Another weekend !

Mum's quilt got finished about an hour or so before I gave it to her and she loved it. All through the making of this I kept saying I wasn't sure how it would turn out as it just seemed like green overload. I would say that green is not my favourite colour at all. However having said that when I came to choose binding fabric I had yardage of 39 different green fabrics to work from - lol ! After all that I decided to use some cream marble fabric for the binding and I like how it worked. Once the quilt was finished I realised this quilt had grown on me and although it is not something I would make for myself I found I didn't dislike it at all. Here it is with actual applique borders ( I do NOT normally do applique !! ) I sneaked in a few mustard coloured yo-yo's although Mum had said no other colour but green and cream thankyou !

Glad that's out of the way. I did very well myself on Mothers day as Jess bought me some great presents - the star one being a fabulous PINK iron. Very trendy and the best iron I have ever owned. She was sick of me moaning that my old iron never seemed to get hot enough. I have tried it out and it is wonderful - I may even iron some clothes with it at some point instead of just using it for quilting - lol ! I also had a lovely new sewing chair this week as the very creaky, cronky old thing I was using finally died. One minute I was on the chair and the next I was on the floor. Now I could perhaps do with losing a couple of pounds but really . . . . My new one is very comfy and I anticipate many happy hours of parking my bum on it and sewing away.

Another finish this week was the cross-stitch picture I've been doing. I could feel my interest wavering a little and as I didn't want this to get shoved in a cupboard half-done I continued whilst ignoring some lovely new fabric I recently bought.

I have just had a marathon cutting out session and also tidied my fabric drawers so next week I intend to give my new chair and iron a good work-out.

And of course one of my little friends always has to come and inspect proceedings.

Loads more to say but time has caught up with me again. See you soon !

Yet again !

Are there things you do that really get on your own nerves ? I confess there are several things I do that really annoy myself - lol ! One is I'm forever putting things in a "safe" place and I can't find them again when I want them. I've lost countless hours of my life searching in vain for things " I'm sure I've seen them somewhere " Does this ring any bells with anyone ?

My main gripe about myself though is I am very last-minute. When I did a lot of dressmaking you can guarantee I was hemming a skirt or sewing on a button literally minutes before I needed to leave the house wearing the actual thing I had made.

Tomorrow is Mothering Sunday in UK and so I planned to give my mum the quilt she should have received for Christmas. Because I had flu in December this didn't get finished and also I decided to do some applique on it as the borders were too plain. The applique was finished a few weeks ago and the whole thing needed quilting. I took it to my quilt group on Tuesday this week to pin baste it on the big tables there. And then - - -I procrastinated - - a lot. I've baked cakes, done some cross stitch, made a baby quilt top, worked on a UFO. Everything bar getting the quilting done.

Well it is now the day before and I am working like mad to finish it. What a duh-brain I am ( as Patrick would say - lol ). I am taking a break to write this to give my shoulders time to descend back to their normal position and then I'll be off again. The quilting is almost done and then I have to cut and sew binding..... and I also want to add a few yo-yo's ( which I have never actually made before ) . I can see a late night ahead. My own fault ! It is now 4pm - wish me luck !

My family are giving me a wide berth - may have something to do with the fact I am still in last nights PJ's - who has time to dress when there is a quilt deadline looming ? :-) Think I need a shower........

Next post I will show pictures of what I've been doing this week when I should have been quilting. I will show you one of the UFO's I've been tampering with though which now looks completely different.

Catch you soon xx

Bit of this and that

Not much quilting going on here yet again. The reason being this time I have been laid up with a trapped nerve in my left arm. Ouch !! Never had one before and never want one again.. Much better now so feeling a bit more cheerful. I HATE not being able to go about my business. Been a bit grumpy due to lack of quilting. However I have not been completely idle - here is a crocheted baby blanket I finished off for a friend. It was nearly done - just had to do the edging.

And to my own amazement I fancied doing a bit of cross-stitch. I have dabbled in this a few years back but not done an awful lot. Whilst unable to sew I sorted through a couple of file boxes of patterns etc and came across a chart I had saved. My daughters friends grandma ( who I never knew ) died a few years ago and I inherited a bit of fabric and some patterns. I think she had tried a bit of all sorts of crafts. There were some half finished quilted and embroidered table mats. I finished these and gave them back to the family. Anyway this pattern was amongst the pile and I knew I would do it someday. The reason it appealed so much was because it is of a lady making a quilt. Here's my progress -

I'm enjoying this as a change. I even bought a cross stitch magazine this morning just to have a look. May do some more - not sure yet. I hope not to be too long doing this as the last piece of cross stitch kept getting put away and coming out when I felt like it and all in all took 10 years to complete - lol ! And I still haven't had it framed.

And as we have had some lovely weather of late I have washed a few quilts and dried them on the clothesline to air them. This is the first one I made for Jess about 5 years ago

This a big one and the first one I quilted by machine - nearly killed me.

and one for Patrick made about a year later. I wish I'd labelled them.

And I also realised I haven't shown my DD top yet - minus borders so far. I have a fabric in mind but haven't quite decided for sure yet.

And one last thing. Patrick is 12 yo and hitting puberty with a bang. All of a sudden he has changed - grumpy, uncommunicative a lot of the time - any one with teenagers knows the score I think - lol. Well today he shown he is still my little boy in a lot of ways - we have had a great time making a gingerbread house he got as a Christmas present. It has took til now to get round to it with one thing and another. He has now decided he may be a cake maker when he's older. If he can fit it in around being a professional basketball player - lol !!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Almost forgot - "met" a lady this week interested in starting her own blog. I explained how much fun it is and she decided to go ahead. So welcome to blogland Sally. I'm sure she would love some visitors so go and say hi if you have time.