New Beginnings

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you all have a lovely weekend with friends and family and if you are on your own I hope you manage a little stitching and perhaps internet browsing.

Im not sure if you have seen this one before and if you have its been a while.  I was using up some leftover fabrics from one of the baby quilts made last year.  It is bright and fresh and I loaded it on to my frame to FMQ squiggles.  I looks a bit odd in this photo - for some reason the quilting is standing out - it is not so noticeable in real life.  It does have a bit of an Easter theme, bunnies, lambs and little ducklings in the border.  One to add to the Linus bundle!

This was the selection of fabrics I was using while on holiday, yes more Connecting Threads.  I am not normally into small florals but I think it was probably the overall effect and the rainbow of bright colours which attracted me to this one.

It is very difficult for quilters to do 'random' but I think I managed it reasonably well.  Don't look too closely though.

So this is yet another top finished and folded up waiting to be sandwiched and quilted, but before that can actually happen I need to get backing fabric - more decisions what colour should it be?  Hopefully you will find out soon because I really am trying to finish all my WIPs.

So the new beginning this week?  I am moving on from the rainbow modern for this one and going more muted traditional.

Red is not a colour which normally features in my quilts and guess what  - there is no green in sight for this one!  Watch this space and follow its progress on Instagram on the tab above.

I feel my quilting is a bit stale at the moment and I think I am really needing to push the boundaries a bit and try something different but I am not sure what that is at the moment.  Hopefully when I am back to my regular routine and feeling 100% something might inspire me to try something new.

Enjoy your weekend and try not to eat too much chocolate!

Back Home

........and back to the PC, so you will see a few photos of what I've been doing.  This is not as much as usual when on Spring Break.  Due to our horrible viral respiratory issues we did not achieve as much as usual.  Being  confined indoors for the first week was definitely not normal.  Of course when you are not feeling well you just want to curl up with a good book and the trusty iPad, and thats just what  did.  I enjoyed that time - well not really enjoyed as much as put up with the quiet time.  I found lots of new ideas online and read a few blogs and of course saw lots of excellent photos on Instagram.  All in all it was a disappointing holiday but thats life and viruses and colds strike when you least expect or want them.

Now we are back and feeling a wee bit better I will start planning my next few projects.  I still do not have my voice back, but then you don't need your voice to quilt do you?  Most of my tasks will be sandwiching and quilting I expect as once again the tops are piling up.  The Plus quilt top is complete using this lovely array of rainbow solids

Easy Peasy Piecing

joined into rows

Pieced all together

Now to decide on the backing and how to quilt it.  Once again I think it will be straight lines but I may load it on to the frame and do some random squiggles.

I hope you all survived the Beast from the East and are now looking forward to sunnier spring like days.  I was delighted to see our snowdrops and crocus flowering in the garden.

Spring Break

We have had a somewhat disappointing break this year unfortunately.  We both picked up a rather nasty viral respiratory/chest bug on the flight which knocked us for six, left us with hacking coughs and sapped our energy.  We spent our first couple of weeks almost confined to quarters and I have had no voice for well over 10 days now, hopefully it will return soon because I am getting somewhat frustrated.  I guess when we return tomorrow to the damp, dreich Scottish climate it may well return too ..........fingers crossed.

So because I was feeling so rough I have not had my usual trips and outings to the local quilt shops. It’s a sad day! However my pennies have been saved for the time being.  Being ill I had plenty time to read and browse the internet and I have saved a number of patterns which I’ve come across during my trawling, so lots of ideas for new projects when I get home.

This last week we have managed a few lovely afternoons enjoying the clear blue skies and sunshine, and in the evenings I did manage some sewing.  I started this project last time I was here and have made some progress.  I’m bringing it home to finish it off, sandwich  and quilt.  Sorry can’t post the photo here but you will find it by looking on the Instagram tab at the top of the page.

See you on the other side next week.