October finish 3

I have been doing a lot of sewing, but of the variety that doesn't yield much in the way of interesting photos! Still, I have finished another UFO, my Mile a Minute Rainbow quilt.
This was a joy to make, and I think it's turned out well. I just meander quilted it along the diagonal strips with appropriate colours (yellow on the yellow squares etc). That was easy and allowed me to use some of my gorgeous YLI variegated threads. I'm not sure I'll manage another finish this month (although I'll try) as I've also been busy with Linus quilts, putting them together, wadding or binding them. I've also been cutting up donated fabrics, as we have recently had two Linus sewing days at Linda's fabulous workshop near Melton Mowbray. She is such a lovely lady, and generously gave her space, (heated and fully equipped) plus refreshments and cake for free! Here are (l to r) Pat, Julie, Maria and Paula hard at work. Pauline worked so hard she actually finished two quilts in the day. Admitted this one was a printed panel, but it's still good going! This one was a soft book kit, but Pauline sashed the squares and put them together beautifully. It was bound by the end of the day!On Linda's design wall are Julie's red and black blocks (the first time she's put anything together on point!) and Pat's Mile a Minute. Hers finish at 9" and she's keeping her fabric choices masculine. Great job! Maria (a very new quilter) ended up with a pile of my MAM blocks to sew together. She wasn't impressed with them - they're not everyone's cup of tea, I know. She complained (quite rightly) that they were bulky. "I don't like these, these, what are they called? Make Up Rubbish blocks!" What a great new name for the blocks! And not untrue either. On Linda's chair was her Bonnie Hunter Scrappy Bargello. This is one quilt I'd love to make! Pat had donated a pile of spider's web blocks, and Paula added corners on them and was soon ready to join them up.As for me, apart from being sergeant major and general gofor, I managed to get this top together from orphan blocks. Linda will long arm quilt it, and then I'll be able to bind it. What a great day we had - not only lots of quilts for Linus, but a good laugh too! Here's to the next session in the New Year!

Lovely day

Yesterday I had a lovely day out. Can you guess what I was doing? Yes, I was sewing! A lovely Linus lady called Linda had organised a Linus sewing day, and Paula and I set off into the wilds of North Leicestershire to get to Hickling for 10 o'clock. Merrily chatting as we bowled along the A46 Paula said, 'Do you think we've come too far?' I replied foolishly, 'Oh, no. I think this part of the route is familiar.' As you can guess, we had gone 10 miles too far along the road, so had to turn back and retrace our route. Poor Linda was just beginning to get concerned, but she made us feel better by explaining that the sign for the A606 was obscured by the roadworks - even telling us that she herself had missed it the other day (although I think she was just being kind!).

Linda has a lovely workroom (a converted barn) where she holds classes. It was big and airy and had lots of natural light. Here you can see Linda (yes, there were three Lindas there!), Pat, Linda and Pauline busy beavering away. Pauline is holding up some bright blocks she is joining together. these will certainly cheer up someone's day! Linda (with her back to the camera) was squaring up rail fence blocks which had been made by other people (an unenviable task) and then joining them together. Pat (behind Linda) was making mile a minute blocks.

She was keeping mainly to blues and making blocks which finished at 10" so they will knit up fast. The randomness of these blocks reminds me of Gees Bend quilts - lots of life and movement in them.Linda (who is just peeping over her sewing machine) was finishing and sashing the blue Lemoyne Stars you can see on her design wall. These had been made in a class she taught recently.

Paula had taken a fancy to some donated blocks which had been made all in the same cream and red fabrics. Apparently the maker was 'fed up with them'. It's no wonder, as there were 112 of them! I would have given up long before I hadmade that number! Paula arranged them in a clever pinwheel design, and reckons there will be enough blocks for three Linus quilts! I was making the windmill blocks which you can now see on the design wall. They will be a fun addition to a child's bedroom.

I had taken some orphans and fabric strips with me, and we had a good rootle through it all. We made up some kits and Linda kept six tops which she is going to make up on her Gammil. What a lovely lady! It was a super day, with new friends (not to mention the biscuits and sweets) and a run out in the country, apart from all the sewing we did. Many thanks to Linda and everyone, and let's hope we can do it again soon.

Spreading the word 2

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to 'spread the word' about quilting, and this week I've managed to succeed at this! Last year I was invited by Botcheston W.I. to give them a talk about Project Linus, and I so inspired them, that they asked me to come back and do a workshop for them.

They were such a friendly group of ladies, and here they are all busy hand sewing and chatting. (The conversation ranged from the theatre, sports, burglary, the colour of our school underwear to male nudity! A good spread of topics! ) They all worked really hard, and in one morning achieved enough diagonal strippy blocks to make 3 cot quilts!

Here are the blocks laid out for one top, ready to be assembled and bordered. I was glad when lunchtime arrived, as I'd run out of Vilene foundations, and nearly run out of strips! We all enjoyed the morning, and they are keen to have another sewing day in the autumn. I'll look forward to it!

Tops, tops, tops

I haven't posted recently (or caught up with others' blogs either!) as we've been away. First Paris for a few days, then Edinburgh for the Fringe. Both were great, with lovely weather in Paris and fine weather in Edinburgh, which is good going for city breaks.

Now I'm back and eager to reduce my stash and projects. Firstly, I have been designing a simple cot quilt, as I have had a request from a local craft shop for a workshop. I wanted something easy (without too much matching) yet with the 'ah!' factor.

This simple strippy seemed to fit the bill.

I used a lovely farm design as the feature fabric and then just easy 9-patches. I'll take it down to the shop and see what she thinks about it. It will be a lovely cot quilt for Linus in any event.

The layering up of the quilt got me in the mood to make up some more tops. On looking in the Linus 'tops box' I found ......

the vine strippy I completed before we went away,

the pretty pink 'I spy a 4-patch' I made in July,
a bright cot quilt made from donated log cabin blocks,

another pretty strippy donated to Linus,

and last but not least, a green top which I will look forward to quilting for Linus. That's 5 tops (not mentioning the others in the box!) I'll aim to make up one a week for the month of September. Which one shall I do first?

Attention span of a gnat!

I really admire those bloggers who work on one project at a time. They post photos of the fabrics they have chosen, photos of blocks, sashed blocks, tops and completed projects. then they move onto the next idea.

I'm not like that. I have a very low boredom threshold, and after a few days of working on a certain project, I'm ready for a change. I've been putting together these gorgeous blue scrappy hearts for a Linus quilt, and yesterday, just as I'd got them sashed and ready for borders, I just needed something different.

I have recently bought Carrie Nelson's new book, 'Schnibbles times two' and decided that now was the time to try one of the projects from it. I dived into the Linus green scraps, and not long after, there were two blocks for a new quilt!

The pattern is called 'Nice Day', and it certainly was!

Two down, three to go!

I have managed to finish another of my current projects. It's a Linus mile a minute quilt and I'm pleased at how it's turned out. I didn't have enough of any suitable green to make the borders, so used four different greens - very suitable for MAM!

I quilted it simply with some loops, and with a red binding it looks fine.

Only a week to go, and while I've layered up my purple stars quilt, I don't think I'm going to achieve my challenge of completing another three projects in a week! Ah, well, at least I'll give it a go.

One down - four to go!

In my last post I decided to challenge myself to finish five of my current projects by the end of the month. I'm such a dilettante that I have various things on the go all the time (apart from my big box of UFOs, you understand!). Well, so far so good.

This Linus mile a minute is finished now.

I used a fabric with Snoopy playing football as the centres, and I think it's bright and cheerful for a football-loving boy or girl.

I have also been busy putting borders on my purple stars quilt, luckily out of my stash! The purple fabric I bought ages ago in a sale. The lighting was poor in the shop, and I thought it was navy, and perfect for backing a quilt for DS. When I got it home, I found I had bought 5 yards of purple fabric, and it has taken me a while to get through it! (The selvedge has the date 1996 on it - but surely I haven't had it for that long?!)

Scraps and strips

Since Christmas is over, I have been trying to rationalise my fabric stores. I have a lot of my own fabric, and also lots of fabric donated to Project Linus. The problem with the Linus fabric is that it is fabric which people don't want - often because it's horrible! But I am grateful for the donations, and such a cheapskate that I like to use as much of it as possible. I am always looking out for good patterns which use scraps, and this lead me (of course) to look at the lovely designs which Bonnie Hunter has on her site.

There are so many great designs that it's hard to choose, but I settled on 'I spy a 4 Patch' as a good one to use up fabric.

First I chose lots of novelty squares which I thought would appeal to boys, football, fishing, boats, animals, tomatoes - well, they were bright and colourful, so in they went!

Then I found a reasonably sized piece of fabric with footballs on it, and cut all the novelty squares out of the same fabric. This meant that I could use lots of different fabrics for the four patches. Which do you like best?

Linus ahoy!

Linus coninues to be my main focus at the moment. It's been lovely to spend some time with people who have made quilts (and want to make more!), completing tops, sewing on bindings and labels etc., but it's meant that, what with everything else which is going on, I haven't had much time to get on with anything for me. Then just when I thought I might try and get ahead of the game and start a couple of Christmas projects, I saw this lovely boat pattern in 'Fast Quilts'.

It's designed by Lisa Christensen and looks perfect for scraps. I managed to find some 'sea' fabric, which will unify the blocks, but the boats can be any colour on a cream background, and will look great. Linus wins - again!

Finished x2

Since the safe arrival of our neighbour's new grand daughter, Eva, I have been busy trying to get the quilt finished. Her uncle is up from London, and will be able to take it to his new niece. After layering and quilting I found a piece of green hand dye which matched the inner border and completed the quilt.

The best bit is the lovely fabric on the back

- I really find pastels really hard to work with, and don't think this quilt works particularly well. At least it's finished, and nobody could hate it, could they?

While I was in a completion mode, I finished the binding on this Linus quilt. It's mainly Mile A Minute, with a central heart block and four corner blocks from my donated orphans store. Many thanks for those blocks - they work perfectly!

I have quilted it simply, with a heart in each block.

I used a freezer paper heart which I ironed onto each block and then free machine quilted round it.

As you can see, I wobbled a bit, here and there, but I don't think anyone will notice!

Minibeasts nailed!

Don't worry! I haven't nailed them literally, just metaphorically! The quilt is finished!

Here it is in all its glory! Many thanks to all who gave me advice on this one - you were all right. I ended up using wadding with a fairly high loft, which helped 'absorb' the puckers and they all quilted out. The finished quilt is pretty flat - well, flat enough to be a snuggly Linus quilt.

Now all it needs is its label and it's good to go!

Dyeing

I've had a busy time this week - it's half term so I've been off work, which would theoretically mean more sewing time. But, after a hectic few months DH and I decided to go away for a short break. We visited DD in Brighton, which is a very lively and fun place to visit even when it's raining (as it was!) , and then took the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe to be rained on in France! Never mind, we had a good time, sheltering in Rouen Cathedral, sitting sipping cafe cremes in little cafes and taking advantage of a break in the clouds to walk along the beach at Deauville - a very sophisticated resort! And no holiday in France is complete without a visit to the hypermarket to stock up with French wines for Christmas entertaining. We definitely clanked back over the channel!

Now I still have a day or two before I get back to work, I decided to try Karol-Ann's excellent suggestion of dyeing some donated curtain lining to make some kits up for jars quilts. DD recently dyed a charity shop dress black in my machine, and not only did the dress come out black, but my subsequent washing didn't!

Here is the cream-coloured lining fabric, waiting to go in the machine.

Here is the dye packet - it promises 'velvet black'.

Here is the dry, dyed fabric. It is darker than it looks in this photo, a very dark charcoal, but not quite black. I suppose it was my fault as the instructions said the pack would dye 600 grammes of fabric, and I put in just a little more. Never mind. It'll be fine for jars quilts, and so long as I keep some back for borders etc. nobody will notice.

Especially when the jars are full of things like these which I picked up recently!

Local people, look out for the kits in my Project Linus box!

One fnished and 1002 to go!

Well, I'm exaggerating slightly on the numbers of quilts I have yet to finish, but it certainly feels like a lot!

I have actually finished my jars quilt for Project Linus. Most of the jars were donated by Karol-Ann, but I made a few more myself to bulk the numbers up. I have been rooting round in my stash for other fabrics with designs which would be suitable to keep in jars, so I can make some kits up for Linus. It's not so easy to find suitable motifs.

My Turning 20 quilt is now a top, and I have the backing and wadding all ready to turn this top into a quilt - all I need is the time! (I decided to extend it at the sides slightly to make it a bit wider. I just put multicoloured strips together. I didn't want a border the whole way round, as I felt it was long enough already!)



Other UFOs are waiting in the wings - such as this Mile a Minute for a colleague's son. He's a football fan and supports Coventry, who are called the Sky Blues, so it had to be bordered with pale blue!

I still haven't got the Old Quilt finished. I think it's the size which is making me reluctant to tackle it, plus the boring quilting motifs. I prefer to do something a bit more exciting than hourglasses!

I'm also making another baby quilt for a little one due to appear in November! I must get this bordered and finished if I'm to be in time for its arrival.

And of course, there are always extra bits and pieces on hand. Some lovely ballerina fabric was donated to Linus, but there wasn't enough of it to do anything with. I fussy cut the ballerinas out, and have started to make them into Mile a Minute blocks. Seemed like a good idea at the time!

And to add to all this, I've just downloaded the pattern for morsbags, to start my life as a guerilla! So much fabric, so little time!