Oriental Lanterns

Amidst the Junior Monopoly, loads of laundry and other demands on my time today (Saturday there was no sewing as there was another kids' poetry festival and a friend to lunch) I did actually manage to put another top together. This is yet another set of swap blocks which have been hanging around forever waiting to be put together. The good news is, this is the LAST SET of blocks from swaps. All the others have been used - a few of those tops still need to be finished and loads of them still need quilting, but there are no more block swap blocks hanging around. (Actually, that might be wrong - there might be half a set of framed batik 4 patches hanging around - I must check that.) I do have one or two more things which need making up, but they aren't swap blocks. Now, of course, they all need quilting!

I also managed to get some binding sewn on to the Drunkard's Path mini quilt, so hopefully will get it stitched down in the next few evenings and then that will be really finished. Woo hoo.

Bits and pieces (my favourite blog headline!)

We had a busy day today, but as I decided not to be a lazy bum, I got up when Alex came into bed (7.45) and put the telly on for him, then did a bit of sewing. As I knew I'd not have too long, and didn't want to get the ironing board out, I worked on these two pieces - the one on the right is fairly recent - my piece for quiltswap 4. I think I have now put as many yarns on it as I am going to - next step is to put in backing and batting and do some quilting on it. And then maybe some embellishments of some sort. We'll see what it says at that point.

The piece on the right is in plain sight whenever I work, so it's still fresh in my mind, but I haven't worked on it in ages, so you guys might not recognise it. Today I added lots more light green. The sky will also be covered in yarns, but the sea will be beaded. It's going to be a 40th birthday present for my friend Sophie (no, not that Sophie - sorry chick) - her birthday is in October, so I thought I should probably get my act in gear and actually do some work on it.

That was all I did today, but I did get tons of post and other goodies, so here goes:

From Sophie I got this great parcel (the other Sophie this time!) with the basket blocks that I won in the May Block Lotto on about (there are actually 13, but if I had a place I could display 13 x 16" blocks in my house - well - can you say "design wall"?). I also got two oriental lantern blocks from that swap, which she forgot to send me (this is not a problem as I am not ready to put these blocks together by any means) before and some black scraps for my pieced sashing project. Which I might someday finish :)



I also got this great postcard from Lynda which doesn't really show much in the photo but is the most amazingly textured thing - I really like it. Must get some cheesecloth or scrim and work with it... And Sarah got her postcard for the kids' exchange from Dylan in New Zealand. She was very pleased, as was I as she will now stop asking me when it will arrive. Of course Olivia is desperate to get hers now...



And finally - treasure! The QGBI Region 2 was having a quilter's sale in Mickleham Village Hall, which is right down the road from our all-time favourite family picnic spot. And the weather was good today. So in a spirit of serendipity, we decided to tootle along for a picnic - Geoff and Alex dropped me and the girls in the village and drove on to the carpark and walked up to Juniper Top; the girls and I scooped up some bargains, then walked along to join them.

And there were bargains galore - it was kind of like a table top sale or jumble sale (only tidier), but for quilting stuff - there was one shop trader there, but the others were individuals or roving shops or similar (only about 6 or 7 vendors) trying to get rid of stuff and make some money doing it. I got all the stuff on the left, plus the bags below for the girls (including a 1/2 metre piece Sarah stuffed in her bag), plus a piece of fabric for Alex which has wandered off somewhere before being photographed - ALL for about £25. There were a lot of £1 FQs, but there were also lots of stuff cheaper than that. The smaller grab-bags were 50p each or 5 for £2. (We got 5, of course.) I sorted through my grab-bags and there were some things in there that will go straight to Olivia, but also lots of nice smallish pieces which will be good for postcards or birthday swap blocks. And the Tesco baggie in the front of my stuff was great - lots of small pieces in various blues for £2 - what a bargain!

A productive Thursday for once

Today's post - two lanterns from Maia, as well as a generous piece of the oriental fabric of the second lantern. And my monthly FQ Frenzy package from The Antique Angel - lots of lovely new fabric, hoorah.


I also got my own card back from the Open Theme EuroSwap - the string pieced one, with buttons, which I'm not putting a photo of here, as it's been featured many times before - or rather, the series has, while being constructed.


Today being one of the days when Alex was at school the whole day (I swapped his normal Wednesday for today, due to the farm trip yesterday, and consequently, didn't stay to help, which I normally do on Thursdays), I did get some work done - did more on the Irish Chain quilt for the customer - not desperately exciting, so after an hour and a half or so I quit for the day and decided to work on the Under the Sea cards - all that remained was the edging and backing, so they didn't take too long to do. And now they are addressed and waiting to be posted - as it decided to chuck down rain this afternoon, I decided they could wait until tomorrow to go in the post - deadline's not until the 28th of May, and I wasn't willing to get soaked (the post office is only around the corner from where I live, so I always walk - can't park much closer than my house anyway!)

Under the sea...mainly

Another good day for post - which is good because I got very little done today, as I went with the nursery on their school trip to the Farm. Which was fun, but tiring.

Got two squishies containing lantern blocks - the single from Mary S, and the triple (one extra) from Kathi - all very pretty, though I do particularly like some of Kathi's chosen fabrics.

I also got two postcards, one for the Under the Sea swap, from Lynn, and the other a belated circles card from Angela - I'll let you work out which is which; somehow I doubt it will present a serious challenge...



And I did do a little work myself - tonight watching telly I finished beading and adding shells to my own Under the Sea cards, so those are ready to be backed and edged, and then go in the post. Hopefully I will get most of them done tomorrow, though I do have to do some work on the single Irish Chain I'm getting paid to work on, so I may not finish them all. We'll see. On the whole, I'm fairly pleased with them - and they look better in person, of course. Someday I will work out how to photograph Angelina...

Kookie bird!

Well, a very welcome day for post today - I got these two gorgeous oriental lantern blocks from Sue, along with two great tonal FQs (I love tonal fabrics) and a pattern for a funky bag which uses screening - must try that out some time. And - yippee! - I got my Kookie Bird from Annie in Australia - when I didn't win the draw on her blog, we agreed to swap instead - I got this lovely birdie and she got one of my beaded circle postcards (which I have heard since, made it safely to Australia, all beads intact. I shall stop panicking now about the strength of beadwork on my cards. Maybe.)

And of course, there were postcards. The one on the left, on which the metallic gold doesn't really show very well, is from Marlene on EuroSwap and is part of that open theme swap. The one on the right is a spring card from Debbie, on FAI. Both nice additions to my ever growing card addiction (I mean, collection...)

And finally, I did actually do a little work, though it wasn't very exciting - I have a commission from a customer of Lana's to finish off a single wedding ring quilt that she is unable to complete (this is the same customer I put borders on two quilts for a while back). Sadly, the customer has Motor Neurone Disease and simply can't sew herself anymore. So I am finishing off (and actually, she had barely started) this quilt top for her and then Lana will quilt it. So anyway, today I made nine-patches to start the quilt - not the most exciting work or fabric but as I am getting paid for this, I shouldn't complain!

I did also do some stuff for myself - I finished sewing the angelina fish onto the Under the Sea postcards, as well as adding some more "seaweed". Next step is to add some beads - that's a task to do while watching telly, so I should have some done tonight. They are looking pretty good, if I do say so myself... Photo to come again when some beads have been added.

Friday and Saturday, too

No sewing done myself (except finishing adding buttons to the string square postcards) but lots of post these two days... Two cards above for the Spring Swap, both of which arrived yesterday - one from Celia on the left, my own one coming back to me on the right.


The blocks came yesterday and are the ones from the batik paper-pieced block swap on EuroSwap - a good assortment of colours and fabrics, I think. And two lanterns from Kathy P came in the post today along with...


these two cards - the one on the left from Lisa for the swap Under the Sea on FiberPC and the one on the right from Beth in the Dyehard spring swap. Whew!

Basket case (again)

Well, now that it's no longer a secret, I can post some photos of the basket blocks I made for the May block lotto over on about.com. And it's a good day for it today as I of course didn't get any work done on a Thursday - I almost never do. (Though I will next week because I've switched Alex's wraparound day to Thursday - of course, I won't get anything done on Wednesday, as I'll be going to the farm with the nursery - heck, I may be too tired on Thursday to do anything but recover!) Anyway. Basket blocks aren't something I make very often, so it was fun to do these. I did everything but the basket and background from my scrap basket, and of course, it hasn't so much as made a dent - not surprising, I guess...

I did get some nice post today, though - these beautiful blocks from the other Donna in the swap (I got blocks from the other Donna yesterday) - I love the way Donna has used the print with the geishas in it - it's very effective. This may be my favourite block so far. Of course, I do like most of them, so it's very hard to choose!

Jacob's Ladder nearly done...

Despite spending an hour or so this morning tutoring a friend on how to use her computer more efficiently and thoroughly, I did get some work done, too. I was a good girl, and worked on the Jacob's Ladder blocks. I have about five more to do - they are all put together partway, so shouldn't take long to finish - I had hoped to do them today, but just didn't have quite enough time. Maybe tomorrow, though I think that, true to form, Thursday will prove to be a no=sewing day. And with the weekend being a bank holiday, there probably won't be a huge amount of sewing time there. Maybe I can get them done Friday, who knows. Anyway, nearly done, and don't they look good all together...



Also got a few goodies in the post - oriental lanterns from Donna, and a Circles postcard from Dawn. Great felty card, really fuzzy and fun.

Card City

An astonishing crop of cards today (and a few other things, too). I got three cards from the Earth Day swap - the leaf and the butterfly/flower ones in addition to the obvious one. The World on the Back of a Turtle card is from Theresa, the Butterfly is from Ellen and the Aspen Leaf is from Sophie. In addition, there was a belated card from the International Women's Day swap from Sophie and a Circles card from Sue. And lanterns - these are from Desiree and include extras (I am going to have SO many lanterns - what will I do - would that all my problems were of this nature, LOL).





And finally, the blacks on the left both came in the both (thanks to Judy and Jane), but the blocks on the right are something I actually made - these are for my African block swap with Karol Ann, and are the first that I've made for the swap. Just wanted something which would be fairly simple to do and would show off large bits of the African fabrics. I did also do some work on the Jacob's ladder blocks, but as I was strip piecing, I don't have any finished ones to show yet...

Missing in action (Wednesday?)

Just realised that I forgot to post pictures of these cards, and a load of lantern blocks that I received last week - I think it must have been Wednesday, as that's the day that seems to be missing from the blog. Hmm. Also, all the work I did Wednesday - spring card preparation and edging the sky cards - I won't bother with all those pictures just now, though - the goodies are enough!

Anyway. The leaf & flower card is for the spring is here swap on FAI, and is from Debbie in New Zealand; the fish are for the Open Theme swap on EuroQuilt and are from Flo in Germany. As for the lantern blocks, my brain is going a bit soft tonight (no jokes about it not being just tonight, please!) but I think they are from Pat
and Vanessa. Lots of extras from both of these ladies, which is really sweet of them. I have a feeling I might have received some black scraps from Grace on this day, too, but I could be wrong - I definitely got some from her, so here's a big thank you to Grace...