Last week in pictures

As promised here is the insane amount of sewing I got done last week!

Excuse the instagram photos (whoops, I forgot to mention, I fell for instagram! You can find me @lovestrawberrypatch)

From top to bottom there is:

1. Fractured Oakshott Finished
2. Christmas Table Runner Sample for Workshop finished
3. 2 patchwork chair pads for the girls made
4. EPP Rose Star Cushion made as sample in preparation for teaching epp class at LQS
5. Same cushion but used as a table mat/mini quilt
6. Liberty Mini Finished
7. Another rose star block made (that's 7 now)
8. Bruce the Buck phone case made
9. More + and x blocks made
10. Infinity scarf made from my Melody Miller I won from Kelly back in May (finally!)

I am embarrassed to say there was more but I just didn't take photos (these were bad enough, there are only so many naff pictures I want to clutter my blog with ;-)

This week seems to be heading the same way...I 'may' have just started a swoon quilt on a whim whilst Mary was here for a sewing day on Monday, ahem. Well I have finished a few wip's so I figured I was entitled to start another (technically two as I've been sewing up all of the hst cut offs to use at the same time).

I've just got the log burner fired up so I think a cuppa and a biscuit are in order before braving the Arctic conditions in the sewing room again!

Something Wicked This Way Comes!

All right, enough of the jolly Christmas makery, it is time to make things a little spookier around here!

Having my very own little witch (Juliette was born on Halloween and often lives upto it!) we have become quite excited about Halloween decorating over the last couple of years. We still don't have many decorations (why is everything in the uk made of plastic for Halloween?!) Seeing all the amazing home décor on the American blog's I decided I had time (pah!) to knock up a couple of table runners for the lounge.

For the first I made a little runner like this one made by Vanessa, you can see a picture (old) of my little witches in the back!

Then a bigger scrappy quilt as you go runner.

I love this one, it may just stay out all year! Which is funny really because I decided to cut a few corners, after all this was only going to be out for a couple of weeks a year right?! I didn't put a backing on and I used some scraps of an old wool blanket instead of batting as it was all I had. Oh well, I am sure visitors won't come round and turn it over!

Do you like my reading?!! Speaking of which, I must dash, I have a date with some vampires ;-)

The Kindness of Quilters

Thanks to the kindness of everyone for all the comments about my sewing machine, I am sorry I haven't had time to reply to each of you but your comments really did cheer me up. I spent most of Friday at a lovely friends house tuning these blocks into a quilted runner for my Mother In Laws birthday present. My friend Liz let me loose on her amazing Husqvarna, brought me several cups of tea, sweeties and made lunch to keep me going.  She even managed to dig out the right shade of thread from her stash when I ran out! She really is so wonderful! Thank you Liz.

My mother in law has travelled to Lancaster County in the USA before and fell in love with the Amish quilts but was unable to bring one home. I tried to re-create a sense of traditional American/Amish quilt style in my runner.

Arizona Star Block

Mariners Compass Block (thanks to Katy for helping me find the pattern!)

Bearpaw Block

After almost 6, yes 6, solid hours of sewing and quilting I had a runner that just required the binding sewing down. This took me an hour! It is a large runner, although I didn't measure it but it is about 54" x 18".

Jumping right in at the deep end I decided it needed fmq with feathers and stippling. I watched several youtube videos and I think that really helped me with the feathers as this is the first time I have tried them. I will admit to drawing them out first with my frixion pen, I don't think I would have been able to do them otherwise. I also used an easy curve ruler of my friends, very useful and going on my wish list.

I also added triangle pockets and a piece of dowelling in case my MIL wanted to hang it on the wall. I must admit to being secretly very very proud of my quilting, the stitch length is awful in places but I don't care. I was exhausted after the race to finish it on Friday, then Saturday was spent cooking and packing ready for her surprise 70th Birthday Picnic. What with all that, the travelling and hours worrying about the weather and whether anyone would come I was shattered by the time we got home on Sunday evening.

Of course that is the last item on my finish along list done, good job too because my machine is still out of order, the foot pedal appears to be the problem and it is at my lqs waiting for the repair man to see if it can be repaired or needs replacing. I hope it can be repaired as I know I cannot afford a new foot, I should find out on Thursday.

In the meantime I am going to stick with my epp from the retreat and hopefully get my tax return completed!