Christmas QAL

This weekend is the Christmas Quiltalong, hosted this time by Happy Hazel from Hazel's Quilts.

As some of you know, I have been staying with my friend Bilbo at Bag End for a few days.  We had a wonderful time with lots of chatting, teasing each other, putting the world to rights, etc - all the usual things friends do when they get together.

Since I was travelling home again yesterday, we decided to start our Quiltalonging on Friday instead, so we would have the whole day to play together.  We both decided to work on our Christmas Challenge quilts - you know the one: no red or green fabrics to be used and a maximum size of 96".  (Wonder who on earth came up with such a stupid idea?)

 So anyway, we started with this: French Toast  (would you believe I had never had French Toast before?) with yummy strawberries picked from Bilbo's garden about 5 minutes earlier and creme fraiche.

Then we set to work.  This is what the sewing room looked like before we started:

and after much planning, drawing and re-drawing

we were ready to start sewing,

I think!












I had planned to carry on with mine today at home, but really it's too darn hot (as someone once sang) to sit in the conservatory where I sew today.  What I am going to do though, is visit everyone else who's linked up with Hazel (go here to see who's taking part) and see what is happening around the world.  Don't forget to check out Hazel's blog too, she has already had some fun things happening yesterday, and I know there'll be more fun today.

Have you remembered ...

... what's happening this weekend?

Here's a clue

This month the party is at Hazel's, so don't forget to pop in and see what we're all up to here.

I'm off to spend a few days with Bilbo tomorrow, but I'm sure I/we will pop in from time to time.

Google + update ...

... following on from my whingeing yesterday about the fact that anyone who uses a Google+ identity to leave comments is showing up as a no-reply blogger, I think I have a fix for you.

In fact, Sharon left a comment with this link, but when I thanked her and said I was going to post about it, she told me that it was originally Tonya who found the solution.  Well I want to thank both of you very much for helping.  If you go here, you will be taken, step by step through what to do so that you can become someone that I can reply to again.

Of course, maybe you don't want me to reply, but I always feel that I am being very impolite if I don't, so humour me, please?

Google+

I have noticed that if anyone leaves a comment on my blog using a Google+ identity, they seem to be coming through as no-reply bloggers.  Does this happen to other people, or is it something I've done in the settings on my blog?

 

So, if you have left comments for me and don't get a reply, this is why.  Please don't think I'm being rude or ignoring you, it is just that I have no way of contacting you.

Oooh, look ...

... I've gone international!

Yes, I'm going to be teaching a class at the Quilts in the Garden quilt show while I'm in the USA.

I'm staying with Lynn from Sew'n Wild Oaks and we're both going to be teaching at the show.  Lynn is taking a class that sounds really great, called Patchwork Math on Wednesday 25 September, (you can read a bit about it on her blog, here) and I'm teaching my 3D Noughts and Crosses quilt, which is this one,

on Thursday 26 September.  We're also planning to go to each other's classes and sit at the back and heckle.

There's not much information about the show yet on the site, but you can go here to see the classes on offer so far. It should be fun, but I'm a bit scared too.

 If you're going to be in the area, do come to the show - both Lynn and I would love to see you.

Happy Fourth of July ...

This is specially for my American friends who might like to do something special to celebrate today:

I'm doing an impression ...

... of being the White Rabbit - in other words, "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date" as Lewis Caroll put it.  Yesterday was the day for linking up for the Country Charmer quiltalong, and here I am, a day late!  I really don't have a good reason, except that yesterday I was needed to support both Laura Robson and Andy Murray in their Wimbledon matches.  Anyway, shall I stop wittering on and show you how I'm getting on?

Well first thing this morning I had this

By lunch time it looked like this

Now it's time to stop for today and watch some more tennis, but this is where I am now.

I absolutely love this quilt, which was designed by Lynn from Sew'n Wild Oaks, and I am enjoying the easy-going quiltalong, which is being hosted by Lesley, The Cuddle Quilter.  Thank you both for all your efforts.  If you would like to see more Country Charmer charmingness - and who wouldn't? - then pop over to Lesley's place, here, and at the bottom of the post she has all the Linky's for you to visit.

By the way, did you notice, I have a design wall!  Well actually, I have a piece of wadding hanging over a cupboard.  Mr Fixit had all sorts of bright ideas about making one but that's as far as it got, so then, after reading about Donna's idea, here, I also sent off for a tablecloth.  Obviously tablecloths here in the UK aren't as good as those in the US, cos my blocks kept falling off.  That's when I suddenly thought of just hanging up a piece of wadding, and it worked, and I'm thrilled about that too.

Happy Canada Day ...

Red Sprinkles anyone?

If you remember, a week ago I had a lovely day playing with red fabrics

 to make these blocks

Well, just before I show you what I have done with the blocks, just look at my unforced error (sorry, but it is Wimbledon fortnight, which I'm watching as I write this).  Really, wouldn't you think I'd been making quilts for long enough to not make silly mistakes like this?

Anyway, here is what those blocks have become.  I'm thinking the quilting needs to be fairly small circles on this one, unless anyone out there in Blogland has any better ideas?

A lovely day ...

... that's what last Sunday was.

I went to a sit-and-sew day with a relatively new and informal group called the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Guild.  This is only a small group of like-minded people who have been gathered together by my friend QuiltHaze and another friend of hers (called Janet, but I don't know if she has a blog or not.)  Anyway, this was only the 3rd meeting of the group, and at the previous one some people decided it would be fun to make scrappy Trip Around the World quilts and swap strips for it - don't worry, I decided that was a step to far for me, so I worked on something else.  If you would like to see some of the blocks, and other quilts from the show and tell time, then just go to the YMQG blog, here.

I was quite brave, by my standards, and cut some of these

and came home with a pile of these

and hopefully will have a finished top to show you in the next few days.

Oh, and this

shows why they say you should always measure twice and cut once!

It was a fun and friendly day, and I am already looking forward to the next meeting, thanks everyone.

Christmas QAL, post 3

Well it's now Sunday afternoon and I've been auditioning fabrics for my challenge quilt.

It's either going to be this one

  or this one.

Decisions, decisions.

I've also done some shopping (I love the internet), so hopefully I'll be ready in a few days to start creating.

I do hope everyone else is enjoying the challenge - I know it's tricky, but then, that's why it's called a challenge.  Remember, there's plenty of time for anyone to join in, just look at the separate Christmas QAL page that our two hostesses, Jolly Jo and Happy Hazel and I have on our blogs for the challenge details. 

Don't forget, the Christmas QAL is now spread over the whole weekend, so there's still time to hop over to Joanna's and join in the fun.  Yesterday she showed us 2 great blocks and a wonderful, diet-busting recipe, who knows what might be in store for us today? 

Christmas QAL, post 2.

I have a confession to make.  Today we have had wall-to-wall sunshine all day, so I haven't done any sewing at all.  I have done some housework, some washing, some weeding, some cooking, some eating, and lots of thinking.

I think I have come up with an idea for the challenge quilt.  It means I need to order a couple of things so I won't be able to start it this weekend, but I'm sure I'll be back at the party tomorrow to do something a bit more constructive in the way of sewing.

In the meantime, thank you Jolly Jo for having us all over at your place for this weekend. I'll see you all tomorrow.

Woohoo ...

... it's Christmas.

Well no, it's not really, but it's the next best thing cos today sees the start of the 2013 Christmas Quiltalong and Challenge.

Between now and December, the 2nd weekend of each month will be party weekends either at Jolly Jo's or Happy Haze's.  These two wonderful people will be taking it in turns to be our hostesses, and this month we're all invited to Joanna's place, Needle, Thread, Happiness.

We all have a separate page on our blogs called something really original like Christmas Quiltalong and Challenge which explains more about everything, and that is also where you need to go to either join the Linky party or just to see who has joined and go visit them. (Just look at the top of our blogs, below the header to find the pages, and click on the tab you want.)  In fact I've just been over to Joanna's and see that she has decorated the place specially for us so it looks very festive, and I also see that Hazel has beaten me to it, so I'm not going to be the first to arrive!

Now, I devised this challenge so wouldn't you think I'd have some ideas of what I'm going to do?  Nope, not a bit of it, so I'm going to take some books and a stripey coffee out and sit on the deck in the beautiful sunshine, and start planning.

I'll be back in a while.

Full Circle ...

... just about 2 years ago, my friend J started to make her very first quilt. Yesterday, she and F came over for the day, and here is J putting the very last stitch in her quilt.

and here it is, finished

and just so you can see the quilting, which was all done by hand by the way

I called this quilt Full Circle, cos when all the blocks were made, they were first laid out altogether in my conservatory, and that is where the photos were taken yesterday.

I think this is a stunning quilt.  Well done J.

Country Charmer update ...

. oops, I'm late again!  How does that keep happening when I don't go out to work, I don't have kids to look after, yet I am always late?  Well anyway, I'm here now to link up with all the other Charming Girls around the world.  It's really a good job that this quiltalong is so laid back, cos my progress recently has been pretty slow, but I am happy to say that I have now finished all the blocks.

Aren't they pretty?  All (all, she said, ha, ha!) I have to do now is decide on the sashing and 9-patch fabrics, and I'll be well on the way to having a finished top.

This lovely pattern was designed by Lynn from Sew'n Wild Oaks, and the quiltalong is being coordinated by Lesley, the Cuddle quilter.  If you pop over to Lesley's now, you can see some other wonderful Country Charmer quilts. Thanks Lynn and thanks Lesley for getting me to climb out of my little box and work outside my usual comfort zone.

Christmas Quiltalong ...

... is coming back.

I am thrilled to say that the Christmas QAL is starting up again, in a new, bigger and better version.  Your hostesses will be Jolly Jo (aka Joanna) from Needle, Thread, Happiness and Happy Haze (aka Hazel) from Hazel's Quilts.

You may have noticed our new button, on my sidebar, please do copy it and put it on your blog to spread the word.

The first QAL will be next weekend, (8 June), and the format will be different this year, but I'll leave it up to the two of them to tell you more.  All I will say is that it's going to be different, and it's going to be exciting.

Did someone ...

... say it's only 211 days until Christmas?

Aaaggghhhh.

Vote NOW ...

The voting is now open at the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  To visit all the categories and vote for your favourites, just go here.  While you're browsing around and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the wonderful entries, don't forget that you can also nominate one quilt for the Viewers' Choice award. Don't forget, there's prizes too, just for voting!

 

Bloggers' Quilt Festival, part two.

Here I am again, this time with my entry for the bed quilts category of Amy's quilt festival.

This quilt started as a mystery quilt from a shop in the UK.  I am sorry, I can't remember the name of the designer, but it may have been Debbie Caffrey.

When I had finished the centre I really, really did not like this quilt. So, it got put away, and it languished at the back of a cupboard for about 5 years, unloved, and unwanted.  Then one day, it jumped out of the cupboard, yelling "Look at me.  Look at me"  So I looked.  Then I fell in love with it and had to finish it.

Once I had finished making the blocks for the centre, I knew I wanted it to be a bigger quilt than it was originally meant to be, but that gave me a problem.  I did not have any fabric left over from the blocks to make any more, so I was going to have to add borders.  Another problem - I had bought the fabrics a long time ago, and they were no longer available.  So, off I went to the LQS, blocks in hand, to see if I could find anything similar.  How lucky was I?  Look, I found some tone-on-tone fabrics that were almost a perfect mix, so I put borders on and finished the quilt.

Here's a close-up of the quilting, which also helps to show off the close match of the border fabrics.

I used a plain fabric on the back, which I usually do as that means I have 2 quilts for the price of one, the backing looking just like a wholecloth quilt.

I love this side of the quilt too.

Quilt Stats:

• quilt size: king size
• quilted using a pale yellow thread with a 4-leaf clover all over pattern with the help of Big Bertha and my robotic LA system.

To see the other quilts in the Bed quilts category, and to choose your favourite for the Viewers' Choice quilt, just go here.

OK, I couldn't resist ...

... Amy from AmysCreativeSide.com is currently holding the 5th Bloggers' Quilt Festival, which is a great event with loads of chances to look at some wonderful quilts and maybe win some wonderful prizes too.  You don't even have to have a quilt entered in the show in order to win - how good is that?

This year you can enter two quilts, in different categories, so, of course, I just had to enter one in the throw and one in the bed quilt categories.

My entry for a throw is my Crazy Christmas Trees quilt. 

Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't alter the pattern a bit, and with this one I decided to add borders, which the original did not have.  Doing that meant that I didn't have enough backing fabric, and so I decided to really step out of my comfort zone, and make a pieced backing.  I then thought I'd make it even more difficult for myself and settled on inserting a pieced strip diagonally.  

Once January had come to an end, I reluctantly decided that my Crazy Christmas Trees had to be put away  but couldn't decide what to replace it with.  Then I realised that February is Valentine month, so I really should have a red quilt.  So what did I do?  Turned Crazy Christmas Trees over!  Simple.  I have a reversible quilt that I am very happy with.  Mind you, it had been like this for several days before Mr Fixit looked at it one evening and said "when did you make that quilt?"  It's good to have someone so observant around!

 and here is a close up of a couple of the blocks, so you can see the quilting. 

Quilt facts

• Quilt measures 64" x 82" approx - almost a single bed size I guess
• More than 30 FQ's were used in the making of this quilt!
• LA quilted by me (with the help of Big Bertha, my robotic LA system)
• Quilting pattern is called Square Spirals

This quilt is everything I thought I didn't like, ie quite scrappy and with a pieced backing.  Well, you know what?  I was wrong, I don't just like this quilt, I LOVE it!

Now if you go here, you can see all the other entries in the Throw quilts category, and don't forget to start deciding on which ones you would like to nominate for the Viewer's Choice quilts in each category.

My face ...

... must have been a picture.  "Why?" I hear you asking.  Well I'll tell you.

Today Mr Fixit and I went to a carvery for lunch.

I had roast pork, and with it came a piece of crackling.  Yummy, I love crackling.  Anyway, I saved it till the end, but was really disappointed to find that I could not break it with my knife and fork, and it was too big to eat all in one piece.  So Mr Fixit said "put it on my plate then" when I whinged about it.  Thinking what a chivalrous gentleman he was to break it up for me, I did just that.  Guess what he did?  He ate it!!!!  I could not believe it.

So that's why I said my face must have been a picture.

If you're going to San Francisco ....

.... Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair"  says the 1960's song.  Well, I'm going to have to go and buy some flowers cos I AM going to San Francisco (actually a few miles outside it) in September.

I am going to visit the Lovely Lynn, who blogs over at Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting.  Woohoo.

I have wanted to visit California for ever I think - certainly since Mr Fixit went on business a few times in the late 70's and Lynn has invited me to visit several times, so I have decided that now the time is right. Yippee.

Lynn and I have never met in person, but have become good friends thanks to the internet - you know how sometimes you "talk" to someone, and just know that they are going to become close friends.  Well that's just how it was for us (well it was for me, I shouldn't speak for Lynn should I?)  We have some fun things planned while I am there, including going to the Quilting in the Garden quilt show. I bet there's going to be lots of talking and laughing too.  Whoopie.

Yesterday I booked and paid for my air tickets, so now it's really, really real.

I am so excited, but I don't suppose you can really tell, can you?

Quilting slump no more ....

I hope ....

For the last month or so I've been in a complete quilting slump.  I just didn't want to quilt   I couldn't go near my sewing machine. My mojo had just completely disappeared.  This was made worse by guilty feelings about all the WIPs I have at the moment.

Yesterday I went to my friend J's for the day, and the plan was to sew our little fingers to the bones.  (Don't worry, there was also going to be gossip and food involved!)  I decided I'd quilt a table topper the day before so I could hand sew the binding down while I was there, since I knew that J would want to work on a special quilt she's making.

Anyway, over the coffee and choccie biccies that are an essential start to our days, we started talking, and it turns out that J was feeling rather the same.

That's when we had a light-bulb moment.

We both had the same problem - we were feeling completely overwhelmed by the number of projects that we had on the go at the same time.

So we came up with a solution - we were not going to start anything new until we had actually finished a few things.

So J got out her first ever quilt, which only needed binding, and she cut and sewed binding strips together and then sewed them onto the quilt.  Now she will sew the binding down on the back, and that will be a finished quilt. (There will be photos in a couple of weeks, when it's finished - it's a stunning quilt.)  I sewed the binding on my table topper, then I took it all off cos I had not done it carefully enough, so I had cut off every single point.  This morning I sewed it back on, and now it just needs sewing down.  (I've just pinned it to the back for now so I could take a photo to prove to J that I had done it!)

So now I'll move on to something else, which will probably be my Country Charmer quilt, but may be my Diamond Drops, or I may finish another couple of table toppers.  I don't know yet, but what I do know is that all of a sudden I want to sew again.

Honey I'm home ...

Hello everyone.  Did you miss me?

We had a great holiday, with lots of these

  

loads of views like these

and plenty of views like this (except the plate was not on it's side - thanks Blogger!)

Now all the washing and ironing is done and I'm back to having to cook meals, make the bed, etc.

So now it's confession time.  Today is this month's Linky party for the Country Charmer QAL, where we are all making a quilt designed by Lynn, over here and I know that before I went on holiday I did at least one more block, but do you think I could find it today to take its photo?  Nope.  So no photo, sorry.  However, to have a look at what other people have been up to, then just go to see Lesley, our hostess, over at The Cuddle Quilter, here.