1st finish of 2013!!

Finally, I have a finish. The first of the year. (original post here)

I have finished the quilt for my friend who is going through chemo at the moment

The 1st bout didn't go well and she was poorly and ended up in hospital.  That was when I knew I had to hurry up

I have done straight line quilting

And used a very soft fleecy backing in shocking pink. 

I am really pleased with how its turned out: and... All done from scraps. I really hope she feels like she is wrapped in a hug when she is using this

Thank you

So I had a change of heart with my DWR. I just wasn't feeling the love when I started sewing and I knew it was the background fabric. So I broke my 'no new fabric' rule

I justified it by telling myself after all that work on putting these scraps together, I didn't want to look at it and hate it. I like this sooooooo much more!

I threw away all my old exam papers today - after all, I won't need them again :-). Thank you all for your lovely comments.  I thought I would have a give-away, to say thank you to you all for your encouragement over the last couple of years-honestly, its encouragement that has kept me going

Its not anything amazing.... A load of scraps, a panel and a cathedral windows pincushion that I made. I love receiving other peoples scraps, so I hope someone will enjoy these. I have more scraps to sort through, so will be adding to the pile

Guess what.....

I PASSED MY FINAL EXAM!!!

I found out yesterday but was out training school governors til 10.30 last night. So I have bought a small bottle of bubbly to celebrate tonight whilst I catch up on blogs

I can't believe that three and half years of hard work have finally paid off!

wedding rings

6 months later and I have finally completed all the rings on my double wedding ring quilt. 

I. LOVE. IT

Pinning these onto the fabric was a back breaking job.  This is about half the pile of templates that I had to take out!

Now I have to sew it down to the fabric. This may take a while. But all I need is a few more days like this ,......

....... And I will have it sorted !

Spare time

I can't get used to having all this spare time at weekends now that my studying has ended - my next lot has just come through but its nowhere near as intense as my AAT was.

So all this spare time means a lot more sewing:

 I have started on the background fabric for my stars. I think this wet sand colour goes really well
I started a new block, to use up my scraps:

 its called pineapple blossom - and you get a bonus mini block with the off cuts too. I am thinking that I may ask for this block for my month in the bee a Brit stingy bee my month is may so I will see where I am by then.
And I finished the purple quilt top

I will get the soft fleecy backing on it today-according to the weather man our snow day is today, with 5-7 cm expected, but then after Friday, I will believe it when I see it!!

A quick how to

I had a few questions about how easy/difficult the stars are to do.  They are not at all difficult: just 3 strips sewn together and then cut at a 45 degree angle and then 3 rows sewn together:

Its important to remember when you are sewing the rows together, that the seams shouldn't match, they should be offset slightly: this picture just about shows how the far apart the seams are

so there will be a little tail at the end



I make sure that once sewn it will all look ok by using the seam allowance on my ruler



I just hold the ruler in place and then turn the top bit of fabric over to make sure it all lines up - I just do this sitting in front of the machine and if it all lines up, sew it up



Four diamonds make one half



I sewed up my third this afternoon, it takes about an hour I guess.



No snow here!! The school I was due to go to this afternoon were concerned that I wouldn't get home so postponed my appointment, which I was grateful for, but the forecast dump of snow has not happened here - I saw about 3 flakes.  Maybe it will snow tonight.......

raffle winnings

At the FQ retreat last year I was lucky enough to win a jelly roll of salt air and just before Christmas I finally started to cut into it

These stars are easy enough to make, but I managed to mess up slightly which meant some time consuming rectification. However, its all done and I have completed 2 out of 4 stars

I had decided that as I had won this through an amazing get together that whatever I made would be donated. I am hoping that the siblings together quiltathon is going to happen again this year as I think this will be perfect

So, just two more to do. It may take a while as my next lot of studying has arrived :-( but hopefully I can crack on with that. I think these stars would also be fabulous in white, greys, lime and black - something for me to think about.....

Is that a giraffe in your garden......?

Beccy and I had to brave the elements yesterday as she needed some coastal pictures for an art project.  IT. WAS. FREEZING

The wind was so cold, coming straight off the sea at high tide

 And everywhere is sooooo grey :-( 

So we did have a chuckle, when, walking along the esturary path, we spotted this in someones back garden:

  

 It was a life size model, and from a distance looked very real.  We did have a giggle. How very random!!!

I have got loads of sewing done this weekend, which I will spread out over the week, but for now, here are the bee blessed blocks that I have done: they took no time at all



My sewing room

Leila over at Sewn, posed the question: what is your sewing area like.  It is her first linky so go over and have a look and share your sewing area too.  I am hoping that some of my pictures will shame me in to having a tidy up

I sew in my kitchen, at the table. Its always nice and warm in here.  I used to store all my fabric in the cupboard to the left in the first picture but that now houses the boiler (and where my machine is stored), so instead  fabric is stored in the conservatory in a chest of drawers (every drawer is full!) and other surrounding spaces 

Its all very untidy -  but trust me, it looks so much better in the summer when we use the conservatory a lot more 

I also do all my ironing and cutting in the kitchen: squeezed in by the cooker and the fridge  

And back to the conservatory: I am lucky, I have an amazing dad who has done so much DIY in my house, even though he lives 300 miles away! And when I moved in he made me this long bench with cupboards in it: which is where I store more fabric, although to be honest, this is mostly filled with charity shop finds, old duvet covers, curtains etc, things that will be good for backings. 

And, still in the conservatory, here is the rest of the crap creativity

So, this is where I hope to be today, at my kitchen table.  But first I have to take a teenager makeup shopping and then a few other bits and pieces

1st quarter FAL

Its time to declare my intentions for this years FAL - the first quarter, which is being hosted by Leanne 

1st up must be this quilt which has got no further,my friends starts her chemo tomorrow so I need to get a move on

And then the items that I am carrying over from last year:

 And my Hip bees blocks - this one is mine. As soon as I have them all back I will get them sewn together, can't wait!

 and my DWR quilt. This goes to the bottom if the list as I don't think it will be completed this quarter, but just in case ........
I only have another 3 circles to do since deciding I would do 4 x 4

So, I have a few things to keep me going, but it will be fun to get them ticked off!

Upcycling

I did a spot of up cycling today: an old woollen dress that had got all bobbly. So I cut off the big collar and converted it:

 it is really toasty 

 I also finished off the tea cosy so I can take it in to the office tomorrow for my colleague

  I used some of the hexies that Hadley sent me on one side

 and lots of tiny ones on the other side. I am pleased with how it has turned out

Been chilling

I can't believe it is back to work on Monday!! It has been such a relaxing break and I know I am lucky to have had the whole two weeks off

The last couple of days have just been doing some small projects.  I have picked up a tea cosy that I started a while ago: for a collegue at work.  I made her a 'prototype' which fitted her tea pot.  Just need to finish this off before Monday

 A quick wide zippered pouch to put my stuff in, in my handbag.  Beccy couldn't understand why I need a bag in my handbag.....

And a quick 'slouch' bag (bad photo from my phone!): I bought the fabric in the sale at £2 meter

 bought half a mtr of each, so have different fabric on either side.  It has a magnetic popper too and has already had several outings

I had to buy a new (to me) car over the holidays.  My previous one was a lease car through work and the lease was up.  I could have got another, but Jenny is allowed to drive it.  So I bit the bullet and bought one: nothing worse than car shopping, but it all went very smoothly.  However, I am now very broke, so definitely no new fabric (or new anything) for the next couple of months for me!  So a big thank you to Laura who sent me a huge pile of scraps today, very timely

I interupted a conversation she was having on twitter before Christmas, about DWR quilts and scraps.  I sent her some of my scraps a few weeks ago and she has sent me some of hers.  Laura has sent at least double the amount that I sent to her, and I am sooo grateful - they are going to be well used!