Abandoned no more.

Do you remember this ?

Started about 18 months ago and abandoned as I wasn't enjoying the piecing. I really loved the fabrics though and had cut about 100 melon shapes. So I had a re-think and with a bit of fusible web and some machine applique it turned into this.

You like ?

I do very much and am so glad I decided not to bin the whole thing. Here is a close-up of the border fabric. All from stash I might add. Another one in the "To Quilt" pile. One day I will get round to these - when I get a new quilting machine perhaps.

I have been working away in the evenings on some hexagons which I love. Just want to put a few pieces together before I show you.

I have also done a bit of baby-napping - lol !

This little cutie is the son of friends of ours. 10 weeks old and making me broody - well just a bit. I've borrowed him a few times to give his parents a little break. Jess took these photos of him on my bed on top of my old pyramid quilt. He has his own quilt on it's way - the top is done and I will try and get it quilted soon.

I received my Spring Swap package yesterday and can't wait to show off my goodies - next time !

Jason and I are real home-birds and rarely have a night out but last week we went to a surprise party for one of my cousins. A new outfit was called for so visits to clothes shops ensued. Not my favourite thing at all. It got me to thinking are you a true quilter if in an emergency situation you would save your fabric stash over the contents of your wardrobe - lol ! I know which I'd do..

Have a great Easter and try and get a few stitches done xx

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.

Something way too exciting.

I will start by saying I have always been a bit jealous of ladies who have a history of quilting in their families. They have quilts their mums and grandmas and even their great-grandmas made. The quilting tradition passed down through the family with tales of family quilting bees etc. How great would that be ? As far as I knew I was the only quilter in my large family - my mum was one of 8 children and my dad one of 6. I once worked out I have 43 first cousins - nearly all of whom have married and had children themselves.



Anyway 3 of my mums sisters emigrated in the 1950's. Two of them have since passed away. But my Auntie Lal lives in Australia and I recently met her when she came over for Christmas. There is my mum, auntie Lal and my uncle Len left now. My uncle and mum arranged a surprise party for auntie Lal. If you like you can read about it here. I so much enjoyed meeting her - she is a lovely, lovely lady.



Whilst chatting one day at my mums house with my auntie she gave me the exciting news that her daughter and grand-daughter were quilters too. Hurray - my very own quilting relatives - lol ! Just before auntie Lal returned to Australia - a bit later than planned because of the snow - I made up a couple of fat quarter bundles for my cousins. I popped in a little card with my email and blog addresses. At the weekend I had something very exciting happen - emails from my cousins Sarah and her mum Gail and guess what ? They are bloggers too !! So cool - unknown bloggy cousins. Here are their addresses Sarah and Gail. I've also had emails from Sarahs SIL Roseanne and a friend Isabella. I'm way too excited to meet these ladies and you know a funny thing - whilst reading through the comments on Sarahs blog a lot of these are my bloggy friends too. Amazing !


Onto quilting - in my last post I mentioned digging out a UFO. This one - which was made from leftover strips I'd cut for a piano key border from another quilt.



After a bit of applique - simple borders and even simpler quilting it's done.






Here's a bit of a close-up of the stripy binding.





Turned out well and although it doesn't have a home yet I'm sure I'll find some-one who would like it. Neighbours had a baby last week and had it have been a girl would have been ideal. But not to be - they had a little boy.



Actually one of my cats seems to love this and keeps snuggling up on it wherever I put it. Too nice for a moggy I keep telling him - lol !


Lastly thankyou so much for all your lovely comments over Jess's troubles. I must say I had to blink hard when reading through them. What smashing people you all are. Now the worst case scenario has been ruled out I'm hopeful we will find out the cause - we are definitely looking into Celiac disease as suggested by Howdy and a few others. I have discovered there are a couple in the family who have this.


With a bit of luck I have few hours uninterrrupted sewing time ahead. I have beef stew and dumplings in the oven for our evening meal - yum !


Take care xx

Well.....

If you've been reading here for a while you'll know this is first and foremost a quilting blog. I don't post much personal stuff at all. But I want to share something that may explain why I've been so quiet lately. If you're not interested skip to the pictures a bit further on.


My daughter Jess ( 18 yo ) has been having a few medical problems lately. To put it bluntly she has been passing large amounts of blood from her bowels. So we have been busy back and to the hospital and doctors for some time. Blood tests came back clear. So then she had to have an endoscopy - small camera placed you know where. Still inconclusive. Next step was biopsies testing for cancerous cells. Then a wait for results. I have been a wreck and unable to concentrare on much. Anyway I'm sure you'll understand the sheer relief we felt when they came back normal. I feel so thankful - it is a huge weight lifted I can tell you. Although we still do not know what is causing the bleeding at least it is not what it could have been. So happy I could cry - in fact I have - rivers !!


So - onto my sewing - been doing a little. Found a nice little wallhanging pattern in this book.


Here it is.








Just summed up how I've been feeling lately. There seems to be so much bad news lately - the bush fires in Australia are so shocking beyond belief. ( I am waiting for payday to make a donation.) Sometimes I think people look at our hobby as if we are mad - they just don't get it. But I'm feeling that if we get pleasure from doing something in this occasionally terrible world of ours it can only be a good thing.


Here are the first couple of bom from Ellies quilt place. I don't think I'm embroidering the months names - may do something else.




Now I've got all that off my chest I'm going to dig out a UFO and put a bit of applique on it. One of the things I want to do this year is lose my fear of applique. That and grow my nails - lol ! Jess is doing a college course in Beauty Therapy and has booked me in for a manicure. I have always been a nail nibbler and you would not believe how hard I am trying to stop. Bad habit I know.


Take care xx

Busy NOT quilting !

Boo hoo - poor me. I've worked my fingers to the bone these last few days but NO sewing at all. It all started when Jess (18yo) decided she'd had enough of climbing the ladder into her cabin bed that she'd had for a few years. So she ordered herself a new double bed and then went the whole hog and wanted a complete re-decorate in her room. The bed was supposed to be delivered in 7-28 days so the website said. Plenty of time........ Then we had a call to say it was in stock and could be delivered in 5 days...


Heres where good old mum came in - lol ! So I have spent the last few days dismantling Jess's huge metal bed - walking across the landing to re-assemble it in Patricks room where previously I had dismantled his cabin bed and sorted out all his half ton of toys. Then we got to painting Jess's room - working our way around the furniture that is already in there etc. I am whacked. The new bed has arrived this morning and we are all straight now. Patricks bed has been freecycled and I managed to squeeze in an extra table into mine and Jasons room. This will be ideal for cutting out my fabrics. Honestly it is looking more and more like a sewing room with a bed plonked in the middle - lol !!


Anyway without further ado just look at my gorgeous mini quilt from Carolyn.


I love it so much - wonderful work and so sweet. Here's a close-up of the pretty fabrics and tiny, tiny little stitches.





The book has been read and much enjoyed.


The only thing missing from the picture is the chocolate covered pretzels that Carolyn warned me were addictive. You know what - she was right - lol ! I just couldn't leave them alone til the lot were gone. So yumptious...


As you will gather I'm behind on all sorts of things but they are in hand so if you're expecting something from me I'm onto it.


Paula has signed up for my PIF but I'm still hoping for another 2 to sign up.


Now I'm off to do some sewing so I've actually got something to blog about soon. Take care xx