Not giving away...

I was emailing with someone a while back about giving quilts (or quilt tops, as is mostly the case in my case) away, and said that I do actually KEEP quite a few quilts and should blog them sometimes - so I thought I'd share some of them.  These are the ones which live in the basket in the living room for use as lap quilts while watching telly or napping on the sofa.  The brown one above is one of the favourites, as it's really soft and cosy - not sure what batting is in it, but we really like the drape factor on this one.  There are often squabbles about who gets to use it!  It was quilted by my friend Lana, back when she first got her longarm machine - it's one of a number of tops I passed to her for practice when she was getting her business going. She quilted quite a few for me either free or for a very low cost, while she was getting up and running. If only she'd do the same again for me now, lol!

This one is brown and purple (obviously) and is another from the early days of Lana's longarm business - it's quilted with dragonflies and I'm very fond of it. It's not quite as cosy as the other one, but does a pretty good job of it...

This one is a little more recent, and I quilted it myself  on my DSM.  It's actually upside here - the only block which is directional is the heart on the green background - the blocks here were the result of a monthly challenge - each person in the challenge nominated a block to make for the month and we all made that block in our own colourways. 

This is a really old one, and only recently came back to the living room after being in a basket in the guest room/Alex's bedroom. It's smaller and only lightly quilted as it was one I made in the very early days of my quilting.

This pineapple quilt is another one I really like, though I do need to fix one of the blocks, where the black fabric is wearing thing. The blocks came from a comfort project that Sophie organised back when my dad died. For various reasons, I put the blocks together and quilted the quilt myself, which I really enjoyed doing, as I got to handle them a lot and think about the people who made them, even more than I might have if I had received a finished quilt. Plus, I used this fish fabric as a border, which I love and had been looking for a good project to use it in...

And this corn and beans ones is a bit smaller, but I really like it, so I didn't want to give it away. The colours are fun together and the quilting, though quite dense, suits it, if I do say so myself.

These aren't the only quilts which I've made which are still in my house, mind you - there are a number in bedrooms, etc, but these are the ones in the living room.  Perhaps I'll show the others another day!

Stripey goodness

OK, a new ironing board cover isn't the most exciting thing ever, but it's quite fun.  Previously, I've had mostly silver metallicised ones, but my last one was badly ripped (and the patches were always coming loose) and this was the best one I found - it has a metallicised cotton insert under it. One thing that's different is that it's a very long cover, so I had to cover the part of the board where the metal plate for setting the iron is. (I could have altered the cover, of course, but I didn't want to bother with that).  Now that I have a bit of metallicised cotton under the cover, I might just make my own cover next time - or not, depending on how creative I feel at the time. Hopefully this one will last a while and it won't be a decision I have to make soon...

Cross Stitch Update

You can see quite a lot of progress has been made since this time last week - it's fast to stitch, as it only has about 5 colours and there's lots of space, but I'm enjoying it. This coming week, I've decided to park the Winter Wonderland piece until winter nears again, and take up something different - but you'll have to wait and see what!

Goodies!

One of the things I love about the blogging community is how lovely everyone is - and generous. I received this fantastic heart in the post from Carolyn, for no other reason than I sent her a collection of some fabric and stuff I was getting rid of (she used some of it to make the heart - clever girl!).  It's a shame it's not photographed better, but the light was beginning to fade (and indoors was right out - it's got lots of sheer fabric so it just glared in the lights...). Still, you get the general idea - isn't it great?  Thanks, Carolyn!

Blocks in waiting

I periodically take stock of the various piles of blocks I have hanging around waiting to be made into quilt tops - hadn't done it in a while, so thought it was about time. I haven't added a lot to it in the past few weeks, but there are still quite a few things I can use.  And of course, the chances that I will make more blocks in future are fairly high...

First off is this set of 11" (finished) blue and cream log cabins - there are 16 of these, so they will make a large baby quilt or small lap quilt. 

There are also 16 of these green and purple log cabins - they are only 10"finished, but again, a baby or lap quilt.

These scrappy log, free-form log cabins are 8"finished and there are quite a few of them - I keep using them up, but they still seem to be hanging around. Funny how that works. I am down to 61 of them, as I recently used some of them to make...

20 QST units (7" UF) from some of the log cabins and some hand-dyed squares of fabric. 

I have a number of bordered string blocks - 20 8" blocks bordered in neutral fabrics, 

30 of the same size, bordered in black, 

and 38 (not sure why that number) bordered in coloured fabrics - mostly TOT, but some with a little more variety to them.

Then there are these blocks - 48 small log cabin blocks with hand-dyed triangles - half leaning left and half right.

These are my  recent leaders and enders project - 41 (again, I apparently can't count) of these blocks, which are approximately 7.5" unfinished, though I'm sure some will need trimming.

And finally, there are the 39 6x9 low volume hearts I won in the block lotto last month, which I will need something to do with...

Fundraising/Raffle

A few years ago, you may recall that I ran (walked) the Race for Life with a group of colleagues from work. My girls are both very interested in doing this walk as well (5K) and though we didn't get ourselves organised to do it last year, we managed to sort it out in time for this year, so Olivia, Sarah and I are all walking the fundraising walk in the end of June. Obviously, we'd like to raise some funds!  So, I have created a fundraising page and of course it goes without saying that this is a worthy cause (raises money for cancer research), and I would be very grateful to anyone who felt compelled to give, even if only a few pounds (or dollars, or whatever - you can give in any currency). 

However, as before, I have decided that as a further incentive (perhaps) to donating, I will  have a little giveaway to go with the fundraising. This top (above), which isn't quite finished yet, is a Christmassy (or at least wintery), paper-pieced scene and I'm going to quilt and finish it and offer it as a prize, to someone who has donated to my fundraising efforts - it will work kind of like a raffle. Virtual raffle tickets will cost £5; for each £5 you donate, you will get one chance in the draw for this little quilt (I think it's about 12"x18"). I promise to have it finished and sent to the winner by the end of July (the Race for Life date is end of June).  You are of course also welcome to give without being enterred in the draw, if you don't want this piece!

Our sponsorship page is right here!  

Please feel free to spread the word - I will gladly enter anyone at all into the draw, whether they are regular readers here or not, and if anyone is unable to give online through the Just Giving page, I am also happy to take cash or cheques in pounds or US dollars (ask me about a cheque in dollars - we can work it through my mother, who lives in the US) or cash in euros. Most people these days, I think, can probably give online, but just in case, I don't want anyone to feel left out. 

Sneak Peek

One project which I worked on earlier this week, I can't yet show - it's my second round addition on the Cotton Robin.  This piece was very different from the first one I worked on and it took me a while to decide how to approach it.   I'm pleased with how it came out, though, and here are a couple of tiny sneak peeks at what I've done - they really don't give much away....

ABC ATC's: S, T, U

A few more cards from my alphabet series - nearly at the end of the alphabet. 

A few V&A textiles...

A trip to the V&A always includes some interesting textiles, and our visit on Tuesday was no exception. We went up specifically to see the David Bowie exhibition, but of course had some time for other poking around.  My favourite textile find this time was these embroidered panels (I only photographed a few), which I'd never seen before, or never fully noticed, anyway, and which I love.  The story behind them is below...

There were a number of small embroideries as well, though many were hard to photograph as they were all behind glass and often in darkish rooms - this one came out nicely, though. 

These were part of a garment...

...and some other bits and pieces. As I said, always some lovely things to discover!

Cross-stitch update

Nearly finished now - and yes, I'm tired of it. I can't decide if I want to keep stitching because it's nearly done (but probably two more weeks of it - the snowflake border took longer than I thought it would on the other end) or just put it aside until winter and start something else - the weather is finally getting a little better, and I'm tired of wintery things.  I guess I'll decide next Wednesday. In the meantime, back to the new sampler...

Amish Table Runner finished

Just barely remembered to take a photo of this before it heads off to Germany tomorrow with Geoff - it's a little piece, 15" or so wide, by about 40" long - just right for a table decoration or a small wallhanging. Good thing I have some small pieces in my stash waiting to be quilted up, as I do sometimes get asked for things a bit last minute!

Purple, Blue and Grey Nine-Patch

So, having a little time to sew today, I worked on finishing off the scrappy blue and purple nine patch - I think this came out well. And thanks to my determination to sew up the rows as I went along, I don't have a big pile of blocks waiting for me to put them together. I have plenty of other piles of blocks, mind you, but not these particular ones.  Think I might send this one back to the US with my mother to go to Sarah's Quilt Ministry. It's a bit big for Project Linus...

Low Volume Hearts

No sewing today, as we had friends around for lunch & the afternoon, but I did get a chance to take photo of the low-volume heart blocks I won recently in the block lotto.  Having recently finished a quilt or two from previously won lotto blocks (like the Scottie Dog quilt I gave Sarah for Christmas and  the Red & White Split Four patch one I gave to Olivia's flute teacher as a wedding present) I feel less guilty at winning more blocks...

Not sure what I will do with these - there are 39 (38 officially, but one person sent me an extra block which was pieced with the strings going the wrong way, just on the off chance I could use it).  I'm not sure how I will lay these out - perhaps sashed? Perhaps will make a few more to be able to lay them out 6x7 - or perhaps I will use the "wrong" block as a label on the back and use the 38 plus four corner blocks of some other sort.  I'll have to have a think about it for a while - the only thing I'm sure of is that unlike several other lotto block wins (the red & white one, or the modern clover blocks, for example) I will NOT be setting this one on point.  Which makes my life at least a little easier.

Bright Birdie

This month, the block lotto is making bright birds against a blue background. I love this block, and it was surprisingly easy to put together - someone - I think the Lotto's hostess, the awesome Sophie - said that it actually takes longer to find and cut the fabric for the blocks than to stitch them, and that's sure true.  I only made one today because I was finishing the quilting on the Amish Table Runner (and attaching binding to it, as it needs to go to Germany on Thursday) but I will make more. Whether I will make more for the lotto itself will depend on my stash of light blue fabrics, which doesn't seem nearly as big as it used to be - this is a good thing, mind you!  Anyway, if you want to join in the bird fest, the instructions are here...

Another drawer tidied up

I forgot to take a "before" photo of this drawer, at least while it was still in the drawer, but here are the contents, tipped onto the floor, before I sorted them. As you may have guessed from the photo, this is the ribbon and trim drawer.   A lot of the pieces in this drawer I have been given by others, which means that they aren't all to my taste. I've also bought quite a few bin ends (as it were) and bits in jumble sales - you can pick up trimmmings quite cheaply if you know where to look.

After some sorting, here's what I decided I am less likely to use in future - this stuff has all actually already been given away, as I added the ribbony bits and pieces to my giveaway of sheers and shinies...

And here's the tidy drawer in the end - again, lots of space in this drawer, which is good, as the stuff will almost certainly have to move to smaller quarters eventually.

Amish style wallhanging

This little wallhanging (or table runner) will be going off with Geoff to Germany next week, if I finish it - another instance of not being given a lot of notice about a gift requirement. Luckily, I often have some small pieces hanging around waiting to be needed for something.   I'm not quilting it heavily - I've done most of the stitching I will do in the black areas; one more small black area and then I will add a little into the colours, perhaps tomorrow if I have time in the afternoon...

New Cross Stitch

Having finished part five of The Flock before my self-imposed Wednesday deadline, I had time to start a new piece swapping back to the Winter Wonderland pattern  - this is an antique sampler, the pattern for which I picked up at a big yard sale last time I was in the US (along with a few others and a lot of pieces of linen and other cross-stitch fabrics, for next to nothing). I'm not as keen on the second pattern in this samper, and won't stitch it, but I do like this one (the left hand one below).  It shouldn't take long to stitch as it's got lots of open space to it; I will also enjoy the fact that it's very different from Winter Wonderland...

Landing Bird

A terribly washed out picture, sorry - but it shows the latest bird in the The Flock installment - this one is called Landing Bird and is part 5 of 12, I think. I am impressing myself with how well I am keeping up with this - it helps that the installments are small.  I didn't photograph the whole piece this time (it needs pressing, really) but you can see that the new bird sits just to the right of the asterisk bird.  Finished on a Tuesday as well, which means time to start my new piece before I swap back to the Winter Wonderland.  But more on that tomorrow...

Little stars

Today I did some more work on the blue and purple nine patches, but the project looks more or less like it did yesterday, only with two more rows attached - not the most exciting photo to share... Instead, here are the 16 (so far) little scrappy stars, which I am currently using as enders and leaders. I had originally cut enough small pieces for 20 stars; today I cut enough for 20 more (mostly from my scrap basket). They are only 4" finished squares, so I will want lots of them - not sure how many, but I think I will be making them for approximately forever...