Update - My Quilts

You can't teach old dogs new tricks - wrong!  This old dog has been getting a few lessons on adding photos to the Quilt Gallery from techie.  He has got a lot of patience with me. Unfortunately my brain does not absorb information at the rate of knots he explains the process. My head was buzzing after 10 minutes, however I listened and watched hoping some of the information would stick in the grey matter.

It's been quite a while since the quilt gallery here had been updated and I was told I needed to be able to do it for myself.  HTML is just another language - gobbledygook!  Well I decided I really didn't need to know what it all means.  After a lot of downloading or is it uploading of photos, cutting and pasting lines of code,  a couple of aborted attempts and furious note taking, I managed to add twelve new photos to the gallery.  I won't leave it so long next time and now I have an idea how it should be done I will try,  when I take the photo of the completed quilt, to add it to the gallery.  Hopefully I won't lose my notebook with all my scribbles, I just hope I can translate them.  Have a look and see what you think.

Sewing for Myself

Sometimes in life we get all caught up in doing things for other people.  That's ok it's good to share and help out, but sometimes we should just stop and have some 'me time' and be just a little bit selfish.

I have been thinking of trying out some Modern quilting for ages and have browsed many sites and flicked through a few books on the subject.  My findings are that Modern quilting has got many attributes which need not all be used in the making of one particular quilt. Modern quilting usually but not wholly uses solid fabrics, negative space and sometimes uses traditional blocks made with bold patterned fabrics and colours.  These quilts can be freemotion quilted using complex designs and patterns but may also be quilted using straight lines and simple patterns.  Still with me here ....? Yes well as far as I can understand and in my opinion - anything goes, as long as you like it, and enjoy sewing it together.  I suppose I am a little step closer to understanding and making a wholly modern quilt.  I have read books by Angela Walters, Jacquie Gering, Elizabeth Hartman and the Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe, this particular book of patterns is inspired and created by lots of well known different bloggers all bundled together and shared in one book. There might be a project here just for me!

Pages from Quilting Modern and Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe

More 'me time'. I have just finished a rather nice quilt which I think I am going to keep for myself for those nights when I have cold feet and I am feeling the need to snuggle up.  This is another top I made when I was on holiday, and I have to admit it was destined for one of the charity fundraising quilts.  However I messed this one up big time!  Yes it looks ok in the photo. The front it's pretty neat and even.  I always have difficulty seeing how a quilt should be quilted but I knew this one had to have motifs in the light squares.  I thought I would try hand quilting for a change.  Oh oh!  I decided to use perle cotton thread so I needed a bigger needle to accommodate the thicker thread.  As usual I sandwiched it with warm and natural with fleece backing - mistake - if you are going to hand quilt. It was much too thick to get the needle through and the quilting stitches did not show fully on the reverse as they disappeared into the fleece  - not a pretty sight!  So this quilt is going nowhere I'm keeping this one, just for me.

Flowers in the Windows

Remember the farmer's wifey quilt blocks I blogged about way back in August? Well I hadn't done a single one since then.  Tut tut.  I decided that since it is almost a year since I was given this lovely book I should perhaps make a few more of the blocks.  This is what I did yesterday afternoon, another four added to the bundle.  I have still got a long way to go and I have told myself I need to do more of these on a regular basis.  This quilt too will be a 'me' quilt as I was given this book as a gift, but I don't have a clue how long it will take to finish with all the other ideas I have on my virtual sewing list.

Country Farm, Bouquet, Birds in the Air and Contrary Wife

I see Jack Frost has been at work overnight here. Everything is covered in white this morning, I guess that's the end of the lovely flowers in the garden for another year.  Keep warm and enjoy your week.

Three More Quilts Donated to the Cause

I met with Murray Easton today for the first time.  It's always good to put a face to the voice on the end of the telephone.  Murray is Fundraising Manager for Marie Curie Cancer Care based at the Glasgow Hospice and has always been there when I have had questions about helping to raise awareness and funds for the charity.  I am very new to fundraising so it was good to have a chat over tea and cake this morning and discovering how small a world we live in, realising we each know and have worked with the same people in the past, although not connected in any way at the same time.

Three of my completed projects left with him to be used in the Christmas Shopping Ladies Lunch and the Glasgow Hospice Christmas Fayre, scheduled for later this month.  Sunny Days - the blue and yellow quilt, Bright and Breezy - the one I have just finished and a simple Festive Table runner.  Hopefully they will catch someone's eye at these events and go to good homes adding a few more pounds to the funds. 

Sunny Days

 

Festive Runner

Bright and Breezy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first time you have seen the table runner, but I suppose as we are now into November and Halloween and Guy Fawkes nights have just passed I am now allowed to  mention Christmas!  I have made a couple of festive projects so far.  One I particularly enjoyed doing with our class was the holiday coaster a quick and fun idea to brighten up any coffee table.  This was taken from the book Modern Holiday by Amanda Murphy which has lots of lovely quick easy projects all with a modern twist but could be made using traditional fabrics too.  I chose these winter fabrics from Stoff.  The reverse of the coaster has an appliqué snowflake cut from the spotted white fabric sewn on dark navy stars, so whatever your mood you can just turn them over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for bed, another busy day tomorrow.

A Sunny Sunday

It's so nice to see the sun shining through the windows this morning!  Although it does show just how dirty they are.  It has been very windy and rainy the past couple of days and has blown all the leaves around whipping up all the dust and grime.  The garden is looking a bit bedraggled but the colours are still hanging on in there on some of the shrubs and trees.

I have another finish today, Ups and Downs - 

 

I seem to have used similar fabrics and colours in this one as I did in Bright and Breezy - why is it we seem to go through stages of using the same colours.  This little quilt measures 35in x 44 in and was lovely to sew together and such fun.  Half square triangles are so versatile.  We tried a little experiment a few months ago at class.  Here are some of the designs we came up with.  I think I might be using some of these in the near future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for a cuppa now, enjoy what is left of your weekend.

A Bright and Breezy Finish

Another finish for you today.  I have been trying to get a photo of this one all week but the weather has not really been playing the game.  Every time I had the opportunity to get the camera out the wind would get up or the rain drops started to fall.  It was nice and bright this morning so this is the result.  I did have three or four attempts as the wind kept catching the corner.  I really enjoyed this one as mentioned in the previous post the fabrics were purchased in Canada and most of the piecing was done there.  The pattern was adapted from Growing Up Modern by Allison Harris. a lovely book with lots of quick, easy patterns suitable for children and adults alike.  Finished size is 43 x 50 ins and is backed with a nice turquoise fleece the same colour as the squares.  This one will be going on sale soon for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Bright and Breezy

So the next project on the table is one for a young lad who has recently, well maybe not so recently now, had his bedroom redecorated with a red white and blue theme.  I made quilts for his little sisters last summer (You can see them on the gallery page.  The ones with the ladybird and butterfly)  so now its his turn.  

Happy Halloween Folks!

Almost But Not Quite

I  thought I might have another finish for you today however I am not quite there yet.  You have seen this one before if you have been following along, this is one of the tops I finished while I was on holiday.  I had a couple of hours quilting the sandwich last night.  This one is more densely stitched than my normal, and I am using the honeycomb stitch on my machine. I'm not too sure about it, but as they say I've started so I'll have to finish.  It's now all quilted just need to trim it up and put on the binding!

I have had a very productive week this week doing all things house related.  Getting some things done which have been put on hold for a while.  The main thing was a huge clearance of all the cardboard boxes which were cluttering up our loft space.  Techie and I spent two days moving things around and clearing out.  Why do we keep boxes for computers, printers, sewing machines, old wallpaper, pieces of carpets etc etc?  Most of the original contents have long gone or been changed.  We did have fun and we did find some treasures we knew we're there but had forgotten about, like the Lego bricks and instructions, old skis and ski boots now too small for any of us.  We also realised there were boxes of school, university and professional course notes - and because I am not an academic I cannot understand why they need to be kept, especially as no one has looked at them in years.  Boxes of household items from student flats were and are still up there - they need to be sorted and removed.  They are not mine so the challenge is out - if they are not removed by the end of the year they will all be removed and recycled!  I mean it this time.

My reward for a busy week was coffee with my quilty friend, we meet each week at class but never really have time to have a chat about all the things we would love to make. We have been talking for ages about modern quilting and the pros and cons.  Do we like the concept of negative space, improv blocks and straight line quilting.  We would love to give it a try but cannot quite make the transition.  Do we need to give up the traditional, would we need to buy yet more fabrics or could we use what we have in our stash, can we do a class for modern quilters, do we have the time!  No real decisions were made other than we might give it a try.  We will need to meet for coffee and cake again soon to discuss the matter further.  Meantime we will continue to browse through blogs and books for ideas.  Maybe we will make a few enquiries.  Perhaps we should 'just do it' if we stopped procrastinating and browsing the internet we might just be a bit more productive.

Have a good stitching week 

A Finish To Share

At Class this week we were given a tutorial on foundation piecing.  Something I have had great difficulty with and had not quite grasped the concept.  The task was a Hunter's Star, no easy task.  As L was explaining the piecing and placing of the fabrics, I suddenly had as they say 'a light bulb moment'  it all just clicked and at last after many years of unfinished  thrown away efforts it finally clicked.  I look forward to completing this project very soon. Yippee! I have learned something new this week.

 

I  am delighted to be able to show you, at last, Harry's Quilt he came to visit me today with his Mum and Dad.  Needless to say he was really not at all interested in it yet and he slept all through the visit and allowed his Mum and Dad time to chat and have a cuppa.

 

I hope Harry enjoys playing with these animals when he gets a bit older