Lucie Summers Workshop

Hello Blog, sorry I have been neglecting you. It is hard to keep up with working, crafting and blogging, I can never seem to balance all three.

Today I had the BEST time at a workshop with Lucie Summers organised through the London Modern Quilt Guild. Lucie is the most lovely person and made us all so welcome in her beautiful home. She had created screens for us from designs we had emailed to her and it was so exciting to be able to make our own labels. I went a bit totally crazy and screen printed like a mad woman, I now have so many labels I will be able to label everything I make for the rest of my life!!! I made them in loads of different colours on different fabrics, here are some of them.

Not only did we get to make the quilt labels Lucie also let us use some of her screens to print our own fabrics......I feel a quilt coming on.......

Thank you so much Lucie for a wonderful workshop!



WIP Wednesday

YAY! Lots of progress this week!!! I am so pleased to have managed to put together one whole quilt top and baste, quilt and begin binding another one. So happy to have these nearly done :) particularly as they have been WIPs for over a year, it is such a good feeling to have them done.

Firstly let me apologise for the quality of these photos. I had dreams of taking my quilt tops out to the park and photographing them in the sunlight but it has been rainy and miserable all week so I have just photographed them in my flat. They are a bit dark as a result.

Anyhow first up is the FMF. All basted and quilted by little old me. The binding is about a quarter done, there will be a few evenings of hand-stitiching in front of the telly for me to finish it up.

I have backed the whole quilt with pink eyelet yumminess! Thank goodness for the re-issue of Flea Market Fancy

Is it ever possible to get a quilt picture without a cat?

Next up I sewed together all my string blocks to make this massive quilt, it is absolutely HUGE!!!

I photographed this quilt hanging from my wardrobe and it drapes on the floor it is so big.

This is going to the longarm quilter to be quilted. I initially thought I would quilt it myself and even bought the wadding but when I realised how big it was I decided there was no way I could manage it in my little machine. I am just trying to decide what fabric I should use to back it - any suggestions?

Thanks to Charlotte for letting me know that her string quilt had solid strips that were not quite straight but looked good in the end. That really encouraged my to finish it up and she is right, I can tell it is not perfect but I overall I am really pleased with it.

This weeks stats:

Quilted and being bound

•  FMF quilt

Tops completed and awaiting quilting

• Punctuation String quilt
• Star quilt

Completed

• cardi for Molly

No Progress this week

circle of flying geese quilt pillows

Amy Butler skirt

guinevere gloves

yellow and grey quilt

crochet blanket

Completed projects - 1

New Projects Started - 0

Currently in Progress - 8

 Have a great week!

Review of the Month

Hmmm, A while ago I decided to review a book every month and include a project I had made from the book. Unfortunately in between trying to get projects finished, keeping up with Bee commitments and visiting the pandas I haven't managed to make a project from this book - shameful but I am going to post the review anyhow because it is such a good book. I will try to do some of my favourite blocks from the book and post pics of them this weekend.

Modern Blocks: 99 quilt blocks from your favourite designers

Compiled by Susanne Woods

This is an excellent book full of fabulous ideas for modern quilt blocks. There are a staggering range of block styles including unusual pleated blocks, stylish paper-pieced blocks, traditional cathedral window blocks, and designs that include embroidery and appliqué, in short, something for everyone.  The designs range from very simple, beginner’s blocks to more complex blocks and all come with clear instructions and templates. If you are looking for inspiration for a quilt project or searching for blocks to choose for a quilting bee you will certainly be able to find a wonderful design in this book. The book shows only the blocks but I would love to have seen examples of them made up into quilts.

My favourite blocks included Three Wishes, Megan’s Star and Windmill. If you are feeling inspired you can even join the Modern Blocks Quilt-Along over at Seamed Up   http://seamedup.com/home/111207/quilt-along-how  

I would highly recommend this book; it is a really useful resource, full of inspiration for the modern quilter.

Progress - at last

Well I have finally finished all the blocks for my string quilt!!!!!!!! 1 Gold star for me :)

I am so delighted to be done with them and ready to start sewing them together. I trimmed them all up then suddenly rememberd why I abandoned this project in the first place, some of the solid strips in the middle are not straight and I have realised will not line up accurately. However I have decided I am going to go ahead and just get it done - an imperfect quilt is better than 48 quilt blocks sitting in a cupboard!!!

Hello, I am back :)

Hello, I have been away this week in Edinburgh having a sewing free week. The most exciting part of my week was seeing the Giant Pandas in Edinburgh Zoo. I really wanted to see them but was a little worried I would be disappointed (you know that feeling when you see something you have always wanted to see and think "well it looks exactly like I thought it would"?).

As the pandas are so popular you need to book a time in advance and can only go at that time. On the day I booked the weather was horrible, snowing, sleeting, chucking down rain and I realised I had a hole in the sole of my shoe, so I was squelching around the Zoo in wet socks, with cold feet feeling pretty miserable but glad that there were lots of indoor areas where you could view the animals. I spent ages watching the monkeys in the warmth waiting for my allocated time slot then had to queue up in the rain again to wait to see the pandas. When I finally got to see them they were sound asleep, curled up in their little beds (lets face it I would have done the same thing given the weather). They looked so cute I was not disappointed.

The male panda asleep

The sleeping female panda - aren't those ears just adorable!

After we watched them for a while the lovely Zoo staff decided to feed the pandas - joy! The female didn't stir but the male got up and had lunch, he was so sweet the way he walked around and ate his food. I was completely smitten, look how lovely he is.

I was really glad I saw them, it is wonderful to see such a lovely and unique animal.

The rest of the time was spent in Edinburgh and Glasgow, sightseeing and shopping, my favourite find was this cushion from a vintage shop for the bargain price of £6. I completely love it.

While it is lovely to go away I am always glad to come home. I will leave you now with some pictures of my balcony pots which are flowering beautifully. As a child I had the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady and was intrigued by the Snake's Head Fritillary so I am thrilled to now have these growing on my balcony.

(can you see the cat on the other side of the window - never one to miss a photo opportunity!)

Have a great week

Just Three Things

So TracyJay has come up with this brilliant idea of just three things, each month you write down three thingsyou will complete and at the end of the month reflect on how much you achieved. I love this idea as I keep starting new stuff and end up with little piles of crafting projects around my flat and an overwhelming sense of panic about craft overtaking my life. Actually this year I have been doing pretty well with finishing projects but lately little new projects began creeping in. First a couple of LMQG challenges, then a paper piecing project, then some knitted handwarmers and I'm starting to lose focus so just three things is exactly what I need.

My three things are

Finish the three quilts I have almost finished

1. Finish the remaining 9 blocks for this one and send it off to the longarm quilter (at least that way it will get done!)

2. Quilt this one now I have lots of pink eyelets fabric for the back

3. Send this one to the longarm quilter too. I have pretty delilah fabric for the back and I think it will look lovely with flowery quilting. I am not expecting these to come back before the end of the month, just sending them off will be my achievement.

Now that seems achievable........must remember to focus :}





I love cardis

So I finally finished the little cardi I was knitting for my niece. She lives in Australia so it should reach her in time for the cooler weather as they go into Autumn and Winter. I am really pleased with how it turned out - despite the constant kitten attacks!

I'm also really pleased to have finished it. For me the worst part of any knitting project is finishing it. I hate stitching it together and weaving all the ends in. I have an irrational fear that everything I make will fall apart. I don't know why I always feel like this since I have some pretty spectacular numbers I knitted in the 80's that are still in one piece (not that I would ever wear them now!!!). My sister calls it craft anxiety - an irrational fear that everything will fall apart and come unravelled or worse will never be finished - EEEEEKK I feel a panic attack coming on!

So the little handmade gifts for her first easter are the cardi and the bunny, hope she likes them.

 I'm off to buy some lego for my nephew to include in the parcel now. I was going to make him something but apparently he loves lego which is good for me as I never, ever have lego anxiety ;)