Bit of a blue phase

Before we went away, Muriel and I organised a sewing day at Rocheberie Schoolhouse Quilters in Rugby.  We have had these for the last three years and they have been very successful.  They are a kind of mystery day, with people being asked to bring precut and/or presewn fabrics, with more instructions on the day.  This time, we had people bring squares of fabric with two snowball corners - dark squares with light corners and light squares with dark corners.  After a bit of magic, this is the resultant quilt!  It's actually called 'Little Red' and is from Carrie Nelson's fabulous book, 'Schnibbles times two'.  (Many thanks to Carrie for kindly giving her permission for us to use this pattern.) 

I love secondary patterns, and while I love the little pinwheels, I also like the optical illusion which makes it look like there are curves here, when it's all straight piecing!  A great design, and a fun day!  

I've also used blues for another class sample.  The first class will be four-patches, and the second half square triangles. I think this design should be fairly straightforward for beginners.  Well, time will tell!

Exciting news!

We have been away on holiday (Crete, very hot and spent relaxing in the shade) but while we were away, something very exciting happened.  DD got engaged!  Here she is with her lovely fiance, Ben.

You can see how happy they are together, and we are delighted at the news.  Now what design will I choose for a wedding quilt?!

Family time

It's the time of year when we have our annual family gathering, and it was last Sunday at my cousin's in Nottinghamshire.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't too good, and we weren't able to sit outside for much of the afternoon, but we managed to snatch time for a group photo.  Unfortunately Uncle Sid had already gone home, but everyone else was there.  It was a lovely day and it was good to catch up with relatives I haven't seen recently.  (I'm on the back row, third from the left at the back!)

Then we had another family gathering as it was my birthday (again!).   DH, DS and DD with her lovely boyfriend, Ben, (he's the one with the pink hair!) went to a local restaurant for some fine dining. 

 What can I do this weekend to top this?!

It's number 3 - and it's done!

Julie wasn't a little behind at all - she's already declared UFO Challenge number 3 on her blog, just not on the UFO Challenge site.  She's a busy girl, and I wasn't in that much of a hurry.  But I was a little perplexed, as I couldn't find number 3 on my UFO list.  What was going on?  Then I realised it wasn't there, because I'd already done it!  Hooray!  Number 3 was my '12 days of Christmas' quilt, of which I had originally only completed the partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three french hens, four calling birds, five gold rings (in with the turtle doves) and the swans a swimming.  Bit of a bird theme going on there! 

 I combined most of the blocks with three of the calendar baskets (all the blocks were from series quilts in 'Quiltmaker' magazine) to make this Mother's Day gift.  I was very pleased at the way the blocks played nicely together, both with each other and the pretty floral fabric which was leftover backing.  Result!  And the partridge?  Well, he was a bit imposing, so merited his own wall hanging.

I know it's on its side, but I've been fiddling with the image for 10 minutes to get it to rotate, and have now given up!  You get the idea!
And for all those going to Rocheberie Schoolhouse Quilters on Saturday, here is a sneak preview of what you'll be making. 

Should be a great day!

A little behind

No, not a comment on my sylph-like proportions (I wish!) but on my status vis a vis my UFO Challenge.  Since I only needed to sew the binding down, I've been slacking and doing other things like attending barbecues and socialising, so have only just got June's challenge, the Crumb-along, completely finished.

I'm very pleased with it, as it gave all the pleasure of Mile A Minute (of which I never tire!) plus fun improvised heart, star, flying geese, 4-patch and nine-patch blocks to boot!  Incidentally, can you see the LO
     VE? 
Sorry it's not all in the photo, but DD was holding it up as best she could,

until her arms gave way!  I'm just waiting now for Judy to post the next number!  She's got a little behind as well!

Another top!

I have finally finished my medallion quilt, and am very pleased with it.  The red triangle border was fine, although I struggled a bit with the corners.  I didn't need to triangles to be exactly the right measurement, but wasn't sure what to do to make the turn.  I'm happy with the solid (ish) corner squares and a few chopped off triangles. 

DD said how clever I was to choose a border fabric with brown in it, so the brown bird wasn't left looking a bit odd.   Sorry, I'm not as clever as that, or maybe I have an instinctive colour sense.

Or maybe I don't.  I took a colour challenge at this site and was disappointed to find that while my colour sense is better than average, it's not that much better!  How will you do?

Class samples

It has been football-tastic here in the UK as England has been playing in some sort of international competition.  Personally I hate football, but DH loves it, which has meant several evenings of him glued to the tv and me free to sew away to my heart's content!  That's what I call a result!  Unfortunately England were so pathetic, they were beaten by Italy and now are out of the running (no pun intended).  However, I've managed to use the sewing time fruitfully to get some class samples done.  For my Saturday class, I have decided to teach Dresden Plate. 

 

This design has lots of appeal, and if the curved edges are changed to points, is simple to sew.  I plan to make five flowers and then make them into a big nine-patch with some pretty pink floral fabric.
Eunice, over at The Quarter Inch in Market Harborough has asked me whether I would teach a beginners' class for her.  I agreed to do it and decided that a four-patch was probably the easiest way to start.  I chose some beautiful Debbie Bliss fabrics by Need'l Love from her shop and got to work.

This photo doesn't do the fabrics justice at all, but shows clearly my stupid mistake.  Because I am so unused to choosing fabric all at one go, I didn't make sure I had a dark, a medium and a light.  I took the lovely floral fabric as my base, and added two fabrics from the same range for the four-patches.  They looked good close to in the shop, but don't really provide enough contrast to make this a great quilt. 

This is a better photo to show the design and lovely fabrics.  Never mind, it's fine as a sample and will give people an idea of what they will get from the class. 

By the way, it was a real treat to work with such quality fabrics.  I'm so used to scraps that I was delighted at how well it went together, how square it was and how flat it was to quilt.  Perhaps I'll change from a scrap quilter and just buy from one range at a time.  What do you think?!