Colette's Tubix

Oh look, here's another Tubix.  This one was made by Colette, who blogs at What About Rheema who was another of the great people who tested the pattern for me.  So, without further ado, may I present Tropical Shores

I can really see why she has called it that, and if you click to enlarge the picture, you will see that the turquoise border even has little bubbles on it.  I love This version and think it's a great colour combination for a summery tropical quilt.  Thanks Colette for doing a wonderful job for me, even if you did have a few (unnecessary, as it turned out) worries about colours running when you washed it 

I finished sewing the binding on my own version of the quilt this afternoon while watching today's matches at Wimbledon ( Go! Andy) so I've just got a few more ends to bury and then I can show mine too.

Sue's Tubix

Today I wanted to show you the Tubix quilt made by Sue who blogs over at Sue W Sews.  Sue is another quilter who lives in the UK, and for a while she lived quite near me, although we never managed to meet up. When I asked for some testers for my Tubix pattern, Sue was actually the first person to volunteer.  A couple of days ago I received an email from her with a picture of her finished flimsy

I think it looks great, and I love the red binding that is pinned on just to check the length. I also love how the colours she used just makes her Tubixes (I just made that word up as the plural of Tubix) jump out from the background. You can read Sue's thoughts on the pattern in her blog, here. Now she is trying to decide about her backing and also about the quilting.  Thanks Sue for doing a great job of the testing for me.

Time for Tennis ...

Wimbledon Fortnight started yesterday, and as you can see, I'm all ready for it.  A quilt binding to handsew and a bowl of strawberries. Strawberries and cream are traditional when you are at Wimbledon, although I did hear that they are charging a small fortune for them there.  Personally, I'd rather be sitting in my comfortable armchair eating mine and watching it all on TV than on a hard bench, possibly in blazing sun, or, more likely, this being England, in the rain, eating them.   Go Andy!

On another note, remember my worry about this quilt not being acceptable for the Tour de France challenge? (You can read it here, if you are interested.)

Well it seems that what I had interpreted as a "rule", ie using a light background, was only a suggestion, not a rule.  I must therefore offer my apologies to QuiltHaze for misinterpreting things, and also to Margaret, for misleading her.  I am truly sorry both of you.  I am also delighted that Wheel of Fire will be in the Challenge show after all.

Tour de France challenge

 Ever heard of the Tour de France?  It's a cycle race round France (and part of the UK this year) and will be starting in Yorkshire for the first time ever.  It's quite a big thing for us, so there's all sorts of exhibitions and activities connected with it and our quilt group has been invited to exhibit quilts.  The challenge is that they all have to be on the theme of "wheels" so this is my contribution. 

I drew this up in EQ7 and it is paper pieced and machine quilted.  I was feeling really smug that I have actually finished this before the due date which is next Saturday, but just now I went back to the group's blog to get the link address for you, and read the instructions again.  There are four rules to this challenge as shown below: 

1.     The theme is Wheels, and can be interpreted and made however we want.  

Yep, I'm OK here, cos this has got round bits in it and spikes, just like a wheel.  Hey, Lynn and Gail, just check out my pointy bits there!

2.     The colour s should be bright with a white or light neutral background.  

Oh heck!  I've used bright colours, including yellow to represent the winner's yellow jersey, BUT, my background is not exactly white or light.  Mind you, it is a colour called charcoal, which is lighter than black.  Do you think that'll count?

3.  It should have a hanging sleeve.  

Yep, done that too.

4. The deadline is  June 21st which is the date of our June meeting. 

I'm ready a week early.

Hmm, three out of four isn't bad, but I have a feeling this might not be accepted.  I'll keep you all posted.

Tubix testing ...

... Not long ago I asked for people to test another pattern for me, and I sent the instructions to these brave volunteers at the end of May. Vicki contacted me to make sure it was OK if she made a smaller version of the quilt by using less blocks, which was fine with me.  All I asked was that the testers have the flimsy complete within four weeks

Well, imagine my delight when I heard from Vicki just a week later that she had not only finished the top, but it was quilted and bound and had even been out into the big wide world for it's very first photo opportunity.

 If you go to Vicki's blog, here, you can see more photos, including close ups of her fantastic quilting. Vicki, it's beautiful, and I think I love it more than my own version!

Why is it ...

That I can sew eleven curved seams without using one single pin,

but the twelfth seam had to be pinned into submission after I tried, and failed to sew it properly three times?

If at first you don't succeed ....

.... try again, they say.  So I did.  Remember all my woes over not getting a decent mock piped binding?

Well on Monday Scrappy and I got together and had another go.  Actually, Scrappy had one go, and I had four.  You wouldn't believe how many different ways I found of getting it wrong, from catching a piece of the piping in the wrong place, to twisting one end like this.  Oh, and see all those stitch rippers?  They started the day sitting neatly in a little bowl next to Scrappy's sewing machine, but each time I went wrong, I picked one up and moved to the table to unsew, so by the time I'd finished there were none by the machine and 3 rippers and 2 pairs of scissors on the table where I was working.

Finally I did have something that was almost acceptable look, but I'm still not happy with it, so guess what I'm going to do later today?

And here is Scrappy's version, looking all beautiful, elegant and perfect.











Perhaps that saying should be "If at first you don't succeed, give up"?

I also want to say Happy Birthday to my father, who is 90 today.  We are going out to lunch today, but I have been told in no uncertain terms, that I was not allowed to organise a birthday cake with candles and all the staff gathered round singing Happy Birthday.  Spoilsport!  Then on Saturday we are having a family dinner at home.