final tally

Ooops missed my self declared deadline for finishes, but I've been working hard at the sewing machine. So, who's ready to see the big reveal and final tally?

I'm declaring 4 more finishes, with another one which will be done tonight.

Finish 1: Sashiko sampler. I bought this at my first trip to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, in about 2003. I started working on it straight away, did the green outer border and inner dividing lines and the top left square, then stuck it in a drawer. I kept looking at it and working another thread's worth of stitching, then back to the drawer it went. I'm really not a fan of handwork! When I set myself this mini challenge, I rediscovered this piece, and got it finished in an evening. I had to cobble the mount together as there were no square frames in my budget, but it;s not too bad, and even better, it's only pritt sticked together, so if I find a nicer frame I can remove it and re-frame it.

Finish 2: I'd not even started this piece this time last week, but was browsing through some old magazines and saw the cockerel pattern as part of a larger wall hanging in an Australian magazine. I've got a friend going through a rough time right now, and as she and her husband rescue ex-bettery chickens, thought (hoped) this would raise a smile. It's bondawebbed and machine button hole stitched, with small swirl quilting and a looped hanger. I've checked my visitors' locations, and haven't spotted hers in there yet, so think I'm safe in posting it here before I've posted it to her!

Finish 3 is my Basket of Logs quilt, the Guide trip fundraiser. All labelled and ready for taking up to them tonight. I've written a little note with some facts about it that they might consider as fundraising ideas...how long it took, how many different fabrics, how many individual pieces of fabric. Of course, however they choose to use it is fine by me!

Finish 4 is that I sewed some binding onto the sample quilting piece for the Basket of Logs and am using it as a hot pad on the kitchen counter.

This will be finished within a couple of weeks, but that's all I can say about it, except for any Sound Stitchers group members...what are they and when would see more of them than any other flower? ;-)

This will be finished after the weekend...it's half a sock from the Frome yarn. I'm not sure when its mate will arrive!

Other things I've got on the machine or sewing table just now include a siggy quilt for my daughter, a baby quilt for my cousin's daughter (needs to be done by Friday morning, but only needs the binding slip stitching down and labelling), I need to work up some designs for a kingsize quilt with hearts in for a commission, and also a commissioned baby quilt to make by the end of May.

Easter finish it up weekend progress report...

I'm declaring 4 finishes this weekend.

Finish 1: skinny quilt for the BQL challenge. Techincally I finished this twice. I got it quilted and bound, then decided I really didn't like the way the setting triangles "bled" into the binding. There was no definiate edge to the on point blocks. I slept on it overnight and oddly dreamt how to tweak it. Next morning, I carefully took the binding off, appliqued the mauve strips over the egdes to look like a slim border, then re-applied the binding. much better!

Finishes 2 and 3 were mini Christmas table runners/counter covers.

I'd totally forgotten about these as they were over the top bannister with another UFO covering them! I thought about a Christmas bauble theme quilting, but, to be honest, I just wanted them finished and out of the UFO pile, so in the end I straight stitched in the centre of each strip in a selection of metallic threads. I bound each of them with some leftover binding from the sweetie jar, and machined in the ditch on the front to finish the binding off. Not my best work by a long way, but a kill's a kill.



Finish 4 had already been in a show, but I realised I wanted to add in the ditch quilting around each siggy square. This was the quilt which was hiding the Christmas runners on the bannister. I'd done all the in the ditching, just had to bury the ends...139 squares, one pass round each one, front and back thread...that's a lot of ends  to bury. I poured myself a big glass of wine, took a deep breath and just got on with it. It was done in two sessions, and the quilt is now folded and back inthe store cupboard. I bring it out to use as an example of a siggy quilt. My favourite thing about it, apart from the collection of signatures from around the world is the rainbow shading of the patches.

The final picture isn't a finish...yet. It's a trial to see how my planned quilting design will look on the Guide quilt. Cunningly, I also used two of my less favourite fat quarters...the orange top one is nothing compared to the multi-coloured monstrosity that lies beneath!

Tea break over, I'm about to start work on the Guide quilt...I've had best part of a month to do it, and need it for tomorrow evening! Just as well I'm off work, and apart from a blood test and returning a top to the shop, have a clear sewing day.

I'll report in on Wednesday on how I've done with it.

2 more past the finish post.

This is going to be a very quick post, life's suddenly got incredibly busy, but I wanted to share my latest two finishes with everyone.

Finish One is my Kingfisher which I started in a workshop with Anya Townrow:

 I'm thrilled with how he's turned out! I'm especially pleased with the shading on his back, and with how well the quilting went. I was aiming for a watery feel to it, and used a YLI blue/multi thread. I'll be using this one again for Hannah's Guide quilt.

 Finish two is Candy Boxes, a commissioned bed quilt. Nice gentle loopy quilting with free motion hearts interspersed throughout it in a pale pink Robison Anton thread. This should be off to its new home tomorrow.

And just because it's nearly Easter, here's a chocolate cake that Hannah made and iced herself. Not so much of it left now!

I'm on leave from work next week and with a combination of Easter and the Royal Wedding, I'm using 4 days' leave and having 11 away from work. I've decided that during my time off I'll be trying to finish as many projects as possible. I'm aiming for a finish per day but not all of them will be full sized quilts. I've got a couple which just need threads burying, 2 which need to be layered and quilted, 1 to be quilted, and at least 1 to finish piecing. I'd quite like to get a head start on my sample pieces for Sound Stitchers Christmas in June 4-Corners evening, and also make up a couple of notebook covers from the pattern I bought at Anya Townrow's workshop.

We'll see how the finishes line up, I'll count up in the afternoon of May Day Bank Holiday.

Being Charming

Last night was the April meeting of Sound Stitchers, Helen was leading us in ideas to use up your charm packs...you know those packs of precut fabrics that all go together, that tempt us at shows and in shops.

Yup, there I go...easily tempted! So last night, armed with a plain pack and print pack in an autumnal clourway from Strawberry Fayre and my machine, off I set. We explored HSTs in all their different settings, quarter square triangles to use as sashing cornerstones, and disappearing nine, four and sixteen patches.

I made a couple of broken dishes set HSTs and chain pieced another four pairs ready for pressing and trimming. No matter how carefully I piece, I simply can't get my seams dead on for making identical pairs, so rather than struggle and rip seams out time and again, I relax, press the block and square it up before piecing them together. Sure I end up with blocks a tiny smidge smaller, but they all fit together and I don't end up with a wonky quilt.

I took lots of projects along to show and tell...I'd been to a workshop, promised a fundraiser quilt and been asked to make one for someone since our last meeting. I've finally made the piece for the BQL Challenge as well. Most of these quilts will be on their way to new owners before the next meeting, so I wanted to show them off to my friends

 BQL skinny challenge. Needs to be quilted, and trimmed to size. Not 100% sure how to do it, but I need to hurry up, it has to be posted on the group by next weekend.

 Candy Boxes commissioned quilt. Just need to finish slip stitching the binding down and add a label.

.Guide fundraiser. Hannah's not back at Guides until after Easter, so I've got 2 weeks to work on it. I'll bind it in the blue batik I used for backing. My excuse is I didn't have enough of any other fabric used on the front. I have no excuses or explanation for the expression in the photo! 

I got home from the meeting to find a letter from hospital "asking" me to my six monthly check up and blood tests in mid May. Fingers crossed they all come back as they have in the rest of the year since my last op.

Happy Mothers' Day

It's Mother's day here in the UK (You know I'm never 100% sure where the apostrophe goes...Is it a day for all Mothers in which case after the S, or is my personal Day, in which case, before. I've written it both ways here, just to annoy any pedant reading). Anyway, I choose to spend my Day by quilting and sewing. I finished piecing the Guide Fundraiser top last night, and am really pleased with how it turned out. I'm especially pleased with the coloured log cabin border. Less pleased that it was only as I laid the blocks out ready to assemble that I realised I can't count and needed to whip up another 4! Still all done now.

I've pieced the backing, a blue batik, and put the wadding aside ready for sandwiching this afternoon. I decided to wash the backing, which I don't generally do these days, as it's a deep blue batik, and just "felt" that it had excess dye still in it. With there being so many neutral strips on the front, and it being a fundraiser quilt, the last thing I wanted is its new owner washing it and having blobs of blue run through. Naturally I didn't have enough of the mauve basket fabric to bind it, and the substitute mauve I found was too short as well. I'll be using strips from the backing fabric instead.

The other quilt I'm working on today is the pink and white one which I was commissioned to make for a former work colleague's step daughter.

It's currently sandwiched and waiting for me to close the pins and put the straight line quilting on it. Once that's done, I'll be using apale pink thread to free motion swirls and loops with hearts all over it.

The stash busting is looking good this week, as I decided not to count what I use until I'm at the actual quiltng stage of a piece. So two quilts ready for the machine, 16 yards of fabric used up!! Again, I calculated the yardage of the tops by weighing them. Smidge over 4 yards for the pink and white one, smidge under for the yellow and blue one. 4 yards each for backing.

Another past the finish line.

Way back last summer, my boss announced she was going to be a grandma. Straight away, I pieced a cute baby quilt top for her daughter. I used leftover squares from a previous quilt, log cabin-ed round them with some stash cream, sashed them all with some lovely bright green, then came to a screaming halt. I think it was the long deadline that meant it kept getting pushed to the back of my to do queue. Either that or pure idleness!

I decided I wanted to try something different for the final border, and finally picked that scallops could be the finish I was looking for. I'd not done a scalloped oouter border since a quilt I gave to my parents in law several years ago, where the final border formed the scallops without any re-drawing or maths. This one was going to be different. I only had a small amount of matching cream left, so knew I wouldn't be able to make any mistakes.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking on Amazon for a family history book, and treated myself to a book called "The Quilter's Edge" by Darlene Zimmerman, which explains how to draw scallops with the minimum of fuss, so this weekend, off I set with a pencil, pieces of paper and the baby quilt.

You know what? I'm really pleased with the final effect...my favourite part is the way I've got the binding to sweep right next to the bright green at the corners.

Show quilting

I can't believe that the Show is now only 2 weeks away. It's being held at Yealmpton Resource Centre, Stray Park, Yealmpton PL8 2HF, and anyone who happens to be in the area on Friday 30th or Saturday 31st July is more than welcome to come along an see us. We're open 10-4 on both days, entrance is £1, and once costs have been covered, we'll be making a donation to Devon Air Ambulance.

Entry forms were duly sent to all our members, with a return by date of 20th June...by which time, I was looking at having to sew 24/7 to make sure there would be something to exhibit. Luckily, more forms arrived and we've now got more than 100 entries. I'll be showing 4 quilts, a table runner and a cushion. Most of them have been featured on here, so here's a quick re-cap:

Japanese Glass

Chocolate Box

Chocolate Limes

Autumn Table Runner

Carp Cushion

I Spy Pirates

This last one is a work on progress for friends who are expecting their first baby in the New Year. They both do triathlons for the Pirate Ship of Fools triathlon team, so I'm planning to FMQ lots of I Spy charm Tacks in the quilt, but I have to draw a skull & cross bones to include as well.

As well as working on pieces for the Show, I've been sewing like a wild thing on other pieces. I've taken the plunge and am trying to sell some of my quilts...the machine really needs to pay for itself, and making curtains and soft furnishings for people isn't as stimulating as quilting!

I've added corner squares to a pack of Japanese charms I bought from Susan Briscoe a couple of years ago, and I'm planning to trim them to make snowball blocks, then assemble them into a 9x11 grid, add a couple of borders and quilt in a sashiko style.

I made a summery tessellated top last year (could be the year before...) and this weekend I've added the final border to it:

Someone's asked me for a quilt, so I'll offer it to her first once it's finished.

My Japanese taupes quilt also has a new home lined up for it. I just need to make another set of blocks using a second jelly roll, jumble them between the two sets, border, layer and quilt it. I'm thinking squares in a stone variegated thread. Lesson leanred from working on Japanese Glass: buy two reels of thread. I ran out with about 18" square left to quilt, at 2130 last Tuesday. Luckily, I was able to order another reel from Barnyarns.com, which came on Thursday, so no real break from working on it.

Ack, can't find photos of the other 3 pieces on either computer, and camera batteries are dead, so I'll have to update that bit later.

More badness, but progressing

AGM's with 2 traders aren't the best places to be if you're trying to stash bust are they? I did quite well though, only coming away with 6 FQs and a piece just under half a yard.





My pictoral block of the month quilt is finally finished off properly, with all the ends darned in. Not done a label yet though.

I'm currently working on my Round Robin. I bought the thread for it at Step by Step, and had a practice with some that's identical, using a scrap sandwich. The d%^&*d sewing machine just didn't want to play, kept chewing up the thread, snapping it and skipping stitches. I was very calm (niece visiting from Manchester so no bad language) and pulled everything to pieces, brushed and re-threaded...no change. OK this time I read the manual, changed which way the thread came off the bobbin, and changed the needle. No change. Evenutally I changed the type of needle, from a quilting to a microtex. This time it seems to have solved the problem. Still getting occasional snaps, but nowhere near as bad.





The top photo here shows my first few attempts, where the snaps and snags are obvious. The second photo shows how it's going now I've swapped needles. The big skipped bit is from the "before" sample.

I started work on my real piece, reduced my tension and off I went. Very slow progress as it's a quilt pattern I've not tried before. I'm happy with how it's looking so far though and I love the way the green-brown progressions in the thread are standing out against the colours of the quilt. Think this could be a piece for the show in July.

progressing and plodding

Not so much progress on the quilting front this week. I finished stitching the binding down on the pictoral BOM quilt, but haven't done the label yet. I keep looking at it and can't make my mind up as to whether it needs a bit more work in the white corners of each small block or not. I think a small white flower in each corner might look nice, but I can't find a design I like that fits. More rummaging needed in my design books I think.

Next on the list is the Round Robin, but that's ground to a halt until I can find the right thread to work with. I'm looking for a variegated thread that's in greens AND browns. Not difficult. Not greens, not browns, but greens and browns. Might have to keep looking for that! I've stay stitched around each heart using my normal bobbin thread, which gives them a bit more definition.

This week I'm planning to make a start on unpicking the ghastly borders I put on the lovely salmon and chocolate top. I really could do with some more fabrics to use for the border, not much idea what to do as I've not got a lot of the original pieces left and they were a gift in a Secret Santa swap a couple of years ago.

Mike and I went for another long walk around Saltram this morning, it's about 7-8 miles right round, so I've admitted in public now that I'm planning to do the Beachy Head Marathon. It can be done as a walker, which is what I'm planning.

My final update this week is on my ongoing battle with the complexities of the NHS! I'm booked in to see an ENT surgeon on Thursday for discussion as to what he thinks is the best way to progress with the tumours in my lymph nodes. I'm leaning towards asking for them all to be removed as soon as possible rather than waiting for what could be another couple of years then finding that the cancer has recurred and I need to have another single node removed.

reporting in again

See, I'm doing well at keeping the blog updated on a more regular basis this year!

This week's quilty report is that I've finished the autumn runner. I slip stitched the binding down during the week, and have to admit I'm really pleased with it. I'm quite glad I used the paper leaves as guides for doing the FMQ, I'm really not that confident that I'd be able to do them all free hand and get a nicely balanced spread of them through the piece. Hopefully as I keep on trying, I'll get more confident at being able to do more work without paper or drawn guides. I'm quite happy to use guides when I need to though! If I was to do it again, I'd spend a bit more time looking for a quilting thread with a higher contrast to my fabric. Both thread and fabric are orange-red based with bits of green and yellow thrown in, so the quilting doesn't stand out as much as it could. However, for a first attempt at this style I'm thrilled with it. I could also have a go at hyper quilting some of the leaf veins in a higher contrast thread to add some definition.



My second quilt project has been to assemble the main body of the Japanese taupe quilt from a jelly roll I bought in Birmingham. I need to press it and add the borders. No idea how I'm going to quilt this either. Something oriental is the obvious thing, but apart from that I've no firm ideas.

Other big news is I've got a new appointment with my surgeon for Monday...the previous one was cancelled because of the snow. It seems like such a long time since I was referred what with Christmas coming in the mean time. I'm hoping to get the results of the MRI in December, and also a date for surgery on the "lesions" in my neck. Dr G mentioned needle aspiration as a possible first step, but after my experince before my thyroidectomy I'd rather they just went straight for surgery. With any luck Mr C will be able to give me an early date and I can get back on with the rest of my life.

Found, one quilting mojo!

Funny how making a list of UFOs has had such a positive effect on my quilting! I knew I had lots to do, but last year I'd just lost all my enthusiasm for it. I knew I'd get it back, but I think that all the thyroid stuff I've been going through just made it harder for me to turn my hand or mind to something pleasurable.

Anyway, New Year, New UFO List (you never know it might catch on!) and just over a week later, I've finished the American cushion for Mike, zip in and all (insert photo here when I can find the camera lead)

last Sunday I put my design wall up in the corner of the lounge, and got my Round Robin and Pictoral BOM blocks out. The RR now has its final row of blocks, white and brown alternating hearts on a green background, which is the top row. I wanted something a bit different for the border, and eventually settled on a checkerboard effect, but only for two opposing corners. I've even offset the checks so they both run towards the upper left corner. The rest of the borders are in a neutral cream. It's all pinned ready for quilting, but right now I'm deliberating about whether to trapunto a few of the heart blocks. Still undecided about it, so I'll put it to one side for a week or so.

The Pictoral BOM came together like a dream...as it was in a dream that I worked out how to finish it. How odd is that? The best thing is I *love love love* the way it turned out. Attic windows around each block, and a wider semi attic window outer border. I used some fabric that I hand dyed myself which makes it more special. Each picture has been quilted around in a fine white thread just to give it a bit more definition, and I'm going to quilt the month in a cartouche at the bottom of each block.

My final piece this week is my autumnal table runner, which I pinned cut of paper leaves all over and quilted around them with a loop-de-loop meander linking them. Another one I'm really pleased with. Just need to hand stitch the binding down and label it and it's all finished!

I really need to get the camera sorted out so I can use it with the laptop. As soon as I've done that, I'll be able to edit and add pictures to these posts.

Happy New Year

So after yet another long gap in posting anything, once again I've got loads to catch up with. Christmas has been and gone, with lots of quilty and knitting presents. I had my second dose of radio iodine treatment in November. Unfotunately, it didn't show any tumour on the follow up scan, so I had another more detailed scan which showed three tiny tumours in my neck. These will need surgical removal, so I had an MRI scan shortly afterwards and am now waiting to see the surgeon who performed my original thyroidectomy in 2008.

I seem to have got my quilting mojo back, and have constructed a list of all my UFOs. It's turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be, so it's shamed me into actually doing something about it. I've resolved to work on these UFOs as my main priority this year. Doing OK as I finished the cushion in the US retro rabric that I bought in Lowell. It was all pieced, so it only needed quilting, and a zip putting in for the backing. As I'm writing on the laptop, I need to work out how to load photos through here now as well as the desktop. Pic to follow by whatever means!

My next project was to be the pictoral mini blocks, I'd had a dream about exactly how to finish it, and set off dyeing some fabric for it, but it's come out too orange, so back to the drawing board with that. I'm not confident enough in my dyeing to be able to mix brown from the pots I've got, so I'll see about ordering some darker brown. In the meantime, I might just buy a couple of yards of light and dark brown so I can finish it off. For quilting it, I think I'll go in the ditch around each mini block (using my new Q-i-D) foot, and do something squiggly in the sashing and border.

I'm also going to try and keep a record of what fabric I bring into and out of my stash during the year. I'm not going to measure how much I'm starting with, as I've got so many scrappy pieces, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up with that!

Hopefully I'll keep this more up to date, and plan to post next weekend.

Another finish

This week's finish is the mini wall hanging for my mother in law. Debbie showed us the technique at Plym a couple of months ago and although I couldn't see myself using it for a piece for myself, I wanted to try it out. After all what's the point of going to a group meeting if you don't join in with what's being demo-ed? So I dutifully bought my bunch of silk flowers, ripped all the plastic off and started to place them on the background fabrics.

Both of them are some hand dyes that I did to try out the dye box I bought in Birmingham last summer, but didn't really have anything planned to make with the samples once I'd finished them. I like the way the pink of the vase is picked up by a swirl in the blue background. There's also hints of pink in the edges of some of the lilac flowers, so all in all the colours seem to have worked quite well.

I free hand cut the vase, then started placing flowers on to resemble a free style bouquet. Once I was happy with the flowers, I FMQ-ed them down using invisible thread. After I'd put the border on, it sat there in my box for a month as I'd run out of ideas!!

Eventually I decided not to do any more quilting on the main body of the wall hanging, but to go with some gentle curves around the outside border. Simples! I found some beads in my button box that looked like they came with a sparkly top, so used them in the centres of the flowers to add a hint of sparkle.

Just need to pack it in tissue paper ready to send over with the children when they go to stay with her in August. Less than 2 months to go now!!

PS camera won't let me load photos on the laptop, or if it will I can't work out how to do it, so photos later when I can get them sorted out. It's worth the wait honest!

Short but sweet

Just a quickie before dinner time, here's my BQL monthly challenge for June. Can't believe I've finished it by the 2nd. I'm 4th in the photo gallery for the group too. Nice easy one this time, for the quilting, I used my walking foot and just did squiggly lines in a Madeira Lana thread I got in a goody bag at the FoQ last year.



The thread broke a few times, mainly when the machine was tying off at the start of lines, but the texture is lovely. I used a slightly longer stitch length and took it nice and slowly. I don't think I'd use this on a big machine project, but it would be fab for hand embroidery and it worked well in this small piece.

Quilt group tonight with a sale table from Janet so hoping to buy some green and some red from her. When I was in Exeter, I bought some Japanese charm pieces, and finally decided last night what I wasnted to make with them. Obviously a charm quilt, but I didn't want to go for just sewing them in rows. I found an old quilt I'd designed on EQ6 with snowballs and think it'll work well with these squares and the green/red borders.

Lots to say

What a busy few days I've had. Sunday was the Plymouth Half Marathon. We were up really late as next door decided 9:30pm was a great time to set fire to a vast pile of cardboard, and were still burning it at nearly midnight! Managed to get some sleep and set off in tme for the race. It was incredibly hot, warmest day of the year so far, so my plans of walking the drink stations and run-walking the hills looked to be a good one. What I'd not banked on was a) needing so much water at the stations that my walk lasted longer than I'd anticipated b) the later stations running out of water completely and c) just taking so much longer because of the heat. Still I finished it, so that's my first Half since my operations done. Next one is 21st June in Torbay.

About 4 miles



Relaxing in the Athletes' Village



No blisters anywhere, my worst problem seems to be a really sore toe nail, feels like it's been bashed against the end of my running shoe. So after the race, the next day was Bank Holiday, and I'd decided to bake!!

Apricot and Almond Cake:



Not much left of it now, except the plate!

My finish for this week's quilting was the ballet raffle quilt. I'd had a major crisis of confidence and ended up sitting in front of my machine for ages just gazing at it and not having any clue how I was going to quilt this one. This in spite of planing it weeks ago in my head. For some reason what I'd planned just wouldn't come through. Eventually, I did a small bit of FMQ on some scrap fabric, weeded and pruned the flowerbed, hoovered (I know that's how desperate I was!) and about 2 hours later made a very tentative start. I like how it's turned out, but I hated feeling so helpless in my sewing. Anyway, FMQ-ed in lop-de-loop with frequent heart meanders throughout the top, in a sugar pink thread. I bought the binding fabric from Janet a month or so ago, and I have to admit I love the way the bias stripes have worked. I'd have preferred more pink/white, but this pink/multi gives a definite "end" to the quilt and makes quite a statement. The corners I cut using a side plate for the curves!

Another race, another quilt!

So last Saturday evening was the return of the Ivybridge 10K. I did it last year in my slowest ever time, so I had a date with that big hill going towards the viaduct. You do about a mile, then the second one is vertical! I just took it easy and didn't try to run the whole hill, but I ran a fair lot of it doing run/walk. I'd been timing myself and the K that the hill was in was a full minute slower than every other K in the race. My unofficial time was 50 seconds slower than 7 minutes per kilometre, so I know exactly where I have to make time up next year!



This shot is of the club before the start, and



This one is of me with less than 150 yards to go.

Still nothing with both feet off the ground!

And today I've been working hard on finishing my block of the month from my online group. It was a machine trapunto block, so I was keen to have another go at the technique. I loved doing it, but on reflection, the quilting pattern has mad my fabric look a bit like lizard skin. Ooops



My other finish this week is the next of the Plym Piecemakers Round Robin. No sneaky peek yet, as I've got to press the blocks for a final time, then another close close-up so the person it's for can't tell what it is.

I'd love to know what mine's looking like...as long as there's no Sunbonnet Sue, I'll be thrilled with it. I put the lime green fabric in my bag in the end, so each row will have some of it in there.

This time next week, I'll have run my 3rd Plymouth Half, and my 5th Half Marathon ever!

April challenge completed!

This is my April challenge quiltlet from the BQL online group. Paper pieced handbags, hand embellished and machine quilted with random loop de loop squiggles and hearts. Although I didn't particularly enjoy the hand embellishing, the final piece is OK. I'm waiting now for the password for next month's piece...hope I feel more inspired than I have been with this one!

The reason for the particular FMQ design was I've just finished piecing the pink and white log cabin quilt for H's ballet group raffle in June. I'll be quilting it using the same FMQ idea, and hopefully using a pale pink thread.

This weekend I'll be working on a small wallhanging which will be going to my mother in law in August as a thank you for looking after B and H while Mike and I are in Boston. Win, win both ways, I get to try a new technique that's not really "me", and give a gift to Margaret, and if she doesn't find it to her taste either, she only has to hang it if we visit her!

And I got my number for the Plymouth Half last night...eeek!

sample quilting

This is what I've decided on for both baby quilts. It's based on Patsy Thompson's innnies and outies, and the sample is my first attempt at it. I can see every mistake, but I can explain them too! I'd set the machine up properly, but because I was onlt making a small sample, I'd not bothered with the extension table, so each time I got to the edges, you can see where I've either wiggled it round or stalled totally. Should be a lot easier with the extension on.

And here's the first preview of the second baby quilt. Look at those gorgeous colours! That's the Fig and Plum from Moda that I bought on Saturday.



And this is the original version, still looking good.



I layered the both last night, I was able to get the backing out of one width of backing fabric, so plenty left over to go in the stash!

Quilt group tonight, so lots of new ideas after I'm back from that!

Keeping on keeping on!

Guess who's back on sick leave? Long story but essentially it boils down to me trying to do too much too soon and having to realise I'm not invincible and maybe (just maybe) my consultant does know what he's talking about. Despite being younger than me! Anyway, I'm back in work on Monday, taking it easy (through gritted teeth), blood results are in and I'm OK to re-start running more.

On my quilting, I'm doing well with keeping up with finishing some of my UFOs. The longest standing one was the Devon flag, but that's all finished, quilted and bound.



I like the effect that dark green quilting has on the block. I could have done it in white I suppose but couldn't fnd the cone!

Next finish is Heidi's baby quilt:



Close up of the butterfly:



...and of the caterpillar:



I've really enjoyed making this one, the fabric's all preprinted so just one big panel in the ecntre with borders around it. I decided not to go with the individual blocks made into the two plain coloured borders but just to use one plain colour instead for speed.

Next quilt on my to do list is the extra quilting on the DJ siggy quilt. I think I did about 4 blocks today as I've still got the machine set up from doing Heidi's. It is a deadly dull thing to do though, just re-sewing over the blocks on an already finished quilt. Hey ho, it'll give me something to do tomorrow!

Friday I'm being taken to Bath by Mike. We were planning to go to the quilt museum, but it's not open until March, so we're meeting Cathy for lunch instead. Of course I'm planning a diversion to Country Threads, and I've been told about Midsomer Quilting around 10 miles outside Bath. Two new quilt shops in one day!! And Duo for new boots if they've got any to fit me.