Quiz

I don't usually do these - but I couldn't resist this one:

You Belong in 1988

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

And it's scarily accurate - 1988 was my second year at university.......

I've been playing with my new toy (see photo from my last post) but alas, there have been many tears and tantrums, most of which were solved by actually reading the instruction manual...

Sadly, we're having new windows fitted next week, and so all sewing has to cease while surtains are taken down and furniture shifted about, so that the window men can get to work. I'm hoping that it'll all be worth it - especially given the 26% price rise in gas and electricity - hopefully I won't hav to put the heating on ever again (I really must finish some quilts before winter sets in...).

I originally decided to get the new windows when we moved in and found that none of them opened at all - immediately my imagination went into overdrive, wondering how we would escape in the event of fire / burglar etc. Jim was more concerned about keeping cool over the summer, but as it's rained non-stop, no need to worry there.

Ironically, I did manage to force a window open a few weeks ago, in the spare room, only to find that the rain made the wood swell up, and now it wont shut (and still it keeps raining...).

Our house was built in 1932, and still has the original wooden frames and stained glass. I got quotes to have them replaced like for like, but it was coming in at over 26 thousand pounds, and uPVC was priced at under 6 thousand, including replacing the stained glass. A no-brainer, I suppose, and I guess it will look better and be better insulated - but I shall miss the look and feel of the wood (even if it was a potential death-trap!!!).

Still, that's a lot of money saved to be spent on other things like FABRIC and new SEWING MACHINES!!!!!!! Oh yes, and bills.....

New Toy!!!!!

Look what I've got!!!!

This was my 'present' to myself at the NEC.........

I unpacked it last night, and made a little wall hanging this morning to try out as much as I could:



I got this from the NEC as well, from Pat Archibald.

Back again.....

I haven't been able to get near a PC for some time, due to all sorts of family kerfuffle, and hopefully all that is sorted out now, so at last I can get on with bits and bobs for myself.

But I did manage to fit in a visit to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. It's probably the biggest quilt show in the UK, lasting four days and taking place at the NEC. I shopped (of course!) admired the fantastic quilts on display, and took past in a quick workshop run by Gail Lawther.

This is a quilt that was done at the workshop that I go to once a month - and the maker (Ann) is already well on her way with her entry for next year as well......

This is what I should have completed in the work shop - but I didn't get quite this far - the plan is to get it completed by the weekend and up on the spare room wall.....

I also had a wee something through the post, that I'd forgotten about in fact - it's the fabric for the Tropical Frothy quilt in Kaffe Fassett's book Quilts in the Sun.

Show time!!

I had planned a day of quilting on Tuesday, but then had to spend the day tidying up and cleaning for my mum's visit (Mrs F). She, and the labradoodles, had come to visit to go to Bakewell Show.

Bakewell (as in Bakewell pudding) is a small market town about 15 miles away, and every year there's a big agricultural show there over two days. As the small labradoodle is now 13 weeks old, Mrs F thought it would be good for him to go out and about in the big wide world...

Agricultural shows are fabulous places where eccentricity can run wild. There are displays of riding, carriage driving etc, and so many competitions that it makes your eyes boggle, from cattle and goats. through pigeons and rabbits. to crafts and baking, and flowers, vegetables, cheese and meats. It's all taken very seriously (as a child, my sister and I entered the local shows every year in the craft section), but as an adult I don't think I've ever entered. Mind you, I wish I had when I saw the patchwork and quilting section - there were just 2 entries - you had to produce a small wallhanging, and I figure even I could have completed that by the necessary deadline - maybe next year??

But I'm always transfixed by the effort that goes into producing the flowers and vegetables:



The photo above shows my favourite category - 'One flower and one vegetable' - and as you can see, there is one flower in each vase with a single vegetable solemnly placed in front of it - how do you choose what to enter? I imagine that the competitors spend hours in the build up to the show deciding what to enter and how to present it.

And here's what the small labradoodle felt at the end of the day:


They all went home again this morning (after small one had fallen into our garden pond yet again...), and I though I'd start on a needlepoint project that's been in the cupboard for some time. I prefer to needlepoint in the evenings instead of quilting as the holes are already in the canvas, so I don't have to worry about stitch size or choosing colours too much. But look at all this wool!!!!!


I've deliberately included my feet in the photo so that I can see just how much wool there is. Once again, I appear to have got inches and centimetres mixed up - this isn't for a cushion after all, but for a RUG!!! Estimated time of completion - at least 2 years, I think....

Ha Birthda to me!

Hooray - it's my birthday!!

To be honest, the older I get, the more low key these things seems to get - the problem with having a birthday in August is that people are away, so getting together is nearly impossible. Mind you, on the other hand, the celebrations end up going on for several weeks, so it isn't that bad......

My sister and her children came to visit yesterday, and a friend came over with her family as well and we had a barbecue in the garden, expertly cooked by Jim - which is really his way of getting away from socialising with everyone....

Steff brought a cake from the local shop, and had brought some candles- but they had got broken on the journey, hence the rather obscure message of "Ha Birthda".

And what did I get done in quilting terms on Saturday? Not much - I put the borders on my jellyroll quilt, and made about a zillion more nine-patches (I think I may have too many now), and I met up with my friends Jacqui and Carol, who had made a quilt for the owner of the shop to celebrate 20 years of the shop being in business:



I also picked up some fabric for my SBS quilt, which I've started, but I'm not too sure that I have the right combination of colours. They go together, but they don't 'sing' - I think I need to rethink the background colour - I've gone too pale and I think I need a background with some more warmth in it. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow of what I mean.

Nine Patch

After I had recovered (by having a faff about) from the exhaustion of cutting out what seemed to be a neverending sequence of squares, I started to sew them together:

The plan is to make a snowball quilt with them, and hopefully I'll be able to find a suitable background colour today - I'm going to patchworkdirect for a day of sewing and no responsibilty - what bliss!!

I also made this bag over the weekend - it's from a kit by the bramble patch, and I had planned to make it for a friend who's expecting a baby. It was so easy to put together, and gave me a chance to practise free-motion quilting - somthing I like to put off (and off and off....).

Ooops. It appears to have been filled by me instead....

As usual, I'm setting off for a workshop armed somewhat ambitiously with five projects, all in various stages of production. By the end of the day I hope to have got work done on at least two of them - putting borders on - and making some more nine-patch blocks for my snowball quilt.

But there's also a project waiting to be started - my SBS quilt, for which I printed a number of instructions off yesterday. I've set myelf a target of completing two blocks by the end of tomorrow...