Getting through my list!

Last Saturday I made a list of Crafting Projects that need to be done.  I always find that making lists is very useful as it helps me make sense of all the random thoughts about projects which whirl round my head.

I have had another extremely busy week, concentrating on the garden and getting it ready for winter.  We have a lot of shrubs and large bushes in our garden and due to our rather wet summer they have all grown like crazy.  I spent a large part of three days pruning - actually a job I enjoy, although I do tend to get carried away and everything gets a very severe haircut! Had the day off gardening today but hope to get back to pruning tomorrow morning.

But I have also managed to work on "The List" too. 
First on The List was to Finish both Baby Quilt WIPs.
Last week I had put the walking foot on to my machine to machine quilt some lines on A Star is Born quilt so whilst the foot was still on I sewed the binding on to Noah's Ark, my other WIP Baby Quilt.  During that evening I hand sewed the binding on so, voila, my finished WIP!

Everything in this quilt is from stash, including the pieced backing (which I forgot to photograph).

I didn't have quite enough of the border fabric leftover for the binding so I added a few pieces of three different yellow fabrics.  They were in my leftover binding bag, so more scraps used up.

So my first Baby Quilt WIP is finished and waiting for the New Zealand baby to put in an appearance.

During the evenings whilst I've been watching TV and again at Patchwork Group this morning I have been hand stitching away at the other WIP, sewing around each star with a double row of Perle and sewing in the ditch around the centre square of each star.  It's coming along well and as hand quilting is something I enjoy, I've been enjoying the process very much.

I have partly done the Second item on my list as I have cut loads of strips from lots of scrap fabrics but I haven't got back to finishing the blocks of the String Quilt I am making.  This was because I decided to make 10 QAYG String blocks for Jan MacFadyan in Australia. This job really need the walking foot so, as that was already on my machine I moved them up the list.  Again I very much enjoy making these blocks and really had fun sewing them.

Here they are:

 

Jan does such great work making quilts for all sorts of good causes:  a lot she makes entirely herself but she also re-jigs quilt tops donated to her and uses 10.5" square QAYG blocks to make very bright and cheerful ( and warm!) String Quilts.  If you are interested in putting some of your scraps to good use, have a look at her blog: Sew Many Quilts- Too Little Time

The instructions for the QAYG blocks and photos of her finished QAYG quilts are on the blog.

I have got the parcel ready to post and tomorrow I'll take it to the Post Office.
Another item ticked off!

I want to machine quilt around the border on my Star Quilt and then I can change the foot  on my machine.  I find putting the walking foot on very difficult as it needs me to use my left hand - and I am right handed.  In addition the screw is very short and my fingers aren't as nimble as they once were. So once the walking foot is on I make the most of it and use it for as many projects as I can.

After my big string cutting session the other day I have plenty of strings to finish my String Quilt WIP and make the Spider web blocks for our Group Quilt. Plenty to keep me busy there!

And I need to start knitting the beanie and the shoulder bag.  Will look out the patterns, yarn and needles tomorrow.

This evening it's Rugby:  NZ v Namibia, so I will be watching TV and hand quilting too.
I am not a Rugby fan - I find the game so confusing as I don't understand the rules - but, much to my surprise,  I have very much enjoyed the games I watched over the weekend. As my other half will be watching I will too and work on my quilt at the same time.  I expect there are lots of crafters doing exactly the same, watching TV whilst working on their current project.

Go NZ - until I am watching England play!

Working on WIPs and making a list

I am working on two baby quilt WIPs.  Making good progress as I haven't had a lot of time for sewing this week. Visitors with two young children so we had to move a lot around in the house, get out the travel cot and folding bed etc. Now I am tackling the washing!

So, here are the quilts:

 

The one on the left is the Noah's Ark quilt, all trimmed and ready for the binding ( which is already made too)

 

The quilt on the right, with its bubble gum pink sashing is being hand quilted with Perle thread.

 

Here's one of the blocks I have quilted:

 

 

Noah's Ark is for a baby boy, expected any day now and A Star is Born is for a baby due in a month's time ( if it's a girl!).

 

I have been thinking of Craft Projects that need to be done:

 

1.  Finish both Baby Quilt WIPs

2.  Finish making the blocks for my String Quilt ( which means cutting a load more strings first)

3.  Make some QAYG String blocks I have promised for Jan (Sew Many Quilts Too Little Time)

4.  Make 2 Spider web Blocks for a Group Quilt

5.  Make a little drawstring bag for my Christmas Shoe Box appeal gift

6.  Knit a beanie and a little shoulder bag for the Christmas Shoe Box.

 

Hope to tick off the Noah's Ark quilt asap!

 

Off to do some more Perle hand quilting.  Leaving re-jigging the house until tomorrow!

 

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Robots in Space flying to Germany!

This year is a busy year for new babies. My friend became a Grandma again on 28th August. I knew the baby was going to be a boy so I made this quilt:

 

I embroidered the label and passed it over to my friend yesterday as she is flying to Germany on Thursday to see her new Grandson Rafael.

 

In the meantime I have continued with some 6" String blocks.  Again I am piecing the strips onto telephone book sheets ( idea from Bonnie Hunter).  Sewing up a storm until I came to trim the last few blocks when I discovered I had used the 'left over" paper, not quite the 6" square after I had cut out the original ones.  Fortunately it was only 4 blocks and I was able to rectify the situation!  I do enjoy making these blocks.  The more contrast the better, I find.  I cut lots more strips for this set of blocks so there is more variety and new fabrics to enjoy piecing.

 

A little break now as I hand quilt another baby quilt for a little boy due very soon in New Zealand.

Back home, some sewing and a catch-up

Arrived back home yesterday lunchtime from a family holiday here:-

 

We have been in Florida for the past two weeks, enjoying Disney World with our daughter, SIL and 5 year old granddaughter. We have had a magical time, fitting in SO much in such a short time. Little GD had the time of her life: theme parks, meeting Disney characters, doing so many of the rides, shows, swimming, crafts etc.

 

So now it's down to earth time!  Unpacking (all done), washing (all done), grocery shopping (all done), picking vegs from my garden ( see photo below) and, finally, a bit of sewing! 

 

We have one rhubarb plant - crown? - which was a piece taken from my MIL's garden 15 years ago.
I don't know the variety but I think Mum used to call it a Strawberry one.  It grows well in our garden but in Mum's garden it was amazing.  Very tall, thick stems of rhubarb which were very sweet and tender even though the stems measured a couple of inches in diameter. a couple of pieces were enough for a pie! Every time I pick any I think of her and remember the size of the rhubarb in her garden.

This year I have 3 tomato plants in pots: a shorter shrub like red cherry tomato, a normal red cherry variety and an orange variety.  All had done well in our absence so this morning I was able to pick a bowlful of both red and orange ones. We ate a few at lunchtime and they were delicious, full of flavour.  Then I picked the red chillies you see on the saucer.  Quite small and all from the one plant I have in a pot on the terrace.  I picked quite a few chillies just before we went on holiday and popped them into a small glass jar and put it in the freezer.  Hope that works and that I can just use the chillies when I need them.

Last night I was trying to keep awake so I could go to bed at a more normal bedtime so watched a few TV programmes I had recorded.  My fingers were itching to sew - I didn't take any sewing to Florida as I knew I wouldn't have time for stitching, but of course, I missed it.  I am hand quilting a baby boy quilt for a friend in New Zealand whose baby is due later this month. The quilt is completely made from scraps and in the centre is a Noah's Ark panel I discovered when I recently did a sort-out in my Sewing Room.  I was very unsure of how to quilt it but copied an idea I saw my friend Sarah use in one of the baby quilts she made recently.  I am using a variegated yellow/green Perle cotton, sewing parallel rows across the Noah's Ark panel at approximately 1" intervals.  I am very pleased with my choice as I think the stitching actually enhances the panel.  I will decide on how to quilt the borders when I get to them.  Very much a 'suck and see' experimental quilt but I am very happy with it so far.

A photo of the centre panel:

 

And a close up:

 

 

Then this afternoon I decided to reward myself for being such a good girl with the post-holiday chores to disappear into my Sewing Room for just over an hour to continue with the String blocks I started before our holiday.  I did another 7 blocks which pleased me.

Now  I must make our dinner: plaice (a flat white fish we get here in the UK) and fresh vegetables.

 

Festival of Quilts: Part 2

This post will be photos that I took at last week's Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham.

A fabulous quilt by Lea McComas;

 

 

 

The programme details told us that the quilt contained 90 fabrics and 114 different threads!

 

Dream Catcher Quilt:

 

 

And a butterfly detail from this quilt:

 

Peacock Quilt:

Jumpers Quilt:

 

 

 

A  wonderful appliqued flowers quilt:

 

 

And some close-ups:

 

 

Two such realistic quilts from a Gallery:

 

Dragonfruit

Cherry Pie

 

And, as we are in the midst of remembering the Great War, a Poppy Quilt:

 

Sorry, I am running our of time yet again tonight so I will finish now. I have lots more Festival of Quilts photos to share but as I am going away on holiday that will not happen for a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting a Blog friend at the Festival of Quilts

Linda, me and Peggy

I have followed the Razzle Dazzle Quilt Blog for quite a while.  I love the projects Linda makes and the custom quilting that she does.  She also lives in New Zealand, a very special part of the world to me.

Then I discovered Linda and her sister Peggy were coming to the UK for a long trip and would be visiting the Festival of Quilts which is a show I visit every year.  However, I don't have to come thousands of miles from NZ to see it as I live about 20 minutes' drive away from the huge NEC Exhibition complex where the FOQ is held.  I had my sister, Pat with me too that day and the four of us met for a short while and chatted over coffee.

Pat very kindly took this photograph of the three of us. It was lovely to meet a cyber-friend in real life.  I hope we can meet up again one day, perhaps in NZ? In the meantime I will continue to follow Linda's super blog.

As always the FOQ was stunning and, I think even better than ever this year. The standard of the Competition Quilts was just amazing!  I took lots of photos and I will share a few of those with you now:

One of my favourite places in this country (UK) is Southwold in Suffolk.  My husband and I 'discovered' Suffolk a few years ago and try to spend a few days in Orford each year.  Southwold isn't too far away.  It's a lovely town, full of interesting shops, a great beach, a pier full of shops and end-of-the-pier type games, and a long row of delightful beach huts - every one different, all with a whimsical name and lovely painted details.

So, when Pat and I (she is also a Southwold fan!) saw this Group Quilt made by 23 members of the Saint Felix Frolic Sewing & Quilting Group I had to takes loads of photos.

Can you see The Pier?

 

 And a couple of beach huts?

 

If you have been to Southwold you will recognise so many of these buildings and shops - just as Pat and I did.  It was such a beautifully made quilt - Congratulations to The Saint Felix Frolic Sewers!

 

More quilts depicting places I know:

 

Lindisfarne Causeway, Northumberland, a county where we lived for the first 10 years of our marriage.

 

Sydney Opera House, one of the quilts in a great Gallery called Golden Textures of Australia.

We have visited Sydney several times to stay with good Aussie friends so this is another special place for me.

 

Another Gallery featured The Tentmakers of Cairo.

Two of the Tentmakers, Hosam Al Farouk & Tarek Al Safty came back again this year to demonstrate their wonderful art of applique.  Their fingers move at lightning speed as they needleturn the pieces in their quilts - flower stems, flower heads, birds etc. The colours are all extremely bright, their quilts are all works of art.  Lots on display and for sale and, considering how long each one takes to make, they were not overpriced.  Hosam told me the quilt he was making took six months to complete and as this is their full-time job I can't imagine how many hundreds of hours that represents.

 

A few photos:

I have lots more photos from the FOQ to share but that will have to be in another blog post.  we are going out soon, for supper at our next door neighbours, so I mustn't be late!

 

 

Finished baby quilt - Robots in Space

On Thursday I finished hand sewing the binding on my latest Baby boy quilt. As the weather was actually quite pleasant and sunny yesterday I took the opportunity to take some photos outside. 
The first one was held up by my 5 year old granddaughter who then decided her arms were tired so my daughter was asked to complete the job.

 

And then a couple of close ups:

 

 

 

 

I am SO pleased with this quilt.  It measures 42" x 34" and is really bright and cheerful, ideal for the baby boy who is due to be born in three weeks' time.

 

I started with 2 gifted strips of funky robots and airplanes.  I made the centre row first, adding Bondaweb to the back of the robots and planes, hand blanket stitching with embroidery floss. Then I just built the strippy quilt around them, finding suitable fabrics and scraps from my stash.  Two of the fabrics used were won in a Giveaway so this quilt hasn't cost me much to make.

 

The quilt came together very quickly and I love the hand quilting in a variegated Perle thread.  It looks great on the back too. Just realised I forgot to take a photo of the back ( using the yellow striped pieced backing I recently blogged about) so I must take some more photos tomorrow.

 

So, everything in this quilt was from stash.  I have 4 of the robot and plane motifs left so  hope to make another baby quilt, using the striped rows in this quilt.

 

It was such fun to design this quilt.  Definitely a unique gift!