Christmas Blessings

May God Bless all my stitching friends at this special time of Celebration and thanksgiving.  For those who are sad I pray for God's comfort.  love Barbara xx

How far...QAL,cushion, ALQS7

Hi everyone.  I have been busy lately, with a little home decorating.  Well, my very able daughter No 1 did the work, and I was her lovely assistant :)   I have however done some sewing.  I made Grandaughter a trick or treat bag, but forgot to take a pic.  I will try to put that right this week.  I am trying very hard to keep up with the How far will you go QAL.  It rained all afternoon today, soooo.....I got to sew.  Here is block 9 Dutch Rose.  Not as good as I would like, but with a little lot of reverse stitching I reached a point where I had to be satisfied with less than perfect. Dont look too close.

I also made a little cushion for a friend who will be 80 tomorrow.  I made my variation of a pattern of Jenny of Elephantz.  It is from her free Promises and Borders BOM.  Thank you Jenny for your inspirational designs.

I also removed the beads from this small quilt and re-applied them so they all lie the same way.  It is ready to wing its way to a new home soon.   I am looking forward to making my final list of favourites from ALQS7.  Although I dont know how I will choose.  They are all so beautiful. Good night  Bx

caught up

I have been busy trying to catch up with my blocks for How far will you go QAL.  I have been enjoying it so much, even, and especially when I get it all wrong and still like the results.  Dont know if I am breaking all the rules here, but I am having fun doing it. Roll on Friday when I get the next block pattern.

This is the one where I went wrong........

...it should look like this.   Do you see what is different.  The wrong un is going anticlockwise because I made my 'diamond' the wrong way.  I do like it tho, so am going to keep it in my quilt.

We got new floor covering in the kitchen because of damage from a leaking water pipe, so we felt that the pets water bowl needed something more posh than yesterday's newspaper to sit on.  The reason for the paper was Amber's habit of pulling the bowl with her paw so she could watch the water move (and slop over the side).  Sooooo.....I cut a towel in half and made a couple of mats with doggie fabric I had just hanging around.  Amber doesnt seem to mind that there are no cats on view.  She thinks she is human anyway.  She always comes to the kitchen when the kettle is turned on.  Do you think she would like a cup of tea.

Amber cat and Penny Dachsie .......there's that camera again....cant she just sit down with a cuppa...Good Idea.  x x

A rescue and QAL

Hello Ladies (and gents if any)

Now where do I start.  First of all. I finally got aroung to trying to rescue my little quilt.  Remember the small tragedy of the melted ric rac?  I unpicked the melty ric rac, washed the quilt and dried it.  The smear of red melted ric rac is still there, if you look closely.  I havent added any more trim, as I am still deciding what to do. 

goodbye melty ric rac

Also, I am taking part in How far will you go QAL by Jess of Scrappy-n-happy and Jess of the elven garden .  It is an eye opener for me.  I have done so much ripping out  reverse stitching, and still not happy with some blocks.  I realise paper piecing and I have a long way to go.....but we're getting there slowly.

Here's my tale of block 4. The St Louis Star.

I havent done much in the way of paper piecing, so it took a while to get my head around where to place the fabric ( Jess, I didnt follow your method.....bad quilter)

I kept going, and behold I made something that looked really good (in my eyes)

I think I could get to like this :) :)

THE NEXT STAGE I DIDNT PHOTOGRAPH.  I couldnt get all those centre points to meet nicely. Boo Hoo :(

So out came the seam ripper....or to be exact my fine embroidery scissors.

Stitched once more I could  hardly bear to peep after ironing it

It's still not great.   Such a lovely block deserves better than this.

I'm not ripping again though.  Thankfully I need only one of these, sooooo upward and onward. I have one of block five to make and three of block six to catch up. 

I am enjoying this QAL so much though.  Thank you Jess and Jess.

ALQS7

I made this little quilt for A Little Quilt Swop 7.  It is a dresden plate machined to a cinnamon background. Some random straight line quilting and hand stitched stars. Also little red beads on the points, which I may remove and restitch so the hole in the bead is not looking straight at you :(

A tragedy..just a small one.

As tragedys go it is a mere blip, but I could have cried.  I saw a pattern for a little quilt by a lady called Helen Hazon.  I liked it, so tried my version with fabrics from my stash collection of fabric.  All seemed to be going well.  Helen's version had black ric rac.  I had some RED which matched my dark fabric.

I added a touch of colour to the back.

When I mark fabric I use frixion pens by Pilot.  The marks can be removed after stitching by applying heat ie a hairdryer or AN IRON :(

I usually blow warm air on, it works a charm.  This time I thought I would give it a pat with THE IRON.

DISASTER..........my ric rac melted....it wasnt cotton...the IRON got covered in red melted ric rac and transferred it to my geese. 

 I'm too far on to start and rip back.  I will keep it and love it but feeling BAD.

That's me... today... 11th August 2012.

Another lesson learned the hard way:[

update No 2

June passed.  I did a little stitching. No photos, sorry.  July, and No 1 daughter had a significant birthday.

Grandson is getting taller and taller.  The garden is enjoying all the rain, even if we grumble.

I joined in with Jess & Jess's how far will you Go QAL.  Here is my first block.

August already.

Off to Longleat Safari Park with No.1 D. and Grandaughter.

                                  

                                            The orangerie, where we had snacks in the cafe.

Feeding a giraffe......a lifetime dream for Sarah.

                                           View of Longleat House from the boat on the lake.

PATCH at the play area.  Patch was made by Sarah with a little help from granny B.  She pieced scraps and cut the pattern from the resulting fabric, hence his name.  He came on holiday with us and was photographed in many unusual places.

                                                                        The steam train.

Stonehenge, not far from Longleat.

                                                                            We had a great time.
                                            Update No 2 brings me fairly up to date.  Next blog.......a tragedy ;)      

Summer update No 1

Ok. So I need to blog. I'll not get away with reading all your lovely blogs forever, and not blogging myself, so here goes.
                        First of all I have no excuses.......welllll...maybe laziness, does that count.

This is part of the campus of Galway University where The International Quilt Festival of Ireland was held for the first time.  I spent 3 days here in June, and was overwhelmed by the quilts and fabric items I saw. This is the Quilt village Mayor in his Irish Tweed waistcoat.

He was very friendly, and we had a long chat and examined that waistcoat, as my friend Chris wanted to make one....she even bought the tweed at the traders market.

Here is Chris in the quilted flower garden.  As well as quilts there were flowers of every shape and size made from fabric.  The basket was even made from woven fabric tubes.

Yes the tulips are fabric too.  I am sorry I cant identify the makers of these beautiful items, as I was so overwhelmed by the beautiful quilts I didnt take note of the quilters names.  So, if you see any of your work here let me know.

The quilters chocolate shop had chocolate themed quilts including this huge cupcake

and a beautiful quilt which I cant see in my photos.  This one is lovely too. Will add the other if I find it.

These small hands were sent as greeting from all over the world. They were displayed in the reception foyer. I had a great weekend with a group of ladies I had never met before, and made some new quilty friends.  I have loads of pics, but my photography is not good, so I will have to improve on that. 

 OK, update Number 1. love to all. Plan to blog again soon. B.

How far will you go? QAL

http://scrappy-n-happy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/how-far-will-you-go-qal.html
 There it is. This looks like a great QAL to take part in.  I'm going to give it a try :-)

DOUBLE

Ok, so I posted the same thing twice.  Now you know how much I really look forward to this.

ALQS7

I was glad to see Kate has brought us No.7 of A Little Quilt Swop.  Looking forward to that. 

ALQS7

Looking forward to taking part in this again.

Beautiful Birthday Giveaway

http://www.elefantz.com/2012/05/tea-anyone-and-giveaway.html
I know I havent blogged recently.  Have had a busy sad time as we said goodbye to Auntie.  She passed away 13th April after a few months illness at the grand old age of 87.  I couldnt help passing on this link for Jenny's giveaway.  Auntie always said when we visited, Make yourself a cup of tea.  Memories.

A winter day

It was cold....I wanted to make something.....I didnt want to fuss with measuring...I had these scraps of soft flannel. Sooooo......I sewed and snipped and sewed and snipped.   I didnt even change the thread in the machine...it was black.  I had a satisfying little time to myself, and made a....... 

CUSHION

It is lovely and cosy.  Not a work of art, but cosy.  Satisfied? YES.

Quilt Festival

I have just booked to visit the International Quilt Festival of Ireland........excited.
My local quilt shop The Cotton Shed is taking a group for 3 days to the Festival at Galway University campus.  Cant wait. 

January too

I forgot to say about this.  I was able to wash my Christmas throw and put it out in the fresh air to dry.  This is an almost impossible thing for this time of year usually. However I did have to finish it off indoors, and it smells so fresh...mmmmh!  I love things dried outside.

January

The first of January I took a walk in my favourite park after an inspiring church service. It was beautiful as usual, but in a middle of winter way.  Why does Blogger do that to my photos.  I had it upright, but it imported lying on its side.

I did a little Practical sewing this week for a friend who needed 3 bags to store church offerings in before they are counted and banked.

I had a little play with a windmill block which I hand sewed.  It's ok, but I think I need practice.

Of course, like many others, I put away the Christmas decorations.  This is one of my favourites. A little lamp which was a gift from some good friends a few years ago.  I would nearly be tempted to keep it out.  It is so cute.  However, I look forward to enjoying it next year,

I have so many things I would like to start, never mind the things I should finish.  Lets just see how my year pans out.  love to all, Bx