Meet Belle

She moved in yesterday and has already proven to be a wonderful time waster..... er.....helper!

 I gave up trying to crochet last night, she was having way to much fun with my yarn!

 Such a little sweetie though.

I wonder what she will make of the sewing and quilting machines?

Playing on my frame.

Well I didn't get everything set up before Debbie arrived on Sunday, but I did have it sorted before she left!

And then I quilted.

 It looks not bad, from the right side.

But underneath was a different story!

Eeek! A birds nest.

I played around with the tension for a while, finally getting rid of the birds nests, only to be rewarded with the bobbin thread showing on the top!

So, I finally got sensible. Tony lifted the machine off the frame and I played with a quilt sandwich until I got things just how I wanted them.

Then it was bed time.

Tony has lifted the machine back up onto the frame. (Janome is heavy and I still have a bad back)

but I didn't yet have another play.

I'll keep you posted. 

*

While I was swearing setting up the quilt frame Debbie was finishing the last of her machine appliqué. I forgot to take a picture, but trust me, it looks really good.

She had also brought along some other blocks, you can see those on her blog here.

I have also finished all of the appliqué on my own blocks and also managed to piece them.

The only thing remaining for this block is the hand stitching.

That might be interesting, I'm pretty sure I didn't leave enough room on the heavenly choir block!

Opsy!

I have enjoyed making up this first block and it was fun to have Debs working along on it too. Although we shared a fabric collection, we have both added elements from our stash and the end result is the same, but quite different. Hopefully Debs will post a picture of her completed block soon.

The next block has a Christmas wish angel, some stockings and friendship stars. It seems a little smaller, maybe we could get it finished in one month instead of two!!

*

My plan for today is to play with the quilt frame some more, visit the Chiropractor and then to sit and stitch on the Christmas story, then, if there is any day left, I'll stitch some on sleepy, it's been over a week since I spent time with her.

Today's the day!!

Three exciting things for today.

1) Debs is coming over for a play date again.

She is hoping to complete the machine appliqué on her Christmas story block.

Mine is all done, except for a little hand stitching, more on that next time.

*

2) Fourteen people commented on this blog post.

I had made a certain promise and today is the day this creature chose a number, any number between 1 and 14. (Don't ask why, just do as your mother asks!)

He eventually came up with number 7.

Gari, that's you.

Please get in touch so that I can mail this table runner to you.

and last but not least!

3) Today is the day I will finally play with my quilting frame. I plan to have the leaders all installed before Debs gets here, so that she can play too!

Nervous and excited about that.

Swap with Janice.

I hunted all over everywhere, for this first picture, I knew I had taken it. Then I went and took it again. Moments later, I found the original.

You guessed it, still on the camera!

So anyway, here you see three of the beautiful place mats Janice made and gifted to me on her recent visit. There are six of them, but try as I might, I couldn't get a nice picture of all six!

Janice also put a pretty boomerang fabric edge onto a tea towel for me. I guess that's one tea towel I'll never lose!

In return I had made this table runner for her. 

I realised right at the last minute that although it was all done in Kiwi ana fabrics, there was no actual kiwi on it, so I quickly cut this dude from one of the fabrics and stitched him on.

Janice was as tickled with her gift as I am with mine. She says she loves runners and uses them a lot.

It was great to spend time with her again.

*

It's been great also to spend some time with Debs this week, we spent two evenings together working on our Christmas Story quilts. We have both completed most of the machine appliqué for block one.There is however a lot of thread tidying to be done!

*

I've had two really positive visits with my Chiropractor and feel a little better. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get back to some exercises and start to strengthen my back again, but as the Chiro keeps on saying, baby steps Lou, don't rush. So this evening I'll sit with my needle and tidy threads.