Friday Night Sew In Result

Well my Friday night sew in didn't go quite as planned as I didn't get home till late due to being stuck in a multi storey car park for about an hour and a half.

But I did spend a very productive hour (from 9.30pm) sewing, getting the borders done for my sewing class.  And here is what I had to show for my efforts this morning...

Nothing particularly exciting but very important for today's class.

Hoprfully I'll have something more exciting to show for next Friday's sew-in!

Friday Night Sew In

Seeing as my planned Friday night finish off the borders sewing session coincides with the first 'Friday Night Sew In' of this month, on 10 Dec, I thought I may as well join in (and hopefully not get too much inspiration for craft items for my ever growing to do list!)

Click here to go to Heidi FNS page.

Now off to figure out how to get it so you can click on the image and if feeling really adventurous how to add a badge to the side of my blog.

Edited to add - Wow both tasks achieved minimal stress.  I am becoming a computer geek!

As Promised...

A few photos of what I've been up to this weekend.

I cut the rectangles and triangles which make up these...

Unpressed

Pressed (see there is a difference!)

I have made enough for all four borders and sewn together two, all bar the little bit of tweaking and bodging require to make them fit the top...I have a plan.  Which I will put into place next Friday evening all being well.

I also couldn't resist starting this...

Can you tell what it is yet?

And now I'm taking a break as due to ironing all my ironing pile and the pressing of all the quilt pieces my back is aching.  Actually I should get on with some studying (and pray to the god of tumble driers that my bedding is dry soon).



A Little More Fabric...

Cause you can never have enough!

Actually I've had this stuff a little while and reckoned I'd better share with you all what I plan to make Ganny's quilt out of seeing as I'm not the only one contributing towards this.

Not sure if the picture is big enough for you to make out the patterns on each piece of fabric but the tones all go (actually if you click on the picture you may be better able to make out the designs).

On a totally unrelated note am loving the Sunday afternoon films on ITV3 recently, historical dramas from the 60s - The Lion in Winter last week and Anne of a Thousand Days this week - wonderful on a gloomy afternoon.  Haven't been totlaly concentrating on the film this afternoon as I am cutting, piecing and bidding on E Bay - busy me.  Hopefully I shall have some pressed WIPs to show later in the week courtesy of all this effort.

Oh Bother!

So I haven't actually finished a quilt made wholly by me yet but I think I've found another on to add to my to make list and I'm not actually sure how I came across it (the internet is a horrible enabler!).

Anyway the quilt I want to make eventually is a Cathedral Windows quilt and for future reference there's an excellent tutorial here - Hyena's Tutorial with a little guide on machine sewing it all here - Ballerina's Tutorial

Not one that will be done quickly and I can slowly collect appropriate scraps but it will be stunning.  I hope everyone's happy to receive quilted stuff from me over the next few years!

And One More Makes Twelve

As mentioned in my last post I've tracked down one more print in the Wee Woodland range in the turquoise colourway in the UK.  And here it is...

And now to put all these lovely fabrics away until probably the New Year when I will have finished the log cabins and hopefully one or two other unfinished items.

I'm Not Addicted to Fabric...Not At All...

Well I had been doing a bit of browsing to find some fabric to make a quilt for a baby, gender as yet unknown.  Found a lovely tutorial on A Quilt is Nice and then had to find some suitably quirky fabric.  I came across Keiki's Wee Woodland for Moda and I think it's perfect and so gorgeous.

I may have bought another small piece of the range in turquoise too.  Must resist starting this as have some more urgent ones to do.  Have now got all the fabrics for Ganny's quilt so I will hopefully have chance to work on both log cabins on my next free weekend.

And just so you can see a complete contrast here is my first ever machine sewn quilt top.

Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it, it's definitely unique.  Finishing it would probably help and it would be really good if I could bind int in the brights but I'm not sure I have enough scraps and I haven't seen these sold as yardage.



Warm Feet ... Eventually!

Courtesy of some rather good TV on Saturday night I actually made a small amount of progress on one of my to do list projects.

If you look hard you can just make out the pattern.  The yarn is nice, a silk wool mix in plain black from Regia (I think), so far not finding it too tricky working in black but I may be speaking too soon.  I am about halfway down the leg of the first sock.  As with most my craft projects (and other stuff) I really need to dedicate some quality time to getting these finished before Winter's over.  I need more hours in the day (or a longer weekend - I know what I'm doing over Xmas leave!)

A little more progress

During a trip to my local fabric shop I was reminded that I have a little over a month to do the homework on my log cabin quilt.  Considering I only sew at weekends and I am planning to spend a large proportion of the next month's weekends out and about I thought I'd better forgo the woodwork reconstruction in my bathroom and get some sewing done.

I've got some nice looking but somewhat tricky borders to make and, as I'm making another huge quilt, I've got a lot of bits to piece.

Made a pleasing start with 2 hours effort but I may have to unpick some due to wonky seams.

See what you think...

Going to have to set some serious time aside for Ganny's quilt.

Success!

Three weeks ago my brother came to visit to change my naff and somewhat broken taps.  After 24 hours, one leak, cold water that wouldn't isolate fully, trips into the loft without a torch and the purchase of a large quantity of plumbing supplies we both left the flat with the taps in place, a limited amount of cold water and fingers crossed there'd be no leaks.


I returned to the flat in some trepidation and I was greeted by ...

... my beatiful taps.  No leaks in sight and after a minor tweak plenty of cold water.  On the otherhand the fridge was a totally different matter!!! And I think I've figured out how to isolate the water in my flat without visiting the loft.

And Seize Up!

So my second attempt at the Great South Run took place today, preceded by a week with a stinking cold.  Woke up and felt better than I had done all week, then had the entertainment of melting the ice off my windscreen (hello I'm on the south coast what was that all about??), and managed to find a good parking space and pay for it before my phone conked out.

The day was glorious but set off too nervously because I thought I'd aggravate my cold.  However got into my slow b ut steady rhythm and managed it in 2 hrs 11 mins and a bit.  Unfortunately slower than last year and much slower than I wanted to be, but I DID IT and managed to raise, so far, £250 for Sefarers UK - not too bad all in all.

Breakfast of Choice

For once not a post about craft, instead I thought I'd share with you the "recipe" for what I consider to be the most luscious breakfast ever (at the moment anyway).  You need about 20 hazlenuts, 2 teaspoons of runny honey and low (zero) fat greek yoghurt.  Put all the ingredientd in a bowl* (or if you're like me and are limited in those then a cup will do) and mix. Eat, enjoy and feel full till lunch.  This is a reallyu nice breakfast with the only warning being be a little stingy with the honey - this can get too sweet very easily.
I would take a photo but it just looks like lumpy yoghurt!

*If you're using a small, individual pot of greek yoghurt then you can miss out the bowl stage and just tip everything straight into the yoghurt.  It's best to give the yoghurt a quick stir first though.

And The Winner Is...

So another weekend and another Saturday spent sewing at Nimble Thimble.  Session 2 in the Log Cabin course was complete and I finished the central panel of my log cabin quilt.  And the design I eventually chose was...

Somewhat conventional but effective. And with a little persuasion I managed to get all of the seams to match perfectly (as you may be able to see); perhaps my sewing isn't as wonky as I thought.  Next step thin and pieced borders - how to cut 2 and a half inch strips almost 2 metres long?

And on a related note a slight changes in plans regarding the colourway of Ganny's Xmas quilt - rather than red and purple I think I will have to settle for the more conventional red and cream colour combination.