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!

Mostly an away day...

Well, a small amount of work was accomplished today - I put the border on Caroline's sister's quilt. I had originally inteded to do more, but with Michael working on the wallpaper in the hallway, it was just a bit crowded and so forth, so my mother and I decided to go out for lunch and a bit of shopping.

When we got home, I found that the Shades of Sunshine quilties had come - and here they are - lovely, eh? Cn't remember whose was whose, and sure don't feel like going upstairs at the moment to find out, so suffice it to say they are all lovely and I like them all very much. Now to decided where to put them!

Raiders of the Box Swap

A few fun things to show today - some work was done, too, but it was to finish adding the borders to the Twisted Mystery Quilt, which I can't show you. Anyway, here's the fun stuff.

Firstly, I came home from yoga & a coffee with my mother to find a rather large box had been delivered by the postie (luckily, my builder friend was here wallpapering in my hallway, so it didn't get taken back to the PO substation). I wasn't expecting anything, so was a little bemused, and the return address was no help. So, I opened it and all became clear - it was the box from the Raiders of the Box Swap, organised by Trashalou. Now, I can't show you what was in the box (or the box, which I forgot to take a photo of - if you are interested, Gina did remember when it was her turn...)(, or what I added to the box after I took three items out, but I CAN show you the three items I took out - a selection of vintage lace, a box of selected blue items (beads, sequins, etc) and a pattern for making boxes in the style of Chinese takeaway cartons. The lace was an easy pick (like the second I saw it), the blue stuff was fairly straightforward, but the third pick was a lot harder - there were some lovely things in there and I debated for a while over bits of fabric, more beads, ribbon, interesting yarn and other patterns.

The other thing is an ATC from Paula, who took up my ATC challenge a while back - a great result, don't you think? And she enclosed some lovely charms for me, too.

Some goals

A quick review of last week's goals:

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 27/9) - and last week's too, if possible - yes, got both of these done - well, mostly. I do have to attach a back to one, but it's essentially finished.
• bind Ursula's quilt (deadline 30/9) - done. label attached. ready to go.
• work on September block for birthday block swap - yes, got one of two finished. a good start.
• fibre & yarn ATC (deadline 30/9) - done.

And next week - not sure what the time will be like - but at least I hope to have a little time...

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 4/10)
• second September blocks for birthday swap
• September arch for Textile Challenges
• add border to Caroline's sister's quilt (a commissioned piece) and pin together for quilting

Busy, busy, busy

Well, technically this particular piece isn't part of my busy day, but as you may notice in the photo, the sun is out (again! I'm beginning to doubt what country I'm living in!) which makes for good photos. So there it is - done. I really like the border - might well do that again with another piece.




The piece on the left is one of Olivia's creations - she came upstairs while I was working and asked if she could make something, so I got out the new little machine and set it up for her - she designed a little quilt and then I helped cut the pieces and she sewed them together. Meanwhile, downstairs, chutney. After the initial chopping and whatnot, it more or less makes itself - I'll let you know in a couple of months whether it's any good or not (it needs to mature - no sarky comments, please!).





And finally, here's what I can show you that I actually did today - I also worked on putting the outside border on the Twisted Mystery quilt, but I can't show that. On the left is an ATC for Textile Challenges - it's an Embellishment Challenge - I got "fibres and yarns" - easy enough as I happen to have lots of fibres. The background is made entirely from couched blue yarns with a few yellow and red-orange ones on top. And eyelash yarn around the outside.


On the right, a journal quilt - again, made with a piece of the complex cloth I made the other day. When my mother and I were working on it (she helped me stamp it) we thought it looked like a seascape, so I went with that - added some seaweed and some fish. And so I'm caught up with the journal quilts. Of course, a new one will go on my goals list for this week! I've had fun with this project, but I think I will be glad when it comes to an end in November. I seem to be busier and busier lately, so it won't be a bad thing to have one less regular committment.

Finally!

Yes, a sewing day - hoorah! Or rather, a sewing morning - the girls went to tennis this morning, despite it being Sarah's birthday (11 - hard to believe - if you want to see the cute baby pic, check out my family blog here) so I had a nice morning to myself, catching up with stuff. Or rather, making a start catching up. I did iron all the fabric waiting to go off for swapping (now just remains to document it) and did this little quilt - 18" square - which will be a leaving present for a colleague of Geoff's. I didn't actually make the block - it was left from a swap some time ago - very handy in this instance as it was quick to quilt up.



I also did one of the journal quilts I needed to do (this is last week's - will try to do this week's tomorrow) - it's made from a piece of the screen printed fabric for that swap - I had an extra. Also did one of the two birthday blocks I owe for September - Julie's fabulous houses. I owe two because the ladies in the swap are stepping in to take over the place of one woman who has some big health issues and had to resign. My month to do the extra block is September - just what I needed (though I don't mind doing two houses, it's just the timing that's the issue...)! Anyway, Julie doesn't mind if I'm a little late, so I don't have to worry too much, but neither do I want to be too late. This one is applique (I just made it up as I went along) and is a 9" block. I think the other one will be paper-pieced and will be 12" (she asked for either size). It's quite a simple block, but effective, I think. Be sure to click through to the larger size if you want to see the flowers, which I think worked particularly well.



I also finished binding Ursula's quilt last night (or possibly the night before) but forgot to photograph it in the good light, so will try to remember that tomorrow. Also need to print out a label for it and attach that, but it's essentially done. Whew.

Still here

Yep. I know I haven't posted much, but it's been one of those weeks. Actually, it's been several of those weeks... Anyway. I did manage to finish attaching the binding to Ursula's quilt - a photo tomorrow - the light isn't good enough to do one today. But here are a couple of things to look at - one is a textile piece I got in Camden Market - it's about 12 inches along the short side and is really beautifully worked. At the price I paid (£8), I hate to think who made it - but I did love it. I don't actually have it yet, as it's going to be a birthday present (November) but I wanted to take a photo first, before it had to go away in the cupboard. I will probably hang it in my newly decorated hallway, once that's done - hopefully it will be finished before my birthday!

Also got some beads today at a little local craft market - really good choice - I'll have to remember her when I need more.

Another busy day

No work of my own to show today (though the binding on Ursula's quilt is nearly done) but I did get these lovely things in the post - one is a 3 leaves postcard, which is a very late PC from a swap on a group I don't even belong to anymore. It's a nice card, though, and I'm glad to have it. The other photo shows 2 ATCs I received - one is from Cat, who swapped with me; the other is from Doreen, as part of my ATC challenge. It looks a lot better now than it did before she altered it. Which, of course, was the point of the challenge...

I can't believe how busy September has been - hopefully Ocotber will offer a little more time for me to work - not that it hasn't been fun, most of what's been happening in September, but I think I need a few deep breaths.

ATC Monday

Here's what I got in the post today - an ATC from Di. Very cool (also in the photo, some silk and a ribbon, which I'm sure I will find a use for!)

I did do some work today - I made and attached the binding to Ursula's quilt. I've even sewn a bit of it down this evening watching telly - but as my hand was beginning to ache, I stopped. Will finish later this week, I hope. And will show a photo then. Such a busy week - who knows if I'll manage to get anything much done...

Cross stitch, goals

Not a lot to show today, as we had a friend around for lunch (hence I spent some of the morning cooking) and then spent the gorgeous day outside enjoying the sunshine (yes, really - sunshine). But I've made some progress with the birds - last week on the left, and as it stands today on the right - Oregon got finished and Tennessee and Texas completely done.

So, what else happened this week? Lots! But I did get a lot done, as well, which is great. Here were the goals from last week:

• set of screenprinted fat eights for a swap (deadline 30/9) - done, mostly. I have to iron them still - they were done with paint not dye, so need to be heat set.
• set of "complex cloth" fat eights for a swap (deadline 30/9) - also done - it's still a single piece, and needs to be heat set, then cut into 8 pieces, but essentially done.
• journal quilt for the week (deadline 20/9) - this one I didn't manage, though I'll hopefully catch up in the week - used all my free sewing time to quilt Ursula's quilt, which really was higher priority.
• finish binding Hawaiian 3 quilt - done
• bind giveaway quilt - done
• quilt some of Ursula's quilt (deadline 1/10, if possible to go home with my mother (otherwise I have to mail from the UK)) - finished - now just need to bind it.

This week is going to be another busy one, I'm sure - Sarah's birthday is on Saturday, so there's a lot to get doen in the lead up to that, plus my mother and I want to take another day to go back up to town. So, there won't be a lot of quilting type stuff happening, I shouldn't think.

• journal quilt for the week (deadline 27/9) - and last week's too, if possible
• bind Ursula's quilt (deadline 30/9)
• work on September block for birthday block swap
• fibre & yarn ATC (deadline 30/9)