Holidays Over

It didn't take me long to get back into the old routine this week and sadly the sun disappeared after Saturday.  However the holiday laundry was all done quickly last weekend and normal service has resumed.

I think I really am a sad person in some respects - I missed my sewing machine, so without any further dallying I jumped right in and completed the quilting on my Starburst quilt.  I don't normally like leaving things set up on the frame for too long but it had to remain there in limbo for two reasons.  first one of course was I was away but more importantly my thread was running low.  I sent off a new order for the Glide thread I use for FMQ.  Quilt Sanctuary has in my opinion a lovely range of colours and a very good prompt service, thanks Laura!

When the Robin Egg Blue thread arrived earlier in the week (with some other spring colours I couldn't resist) I set to and completed the last row and border, and quickly unfurled it from the frame.  I am really pleased with how it has turned out.  I do like the pattern of the quilting on the reverse side.

This quilt is not going anywhere it is for me, well not really it will stay in my car.  It's always useful to have a wee cover for picnics - if we ever get the weather for one!

The Starburst,  Connecting Threads quilt is now complete apart from the label, which may get done later this evening.  As I was writing up my Quilt Journal, I noticed it is exactly 2 months today since I started this one, I think that is good going.  I measures 61" x 76" and you may just see another little quilt made with the generous leftovers from this kit in the not so distant future.

I have also been working on the quilting of our class Circle of Geese quilt.  Each of our members made a foundation pieced Flying Geese block.

My original intention was to load it on to the frame and just meander the quilting line.  Ideas change and formulate in your head over time and when I sandwiched this one I was not happy about quilting it on the frame.  There are no borders on this quilt and I was concerned the tension on the frame might pull the edges too much and distort the finished quilt - Plan B.  Echo the stars and do something in the middle of where the blocks join.  Almost done, I now and have to trim it for Tuesday when the binding will be ready to go on, and hopefully then passed on to someone else to handstitch the binding.

Well thats my progress this week.  How did you do?

Return From The Sun

We have had another little break, this time in the sunshine in Sicily.  The men played golf at the lovely golf resort in Donnafugatta on the south coast of the island and of course the wives went along for the ride.  The resort is about an hour and a half from the airport at Catania and having picked up the hire cars in the sweltering heat we headed off over the mountain to the resort.  I was to be the designated driver for the ladies for the week.  I knew Italian drivers were a bit crazy - but to be honest that was an understatement.  Different car, sweltering heat, new roads, and driving on the other side.  Fortunately I was used to driving in Canada so that was not a huge issue.  We had a few scary moments due to erratic drivers but we arrived safely at our destination.

We had a lovely week relaxing with good friends.  Having decided this was to be a relaxing and chill out week the car remained in the car park although we did have an outing to Regusa but I wasn't driving fortunately.  The sat nav took us down a country road where we met.........

A large heard of cows on the road on their way to be milked.  After a few minutes waiting until they had passed we continued on our journey until we ended at the farm yard - a dead end!  Retracing our tracks we did get to Regusa and had a lovely lunch outside in the sunshine, followed by a walk around the old town and the gardens.

Most of the week was spent around the resort, walking and and lazing in the sunshine by the pool, while our other halves played golf.  It was just what I needed and enjoyed every minute.

As you can imagine no quilting was done, however I did manage a few stitches in my little stitchery while lounging by the infinity pool which overlooked the golf course.  A few of our party did venture in by the end of the week however it really hadn't heated up to a high enough temperature to be comfortable in.

The closest I came to seeing anything quilted this week was two rather striking cacti in the hotel which were made with soft furnishing fabrics.  Quite stunning but perhaps only in the right setting - which these definitely were.

Well the washing and ironing has now been done and we will be back to the old routine tomorrow and hopefully I will get some more quilting done this week.

Have a good week everyone.

Multitasking

Since my last blog post I have been working on two different projects. I featured the red fabrics last time for the ‘Bliss’ quilt.  Where do they choose the names from?  Well this has been proving it’s not bliss.  There is I think a reason for me not working with red fabrics - they make me angry!  A remember my Mum telling me when Techie was a toddler that should not dress him in a red t-shirt or sweatshirt.........why because it made him grumpy! I of course could never see the reasoning behind this theory but on reflection I think she was probably right.  Red can be an angry and aggressive colour, it can also be bright and cheery but this week it has driven me up the wall. 

The 2 blocks which make up the pattern

The pattern has lots of squares and flying geese blocks and I am glad I have now finished making all the geese on this one.  I am also so pleased I have the space for a design wall.  On two different nights I have discovered a border placed the wrong way round.  One I only noticed when I was taking a photo for Instagram.  Progress is being made though but and it remains on the wall for now as I felt the need for a change.

 The first border added but I had lost a piece

Missing piece found at the bottom of the basket hiding

As I  enjoy piecing more than any other process of making a quilt I always have lots of ‘tops’ sitting waiting to be sandwiched.  I needed a change so chose the ‘Starburst’ top to pick up.  You may remember I was waiting for backing before I could move on with this one.  I chose an Aqua cobblestone fabric for it which compliments it nicely.  

Starburst top and backing

This one was always destined for the frame and to be freemotion quilted.  Having browsed through many blogs and watched lots of YouTube videos when I was ill some ideas were stored in my mind.  So the process began,  but not before ordering some nice new bright reels of Glide thread from Quilt Sanctuary.  I chose a Robins Egg blue which is lovely. I’ve had a few oopsies, or should I say design features but this quilt is destined for my car and is a project to push the boundaries a bit so that I can move away from straight line quilting and produce a more flowing design using curves and circles.  

Loaded up and the first pass done

Making progress

Not an overnight success but if at first you don’t succeed try try again!

I hope you have been able to try something new recently and push your boundaries a bit out of your comfort zone.  It is such a sense of achievement when something works the way you want it to.