Different Crafts

I hope you are all recovering and have had a lovely time over Christmas and have not eaten too many chocolates! 

 

Every year I am given a selection of flowers by hubby to fill the house over the holiday.  Here are a couple of my creations.  Not exactly florist standard this year but I had fun.

 

 

As you know my sewing machine and all the equipment had to be put away for a wee while to allow us to have the diningroom table extended for Christmas dinner with the family.  I was missing my sewing though, so following the idea of one of my classmates this is what I turned my hand to just before Christmas.  

Although I have tried many aspects of sewing it has been a long time since I picked up an embroidery hoop and threads.  I bought this little pincushion embroidery kit at one of the SSEC crafting exhibitions thinking I would enjoy the challenge.   Whoa!  When I brought it home and had a look at it more closely I am afraid it was relegated to the sewing/knitting basket and put on my virtual 'to do list' - the stitching was so tiny!  Well I thought this was the right time to try it out and strangely enough I am really enjoying it.  It really needs patience, I've not got a lot but I am forcing myself to sit still and try.  Good lighting is essential, thankfully I have got Mum's daylight lamp but I don't need the attached magnifying glass just yet.  I think the main thing you need is a lot of concentration with attention to detail.

It is only a 4 inch hoop

 

Wasn't it great that the techie quilt got finished up on time?  He did a grand job and surprised us all. The label has still to be made and lots more photos to be taken but he did get it finished on Christmas Eve and what's more he enjoyed making it and piecing it all together!  I think he enjoyed hijacking my blog too!  Welcome to the club Mr Quilter.

I hope to spend the next few days de-cluttering - quite normal for me at this time of the year.  We all accumulate so much stuff throughout the year so it's time to move things along - to throw rubbish out and recycle/up cycle no longer used items to the charity shops. Today it's the turn of the pantry cupboard in the kitchen which we all call the Tardis - no prizes for guessing why it's called that!!  The sun is shining this morning and everything is a lot calmer, thankfully the winds and storms have passed for the moment.  

Have good week.

Techie Takeover - The Result!!

Morning all, Merry Christmas!!  Techie here.

Look what I finished last night - talk about cutting things close to deadlines!

Finished quilt 36 x 48

Better pictures will follow but I had to put something up to prove I'd finished in time.  Thanks go to Mum for her help but I did most of it myself.  She finished the corners of the binding and did a bit of pressing where I'd made a mess but other wise its all my own work.  The finished size is 36x48 so a good size for throwing over the settee.

It is all machine pieced and most of the quilting was done on the machine too.  For the quilting I decided to quilt stars into the centres of the blocks.

Star quilted into the middle

I decided I wanted to add a bit of myself to the quilt (and I don't mean the blood spilled due to numerous pin and needle pricks!!).  I am a big ice hockey fan and in particular a Calgary Flames fan.  Ever since Mum and Dad took my brother and I to our first NHL game during a skiing holiday about 20 years ago I have followed the Flames passionately.  I even have a wardrobe full of their jerseys.  How does this relate to the quilt?  Well I decided to hand quilt their logo, the flaming C into the top left hand corner.  Here it is

Flaming C

For comparison here is the original 

I've decided to name the quilt 'C'ing Stars at Christmas.  Once Christmas is over Mum or I will add some more photos but for now I am away to play with my Lego.  Yep a 27 year old playing with Lego.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

The Last Post.........

........ before Christmas.  Don't panic followers I'm not throwing in the towel.  I have really enjoyed the blogging universe, I love keeping you all up to date with my quilty projects (although this last couple of weeks have been a bit shabby in the content) I wonder why?  Techie has been hogging my sewing machine!  He is doing really well and might just manage to get his Christmas quilt finished this year after all.  If he does I might just need to get out my old machine and give it a spruce up so he can use it to continue quilting -  he has already proved he can use the rotary cutter and rulers to cut out pieces, stitch in a straight line - although he needs to be more accurate on that quarter inch, pressing needs practice and he is out doing me as he can manage a bit of freemotion quilting, so we may have another male quilter joining the ranks of the experts.

Today I have decided to give you a little look at all my projects where I have used Christmassy fabrics over the years since I started my quilting journey way back in 2006.  I think I mentioned before I try and make at least one festive quilt every year so this post is very photo heavy.  Here we go......

 

 

 

 

hmmm......I think there is one photo missing.  Need to check that out. 

 

Not to worry I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas sharing time with family and friends during this festive period.  I know many of you will be travelling so take care and safe journeys.  Also please spare a thought for the Marie Curie Nurses especially at this time of year.  Many of these nurses give up their own celebrations to be with others needing care and respite. 

 

I hope you will come back and join me again in the New Year when hopefully I will have found new enthusiasm and new projects to add to my list of fun quilts to make in 2014.

 

Strangely Rewarding

A new project started this week with these fabrics



Girly Fabrics



Making Progress





All Trimmed Up



Don't you find it rewarding completing a whole bunch of blocks then sitting merrily trimming and squaring them up?  I sure do, there is something in the rhythm of pressing, smoothing, cutting, turning cutting and sitting back and seeing the bundle of smooth edges appear.  It gives me a sense of relaxed satisfaction after a busy day shopping.  This is a bright cheery block and I am looking forward to piecing it all together to finally complete the top.  

Tuesday evening our class enjoyed our annual dinner, we all enjoyed a good evening with delicious food and chat with friends.  We had decided this year to have a change from our usual fat quarter swap and our Secret Santa parcel had to have a quilting theme.  Some had put lots of thought into this and many of us received unusual and exciting gifts, including quilt hangers, quilting gloves, rulers, templates, books, magnetic pin cushions and wands, even some wine and chocolate made their way into parcels, supposedly to help with the freemotion quilting!!.

I may not have many more sewing sessions as we approach the 25th soon my sewing room will need to be returned to its proper purpose - the dining room!  Everything needs to be packed away but it's always great fun to bring all the pieces of equipment back out and put them back in place after the big event.

 

I hope I might manage one more post before Santa arrives so until then, Keep Calm and Quilt On!

Late Post - or is it Early?

I have missed a post this week haven't I?  I realised this morning so I decided to post my usual Sunday post today just to confuse all my followers.  Thank you to everyone for following along. This week saw me pass a milestone of 6000 page hits since starting out.  I really didn't expect that!  

 

My cold is still lingering but I feel stronger, unfortunately as always I have developed a cough which is extremely annoying for everyone in the house, hopefully it will disappear soon.  I managed a day shopping yesterday trying to make an effort to get some Christmas presents bought for the family. Now I need to get them wrapped and tagged.

Sewing has been slow for me this week as I am between projects and have dithered over what to do next.  As promised here is my Christmas 2013 quilt.

An Original Name - Christmas Quilt 2013

I really like this one and like the offset placement of the squares.  I am pleased I decided on this colour arrangement too.  I did try it out with the middle square red instead of the green but the effect was not as pleasing to my eye.  So here is my finish for this week which I am linking up to one of my favourite blogs. crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

My next project has now been cut out ready for stitching, this is a smallish one and I found the pattern in the new magazine Love Patchwork and Quilting, a very enjoyable read with lots of tips, tutorials and patterns.

Techie is progressing with his blocks too, we seem to be able to manage to share the sewing space for the moment.  I did question whether or not he would manage a quilt.  I thought perhaps a placemat, but he passed that goal post, maybe a cushion? No he's gone beyond that now too.  He now has enough blocks done to make at least a table runner. Will he keep this pace up? - well just watch this space and I will keep you informed.

Have a good week everyone.

An Unexpected Result

I have been a bit under the weather this week, unfortunately a head cold appeared from nowhere and has made me feel miserable most of this week.  However it is only a cold and although my poor family have had to suffer my grumpiness more than usual this week I think I have turned the corner now and I'm feeling a bit better today.  Needless to say my plans for the week were all shot to pieces.  I had to phone Dad to postpone our weekly lunch and shopping expedition.  

I didn't get as much sewing done as I had planned but Tula Pink's blocks were easy they were sewing up quickly and didn't require too much thought or concentration. The smaller pieces of fabrics I was using quickly disappeared.  I managed 20 blocks and pieced together they have given me a fair sized Lap quilt 42x35ins or there abouts.

Tula Pink as some of you may know is a modern quilter, fabric designer and writer.  I decided I would use some of my quite traditional fabrics but make modern blocks and have a layout with a modern twist. This was what I was aiming for with the blocks offset.  Well.........

 

Tula Pink's Sliding Scale from her book 100 Modern Quilt Blocks City Sampler

..............  my mind obviously went down a different track the other night and this is what I ended up with. A very traditional block layout with traditional two inch sashings!!! 

Not quite what it should be

Oh dear I suppose it was meant to be.  The moral of this story has got to be, when you are not feeling 100%, think twice or maybe three times before taking on a project involving thought processes.  My mind was certainly addled or maybe as usual I just didn't think!  This is another charity quilt but I was hoping for something a bit different.   I quite like it now it is almost finished, I have just the binding to sew down, a few threads to darn in and a label to make for the back.  Even although it's not the result I was planning at the outset hopefully someone will love it. 

 

Today has been dull, dark and drizzly.  I will need to make winter arrangements for taking photographs.   I feel a tutorial from Techie coming on - maybe next week.  

Take Over

My quilting space came under attack last night.  Techie decided he would see what all the quilting fuss was about.  Having decided a couple of weeks ago he was going to make a Christmas quilt, he chose a pattern there and then.  Last night he rummaged through my box of Christmas fabrics and pulled out a few suitable pieces.  We had a quick run through safety procedures - the rotary cutter is really sharp etc etc.  "It's ok Mum it's just like cutting my mount board for my photos!" I showed him how to thread my sewing machine and he was off.  Cutting,  sewing,  trimming.  A natural, will there be another quilter in the family? Who knows.  I look forward with interest to see if this project  continues or whether it will fall by the wayside when something more interesting comes along.  I don't think there was anything to interest him on TV last night!



Note the phone on the table - can't be apart from it for long

 

Watch the fingers

Didn't he do well - Sorry apparently I've got the block upside down

 

Needless to say I don't have much to report.  I am still hand stitching the binding on my HST quilt but another evening should see it finished.  Four more Tula Pink modern blocks are in the basket, and I really need to get my thinking cap on for the last of the baby quilts which needs to be finished this month.  Hopefully my quilting space will still be available now and again so that I can get these ticked off my list.

Happy stitching everyone.

A Quick Sunday

Wow where has today gone!  I was intending doing a bit of sewing today however only managed about half an hour, but that's life isn't it.  This was birthday week in our house so instead of birthday cake I promised I would make a cloottie dumpling for hubby who had a milestone birthday on Wednesday.  So the task this morning was to make dumpling.  This is a Scottish tradition, a rich fruity, treacley, spicy steamed pudding like cake, the mixture is tied in a muslin cloth and is steamed for hours and tastes quite delicious served with whipped double cream or icecream. While this was cooking I also made some pancakes which have disappeared quite quickly today even before they had cooled.

My half an hour of sewing was spent making a couple of Tula Pink blocks.  Yes I am a glutton for punishment as these are once again 6 inch squares.  You may remember I bought the book recently.  The fabrics I am using are pinks and purple tones with a green thrown in for good measure.  These fabrics are from my stash and smaller pieces they are all less than half a metre, which is ideal for this project.  The blocks I have made so far have been really quick and easy and would be ideal for a beginner.  I won't be making all the 100 blocks for this project but I will just keep going until I use up all the fabric.

Hmm - the colours are not quite right in this photo - left hand side royal blue is in fact purple



The First Block

 

Almost dinner time now so I am off to enjoy some of the dumpling for dessert.

P.S.  The dumpling was yummy, I had it with a dollop of cream.

Have a good week.