Bits and pieces

I've added another border using those scraps I showed last time. I still have a few left so may still make that strippy quilt that Dawn suggested !! These little 4 inch borders took a looong time to make. Because I'd just cut those strips freehand I paper pieced the border strips and whilst doing them had a little slip with the rotary cutter - nice lump of skin missing from my finger. I've never done that before and although it wasn't bad it certainly brought tears to my eyes - ouch !!

Anyway I had a couple of hours free today so managed to get them finished.. For the next border I'm torn between flying geese using just those 2 Ebay fabrics or just a chunky piano key border. I think I'll go with the second idea for a few reasons - the flying geese may be just too busy and the piano key will be easier and won't require me to make complicated calculations - lol. This quilt is a bit of an odd size and I can't be bothered working out sizes and then having it not fit. Can you guess this has happened to me before !!!

The pictures are a bit dark I think. The small outer black strip just blends in with my dark blue carpet. Never mind - I may get better at this !

I'll also introduce you to one of my cats. This one is Tizer - he's the youngest one. He is just a year old and is so naughty !! He's having his afternoon doze on my thousand pyramid quilt I made a couple of years ago...We have 2 more cats who will no doubt be making an appearance soon....

Border decisions !

This is the Mary Engelbreit quilt top ready for borders. The other picture is the fabric that took so long to arrive that I had completely gone off the boil with this quilt. Also I have lots of little bits left over from making the blocks so I have been thinking about what to do with them also. I think I have a plan - whether it is a GOOD plan remains to be seen........

Rainy Bank Holiday Weekend !

It seems to me that every time we have a bank holiday the weather decides to be lousy !! Today we woke up to rain and it didn't stop all day !! Took the time to have a little sort out through my UFO pile. It's a small pile but there's enough unfinished stuff to make me twitchy ! I didn't actually do any quilting but have dug out my next half-done quilt to work on.
It's only going to be a smallish quilt - another log cabin done in Mary Engelbreit fabrics. Bought a sample pack from Ebay last year and just started playing about with it. Mixed it with a white flowery background and off I went. Halfway through making the blocks started thinking about borders.
Knew there wouldn't be enough out of the pack left and nothing else I had seemed to go. Never used Mary Engelbreit fabrics before but they didn't match anything I had - too distinctive ! I managed to track 2 of the fabrics I'd used in the blocks on Ebay.com - United States and started bidding. I won the auctions, paid my money and waited. And waited. After a while I emailed the seller and we eventually came to the conclusion that my fabric had gone astray.... I was so disappointed !!
I had ordered fabric from the States many times and this was the first time anything had gone wrong.... After weeks of waiting and no fabric the seller took pity on me and offered to send some more. She didn't have as much as I had originally bid for but I was really grateful all the same.
By the time this second lot arrived however the blocks had been stitched together and were tucked up cosily in a drawer and haven't seen the light of day since... Will try and decide on borders this week and get cracking !!

2 finishes in a week !!

I have been trying very hard to be a good girl and finish some quilts before I start anything new. Like most quilters I think I have a million ideas buzzing about in my brain and it seems like the next quilt calls to me before the one ( or nine ) I am working on is done ! SO this week I have completed a baby quilt ( from start to finish ! ) and put borders, quilted and bound the second one. The baby quilt is for my daughters teacher whose baby is due next month. My daughter is 16 and has no interest in quilting but she does have a good eye for colour. She chose the fabrics for the baby quilt - 30's repros - very sweet !

The other one I love ! I love log cabin blocks and this one was made to use up some of my ever-multiplying scraps !! The blocks are 4inches and ran up really well. My 10 yo son Patrick had great fun choosing a layout for these and now he is claiming the quilt ! We'll see about that -lol !

Not sure exactly how to get these photos in the order I want them but suppose I'll get better. Going to post this quick before I click on something I shouldn't and lose the lot !! xx

Hello from Wales

Welcome to my brand new blog. How nerve-wracking is this ? I love reading all the quilt blogs so much and have been meaning to start my own for a while now so here goes !! suppose I'll learn as I go along. I love all aspects of quilting especially fabric buying lol ! Have loads of projects on the go and am hoping this blog will help me get some stuff finished. This is really a test post so won't ramble on too long. See you soon
Andrea