Handy Household hint ....

,,,, here's another in my series of helpful posts.

This time it's how to avoid cleaning/ironing or whatever else you hate to do but have to, for a couple of days.

It's easy.  All you have to do is decide to buy some new garden furniture. A couple of weeks ago, that's exactly what I did.  So, on a lovely, sunny Easter Monday, off I went, on a mission.  Big mistake.  Sunny Easter weekends are a good time to not go to garden centres, but I forgot that. There were queues everywhere.  The first place I went, didn't have anything. The second place, once I finally found a parking space, didn't have anything. Third time lucky though. Once I had queued to get into the car park and queued again waiting for a parking space, I found exactly what I wanted. It wasn't what I had gone out looking for though, so I thought I ought to ask Mr Fixit to come back with me (the next day) to make sure he liked it. Luckily, he did, but he wouldn't buy it that day as he has a pensioner's card which gives him 10% off on a Wednesday so we just measured the box to make sure it would fit in the car and didn't need delivering and then went home. Then, Wednesday morning, bright and early, off he went to buy it. He paid for it, and had a very helpful employee help him to take it to the car. Disaster, even with two helpful employees, it would not fit.  Don't know how that happened (but I'm really glad he did the measuring the day before and not me!). He had to come home a few hundred pounds poorer, but without the furniture. Eventually, that evening, a friend of Mr & Mrs Nomad's, who owned a van, went and collected it for us and brought it to our house. Pheww.  If we had but known it, that was the easy bit!

So, next day, fairly early, finds us outside unpacking the box and starting the assembly. With a brief stop for lunch, it took us from about 10 am till 4 pm to put it all together. Sadly, by then, the sun had gone and the weather was chilly again, so all we could do, until yesterday, was to look at it from indoors. it does look lovely though.

Come back in a day or so for the next of my Handy Household Hints, which will show you another way of not doing the chores you hate.

Craftsy Flash Sale

 Get better at what you love to do during Craftsy’s FLASH sale! 

This weekend only, get up to 50% off Craftsy’s best online classes. 

Plus, enjoy hours of up-close instruction from expert instructors, without ever leaving your home! Sale ends Sunday - shop now by clicking the picture above

(note: this is a sponsored post)

I feel old now ....

... Why?  because my daughter (Mrs Nomad) made a comment the other day about being almost 50! Since my brain knows that I am only about 30, what I now need to know is

How can my daughter be older than me?

That's progress ....

I suppose.

Yesterday I went for a manicure and a pedicure.  When I got there I was stunned to find I had to make decisions!  What?  I'd come for a relax, not to have to do decisions.  I was asked, first if I wanted a deluxe mani & pedi, or express?  Well, that wasn't too difficult.  I went for the deluxe of course. But then came the tricky question.  Would I like polish, colour, vinyl, deluxe vinyl, gel or shellac?  And there was me thinking I just had to choose a colour.

By the way, who stole my hands and replaced them with those of an old lady?

Bertha and I have been busy ....

In the last couple of weeks we've quilted 3 quilts.

 Sadly, I now have absolute proof that Bertha is, as I had suspected, a fabric snob.  The first quilt she did was the pink one on top, and she merrily worked away, forming perfect stitches and we finished the quilt in record time. Then, I put my Country Charmer quilt on the frame, and we set off again.  Well, Bertha just threw hissy fit after hissy fit.  The stitches were absolutely perfect on the background fabric and the red in the sashing, but as soon as she came to one of the other fabrics, which were cheap and not very good quality I'm afraid, she started skipping and forming horrible stitches, then as soon as she got back to the good quality fabrics, the stitches were perfect again.  I am going to have to hope that a good wash will crinkle the quilt enough that it won't show. Then, when Country Charmer was finished, I put Heartfire, which was made with good quality fabrics, on, and once again, perfect stitching.  Anyway, enough of my whinging, here are a few photos of our work.

Here is Country Charmer, designed by Lynn.  I have quilted a sort of curly-loopy pattern in each block.  I did it oversized, so it extended into the sashing and the borders, which I will do on my DSM, will just be straight lines.  I did try to take photos of the offending stitches, but they weren't good enough to show you what I mean.






The third quilt we've worked on is my version of Heartfire, also by Lynn.  This is the quilt that I made after my wonderful holiday with Lynn and Mr Joe in California.  The fabrics were a FQ bundle that I bought while I was there and I have amended the pattern to include some "flowers".  The yellow ones represent the California poppy, and the red ones to represent the red rose of England.  I also made small hexie blocks to go in the corners of the borders, then I quilted it with a lovely all-over design.  I am going to call it Californian Dreams I think cos of all the wonderful memories I have every time I look at it.

Here is a close-up of the front, so you can see the quilting a little better.  I absolutely love the texture this has given the quilt.

I think Scrappy's influence must be rubbing off on me, cos I pieced the backing with leftovers.  The quilting really shows well on the red fabric in this photo.

Just to finish off, here is a close up of the quilting on the back. Can you tell that I love this quilt?

Just to finish off, you remember the quilt that Scrappy and I are making together? In case you've forgotten, you can see it in this post. Well yesterday, when we were together for a playday, we had all the blocks finished, we shuffled them around on the design wall until we were happy with the layout, then took them all off, carefully labelling them as we went, and here they are, all ready to be sewn into their rows and then a top, next time we get together.

Happy, Scrappy ....

... quilting!

A few days ago Scrappy was here for the day, and was going through some scraps I'd just given her. She came to one piece that was so narrow it really had no business being there.  We measured it and it measured 1/2" wide and I made a comment that she would need to be very careful with her seam allowances to use that.  Apparently she both saw and heard the exclamation mark at the end of what I said when I challenged her to use it in something. This is what arrived in the post yesterday.  The piece in question was appliqued on to make the exclamation mark.  I think it is so clever, and she's even personalised it by including her nickname, and the title of my book and I love the result. Thanks so much Scrappy.

That's better ....

.... I put my latest quilt on the frame and asked Big Bertha to do her best with it, using a lilac/purple variegated thread.  I knew after about an inch that the thread was too dark, but kept going for about half a row before I listened to myself and stopped, undid the purple and started again with white. Before undoing it, Mr Fixit happened to wander past and asked why I'd stopped.  I told him I was unsure about the thread and asked if he thought it was too dark too. He did.  (I was a bit surprised, as usually he makes some fairly non-committal comment when his opinion is asked for -  I think he feels that discretion is the better part of valour!) so out came the seam ripper, out came the purple thread, and off we went with white. Much better.

Yesterday Scrappy and I had a fun day at the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Guild day.  Scrappy finished a quilt.  This was her first attempt at FM quilting and the quilt looks great.  It only took her two weeks from starting the quilt in a workshop run by QuiltHaze from Cotton Cocktails to finish.  

While Scrappy was busy finishing her binding and burying the ends on her quilt, I made some more blocks for our joint quilt.  We've now almost finished making the blocks, and here they are on my design wall. This picture was taken under electric light, and the colours are much more vivid in real life. I think they are just GORGEOUS, even though there are rather more than four fabrics in there!

Now I remember ...

why I use a long-arm machine.  This week I had the "clever" idea of quilting a lap quilt with my domestic machine.  Well, my knees definitely do not think that's a good idea.  I've spent the afternoon on my knees (or so it seems) pin basting the thing. First I took it outside (and it was c-c-cold out there) to spray baste it.  That was no good, firstly cos it was windy, and secondly cos I ran out of spray. So back indoors and onto my knees I went.  Me and my knees, (and my back), hated that. Anyway, finally it was done, so then I started to quilt it, and guess what?  I hated what I was doing, so after 3 rows I stopped. This evening will be spent unsewing it and tomorrow Mr Fixit is going to set up Big Bertha.

I am wondering though (and so is Scrappy, I'm sure) why I've been playing around with this, when I have homework I should be getting on with.  This week we had a fun day together and started making blocks for a charity quilt we are making together.  This is a picture of the blocks we've made so far,

We saw the pattern in a magazine and both loved it so we decided to try and make a dent in Scrappy's stash of, yep, you guessed it, scraps, by making it together. This is my homework. Scrappy has a similar pile to play with, and we want to finish all the blocks before we get together again in a couple of weeks to put them together into a top.

While we were making the blocks, we were thinking that we'd both like one of these for ourselves, so quilts no 2 and 3 will probably follow on.  We were discussing colour schemes, and Scrappy wants an autumn one, I want a Christmas one, we also though a neutral one would look good.  Do you think we like this design?

Save up to 70% ....

Yep, Craftsy are at it again and trying to tempt us to help the economy out.

 

Craftsy Flash Sale: Save up to 70% Off 

Get the fabric, yarn and project kits you’ve been dreaming of! The Craftsy Inspiration in a Flash Sale is on now, with up to 70% off best-sellers from all your favourite brands and designers. You deserve a treat or two, don’t you? The sale expires on Sunday 3 March at 11.59 pm MT, so grab your shopping bag (the quilted one, of course) and go shopping to save!  See you at the checkout .... 
(Note: this is a sponsored post)

TV Debut (and giveaway alert) for ....

... my friend Lovely Lynn.

Lynn's now starring in episode 1604 of The Quilt Show, where she talks about how she takes the fear of maths out of quilting, and shows her wonderful method of making complicated blocks by breaking them down into simple components.  In the show Ricky Tims also has a play with some components, showing how you can make different blocks using the same "bits".

By the way, you can buy Lynn's book through the Quilt Show, or through her own blog.

Lynn also talks about her strip taming device, aka a pasta dryer. Her clever husband, Mr Joe is a whizz at woodwork, and has come up with this super-duper improved version of it,

 and Lynn is offering one as a giveaway over on her blog at Sewn Wild Oaks. This link takes you to the post with the giveaway.   That same post gives you a link so you can watch Lynn's show for free. It's a fascinating show, and I urge you all to rush off and watch it, if you haven't already done so.

An Anniversary and a challenge

Last weekend we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary by spending the weekend in London.  I contacted the hotel beforehand to ask if they offered any sort of upgrade, and they definitely did.  We were upgraded to a deluxe room, which was huge with a lovely sofa, a Nespresso machine and lovely toiletries and in the room was an anniversary card with a plate of macarons.  Sorry, no photo as we ate them!  On Saturday we were out for the day, and when we got back to the hotel, we found this in our room.

Today Scrappy has been here and we had a great day with no sewing, lots of chatting and some fabric stroking.  I had a bag of scraps to give her, and Scrappy wasted no time in tipping it out to see what was in there and to fold and stroke it all.  There was this little piece of orange in there, and she was thinking it might be too small, even for her and was going to throw it away, so I've challenged her to use it.  I can't wait to see what she does with it. With friends like me, who needs enemies?

If only ....

This was spotted by Scrappy on Facebook.  I love it.

What IS "modern quilting"?

This is a question that has been exercising my brain a lot lately.  I have seen various suggestions as to what constitutes a modern quilt, ranging from quilts not having borders, quilts with a lot of white in them, quilts that only use plain fabrics and various other suggestions.  So I thought I'd throw this one out to you lot.  Who can define modern quilting for me?

Just because a blog post must have a picture, and because I hope spring is on the way, here's a picture of a small quilt I made some years ago..

Pardon?

Here's a good example of how crazy technology can be.  My laptop insists that I have a password to access anything when I start it up or wake it from a sleep.  OK, that's not a problem.  At least, it wasn't until a few days ago.  Then, I typed in my password in the morning and was told it was incorrect, so I tried it again.  Same result.  Try again. Still no good.  (Incidentally, I had not done anything to change the password, nor had I mistyped it.)  So, what to do?

Well, Microsoft were very thoughtful, and up pops a message telling me I need to reset my password.  Mutter, mumble, grumble, says I.  Then I read the rest of the message on the screen.  To reset your password, visit www.whatever-the-address-was.com.

Sorry?  How do I do that when I am locked out?  How ridiculous.  Luckily, this laptop is not the only computer in the house, so I was able to access my account and change the password, but really?  There are households with only one computer in.  How are they supposed to do it?  Another well thought out plan by those-who-would-control-us I think.

I also think I must be turning into a Grumpy Old Woman. I blame my bad back which has been playing up again.  (Makes a change from me moaning on about gout doesn't it?)

Despatch note ....

I may have been quiet, but I'm still shopping.  I recently placed an order with the Missouri Star Quilt Company, who I love for their fabrics, speed of sending me things, tutorials, etc., and  this is the despatch note they sent me when my order was on its way:

We just want to let you know that your quilting supplies have been meticulously gathered, placed on a red velvet pillow, and delicately escorted by 25 of our finest employees to our shipping department. Our master shipper has dutifully performed his craft, lovingly packing your order in the finest materials known to man.
Our team gathered to give your package the proper send-off it deserved. Tears of joy were shed, speeches were given, and there was even a farewell cake. Following the festivities, the whole group, led by our local high school marching band playing the song Leaving on a Jet Plane, ushered your order through downtown Hamilton, Missouri. No, we don't own a Jet Plane, but your package was placed in the care of a roguishly handsome man who is riding in a majestic horse-drawn carriage which is on its way to your home as you read this.
Although the products you've ordered will be sorely missed here at MSQC, we are overjoyed that they have found a good home. Take care of them, treasure them, and when you make something beautiful with them, make sure you share it with us on facebook, twitter, or just send us an email, we love to see what you make!.
*Note the above is a slight dramatization of what actually happened with your order, but seriously we did ship it, and here is the tracking info:

Isn't it great?

Because I know you'll ask, this is part of the order.

I ordered three charm packs of this scrumptious fabric collection and some toning fabric yardage.

New Year, New You

(Sponsored post) That's what Craftsy are offering us this weekend.  They are having a Flash Sale with up to 50% off their top online classes. To see what's on offer, just click on the picture above. This sale is only on until Sunday 18 January at 11:59PM MT I'm off to sign up for a paper piecing class I've spotted so I must dash .....

Christmas presents ...

... Hello?  Is there anyone there?  Is anybody bothering to visit me nowadays, since I'm such a bad blogger?  I hope someone is still calling in to see me, so I thought I'd show you pictures of a couple of quilty Christmas presents I received.

This gorgeous table topper was given to me, together with the little Poinsettia, by my friend Scrappy.  There may have been a box of chocolate penguins too, but they seem to have disappeared - in other words, we've eaten them.

The topper was made from blocks in a book called Victorian Quilt Block Designs, and I loved it so much I have now bought the book too! It's on its way to me and I should receive it either tomorrow or Tuesday.

This gorgeous angel was sent to me by Naughty Nancie. I think this is so cute that I am going to find it very difficult to undo it to use the fabrics, but I do have a plan for them, so I will have to take her apart soon. (The angel, not Naughty Nancie.)

I also received a lovely calender from my friend Gail (Lynn's sister).  The calender has stunning photos of Yosemite Park throughout the seasons.  Since I'm not sure of the copyright laws, I am not showing any photos of it, but, take my word for it, the views are stunning.  Yosemite was somewhere we didn't get to visit when I was on holiday with Lynn as there was a strike of government workers at the time I was there so the park was closed.  I hope I will get to see it with Lynn, Mr Joe and Gail in the future.

So, I'm sorry I'm still talking about Christmas, I guess it will soon be Christmas 2015, but I really wanted to show you the lovely gifts I was lucky enough to be given.  Thank you all so very much.

Happy New year and quilt patterns

Happy (belated) New Year everybody.

We had a great Christmas and New Year.  Today the family left, spare bedding has all been washed, leftovers eaten for lunch and now I'm enjoying the Sound of Music on TV.

Now, due to the clever-clogs at the EU, new laws have come into being which state that anyone who sells digital things such as quilt patterns in pdf format to a customer living in the EU must charge VAT at the rate of the country they are selling to.  This means that if I sell one of my patterns through Craftsy to someone living in an EU country, I must collect the taxes and then pay them to the appropriate country.  There are something like twenty-eight countries and therefore twenty-eight different tax levels, all requiring different tax reports, etc.  Really, dear EU clever-clogs? Who has time for that? Craftsy do not have a system in place to identify where a customer lives, so I am therefore having to withdraw my patterns from them, and I will now be selling them through a company who will deal with all the horrid paperwork, calculations, collections and tax payments for me.  As from tomorrow, you can find my patterns for sale over here at Payhip. I apologise to those people who have listed any of my patterns on their wishlists on Craftsy, but there is no way I can get in touch with you to let you know what I have been forced to do. I hope that's a bit clearer than mud, but you are welcome to email me if you don't understand.

Give yourself a Christmas present ...

 

Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale

(sponsored post)

Get the gift you really want during Craftsy's Best of 2014 Sale happening now through Christmas! Treat yourself while ALL our classes are $19.99 or less, so you can make your best projects in 2015. Shop now to stock up and save.

Once you enroll you'll own your Craftsy classes forever, so you can watch them at your pace in the comfort of your home, anytime. Hurry, offer expires 12/25/14 at 11:59 PM MT. 

A Fair Division of labour ...

... as I was listening to the radio the other day, there was a comment about the different jobs that men and women do at Christmas.  It struck a chord.

Women:

buy the presents
wrap the presents;

buy the food
cook the food;

buy the cards
write the cards;

buy/find the decorations
put up the decorations, etc, etc.











Men:

Buy the batteries!









That sort of struck a chord with me.  Mr Fixit's comment when I told him? "Yep, that seems fair enough.  I've bought the batteries by the way."

It's beginning to look a lot like .....

Christmas....

This morning we decided that Christmas was coming, whether we wanted it to or not, so Mr Fixit and I got the trees out and got decorating.  That really means, he checked the lights and then found something else to do in his workshop while I got decorating.  Being somewhat minimalist in my tastes, it really didn't take too long.  There are two more trees, one in the dining room and one in the hall, but they are more "sculptural" so they don't get decorated, just plugged in.  We've just been out in the wind and rain and strung lights over 3 bushes and round my father's porch, and that's it. Christmas sorted.  Apart from wrapping that is.  All the cards are done and sent, the food's all ordered, so now Christmas can happen.

Yesterday was my quilt group's Christmas party ( you can pop over and read all about it here if you like.  I'll wait.) and we all had fun making key fobs

This was mine, and I've just noticed that the ribbon is sewn on all wonky! I'm sure it was straight, so I reckon one of the Christmas elves popped in overnight and did that.

 It was also the Grand Handing Out of the name badges, and here are some of them.  I love how different they all are.

This and that ...

OK, what IS she doing now?

Our dining room chairs had cream fabric seat covers which can not be removed for washing.  That was perhaps not my cleverest idea with very young grandchildren around who sat at them to eat, paint, play with PlayDoh, sprinkle glitter all over cards they'd made, etc.

As you can imagine, they have become marked over the years and they'd got to the point where I either needed to replace the chairs or buy a new dining room suite. That's when I had the brainwave. Why not take the chairs apart and recover them?  Mr Fixit was quite impressed, as I think he'd resigned himself to the idea of me going out spending money on a suite.  So, fabric ordered online, staple gun and staples also purchased, and we were ready to go. Then, I discovered that my wrists are not very strong, so I could not remove the staples holding the original covers and nor could I use the staple gun - clever huh? Anyway, they're all done now, and look pretty good really.

I also treated myself to this the other day

It is wonderful.  I just chop up veg and stuff, add it to the pot with stock, turn it on, come back about 20 - 30 mins later and I have yummy soup.  I can even sautee the veg in the pot if I want to, and have the choise of having smooth or chunky soups.  All in one pot.  How clever is that?

Spot the deliberate mistake ...

... so, remember, last week Scrappy and I were meeting up to make name-badges for other members of Yorkshire Modern Quilters?  Well, by the end of the day there were about seven rejects in the bin (4 from me and 3 from Scrappy) and we had nothing completed, so we got together again today. Scrappy finished hers (no pictures, cos the name of the recipient is a secret) and here's a mock-up of the name badge I decided to make.

Can you spot the deliberate mistake? I made the badge, added the lanyard, etc and was proudly admiring it when all of a sudden Scrappy started laughing and then quietly asked me if I thought I should add the name to it!

Oops.

By the way, she didn't think I'd post about this.

UPDATE: Craftsy are at it again

Update: Now, they're having a Black Friday Sale too, with all classes at less than $20 (approx £12.70 to us in the UK).  The wonderful thing about their classes is there is no shipping to pay, no import taxes to pay, no Royal Mail handling fees to pay, the classes are all downloadable instantly and are yours for ever. I have taken several of their classes and can not recommend them highly enough. This sale is on now, and lasts until 11.59 pm MT on Monday 1 December.

This time, they're having a Pre-Black Friday Sale. 

I'm not going to write a lot, cos I'm sure a lot of you are busy with Thanksgiving preparations, etc, but you can visit them, here and enjoy B I G savings on classes, yarn, fabric and kits! Shop now because you won’t want to miss this incredible sale! You'll have to be quick though as the sale prices are only valid until 11.59 pm MT tomorrow (Thursday).

If it's not too crowded, you just might spot me there .................

(sponsored post)

Nearly there now ...

... this is what I've been doing while the conservatory has been out of action

and while I've been doing that, the conservatory has been redecorated, and we've moved some of the furniture back now

There's another cupboard coming on Friday, and, hopefully, the new blinds will be fitted in a couple of weeks.  Once the blinds are in I can start filling the cupboards, and then ... I will be able to sew again.  

Meanwhile, I am off to my friend Scrappy's for the day tomorrow and we're making name badges. The Yorkshire Modern Quilters Group we belong to are having a Christmas party next month, and everyone is making a name badge for another member, sort of a Secret Santa thing.  Anyone got any bright ideas for designs?  I haven't. 

On Saturday is the next meeting of the same group, and we're off to that too.  I'm so looking forward to getting back in the groove as I haven't touched any sewing since I got home from the quilt retreat last month.