appropriate bin each week and get rid. Of course charity shops do get anything that is good enough to sell on which isn't much by the time we have worn our clothes to death, or the boys have lost parts of games and jigsaws. I always take the rags to the local Leukaemia charity shop in for their rag money.
I have a huge box of the boys school exercise books, and tons of photos. These I'll leave for the time being. I have allowed myself one box of "nostalgia". It contains my old teddy bear, my Barbie ( the proper 1960s Barbie not the cheap modern ones ) and her clothes. She has a Rabbit skin jacket that my mum made from a Rabbit skin I bought once from a local department store. I'll have a look in the box in a day or 2 and show you a few things.

Good old Lego.

2011-11-05T10:32:00.005Z

And whilst I was typing up the previous blog I had my 13 year old playing with Lego, making a big racket dropping bits on the Kitchen floor.

Ahh, Lego.

Unfortunately he was making a gun...

A working gun, but not that lethal, misfires too often and has a tendency to fall to bits.

The process pledge

2011-11-05T09:06:00.021Z

I remember taking the process pledge, and I have the button on the right. But of course my followers are few and far between and all in the know, so what do I have to tell you all? Nothing you don't already know but here goes anyway.
Here is the pieced top. I was going to put a white border round it.

Then I decided not to do white, I can't really think why other than there's a lot of white here.
So then I thought I'd do a pieced border of 1" squares. Here's the strips of squares.

I have been cutting strips, sewing them together then cutting them into smaller sections. The problem with this method is that if you are not very careful the seams start to come undone. So I'd have to stitch a securing row of stitches 1/4" in before handling them much. Accuracy is a bit of a problem too, and I've measured my 12" blocks and they're not quite 12" (how rubbish is that!) , so 1" squares need a bit of tweaking. Grrr ..
I pieced the backing. I prewashed all the fabrics before starting this project, but have washed the front and the pieced backing. When I poured the hot water on I got a bit more bleeding, so I put the backing in the washing machine again for a longer wash, and did the front by hand. Double grrrr. Needless to say I would have to wash the delicate 1" squares strips before sewing them to the front, so would definitely have to do the rows of securing stitches before they get a wash.
So this is the stage I'm at.
Ohh, look at the front lying on top of the pieced backing - that would look good. Scrub 1" square border, I'll do an irregular pieced border, with both sides the same, and the two end borders whatever print is on the end of the long side.
I'm still fiddling with the backing - having cut 2 strips off the side some rearrangement is needed. Somehow I seem to be getting through a lot of fabric!

I got the boys back last night so have to fit this around work and boys. I have my sewing group on Tuesday night so if I'm lucky, or a bad mother I could get it pieced, sandwiched and machine quilted by the end of Monday evening. Then I can do a bit of hand quilting on Tuesday. It's now Saturday so that's a no-no.
Next week I need to get my skates on and finish the quilting, and perhaps get the binding on on the 13th. I need to think about a label - I would normally put a label on but If I don't at least it would be reversible.
So secret swap partner have you figured out that this is for you by now?

Do you remember the irregular regular 5 pointed star I did.

I don't particularly like having a central big triangle, and 3 small ones attached. I had to tweak it to get it more regular than it was turning out at this stage but having a large triangle in the middle draws your eye to the irregularities.
So I thought I'd do one with a central pentagon and 5 small triangles attached. I did this the other weekend.

First find yourself an accurate template. Trace off the pentagon and the triangles onto freezer paper. Cut out the shapes accurately. Iron onto the white fabric then cut out using a small ruler to add 1/4 inch. I'm a left handed! Measure how big you need the background fabric and cut a few strips. Cut to shape using the template as a guide. Pin a white triangle to a piece of the backing matching the points accurately. Once it's pinned top and bottom you can remove the paper.Do this with all 5 triangles, then you can start to sew to the central pentagon. The first one needs to be a partial seam.Here the second piece has been sewn on and I'm trimming the excess backing. Here is the last section being trimmed after being sewn on. Now you just need to finish the first partial seam. And here is the final star.

I have no plans for it, it was just an experiment as I wasn't pleased with the first one I did.

On the non-sewing side of life work has been very hectic. I've recently either gone in early, stayed late lots or logged back in once I've got home. It's only this week that I've been managing to catch up with the almighty backlog.
This week we have sat down to watch 2 episodes of a programme I've recorded - "Frozen Planet" by David Attenborough. All the programmes this man does are wonderful . Last year or earlier this year he did a series called "The Human Planet" It was different from his usual wildlife programmes as it was about how humans have adapted to live in various ( and sometimes inhospitable) locations.
I did a degree in Anthropology many years ago and it was always the Material Culture studies that I found the most interesting. I do absolutely nothing related to Anthropology now, I'm a bit of a numbers / database / spreadsheet person.
On Sunday we will be meeting up with my Mum and Step dad, and my late sisters partner for a meal. Jill died in 2009 aged 52, of secondary Breast Cancer. I miss her every day. Weather permitting, if sunny spells are forecasted, I'll drag the boys out for a walk somewhere. Every where is so beautiful with the trees turning. And as it's dark now in the evening you have to make the most of getting out and about when you can.

4 blocks.

2011-10-26T23:33:00.002+01:00

A better photo.
Quite fresh looking I think.

Sewing update.

2011-10-23T21:00:00.008+01:00

I ordered some fabric on line- I bought a Fat Quarter on ebay and ordered 7 from The Laughing Hedgehog. I have spent quite a while recently looking at fabrics on line - looking for modern prints in reds, and I've been amazed at how difficult it has been to find some of the smaller fabric retailers - I stumble across them 4 days of searching on page 12 of googles results. Oh and how annoying some retailers search facilities are. Then I was off work on Thursday and Friday so I went to the Bramble Patch to get a few more. Blimey - how much fabric do I need to do a table runner - not this much!

So they're all washed and ironed and I've promptly jumped right in. I have almost pieced 4 stars.
Sorry it's such a bad photo - my camera is out of juice and I need to find the charger - this is from my phone camera.
Now I have to deliberate if I am happy with just the 4 stars, or if I need to add someting else.
I have the 4 stars in a row, and I am going to add a border. I wonder about placing smaller half stars at the edges.
It is this point that I wonder how precise my secret swap partner was in her size requirements - I said 10 by 40 - but an inch or two more wouldn't matter.

What fabric to use?

2011-10-13T23:37:00.002+01:00

I am wondering what fabrics I should use for my Stars - I am doing Red on White, and I realise that if I'm not careful I could end up producing a traditional table runner instead of a modern one!
Help!

Plan C.

2011-10-11T23:15:00.005+01:00

Tonight I have done half a star!

I thought I'd only do half so I would stand a chance of completing it so I could think about what I'll do for my swap. Sorry about the shadow in the top photo.

So here are the 3 ( 2 and a half) stars I've done so far.

I like "C", but realistically is it more than I've got the time for. I would need to do 4 of them. I like "B", the one at the bottom of the board. I'll think about putting a pieced square in the middle.
I'll have to do the vacuuming tomorrow as I've lots of little bits of thread, fabric and paper trailled throughout the house.

Modern Christmas Table Runner - practising!

2011-10-10T23:21:00.003+01:00

All I will say is this isn't my partners ideal colour scheme.
Plan A is the 5 point star at the top - it's still not regular - it would be OK at an angle I guess.
Plan B is the big star underneath. I quite like that one, and it didn't take too long.

Tomorrow night I intend to start on plan C, and I need to think about fabric choices.

Off to bed now.

Starting the Modern Christmas Table Runner

2011-10-09T19:18:00.016+01:00

The boys have gone to their dads' for 5 days. That's the arrangement we have - we have them for 5 days at a time. I know it's an odd number (true!), we felt a week was too long and any less time too short. 5 days is pretty good - one day is handover but then you have 4 days / evenings to catch up with the shopping, tidying, cleaning, occasional socialising ( v occasional). Then when you do have the boys you can concentrate on them. That's the ideal. Sometimes I don't achieve it as I fall asleep on the sofa, too tired from trying to do it all.

So today I had the whole day to myself. Not housework ( I loaded the dishwasher), or cleaning ( I swept the floor), or shopping ( I did nip out to pick up a rug I'd ordered). Yes, a whole day to myself. It almost turned into a whole day tidying as it took me most of the morning to find my sewing machine cable. I was beginning to panic. The last sewing I had done was in the living room but could I find it? In the end after looking in lots of other places I found it in a drawer in the same living room, tangled up with the wii controllers.

So, off to the sewing room. Last night I had decided to try piecing regular 5 pointed star. Unfortunately my attempt is not very regular, and I have unpicked some of it and will try to correct it. But I don't think it will work because of my seam placement - the star is one big triangle as the central pentagon and 2 points, and 3 small triangles attached. It draws the eye to any imperfection.

So, plan B.

I sorted through my books, magazines and a desk diary looking for inspiration.

Now I am having a go at 2 stars I found on the internet.

I can't go into too much detail re the colours I'll end up using, or the placement of the stars, if I end up using them as my swap recipient may be snooping.

Another annoying thing is that I had to draw the pattern for paper piecing one of the stars as the one I printed off wasn't quite the 4" it said it would be. So then I photocopied my sketch onto paper piecing paper and lo and behold - my photocopied sketch didn't measure 4"!!!. I have copied it on 101% as now it is nearly 4" so here's hoping any sewing inaccuracies will work in my favour.

I spent alot of last night reading my swap recipients blog and looking at flickr photos. What have I got myself into I wondered.

It was about 2 years ago that I signed up for my first swap. It was the Fall Mini Quilt swap so I think alot about Joan and Joans mini quilt alot as I drive past all the beautiful autumnal trees that I looked at 2 years ago, looking for inspiration. This is the mini quilt that I recieved from Anne.

Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap.

2011-10-04T21:14:00.009+01:00

Yippee I've signed up to the Modern Christmas Table Runner swap.
I found our about it on Trudis' blog.

I joined at the 11th hour, and had to quickly put together a "mosaic" of images I like. Last night I was up fairly late learning how to do the mosaic so I have at least learnt something new.

I have posted this on my flickr page and you can see the details for these photos there - sorry but I haven't figured out how to paste the link details in here.

Maddening layout of text and photos!

2011-08-29T22:35:00.001+01:00

No matter how many times I delete rows blogger keeps putting them back in - resulting in big gaps where I don't want them. Grrr....

Back from Dorset

2011-08-29T17:47:00.016+01:00

I have spent last week in Dorset with the boys. Now of course I need a holiday to recover from the holiday. They were OK some of the time, but the rest.......................

I know it sounds mean but I've been looking forward to this holiday since February and constant moaning and whining didn't feature in any of my daydreams. The 8 year old lost the toss of the coin for the bedroom with the bunk beds, that was worth at least 15 minutes of crying. Then we couldn't get all of the TV channels listed - more crying!!. And so on.

Now I have 5 days on my own, apart from work colleages, to enjoy the peace and quiet and try to get back up to speed.

Whilst we were on the beach in Charmouth I ordered more fabric from Doughtys to enable me to make a quilt for my bed. It arrived whilst I was away -

This photo doesn't really show the colours well. There is a lot of Limes and Olive in them. Now I am thinking about what to do. They are a rather zingy combination of prints / colours which is out of character with the bedroom as it currently is - the blue is rather soothing. I plan to do large pieces - I have 2 metres of the Paisley print and the Chrysanthemum, 1 1/2 of the Laurel dots and 1/2 of the lashes. Doughtys only had the Lashes print in another colourway, which I am unlikley to use. I have some plain blue and brown.

I may do something based on a stripe arrangement I saw in "Color Harmony for Quilts" by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. It's called "Passage to India" and just uses 2 fabrics in reducing and increasing widths.

Or I may use a simple block with large pieces.

Or I may use the Paisley as a wide border and use the other fabrics in a large block in the centre.

But I have lots of time to think on, I have too much on my unfinished list. No 1 to do is the Postage stamp quilt.

I have done a bit of sewing.

I finished the sewing part of one of the 2 Roman Blinds that I'm making, unfortunately I'm not entirely happy with it. So I may have to order 2 Roller Blinds for my Bedroom and use the fabric in my Quilt. The failure of the blind adds to the feeling I have of discontent. But I need to chill and remember that it's only been 4 months since Andrew moved out and it's to be expected that I still have masses of stuff to sort out. Really, masses.

School starts on Thursday. Needless to say neither Andrew, Liam or myself can remember where Liams PE kit ended up. Oh joy.

Here are a few more photos from the holiday.

- Watching Punch and Judy show on Swanage Beach. Joseph has the Lime T Shirt and Liam is to the left.
Liam at Corfe Castle-

East cliff at Bridport -
Liam as an angel -
With all his cuddly toys on the chair. Whilst driving down to Dorset he said "Can I use a wipe to clean my hands?" This is a boy we're talking about - cleaning hands isn't really the priority. Making super hero costumes for the toys is!.

NEC Festival of Quilts

2011-08-13T20:20:00.005+01:00

I went to the Festival of Quilts on Thursday. I had mislaid my camera so I don't have photos to show you.
I only had the afternoon there, and I concentrated mainly on looking for fabric for a new quilt.
Firstly though I went to say Hello to Mandy at her Simply Solids stall.

I painted my bedroom blue - and it's difficult to find any bedlinen to go with it, and it's also difficult to find quilting fabric!
But I have found 4 prints, and a plain. Obviously having only bought half a metre of each I now need to buy more. I got all the 4 prints from Doughtys so will try to order some by phone on Monday. 2 were sale fabrics so I have to hope they still have some.
The brown is an Oakshot fabric so I will have to send a swatch to them if I need more.
So the question is - what pattern do I do. I feel I need one with larger rather than smaller pieces so it isn't too busy. I 'll have a look through my extensive quilting library and post any ideas.

I also bought some "worn and washed" fabrics. I had said to myself "Rule - don't buy from a stall that you have bought from previously if you haven't used your purchase yet" Failed!

Oh and I've bought a bit of Christmas fabric to make a few Morsbags for my work colleagues.
And I bought a book -"The Bag Bible".

And a grey print from Monkey Buttons and 2 plain greys from Simply Solids - hopefully to make a few cushion covers for my small living room.

The Welsh Quilt Centre.

2011-06-22T22:01:00.015+01:00

The weekend before last was my first weekend without the boys at all, so I planned a trip to Lampeter in Wales to see the Welsh Quilt centre.

I left work on Friday and drove over to Leominster for the night to break up the journey. I had booked into a B&B - The Copper Hall. It was very nice - it was £36 for a single room - infact it was a double room I had. Lovely house, and very hospitable hosts. It was great to just sit and relax, when at home there are always things to do.
Saturday morning was bright and sunny, and the drive down to Lampeter was beautiful. Driving past Brecon was hard - the mountains loomed tall and I have many memories of a great holiday when we walked the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe - we being myself, Andrew and Joseph who was 5 at the time. It's early days but I realise I'll have to organise myself and see if a friend would like to do that sort of walk with me, or I'll have to join a walking group or go on a walking holiday.
It started to drizzle when I got to Lampeter. I had coffee and a Welsh Cake in the Cafe adjoining the Gallery then went round the exhibition.
After lunch I walked around the town, then drove out to Llanbydder to visit Jen Jones shop.
I pride myself on being good with maps. I enjoy map reading whilst other people drive. But obviously I was a little too relaxed and whilst I set off with a map printed from google I hadn't considered which direction I was coming into LLanbydder from!
I was hopelessly lost when I reached the centre and drove in and out of the village several times. What a dummy.
The shop is so quaint. It is in an old cottage, 2 rooms downstairs, very narrow steep wooden steps up to the 2 rooms upstairs. It reminded me of some of the cottages at St Fagans folk museum, but as it is many many years since I've been there how accurate that memory is is debatable. I ought to take the boys there one day - I'm sure they'd find it interesting.
The quilts are beyond my purse at the moment until I have a firmer idea of what I want. Having decorated my bedroom blue - I need to make sure that anything I get will go.
I have an old Welsh quilt that my maternal grandmother made - it's what is called a "cottage" quilt. Unfortunately it's mainly yellow.

The initial "honeymoon" period following the separation is over. First I was somewhat elated to have the space to myself, and to be able to come home and not have to listen to his constant music, to have the kitchen back as a kitchen instead of his work room, to have a second living room instead of his (work) storage room, to have the evening meal at a sensible time. Now though my initial burst of energy has been used up and I am bogged down by various unfinished things. The reality is work 5 days a week, looking after the boys, thinking what they are need to take to Andrews house, thinking what they need to bring back to my house, housework, keeping on top of the cleaning, washing, shopping, not letting things go off in the fridge, cooking properly for just myself when they're not with me, getting though the list of 50 plus things to do, reclaiming the veg plot, getting to bed at a sensible time,.......
On the positive side I have regained control of the kitchen and therefore the food that comes out of it, and through some effort have lost some weight. Not masses - less than a stone but I didn't have much excess weight to start with - just excess fat round my middle on a skinny frame! So I won't tell you the numbers, I'll just say that I now need to take my skirts in by a couple of inches. (No. 37 on my list to do).
I don't get in till 6, and I try to sit down at 9 to watch a bit of TV whilst I check emails and do other internet stuff. My 4th bedroom is my sewing room and at the moment is in need of a good tidy up. It also has a spare wardrobe in it which doesn't help matters. The boys haven't taken much of their stuff round to Andrews - I don't know why - I ask them but don't get a meaningful answer. Liams room at my house is nearly always a tip. He tidies it then somehow, overnight, something happens.
Achievements - I painted my bedroom a delicious blue colour. Up until now all our rooms have been neutral but this is a real colour. I had to buy a new bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers. Ikea has had a fair bit of my money recently and I don't want to see another flat packed item for quite a while. I now have more Bedroom storage than I've had for a long time. On the "unfinished" list is - wardrobe doors to put on ( No. 4) - new roman blinds to make in the same blue ( No. 1) - painting all the woodwork ( get the picture yet?) - painting the en-suite bathroom. So I've a way to go yet.
Downstairs is the second living room. This room is suffering from Artists dye spillage. Oh yes, no more dye on quilts !.I need to get the man back to sand down the floor and recoat it. Unfortunately this means emptying out the main living room and the second living room, including the really heavy piano, putting everything in the kitchen so all the floor boards can be treated. We had this done about 3 years ago but since then my Artist husband has split Blue and Pink dye on the floor so it needs re-doing. I have a large kitchen so everything will fit in but it's just the inconvenience of it all.
The kitchen itself currently has 3 x 3m lengths of work surface in it waiting for me to find a kitchen fitter to fit it . I have been looking, but it's proving to be difficult. I have one coming round on Saturday so I hope he follows up with a quote, unlike the last 2.

I shall report back at the weekend.

Tonight I went for a walk, the weather is still pretty good and the scenery is fantastic.

No pain, no gain.

2011-03-11T16:48:00.014Z

Here comes the pain.
Last Saturdays sewing was the easy bit. I had already got to a fairly good position on over half the strip sets, and I was just cutting and sewing "good" strips together.
Now I'm attending to the Bad strips. My good strips measure 17 1/4 inches ( not the 17 1/2 they are supposed to, but that doesn't really matter ).

The bad strips sets measure 16 1/2 - 17 - 17 1/2. So last night I had to lay the ruler over the strips to see which squares weren't an inch, and unpick seams. I have quite a pile of bits now, and I'll have to have a few sessions carefully sewing back together.
My machines default needle position isn't at a quarter inch when I fit my quarter inch seam foot - how ridiculous is that?. I only realised this after I'd started sewing strips together, so every time I sew I need to remember to amend the needle position.

I also have another bag of bits - so now would be a good time to go through and check / amend these as well.

I persuaded ( moaned at?) Andrew to clear a bit of space in his work room so that I could doing my sewing in there. He hasn't used it as a work room for probably over a year - it's just been storage as he's worked at the kitchen table. I've had to do my sewing as well as sleep in the smallest bedroom.
So now I'll be able to leave the various piles on the table out of my way, and my bedroom can be tidier.
I have asked him what are the chances of my getting Dye on my quilt and he has replied "slim", and then "very slim". Guess I can't do better than that. For previous references to Dye on Quilts read this -

http://ridgeandfurrow.blogspot.com/search/label/Feathered%20Star

So order of work -
Go through bag of odd strip sets, measure and unpick if necessary.
Iron all odd strips, pick out all "unpicked" stitches.
Arrange new strip sets, mark and sew.
Calculate how many 1 & 1/2" strips it will make.
I will need 25 blocks 17 x 17 in total ( or the equivalent ).
I currently have 32 "half blocks" 17 x 8, so I will need 16 single strips to complete the 16 blocks.
And I need 9 more blocks 17 strips wide.
In total I need 169 more strips ( of 17 sqs).

When I have re-sewn the bits I've just unpicked I'll sew together the last of the strips I cut - I think I've already cut all the patterned strips I need, but I may need to cut more plains.
Then I can have another good session 2's, then 4's, then 8's.
When I'm at the stage of having 50 "half blocks" of 17 x 8 I will need to make the decision regarding how I am going to quilt it as that will determine how I sew it together.
If I get it quilted on a long arm machine I sew all 25 17 x 17" blocks together to complete the top.
If I am going to quilt it in sections I need to decide if I am doing 2 or 3 sections - or more?
I could sandwich and quilt all 25 squares individually having 25 different fabrics on the back. Having cut up all my odd fabrics to do this quilt I don't actually have 25 different fat quarters left. It would be easy to manipulate a 17" square on my machine - making certain patterns possible but ruling out others.
I guess I need to decide if I can afford to get it quilted, and what sort of quilting I actually want.

I like the old Welsh Quilts. I plan to go to Jen Jones Quilt museum some time in the near future.
Once I have separated from Andrew when he moves out ( pending his house purchase) we will have a shared care arrangement where the boys spend half the time with each of us. I will miss them dreadfully when they are not with me but will try to use the time well. I will be off to Wales to visit the Museum, I'll be able to go round to friends, I'll be able to sew!. It'll be a taste of what life may be like when they are older and no longer dependant upon us.
Once Andrew has moved out we are going to make the work room into a second living room - it'll be cosier than the main living room so easier to keep warm, which is a consideration as my house has Oil fired central heating which is expensive to run. Also I have the Piano in the living room where the TV is - so I have to turf the boys off the TV when I want to practice, or I leave my practicing until late. My little bedroom will become just the sewing room, and I'll get the main bedroom. I'll paint it, buy a new bed and decorate to my tastes.

I have a new camera with more mega pixels and I think that it is really slowing down my uploading pictures to the blog.
I will fiddle with the sizes to see if I can improve things, yet another thing to sort whilst watching TV in the evening.

Last week I blogged and mentioned I had rather a lot of projects on the go.
Here they are, in no particular order ! -

1. Hand sewn Carpenter star.

Came to a halt as

a) it's on a cream background and I have cats with dirty feet,

b) I have a husband with dyes,

c) It was getting to a stage where it needed space to be laid out,

d) I needed reading glasses.

This should probably get worked on over the summer when the light is good. Started it perhaps 4 years ago - and haven't touched it for about 2 years.
This project is typical of the sort of thing I do. I am sewing over papers, but I am wanting to quilt it in 3 pieces then join. This makes the thing rather difficult. Yep - that's me all over. Perhaps it's this quilt I should send off for Quilting!

2. Ikat bag.
Needs laying out and thinking about.

3. Brights bag.

Used the wrong weight stiffener. Made a real mess sewing the lining so it hasn't progressed.

4. Batik Squares bag.
Wish I hadn't used wadding. I will probably cut this up again!

5. Acid Green quilt. http://ridgeandfurrow.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-think-ive-swallowed-something-i.html
I this started with a charm pack I had. I made various 4 patches, and planned to edge in green, then cream then use green again for the background.
I was trying to do varied border sizes and angles. I've completely gone off this. I think I'll use the acid green for another project.

6. Bright stars from left-overs.
Hand paper piecing. This will only be a small project as I don't have many more brights left over. I have not made much of a dent in some of the fabric I was trying to use up - these florals. I have 2 rules for this project -the stars have either a spot or stripe or check centre, and have one of the floral print colour ways in.

7. Little houses.
Combination of foundation piecing and normal piecing. I have done a few houses, and have others cut ready to sew. I ought to have a few sessions at it and then utilise what I've got.
Wall hanging ? Cushions?

8. Batiks.
I started this on a Friday night sew-in. I am stuck having gone off my original intention of putting the squares on point. Have absolutely no idea what to do, but I might make this my next machining project.

9. Snails Trail.
Oh my goodness. This must be about 12 years old. I started quilting it on a machine quilting day, then it got packed away. It wouldn't take too much to finish it.

10. Blue Gems.
My 12 year old wants this one. I stopped it as I wanted to put it on point, but couldn't work out what to put in the 4 corners. I bought enough fossil fern in pale blue and navy blue so do 2 corners in each, but I don't think that will work. Joseph is happy to have it as it is.

11. I have assorted workshop pieces not finished, and most won't be either. The one I may finish at some point is a village scene, from a workshop by Ineke Berlyn based on the paintings by Ton Schulten. I could make a cushion cover.

12. 1930's prints. I have 42 squares. I thought that next time I need to do a baby quilt I'd pick 16 boy colours or girls colours and sew them together.

13. Dare I admit it - my Rudolph hanging. Needs 1 eye, 1 Antler and to finish the binding.

Can you call boxes of fabric unfinished projects - best not go there!

Cotton prices have rocketed - but I guess I don't need to buy any for a while.

The thought process.

2011-03-08T20:59:00.012Z

I am thinking about whether I am going to Quilt this or whether I should pay someone to do it on a long arm machine.

I have never had a quilt quilted before- for one thing it's the expense, and secondly it won't then be all my work.

If I get someone else to do it I will let them sandwich it - I sure thats probably the norm?

If I do it I will have to do it in sections - I can't sandwich such large quilts. So I'd probably do it in 2 or 3 sections. If I do 2 I need to do 2 1/2 blocks wide by 5 long.

If I do 3 I'll do 1 & 1/2, 2 , and 1 & 1/2 blocks wide. So for now I 'll carry on sewing up the strips into "half blocks" - 8 x 17 so I will be able to decide at a later date what I'll do.

I did my log cabin quilt in 3 parts - and that was manageable.

I have this book -

and here are 2 pages of designs from it -

And here is a doodle, I quite fancy doing some more free, fluid lines and fillers.

When I did my sisters quilt - Trip around Ireland - I quilted it with the Baptist fan design. I still have the template, but I feel I should try and learn something new.

I stopped at this field on the way home, all the sheep came over to the fence in eager anticipation.

On my pinboard

2011-03-08T07:33:00.004Z

20 of the 32 half blocks that I've done. Just pinned.
Started thinking about Quilting. I know I signed up to the process pledge so I'll try to blog later.

Postage Stamp Quilt again.

2011-03-05T22:41:00.018Z

It was a grey and at times drizzly day today, but for most of it I was inside sewing, so all was well!

It was a "Saturday stitchers" meeting where people work on their own projects. For the past 3 meetings I've been working on the hand piecing. But my eyes have been a little tired recently and I thought I'd give them a rest. Last night I looked inside the wardrobe where all my sewing lives and was a bit overwhelmed by the number of projects on the go, but as I am now looking forward I decided to take one and work out what stage I had reached.

Here are the contents of the 2 boxes - strips and sets in various stages

Take the strip sets - cut into 3 inch strips.
Match two strips together - one ending in prints, one in plains, sew down both sides , then cut down the middle.

Iron open.
Match together 2 pairs, then match together 2 sets of four strips.

So at the moment I have 32 blocks of 8 x 17 squares.

So apart from joining two of these together and the attaching the 17th strip I have almost done 16 of the 25 blocks I think need.

I need to work out what size quilt I want to make - the original intention was to do 25 blocks 17" sq - to make the quilt 85" x 85". But I need to just mull that over a for a while.

In the meantime I will continue to sort through any remaining strips sets and strips that I have already cut, and assemble more sets.

I don't have a permanent sewing area set up at the moment - so it may be a while before I can carry on, but I have been spurred on by todays efforts.

New beginnings

2011-02-24T21:56:00.008Z

There are new beginnings around the corner for me. I am in the process of separating from my husband and it has pretty much totallly absorbed me for the last 8 months or so. Well I manage to go to work everyday and keep it all going, but my free time is not so free at the moment.

I manage a bit of sewing but it's all very simple stuff that doesn't require the amount of thought and planning that I normally put in.

Also my little camera has died. I had lost it for a while, and when I found it I discovered that it's not going to take any more photos.

I 've ordered a new one, and await it's arrival. It's a Canon IXUS 100 - a small compact digital with an all important viewfinder. That's been a job in itself - viewfinders are few and far between on compacts and it's very useful to have one on sunny days.

So, normal blogging service should be resumed soon.

Yesterday morning my little boy - the 7 year old - put far too much cereal in his bowl. He was just copying his big brother. So I picked up the bowl, said "You won't eat all that" and started tipping it back into the box. At this point he said "It's already got milk on it".
So I put the box of soggy cereal in the fridge and today we made a lovely yummy fattening treat. Melted chocolate ( that went 'over' when we answered the door!), butter, chopped dried apricots, mini marshmallows and the multi grain hoops. We mixed it together, tipped it into an empty cereal packet ( sort of waxed paper ?) and pressed it flat then put it in the fridge. Mmmmm mmmmm................

It has taken me ages tonight to get the LapTop to take the photos off my phone - I used to be able to so I'm miffed that something has changed and I've had to fix it.

Merry Christmas everyone

2010-12-24T15:05:00.002Z

Merry Christmas to you all, I hope you have a good holiday, good company, time to put your feet up, and perhaps a few quilting pressies.
I promise I'll try to blog a bit more, life has been a little topsy turvy here, and I've mislaid my Camera so all in all, blogging has taken a back seat.
I have however been dipping into the blogs of those I follow so I'm keeping up to date with you all.

Love
Lynne x.

Camera recharged...

2010-10-26T07:31:00.005+01:00

Nearly turned all the edges...

Marrakech holiday.

2010-10-25T22:15:00.006+01:00

Wow... what a place.......

Some sewing whilst on the coach trips...

I have many many more photos but it's late and I'm not rotating the "portait" shots at this time of night..

2010-10-09T21:29:00.017+01:00

New projects on the go.

Well I have finished stitching the Ikats ( Here's some of the Cats-eyes fabric Joseph said!) to the Indigo fabric, and cut the pieces to size. I've stiffened the pieces slightly by ironing on some medium weight Iron on Vilene. I have come to a bit of a grinding halt, fearfull of messing it up so have put it all to the side for now.

I have been looking at my "Material Obsession 2" book and have fallen in love with this project - Both of these 2 quilts use the same Star block. The first quilt is called Ericas Honesty, by Kathy Doughty, and the second is called Jazz Hands, by Sarah Fielke.

So, another hand piecing project. I was sorting though my fabric stash boxes - trying to find fabric for the Philippa Naylor workshop - more of that in a moment - and to try to repack them more sensibly. I found quite a few brights that aren't destined for any particular project. So I'll use them up doing this. I have a triangular ruler so I am cutting 4" wide strips of freezer paper, then cutting triangles, then folding the triangles in half along each side to make crease lines, and finally cutting the triangles into 3 to make the kite shapes.

I reckon this is a project that I am in no hurry to finish - I can just work my way through my fabrics doing 6's , 12's and some 24's of patches .

I did a workshop with Philippa Naylor, on curved piecing. Here are a few photos of the process.

We used Philippas workshop design, which we traced onto freezer paper, cut out, ironed onto fabric, then cut out the pieces including a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Oh that was good - we used a small rotary cutter and ruler and added the quarter inch as we cut.

Here are all my pieces laid back onto the pattern.

Then she explained how to sew the pieces together.
Voila!.

Here is my pieced design, I have yet to add the 2 borders. I wish I could say I'll do it soon but we have a family holiday coming up and I have a few things to get together!!!!!

And finally a few other photos.

I was nearly late for the workshop as I had to stop and take these pictures.

And here's a squirrel we saw today.

The Inbetweeners

2010-09-20T21:07:00.002+01:00

The Inbetweeners is a programme that has just started its third series.
It is a Bafta award winning British Sitcom about a group of teenage boys struggling through sixth form at school. ( 17 and 18 year olds). It is set in an outer London suburb, and follows Will who left a private school to go to a Comprehensuive following his mums divorce. I guess I shouldn't watch it as I have 2 boys and they might well end up acting as these hormone driven boys, but it's funny so I do.
It was the first episode last week. One of the boys had to wear a skimpy thong in a school fashion show and in his haste he didn't check all was well before strutting his stuff , I howled with laughed and had to explain to explain to my boys what I was laughing at.
"He had his left testicle hanging out of his pants" I said.
To which my 7 year old said "Was he an Octopus?"

He's at that truly delightful age.
He was reading joke from a tube of yogurt.
Q. "Why did the Lion cross the road?
A. "To get to the other pride"
He howled with laughter, but when questioned didn't know what a pride was,
"So you don't get the joke then" I said.
"No" he said.
I love him so much.

Ikat scraps bag.

2010-09-15T20:11:00.004+01:00

I have started sewing the Ikat pieces onto this Indigo fabric.

This is possibly the most expensive fabric I have ever bought.

When we were in Kyoto we went to visit an Indigo dyer -the Aizen Kobo Indigo workshop - that Andrew had heard about.

http://www.akasamedia.com/arts-culture/AizenKoboANA.htm

Kenichi does Indigo dyeing, as does my husband who is an artist.

So somehow Andrew had some sort of conversation, despite the language barrier.

I bought several pieces of fabric, this plain hand dyed Indigo, a piece of Shibori fabric, and some smaller pieces. It all came to about £90.
Anyway, here is how far I have got - about a third of the way. I stitch along one edge, then unpick my tackings and remove the papers from behind, and then stitch down the other side.

Here is a bag that I use on a daily basis. It's a good size and I want to make a bag like it.
Some thing like -

I have a pair of handles I took off another woven bag that finally fell to pieces. I loved that bag, it was red.

I am not in a hurry to finish the bag - I am going to Saturday Stitchers this coming Saturday so may get quite a bit done, but no promises.

Multi tasking!

2010-09-13T20:40:00.008+01:00

Yes, typing this whilst trying to watch Dexter in another window, whilst trying to block out the noise from Josephs room - the boy is catapult mad. Just told him how annoying it is to hear his shots smacking against the wardrobe ? wall? so fingers crossed I can continue in peace.

It's the sewing group tomorrow night and I'm not actually sure if I have anything in a state to sew! I have pieced my Ikat strips, I do actually have a piece of authentic expensive Indigo fabric I bought whilst in Japan - hey I may as well use it instead of keeping it in the wardrobe, but I need to be sure I know what I'm doing when I cut into it!

I have had 2 very busy weeks at work, and I had a good time away at the weekend but I was very tired and had ended up having 14 hours sleep on Saturday night. I told the boys several times that they were not to wake me up in the morning, and bless them they didn't.

Liam is particularly bad at coming in and waking us up to ask if he can go on the computer or watch TV. He is guaranteed to get a "No" and it amazes me that he hasn't learnt that yet!

OK - I have enough of the expensive Indigo to use for the sides of the bag - I may have to use some other Ikat fabric I bought in Japan for the base so tomorrow I will start to stitch the Ikat strips to the Indigo.

Here are 2 of the wholecloth quilts in the exhibition in Llanidloes.

A Quilt Exhibition

2010-09-10T13:28:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow is the last day of the Quilt Associations exhibition at the Minerva Arts Centre at Llanidloes.
My mum is picking my boys up from school and taking them back to hers so I can pick them up pronto after work tonight and zoom down the motorway. We are staying at a friends in Hereford tonight, then tomorrow we will do the last hour and a half drive into Wales.
http://www.quilt.org.uk/event-34-Minerva+Quilts+10.html
I love the big outdoors and I'm sure I'll wish I was away for longer, but at least I'll finally make it to the Minerva Arts Centre which I've been wanting to do for ages.

Joseph ( 12) asked me "Are we all going to the Quilt Exhibition" and "How long will we be there".
As long as it takes Joseph, take a book to read!

I have done quite a bit of the handsewing I started. All the strips are sewn together so now I need to buy some Indigo fabric for the main body of the bag.
I'll try to post a few photos on sunday when we are back.

Japanese Ikat scraps

2010-09-02T19:19:00.009+01:00

OK, I have very little functioning brain at the moment - and what I do have is pretty much fully used up at work!

So I have packed away all of my sewing projects in the cupboard, I'm trying to have a bit of a tidy up to feel more on top of things. I can't seem to find enough space in my head to think about the projects I've got on the go.
So here's a little hand sewing to keep me ticking over.

When we went to Japan 6 years ago I bought a pack of scraps - and since then I have had a copy of Quilts Japan that has a few "scrap" projects in it.

I am cutting strips of freezer paper to best fit the scraps I have, I will sew them together in some sort of arrangement then applique to a background, to make a bag.
Here's what I've done so far, they are just pinned onto my board. I have a bit of Plain Indigo, but I will probably have to buy a piece - perhaps from Euro Japan Links-http://www.eurojapanlinks.com/Cottons_with_blue_green_terra_and_cream.html

But enough of planning for now. I'll just sew. Most unlike me.

ALQS4 and Holidays

2010-08-21T09:12:00.009+01:00

Firstly here is a photo of the Quilt I received in the ALQS4.

I'm delighted, it's so free, colourful and just all over beautiful and it's doing a grand job of delighting me every day. It came from Vreni in Singapore - here is Vrenis's blog. www.oops-lah.blogspot.com/

I sent mine to New Zealand - Glenys says she likes it so thats good too.

It's a great way of doing a Quilt Swap, and I will be keeping my eye open for No.5.

The boys have just returned from a camping trip to Scotland. They arrived back late last night to I have yet to see all the photos, and hear all the stories.

Apparently the boys were rather cold at night so when we go to camping in Dorset we will need to take more layers/ bedding.

Fingers crossed for us!

I haven't really done any sewing, complete lethargy has overcome me recently and once I've been to work, I have very little energy left - mental or physical.

I did go out 2 nights this week - to a Morsbags sewing group - I made 3 bags, and to a sewing get-together at someones house. It was good to see everyone after the break.

I had a good book for my Birthday back in March - and as I'm not in the mood to carry on with my machine sewing I'm starting a project from the book. Well I'll probably adapt it as I'm not really one for copying - I like to design my own or at least alter things in some way. But we'll see.

I have got as far as rough cutting out the adhesive bond, I need to find some appropriate fabric in of my stash. Not got very far then!

As I am off next week it is unlikely I will get to the Festival of Quilts, as I will be with the family.

ALQS4 - Quilt sent.

2010-07-30T21:28:00.002+01:00

My quilt is winging it's way off across the sea with DHL - I sent it yesterday so it should probably arrive Tuesday-ish.
I 'm waiting ..
I'm also waiting for a few cheques from my private health care people - how long do these people take?

Not done much sewing, or even thinking about sewing ( that's rare!)

Thankful for my friends and their friendship.

Chilling out and slowing down.

2010-07-17T19:52:00.008+01:00

I haven't posted for a few weeks now.
I had a week off work so I could do the school run and have some me time whilst the boys were at school as my husband went off on his "road trip". I thoroughly enjoyed the time - there was only 1 morning when both the boys wound me up before school. I had a whole week of doing the minimum and thinking just about the minimum. And I realise that in the normal run of things I try to do too much, and it is a strain.
Plus the first week back at work is as usual a real pain and I definately had the back to work glums.

So, I had finished my ALQS4 Quilt - I took down the road to photograph it -

And I have been working on my postage stamp quilt. I will take some time this week to assess the true progress on this quilt - I may be at the 3/4 stage. and I promise I'll share the process with you.

Humm, It's summer here and I can hear scrurrying in the loft. That's bad news. The little blighters wake us up at night. The mouse killer on the right loves it in the loft - but it's difficult getting her down again so I'll rely on the tub on the left.!

I've joined a local Morsbags group which I will go to tomorrow night, and one night this week I will probably meet up with a friend to help her do her Quilt as you go quilt.

I need to finish picking the Black Currants in the garden. Yum yum. We'vealready harvested some and I need to make some jam with the next lot we pick.

Andrew is self employed and does his work around the kids, so now the school summer holidays have started he won't get much (!) work done. He is thinking about taking them camping with a friend later this week. I'll miss them but I'm sure I'll manage to keep entertained in the evenings.

Next Saturday I am meeting up with 2 friends from University who I haven't seen for, I should guess, 15 & 20 years.

Comments

2010-07-09T20:48:00.001+01:00

Hmm, getting annoyed with stupid people ? leaving comments in Chinese.
So apologies to you if I have fiddled with my settings so you can't comment.

Any suggestions on how to stop these annoying spam comments would be much appreciated.

2010-06-29T21:53:00.003+01:00

My finished ALQS4 offering.

2010-06-24T11:50:00.007+01:00

Getting there!

I'm in the middle of a very busy couple of weeks so I haven't managed as much sewing or blogging as I would have liked.

The priority last week was to finish the Quilt which I did do on Saturday. I will give it a quick wash, and finish ( see it's not finished really !) hand sewing down the hanging sleeve.

But I am away for the weekend and would like to send off the photos to Kate tonight.

I have been looking at the 21 Quilts loaded so far - have a look if you haven't and have started my "would love" list.

My husband has a Harley Davidson and has wanted to do a "road trip" - well tomorrow he is off. It's not as grand as riding across Amercia as
a) We live in the UK &
b) I can only take a week off work to do the school run instead of him.
He wanted to do Europe but time, money and the sheer practicality of "who gets the kids to and from school if you're off for a fortnight" put the stops on that one.

Perhaps when they're older we could go off together to do it. (Note to Andrew - fit a bigger seat for wife before then).

I am taking the boys to Norfolk to see a friend this weekend - and we will get to the coast at some point.

Seminole

2010-06-13T11:26:00.008+01:00

I keep all the offcuts of wadding, so for this mini quilt I pieced the wadding. Here it is tacked to the backing which I stretched out using my new clips. :)

I tacked either side of my seams, just to make sure it all stayed put.

The first 2 strips sew on.

The third strip sewn on to the top of the first 2. You can see the chalk line on the wadding showing the middle of the quilt. It's an important line as I need to try to centralise all my strips.

I wish I could say that having centred all the strips to the line the 2 side edges were the same - but no. Even if you scrutinise the picture below I don't think that you'll see the problem with the top strip. Just take my word for it, I had to draw several chalk lines on the front whilst deciding where to sew the side border strips.

I can't post any more photos until I charge my camera.

I did all this at Saturday Stitchers, I sat next to Jacqui and discovered that we go to the same Chiropractor. I am not suffering as much today as after last time as took a big fat pillow to sit on and I used the heat packs last night, and ensured I did the leg stretches. This is how I have to manage it - it won't go away so I just have to learn how to live with it.

Clamps ideal for stretching out for sandwiching.

2010-06-06T21:42:00.008+01:00

In Aldi now, £3.99 for this set - 20 Spring clamps

2 x 210 mm

2 x 160 mm

6 x 108 mm

5 x 86 mm

5 x 63 mm.

OK the baby ones won't be of much use but the others will all do the job.

These are one of Aldis' special offers - available from today. I'm going to buy another pack.

I used someone elses a while back and I can honestly say it the results were very good - nice smooth backing.

Mine will get their first use on the ALQS4 quilt.

I have my final arrangement - I tried to use just the fabrics I've already used in the Pattern sets, but I had to use another dark brown print I have - so I'll use that for binding, or a border.

I've been sewing the spacer strips to the patterned strips. I'll do the seminole method of quilting which is to tack the wadding to the backing, and then sew the strip sets to the wadding, quilting it as I go. So I need to wash my wadding and brown backing fabric then I get to use my new clamps to stretch out the fabrics so I can tack them together.

We went to a wedding yesterday - someone from the local Harley Davidson club. We met up in Market Harborough, attached the ribbons to the bikes and about 14 bikes rode down en masse to Northampton. After a pint of Lemonade we met up with others before riding to the church.

I must say that some car drivers are just mad. If I see a lot of bikes riding together I wait - I don't try to cut into the middle. After being cut up a few times the lead riders obviously decided that on roundabouts the best thing to do would be stop in the road, so any subsequent oncoming cars would have to stop, whilst all the other bikes went through together. And I have to tell you it felt good. I'm not really a "group" person, I'm on the edges of groups rather than being in the middle but I did enjoy it.

The bridemaids wore Harley Davidson colours - Black and Orange!

ALQS4

2010-05-30T22:19:00.010+01:00

I have cheated by doing the Snails trail by sewing onto gridded vilene - instead of the seminole method. My excuse is that I wanted accurate seams, I have to do sewn strips 1 cm wide to produce a narrow enough pattern strip to fit in with the other pattern strips.Left handed trimming!

Doh! I've sewn the strip on the wrong side!!

I have since unpicked it and sewn the 2 strips on.

Also I have sewn together the strips for the "syncopated piano keys".

I need to finish off the end of a couple of the pattern strips, but the main decisions to be made now is the placements of the pattern strips, and the choice of the strips inbetween.

I am off to London tomorrow to see the Quilt exhibition at the V&A and am returning quite late, so I won't have any time for sewing tomorrow.

This is not necessarily the final order. The size of the Quilt will be something like 17" x 20".

Doesn't this calf look so cuddly?

The Process Pledge

2010-05-27T08:50:00.008+01:00

I was looking at my favourite blog list entries, I looked at Tallgrass Prairie Studio and she has a post about the process pledge. Well for those of you who read my blog you will know that I like to share the process and my progress - especially on the Quilts I do for swaps. So I just had to swear my allegiance and grab the button for my side bar.

Have a look at Tallgrass Prairie Studios blog, and The Process pledge, then all the other people who have signed up.

ALQS4

2010-05-26T07:14:00.000+01:00

Friday night sew-in.

2010-05-22T18:02:00.013+01:00

The spacing on this post has gone completely to pot. When I uploaded the pictures I did them to the side instead of in the middle and I can't get rid of the big spaces that show - you'll have to keep scrolling down.

Not an awful lot got done due to

a) bad back - I can't sit and machine for long

b) I got home and Andrew had started the barbeque, and it's been a long time since I have enjoyed sitting in the garden doing nothing much in particular. Usually I feel pressurised to be doing things.

But here is the progress I have made partly last night.

This is the seminole quilt I am working on. I am using ( mostly) strips left over from my log cabin quilt - they are 1 1/4" wide, but I have to add a few other fabrics in as I will need a few wider strips.

1. This pattern went together like a dream. It's about 17" long so I need to get the other strips the same.

2. Sews together OK but I thinkI will cut down the width of it as it may be too pale overall. I'll see as and when I've finished all the strips.

3. Not going together well at all. Despite pinning the pieces together I have repeatedly stitched them together wrong. Friday night unpicking more like! So I have unpicked them and will have to try again.

4. The construction of this one is like no.3, so is a potential problem too!

5. I've not done this pattern before. I'm a bit short of fabric so I've had to unpick a few pieces of this too in order to trim and re-sew. I don't have a photo of it - perhaps tomorrow.

So I have 5 strips on the go - I'll do a few more then together with the spacer strips I should have enough.

I took the boys out for a walk this evening as we must make the most of the lovely weather.

Here is a lovely Leicestershire Rape field.

ALQS4

2010-05-21T13:19:00.007+01:00

Hmm, just frightened myself by looking at the Quilts on previous Quilt Swaps!
I am using up strips left over from my log cabin quilt.
I have started piecing - it's a seminole quilt I'm working on.
So I need to do some more then think whether it's good enough!

I have suffered all week with my bad back - no doubt due in the main to going to sewing last Saturday and sitting in the chair for so long. So far today it's been quite a lot better, but yesterday I rang the Chiropractor so I'm back there tomorrow. She'll be able to tell what I've been doing!

The weather has been good all week and the forecast for the weekend is promising. Well for my husband it promises torture as he is doing a sponsored run on Sunday - in the heat!. He did 2 miles last night and said it about killed him so I don't know how he'll do 7.

Last year we went up to Derbyshire and stayed at Grindleford. We went on a walk to Eyam. It was so hot we had to get the bus back. We would have rung for a taxi if there hadn't been a bus - it was that hot!. Oh boy did those children moan. Joseph did his usual trick of leaving something somewhere- in this case it was his top in the pub garden, and he only remembered just as the bus was due. Run Joseph!
Once we went to Paris and he left a toy Monkey hanging in a tree in the hotel. We rang the hotel and asked if they could make sure it still spoke English when they sent it back to us. I'm glad to report that it does.

This is the boys playing Conkers, but with Dandelions!

Last week 3 cows strayed from their field into the field that we jointly rent with neighbours to grow our veggies. Here is one of the ladies by our neighbours bean sticks!

and here you can see her rather lovely horns - I was the other side of the fence at this point. Fortunately they did not do any damage - they just nibbled a bit of grass.

Bluebells.

There are some more sweet little baby calves up on the top field.

Tchuka Ruma

2010-05-16T22:53:00.004+01:00

I wrongly called the game that Liam was playing “Little Goat”. It is in fact “Tchuka Ruma” from Indonesia.
We have a wonderful book “More Mathematical Games and Activities from around the world” by Claudia Zaslavsky. So, Tchuka Ruma.

Draw yourself a row of 5 boxes. Label the last one Ruma.
1. Place 2 beans, counters or coins in each of the 4 blank squares.
Moves are made from left to right.
2.Pick up the counters from any square and drop them, one in each square, in the next few squares ( to the right), including the Ruma. This is called “sewing the seeds”.
If you drop a counter in Ruma and you still have any more counters go back to the first square and continue sewing. You need to plan your moves so that the last counter does not fall into an empty square.
3. After you have dropped the last seed, pick up all seeds in that last square and continue sewing as before. If you last seed falls on Ruma, you may pick up the seeds from any square and sew them. But if the last seed in your hand falls into a square that was empty, you lose the game. You win when all 8 seeds are in the ruma.

This is a game that is easy to play whilst sitting in cafes and the like, but I have to say we haven’t won this yet!

I went to sewing on Saturday, and I made up enough strips for 3 blocks of my Postage Stamp quilt. I am not making up blocks as yet - I am making up small blocks of 3 or 4 strips of squares. When I have enough I will sew them into blocks of 17 strips of squares. I'm doing this to ensure I get the prints spread evenly over all the blocks.

6 hours of sewing wasn't good for my back - the constant sitting gives me pain over my hip and the the top of my right leg. I need to make sure I do all those leg stretches I'm supossed to be doing.

Today I went to pick up Josephs new bed, and then after he had done his homework we made it up - then we carried on and tidied up the rest of his bedroom. It looks wonderful, and he has his bright Batik quilt on his bed.
The rest of the house needs a bit of tlc, but not tonight.

Outnumbered and useful information

2010-05-02T17:40:00.009+01:00

Yes we are one of the many familes in the UK that relate to "Outnumbered."

Todays episode of "it's just like an episode of outnumbered" was when Liam once again (yes, he's done it before) remarked on my pin number. Tell everyone why don't you. So now I have to change it, and that's annoying as being mathematically minded I have a logical number assigned to the card. And now I have to think of another one.

Here is the little do-dah in question. He fell off a scooter in the week - here it is difficult to tell where scab finishes and chocolate sauce starts.

Here he is prior the the profiteroles arrving - he is playing "Little Goat".

This is a Rape field - when I manage to get a good photo of the glow of the yellow I'll be sure to post it.

Now for the usefull information. We went to Birmingham on Sunday and my 12 year old has more useful (!! ??) facts than you could point a stick at.

Did you know that there is LOTS of empty space in atoms, that if you removed all the empty space from all the atoms of all the people on Earth, you could reduce the entire human population, all 6.8 billion of us, to the size of an apple?

surely not!

The other fact he told me was so useful to me I've forgotten it already!

Posting whilst watching TV!

2010-04-26T21:08:00.009+01:00

How sad -watching TV and typing a post at the same time. But time seems to rush by and I have to do this, it's over a week since I last posted.

So, various things.

Went to see Melody Gardot last Monday - enjoyed it - not as much as I thought I would - I was so looking forward to it so I guess that was the problem - she didn't sing the songs the same as they are on her CDs and it took me a while to adjust to that. I also enjoyed the time out with a friend - nattering about things and eating out. I'm a Mum to young boys so I don't get out that often!

My postage stamp quilt is not going as well as I hoped. We all know that sometimes when you sew strips together things go a little wonky..............

I really need to use my extension table to be able to control the strips a bit better. So I will be carrying quite alot tomorrow when I go out to my sewing class - Bag, Iron, Machine, Extension table, and Mat and stuff. I will need a BIG bag.

I only hope that as the strip sets are cut into 1 1/2 inch strips I can level things up.

Also it has been taking over the spare bedroom - that sometimes Mrs Snorey has to sleep in - it's only a small room and it's getting quite claustrophobic with pin boards with sewn strips all over the place. So tonight I have taken all the strips down off my pin boards and I'll have to pack them away after each sewing session - it looks so much tidier.

I have also been working on a block that I need to do for a group I belong to. I used a no sew fusible bond - I have actually sewn through it and it's gumming up my machine needle and breaking the thread. Not good.

On Saturday Liam went to a party - dressed as a Knight. It took lots of Thursday and Friday evenings, and some of Saturday morning to make his outfit.

I am a vegetarian, not a Vegan, but on Saturday I bought a Vegan cookery book - "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I will let you know what I decide to cook from it. Biscuits may be first - it's bank holiday weekend coming up and the boys enjoy cooking yummy things.
Isa has a website - http://www.theppk.com/There is a recipe for Jam Cookies on her website, in fact there are lots of recipes there.

On Sunday Andrew and I went out on the Harley.

The cows didn't like it very much!

Andrew is going camping for the whole weekend - Friday to Monday. I have warned the boys that we will be going clothes shopping for me on Saturday, and they need to be good. ( No running round the shops, no whinging, no bickering, no pestering) I can hope! There is the promise that we will go somewhere nice one of the other days if they are good - perhaps Sealife at Birmingham.

No no, that's not a garage!

2010-04-11T14:02:00.003+01:00

But it does look sort of neat doesn't it!

Postage Stamp Quilt

2010-04-08T13:10:00.009+01:00

This is one of the single track roads I go along every day to work. Sometimes I need to parp the horn if the cows won't move, but I don't like to parp the little calves because they jump vertically upwards in fright!

Oh I have been busy - I have stitched together half of the Strip sets so I guess you could say I have done a quarter of the blocks.

Things have improved a little since this picture -

My husband and the boys have been away for a few days so I have been sewing, I have had another stupid cold so have not been able to sit up as late as I would like.

Some of the sewing is going to be fiddly - I didn't just use FQs so I have some strips less than 21" long, and I have to sew together similar length pieces and trim to size after - and then utilise any small pieces cut off. It just takes longer than production line sewing.

The trips to the chiropractor are definately working - but I do have to watch how much time I sit for - sitting at work, sitting in the car, and then sitting all evening sewing isn't really very good. I went on Thursday (having had two nights of lots of sewing).

"oh your shoulders are so tight and knotted - what have you been doing?".

- how can she tell I thought, I'd better not say I'm planning on hours more sewing tonight!

Last Saturday was our big boys 12th Birthday. We went to Waterworld in Stoke on Trent. Then we went to the Indonesian Restaurant that we like to go to. Liam was rather tired by the end of the meal.

On Saturday one of the Cats bought home a dead rabbit. We told the boys that we hoped it wan't the Easter Bunny that they'd killed. Fortunately it wasn't and the EB left a fair number of eggs spread around the garden for them to find. They still have some left, and have generously shared some with us.

This is Itchy on Sunday letting his stomach digest rabbit.

I have decided not to bore you with anymore Japanese holiday reminisces, but will just post a few photos when I have scanned them. I've been too busy sewing to scan! They are just photos, the best pictures are the ones still inside my head.

Today I am meeting up with Maria before she goes back to Spain. Before I meet her I need to nip round to my mums house. Yesterday a car reversed into their house demolishing the front, the car is still in the hallway and the house boarded up as it is un-inhabitable. They are fortunate to be OK - Mum had been sitting in the living room and my step dad was in the back garden, but had they been in the hallway it would have been a different story.

Last nights Postage Stamp Quilt sewing, and 6 years ago today.

2010-03-31T13:12:00.003+01:00

Last night I managed to sew some of my Postage Stamp Quilt Strips. I stitched together 27 pairs of strips. I will continue to sew the 21"wide strips together into pairs then have a session making up the 17 strip strip sets.

Not all the fabric I had was 21" wide, so I will have to do shorter strip sets, how fiddly that will be. Might not get round to it tonight, but possibly tomorrow evening.

Yesterdays blog started me reminiscing.

6 years ago, we were in Tokyo. We had a breakfast of bits purchased in a grocery shop, including Egg Mayonnaise and Crisps!
We got a taxi to the Station and got the Train to Hakone, then a bus to Miyanoshita. We were at the back of the bus, with luggage, and no idea of where to get off. No one spoke English, so we must have been very amusing when we spotted the hotel and jumped up and rocketed down the bus to get off one stop along. We had chosen to stay in the Fujiya Hotel. http://www.fujiyahotel.jp/english/index.html
The Fujiya Hotel is very grand, but we were early so we left our bags and went for a wander. We found a small restaurant and had Spaghetti, cheese sandwiches and ice cream. I told you we were vegetarian and we had decided that we'd just manage, we wouldn't die if we ended up with strange things for our meals, the language was a barrier. Inside Japan Tours had given us a booklet which contained the phrases "I am vegetarian" and "I don't eat meat or fish". We would show this booklet to all places we went to, it would be studied and we'd eat what ever they suggested.
Our room in the Hotel was in the modern extension, built in 1960 for the 1964 Olympics. it was very roomy, ideal for a lively 5 year old.

We rested in the afternoon, jet lag still affecting us, whilst Joseph watched TV, listened to the walkman or read.
In the evening we went out to a Tempura restaurant.

The Hotel had a private and 2 Public Onsens. We hired the private onsen for about an hour. Onsen etiquette is strict. You must wash before you enter the bath. You sit on a little stool facing the wall and use the bowls filling up with water from the taps in the wall. You wash with the soap and shampoo , and rinse it all off before entering the bath. The bath was big, and hot hot hot. Joseph, being 5, wasn't supposed to go in the bath but he was more than happy to play with the bowls of water, though I think we had to tell him to stop running round on the wet floor a few times.
Andrew and I were still jet lagged and were walking up 3 - 4 am. Thankfully Joseph wasn't jet lagged at all. We planned what to do the following day.

Country fun

2010-03-30T21:37:00.005+01:00

My 3 boys, having fun.Cloudy skies

Country bumpkins making their own entertainment on a cattle grid.

Low sun

The bees on a warmer day a few weeks ago. I can't believe how good a photo it is of the bee that's looking at the camera!

ALQS 4

2010-03-30T21:19:00.004+01:00

I have signed up for another swap - Ann J who sent me her / my winter quilt told me about it.
It works differently to the other 2 swaps I've done before. You make a quilt - send in photos, Kate the hostess posts all the photos up on her site and you say which quilts you like. She then tries to organise who sends to who. So if anyone else wants to join in please click on the button to the right - the more the merrier.

Blog hopping.

2010-03-30T17:07:00.005+01:00

I've been blog hopping.
Firstly I look at my blog list on the right to see what my blogging friends have been up to. I say my blogging friends - some of the ladies have so many followers that I am just one of many, I look at their blog but I'm sure they don't visit mine!
Anyway I was looking at Carols blog http://ascotintennessee.blogspot.com/ Carol found me in the first instance, I should imagine as I had signed up for the Fall Mini quilt swap and she was checking out anyone from the UK. She has a weekly plan for her blogging and Monday is "Blog of the week"
Here is this weeks - http://georgiannalane.blogspot.com/Have a look. Truly wonderful flower photos.
Then I start looking at the blogs that Georgianna likes to visit - "Places of Beauty and Inspiration"
Off I went to http://ohhellofriend.blogspot.com/
- beautiful mood photos.

Where do I end up? - http://hellosandwich.blogspot.com/

It bought back such wonderful memories of our trip. We went to Japan 6 years ago. Joseph had his 6th birthday out there. It was a wonderful holiday - 2 weeks travelling around central Japan - Tokyo - Hakone - Nara - Kyoto - Takayama - Nagoya. 2 planes, 13 trains , 11 buses and 15 taxis.
We pulled together an itinery of where we wanted to go and Inside Japan tours http://www.insidejapantours.com/ made all the arrangements. They put together a mixture of traditional Japanese Ryokans and modern hotels. They provided us with booklets about the culture and restaurants, and booked the Rail pass for us. It was a marvellous holiday - culturally very different but we all felt totally safe. The Japanese loved our little blonde boy.
In fact I can tell you exactly what we did this day 6 years ago. It was a day in Tokyo. We slept in and had a breakfast of rolls and various odd unknown bits that we had bought the day before. Then we went shopping and we had lunch in a Tempura restaurant. We were all vegetarian and on the whole we managed quite well. In the evening although it was raining I dragged my family to the Government building where you can view Tokyo from the 45th floor. Everyone we met were so helpful, I could bore you with various tales of how people went out of their way to help.... but you are spared.
We would love to go back again, but in the meantime I will just have to look at hellosandwich.
Oh now I am restless...

A busy busy week.

2010-03-30T11:51:00.007+01:00

Last Tuesday I had been at work about an hour when my husband rang to say he had had an accident whilst driving the youngest to school and had "written off" the car. They were OK, Liam survived with no injuries, Andrew only has bruising on his leg and arm, and on his chest - obviously from the seat-belt.

So that's a second lesson Liam learnt - the first being not to put stuff in your mouth that you don't want to swallow, the second being the importance of a seat belt and the booster seat. Because no matter how many times you till them to sit up with the seat belt on properly they always seem to want to lean sideways or forwards to pick up something they've dropped!.

We are very fortunate that they have no real injuries and no other car was involved. We live in a rural area and Andrew needs to drive Liam to and from school, a broken bone would be really inconvenient, and I won't even contemplate the worst. Obviously I went home on the Tuesday to see to him - I had to take Andrew to the local hospital to get him checked out.

He went out in the evening to a meeting - he has been chair of a local group and it was the AGM and he was keen to go to relinquish his position. He has done it for 2 years, he has contributed new ideas, and he managed to get a grant for nearly 10k for the village hall, an application that took considerable effort, and frustratingly a lot of chasing other people. I will say no more, other than he is happy not to be doing it any more. Now if this was a diary, not a blog, I would have written a lot more, my pen would be scratching holes in the paper!

Following the crash Andrew went through the range of emotions. He has had the laughing, the "it's great to be alive", the "I'm so lucky", the guilt, the fear, even a bit of the "wake ups" - the "what am I doing with my life?". He has had several sleepless nights, but is catching up now.
We are also fortunate that we had a bonus from work, it went in the bank account one day and out the next on a car that we found. So that's another weight off our minds - we hate car-hunting. We found a Saab 93 in the 3rd car dealership we went to - my last car was a Saab 93 and we loved it - so he is fortunate to have found a car he can be passionate about.

I took Friday off as we needed to finish shopping for Liams Birthday. He was 7 on Monday, and it was my birthday the day before.
I had a lazy morning sitting in bed ( breakfast in bed) reading my new Quilting books. I had visited a quilt shop the previous week, and I had looked on Amazon and come up with a list of a few books I wanted. Andrew bought me 5 - 2 of which I am disappointed with and will send back.
The 2 disappointments -
Rule-Breaking Quilts (Paperback) by Kathryn Schmidt
Modern Quilt Workshop (Paperback) by Bill Kerr (Author), Weeks Ringle.

Both are books that have nothing really new for me, the Denise Schmidt particularly disappointed me.

The 3 books I love are -
Material Obsession Two (Paperback) by Kathy Doughty & Sarah Fielke- I loved no 1 and no 2 is just as inspirational.
Applique Outside the Lines: With Piece O' Cake Designs (Paperback) by Becky Goldsmith , I haven't done much Applique and want to do big free pieces. It was Maria from Marias patch who bought this book to my attention.
Crocheting on the Edge: Ribs and Bobbles* Ruffles* Flora* Fringes* Points and Scallops (Hardcover) by Nicky Epstein. A lovely lovely book and it's easy to crochet in the evenings or on the move. I'd like to make some scarves. I've got one on the go at the moment- I'll see if I can post up a photo soon.

Mum gave me some money, so I think that might go on fabric, at some point.

I've cut the most of the plains for the Postage stamp quilt. I need to put my machine in the sewing / spare room so I can get started sewing. I'm way behind everyone else. I would like to say that I did some sewing on my birthday, but by the time we had gone out to eat, and visit 78 Derngate, Northampton http://www.78derngate.org.uk/ - a house remodelled by Charles Rennie Mackintosh - I was tired and had a snooze.

I have 3 days at work then it is Easter. It is my eldest 12th birthday on Easter Saturday.
Please feel some pity for me with all these cakes and chocolate eggs!

I think I've swallowed something I shouldn't have..

2010-03-21T21:16:00.009Z

said my 6 year old with tears streaming down his face.

"What have you swallowed ?"I asked,

"I can't remember" was the reply, ( really means "I don't want to tell you because you'll tell me off"). I sent him off to wash down whatever it was with a drink of water.

Well the daft chipmunk has swallowed "BluTack". Not alot, just a small bit.

So I sat him on my lap and told him he'd be fine, and all that would happen is that it would take a few days but would be pooed out like a bit of sweetcorn.

He was obviously scared that he'd die!

"Have you ever swallowed BluTack?"

"No Liam, I haven't"

"Do you know anyone who has swallowed BluTack"

"No Liam, I don't, but you'll be fine"

Is he one of "those" kids I wonder - trips to the hospital with things stuck up his nose. We went to the Think Tank in Birmingham a few weeks back and there was a hands on session where the kids got to handle various things, one of the things that was handed round was a turtle shell. The girl running the session told them to look inside it - I was worried that Liam would stick it on his head but she was wise enough to tell them before she handed it round that it wouldn't fit!

Think of Mr Bean with the turkey on his head.

His big brother has gone of on a school trip for the week so it's just the 3 of us until Friday afternoon. Liam is enjoying having us to himself.

On Saturday I went to one of my sewing groups and made some progress on the 4 patch I've got on the go. Had to do a bit of un-picking but I am going in the right direction now. The photo is my usual poor standard - bad lighting in a cramped room! I'll try to do better when i'm off on Friday.
The plan is for irregular blocks, edge them in cream next, then more of the acid green, with enough space to let them all "breathe".

I really enjoy going to that group, I've known them for a while now and I've had comfort from them in tough times.

I was very happy on Saturday as another friend said she would go to see Melody Gardot with me in April. I love her songs.

Last week I gave another 2 Morsbags away. This one to a Harley rider, and a pig fabric one to a pig fan.

Oh, and I've ordered plain fabric for my postage stamp quilt. The samples finally arrived and I made a quick decision. So I'll be able to start that soon.

All day, every day...

I have had a bit of a clear out today - very satisfying. There is still a load to do mind you, but it feels good to have shifted a bit more.

Kirigami.

2010-03-14T21:50:00.006Z

I am a bit behind with my Kirigami calendar. I have had a few sessions of cutting a number of sheets, and I've nearly caught up. Here is the sheet to cut,
Here it is folded up,

And here is my cut work. Another that would work well for applique,One from February!
Here is one I cut out in Silk Organza, and bonded to another piece of Silk.Quite what I'll do now I don't know!

As it was Mothers day we invited my Mum and Step-dad and my husbands mother over for tea. Here is Liam deep in conversation with Granddad. He has on a Batman hood and cape, he has pushed back the hood and I love how his hair sticks out through one of the holes.

Another not so productive day!

2010-03-11T21:23:00.008Z

How annoying it is.

I took the day off as I have a few days to use up before the end of March. I had the delight of taking the little one to school, and picking him up, and in the 6 hours inbetween I had to do a few errands. But I settled down to watch some TV I had missed - I can see it on the internet on the BBC i-player. In theory. We live in a rural location, though we are only 4 miles / 15 minutes from a town. But our internet speed is soooooooooo slowwwwwww. I have told my husband to phone the provider and complain. I was trying to watch a programme but it kept saying "insufficient bandwidth". I gave up. So I was fiddling with that whilst I was sewing, and sad to say it, unpicking. So the blocks are not finished.

I have so much stuff in this little spare bedroom I have to pile things on the bed whilst I sew. So having enjoyed the clear floor space today I thought I would have to put these boxes of stuff away. In order to do that I have taken a few things out of the wardrobe and stuffed them in my husbands wardrobe!! Ha ha. He has too many clothes in there, I had to rearrange a few in order to fit the things in. I have a pile of jigsaws in my wardrobe - they may have to go under our bed. I feel in the mood for a BIG chuck out.

At some point I will have to look at my needle position. I have a fairly new machine, with a quarter inch foot, but I can assure you it does not do a quarter inch seam. I did the Fall mini Quilt using strips 1 1/4 inch cut - so in theory 3/4 inch sewn. But they are all less that that. It's not a problem for some things, but I would be best off sorting it out. Preferably before I start the Postage stamp Quilt.

It is now a week and a half since I requested samples from Doughtys. I rang last Friday so see if they had received my email, which they had, and I was told it would be a few days before they would get round to cutting them. So surely any day now....

Unless of course I am on their "black list" should they have one - about 6 years ago I had cause to email them about poor service!

Last Sunday Liam and I went to see the Lambs. It was about 4pm and the late sun threw long shadows over the Ridge and Furrow.

This was a very brave little lamb -we went into the field and it came right up to us and trod on my boot!

And this is Itchy in the box where we usually keep packets of Crisps. It is on the shelves in the Utility room. Cosy.

Winter Mini Quilt DHL'd to the States.

2010-03-04T12:55:00.004Z

There - it's going to the states. That's not too much of a give away as most of the Swap participants are across the pond!
I need to wait until I know the recipient has received the Quilt before I put a link to her blog on my side bar.
Hopefully tomorrow, or Saturday.
I am missing it already - I could make one for myself but I will need to buy some more blue for the sky. I did enjoy the hand sewing of the birds.

I have to draw up and applique a Barbers shop for another group I belong to. And of course I will have my Postage Stamp Quilt on the go when I have bought a Plain.
In the mean time I may dig out the Batik I started on the January Friday night Sew-In and see how I can develope it.

The weekend is approaching.
We will have a few bits of shopping to do as my eldest is going on a school trip and a few things are needed.
We might also fit in a trip to the Cinema. My DH wants to take the 11 year old to see Avatar, so I guess I need to see what I can take the 6 year old to see.
Unfortunately Liams idea of seeing a film is based on a bag of sweets or popcorn, and then he fidgets once they are all eaten. It drives me mad!

2010-03-02T17:17:00.007Z

Forgot my handbag today. Would have to be a day when I need fuel wouldn't it?. Drove along working out how much I would have to borrow off a friend ( fortunately we have just been paid so most peoples bank accounts are looking good, and we have a cash point on site).
Consequently I go to the Chiropractor without my purse. She told me not to do much sitting - difficult, no, impossible at work. Also impossible to sit with ice pack at work. No Ice pack to hand. Also no money to buy one.
Managed to have a bump when reversing out of the car park. And that's with a reversing sensor!
Drove to work hoping there would be a space in the car park and that I wouldn't have to drive to the overflow car park and get the bus in. Lucky me, got one of the last spaces on site.
Miserable by the time I got into work. Went and wittered on to some friends who promptly hugged me and took me to the cash point and withdrew money to lend me. Phew.
They are only small little annoyances, but sometimes an accumulation of them seem to be enough to tip the balance in my brain from ( I think) easy going to totally pathetic!
Settle down to work and the boss asks how I'm doing with a certain job. It's one I've been trying to do for a while and haven't finished. How annoying, I hate "not delivering" and I feel bad.
The job in question is a biggy, not something I can suddenly finish. For one thing I need his input as he wants me to do it a certain way which he is familiar with and I am not. And even when I understand how to do it it will take a quite a bit of completing.
But I cannot even begin to think about it yet. I have another big job on that needs doing, and if I do it wrong ( like I did last time!), .....well I hate to think. So I need to switch my brain into super efficient mode and check check double check like crazy.

Mini Quilt finished.

Birds "feathered" and hanging sleeve on the back. I have just washed it to remove yellow chalk lines and will take to show and tell tomorrow. I will also take the 2 mini-Quilts that I received - the Fall one from Ann J and the Winter one from Berit.
I have enjoyed doing the swap. It has encouraged me to do something new, and I designed it myself though I found the BlueTit on the Internet - I think it was on Panache Piecing. And I have some new friends.

I have requested a few swatches of plain fabrics from Doughtys of Hereford so I can choose one for my Postage Stamp Quilt. I have cut all the printed strips that I will need.

Very tired tonight so I will turf the boy cat off my bed and try to get an early night. But first I need to put the bread ingredients into the bread machine, and round up tomorrows clothes.

I am too tired to do any Piano practice, even though I have a lesson tomorrow, but I'm a grown up now so she can't tell me off or slap my fingers with a ruler. Finally here is a picture of girl cat Scratchy, she was just meowing, but she looks evil here.

Dear Diary

2010-02-28T22:14:00.005Z

My husband just read some of my blog.

"It's good you doing this isn't it."

"Yes" I said, "Not that many people will read it, it's a bit like a diary, but without the self indulgent bits like "Dear Diary, My life is c***!"

Progress

2010-02-27T22:55:00.006Z

Here is my Winter Mini-Quilt , almost finished.

I need to stitch the birds feet, and I'm going to do a bit of "feathering" on their bodies.

I love the lettering, the font is Viner Hand ITC, though I did not enjoy doing the blanket stitch around them.

I also need to do a label for the back, and hope to attach a hanging sleeve.

I am taking it to a meeting on Wednesday evening for "Show and Tell" so will send to my swap partner via DHL on Thursday.

I have decided to join in with Heidis Postage stamp Quilt along. I have dug out all those fabrics that I like but haven't a project lined up for them, some of which I have had for ages. I have started cutting the strips. I've cut about 180 so far as per her instructions. I also have quite a few fabrics that are not 21" wide, and have cut some strips of those as well. May as well use them up. I need to decide if I am going to use white or cream, or another colour for inbetween the prints. We have 2 cats who spend lots of time snoozing on the beds with dirty feet, so I don't think I want to use white, even though that would be my first choice.

Wookey Hole and Scones.

2010-02-21T19:22:00.016Z

What a funny name - Wookey!.
Before we went away I said that I had looked at the Wookey Hole website and I thought it was a bit commercial for us. Well I take it all back. We went on Thursday, it was £54 for a family of 4 to get in, which is quite a bit. But it was good. There was a guided tour of the caves, and then quite a lot of other stuff to look at.
I must tell you about the Circus.

There are weekly classes where young people can learn circus skills, and they perform a Circus show at weekends and during the holidays, and they were so good. Really good, supple young people. Megan was on the trapeze swing, and there were 3 girls who performed on the ribbons, amongst other acts. I felt a bit choked during the performanace - it was so good seeing young people performing at a high standard.
Joseph my 11 year old used to say that he wanted to work in a circus when he grew up, which I thought was quite funny as he would never ever have his face painted. Somewhat a pre-requisite for a clown don't you think. I think he is over it now.

This is the mirror maze.
The Glastonbury trip was good - quite a way to go and the B&B was a bit basic. We stayed 3 nights. I can honestly say that it's the only B&B we've ever stayed in where the bed wasn't made whilst we were out. Don't you think that that's lazy? Not recommended.

This is the Abbey ruins.

The day before we came back a friend in our village texted us to say that the snow had descended and even her 4 by 4 had got stuck. Thankfully the roads had cleared by the time we got back on Friday, but more snow is forecasted. My new rear wheel drive car is rubbish in the snow so I'm not looking forward to it. But I have made the most of it by doing some snow dyeing. As blogged by Joan on moosestashquilting.blogspot.com.
The dyed snow ( and fabric) is in the kitchen now - I need to go and check on it. Not enough melted yet.
The boys are back at school tomorrow - last week was half term so it's now back to normality - what ever that is.
My mum and step dad came round for tea toninght, just a bread and butter tea, with Cheese and Courgette scones, and pancakes for pudding. We missed out on pancakes on shrove Tuesday.

I've done a little more to my Mini Quilt - here I am stitching the feeder. I've quilted it all over. I'm not overly impressed with my stippling on the sky, but I am happy with stiching on the snow. I need to bind it and applique the words on. I can start that on Tuesday evening.
One boy in bed, the other is in the shower. I need to check on socks and clean shoes for the little one, then I need to log on to work to do a few things tonight. Hopefully that can coincide with an hour of trashy telly viewing ( Being Human) before bed. I need to go in early tomorrow. I get in early every Monday but tomorrow ideally I need to get in 7.30 ish as I have reports to produce for a meeting that has been bought forward from 2pm to 10.30 am. I am a little concerned that I won't be able to spring out of bed at 6 - 6.15 as my back has been troublesome for a few months and much worse last week. I will have to see a physiotherapist asap. In fact I ought to dig out my health care paperwork tonight.

Winter Mini Quilt received.

2010-02-19T17:19:00.002Z

I am the proud owner of this lovely Winter mini-Quilt from Berit in Norway.
It's a lovely comical deign, Berit has used variegated thread which adds to it's charm.
She has also sent me a Calendar and some tea. Thankyou very much Berit, I love it.
I haven't really ventured into applique quilts - I hope to do so if I can think freely enough .

My work is more controlled, and I would like to do more free spontaneous work. I don't give myself time to play. My quilting time is limited so I feel it all has to count. I get very disapointed if I feel it has been wasted. The last Friday night sew in is a case in point. I steamed ahead, yet it has come to a halt as the initial design wasn't working. So I need to spend more time re-thinking.

Just been to the door...

2010-02-19T17:01:00.002Z

Neighbour has handed me a parcel from Norway that he had taken in whilst I was away ...... just making a cup of tea then I will open it - soooo exciting !!!! it'll be my swap winter mini Quilt. ...will report back with photos soon..

Friday night sew - in

2010-02-19T16:53:00.001Z

Just got back from the trip away. I may manage to sew tonight - my husband is busy getting stuff together for a workshop that he is teaching tomorrow, so may have some time to myself.

Winter Mini Quilt

2010-02-15T11:04:00.006Z

Yesterday we went to the Think Tank in Birmingham. It had lots of hands on experiments to do. Here is a picture of the boys concentrating. Quietly. Oh Bliss. Mini- Quilt - I spent two evenings handsewing the Great Tit whilst watching TV. Here he is.

I drew up a plan on paper so I could carefully cut up my remaining blue fabric.

and here is the Blue Tit pinned in it's place.

Some of the seams done, Great tit on it's branch.

Company. This is the sleek handsome boy cat - Itchy.

Pieced.

Now I need to sandwich it, quilt it and add a few details by hand - feet for instance.

But we are going away tomorrow so now I need to sort out the car and do a few other jobs. I am unlikely to be able to participate in Friday night Sew-in as we come back Friday night. But at the weekend I'll be able to carry on.

I have enjoyed piecing these birds - I'll do one to keep.

Beautiful little birds.

2010-02-11T22:38:00.010Z

Here is the state of play -

Blue tit is nearly done - I need to put a bit more sky round him then join the head to the body.

I have chosen the fabric for the feeder.

I have draw the Great tit from this photo. I photocopied my drawing making a mirror image, then I copied it onto the foundation piecing paper I have. This time I put 2 birds on a sheet to be a bit more economical. I will need to do the bird in 4 parts - head, back neck, body and tail. I've started the body. I need to decide how fat I want him, so I'll probable do the head and tail sections next then come back to it's tummy.

2 steps forward, 1 step back- unpicker needed!

2010-02-08T19:04:00.010Z

I thought I would fulfill an obligation to make a "Christmas block". Here are a few photos, I thought it was going rather well....until I put it all together and noticed some squares aren't at the same angle as the others. So unpicking is required...... I'll do that tomorrow night and hopefully will be able to post it to it's new owner soon.

We had a really good Saturday. We had visitors - Maria from Marias' Patch and her husband and daughter ( 8 months old) came over for a walk and for tea. It must be hard work conversing in a foreign language for nearly 5 hours - well done you 2! We enjoyed your company and Jana is absolutely delightful. We hope to see you again before you go back to Spain. Lovely Maria even bought me some FQs - more than generous seeing as she is having difficulty finding fabric shops in Leicester. In fact I really out let Maria loose on my Novelty fabrics box to see if she could use any in a Quilt for Jana.

Tonight Joseph wanted me to download some MP3 tracks. So I purchased 10 tracks and clicked "Download All". It got so far then just hung. So I hit cancel. I am now trying to download just 1 track on it's own, and that is stuck too. Bloody computers, I hate them sometimes. Note that it's MY evening that will be spent trying to download the s*dd*** things, just what I want after a day at work .I want my own time!!!!!!!!

Moan moan moan - and theres a huge wasp flying round the kitchen ceiling. Had one in here yesterday so I have to wonder where they are coming from. We had a moth invasion a while ago, they were Wax Moths living in some of our bee keeping frames that had been left in the utility room. Husband has just got up for a second attempt to catch the wasp. "Grrrr, come on - I'll swat you!" Ah - stunned wasp has been deposited out the front door, as was last nights, so if it is the same one I guess it already knows the way back in!

Boys having fun on Sunday. They've both had a haircut today.
Oh, the single track download has just timed out!!

Harley Davidson

2010-02-05T13:53:00.004Z

I have ordered some Harley Davidson logo fabric from the States ( from ebay) with the intention of making a few Morsbags for some Harley riding friends. Even Harley riders have to do supermarket shopping sometimes. My husband, being a man, doesn't want one and would rather use plastic bags, as he says we need a few to line the waste bin.

My bird no 1 is progressing. I've started the Blue Tit, foundation piecing. Done the head and the tummy so far. I may do a Great Tit as well, I need to draw out the pattern and see what will fit - here is the first sketch - I need to tweak it.
Having let the last Mini-Quilt absorb so many hours of sewing time I need to keep this one under a bit more control.

Winter Mini-Quilt

2010-02-04T12:47:00.008Z

I now have decided upon my design for my mini-quilt. We have even less time to do this one than the Fall mini-quilt!

I will try to get it to a stage that I can post a photograph - at the moment it's just in the design stage. I am planning on doing a picture of a Blue Tit or a Great Tit at a feeder. We are fortunate to have lots visit our feeders so can see them everyday. I have found a picture that I can use, and I need to spend a bit of time drawing it out. I am going to do a foundation pieced picture. I will have to use whatever fabrics I have - the bird won't be a problem but I might need to rummage deep down for a suitable "peanut feeder" fabric!.

And I am feeling much much better - no sneezing at all since Tuesday so I am fully operational in body and brain!

We have planned a trip to Glastonbury in the half term. Glastonbury is probably well know now due to the Festival that takes place each year - the biggest green field music and arts festival in the world. However that is in June (it is often muddy) , we are not going for that, we are going for the beautiful countryside and to explore the town and surrounding area.

The towns website - http://www.glastonbury.co.uk/ gives a bit of the history. I quote "There are legends of The Isle of Avalon as the place of the dead. A sacred burial ground and later a druidical college. Legends tell us of the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea after the crucifixion of Jesus and as we move into historical times we see the great Benedictine Abbey of Glaston dominating the town.
Through archaeology we can see something of the early history of Glastonbury. The Tor and some of the surrounding land was an island joined to the mainland by a narrow peninsular. The island was surrounded by tidal marshes which gave good natural protection.
In Neolithic times there were people living in Lake Villages near the island but there seem to have been few if any resident inhabitants. The island appears to have been treated as sacred place from the earliest days.
In the middle ages we see Glastonbury emerging as great centre of pilgrimage. The reason for the importance of this small town in a remote part of Somerset was partially the ancient tradition of the Isle of Avalon as a sacred site and partially the Christian history and tradition personified by the great Benedictine Abbey. The heart of the Abbey was the Abbey Church where the choir monks lived a life of prayer complemented by writing, teaching, illuminating manuscripts, caring for the sick and poor and looking after the pilgrims visiting the monastery. These activities were supported by the secular work of the monks, the managing of their land and farms. All this was in turn supported by the town - by the shopkeepers, farmers, craftsmen and professionals of every kind. "

It has so much history - I love the idea of living in a Lake Village. I did a degree in Anthropology many years ago and am interested in Material Culture.

We will be near to Bristol, Bath and Wookey Hole Caves. I'm sure the boys would like to visit the caves. Hmm, just looked at the website - looks a bit "commercial" for my liking. http://www.wookey.co.uk/.
Whatever we do it will probably be a good 4 days - it'll take about 3 - 4 hours to drive down there so I hope for a fairly early start on the Tuesday.

I will have to get my mini-quilt to a stage that I can take it away with me for hand sewing.

Bag Fest.

2010-02-01T17:02:00.003Z

Oh I have a cold. I have a thick head, and have struggled on at work. It had better only last a few days else I will have to cancel this weekends arrangements.

I took in a Pomegranite to eat at work, what was I thinking of?. I cut it open and the arrangement of the seeds was quite beautiful, but I was at work and didn't feel I could get out my camera to photograph it. As it was I hacked at it with my sharp knife and squirted the juice all over the desk, the keyboard, my eye.....Never before has my anti-bacterial "Foam Hand Sanitiser" had so much use. It has cleaned up my work area a treat. I am thick-headed tired so I guess I will not be going to sewing tomorrow night.

Last Tuesday I did some more on my Yellow, Black and White bag. I have finished the outer. I need to do the lining - I want pockets in it so need to plan it. And I made a second Cockerel Morsbags bag for someone at work.
I had a few hours on Thursday afternoon and I have made a larger version of the Friendship bag ( Rachels' Friendship bag at psIQuilt.com). I am going to give both the small and larger one to my ex sister in law. And last night I made a 3rd Cockerel Morsbags bag for another friend. Making and giving is good.

Tonight I will drag myself home and try to get an early night. I fancy lying in bed listening to the radio. I have a Pure Evoke 3 Digital Radio that records programmes whilst I am out, and I can listen to them whilst I'm doing the cooking, housework, sewing, or drifting off to sleep. It's great, but I am annoyed that Radio 7 is constantly repeating programmes. What do I pay my Licence Fee for!!!.
But between Radio 4 and Radio 7 there is usually enough to listen to.
Recently I bought and downloaded 100 episodes of Hancocks Half Hour for a small prices of £7.95. Most people say "Oh Yes - the Blood Donor, that's the funniest ", but there are lots of really good episodes. One about the Last Bus home is my favourite so far. My eldest boy is 11, he listens to them - I've been transferring them to his MP3. He likes lots of the (harmless ) "Adult" comedies that are on - Hut 33, Cabin Pressure and the like. We caught some Vinyl Cafe a while back - he has some of those on his MP3 .

I say I want an early night, but you and I both know that won't happen. I have Kids!

Saturday stitching.

2010-01-24T21:23:00.004Z

A day of sewing - 10.30 till 4 anyway.

First I shortened Liams curtains. But my disorganised brain has forgotten where I put the curtain hooks so tonight I've put them up with 3 hooks and a clothes peg. He is 6, he hasn't complained but it's so annoying having finally made the effort to shorten them that they still look dreadful.

Feeling virtuous I then started on some other small projects.

First it was a small friendship bag -

Followed by a larger friendship bag. But I hadn't any suitable colour for the quilting so this is as far as it got.

And finally a Morsbag. I just need to sew a label on and finish off all loose ends.

I love this Cockerel fabric - I'm going to keep this bag but I have several chicken-keeping friends who I'm sure would like one of these. I'd also like an Apron in this fabric.

I've had my brain frazzled today by my 6 year old. I foolishly mentioned that I had heard on the news last week of a woman in Spain who was trapped in a lift in her house. I said, mistakenly, that she was trapped for 3 days. It was in fact 8 days. This caught his imagination and he kept on and on about it. He is delightful, but boy can he talk!!!

Winter Mini-Quilt Swap and my Batik project.

2010-01-21T21:43:00.006Z

I have just signed up for the Winter Mini-Quilt swap.
The deadline is quite tight - post by the 1st of March if I need to post abroad, so I'd better start thinking now.

The batik project is causing me a few problems.
Firstly having pieced all 86 blocks I stuck them up on my design wall in my intended seminole design. Admittedly the wall was white and I would use a coloured batik for the inbetween squares, but the planned design just didn't "sing" to me.
During the week I had some of the blocks up on the wall - they were all together with no space between and they were definitely buzzing. But I don't want to just do squares!!!. And if I did do just squares I wouldn't have enough blocks for the quilt - not even enough for a single bed quilt.
So I don't know what to do. Tomorrow I am going to a fabric shop which has a sale on and hope to buy a few batiks to go with my blocks. Then I can think on.
Thoughts for now - perhaps join some blocks, or cut them (!) and sew pieced rectangles somehow. Border them somehow to give them some breathing space.

Yeah!! Got enough for 86 blocks!!!

2010-01-17T12:05:00.008Z

I cut into the green leaf batik, and found a blue batik and a small piece of a brown batik which I have cut into and I now have 86 blocks arranged.

Most of the blocks you can see are pairs - only 14 of them are singles so Hip Hip Hurray I have enough.

So the plan is to sew them into 9 rows - alternating 10 and 9.

Then the pieced area will be 70 wide by 63 long. Add a 6 inch border all round brings it up to 82 wide by 75 long. The bed is 72 wide and 72 long.

This is one reason I prefer to do my own thing - I made a Jelly Roll Quilt on a workshop and it's too short. I get cold feet at night :( so need a bit of length to it.

So here they are - all boxed up and ready to go out on Tuesday night-

I have only made one Quilt for our bed - the Log Cabin so we really do need another.

In fact quite a few of the Quilts are all in the wrong places at the moment.

Our Super King size Bed Quilt is on the back of the Leather sofa to stop Scratchy from accidentally scratching it whilst she sits there.

So on our bed we have 2 of the Boys - Josephs Scary Quilt which has some glow in the dark skeletons which catch your eye in the dark, and Liams Christmas Quilt.

On the spare bed are 3 Quilts ( it has been cold!) - the Trip to Ireland I made for my sister which has been returned to me, the "short" Jelly Roll Quilt, and on the bottom half for my feet there is Liams Pirate Quilt.

Fortunately the boys still have other Quilts in their rooms.

New Stash Busting project started on the Friday night sew-in!

2010-01-16T09:52:00.010Z

Here is my little sewing room / spare bedroom – waiting for the off!
Things didn’t go quite as planned. I asked my husband what he was planning on doing last night and he said “Watch a film – depends on what we’ve got”. Hmm, that means he thinks WE are going to watch a film – but it’s my Friday Night Sew-In!!!!.

I take pity on him, I’ve not seen much of him all week.

“Ok” says I -“Do you mind if I machine whilst we watch it?. I can sew slowly – it’ll be fairly quiet”. He doesn’t look convinced.
Anyway tea is late – about 9pm, and then I still have to put the boys to bed- I’m afraid all it amounted to yesterday was supervise the 6 years olds tooth brushing then comment on the state of his bedroom.
I took all my fabrics downstairs to the living room, and started cutting. I had to stop to make cups of tea, and find the chocolate biscuits for DH but he still fell asleep lying on the sofa, before the film ended. Grrrrrrr.................

At this point I went back upstairs to the waiting sewing room ( and company).

I cut the fabrics into 3 sizes – 3 ½ ", 1 ¾", 1 ¼" by 5 ½". This will give me a 5" finished square.
I have a few design boards that work chucked out – they are cardboard coated polystyrene. There are 2 big ones ( 5 ft x 3 ft?) which live against the wall alongside the bed – once I get them out to use I can hardly moved around in the tiny little room, so I used the medium and small. The small has a piece of wadding (batting) wrapped around it and the other has an old flannel baby sheet.
I spent a while arranging the cut strips – cutting and arranging is all I did yesterday – I stopped at 1 am when DH emerged from the living room.
I plan to set the squares on point in rows, alternating the placement.
And I plan to stagger the rows to have a zigzag backing between them.
So now they have to live on the boards for a while whilst I check them over for balance – I can’t do random sewing together.

Over the 2 boards I have 74 blocks, not really enough for a Quilt.

5" sq will measure about 7" on point.

If I have 9 rows, alternating 8 and 9 blocks I will need 77 - 3 more.

I didn't use the Green leaf batik - and I do have a few strips left over so I need to see if I can get another 3 matched up.

9 x 7" will be 63" - once again not big enough for a 72" square Quilt. That would need a 9" border - OK I guess. 72" would be the minimum to sit on top of our 6' bed.

Or if I make a single bed size Quilt - 10 rows alternating 6 and 5 blocks (42" wide by 70 long) it uses 55 blocks. Possible. I don't like big single bed Quilts as I would trip up over the excess hang - particularly at the corners!

So, that was last night, enjoyed it and am dying to get sewing - it should go together quickly if I sit by the boards and just pick them off and chain piece. I have sewing group on Tuesday night so will have to take a pile to sew.

Off to get on with the day - I'll log on later to see other peoples work.

Tonights sewing

2010-01-15T11:58:00.004Z

As I couldn't sleep last night I got up out of bed and ironed my Batiks and contemplated tonights sewing.
I think I am going to do the Seminole Floating Fish pattern that I did in my Seminole Quilt.
If you look at the Seminole Quilt I did it's the second band down. I plan to do lots of rows of Floating fish and offset them with zigzag spacing.
It's fairly straight forward cutting and sewing so should get quite a bit done - one can hope!
Having my fabric ready is the plus side of not being able to sleep, the down side is that I will probably be rather tired later on!

Friday night sew-in

2010-01-13T22:02:00.002Z

Week 2 back at work has been stressful and tiring, but I have signed up to the Friday night sew-in for this Friday.
I have not planned what to do with my four patches yet - I will have to think hard so that I can launch straight in after putting the boys to bed on Friday!
The weather here has meant that I didn't go to my sewing group yesterday evening - it was cancelled. I was too tired to do any sewing at home, but I am looking forward to Friday and to see on Saturday what everyone posts.

Saturday afternoon walk.

2010-01-10T22:02:00.003Z

A frozen canal, Only the light footed swimmers should walk on ice.

Sorry, it's another Ridge and Furrow photo!

Teasels,

New Year, New Project, but old fabric!

2010-01-10T20:12:00.013Z

Having finished my Mini Quilt, I only have one block I need to make for someone.

I decided to start a new project using some of my stash. I had a sort through of the fabrics over the holidays and came across a Pack of 5" squares that I bought about 18 months ago.
I think the range is called "Freshly squeezed".

I made some 4 patches , I have 30 at the moment as I didn't use the check or diagonal stripe squares.
The colours are what I might describe as bright pastels. I bought a roll of 4" wide strips of "recycled" fabrics a while back and a few of them will go with the 4 patches. I need a more yellowy cream to go with them.

My fabric stash is I guess much like most peoples. Lots of different styles of fabrics which I have collected with the intention of making a Quilt. But do I have enough of any particular style of print ?, I don't think I am particularly confident at mixing types of print.

I have -

Checks,
Traditional Block Printeds Batiks.
Modern Batiks

Florals

A collection of green and Purples - these are some of them - they buzz.

One and a quarter inch wide strips left over from my log cabin quilt - mainly Browns Neutrals Blacks and Reds. I also have a few in Oranges and Green left over from my mini fall quilt.

Organised scraps ( by size)

and a bag of disorganised scraps.

This isn't all of each type ( hardly!), and I have other assorted prints and a whole box of plains.

I like to do traditional quilts, but would like to do more Art Quilts as well.

In UFO corner we have amongst other things -

Pink batik Snails trail -

and about 12 assorted Fossil Fern and Black School house blocks. they are about 7inches wide and I am fed up with doing them!

A few photos I thought I'd share with you.

2010-01-04T22:01:00.000Z

I love the season of harvesting - I am fascinated by the lines,

I drove past this field every day to see it's progress, first it was the crop growing in it's thick blocks, then it was the fascination of the stubble.

Here is a photo of Scratchy (aptly named - unfortunately for our leather sofa) - next to the Rat poison. Which is the more effective "Killer"?

Now the cold weather has come the mice have moved into our loft.

Me and the boys - about 2 years ago on Schiehallion, one of Scotlands munros ( mountain over 3000 feet.)

Mini Fall Quilt is on it's way.

2010-01-04T21:26:00.001Z

I posted it today, it has gone via DHL so should only take a few days to arrive at Mrs X's door!

Coventry Cathedral

2010-01-03T19:14:00.000Z

Today, as is the norm we got up late. Well I got up just after 9, I was first up. The boys soon appeared, Joseph opened up the chickens then went on the computer. Liam settled down to watch TV. I tried to get my little sewing room / spare bedroom / ironing room into some sort of order. For one thing I start work again tomorrow and I wanted to check on the clothes situation, also I needed to sort my fabric boxes - things had got a little messy with things all mixed up. I had to find a few things to send to my Fall mini-quilt partner, and also a FQ to send to someone who won an online Bingo game. I wanted to send a Childrens print FQ as he makes Quilts for his Grandchildren but I have lent that box of fabrics ( Yes- a whole box of novelty prints) to a friend in an attempt to entice her into Quilt making. I may yet find one out of place as the tidying isn't finished yet.

We went out in the afternoon to Coventry.
Coventry was badly bombed in the World War II, including the Cathedral. We went to see the ruins and walked up the 181 steps to the top of the tower. I did more huffing and puffing going up those 181 steps than over the 9.9 miles yesterday.
The new cathedral is one of the newest in the World, opening in 1962.

Now we are watching the last film in the Lord of the rings trilogy. Frodo is about to throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom.
The end to the film always makes me cry - the bit when Frodo and Bilbo sail off, it's about goodbyes and having lost my sister last year it always gets to me.
There is an episode of Doctor Who that has the same effect - only Doctor Who fans will know what I'm on about - it's the one where the Doctor ( David Tennant) loses Rose to the other parallel universe. For those of you who don't know Doctor Who - it's basically a kids sci-fi series.

I have been given back the Quilt that I made for my sister, her boys don't care for pink. At least it kept her warm for a few years, and she told me how much it meant to her.

Andrew gave me a Kirigami "Fold & Cut- a Day" Calendar for Christmas.
I have cut the first 3, I have an idea of what I want to do with them, I have some Organza in one of my many boxes, I just need time and enough enthusiasm to put enough effort in to do a good job. It involves stitching over raw edges and I haven't done much of that.

9.9 miles

2010-01-02T17:56:00.001Z

We should have walked a few days ago to ward off the cabin fever that has taken over us, and made us snap at each other, but for whatever reason we didn't manage to get out of bed on time until today. And we only managed it today as a friend Paul was coming over.

So here is Liam at the start of the walk -
And at the top of the ridge,

and down, ridge and furrow

the view back up.

Here is Joseph on a Ridge,
and in a furrow,

Ah, now we get to a rather muddy field. The farmer ploughs the whole field, and plants the seeds all over. Walkers have to re-tread the footpath. But this mud is sticky!

Joseph sporting his new Umbrella Hat.

It took us about 5 hours, a measly 2 miles per hour, but flipping marvellous for a 6 year old!

Who's going to sleep well tonight?

Joseph - before tea!

Happy New Year everyone

2010-01-01T09:58:00.000Z

We had a quiet New Years Eve.
We went to the Cinema, we had to pick a family film suitable for our 6 year old so saw "Nativity". It is a British film with lots of English comedy actors in it - Martin Freeman from The Office, the original "The Office " with Ricky Gervais, Ashley Jensen from "Extras", Pam Ferris, Alan Carr, Ricky Tomlinson, Marc Wootton. Good film, we all enjoyed it.

And the moon was wonderful last night -

Then we went to a local Pizza Resturant. We whiled away the time waiting for our food playing "Bananagrams". It's like scrabble in as much as you have letter tiles and you have to construct a crossword but you make individual ones, you are playing all the time and not waiting for other people to have their go. We love it and have played it quite a bit over Christmas.
Came home, put the little one to bed then tried finding something we wanted to watch on the TV. Ended up watching the first Lord of the Rings film - had to pause it a few times to check the time, managed to see Big Ben do the chimes, then carried on with the film. Ohh Viggo, I can't wait to see part 2 tonight!

Anyway I had 3 hours, in which I managed to hand stitch the binding on my Mini-quilt. So here it is, I will just give it an iron, then it will be packed up and sent, hopefully, on Monday.

It's not as perfect as I hoped for, but I am pleased with it. Against the light the seam allowances make a pretty pattern!

Now I need to go and supervise an 11 year olds room tidying. It gets so messy he can't really get to grips with it. So I help a bit. Probably a bad idea, but I feel I need to!

Plan to go swimming today, then tomorrow a friend is coming over and we are going for a walk. We are fortunate to live in a rather picturesque rural area, and the fields and canals beckon.

I'll see if I can get a new blog title picture up today - the latest has been up since December 1st.

Christmas preparations.

2009-12-09T12:04:00.000Z

Just a quick update on the other things going on - mainly Christmas.
Christmas is approaching and I have bought or ordered all the Boys presents with the exception of Stocking fillers. My eldest is 11, and like last year he says he doesn't want any surprises for Christmas and can we tell him something that he's getting for Christmas. So we tell him "A Satsuma", or " I can tell you some things that you won't be getting, you won't be getting a Barbie!". But he goes on and on...It's very wearing, and I have now told him I will start taking things back if he keeps asking! And they say women nag....

My husbands birthday was at the end of November, and his Birthday list was rather small. So he always finds it difficult to produce a Christmas list. He often wants stuff that doesn't exist - this year he wants a Guitar tab / chord book for Roy Harper songs. Well I will have to email Mr Harper and ask him to write one, but it won't be in time for this Christmas!. He has a Harley Davidson so there are always a few expensive things on the list.

Talking of things that don't exist, my 6 year old wanted a "Hole in the Wall" kit. "Hole in the Wall" is a TV programme based on a Japanese TV show where contestants dressed in Lycra suits and crash helmets need to position themselves in a particular pose to fit through a hole in a wall that moves towards them, and if they don't pass though the hole they get pushed into a pool of water. I wonder what would the kit comprise of ? Would I have to dig up the living room floor and fit rails along the walls for the wall to travel along? Bless him.

I am some what Mathematically minded so was not pleased to find myself stumped by a Meal bill last night. How can it be so difficult! Mind you the pub calculating the bill in our favour, and returning a "non-refundable" deposit complicated matters!.

My 6 year old has his school play this afternoon, and tomorrow night. He is the lead penguin called Goggles.

I am going to my local sewing group on Saturday. They meet twice a month, I would like to go only once a month as I work fulltime and therefore want to spend weekend time with the family. But Andrew works quite a few Saturdays and I don't even make it once a month. On Saturday it is our pre-Christmas "Faith lunch" - we all take food to share. We usually manage a good spread. I am Vegetarian to will take something for the main course. I will be working on my Mini- Fall Quilt. I need to sandwich it and machine quilt it. I will miss it when it's gone.

It will be the weekend before I manage to find time to make a Christmas wreath for the front door. We collected some Holly and Ivy last weekend and it is sitting on the kitchen table in the trug. I will need to go out again to get more pine cones and berries as you always need lots. Hopefully the florists wire is to hand. You know how sometimes things just merge into the background and only visitors would spot things that you don't, well I am ashamed to say I think the Christmas decorations box has sat in the living room corner by the DVDs all year! I'd better tell Andrew before he wastes time looking for it in the loft!
Whilst I am out I might take another "Ridge and Furrow" picture. The current one was taken December 1st and shows the frosty fields from the top field road taken on my way to work. At the bottom of the village there are a few more furrowed fields and the low afternoon sun that you get at this time of the year casts wonderful shadows. Look out at the weekend!

Next week brings a round of feasting. Tuesday and Wednesday we have departmental meals. Thursday night is the company Christmas party. I haven't been for years, but thought I 'd go as I am now 50. I have to buy something to wear as I have no formal party wear. The party has entertainment which is the other reason I am going - Michael McIntyre, Flawless and the Sugababes. I will drive so I can leave when I want.

I have to work onto 2 days the following week. As we have company over Christmas I am taking the 23rd off to prepare. The 24th is a special day and I don't want to spend it cleaning and changing bed linen.

I've received a Mini Quilt from my swap partner!

2009-12-03T22:18:00.000Z

How exciting -

and how beautiful.

Many thanks to Ann from enbellefrance.blogspot.com for my quilt, and bag, notebook and chocolates!

Ann is Welsh, now living in France. The Quilt is in lovely muted colours, with an Apple print background, and black and white print border. I am delighted with it.

It's the first ever swap I've done so it's been a great experience, and I am keen to sign up for more. When I've finished mine to send!

Tuesdays sewing efforts.

2009-12-01T22:20:00.000Z

The front (obviously!)

A close up -

The back - And Rudolph and friends have their borders - Now I need to think about how I am going to quilt my mini quilt.

Sewing the Nine-Patches and getting a new Car!

2009-11-26T07:37:00.000Z

I don't know what's more exciting - this coming together or getting my new car today!
Something tells me it should be the car...

2009-11-20T13:29:00.001Z

It is very busy at work at the moment so with going in early and working late I am feeling rather tired. Always a shame when I can't summon the energy to do a bit of sewing in the evening. I don't have much left by the time the boys are in bed.
It was my husbands birthday on Saturday so I had to devote myself to waiting on him hand and foot and generally look after him, just as I would like to be treated on my Birthday.
But I did get the chance to do some sewing whilst he lolled about.
I am feeling pressured to get a move on with this Quilt as I will need to post it at the beginning of January. I really need to get it pieced by 10th of December, giving me 3 weeks to Quilt and finish it.
I am also trying to finish off a Rudolph wall hanging. It needs its' final border (it's already sandwiched and quilted), binding, 1 Antler and 1 Eye!
I always feel that all Christmas things should be finished by the end of November, and on display for the whole of December. Just to whip those boys up to maximum excitement level by Christmas!.
I need to check that the boys both have their Christmas Quilts on their beds.
Last year I made them both a stocking that I saw in Quilts Japan ( I've got a subscription to it). I managed to use up a lot of my Christmas scraps for the front of the stockings. It was hard work doing the snowflakes, cutting out the big snowflakes was so tedious, in fact I got fed up cutting the rounded knobs on the end of one of the snowflakes so I just cut them straight. And the bondaweb kept coming off the fabric (grrrrrr!). I hand-stitched them on one of the stockings, and machine stitched the other.
I had a lot of half square triangles left over from another project I had done so I joined them to make the backing for Josephs stocking. Still got some left.
Liam didn't want a pieced backing - (phew!) - he wanted his name. I found a font I liked on the computer then enlarged it on the photocopier. I used Bondaweb and did a zig-zag to secure.
In a shop I found these 2 little stuffed stockings which I just had to buy.

Mini Fall Quilt Progress Part 2

2009-11-18T22:47:00.000Z

I have started to sewing the strip sets together into the Trip and the Chain blocks.
It's going OK.

Progress

2009-11-10T22:27:00.001Z

Here are my first strip sets - now I need to cut them up and sew them together. It's going OK so far - I cut the strips 1 and 1/4 inches so the plan is for 3/4 inch strips / squares.

Mini Fall Quilt progress

2009-11-07T11:30:00.001Z

As time ticks on I have decided to start a Trip to Ireland Quilt.

I have decided on this arrangement -

I designed it on Excel - I use conditional formatting to colour the squares according to the number I type into the cell. In this way I can try out different arrangements, and it adds up how many squares there are of each colour, and it calculates the fabric requirement.

In these fabrics -

I've cut all the strips, I've used a variety of fabrics in most of the groups in order to add "texture" to the quilt.

Mini Fall Quilt Swap - thoughts.

2009-10-28T21:00:00.000Z

At last the suspense is over!

I have the name of the recipient-to-be of my handiwork when it's done.

I have looked at her blog, and by golly do I have my work cut out!

Anyway, in the past few days, prior to my discovery this morning, I have been thinking about the mini-quilt.

I would like to learn something new during this process, so as a start I have challenged myself to come up with 10 ideas.

So far -
1. A seminole quilt using fall colours.
2. A trip to Ireland quilt using fall colours.
3. One fairly detailed tree.
4. Naive style trees in various colours.
5. Simplified trees in various colours - shapes really.
6. A Leaf.
7. A selection of Leaves.
8. A Squirrel with it's stash of acorns.
9. A basket of apples.
10. Any block I've always wanted to do using fall colours.

Now I need to dig out all suitable fabrics, and think over it all.

Holiday.

2009-10-28T20:52:00.001Z

We had a lovely week in Croatia.

This is Dubrovnik Old Town. It was a very wet and windy day but we still walked around the walls.

Beware of Black cats

2009-10-28T20:47:00.000Z

I go on holiday for a week, and the boy cat has slept on my new quilt for the entire time by the looks of it..

Now you can see why I am in no hurry to finish my hand sewn quilt with a cream background!

Mini Fall Quilt Swap

2009-10-14T23:01:00.000+01:00

Just to say since signing up for this I have looked at the blogs / flickr pages of some of the other participants and have scared myself.....

NEC Quilt Show 2009

2009-10-14T22:30:00.000+01:00

A few of my favourites- sorry I can't credit the makers.

Thanks to Carol I can tell you this is called "Little Blue Line" by Mai-Britt Axelsen. It's her first major win in a quilt show. She has a lovely blog http://www.linen-and-silk.com/.

Seminole Quilt

2009-10-14T21:00:00.000+01:00

I did this Quilt on a workshop at The Bramble Patch. It was a 2 day workshop - about 5 weeks apart. On the first day you made up 4 or 5 sections. In the weeks inbetween the workshops you made up a few more sections, returning with strips and all the rest of the fabric and the wadding to hang up on the wall to arrange all the strips on. It took ALL day to put up the pieced strips, cut other plain strips, and constantly rearrange them until you had a design you liked. Then you pinned the strips to the wadding so you could take it home.
At home I stitched the strips together into groups so that I had about 11 or 15 pieced sets each about 6 inches tall.
I tacked the wadding to the backing and tacked a straight line across the middle.
The method of assembling the Seminole Quilt is to take the 2 middle of the pieced sets, right sides together, and pin them onto the wadding, then stitch. Open up and iron. Take the next 2 strips, one to go towards the top, the other towards the bottom, and pin on the 2 already in place. Stitch. Open up and Iron. Continue working towards the 2 ends.

I enjoyed doing the Seminole Quilt. I think that some of the patterns could be repeated on their own. I also like the method of assembling the quilt and have done this method of sewing strips onto the sandwiched wadding and backing many times since - Pirate Quilt - Batik Quilt - Liams Christmas Quilt.

Scary Quilt

2009-10-14T20:52:00.000+01:00

This is the same basic design as the first Christmas Quilt - just using Halloween or scary prints - aliens, spiders, skeletons, cobwebs, pumpkins and the like. I use black for the backing and appliqued on 5 white ghosts. I also added 5 long claw scratches bottom right hand corner - see the red flesh underneath?

Trip to Ireland

2009-10-09T23:06:00.000+01:00

On a trip to the Bramble Patch I bought a book "Trip to Ireland" by Elizabeth Hamby Carlson. This is very much the sort of book that appeals to me. She has combined 2 blocks - "Trip around the World" - and "Irish Chain" to produce "Trip to Ireland". I didn't follow a pattern exactly - I chose one called "Irish Trip" and amended it by making it the chains wider . I worked out how many blocks I wanted on the Quilt to give visual impact , then I calculated how big a finished square should be. I had to work out my own cutting instructions. The idea of this quilt was to utilise fabrics I already had so I had to calculate carefully! I used several Red and Burgundy prints to give texture and spread them around - this meant that I had to be careful when sewing up my strip sets so that I didn't place a fabric in the same place in each block. I wanted it to look rich and textured, not planned. I also used a yellow and an Ochre to add texture.

Elizabeth tells you how to make a mock up card showing the 2 blocks so you can see the pattern and help you with your fabric placement. Then you use it to see what strip sets to make.

There were, as usual, a few problems along the way. The tiny snippet of fabric I stuck on the card in one column looks like a different print - consequently I stitched the wrong print into one of the sets. I didn't notice until it was pieced. I had to unpick lots of blocks.

For some strange reason the Trip blocks went together OK but the Chain blocks all had a bulge in the middle. I had to unpick those and correct them too! I have since bought a quarter inch foot.

At this point I joined all the blocks to make a pieced top.

This sat in my cupboard for a while.

After I made Mum a quilt I asked my sister if she wanted this one. So I put the borders on it and quilted it. I made a plastic template so I could draw Baptist Fan on it which I machine stitched in a variegated thread.

I Spy Quilts

2009-10-09T23:03:00.001+01:00

I did the first one of these in an Evening class I went to. the idea is for all prints to be different. It involves cutting lots small pieces from lots of novelty fabrics. I wanted to use just Animals/ Insect so I built up a stash of that type of print. The Basic Block is 9" Square. You need 1x 6" sq, 1x 3" sq and 6x rectangles 2" by 3". You need 24 of these blocks. So that's 24x 6" Sqs, 24x 3" sqs, and 144x 2" by 3" rectangles. Then there is a sashing 1.5" wide, then an pieced border made up of 3" sqs and 2" x 3" rectangles - approx 60 rectangles and 24 squares. All different, all cut to show the picture off, that's potentially a lot of wastage as you cut a small piece out of the centre of a piece of fabric. The finished Quilt is 45.5" by 63.5".

I then went on to make other 1-Spy quilts using less pieces per block, and leaving off the pieced border.

A baby quilt would be 16x 9" blocks, with a 3" plain border. Finished size 42" which miraculously is the width of fabric. Make the 9" block using 1 x 6" sq and 5 x 3" sqs. A longer quilt uses 24 of these blocks.

Then when you get fed up cutting lots of 3" blocks just do a combination of 9" sqs, 6" sqs, 4.5" sqs, . and 3" sqs, because at this point you just need to use up that stash, and move on!.

Feathered Star

2009-10-09T11:52:00.002+01:00

I asked my Mum on her 75th Birthday if she would like a Quilt. She gave me a piece of her curtain fabric to match the colours. I have always loved Feathered Stars. I've drooled over Marsha McCloskeys intricate stars, but I know they are too elaborate for a first attempt.
I saw a pattern in a magazine with just 1 big feathered star in the centre. It was from Patchwork and Quilting, the article was by Jackie Taylor from White Cottage Crafts.

Yes, I could do that. But I hate following patterns, I want to create my own quilts so I took the star as the centre, put it on point and played around with a few designs for the border. I decided to quilt it in 5 sections. I'd do the central square and the 4 corners, then piece them together. I had to work out where I was going to put the joins according to where I wanted to quilt.

The centre of my quilt is quilted with a celtic ring. I drew the pattern to fit then cut a card template.

The leaf design is from a pack of quilting designs, the heart is actually a leaf design from the same pack. I scaled up the design to fit the spaces. I used a light box and marked the leaf and heart leaf designs prior to sandwiching.

The wandering line with the spiral along the border is over the join so had to be done last. I marked it with a plastic stencil I had cut.

The 4 corners are quilted in the ditch (furrow!) by machine.

It took quite a bit of washing with lux flakes to remove the pencil marks. I hung it to dry on the radiator. The next morning it was nice and dry, but it had somehow picked up a spec of magenta pink dye powder from somewhere ( hmm, wonder where that came from....?) and there were a couple of Pink dyed patches. Well I went to work, couldn't do much all day!! Looked at it when I got home. Fortunately for me it was on a couple of strips in one of the corners where there was not any quilting ( other than in the ditch), and I had a bit of each of those fabrics left. I had to cut out the strips and replace. Once it was washed I hung it somewhere else - and when it was dry I gave it to my Mum.

"Oh, keep it and give it me for Christmas" she said.

"No", I said, "it's your responsibility now"!