Belated Day Three and Merry Xmas

I have been busy enjoying a family Xmas break in Wales; sorry for leaving the progress of my Ganny's quilt hanging but finishing it as much as I could turned into a last minute rush.

But this is as far as I got...

Not as big as I thought it would be but it can be used both as a lap quilt and on her bed.  My Ganny liked it, I felt kind of mean taking it away from her but hopefully I'll get this finished by the end of the month.  Having  a nightmare getting hold of the plain red to make the inner border, seems everyone has sold out of it.

Whilst waiting I have been working on my other two quilts in progress.  Re-quilting, and then re-re-quilting, my log cabin quilt - I'm taking a little time getting used to machine quilting.  And I have been trying to make a suitable binding for my neon quilt from the leftover bits of the jelly roll strips.

I think it'll work if I have enough fabric.

Day 2

Next time I decide to hand make Xmas presents I am either going to start earlier or make sure that the days before Xmas don't involve an extra day and a half at work, regular trips to a repair garage or even a hair appointment.  As you may have gathered my progress hasn't been as good as I wanted, not helped by the news that one local quilt shop is out of the red fabric I need for the border and that the other is closed due to snow (for some reason Milton Keynes seems to have been totally avoided by ploughs and gritters - even the M1).

Excuses over I have actually achieved something today...

Sorry about the dingy picture but the flash makes the white way too bright.  I have several finished off squares and all the rest are in various states of completedness.  I will have some form of quilt top to show Ganny for Xmas.  I have also managed to wrap some presents tonight, luckily the majority of what I have bought are sensible shape presents!  Usually I love wrapping presents but this year I just can't seem to settle to it. Didn't get round to taking any snows phots either but trust me it is very beautiful (and cold) round here.

Day One

Of my get something presentable made for Ganny for Xmas challenge (chances of actually finishing it are zero).  Unfortunately due to having to regularly visit the garage for more poorly car and badly palnned hairdressers appointments, and the need to sleep, I cannot dedicate the whole 72 hours to it.  But my lovely new shiny sewing machine is so quiet I can start earlier and carry on later than I was previously able to.


And what did I achieve today?

It's quite hard to see but that's 48 squares in various stages of construction.  I've got a good little production line going but do need to cut some more fabric.  Aim for tomorrow is to finish all 48 and to start constructing the top.  And I must wrap some presents, usually I've got them done by now.


And just because I think it's gorgeous...

My Xmas tree. I've got  real thing about buying decorations for it - I try and get 2 or 3 new ones each year.
Looks like it has snowed again here, off the beaten track we must have 6 to 8 inches (which is a lot for here).  Will try and post some photos tomorrow.

FNSI 2 Results

Less than impressive results this week even though I did get home earlier than expected.

But it's all esseintial prep seeing as I have about 2 and a half days to finish at least the top.  EEEEK!!

FNSI 2

Well seeing as I actually achieved something for the last one I thought I'd sign up for the second FNSI of the month.  Although again I may be slightly time limited by the journey home (and the fact my poor car has a trip to the mechanic that day to try and sort out it's drink problem).

Anyway details of the 17 Dec FNSI can be found here...

Ooh look a working linky picture thing at the first attempt!  I must really start finding out what else I can do on this blog to personalise it.

A Wonderfully Productive Weekend

After a relatively slow start at the FNSI I have been on a roll this weekend.  The final class for my log cabin quilt at Nimble Thimble saw me trying out my quilting skills for the very first time.  It went ok except my machine doesn't like sewing for long periods of time and the tension goes weird and the stitching on the underside is all loopy.  I only realised this had happened on my quiltonce I had done a fair amount of quilting so first job today was unpicking that.  Still got some to do.

Work in progress

Front

(Where you can just about make out the quilting lines - sorry about the colours,energy saving bulbs and a flat camera battery)

Back

(Look closely at the centre)

I've even managed to put a small dent in Ganny's Xmas quilt, make 16 Xmas muffins and get loads of sleep.  A very productive weekend I'd say.



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.