Renovating...up-cycling...whatever

In the midst of my disjointed house renovations I find myself left with a surplus chest of drawers.  It a cheap chest but very handy as it has lots of drawers so I think I'll move it to my teeny, tiny sewing room. Unfortunately I'm no longer keen on the waxed pine look and I think it won't be great in my dark, teeny, tiny sewing room (I'm just glad to have one!).  So what's a girl to do but get out the paint brushes...

From this

Via this

To this...

Hopefully I've made it so that I can use the top of the drawers as a pressing surface eventually. I'm really pleased with this and it has worked out as I planned.  I'm also going to paint the matching large bookcase to match, but this time I'm going to use a roller!

Malvern Autumn Show

Last weekend saw my first ever visit to the Malvern Autumn Show organised by the Royal Horticultural Society.  Unfortunately the specific exhibitor I wanted to see didn't turn up but I had a lovely day anyway.  I browsed all the commercial stands, watched the dog agility competition and entertained my inner engineer with the steam powered engines.  I even strayed into the flower and competition pavilion.

There were beautiful growers' displays...

Exquisite floral competition entries...

And amazing produce entries...

These were the entries for the largest in the class, the woman sneaking into the bottom is an adult.  I don't know if growing over large and probably inedible veg is a British thing?

FNSI results

A little late posting this but I did achieve something during yesterday's FNSI.

I finally got the binding onto my cousin's daughter's quilt.  Took longer than I'd expected, but pleased with it.

I followed a binding tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co and it has definitely improved the look of my binding.

Now for something slightly different...

Over the summer I ended up going to one of those ceramics painting place that I always thought were just for kids...

...I was wrong.  After painting the first mug at the beginning of August I took my sister to another pottery painting place at the end of the month and painted the blue mug.

Barring my inability to paint a steady straight line round the rim or base I really enjoyed painting these and may find an excuse to go again in the near future!

Wedding Banner - In Use

Well I didn't manage to quilt the banner for the big day, but they were able to use it as a banner.

I'm really loving how it's turning out.

(Picture taken by Paul Pickard - www.paulpickard.com

Still growing my own...

Despite my laid back approach to gardening and fairly long periods without watering my veggie plants are doing their utmost to produce something edible (they've also produced a ridiculous amount of leaves and are slowly taking over my yard!).

Courgette

Teeny tiny green tomato

Baby butternut squash

Wedding Banner Quilt - Part 2

And the work on the quilt for my brother's wedding goes on.  Nothing like an end of the month deadline to get you moving on a king size quilt!

A large proportion of the 900+ 2.5 inch squares destined for the border

Two of the letters - one appliquéd, one not

Festival of Quilts - The Shopping

So the Festival of Quilts wasn't just about the amazing quilts, there were also loads of vendors stands some of which I couldn't resist...

The little item with the hearts on is a needle case I won in a lucky dip.  This was especially lucky as for the past 15 years I've been using a little scrap of felt to hold my needles.  The needle case is going to seem like luxury after that!

Festival of Quilts 2014 - The Quilts

Warning picture heavy...

My sister and I visited the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham today and were amazed by the stunning quilts on display.  Here's a small selection which caught my eye...

Fire and Ice - Claudia Pfeil

Skull Optics - Paula Rafferty

Mum's a Star - Michele Clarke and Margaret Routledge

Fish at Sea - Pam Stanier and Quilter's Trading Post

The Brightness - Kazue Iwahashi ... Hand quilted!

Autumn Gold - Heather Bentley ... a close up of one of the log cabin blocks

Paris - Anna-Karin Andermo

David - Gillian Theokritoff

Harlequin Star - Jess Williams

And finally, a full size, actually working, quilted Grandfather Clock by Kate Crossley

Wedding Banner Quilt - Part 1

Well I've finally bit the bullet and made a serious start on the banner/quilt for my brother's wedding...which is taking place on 23 Aug this year!!!!!

I've had the fabric since April and started drafting the letters in July.  With a few hours effort I now have slightly more to show...

The drafted letters...

Transferred to bonda web type stuff...

Ironed onto the fabrics and cut out.

I'm feeling so much more enthusiastic and confident about this quilt now I've really started. Love how the letters look.  Need a few more fat quarters but it's definitely looking promising.

4th August

"The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime" 
  - Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Minister, 4th August 1914

Friday-ish Night Sew-ish In

Well after the two hour commute home last night I was just too tired to sew, FNSI or not.  So I postponed my FNSI efforts until tonight (Saturday).

To tell the truth no sewing happened on Saturday either.  I decided that my most pressing project was the quilt/banner for my brother's wedding. So I spent the majority of my evening designing templates for the appliqué letters whilst watching Hunger Games.

I never realised how tricky designing these letters would be, although I think I've pretty much got the simple letters sorted.  The letter G is flummoxing me a little, and I'm trying to avoid thinking about &!

I also squeezed in a few slow rows of knitting...

May actually get a sock finished this year!

So not a traditional FNSI but a very productive one in its way.

FNSI approaches...

This blog has been a lot quieter than I intended this month.  I haven't been busy crafting though, it seems as though I have so much I should be doing (including non crafty stuff) that I have no idea where to start.  Hopefully FNSI will give me the kick I need!

If you want to sign up too there's still time, just pop round to see Wendy at Sugarlane Quilts ... here