Darting birds

Here are a handful of darting birds for the October block lotto over on about.com - I had a very brief window of time today when a gap in my schedule happened to coincidence with a time when the decorator wasn't here painting, so I could actually get into my sewing room - it was only about an hour, but that was enough time to knock up these darting birds blocks - black and white prints on a sky blue background - very effective, aren't they? And on the right, four more cracker blocks from the September lotto, these from Wanda. Got almost all of them now - when they are all in, I will put them together into a baby quilt.

Busy day tomorrow (and Friday) so perhaps not much blogging, though I will be out in Kingston tomorrow, where there are several of my type of shops - a fabric shop and a bead shop, not to mention the hab. dept at John Lewis...

Stars, Crosses, Goals

Despite a busy morning (well, I have a yoga class - so not unusually busy, just out of the house) I did manage to get some work done today - got 6 star ornaments made for a swap over on Creative Swaps - even got them in the post, too. One more thing to tick off the list. It's beginning to be a little less scary - only a few more October things to finish. Of course, there's a week of holiday coming up at the end of October, so it might be best to get as many finished before then as possible!

Anyway, the ornaments. I used two pieces of hand-dyed fabric - the one you see is actually quite a purply blue, but that colour doesn't photograph well. On the back is a more red purple. Fused them to a rectangle of vilene, then quilted the whole piece before cutting stars out (traced around a cookie cutter). I then satin stitched the edges, and added grommets, faces and danglies. The stars are about 3 inches across or so.

I said yesterday I'd do the cross-stitch update and goals list today when I had fewer pictures - so here they are. I decided to start the central panel of the cross-stitch rather than work on any more boxes this week. It's coming along nicely. Obviously the word "America" is there, and then there are two robins on a nest below it. Probably take another 2 weeks or so to finish that bit, especially as I have some other hand work to do this week. I'm keeping an eye on the time, as I would like to work on my Christmas cross-stitch projects for a while around Christmas, so it's possible I will set this one aside for a few months while I do those - I'm not really in the mood for the Christmas ones for a lot of the year, so they tend not to get worked on, even when I'm really in a cross-stitch mood otherwise. But come November or so, I will feel like doing Christmassy things - at least some of the time!



And finally, the goals list. I think I mentioned last week that I might go to the Knit and Stitch Show - obviously, I didn't. In the end, I decided that I really just needed the time at home on Sunday to sew, so I did that. Maybe next time... Anyway, a review of the week's aims:

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 11/10) - done.
• start October birthday block - yes, all ready for the hand sewing bits, which I have started tonight, actually.
• work on Angela's quilt - nothing further done with this this week - just didn't have a day I could work on quilting the border. Maybe this week!
• set of postcards - "starts with V" (deadline 15/10) - done and mailed.

So, this week:

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 18/10)
• set of star ornaments (deadline received by 1/11 in the US)
• finish October birthday block
• start ALQS2
• work on Angela's quilt

I know, I already have one of those things accomplished, but I promise I had intended to put it on my goals list before today - in fact, I worked on it today because I knew it was on the list!

More stuff

Another productive day today - woo hoo! I made two tops for various mini swaps - the one on the left is an 18" block, I think; the one on the right is 20 inches. The blue and yellow one has better contrast in person - and the other one has a purple star in the centre - gotta love digital photography... Now they both have to be quilted, but we're getting there.



Also made two blocks for the Dear Jane swap I am doing with my friend Cathi, and my journal quilt for the week, which is made from the one page leftover from the book for Kristen's birthday. Whew. What a day. Hope I can get one or two things done this week - still have some time-sensitive things which need sorting.

Right, off to bed now, as it's a school night - will show cross-stitch progress and update my goals tomorrow - probably won't get much work done then anyway, so it will be good to have something to share...

High productivity day

...which makes a nice change. Got lots done today - some of what I have to show today was done before, and just finished off today, but that's ok, there's some very old stuff there and many of you may not have seen it before anyway. But new things first. The first thing I did was to make a little mini quiltlet for the 6-12" Flickr Group, where the October theme is to make a non rectangular quilt. While thinking about this theme, I also ran across mention on Crazy Mom Quilts of a Candy Corn Challenge. (To make an object related to Candy Corn, in any media) - and zing! there was the idea - a candy corn shaped quilt - in appropriate colours, of course. So this morning, I raided my scrap strip stash (say that quickly!) and did some quick stitch and flip onto some scrap batting. Then I used the pillowcase method and turned it and quilted it. The whole piece is less than 12" high and maybe 8" across at the bottom. I think it came out well - and it's definitely not a traditional shape!


I also prepped the base of my block for October's birthday block - this is now going to be heavily embellished - not a lot of embroidery as I'm not great at that, but it will have some, as well as ribbon, buttons, charms, beads and so forth. All that will be done by hand, though, so it's just in a little basket waiting to be done in front of the telly.





I then did a set of postcards for the theme "V is for..." - I have chosen "vase" (of flowers, of course) - the flowers look a little odd, but I am reasonably happy with the cards, and I think they will do.

Finally, I worked on a present for a friend's 40th - which is Monday (she lives in the US - guess it's not going to get there on time!). These book pages have been mostly done for I don't know how long - well over a year - and only needed assembling into a book. I didn't start out to make them for Kristen for her 40th, they were from an online class with Lenna Andrews, but somewhere along the line, they made me think of her and I thought they'd make a fun present. Then I kind of forgot about them. So today, I took the last few out of the box and finished them off (they needed to be attached to a stabiliser) and then put holes and grommets in all of them, and bound them with gold cord. Photos of the page spreads below - I think it will be a really fun present (she already has a quilt from another occasion). The pages are approximately 7 inches square.

Friday roundup

Well, I normally tend to keep things like politics off my blog, but I thought it was worth mentioning that my little absentee vote will be winging its way over to the US next week, to be counted with its brothers and sisters. As I vote in Maryland, I shouldn't think my vote will be needed to reach a decision, but it's there in case. Those of you who know me at all, will know who I voted for... After living outside the US for so long, I feel a little odd voting in US elections, and in fact, I don't vote for things like "pick no more than 3 candidates for the local school board" - I've no idea who these people (all women this year) are and who will do a good job. But frankly, who is President of the US makes a huge difference not only within the US, but on the world stage, so I'm glad to have the chance to have my say in that part of the election, at least.

So, that's some outgoing post - I also FINALLY got to the post office and mailed off the birthday blocks to Julie (sorry to take so long!), the arch to Patsy, the lotto blocks to Barbara and Michele and the mini quilt to Colene - so if you are any of those people reading this (and I'm fairly sure all of you but Michele at least pop in from time to time) the items should be with you soon. Thanks for your patience!

On to the incoming post - more lotto blocks. These are from Rho, Michele and Shelli and again, will help make a very nice little baby quilt. Which, who knows, I may even get made some time this year. Or not!



This has been a very unproductive week for me, though I'm planning to get some serious sewing time in tomorrow and Sunday - in the mornings at least. I have a lot of things which need doing, so hopefully plans will not "gang agley". And next week will be a little low on sewing time as well, as I have been offered some work at school in the mornings, for two weeks - which is great - it will be fun, as it's doing some cover in the nursery, which I really enjoy - and of course, a little money will be nice.

African lady

Well, it's a good thing that people keep sending me so much nice stuff in the post, otherwise I'd have a very boring blog this week - today's offering is from Karol-Ann as part of our African block swap - it's a fabulous block and I love it, but the bad news is that this means now it's my turn to make a block to send. I think it's going to be a month or two before my next offering is made!

Another day with no sewing!

Contrary to what I hoped yesterday, I didn't actually get any sewing done today - this was due to taking my dodgy computer in to the shop, to be told it was pretty much dead and then buying another one - to come home tomorrow after they move the data from the old to the new. And grocery shopping. Tomorrow may be another low productivity day as well, with quilt group in the morning and no doubt setting up the new computer in the afternoon (can't imagine I'll be able to wait any longer to do that, provided it's ready, which it should be). And Friday is a total loss. So much for my week!




Luckily, there are lots of nice things to show for the day anyway, with some more birthday blocks and a card from Dawn for the neocolour II swap. I'll come back tomorrow to note who the blocks are from and link and so forth - think I might go to bed a little early tonight - do some reading perhaps - as I'm tired...

More post

Got these in the post today - as it happens, I won the September block lotto on about.com. I'll use all the blocks I get to make a baby quilt - I don't have any in stock at the moment - it's always good to have a few set aside for those last minute babies (yes, I know, babies aren't very last minute - but husbands remembering to tell their wives that a colleague is going on maternity leave CAN be very last minute...) One set of blocks is from Debbie and one from Sylvia - can't remember which is which now.



Two more blocks here, these from Julie, and a thank you card from Barbara, for whom a bunch of us made a birthday quilt a while back - wish the photo was better, as it's a great card.

Tomorrow, I hope to spend some time in the sewing room, so I may have actual stuff of my own to show!

Nice things in the post

Well, good thing I didn't set a lot of goals this week, as it looks like I'm going to spend at least three days at school - today being one of them (well, yoga class this morning, but then in school helping launch the new library for the rest of the day). Luckily, I got some treats in the post today - a "U is for..." card from Kim, and an ATC from Guzziesue as part of my ATC challenge.

Cross stitch, quilting, goals

The problem with this cross-stitch - or rather, the problem with the way I've been photographing it is that each photo is a different angle... Anyway. Here's a view from about 3 weeks ago (left) and another from 2 weeks ago (centre) and finally, tonight - I didn't take a photo last week, as I'd only done about one box. So. 13 blocks to go, and then the centre panel. I might actually move to the central panel before I do all the boxes, as two of them are initials and date - seems silly to do them before I'm really finished. But progress is definitely being made.



Spent a lot of time today quilting the diamond quilt - did spirals with meandering - looks kind of funny in this photo, but looks good on the quilt. I've only done this in the centre - the diamonds and into the black border a bit. On the floral batik border, I'm going to go around the flowers, I think - and continuing into the rest of the black border in the places where the spiral meander quilting doesn't touch.

And finally, a review of the week's goals:

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 4/10) - done. and I managed to make it fit another requirement - the October challenge on Textile Challenges
• second September blocks for birthday swap - done. whew.
• September arch for Textile Challenges - yep.
• add border to Caroline's sister's quilt (a commissioned piece) and pin together for quilting - done, and started quilting it.

So, not sure what this week is going to be like - hopefully I will get at least a few hours of quilting and sewing time. Sunday, I am hoping to make it to the Knit and Stitch show at Ally Pally, which at least will be fibre related!

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 11/10)
• start October birthday block
• work on Angela's quilt
• set of postcards - "starts with V" (deadline 15/10)

Anniversary Giveaway...

Remember this? And remember I asked you all to leave a comment telling me which of my pieces you liked? Well, firstly, thanks to everyone who took the time to do that - it was interesting to see what people remembered and liked. Secondly, I have now finally remembered to do the draw and see just who gets this little basket of flowers. I went with the trusty random number generator, which spit out... Colene! Woohoo, Colene, congratulations. I know I have your address from the ALQS, so I will get the little quilt out in the post to you sometime next week.

Saturday - sewing at last!

I know I didn't post yesterday - Friday is pretty much a no-sewing day, as I tend to spent the day at school, so unless there's any interesting post (which there wasn't yesterday) I don't have anything to show... Today, however, I managed to get quite a bit done in the morning while Geoff took the girls to tennis and Alex played on the computer. In amidst all the laundry and changing the duvets from summer weight to winter weight and other exciting domestic tasks.

Anyway, on the left is my journal quilt for the week, which also fits the criteria for a challenge on Textile Arts - the October challenge (and it's only the 4th - woohoo!) - the challenge being to use a variety of recycled materials, which I have done - except for the thread and the vilene (stabiliser) it's all recycled. When I back it, which I haven't done yet, I will use some sort of recycled/reused paper, as well. I started with a piece of linen from an old dress, and added some net with beading on it, which was actually a shirt I got in the sale rack of a charity shop for £1. I then added some stitching, and a variety of motifs - the gold circle is the wrapper from a chocolate coin, the blue heart is made from dryer lint, the rose is cut from an old postcard, the cream coloured paper strips are from one of the paint strips from a colour we have decided NOT to paint the hallway, the metal shape is from a belt purchased at a car boot sale for 50p (I got about 8 of them off the belt), the metal building is from an old mobile my parents used to have and finally, the blue lines are made by couching down strips of plastic vegetable netting bags (or, being as it's dark blue, it might have been mini cheeses or something, but you know what I mean).

On the right is my slightly belated September arch for Patsy. It has a silk background ( very nubbly), some paper images, lace, buttons (obviously!), a few charms and some stickers.




I also added some shrubberies to the house block - and will hand sew down the little flower motifs shown here - I bought them ready made, and think they work well here. Also will add a little button as a door knob and perhaps embroider a house number. Then it will be ready to go - oh, and I need to take the paper of the back as the block is part paper-pieced.

On the right, some Japanese fabrics I got in the post today. I also got a postcard of a Teapot ("T is for..."), which I have forgotten to photograph, but it's a nice Teapot - take my word for it!

On a slightly different note, my mother has decided (at my suggestion) to start a blog - at the moment, she's only posted a few times - hopefully in future she will show some of her pottery, esepcially her masks, etc, there - she does some nice work. Anyway, if you are interested in seeing what she gets up to, she's over here...

House, again

Well, I had planned to have a sewing day today, and although I didn't get quite as much done as planned (which was due to being called in to do lunchtime cover at school, which is good) I did get some done - to wit, this house block as part of the birthday block swap. I think it's not quite done, though - don't you think it wants a shrub or something in front of the two windows?

Anyway, that's all for today - nothing interesting in the post, even. And it occurs to me to mention that I have not shown my cross-stitch this week - it's because I did very little on it last week, due to doing the binding on Ursula's quilt and then the little mini quilt for Katja. I don't mind that I got little done on it, as the time was spent productively elsewhere... But just in case anyone wondered!

ATCs and safety pins...

...though I will spare you photos of the latter. I took my mother to the airport today, and when I returned, there wasn't a lot of time - plus also my upstairs hallway (where I usually set up the ironing board) was covered in wallpapering type equipment - so I just pinned together the diamond quilt ready for quilting - maybe tomorrow I will begin to quilt it.

These ATCs are both from my ATC challenge - on the left, one from Julie, along with some lovely scrim and bits and pieces to use; on the right, from Cheri, whose card for me is aptly titled "Tipsy" - and look at the gorgeous batiks she has sent along with the ATC. I am definitely going to repeat this challenge at some point - it's been such fun seeing what people make of the backgrounds harvested from old bits and pieces of mine!