Gone away...

We are away to the wilds of Scotland for a bit over a week. Computer is coming too, but don't be surprised if I don't post much. Happy summer, everyone!

Around the World Quilt Bee

Despite the busy week, I did have a chance to work on the latest round of the Around the World Quilt Bee. This is a block for Paloma's quilt - there are loads of colours in it already, but most of the fabrics are quite retro, so I've gone down that route. And here are all the blocks sewn together - fun!

Spring Fling Round Robin

Lookie what I got in the post today - my Spring Fling Round Robin quilt. Isn't it lovely? The colours are a little more vibrant in reality, I think, but you can tell from this photo how great it is. All the participants have done a fantastic job matching colours and style and I'm really really happy with it.

Many thanks to Toni, Amy and Marlene for all their hard work and of course, to Margaret for organising this whole shebang. I hope you'll be doing it again in future, Margaret!

New fabric

What a busy week! Didn't get a chance to work on the weekend at all, at least not on my own stuff (I helped my mum with something she was working on), but I do hope to finish one or two more things before going away on Thursday. We'll see...

I did finally get a chance to show a photo of the fabric my mother brought over with her - some is gifts for me, some is stuff I ordered from the eQuilter sale and had delivered to her. Now if only I had time to USE the new fabric, now that would be sweet!

Another Quilt Bee Block

Forgot to post this yesterday -I guess it was so busy I just didn't remember it... Yet another block for the Around the World Quilt Bee - this one for Carroll. This quilt has leapfrogged the one before it, so that I've worked on a ninth block before I worked on an eighth block - but that's ok...

Very bright colours were used in this quilt and quite liberated piecing, so I decided it needed some liberated stars, a la Gwen Marston. Because the block size was 10" unfinished, I had to improvise with some sashing to get the right size, but I think it works well. It's going to be a very bright, cheerful quilt.

Cross-stitch update

Rather good progress made this week, I think - must have watched a lot of telly! (Or, more likely, must have simply remembered to get the cross-stitch out and work on it while watching telly, unlike some weeks.) I finished the pink dress and have begun on the white dress. There is actually some stitching done in the white dress, but as it's all in shades of white, it's hard to see. I started it before the door behind it, but had such a hard time seeing the white and counting, I decided it would be better to do the background first, so that I had a more defined area to work with.

Might not make as much progress with it this week, as there are several things waiting for binding, but I think I will take it on holiday with me in the end of July, so perhaps a lot will get done then...

Southwestern bargello

Today... This piece is for the July BQL Challenge - it's a mini bargello style quilt. I had some great southwestern style fabric with lizards on it which I used as a base fabric, then added the turquoises and browns. When I finished, it felt a bit like a river in the desert, so that's how I've quilted it - a river across the middle, then the ground - in swirls - at the bottom and some suns in the sky at the top. The binding is not as wonky as it appears - it's merely that I haven't actually sewn it down yet, it's just pulled to the back and pinned so I could make sure I liked it!



The other thing I sewed today was less exciting (for me), though Olivia was pleased with it.

Forgotten post...

Well, I know I haven't blogged much this week, but this is only partly because I didn't do anything (today) or worked on something, but couldn't show it (Thursday) - it's also because although I worked on something, and photographed it (yesterday), I forgot to blog it. Tsk - shame on me. This is because yesterday afternoon and evening were fairly busy - after work/school a Brownie & Guide District Sports Day, followed by an evening out with friends. Sometimes things fall through the cracks, even for someone quite organised...

Anyway. This is another block for the Around the World Quilt Bee - this is for Cindra's quilt. You can see I've pulled my colours and basic inspiration (nine patch) from her starter block in the upper left corner. This was a fun block - hope she likes it!

New (sort of) Cross Stitch UFO

So, having finished the birds, here's what's up next. Not sure why this one got put to the side - probably I didn't have a colour I needed so set it aside to work on something else and then never got back to it. But who knows. Anyway, I chose this originally because it has a quilt in it, and I chose it to work on next because it isn't TOO big and I can foresee finishing it sometime in the not-too-distant future. I do have a couple of very large samplers which I really don't want to tackle quite yet.

I worked on this tonight a bit, including some back-stitching - always amazing how much difference that can make - but anyway, that's something to show another time, like next week.

Finally finished!

Ok, you guys - thanks for following along with me through all this - and yes, finally finished - woohoo! Still have to iron out the hoop marks and stuff and of course get it framed, but it's done, done, done!

Wonder what the next thing I pull out of the cross-stitch UFO box will be? Watch this space...

The end of the cushions

I did a fair bit of work today, but as so often happens these days, I can't show most of it! The main bit of what I worked on, a round for the Bloggers Round Robin, has to stay secret. However, I can show a few more cushions I made from the 3D birthday swap blocks - the sampler type block from Julie and the African type block which Helen sent me. I have decided to keep the other three blocks I have from the swap for other things (Margaret's lovely Cathedral Windows block is already hanging in my hallway as a miniquilt). There's a large block from Joy which I thinkI will turn into a small wallhanging quilt along with some of the blocks from last year's swap, which are conventiently in the same types of fabrics and colours. And then there's the other block from Helen, which Margaret commented would make a great Christmas decoration - she's right, so I think I will turn it into a small Christmas hanging and finally, the block from Michelle, which I decided I would also make into a small wallhanging, rather than a cushion. It's such a lovely delicate block; it would look great on a wall somewhere.

Boomer

The blocks on the left are called Oklahoma Boomer and are for the block lotto for July - it's a cute block and actually, looks really good in r/w/b, which is not a colour scheme I'd normally really go for.

On the right, some black and white prints which arrived from eQuilter, and some great teapots/coffeepots, which came from Barbara, as a hostess thank you. Isn't that sweet?

Hope to get some work done tomorrow - I also have to (gasp) clean the house, so who knows how much. Not sure what I want to work on - I have several things I can't show which need to be done - fun for me to work on, less fun to blog about...

Around the World again

Today I did another block for the Around the World Quilt Bee - this one has a real scrapbag feel to it (and the person whose quilt it will be asked for that); I tried to work with the colours of the original block (the stars on white) as there was no way I could match all the previous blocks!

I made a few lotto blocks as well, but will save them for tomorrow to show as I won't have time to work on anything then...

Highly textured

The last two days worth of post has seen lots of textured blocks from the birthday block swap land on my doorstep. Yesterday brought me this beauty from Julie - the colour is fairly true onthe right, but a little weird on the left. Hopefully you can see some of the textures in the photo on the left - it's a bit hard to show how interesting these blocks are with mere photos (so you guys will all have to come visit my house and see them in person, I guess)...



Today brought me a block from Michelle (left) - all the point of the flying geese are actually flaps - and two blocks from Helen - the one on the right above, where I think you can see the textures fairly well (the orangey brown fabric is folded into little flags) though the colour is off again - the block is more purple and less blue than it appears here -

and the one below, which I have photographed from an angle to show you all the folds in it. This is a great block and must have taken a lot of work to get all of those folds!



They are all great blocks, really, and I'm very pleased with them all - and the others I have received this month. I think these may also end up being cushions, along with the two I've already made into cushions. It's true that I need some new cushions, but it's also true that all these blocks make great cushions because of the textural elements - you can really see them on a cushion - in a wall hanging, they might show a bit less well...