A Box full of goodies.

As I mentioned yesterday my friend Janet has sent me a box of goodies. She promised me some patchwork which had become a UFO and 'a few other bits'. It turned out to be a rather large box!


These three fabrics she went out and bought specifically for me! OMG! There are yards of the stuff, it's beautiful, I'll have to make something very special with this fabric. I love blues and Janet got the blue nail on it's blue head. I think I died and went to blue heaven.

This is the UFO, I'll do my best to do something with these fabrics, it's all here, green, pink, blue, orange, red and white.
In order to make more stars I'll have to make a few practice cuts on some scrap fabric to ensure I get my diamonds the right size. Watch out for this stuff, you will see it again.

I'm gussing these two fabrics were bought to go together. The green is almost as pretty as the blue. ;-) The patterned piece whispered Christmas to me, hmm.............

Also in the box were these crochet pieces along with yards and yards of crochet cotton.

I've never mastered crochet, a colleague of mine can, though I've only ever seen her working with wool style yarns. I wonder if she has the patience to teach me, I'd love to make at least the few more squares it would take to finish this into a baby size blanket.

I've never seen a flower loom before, they look like fun! I'll have to have a go won't I? Then I'll know how they work when my nieces come to see me, I'm sure they will love them. Hmm, I have a pattern for a hand knit doll, her dress would look great with a flower on.



There was also some other bits and pieces in the box, lacy net style fabrics, I tried to get a pic of those but it didn't work. Janet also bought me the latest issue of 'Love of Quilting' from Fons and Porter. I've never seen that magazine here, so it's nice to see something from across the ocean. It's much thicker than the local mag I subscribe to. I keep looking through it, there is so much to see, I'll have to curl up and read it properly some day soon.

Thank you Janet, thank you, thank you, thank you. xx

In yesterdays post, a much smaller package. My sister ordered these applique pieces for me, I plan to use them in a turning twenty quilt.

The first turning twenty book I bought was the 'Around the block' version, I have enough flowers and Sues to make a quilt for my friends little girl.

Aunty Loulee used to do lots of knitting for Eden, but lately I've been bitten by the quilt bug and Eden is feeling neglected. Just a few more girly fat quarters to collect and Eden will have a quilty christmas.

I still didn't close the binding on DS *2 quilt, I'll get it done before I go to work today though.

Have a happy day

All kinds of busy.

Sorry I've not been around, life kinda got in the way.
DS *1 is in hospital, has been for almost 3 weeks now, every time we thought he was on the mend, there was a setback of some kind. So lots of tooing and froing there. Hopefully he is on the mend now and will be allowed home soon.

In the middle of all that was a weekend away in Manchester, which was OK, but I couldn't settle and wanted to be home.

And while all of that was going on I've also been busy with another of the charm quilts for DS *2



Once again I meandered all over, this time in scarlett red! Hmm, I wonder what he will make of that, I also wrote his name in the meander, as I did for his brother. The meander is not as intense as on the first quilt, more of a drunken stroll up and down the fabric. I wanted to explore what different effects I could achieve.

It just needs me to complete the binding, which I'll hopefully get to do tomorrow.

While in Manchester at the weekend I visited the Trafford centre, did a little shopping. No quilty shops, but I did find this in a book shop.

This was the only quilty book on the shelf, it's great, what a treasure. I've looked throught it a few times and hopefully will get to read it soon and try out a few ideas.

My friend Janet sent me a huge box of goodies from the USA, I'll post pics of it's contents next time. Thank you Janet.

I'm off to hospital now, see you soon.

It's done.

My boys quilt is done. I sat yesterday afternoon and quilted it. :-)
Inspired and urged on by this post, if a 10 year old can do it, so can I.
I set off stitching the outline of leaves on each of the 4 separate parts,then as I put them together I meandered all over the two halves, before fastening them together and meandering over the join.


In places my meanders are close together, in other places they are perhaps a little too far apart, but on the whole I'm rather pleased with myself. I didn't meander into my leaf outlines, they are still there. This morning I put on the binding.


It's darker in real life than it appears here, the white lines you can see are the leaf outlines and their details, I even managed to give them stems and veins! Amid the meander anyone looking closely will see my boys nick name and 'mum' .

You may remember I was thinking of using an old waffle blanket instead of wadding in this one, well someone suggested trying a layer of fleece instead of wadding and a backing. I went with that idea in the end and all afternoon yesterday while I was quilting it I was worried that it wouldn't be cosy enough, (LOL) this morning while I slipped the binding closed my fears were put to rest as I toasted underneath it. Very cosy, but lightweight and a perfect size to snuggle under while watching TV on a cold night. I want to make a second one of these, two boys means making two quilts.

So, what next? I can't get settled at my cross stitch cause my back is still sore. I'll have to keep on with the quilts. I have some Katies choice blocks cut ready to piece, I have my scrap blocks of the month to play with, a second batch of autumn charms has arrived and I want to make a very girly turning twenty. Decisions, decisions..........

See you soon.

Not a lot happening.

I've not done much sewing, my sister has been around doing hers, with my help and encouragement, but I've had little chance to get at the machine myself.

My beginners Scrap bundle and block the month instructions arrived yesterday. I got some lovely bright prints. Once again, they are mostly fabrics I wouldn't choose for myself.



The block pattern is for hourglass blocks. I'll have a play with those some time soon. I have to wonder though if I should change to a different club, I know I have only recieved two packages, but neither of them has really challanged me and inbetween the two I took on pinwheels with my sister and Katies choice for myself. I may have a look and see if I like some of the more challanging clubs. Any suggestions? I must confess to being tempted by this Dear Jane club. I've looked at it several times in the last couple of months. Julia You have a lot to answer for. LOL I've been following Julias progress for some time and really love many of the blocks she has produced.


I was out this morning with my sister, we stopped off at one of the islands few fabric shops, I got a few fat quarters. The christmas one was my sisters choice, I thought she wanted it, but when we got back here she said no, she'd suggested it to inspire me! LOL


I also bought some thread for quilting my boys top. The fleece has arrived and it's time to get on with it.

I have 4 Katies choice blocks made up now and 4 more cut ready to piece. Aside from being slowed down by a bad back, thats all I have to report.

Stash Building

Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned that I was new to quilting and didn't have any stash?
Well things have changed. It's still embryonic compared to some, but here is the beginnings of the future! LOL



Some was purchased as fat quarter sets, others were pot luck. Some I would have choosen for myself and others I wouldn't dream of picking up.


Some inspire me, and some have me floundering.


But I'm sure they will all get used somewhere.

My sister called round again this morning, we made some more of her pinwheels! Oh, and she found some more charms, Lovely! :-\ Anyway, she's gone to work now so I'm cutting more Katies choice pieces. I must say this one has slowed me down. Hunney is happy with that, I was getting through things a little too fast for his liking!
I've changed my mind again and ordered a piece of fleece for backing the boys charm quilt rather than a blanket and backing.
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks for stopping by.