Just a tiny Perv

Fractured Oakshott, a photo by Emily Levey on Flickr.

More work on my fractured quilt in the pervalong with Charlotte. It may be tiny but it is growing.

I am SO glad I joined in with this, having so much fun and getting just a little impatient for the next bit on Monday when I get to start adding the other colours!

Watch out, here comes the 'C' word....

yep.....Christmas!!!!!

I have been getting into the festive mood early this year, a couple of weeks ago a friend came over for a little workshop to make an advent calender. She had seen mine, made quite a few years ago, and fancied one for her own little family

I taught her how to cut her fabric, baste, free machine quilt and bind....all in a morning! She hadn't used a sewing machine since school. She was very happy and I was very relieved that it went well!

In fact she enjoyed herself so much she is coming back next weekend for another go and this time she is bringing other ladies with her! I decided I had better make another sample, something a bit more professional looking! The one above was made before I had 'learnt' how to free machine quilt or put on binding so it was all 'made-up' leaving the finish a little lacking.

This time I used a quilt as you go method and made little pockets for each day, I finally got to try out one of the fancy stitches on my new machine too. I just love the blanket stitch, I have always wanted a machine with this and I got a kick out of sewing on every single one of these 24 pockets, honest!!

I have yet to decide whether to add a pot to the bottom of this calender.

So mince pies, mulled wine and Michael Buble (just the CD, not the man unfortunately) on standby, we'll be pretending its Christmas next Saturday!

Finish me!!!

I really cannot beleive we are already at the 4th and final quarter of the year, it seems only yesterday I was writing the very first list!

I am so thankful to Rhonda for organising the FAL, I love to be busy but I can often get distracted, the FAL has really helped me to keep in mind what NEEDS doing, rather than what I want to do.

This final quarter is a mixture of both of those things.

1. Liberty Mini Quilt - A want to do! 2 more blocks to make, then quilt and bind

2. Dresden Mini - A want to do! Just needs binding

3. Mouthy Stitches Tote - A Must do! Finish quilting and assemble and send

4. Pay it Forward - A Must do! I still have one of these to do and send

5. Modern Stitching Bee Quilt - A Want to do! As long as I have all the blocks in and the money for the wadding/backing, I would really like this top made, quilted and bound by the end of the year.#

6. Birthday present to be made/finished - A must do! For my Nan.

Hmmm, this list seems very very short for me, there must be something glaringly obvious I have forgotten! Of course the Aneela Sample quilt is not on here, mostly because I am quite sure I am not going to have the money for wadding this side of Christmas, I've just had my last days work of the year at the racecourse cancelled due to a flooded course, that means no money for the preschool bill let alone wadding, arrgghhhhhhh!

I'll leave you with a little photo of a secret project I've been working on this week, this little beauty is a tiny 4" high! You'll get to see more next week, promise!

Spitting Feathers

I have a very important family party coming up next month....a 50th Wedding Anniversary and I wanted to make the special couple (Graham's Aunt and Uncle) something very special too.

I was highly influenced by this beautiful picture I saw on Facebook, adding in the crazy patchwork border to make it a mini quilt. 

I decided that this mini needed some really special quilting, feathers infact, because they are lets say, an older couple, I thought the more traditional feathers would be perfect. That and I am obsessed with getting them right!

I stippled the centre of the quilt and feather quilted the outer border with hearts in each corner. This is where the spitting begins. I am VERY pleased with my feathers, smug in fact. BUT I am really annoyed they are not more prominent, all that effort and they are barely visible.

I have decided that it is the scale that is causing the problem, if the stippling has been much smaller and tighter the feathers would have stood out more perhaps?

Watch out, shameless boasting of feathers coming, which are best viewed from the back, honestly!

Oh well, hopefully they will still like it and appreciate the work that has gone into into it. Next time, better feathers and an exercise in learning to be less self-critical!!

Bee-autiful!!

I'm playing at being Queen for a day a month in the Modern Stitching Bee.

This is my first ever time as a queen bee and the possibility of all those blocks I could get my wonderful bee mates to make me was just overwhelming!

I did finally settle on a block design however

I was mostly motivated by my jealousy of everyone else's stashes, that and my love of stars! I was worried about how lots of blocks made from potentially different white solids would work together....I know from the birdie stitches quilt that even a subtle variation in white can be quite obvious when a top is assembled. The perfect solution was to reverse the block, having the star in white. This way the different white will not be next to each other AND I get a little bit of everyone's gorgeous fabrics to swoon over!

I have some amazing bee mates, they are very talented, funny and sweet. My first blocks arrived on Saturday from my friend Nicky, the 6th of the month no less, wasn't she quick off the mark! And they look splendid with my test blocks too :-)

I found time at the weekend for a little solitary stitching and managed to almost make my Nan's birthday present, bar putting in the ribbon (a lined drawstring bag using Jeni's tutorial). More on that soon when it is completed....I also finished off the panel for the front of my Mouthy Stitches 2 tote, the rest of the pieces are cut

I am hoping to quilt and assemble the bag later this week once I have some pennies to buy the batting, I seemed to have cleared my bank account out on Saturday at noon ;-)

Secret Perv

I forgot to mention that I'm taking part in the Pervalong with Charlotte. Perhaps it is because I really don't have time for starting yet another new project, perhaps it is because I feel guilty getting new fabric for a project that isn't necessary when we are broke. But Charlotte was so lovely helping me work out how to supplement my Oakshott Bundle in the cheapest way I just couldn't resist perving too!

I made up my first two sections last night, not knowing I was on the cusp of coming down with an almighty cold (seriously how can a cold not be there one minute and be full blown an hour later!). I did struggle a little, I think it was the germs though, I had to unpick one seam, not great with a 1.5 stitch length and Oaskhott which is quite thin and frays easily! I also noticed when photographing it today that I forgot to trim down one of the seam allowances and I can see it showing through, oops!

Still, this is a very big departure from my usual piecing, although I am comfortable paper piecing this solids and style really are making it feel like I am doing something completely new which is fun!

I am really looking forward to getting more of the darker colours on this and seeing how they play together, it is reminding me of a sort of 'red sky at night.... Shepards delight' implosion - hopefully you'll see what I mean as I add more of the red and crimson solids.

The Quilt Group coffee morning was nice (got I hate that word!) lets just say the cake and tea were delicious, the quilts less to my taste and the fabric on offer even less so! It was nice to get out and see some new faces, I was the youngest there by about 30 years I'd say! But unless I take a sudden liking for needle turn and frumpy fabrics I don't think I am going to be a regular! That said the principle of quilting is the same not matter what fabric you use so I have said I will join them for a meeting in January when Juliette starts pre-school full days, they've asked me to bring some of my quilts for show and tell, I wonder what they'd make of Perv?!!!!

Third Quarter FAL Linky Do-Dah and a Boast!

The other day I boasted that I had completed most of my FAL list for the third quarter, my original targets are here, now it is time to confirm those finishes!

1. My BQS3 mini quilt need to be finished, quilted and bound - DONE!

 

2. My embroidery on the Frame Purse swap needs finishing and the purse making up - DONE!

3. Finish and donate the Wiggly Bags - DONE!

4. See if I can finish the top for the Aneela mini quilt, that is dependant on obtaining the fabric I need - DONE!

Not so mini any more is it? But that is thanks to all the scraps you wonderful lovely ladies sent me, you know who you are, thank you so much! Now watch out, here comes the boast! My quilt top was only featured on the one and only Aneela Hoey's blog yesterday, whooooooooooooooooooo!!!

5. Choose and make up sample blocks for my month of the Modern Stitching Bee - DONE! 

I did change my mind from my original sample, but I am so glad I did!

 

6. Make my Mums birthday present (can't say what it is because she reads this lol!) - DONE!

7. Catch up on the Zakka sew along for the weeks I missed - FAIL!

I did manage a few of the projects but I didn't quite get them all done!

Rather good in all I think!

I've got a treat this afternoon, a local quilting group are having a coffee morning at my village hall, with displays, stalls and demonstrations, I am popping up whilst the wee one is a pre-school for a slice of cake and a nosey at what they get upto! So excited, she only goes for 2 hours a week and the fact that this is on whilst she is there (next door to the hall!) is such a lucky coincidence :-)