Saturday again...

Seems like as much as I try I can't seem to update more than once a week - usually on a Saturday. So here I go again. What I've been up to....

I've been cutting up loads of scraps into 2.5 inch squares which came in handy later on as you will see. My huge bag was overflowing and basically I was sick of lugging it about from one place to another as it doesn't have a proper home.

Then I saw Amanda-Jean is doing a quiltalong. Read about it here. Make a nine patch a day for as long as it takes to make a lovely quilt. Sounds like a plan - so here are my first few.

Of course a new project needs a new storage box and I just happened to have the very thing. I bought this a couple of weeks ago.

I love boxes and tins and am always buying them much to my families - oh God-not another box attitude...... But as this proves I always find a use for them -ha !

About a year ago I attempted some scrappy stars - you know the sort you layer the fabrics up and cut through the lot. Jiggle wiggle - re-sew and you have some lovely blocks. Well the ones I tried were awful - looked worse than the cats breakfast and all went in the bin. I had been wanting to do some more for a while and I recently bought a magazine with some in - instructions courtesy of Buggy Barn Quilts. Took me an age to decide on colours and in the end I went with blue and brown - 2 of my favouritest colours. Here are my pieces re-jigged and ready to sew.

At this point I was nervous - lol ! Would this lot end up in the bin too ? I told Jason I was doing some hard-quilting and to leave me in peace - ha ! Anyway because I had something this time that I hadn't the previous one - namely proper instructions - it all went rather well. Here are some all done and trimmed to size.

Once I knew what I was doing I really enjoyed it. In the instructions there was a comment about chain-piecing when you got more confident with the method. No way thought I. But later on I did a bit and was doing great until I wwas halfway through the last section and realised things had gone a bit pear-shaped and I had gone wrong somewhere. Armed with my ripper I attempted to see where I had gone astray. It was a bit like sudoku ( which I hate ) as I tried to make sure every block had 9 different fabrics. Eventually I was back on track.

I have gotten further than this but haven't took photos yet. I can see myself doing more of these scrappy stars ( or crappy stars as Jess has christened them - thanks Jess xx )

With some of the scraps I've been playing with I've been making these. I need 145 of these for what I have in mind. They are 2 inches finished and use up some very little scraps nicely.

I have been very lax lately in replying to comments - just don't seem to have the time like I used to since Jason has started this business but please know that I value everyones time visiting my blog whether you leave a comment or not xx

Another baby quilt.

Here is the quilt all done and bound ready for baby Ewan's nursery.

His room is yellow and brown - think baby giraffes and such. So I went with that colour scheme instead of my usual scrappy. Hopefully his parents will like it. I was going to take it today but they are out so maybe tomorrow. It is a surprise.

This week I have been working on my hexagons - getting some prepared and such.

I would love to have this box full of ready-to-go ones but as soon as I've done enough for a block I just have to sew them together. I have about 2 years work left on this - lol !

I have also been making some flying geese with a pack of fabric I bought off ebay some time ago. It is sort of shaded across the widths and comes in all colours of the rainbow. I have never found the perfect project for this and still don't think so either. These geese blocks are not doing it for me. One day I want to make an orphan block quilt and I'm thinking these will be in there somewhere.

A couple of months ago I started a Bareroots pattern called Log Cabin Sampler. I have added a couple of rounds today and prepared the next one. Tonight I want to stitch around these flowers and start on round 4. It is a stitchery one and I am looking forward to doing it. I plan to raid my overflowing scrap bag for this.

Think that's about it - rooms a mess again - whats new ?

Earlier in the week I was sorting through some magazines and came across a series quilt in Quilters Newsletter. I went online and printed foundation patterns for part 2 ready to sew when I had chosen colours. I found the magazine with part 3 in and put it aside ( there are just 3 parts ) and then began to look for part 1. Looked everywhere I could think of to no avail. Went to QN website to see the cover so I knew what I was looking for and you guessed it - don't have that one. Not sure how I missed it but am now in process of ordering back issue. I drove Jason mad muttering " it must be here somewhere" for days -lol !

Enjoy your weekend xx

Spring Swap and leftovers.

Thank goodness Easter is over. It is a terrible time for a chocoholic like me. Temptation everywhere and when it comes to chocolate I have NO willpower - lol ! The kids go back to school on Tuesday and I will hopefully have more sewing time. I have loads of new ideas floating about in my brain - time will tell if any will actually get put into practise

Like many others I have taken part in Linda's Spring Swap and I think a good time was had by all. I received a lovely parcel from Betsy with the following goodies. There was also a magazine but I can't find it at the minute.

Wonderful stuff. Of course that tea towel is far too nice to use - lol - so I think I will have it on display in my kitchen if I ever finish the decorating in there. The cushion cover is waiting for me to buy a pad which I keep forgetting to do.

Thankyou Betsy - another lovely swap.

My swap partner was Sudi-Laura and the instructions I had were no dull colours and BRIGHT please. I agonised over this and eventually came up with a kaleidoscope table topper. The purple appliqued flowers just sort of happened. Bit different to what I normally make and it WAS bright. I also included some chocolate mini eggs for her son and a funky notebook.

I have had a bit of recurring trouble with the trapped nerve in my arm so not an awful lot going on quilting-wise. I did get a little quilt top done for project Linus with the leftover squares from the quilt in my last post. I want to make more of these little quilts - I seem to have lots of novelty prints sitting around doing nothing.

Dawn has posted pictures of some quilts from a show and the first one has really caught my attention. I am just off to work out some measurements for a sample block......

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.