Goal review

June goals - I never did get around to blogging these, but here are the June goals in retrospect:

• Blocks for June block lotto - no, just never did get around to these. It's been a busy month.
• At least one charity baby quilt top - also nope - same reason!
• Rainbow Scrap Challenge flying geese block - yes, two of these in different types of purple
• baby quilt for Darcy - done.
• quilt for Wendy - done.

Not too bad, considering how little sewing time I've had this month.

Now, July:

• Blocks for July block lotto
• At least one charity baby quilt top
• Rainbow Scrap Challenge flying geese block

I've only set a few goals, because July is going to be a very busy month. I might have a little time once school finishes, but who knows, don't want to set myself up for failure!

Cross Stitch Update

As you can see, I've been working on the right hand side. I've managed to fill in a lot of the small bits at the top where there were only 3 or 4 empty squares in a single colour - now it's just the larger blocks of neutral colours I need to do. Not very long to go now, but it still takes longer than you think it's going to!  And of course, I've switched to my other one for the next week!

Sandown (National Quilt Championships)

I did take some photos of quilts, but didn't keep track of whose was whose, so I'm not going to post them. I only took a few, anyway, as I find I don't tend to look at quilt photos again later, usually.  Instead, I'll show you what I bought - which is what you really want to see, anyway.  I bought these interesting fabrics from Finstall Fabrics, a new-to-me vendor. I really liked the abstract prints and the solids are actually quite highly textured.  

 I didn't intend to buy much - if any -  fabric, but I couldn't resist some cheap FQ packs  with cute prints. Perhaps augmented with some tonals from my stash, these will all make nice baby quilts or similar. 

I did buy this book, which has a huge collection of 9" blocks, both pieced and appliqued (and some which combine the methods) - I don't know that I will use many of the applique ones, I love some of the geometric pieced ones, and think I might well use them in some small quilts. 

And I bought some cross-stitch patterns. The one above is actually a full kit, but the other two are just patterns. I have a lot of autumnal and wintery cross-stitches and I really needed a few spring-like and summery ones.  The one gardeny one I did recently, I gave to a friend as a gift!

Busy weekend

With the school summer fair today and Sandown Quilt Show to visit tomorrow, not much sewing time is expected this weekend. I realised I haven't shown this yet - the penultimate border on the batik quilt.  The final border will be in the orange you can see a narrow stripe of already - it has trees in it, which don't show much in the narrow stripe but will show better in the wider border, when I come to it. 

New cross stitch

As I finished the wildflower design, it's time to put a new one into the rotation - it's finally the turn of this three piece Blackbird Design, which I bought ages ago and simply haven't got around to yet (ok, maybe not ages ago - but last year, anyway).   There are three panels, each approximately the size of the one in the photo above. I think it will stitch fairly quickly, though, as it's a lot of open space and no backstitching!  Here's a start on it, though this week will be back to the houses...

Purple Geese

This month's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple - when I began sorting my purple scraps, I quickly decided I didn't want to mix the red purples and the blue purples, so I decided to make two separate blocks. I think this will stand me in good stead over the course of the year, as well. I'm not sure what is planned colourwise for the year, but last year, there were several months with two or more colour combos (red, white, blue; green & red) which are great for some projects, but not what I want for the geese, so I have some plans for what else to do if multi-colour months come up.  (Like two blues - light and dark.)

Batik update

I've now managed to attach the next round of blocks on this batik quilt top - there are only two borders left - one a little narrower, one wider - and then it's done. Or at least, the top is done!

Cross-stitch update

A few bits of orange a yellow filled in, but mainly this past week I have begun to fill in the houses on the right. You can really see the stitches when it's in a blank field and is a darker colour!  I also filled in a few missing bits higher up - where I ran out of thread and needed to do 4 or 5 stitches.  There are still some places like that left to do, I admit.

Another finish

Amazingly, I seem to be using the word "finish" a lot lately - it's so unlike me!  But anyway, here is the blue and brown quilt, with the binding attached. I'm happy with it; it's funky. And I'm sure it's going to be well loved.

Finished!

I got a lot done on this, this week. Mainly I think this is due to have a long weekend and week off, so there was perhaps more telly watching than usual (watched quite a bit of the Jubilee stuff) - I did carry on with it one extra night (tonight) as I only had half a letter and one leaf to finish and wanted to get it done.

Next week, back to my houses/street scene, but the week after, I will choose a new alternate piece (I know what it will be, as it happens, but you'll have to wait to see!)

What I've been doing

I know I haven't blogged much lately, but that's because we've been out doing things a lot during this half term holiday, and what time I've spent sewing, I've spent quilting this piece. I decided to do it with a clamshell pattern, which I love, but which takes a bit more time than some less dense patterns.   But anyway, I've finally finished the quilting, so now it will only need binding and it can go home with my mother to be mailed to a friend in the US. Hoorah!

Another Little Quilt Swap - Round 7

Some of you may have been waiting for the new round of my little quilt swap - details are now available over on the swap blog...

Cross-stitch update

A bit more fill in the path and some of the greens in the vines at the right.  Still a lot to go! There was sewing this week as well, but I haven't photographed it yet - hopefully will finish quilting what I have at the machine tomorrow, and then there will be a photo to share.