The Still of the Evening

I have just sat down at my cutting table and looked out into the garden.  This is the view I see each time I do some sewing.  The colours always pop at this time of night and as you can see the rhodedendrons and acers are just coming into their prime.  We have had a shower of rain today and everything looks so fresh and vibrant.  Wouldn't some of these colours look lovely in a quilt.

I have been tidying my lucky dip boxes this week.  These are boxes which hold my pieces of fabrics which are a little more than a scrap but less than half a metre.    Four or was it five boxes looking a jumble like this.

A bit of a mess - how could you find anything in this box

.................and ending up a bit neater like this

Not quite finished - they are not in proper colour value yet

 

Hopefully this will make me more inclined to use up some of these smaller pieces - then I can move on to my proper stash which maybe I will show you sometime in the future.

I am now about to sew two more 'Toes in the Sand' blocks tonight.

Till next time.

Catching Up

This weekend the boys are busy.  It's a golfing weekend for them!  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a sporty person and I'm afraid I am not really interested in the sporting activities that go on in this household.  Don't get me wrong I am pleased that the boys enjoy and are fulfilled by their sporting events but taking part in conversations of hole by hole accounts of golfing attributes, football teams and ice hockey transfers over the dinner table just makes me switch off.  This weekend Techie has been golfing both days and hubby has gone off for a long weekend break with his friends to hit the little white ball around a few courses in the Spey Valley and Inverness area.

Not to be outdone the wives of the golfers decided we should have a treat too.  S planned afternoon tea at the very prestigious golfing venue for the Ryder Cup this year.   We had a lovely afternoon, we did have a little browse around the golf shop for J but that's as far as the golfing for the ladies went. It was good to catch up with news of our families over a leisurely afternoon tea.  Unfortunately poor F missed out on our treat as she was feeling poorly but we all agreed we would not wait so long for the next time!

So as far as the sewing goes - not a lot has been done since last time.  I did manage a couple more of the farmer's wifey blocks.

At some point today I hope to do the trial for the last BOM.  This one will complete the set.  Now it's over to you ladies of the class to come up with your very own layout and complete the top for the first Tuesday in August, when we will bring them all together to see the result of our very first Block of The Month Project.  I am really looking forward to seeing all the colour combinations and settings.

That's my 15 minutes up now so I am off out to walk around the garden to see how all the little plants are growing, then into the summerhouse for my morning cuppa.

Have a good day!   

15 Minutes - May Become Obsessive

The sun is still shining and makes everything much brighter and cheerier. Except it shows up all the chores that are desperately needing done, window cleaning for one!  However that's for another day.  Today I hope to give our bedroom a good 'spring clean' this will hopefully include re-covering my headboard.  When I was out shopping on Tuesday I bought some fabric.  I have had this project in mind for some time but the right fabric had just not caught my eye.  So that is one of today's tasks.

Our class was not so busy again last night and I must admit no sewing was done.  Instead we spent our time chatting about some ideas and projects we would like to try next session. It's always fun to share books and patterns and this is what we did too.  

I had made another '15 minutes of play' scrappy block this time using the churn dash pattern - I am going to make a few more of these to piece together another quilt.  However this 15 minutes of play got me thinking (oh oh! not a good idea I hear K saying to herself)  - how many other things can you get done in a day using 15 minute bursts or 4 segments in an hour.  How much ironing could I get through in 15 minutes, could I get the kitchen floor washed in 15 minutes, clean the cooker, ok maybe not, hmm food for thought, tidying the sewing space, morning coffee in the summerhouse, may need a little longer.  This may become an obsession but it might be interesting to try it out and that way get rid of all the chores quickly so we have more time to sew.  What do you think is it worth a try?  Maybe 15 minutes is not enough to get some things done so the time segment could be stretched just a wee tiny bit.  Enough rambling.......I've had my 15 minutes blog writing!

Another fun block - didn't time this one!

The Toes in the Sand blocks are also progressing - I think I have only four more to sew before I start putting them on the design wall to see how they look.  

There is that silly snowman again on the left

 

 

I've just been out to hang my washing out it didn't take 15 minutes but I then spent the next few minutes walking around the garden.  The pink Rhodedendron at the top of the garden is just about to flourish.  I will post a picture later in the week.

 

Happy sunshine have as good a day as you can and perhaps manage a few stitches too.  I think I might make some more Farmer's Wifey blocks tonight for a change.

Another Beautiful Morning

I hope you are all enjoying a fun weekend what ever you are doing.  Not eating too many chocolate eggs I hope!  

This morning our elder son is taking part in his first official Triathlon at Doonfoot in Ayrshire.  This one is not quite a Tri as there is no swimming involved this time so it's called a Duathlon.  There are three legs though, the first leg is a 5K run then a 27K cycle then another 5K run.  He has been in training for some time and I hope he enjoys his day.  Over the next few months he will be taking part in a number of charity fundraising events for Marie Curie Cancer Care in memory of his Gran.

It has been a glorious week here and we certainly cannot complain about our weather this week.  The sun has shone most days and it's lovely to hear the birds singing as we enjoy our morning coffee and afternoon cuppa sitting in our summerhouse at the bottom of the garden.  There is still a chill in the air and it's not quite warm enough to sit out - but in the summerhouse it's sheltered and it just feels as though we are indeed in the garden.  The shrubs and trees are gradually waking up and new leaves are bursting forth - I cannot wait to see the lovely fresh colours in a week or so.  Techie has also had the BBQ fired up, the earliest ever here - in Scotland at least!



15 Minute Playtime - I think that bench is needing some TLC!

 

In the Summerhouse

 

It's a bright and cheery quilt week too.  15 minutes of play has been so enjoyable - I love it.  It just shows that if you discipline yourself to 15 minutes you can get a huge amount done.  I have now completed my first little quilt which will be donated to Project Linus.  This bright star is surrounded by 2 ins squares a 3in creamy border then a 5 inch fun ducky print all finished of with lavender polka dots. The finished size is 30 x 30ins.

Every piece came from either my scrap baskets or the lucky dip boxes.  The only piece taken from my stash was the ducky border.  I think you will agree it's a great way to scrap bust!  Hopefully it will bring a little sunshine to a deserving youngster.

Now that this project is finished I will tidy up the cutting table again in preparation for the next one.  Wonder what that will be?

Let's hope the sun continues to shine for the rest of the week.  Happy stitching.

15 Minutes of Play

I spent lots of time over last weekend and part of yesterday getting some samples prepared for class.  Unfortunately due to a variety of reasons including Easter Holidays and good weather sadly a few of our ladies were unable to attend last night.  The tutorial went ahead with mixed views on the finished outcome.  Needless to say too much thought was put into the process.  The idea of this method of piecing is to choose fabrics at random from the scrap basket, sew, press, cut, slash.  Some ladies were trying too hard to make shapes, and match colours - we don't do random apparently!  I know it is sometimes difficult to break the rules but sometimes you must to learn something different or a new technique.

The scraps

As with all new things it's not easy to be perfect on the first attempt.  The more random blocks you make the quicker it all becomes and the more you can achieve in 15 minutes.  Here are some of the pieces I managed to make during my 15 minutes of play.

There are a few things I have noticed along the way which might help.  Use a smaller stitch length on your machine as you will be chopping seams, and you don't want them to unravel. Try not to use strips or you will get just that - either a long thin piece or a square.  Try and cut shapes with angles. The smaller the pieces you use the more effective it becomes. When sewing use a quarter inch seam as usual and place your new scrap down on your machine, right side up then place the already seamed patch, right side down on top so that you see all the raw seams facing you.  This will help keep all those little seams lying flat when sewing over the top of them and you can see when you are coming up to a thick part so you can go slowly over the bumps.  Press, press, press .....and use steam, I know, I know, there are mixed views on this but if you try it you will find you then get a nice sharp finish.



The smaller the pieces you start off with gives a better effect in the finished block



A trimmed 6.5inch square

and a hexagon - that turquoise piece is a bit on the big side I think



A selection of blocks I've made so far



I am not sure if this was an overwhelming success with the class however I enjoyed the process and will continue to use up some of my scraps to make 'made up fabric', so that it can then be transformed into traditional blocks like this one.



Aunt Eliza's Star from EQ7

I think this looks really pretty and can see it being made up as a baby quilt for the Linus Project.  I hope some of the ladies will have time to try out some more blocks before next week when we can then cut them all up to try and produce some stars, square in a square, churn dash, nine patch and more traditional type blocks.  Watch this space!

Perhaps you might like to give it a try and help scrap bust your stash.  Good Luck.

The Inspiration for this was as mentioned previously Victoria Findlay Wolfe's, method as seen on The Quilt Show and in her book 15 minutes of Play.

Preparation for Tuesday's Class

I spent some time yesterday afternoon sewing up some samples for our Scrappy Tutorial at class on Tuesday.  We always have lots of spare pieces of fabric left over from our projects and it's good to find and share new ideas of how we can use them up.  I am a fan of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims.  This show features a different quilt artist each month and I watch the episodes in the hope that I pick up new ideas.  

This idea was on a recent programme with Victoria Finlay Wolfe.  Her book is described as 

 '15 Minutes of Play -- Improvisational Quilts: Made-Fabric Piecing Traditional Blocks and Scrap Challenges'. She is an artist turned quilter and she calls her method of quilting '15 minutes of play'.  This lady is a busy homemaker and mum and this method allows her to be creative in short bursts.  I could not really believe this could be done it 15 minutes, but yes it can!  

The Scrap Baskets

My Toes in the Sand quilt blocks are coming along too.  I think I now have nine completed blocks.  I am enjoying this one, using the Hex n' go ruler.  The triangular blocks are made up with hexis, half hexis, triangles and jewels.  These shapes are all very interesting to cut out, which is a favourite part of the process for me.  I may try some of these blocks using a different colour combination sometime in the future, as I think I said before I am not really liking these fabrics.  Sadly a downside of doing a Block of the Month - they are not what I would have chosen. 

Two More 'Toes in the Sand' Triangular Blocks

I hope this week is as good as it can be for you all.

Gallery Update

Another busy day but very enjoyable.  Today was lunch and shopping day with Dad, enjoying a natter and catching up.

Lots of laundry to be done after our weekend away,  so tomorrow I will probably spend most of the morning ironing, then hopefully I will manage an hour of sewing.

Sorry there are no new photos today however I have spent some time this evening updating the Gallery Photos.

Until next time, hope you manage a bit more sewing than I have this week.

Late post - Sorry Away Again

I am writing this from an idyllic spot on the west coast - a complete contrast to the Rockies.  Damp weather, narrow roads with passing places and rolling mountains.

The view of the Loch from the doorway of Pier Cottage

We are here on this beautiful Highland Estate, a hidden gem, to celebrate our elder son's thirtieth birthday albeit a bit late.  We are delighted to join him with his wife and dogs, his brother Techie and some of their friends for a relaxing weekend of outdoor activities. (I think that is maybe an oxymoron!) Unfortunately the weather is not being terribly kind to us but as they say it's not bad weather, we just wear bad clothing but as long as you wear the right waterproof jacket all is well.  

Yesterday we spent some time with the estate ghillie who gave us some instruction in clay pigeon shooting.  What a great time we all had.  I missed all the clays completely, but thoroughly enjoyed the experience and had fun watching the others. We had a beautiful dinner in the Boathouse Restaurant and it was good to have the family together with their friends for a great night.  

Today is a late start and the roast is being cooked for the buffet dinner tonight.  It's a grey driech day but we are hoping it might clear a little to allow us to have a pleasant stroll in half an hour.  The youngsters have all gone off with the dogs for a hike around the estate, or off on their road bikes - kayaking was mentioned too!  We will just walk along the shoreline in the hope we might see an otter.  This is a wildlife haven - we have seen deer, otter, cormorants, northern divers, eider, herons and little wagtails from our window.

Needless to say there has been no sewing done.  I have knitted half a sock,  done some reading and have caught up on my magazines which were delivered while I was away.

Tomorrow my three boys are having a Fly Fishing session with the ghillie while V and I are heading to a little gallery and yarn shop - so a wee bit of craftiness included in an otherwise male orientated weekend.

I am off to get in to my waterproof trousers, Gortex jacket and boots now and brave the wild outdoors. I do believe the sun is trying to shine through the clouds. I had better go or I might just miss it.

We did see some blue sky when we went out for our walk - this was taken from the head of the loch

 

Update, Sunday evening.

 

We did manage a lovely walk this afternoon which was mainly dry and sunny but the storm clouds rolled up over the mountains on our return journey and we did get a bit wet half an hour from our door. We met up with the lads who had indeed been kayaking.

 

We have just had a delicious meal made by all the girls in the group and we have now left the youngsters at the Steading while we return to our little cosy cottage for a welcome cup of tea before bed.   

PS this post was written on Sunday but I was not able to post it as there is no mobile signal far less an internet connection.  Bliss!

Busy Week

Just catching 5 minutes to get this blog post done.  I seem to be chasing my tail since I came back home.

It was great to get back to quilting class last night and see all my quilty friends.  They have been busy bees while I have been away.  It was show and tell time!  What a great variety of projects.  I did take some photos but they are still on the camera, and as I didn't ask permission from the owners I am afraid I can't put them up here.  Beautiful wallhangings, cosy cushions, practical pressing/cutting mats, soft toys and so the list goes on and that was before all the Improv Quilts appeared.

The thing that impressed me most was the way the Improv Quilts all turned out.  All shapes and sizes, colours and textures, all very well done and stitched to perfection - a few remain WIP's and when they are all done we will have a display and bring them all together for a photoshoot.

A short discussion took place at the end of the evening about our dates for next session and it was unanimously agreed to continue as we did last year right through the summer.  I am going to try hard to think of new ideas and projects for the group and hopefully we might just manage an outing too.  I had better get the thinking cap on.  Yes it's good to be back!

On a personal note I have started a new project - Toes in the Sand. 

This was a Block of the Month I ordered a while ago and didn't quite get it started, so it wasn't really a block of the month was it.  Other things got in the way.  Never mind it's now started, I am not sure about some of the fabrics that I've been sent - especially the piece with the  snowmen or the still to be completed block with the whales!  I do however like the triangular pattern block and I do think the Hex n more ruler will be very useful for other projects. 

Off to sit in front of the cutting board then get some stitching done.