off to sunnier climes

Tomorrow we leave for a week in Turkey (I'm not worried about announcing that my house will be empty because my mum is house sitting :-) )  I can not wait to sit in the sun for a week and read my books.

So in preperation for being away for a week and missing a couple of the across the sea QAL I did this today:

I only did this one to check my background colour was what I wanted.  As you can see I completely changed my mind about the colour.... and I didn;t buy any either.  I had a brainstorm and remembered a quilt I havn't finished and this was the backing.  So, once I was happy with the colour I went on to do this:

All my crosses are there with their background all cut out, so I will be ready to go as soon as I get back.
I also noticed that we needed to do a scant 1/4" seam.  I researched this and there were varying definitions.  I used the one where the material is just lined up with the feed dogs on the machine and this has worked perfectly on the square.
I will be taking my hexies away with me, although not sure how much I will get done as I am not allowed to sew by the pool (teenagers rules apparantley!!)
Looking forward to seeing what everyone has got up to when I get back, especially with the QAL

Busy, busy, busy

I had a bit of a spurt on some WIP's this afternoon:

finally got the top of this quilt done.  I absolutely love it.  The colours look amazing against the black (altho the picture doesn't show it up very well)

I made this with Amy Butler Bliss fabric.  Jenny bought me a charm pack for mothers day and I bought another two and hey presto:

They really are the most gorgeous colours and the black shows them off really well.

I also finished sewing these into rows:

I first saw this design 10 years ago, when I visited my brother and his family in America.  I knew straight away I would make it one day.

These were all made with scrap fabrics

And each mug has been blanket stiched onto the fabric

I also had a lucky find with the brown fabric as I think it looks like steaming hot tea!

I think I will use plain fabric to put in between the rows and the sashing: need to delve into my old sheet pile and see what I have. 

And then I have two quilts that can be hand quilted on those impending autumn/winter nights!  (a bit like today really!!)

Trying to keep up

   I am going away for a week, on Thursday.  I was worried about falling behind on the 
Across the sea QAL, so I decided to crack on



I would love to be able to take pictures that showed the actual colours in fabric



I had originally only intended to do the baby size quilt, but as my crosses grew I decided I had no need for a baby quilt and I wanted this one big, so I kept on cutting. 

I have now cut out all the material, for the front only.  I havn't started on the background fabric, mainly because I am still undecided on that.  I also havn't done the extra bits for the back of the quilt or the scrappy border: these I will do another time (!)

I have had a manic day of tidying - mainly my consevatory which is my sewing room.  I got all my fabrics out at the beginning of the hols and did not put any away: until today.  It is now very very neat.  I need a sit down now and a nice glass of something!

A finish

Seems like a while since I have finished a quilt.  Anyway, this one is a joint effort.  Beccy sewed the squares a while ago and I have finished it off








freshly out of the washing machine



This was also my first attempt at FMQ - it took a LOT of patience, but it was worth it, Beccy loves it.

 

We are all shattered today.  Last night was the Southend carnival.  It is an illuminated parade that set off at 7.45 pm

It was a long day as we were down at the hairdressers at 9am!  we had the queens tea at 4pm and then an open top bus took the courts through Southend to the start of the carnival - how much did they love that!!

The parade finished around 10ish and we got home about 12.30!!  I have never seen somany people.  I thought there were a lot last weekend, but it was nothing compared to last night!

So today is a day of doing not a lot.  i have homemade tomato soup for lunch, made with home grown tomatoes and an afternoon of leisurely sewing ahead of me!

limited choices

having told myself very firmly that I am not allowed to buy anymore fabric for a while, I then signed up for the across the sea modern quilt along.

So now I am restricted to the fabric that I have.  This isn't a problem, as I have fat quarters waiting to be used and along with some other scraps I think I will have enough.

My dilemma is background fabric.  do I go with the white (a kingsive duvet cover from the charity shop)

Do I go with the old double sheet: a kind of light rust colour-not normally my colour, but you never know

Or go with the old curtain, a light purple

Hmmm, these pics were taken with my phone and the purple looks the same as the white!

I am thinking that the white is too pale, so its between the rust and the purple.  I feel that I should go with the rust as it is a colour I would not normally use.  I will try and get a feel over the weekend.
I will be behind on this quilt along before it even starts as we are off on holiday towards the end next week! And I still need to sort through some of my scraps to decide what other fabrics to use.

FMQ'ing

This afternoon I have been FMQ'ing - and tearing my hair out, using colourful language, throwing a strop........ but I think I am getting there.

Now, I know that all the tutorials out there say don't start on a big quilt....well, I had a biggish quilt to do, but only strips of it

I think for a first attempt its ok

This is the back, the red looks great against the yellow

This is a string quilt that Beccy made with a load of scraps when I was doing mine.  She worked like a woman possesed on the sewing machine, and then once all her blocks were done it got left!

Remember all the frustating bits? This is all of my unpicking from today :-)

this is a large ice cream tub - there are about 2 reels of thread in here!

I had times when the tension went completely wrong, for no apparant reason, resulting in lots of unpicking and my thread kept snapping.  But the more I did it the more I realised why theses mistakes were happening.  I just walked away and then came back again later.  My back and my neck are killing me - call this a fun, relaxing hobby!
I havn't finished yet, still about half to go, but I have run out of thread!

Back to work tomorrow and friday, but only for 4 hours each day, I can cope with that: and then another two weeks off!

projects

So, I caught up a bit with my hexalong yesterday.  cut out some more fabric and then sewed these two together:

These are my completed blocks, not sewn together yet. 

And here is my embroidery that I started an age ago and have picked up again, as its great to sit outside in the sun and sew (yes, we have had a few sunny days recently)

It needs an iron!

and a close up:

It is designed to use lots of different embroidery stiches, so it has been a learning curve, but one I am enjoying.  There is still a lot of work to be done though!

I have been reading Susans blog : seeing all the things she has signed up for.  What with going back to work in a few weeks and studying for my exams, I can't commit myself to swaps as I wouldn;t want to let anyone down, but she has tempted me to the Across the sea quilt along.  I have told myself that I need to cut back on the fabric I buy and to use what I have and this project could work in that department.  So I shall be signing up.

We have been to lakeside today - the girls 'needed' to visit Primark to get a few bits and bobs for our hols.  Everywhere had sales on - Debenhams in particular were great, so we have all come home happy and spent half of what we thought we would: always a good day out.  Normally I can;t stand shopping at Lakeside, but obviously the trick is to shop on a Tuesday, there was hardly anyone there!