No comment ....

Him: Darling, do you need help?

Her: Yes dear, you see that bag of potatoes?  Would you peel half and put them in the saucepan please?

What can I say?

(A friend sent this to my husband, but there is no credit so I don't know where it originated, sorry.)

Hexies and runners ...

... yesterday I spent the day at Scrappy's and the intention was to eat, chat and sew.  Well we did the first two items on the agenda, but the sewing didn't happen somehow.  By the time we'd had coffee and cake, chatted and compared quilty purchases we'd made since last time we got together, it was time to eat again. This time it was lunch, which was a wonderful pasta dish with salad (very good for us) and yummy home-made bread (maybe not quite so good for us as the salad?) Then we decided to sew.  Well that was a mistake.  I was going to finish some applique prep work and then actually start putting it together, but ... I had forgotten my little applique iron and felt that using a full size iron was just a recipe for burnt fingers.  Scrappy meanwhile was busy making a Heartfire block - yes, I seem to have passed on my love of that pattern - until she realised she'd just cut and sewn a strip that was 1/8" too narrow.  Out came the seam ripper and we both decided we weren't meant to sew that day.

Anyway, here's a picture of her hexies so far.  The picture quality isn't great cos I was taking them with my phone, but I think you get the idea. Aren't they wonderful?

This next photo is of a wallhanging she's making.  The pieces were cut using the Go cutter and in real life the colours are much more vibrant. I absolutely love this.  Do you think she'd notice if I "borrowed" it when it's finished?

Thank you ...

.. Woww, thank you, I now have enough volunteers to act as pattern testers.  I have been gobsmacked by how generous everyone has been with their time.  Blogging friends really are great.  Now I must stop playing on the computer and go and get writing.

Help wanted ...

I need one or two willing and unpaid volunteers who would be willing to test a couple of patterns for me.  

A friend wants to sell them in her pop-ip shop and obviously I am thrilled at the idea, but there is a snag. The designs have never been written up as patterns as I just drew them up in EQ7 and then made them up as I went along, so this is where I am hoping a couple of you might step in to the breach.  Is there anyone out there who would be willing to test the patterns for me? My friend Scrappy has already volunteered, but I can't expect her to do everything.  

The two designs are Red Sprinkles and Wimbledon Squares and could both be done from jelly rolls, FQs or even scraps from your hoards.  Both quilts are quite simple to make, and the main requirement is that you would need to be able to set to work quite quickly.

 

Happy Valentines day ...

... and Happy Anniversary to Mr Fixit and I.

Handy Household Hint ....

... number something or other.

I don't know about you, but whenever I buy stuff from the supermarket, I always put the new stuff behind the old, to make sure I use it in order.

Well, it's just occurred to me that I don't really need to do that with toilet paper!  Doh!!  I've been carefully doing that for years.

Red and White ...

... Inspired by the Red and White Quilt exhibition in New York a few years back, and also by the EQ challenge, SewCalGal is holding a Year of Red and White Quilt Challenges during 2014.  You can follow the link here to read all about it.

Between 3 Feb and 9 Feb, she is hosting a linky party called Show It where people are invited to show any red and white quilts they have which were made prior to 2014 and you know me, I can never resist an invitation to a party, so I thought I'd join in.

This quilt is called Red Sprinkles and I apologise to my regular visitors who have seen it before.

I designed this quilt using EQ7 during 2013 and used some red fat quarters I had bought a few years earlier when I was on holiday in New England. It measures about 50" x 72".  Originally it was going to be larger, but then I realised that I did not have enough of the border fabric for a larger quilt. See, that's what happens when I buy fabric just 'cos I like it - it's much safer to design the quilt first, and then buy the fabric. I (or rather Big Bertha) quilted it using a sort of bubbly pattern with a variegated red/purple/gold thread and here is a close up so you can see the thread I hope.

I was going to show you my Snowmen quilt next.  This is a redwork quilt which I made a couple of years ago, but would you believe I cant find any photos of it, nor can I find the actual quilt, but I can show you a picture of it as I was assembling it,

I wonder which cupboard I've tidied that into?  

Thinking of redwork, there is this one too

Finally, I was going to show my Red Rings (formerly known as Red Wreaths, and before that known as Christmas Wreaths,) but I realised there were two problems with that one.  Firstly, the border is not just red and white and secondly I finished it just last week, so I cant. I did blog about it a couple of posts back though.)

Today is ...

... 2 February, which means that it is Candlemas Day here in the UK and Groundhog day in the US.

According to folklore here

 If Candlemas Day be clear and bright, winter will have another bite

and also

If Candlemas Day be dry and fair, half of winter's to come and mair

It's also Groundhog Day and US tradition says that if a groundhog peeps out of his burrow and sees his shadow then he'll go back into his home and winter will continue for another six weeks.




Uh oh, when I look out of the window, I see blue skies with some little fluffy white clouds - not good.