Sorry

I know the shops have been full of Christas stuff for months now, but I hadn't thought I'd be adding to people's angst about preparing for the big day.  However, my local group is having a challenge to produce a Christmas wall-hanging, and I thought I'd show my effort so far.

 

I love doing free pieced letters so used those.  I'm not completely satisfied with the 'y' - I should have made my usual cursive style one - but I haven't got any more of the background fabric, so can't redo it.  I'd forgotten how much fabric free piecing uses up, and didn't choose my background wisely.  I needed to frame the letters, and decided that a contrast would work.

 

So much for that idea!  It looks awful - the letters look as if they're in prison!   Back to the stash to see if there is anything which might blend in.

 

Hooray!  I found some fabric with handwriting on which is almost exactly the same colour and value as the background fabric.  Now the final border.  Red? Green?  Yes, one of those.

Fabulous!

Yesterday DD Gemma married her fiance Ben.  It was a wonderful day, and it was fabulous to see how happy they both were.  Gemma has never been afraid of forging her own path, so decided to marry in midnight blue, and since she already had a dress she liked which was that colour, wore that one!  Her headdress was custom made for her in America, with feathers, flowers and jewels.  And she dyed her hair pink the night before the wedding, as a 'surprise' for Ben!  (Luckily, he was delighted!)

 

 

Here they are after the signing of the register,

 

and here is a lovely one showing Gemma's happiness.

 

Here is the wedding cake, which was tiers of different cheeses,

 

and here is a general view of the hall, just before the reception.  Future pictures will feature the bridesmaid dressed in a knitted Dalek outfit and other delights.

Officially clever!

Yesterday there was an interesting article in 'The Times' which not everyone may have read.  Apparently research by Dr. Denise Park of Texas University has shown that elderly people can boost their brain power by learning a new skill, but only challenging activities will produce this effect.  Over two hundred people aged 60 to 90 were divided into three groups.  One group learned a demanding new skill, one listened to classical music and completed crossword puzzles and the third group took part in social activities.  Only the first group showed improved mental acuity.  So, what were the challenging activities which produced this effect?  Digital photography and quilting!  So, that explains the sparkling conversation to be found at every quilty gathering and bodes well for the future!
I have been exercising my own grey cells with Bonnie Hunter's 'Lazy Sunday'.  I've made my usual half the blocks, and started to join them together.

 

So far so good, until I checked the pattern, and realised that I had started at the top of Bonnie's design, and only six rows wouldn't mke a balanced design.  So I made my own balanced design!  Not sure if I like the purple centre though.

 

So I moved the two rows I'd already joined together down a bit and added a row on top.  Now I have four flowers in the centre.  Is this better?  Perhaps the clincher was that I have exactly enough blocks for this design, and I would have to make more Jacobs Ladder blocks to complete the other.  Laziness will win the day!

Never again!

I have been finishing off my wedding tasks.  DS and I made an initial arrangement of the table flowers (silk) in the vases, and then I finished off the ring pillow.  The appliqued initials were done, and I decided to put prairie points round the edge (DD would hate lace!) 

 I've never actually used prairie points before so it was a bit of a learning curve!

Here is the finished pillow - the messy white blobs in the middle are the ribbons for tying on the rings!  I'm pleased with it, but the prairie points were a tedious task.  I know you can make continuous ones, but I wasn't sure of the spacing and didn't want to end up with a half PP, so made each one individually from a 2" square!  It's taken me most of the afternoon to make these little beauties, and while I quite like the effect in this case, I'm not planning to make any ever again!

Circles on my mind

I have been enjoying some hand piecing recently, and mainly making circles.  I had no idea what I was going to do with them - just enjoying the process.  Suddenly I realised that they could go together!

 

 

They look a bit strange like this, but at least they're blending together colour and value-wise.  I'm currently piecing a border for the turquoise and blue cog wheel at the top, then when that's finished, I can play!

Wedding sewing

DD's wedding is fast approaching, so I decided to get on with the sewing tasks I have.  First was the bunting.  I have made some with the couple's new name on, and then loads and loads of blue, cream and a little bit of pink bunting for the hall decorations. 

 

 

I have located and attached a suitable border to their wedding quilt.  There will be more to add on this, but it needed something solid to ground it.  

 

Then I have starched and cut all the pieces of fabric which people will sign at the reception.  I tried several colour pens out, but DD thinks the black is best. 

 

The table toppers are all cut to size,

 

and the ring pillow applique is nearly done.  DD didn't want a lacy pillow, so I've used this bunting fabric, and am applying their initials joined together.  I'll attach some ribbon on the L for DD's ring, and some on the B for her fiancé's. 

 

There has been a little quilting going on too.  I'm continuing my love affair with Mile a Minute, and have copied this idea of stars with plain points which you can see here on  Bonnie's blog, although it was made by Priscilla. 

 

I need nine colours: green, red, orange, yellow, turquoise ................ I'll get there!

Chinese Curse

Isn't there a Chinese curse which says, 'May you live in interesting times'?  Well, just recently I think someone has cursed me!  We have just been on holiday for a week (lots of eating breakfast in the sunshine, wandering around in foreign cities, red wine, chilling out etc), then back to pick up the current threads of DD's wedding preparations and my parents' imminent move to Lutterworth (hooray! can't wait!).  Add to this the fact that I had agreed to do some Linus quilting at Brook House, a local care home, and had all the arrangements and fabric cutting to do for that.

 

This was the design we made blocks for.  It's Kathy Doughty's 'Fractured'.  The block is just a dark and a light rectangle joined with a sloping seam, but the arrangement of the blocks was a bit tricky - not just for the sewers, but on assembling the quilt!  I think this will be stunning once it's quilted.  Many thanks to the staff and residents of Brook House for their hospitality.

Then it was running a Linus stall at a new local show.

 

Since this was a new venture, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was lovely!  Paula and I went and manned the stall for the weekend, and Julie kindly gave us a hand on the Sunday.

 

 

Here they are sewing labels onto completed quilts.  We had a lovely time and met lots of people, old friends and new.  We were able to spread the word about Linus, offer patterns and ideas and even found ourselves as 'quilt experts' when we were asked, 'Are you the quilting ladies?' to which the only answer is 'yes!'  We gave our opinion on the merits and snags of hand and machine quilting, and it seemed to go down very well!  Fifty people took a leaflet about Linus with our contact details on, so we were very satisfied.

 

 

Here is our neighbour, Kate from p/hop.  I hadn't heard of this charity before, but they have designer knitting patterns which you can have for a donation calculated on the pennies per hour of pleasure (p/hop) you will get!  All the money goes to Medecins Sans Frontiers, an extremely worthy cause.  If you would like to see their range (from Christmas reindeer and stockings, through scarves, shawls, gloves, hats, teddies and tea cosies), click here.   Kate came up from London and gave up her whole weekend, but I think it was worth it for her, as she got plenty of donations. 

 

here is a scene in the main hall, with quilts displayed in the middle and stalls round the outside.

 

And here are people flocking in to pay for entrance and workshops.  I think the organisers were pleased with the visitor numbers and positive comments, and look forward to doing it again next year!