Confession time !

I am a bad, bad quilter !!! But more of that in a minute.....

First thankyou to all who joined in the fun in my last post. So nice to meet some lurkers and find out a bit about where you all live. I so enjoyed reading all your comments - not that I don't normally if you get my drift - lol ! Anyway I did a little number generator thing this morning and the lucky number was 7.....And it was Linda. My little bag will be on it's way to Oklahoma very soon.

I need to answer a few questions from that last post but I will do that next time as this will just be a quick one as I am trying to make a meal at the same time. I have pizza dough rising as we speak and have to go and see to it soon.

Now for my confession . . . .

As some of you will know I have been doing the quiltville mystery quilt and this weekend was going to be dedicated to getting a bit further along. I was nearly at the stage of completing all the blocks when alarm bells started ringing. The little basket that held some of the 9-patches seemed to have fewer in it than I thought I needed. A quick count and I was right. I THOUGHT I had made 100 but for some strange reason there were only 88. After a couple of re-counts the number stayed the same. I had a look under and behind things in case they had wandered but no - definitely 88. Luckily I had cut too many 1.5 inch strips so quickly joined some more up. Sew, press, cut - great.. Quick count .......2 short. ARGHH. Here's where I spat my dummy ( comforter ) out - lol !!! Stuck them all away in a strop....

But still I had loads of those extra strips lying around....mmmmmm what to do ?? Not supposed to be starting anything in January.....

4 inches finished -

Shall I or not ?? This is the fabric that called my name from Iceland and thanks to Gudrun is now in Wales..

Stay tuned - lol ! I have actually got a lot further along but want to do a bit more before I show my progress. I have had so much fun doing this.. Not planned at all and certainly not a UFO but I had a great time. Hope you all did too.

A couple of things finished and a little plan !

First of all I have finished a UFO - hurray. It's not an old UFO but it's done all the same. It's the 30's stars quilt I made recently which is now quilted, bound and in the home of it's new owner baby Carys. It came out lovely and so colourful and happy. I was a bit sorry to see it go. My friend Cath who is the babies nana was over the moon with it. I have asked for a photo of Carys with her quilt at some point and she has promised to get me one. I saw Cath a day or two later and she said the new parents loved it too. I have also quilted a dolls quilt ( which originally started life as a knitting bag - lol ) and that just needs binding. I want to get at least one more UFO done before the end of January and I know which one it will be - A log cabin that needs borders and quilting.

Just in the interests of research - I have made 1 block which I think I will be doing my nephews quilt with. I think it is called Paducah 9-patch. I plan to make this quilt using browns and blues of which I seem to have plenty.

At my Tuesday quilting group one of the ladies - Wendy - had made a little sewing bag featured in one of this months British magazines - Popular Patchwork. It was lovely and that was all it took. Off to shops next day for the mag and there we have it. Plenty of pockets for knick-knacks and a handy pincushion on the front.

So enjoyed making this - in fact I made two ! Heres where my little plan comes in. You see - every so often I notice my stat counter goes up quite a lot and it has got me wondering about visitors to my blog. For a long time before I started my own I was a blog addict and reads tons of them all the time. I would never comment or anything but just lurked - lol !

Anyway to get to the point I am curious about who visits and where they come from. So if you would like to win this little bag ( I will throw in a few fat quarters too ) leave a comment telling me where you're from and perhaps how long you've been reading my ramblings. Doesn't matter if you have a blog or not - as long as there is some way to contact you that is fine. Of course any of my other bloggy friends is welcome too. I will draw a name on Monday morning (28th Jan).

Have a great weekend. I am thinking about doing Bonnies mystery - Quilt As You Go to save having another big quilt top hanging around. So may try that over the next couple of days.

Busy Week !

Lots gone on this week. Jason is on a funny shift pattern which means I get lots of sewing time.

First of all here is one of my blocks for Bonnies mystery quilt.

There are so many of us doing this and it is really good fun. The yahoo group that has been set up for this is great - loads of pictures and emails flying about. Bonnie has posted part 7 - the finale and that is what I plan to get started later on. Best news of the day is that she plans to do it all over again - another mystery beginning April 1st. Yippee !! I really don't know how she finds the time.

Next news is a big thankyou to Gudrun. She made a bag recently and posted a picture of it on her blog. I really fell in love with one of the fabrics she used and asked her where she bought it. Next thing I knew I got an email from Gudrun requesting my address as she had been and bought me TWO metres of the fabric. I was amazed !! How kind is that ?? She said she wanted nothing in return as I had previously sent her one of my UFO's along with some chocolate. Well I did pop a few fat quarters in the post to her anyway.

The fabric arrived this week along with a fantastic little sewing kit in a tin. I love it !! Here they are -

I am delighted - it was such a lovely thing to do. Thanks Gudrun xx

Renember that funny little snowman block in my last post ? Well he turned into this for the 4seasons quilt swap -

Now I'm not sure about this ! Funny little quilt isn't it ? This is the first time I've done this swap and although I enjoyed making it I'm not sure about the end product !! Not quite convinced it's good enough to be honest but once the snowman was made it took on a life of it's own - lol !! I hope the new owner will like it...... Jason was laughing his head off at me trying to make Mrs Frosty look feminine as opposed to a snowman in a pink hat. I even gave her eyelashes and some beads. Just need to pop a label on the back and away it goes.

I've also been doing some knitting. My friends daughter had her baby this week - a bouncing baby girl ( nearly 9 lbs ) called Carys. I am making some little cardigans for her so the needles have been clacking away. The 30's stars quilt top has been layered up and I will try and get that quilted this weekend and it will be on the way to Carys asap. That will be my first one done for May Britts challenge. I have also bought some border fabric for another WISP and that one should see some progress soon.

One last thing ! You know how all us quilters are so easily distraced well listen to this. I had to phone my phone company the other day with a query and was put on hold while I was transferred to another department. I waited and waited and waited........ I idly picked up a quilting mag that was handy ( yes - they are everywhere ) and stated flicking through. Came across Pauline Adams no-waste method for flying geese. I used this method a good while ago but forgot about it. Mmmmm - interesting !! You know whats coming I'm sure - after finishing my phonecall I just had to dabble

I have a load of these fabrics that I bought from Ebay ages ago and the brain started whirring. These fabrics change colour as they run across the width. So - rainbow strippy - flying geese ?? Maybe - but NOT til after January !! You see - I can be a good girl. Are you proud of me May Britt ? lol !!

Mystery Quilt

Just a quickie to let you know what I've been up to. Well I've sewn my socks off and caught up with the instructions for Bonnies mystery quilt. The next lot of instructions are due anytime now so I caught up by the skin of my teeth - lol ! We are going to start putting these little units together and I wanted to finish the actual piecing before that as I would not be able to resist peeping ahead. Here are all the little blocks - 3 inches finished

I am hoping the whole effect will not be too bland as it's a very limited colour palette - only time will tell. If I don't like it I can always stick it on Ebay and at least I had fun making it ( so far ).

I once pieced together a whole Double Wedding ring quilt top - queen size - by hand and didn't like the finished thing. Not enough colour. So onto Ebay it went and I just about got back the cost of the fabric. My DH couldn't believe I worked so long on it only to sell it, especially as he liked it. But I decided that if I didn't like it at that stage I wasn't going to like it ever - and it saved all that time hand-quilting it. I may have pictures of it somewhere - have to check.

Anyway, the other thing I am working on is the 4Seasons quilt swap. There is some lovely quilts being made in blogland just now. A lot of ladies have theirs done and dusted but mine is still at the planning stage. I am trying to keep within the recipients likes and dislikes. Not done a lot so far

Still a long way to go. I have a few things I want to finish for May Britts January challenge and will post pictures next time.

Bye for now . .

Happy New Year !

Here we go - 2008 !

I have decided to go along with May Britt's challenge to use January as a finish it up month. As such I decided to count up my UFO's thinking I would have about 7 or 8 at the most. I was completely wrong - I have 20. You could have knocked me down with a feather - lol ! I am in the process of sorting out what I could finish fairly soon and will post pictures soon. Some of these are needing quilting and some others are long term projects like my DJ and my hexagon quilt. Whilst digging about I came across my hexagons and have been doing a bit of work on that. I love the Grandmothers Flower Garden quilts and mine is a variation of that. Here's a bit I did this week.

I will post a picture of what it looks like so far only I don't have much time today.

I have also been playing catch up on Bonnie's mystery quilt. As I started it a lot later than a lot of other ladies I really want to get my units pieced before she starts putting them together. I have done parts 2 and 3, which I think was the most time-consuming and will try my best to get parts 4 and 5 done before next Friday when the next installment is due. In these little baskets are 180 3 inch 9-patch blocks. Phew - glad they are done.

I also dug around on the pc and found photos of my nephews football quilt. This is the one I think he has outgrown a bit. His new one ( which he has requested ) will be a little more grown -up. Nothing too fancy for a 15 year old boy I'm thinking. Once I catch up on the mystery quilt I'm going to go through my fabrics and have a think of what I can do.

Kids are back to school next week and I will be delighted to see them go - lol !! They are getting a bit bored now - especially Jess.

Let's hope 2008 is a good year for everyone with plenty of FINISHED quilts !!

Normality beckons

Things are settling down now and even though we didn't have a wild time the last few days have been hectic. Today the house is a little tidier, DH Jason is back in work and our house guest - Jess's boyfriend has gone home so time to think about some sewing.

On the present front my quilty gifts went down a treat. My MIL and FIL loved their braid quilt and it looked just right on the back of their sofa. She couldn't believe I had made it and asked the inevitable question - how long did that take ? I just said quite a while and left it at that - lol !

My sister loved her knitting bag which was finished in the nick of time on Christmas Eve. In fact, my mum who is notoriously hard to please on the present front wants one too so I guess Mothers Day next year is catered for.

Unfortunatley Patricks quillow didn't make the deadline - maybe Easter ! Who knows !

I was chuffed on Christmas Day when my 15 year old nephew Chris asked would I make him a quilt for the beginning of March. He is going on a school exchange to Germany and will be travelling by coach for approx 30 hours and he said he would love something to snuggle up in. I made him a quilt about 3 years ago - lots of brightly coloured football fabrics and my sister says he loves it. I think he has probably outgrown this a bit now and I am delighted he wants another. My mum said he was a bit cheeky to ask but I think it's great that he wants one so will have a think of what I can do.

I mentioned in my last post that I was thinking of doing Bonnies mystery quilt - well guess what-

Took me a while to come up with colours but this is what I'm going with. A lot different than my usual scrappy quilts but I think I will like it.

Had an early night in bed last night with my quilting books and a chocolate reindeer - lol !! Think I have found someinspiration for the 4 Seasons quilt swap. Will do some more on the mystery quilt while I'm mulling some ideas over. Really looking forward to doing this.

Hope you're all finding some time to quilt !!

Merry Christmas !

It's all gone quiet in blogland - we're all so busy I think. I personally would love to be sitting doing a little bit of quiet stitching instead of shopping and present wrapping but there we go. I am not one of these that buy everything in sight as though the shops will be closed for a month but there is still lots to do. Anyway the end is in sight ....and I'm looking forward to catching up with family etc.

Before I go any further here is a photo of the wonderful gifts I received from Jeanne. Aren't they fantastic ?

Here is a close-up of the beautiful cross stitch picture. Just gorgeous.. I'm so glad my parcel eventually got here safely. Thanks so much Jeanne.

I am nearly done with my sisters knitting bag. Good job really as I am cutting it a bit fine. I went to the craft warehouse and bought loads of beautiful balls of wool to fill this up and I think she will like it. As I was passing through the fabric department I happened to catch sight of this pack of fat quarters. These will go with the other lot I bought the other week. I also bought about 10 yards of other stuff. A bit naughty but that's my Christmas treat to myself.

I really am tempted to start Bonnies Carolina Crossroads mystery. I have been thinking about it for days but have not had the time to do anything about it yet.

I found a wonderful recipe on some-ones blog. Just can't remember whose. If you posted the recipe for these Polish Teacakes I thank you . . .they are delicious.

Like everyone else I won't be posting for a short time - too busy - so I just want to wish everyone a great Christmas. I am truly glad I ventured into blogging. I have been made very welcome and have met and chatted with some amazingly nice ladies and I thank you all. Really looking forward to the next 12 months of blogging.

Just off to cook dinner now - roast pork with sage and onion stuffing, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, carrots, peas and gravy. I'm starving !!

Merry Christmas !!