They're off ...

... to South Africa tomorrow.

What are?

The charity quilts Scrappy and I have been working on.

First, here are photos of my two quilts complete with bindings now, then there is a group photo of the charity quilts that Scrappy and I have made, all of which are off to South Africa tomorrow.

Bon Voyage.

Yippee ....

.... last night I paid for my place on a five day quilting retreat in October.  This is at the same place as last year, right on the coast and about 60 miles from home, which is a very easy drive. We went there last year, and the food is fantastic and there will be plenty of time to sew, walk by the sea and eat.  I am really looking forward to it and planning what I am going to work on.

Then in January we are going on a weekend retreat. This is being organised by a member of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group and is actually being held about 15 miles away and very easy to get to.  More projects to plan for that.

We didn't buy much ....

.... really.

 Yesterday Scrappy and I had a day out.  We went off to a new-to-us shop called Simply Solids based in Huddersfield.  After Scrappy spoke to the girls in the shop a few days ago, we found that it was going to be easy to get there by train and bus, so we bought our train tickets and were ready for the off. We had reserved our train seats and were in Coach B.  Scrappy would get on the train at her home town and I would join her at the next stop.  My, not unreasonable, question was, will Coach B be near the front or the back of the train?  Scrappy gave me a bit of a look and pointed out that the train only has three carriages, (which, if I'd thought about it, I would have known,) so it would be in the middle.   That really set the tone for the day I think.  Early yesterday morning I had a text from her confirming the time of the train and the carriage.  That was because, when she got up she kept thinking the train was an hour later.  Anyway, she caught the train, I caught the train, and we settled down for a good chat.  We were having such a good chat in fact that we almost missed our stop. When we got to Huddersfield we found the bus station for the next stage of our adventure and we had a need for coffee so we went into the cafe, certainly not a Costa of Starbuks and definitely a bit of a greasy-spoon type of place, but we were desperate.  Well I don't know what we were drinking, but neither of us could detect a taste of coffee in our cups and the milk was powdered (I know that cos of the lumps of powder in it).  We didn't finish the coffee. Then we clambered on to a bus (an adventure in itself for me, the last time I caught a bus was in 1972) and in a few minutes we were at our destination.

In we went, and although it may be small, it had loads of fabrics so we dived in happily.  An hour or so later we had finished and paid for our fabrics (oh yes, and look at the lovely, re-usable bags we were given). I have to say that Scrappy was outraged when she found I had spent more than her, but nonetheless we left and went across the road for lunch at Ruddi's Vintage Tea Rooms.  The quiche we had was gorgeous and so were the scones with strawberry jam, not to mention the lemonade - all home made and sooo tasty. We did order coffee after lunch, but were both so full up we couldn't finish them! While we were eating Scrappy decided she couldn't cope with the idea that I had more fabric than she did, so we went back to Simply Solids and she added some more fabrics to her stash. When we left the shop we were told we should catch the bus just round the corner rather than right outside as there were more buses running that way, so we set off and guess what?  Just as we turned the corner, a bus went past us going on the route we had chosen not to use. Typical.  Never mind, another one came along a little later.

When we got home, we enjoyed a cup of tea with a cake each which we'd bought from Ruddi's so we could share them with Mr Fixit, we played a little with some blocks on the design wall, and then it was time to take Scrappy to the station for her train home.

These are our purchases. Looking at this photo, can you guess which pile is Scrappy's and which is mine?

Sale time

Summer's coming to an end and with cooler days on the way, we quilters start thinking serious thoughts about new quilts.  Craftsy are clever, they know this is how our minds work, so they've decided to give us a helping hand by holding one of their great sales.  To go shopping, simply click here,  but don't hang about though, it's only on for 3 days. starting today and closing at 11.59 MT on Sunday 23 August.

Small print: this is a sponsored post, so if you buy anything, I receive commission. Thank you.

Rescue operation ....

... Remember the other day I had a little bit of a problem when I was quilting and found that I had rather less backing than top? You can read it here if you are interested. Well, today I mounted a rescue operation.

First I made some flying geese, then I cut up the rest of the pieces into strips and sewed everything together into three rows,

then I sewed the resulting piece to the end of the backing

and this is what the back looks like now. Pheww.

Sweatshop Central ....

...  that's what was going on at my house on Wednesday.  Do you remember that Scrappy and I had been making some charity quilts?  Well one day, Scrappy had a good idea.  Wouldn't it be nice, she said, to make a tote bag for each quilt?  Yes, said I, and it would be great if they had a block on them the same as the quilts themselves.  Hmm, yes well .....

They were both good ideas, until it came to Wednesday when we were making them.  We decided we don't like making totes, but, by the end of the day we had finished them.  (If you look closely, you will notice that the idea of putting blocks on them didn't last too long.)

The day did not go without mishap.  Don't you hate when you are sewing a long seam, get to the end and then realise you've run out of bobbin thread?  Yes, so do I.  Especially when you put a new bobbin in, start the seam again, sew along merrily then realise you had run out of top thread a while ago!

What the $%&*#~ ?

Bertha's feeling much better now.  She had a few days in hospital but when she came home she was worse than ever.  I was very worried about her, but I left her alone with Mr Fixit and his big screwdrivers for a day while I went to play with Scrappy, and when I came home, she was all better.  To celebrate I put this large quilt on the frame and spent the next day quilting it, but .....

....  I got it wrong.  Measure twice, cut once, "they" always say. What a shame I didn't listen.

I actually made this top, and the backing about a year ago, which means I have no more of the backing fabric left so I'm going to have t.o improvise.  The quilt is my version of a Missouri Star tutorial which you can see here.





By the way, I've now joined the current century, and started a Pinterest page where I will show all my quilts. The board is by no means complete yet, but I am working on it.  If anyone wants to see them, they are here

Boys and ...

... their toys.

My son has been here this weekend with his family. He brought his latest toy up with him

and he and Mr Fixit went out to play. Don't you just love the looks of concentration?

 It's a drone, and it's fascinating to watch it wandering around and taking photos. Ooh look, it's our house