A little break

Just to let you know I will be absent for a while. My lovely Patrick went into hospital this week for surgery - nothing too major but a big deal for a 12 year old. Although the operation went well he is in a lot of pain and keeping me busy. He is on the mend though and being a good lad !
He wore Karol-Anns cap to go into hospital as he said he was having a bad hair day - I told him that was the least of his troubles that day ;-0.

DH Jason came with us as one of us had to be with Patrick as he was anaethetised. As I am a bit emotional to say the least Jason had agreed to do it as I didn't want Patrick to see me blubbing just before he went to sleep. The day before however Jason had tripped whilst out walking and as we were waiting for Patrick to go to the operating theatre I noticed Jason was wincing and could tell he was in pain. So I told him he had better go to get it checked out in case it was broken. So off he limped to Accident and Emergency department and I went with Patrick. I held it together til his eyes shut after the anaesthetic injection but then I was off. The nurse gave me a hug and said most parents have a weep at this point - quite upsetting seeing their child being put to sleep. Anyway after the longest hour of my life I was paged and went to recovery room to see him. All was fine and he was discharged 5 hours later.

He is uncomfortable but not complaining. We have a nurse coming to check him tomorrow but everything seems to be healing nicely. He has holed up in our lounge and is sleeping on the sofa as he is unable to climb up his high-sleeper bed. He has his quilts I made him and says he is having good sleeps at night.

Turned out Jason has badly torn ligaments and tissue damage. And what with me and my crappy shoulder it's like a doctors waiting room here - lol !

Will be back soon - I am managing a little quilting and trying to keep up with blog reading although probably not doing a lot of commenting. Bye for now xxx

It's been a good week although I haven't actually got a lot of sewing done. Firstly a couple of thankyous are in order.

A lovely package arrived from Karol-Ann containing a cute little cosmetic purse ( which she made ) and some African animal fabric pictures which a certain young man has his eye on - lol !

Here is he wearing the great cap Karol-Ann got him from her recent trip to Africa. He has deemed it "cool" and has wore it several times out and about. I think it suits him and makes him look more handsome - but then I am biased - lol ! Thanks Karol-Ann from us both.

And I was VERY lucky to win a giveaway (my first win) from Teresa . I don't enter too many giveaways but I was so glad I did on this occasion. You'll all be jealous when you see my fantastic prize -

And also included was a whole pile of cards which I love too. All packaged in a very pretty box. Go on admit it - you're jealous lol..

Thankyou so much Teresa - I will treasure them.

A good day later in the week when we went out for lunch. After eating Jason and I found a new recently opened shop on the retail park - Tesco Home. We had a good mooch about and bought a few things. I then spotted a small furniture section and they had these great bookcases which I thought would be ideal for my sewing area. Just that flat pack stuff but really strong looking. The trouble was they would no way fit in my car - just too big.

So I left them there - sulking I may add. Later on Jason was in our street talking to some neighbours and shouted me over for some reason. I mentioned the bookcases and said how good they were for the money. These neighbours are the ones who had the baby I made the brown quilt for a while back. To cut a long story short she was trying to persuade him to go out for a meal to avoid cooking but it was a lot of hassle with the baby. I saw my chance and offered to babysit him ( he's 4 months old ) whilst they had their meal and in return they called at the shop and got my bookcases - as their car is much bigger than mine - what a result !!

So I've spent a couple of days getting organised. Jason had his doubts that they would not fit where I wanted them but I had measured and they look great. The best part of the deal was they only cost me £5 each - I still can't believe it. Bargain of the year !! They are as strong as anything and I am delighted with them. I still need to shift stuff around a bit but my room looks so much tidier already. The unit I had previously was buckling under the weight of my stuff.

I have come to the conclusion that blogreading is harmful to the UFO pile. Just this week alone I have seen 3 projects that I want/need to make. So I have started the smallest one - here is the beginning of it - a few little paper pieced hexagons.

Whilst sorting out my room I know I definitely need to bust some stash - I've only been quilting for 6 years and have way much fabric ( as my kids would say ). I think I will try and get a couple of quilt tops ready for quilting and use some fabrics I have fallen out with for backing - sounds like a plan.

Have a good weekend xx

Can you see it ??

Binding that is..... Yes an actual finished quilt. I have so many UFO's it's nice to get one done. Although this isn't an actual UFO as I didn't start it that long ago.

You may remember I had a little fun with these blocks - getting mixed up towards the end. But I will make more of these sometime - once you get the hang of them they are fast and easy to make.

Here is a close-up of the border fabric. Isn't it just great ? I have always had a thing for owls and when I spotted this I had to get it. When I was quilting I stippled around the owls and trees as I wanted them to stand out a bit. I am keeping this for me. It will be a quilt to snuggle under when I'm reading. I have quite a bit of the owls left so this will be popping up in my scrappy quilts for a good while.

I recently joined Amanda Jeans quilt along where you made just one 9 patch a day. I think the total required was 70 but I decided to stop at 48. I didn't want another BIG quilt. I set them 6 by 8 and used a nice pale blue for sashing. I then pieced 528 little squares together for a border. Now that bit was boring but here is the top all done.

So many different fabrics in this - I was glad to use up a big pile of my 2.5 inch squares. It is still quite big - I'm not quilting this yet - will go in the box with the others.

Mmmm - what next ? Another UFO or something brand spanking new ?

Happy dance !

Here is a little look at the cross stitch I've been doing. I used do a bit of cross stitching years ago and recently felt an urge to have another bash at it. I posted a picture of the quilt lady a while back and that's what got me started again. I have even bought some cross stitch magazines to flick through. One design caught my eye and I had to do it. I even knew who I was making it for. Here it is all finished and it now belongs to the lovely Karol-Ann.

This had her name written all over it and I'm so glad she likes it. I have actually started a new BIG cross stitch picture and although I have done a fair few hours on it there is not an awful lot to show yet. Anyone who does this work knows it is slow - but I am really enjoying it.

I have not abandoned my quilting - fear not. In fact I have a finish to show - just need to take photos.

Too hot here at the moment - I SO dislike Summer. I have been working away at lots of bits and bobs in front of my best new buy - a lovely big desk fan - lol !

See you soon xx

Hello again !

Well then - what have I been up to ? My jelly roll has well and truly been chopped up and with a bit of calculation I decided to make 30 blocks and set them 5 by 6 with sashing. Along with borders I figured this would be a good size quilt.

I have mentioned the lady who comes to my quilting group sometimes to sell her fabrics. She does not have a shop but attends shows, groups, quilters guild days etc and she has a huge supply of fabrics. She makes gorgeous quilts herself and is an absolute fountain of knowledge. I recently bought some fabric for a little quilt I made ( must remember to take a photo of that one ) This was from a Moda charm pack and I had a bit of trouble finding something for the border. My lovely fabric lady remarked that Moda fabrics quite often only seem to go with other Moda fabrics as they are quite distinctive.

Anyway whilst rooting about through my stash to make sashings for my jelly roll blocks I found 2 fabrics that I liked and wouldn't you know - they were both Moda designs - lol !

I started my sashings and realised after a time that I was going to run out of one of them -the one I posted a short while ago. Well I had no luck getting hold of any more so after a few days of moaning and groaning decided to just add a different fabric around the outer sashing strips - so thats what I did. I remembered seeing something that would work at my local fabric warehouse - Abakhan and went to get some. And you've guessed it - it was another Moda one.

So here is where I'm up to

The different sashing fabric

If you click on this you should see the difference. It is quite a bit more noticeable in real life but I think it adds character :-)

I'm having a rest from this for now before I start piecing the leftover squares together for a border. I've been working on a UFO and once that is done I plan to tackle another.

My shoulder is still hurting and I had my first physio session last week. She thinks I may have tendon and muscle damage and has worked out a program for me. She said it could have been coming on for years and for one horrible moment I thought she was going to tell me to give up sewing and quilting. Can you imagine ? Ugh doesn't bear thinking about.... She has told me instead not to overdo things and to stop whatever I'm doing if it becomes painful.

For a long time I have been patiently waiting for a book to be published. Once it was though I had a terrible job getting hold of it - everywhere in UK seemed to be out of stock. So I ordered from US instead and the estimated arrival time was 18-32 days. How would I last out ? But it came in just 9.... and here it is alongside some fabrics I am thinking of using. Just thinking mind . . may all change. I was inspired by Anne Ida who has made this and whose beautiful quilt is featured in the book. What do you think Anne Ida ? Can you imagine the quilt made in these fabrics ?

One last thing. I have been doing a little cross stitch and am enjoying the change. Will show you pictures next post...

Bye for now - will try not to take so long to post next time.

Measurements..

A few people ( including Charlie ) have asked me for measurements for the block I'm making with my jelly roll. So here they are

The 13 coloured squares are cut 2.5 inches square - these are from the jelly roll. From the background fabric cut 2 and 1/4 inch squares - cut once diagonally - for the corner triangles. And 4 inch squares cut twice diagonally for the side triangles.

I have found if you join these in rows and press towards the middle fabric ( 4 squares ) and press towards the background fabric it all joins together nicely.

I have done a few more blocks today and am very pleased with how it's looking. I have done enough sewing for today though - my shoulder is telling me so. I have a bit of reading matter for tonight. Ailsa alerted me to this new magazine which I got today and the book is one I've borrowed from a lady at my quilt group.

This is just a quick post but I was wondering if anyone had this in their stash.

I would like a yard really and will buy or trade. It is a Moda fabric called Bittersweet and Boo by Sandy Gervais. I have been searching for it for a few days with no luck. I may post an ad on http://www.missingfabrics.com/ if I get chance.

Bye for now.

Jelly Roll. .

First off thanks for all the lovely comments for my giveaway. I saved all comments and emails and asked Jason to pick a number - he chose 22 - my birthday and this turned out to be the lovely Loulee. Please send your address and I will post the prize to you. Just for fun I had a try to roll it up like a proper jelly roll.

Not too bad but wouldn't like to do it very often - lol !!

And as promised a quick look at what I'm doing with my "real" jelly roll. If you've been reading my blog for long you may recall the story of the quilt I sold but didn't really want to. This tale of woe is here.

So for a long time I have wanted to make a similar quilt and decided to cut into my strips. Here are my first 6 blocks.

Now because they are all from one range of fabric - Gypsy Rose by Moda - they are all a bit mitchy-matchy and I am hatching a plan to bring them to life. Who knows if it will turn out or not - watch this space - I may need some opinions.

Take care xx