Hello, I am still here.......

......... life's been a bit hectic though, which is why I haven't been sitting here chatting to you all much lately.  Bearing in mind that this blog is called "Quilt Times", I thought it was about time I showed you something quilt related.  So, without further ado, may I present...

I made the stack'n'whack kaleidescope blocks at a workshop in about 2005, but I didn't want to make them into a quilt, so..... this tote is the result.  The pocket made from 4 blocks is just the right size to take a 12 1/2" square ruler, and the long pocket on the other side takes a standard 6" x 24" ruler.  The other 3 outside pockets take whatever I want them to take.With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had made the bag the other way round, so that it is not so deep, but there we go, nobody's perfect! (Specially not me!)

You never know, tomorrow I might show you what I've been working on recently.......

They're back.....

......... so, I log on this morning and what do I see?  My Followers have come back.  Obviously this is due to my technical skills in deciding NOT to change anything.!!

So I say, welcome back Followers.

What's going on? ..........

I prefer to use Mozarella rather than IE, but suddenly funny things are happening to my blog when I go in through Mozarella.  For several weeks the link I had on my sidebar to Quilting Gallery disappeared.  Then yesterday, all my followers have disappeared too.  When I visit myself through IE, everything is there. 

So I ask again "what's going on?"  Any ideas anyone?

She's not colour blind at least...........

............. "Who's not?"  I hear you ask.

Bertha, that's who.

I've been busily, with Bertha's help, quilting a top made from 3 fabrics, a dark green batik, a light green batik and a neutral non-batik fabric, all backed with a plain calico.  Well, Bertha is quite happy on the light green, and on the neutral, but as soon as she gets to the dark green, she misbehaves and skips stitches, breaks thread and so on. 

So I reckon she doesn't like dark green.

Happy Birthday...............

......... to Me and Chatterbox.

It's our birthday today, Chatterbox is 8 and I am a few years older than that.

I have had some lovely pressies, including subscriptions to 2 quilting magazines, a gift voucher for to buy some books for my iPod, some money, which is burning a hole in my pocket, and this beautiful journal with a quilted cover from my friend Bilbo.  She knows me so well, it is in a lovely mellow yellow fabric, and she has quilted my favourite feathers on it. Note: here is the photo I promised:  
Another note:  Bilbo has sent me much better photos so I've put these in instead.  She did also point out in passing, that I had shown the back.  Well, in my defence I would say that was cos my photo of the front was not very good.  As for opening it up, well, I never thought of that.  Duh!!!!

     

The weather is horribly grey and icy today.  Just the day to curl up with my new quilt magazines this afternoon, and this evening Chatterbox is bringing his family round, and on the way they will be picking up his favourite meal of fish and chips for us all.  I'm looking forward to that.

What WAS I thinking of? .............

.............. so, there I was. 120 blocks made (6" blocks too, what was I thinking of when I started this?).  These blocks had to be turned into 12 rows with 10 blocks in each and the layout of each row was a little different to the others.  I ask again, what was I thinking of when I started this?  I checked each row and pressed as I went cos there were bias edges, and lots of points in these little blocks.  Everything was looking good.  No stretching, lovely pointy points.  Perfect, even if I do say it myself.  Next, turn my 12 separate rows into a quilt top, making sure I was adding the rows in the right order.  Easy, shouldn't take long, should it?  Sew 6 rows together, then sew the other 6 rows together, then sew the 2 halves together, and stop for the day and go and cook dinner, then press it all after dinner.  I felt very smug about how much I'd achieved.  Then I started pressing it.  Why, oh why hadn't I checked as I added each row?  You know my pointy points?  Well, where I'd joined the rows, they weren't pointy any more.  I really should have taken it more slowly.  Could I live with it as it was?  No way.  So start unsewing all my rows.  Next day, sit down to put it all together again.  Checking after each row this time.  All looking good UNTIL..... I came to join the two halves together.  Guess what?  They didn't match to create the overall pattern.  (What was I thinking of when I came up with this design?)  What had I done wrong?  Each half was fine.  It took Mr Fixit and I quite a while to work out that I had sewn the 7th row in the position of the 12th row, so no way was it going to work.  Out with my trusty friend the seam ripper again, then resew this half with that rogue row in the right place.  Sew the two halves together and check very, very, very carefully that everything was OK.  So the moral of this story is check everything, every time, even when you know it's right!

So I ask again, "what was I thinking of?"

Remember this?

well look at her today

It snowed a little bit more last night, just in case we'd forgotten what it looked like!

Guess what?

It's been snowing.  I got up at 4 am and it wasn't.  I looked out at 6 am and it was.  Since then it has hardly stopped, although since midday it has been very light, but here's a pretty picture to prove it:

Read any good books lately?

I was lucky enough to get an iPod for Christmas, which I wanted so I could have music and books on it to listen to while I am sewing. 

Now, I can't decide what books to get.  Anyone got any good ideas?  I like autobiographies, Jane Austin, mysteries, (but not really scary gruesome ones cos I'm a wimp really and they'll give me nightmares!)  I don't like Catherine Cookson cos she's too depressing, and I'm not keen on the Bronte's for the same reason.

There's a new blogger on the block:  Yuki has been reading my blog for a while and has finally decided to start one herself.  If you have a few minutes to spare, why not pop over there and say hi?  Her stash, which she shows in her first post is amazing.  I am so jealous.

My new Favourite Quilt

Because it's STILL snowy and it's STILL cold, I have a new quilt on our bed.  This is made from lovely soft brushed cottons and is really snuggly.  The block pattern is, I think, called BuzzSaw.  I originally planned this as a throw-sized quilt, but when I laid it out on our bed to check the measurements for the backing, I loved it so much that I added extra borders and hey-presto... a bed quilt.

This is the back.

You can click on the pictures to see close ups of the photos.