UFO Challenge

The Patchwork Group I belong to is making a Spider web Quilt for one of our members. 
Last year we made one for another of our group (different colours so it will look quite different) and I made a set of blocks at different stages of construction so members could see how the quilt was made.  This bag of parts was put away. It saw the light of day recently when I was reminding one of our group how the blocks are constructed.

I decided not to put it back in the cupboard but to finish it so for the past few days I have made a start on the blocks. 
I already had two completed blocks:

 and have now finished 4 triangles which will make up another block. I also have several triangles at various stages.

Here they are:

UFO Challenge

 

In order to make sure I finish this UFO I am linking with Jo's Country Junction's UFO Challenge.

 

The UFO should be completed before Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt begins just after Thanksgiving.  It seems appropriate to choose this UFO to complete as the quilt is similar to one of Bonnie Hunter's free patterns on her blog.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!

No I am not fighting the battle of Agincourt with Henry V, I am fighting the Battle of the Post that will Not Appear!

So in the spirit of " Let us try again one more time" .......... Here we go!

Last night I spent a frustrating hour trying to get my post published.
Three parts to it: my knitted Christmas Bell, the little knitted shoulder bag and 2 more Spider web Blocks.

First of all the whole post seemed to be OK, then mysteriously the first part about the knitted Bell disappeared and it seemed as though the last 2/3 of the post was OK, so I re-wrote and published the bit about the Christmas Bell.  THEN I discovered that that was the only piece of the whole thing that had been posted. At that point I admitted defeat, the computer had won, and off I went to bed.

New dawn, new day, so I am going to try again. My generation was brought up on the maxim; "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again'!

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

At the weekend I knitted a pretty little shoulder bag to add to my Christmas Shoe box.  It uses two colours of wool that you knit together which gives a pretty marbling effect.  I chose a deep pink and a lilac.  Together they create a completely different colour.

 

Last week I made  a Spider web block for my Patchwork Group's quilt that we are making for one of our members.  It was then decided that we needed more blocks so I offered to make two more. 

 I enjoy making these blocks and as I already have a stash of strips they are quick to make.

Here's the two extra I made yesterday afternoon:

 

Nice and bright and scrappy, just what I like in a quilt - and, more importantly what the recipient of this quilt likes.

I also trimmed my Wonky Stars quilt and sewed on the bindings.  That's ready for me to hand sew whilst I'm at my Patchwork Group on Thursday morning.

I have just looked back at the To Do List that I posted on 19th September.  I'm really rattling through that list.  Once the binding on Wonky Stars is sewn and I have finished knitting the beanie I started yesterday whilst watching TV, I will have ticked them all off the list.  Hurrah.

Now I am holding my breath as I try to publish this post. Here goes!

 



 

 

Another (small) finish

I have sewn my Spider web Block for our Group's quilt so that's another item ticked off my "To Do" list. Everyone shared strings last week, all in the colours we have chosen for this particular quilt. Originally we thought I needed to make two blocks but one will be enough.

It measure 13" square and has a lovely cream soft muslin centre to the string triangle corners.  I think the finished quilt will look very pretty.

Last Saturday we had another bright sunny Autumn day so DH and I decided to make the most of the weather and drove to Upton House, a beautiful National Trust property which is situated about 25 miles from our house. The gardens are just lovely and we enjoyed walking around them and also visiting the Exhibition they have on at present in the house.  It's theme is set at the beginning of WW2 when the merchant banker owners of the house brought their bank and staff up from London ( which was being bombarded on a daily basis) and housed them more safely at Upton House.  Part of the Exhibition features a Make Do and Mend room - displaying re-made garments, a wedding dress made from parachute silk etc. Visitors were urged to take a little Kit set to knit a Christmas Tree ornament. Mine was a bell. The ornaments will be mailed back to Upton House and used on the Christmas Tree as part of the House's Christmas decorations.  Of course I couldn't resist taking one so that is another (small) addition to my List.  One ticked off, another added!  Sounds about par for the course!

Doesn't look very exciting in the bag but there were examples that had been knitted and they looked quite jolly.

Spiderweb Cushion

At the end of last year I made a Spiderweb cushion for one of my quilting friend's special birthday ( one of those ending in 0 ). 

As a Group we had made Lynne a Spiderweb quilt, using the colours she loves and uses a lot in her house, Cream and Autumn shades.  It was a pattern I had wanted to do for a long time and was thrilled when another member of our Group suggested this as an idea for Lynne's quilt.  I worked out how much cream on cream fabric we would need for the centres of the blocks and there was enough for the binding too.  Then the whole Group brought strips of fabric in the Autumn colours we had chosen:  yellow, gold, orange, tan, brown, red, lime and various greens.  We had a real variety of fabrics, some old, some quite new but together they looked fabulous.  We chose a meeting when we knew Lynne was away and all picked lots of strips from the piles, making sure we had some in every colour.

As the Spiderweb block was an unknown one to many of the Group I made some sample blocks using white Kona cotton for the bases and pastels and brights for the strips.  I had fun making them up to various stages of production so I could demonstrate the method to the rest of the ladies. 
In the UK we have a great children's TV programme called "Blue Peter" where presenters show the viewers how to make various art and craft items.  They always have a completed one to show the children what they are aiming for and always say: "This is one I made earlier". I felt rather like I was a presenter on Blue Peter and indeed, did have "one I had made earlier" as well as several blocks in various stages of completion.  I must have demonstrated it OK as everyone managed to complete their blocks ( without too much hassle I hope!).

As a Group we finished the Quilt and it was handed round to each member to do some of the hand quilting in cream Perle cotton, put on the binding, hand stitch it down and finally embellish with little red buttons in the spiderweb centres.  We all agreed that the red buttons "made" the quilt!

Unfortunately I was in New Zealand by the time it was Lynne's birthday on 11th February so couldn't see her face when she opened her gift.  However I have had several email reports from other Group members who said she was "stunned" and a lovely "Thank you" email from Lynne.

I left the cushion I had made to be gifted to Lynne when the quilt was given and I know she liked it from her email.

 

I was really pleased as this is the first time I have put a zip in a cushion and it turned out well.

The zip is at the bottom  of the cushion.

 

When I am back in the UK I will continue to make the Spiderweb cushion I began as a demonstration.  Should make a pretty quilt.