How many ........

......... attempts does it take to make one unit like this when you're trying to do it without having to make a template?

Answer?  Quite a lot. I got there in the end though. 

Mind you, I would rather not hear anyone saying they think it would have been quicker with a template.  I know it would, but my middle name is Stubborn.

Have a Happy .........

...... International Quilting Day.  I hope everyone manages to get some time with their fabrics and threads today.

International Quilting Day isn't celebrated much here in the UK, but I think it's quite big in the US and I'd love to hear what other people are doing to mark the day.

Poor(ly) me

Had you noticed how quiet I've been lately?  That's because I've got bronchitis and shingles.  To add to that, I've reacted badly to 2 different asthma inhalers recently, fingers crossed it'll be third time lucky, and I went for my annual eye check last week only to be told I'm developing cataracts in both eyes.  Just not my week/month/year so far is it?

Anyway, hopefully the antibiotics will sort out the bronchitis, paracetamol for the shingles, a new inhaler and carrots for the eyes will get everything sorted out.

Meanwhile, Happy St Patrick's Day.

and the moral of this story is ..............

First I'll set the scene for you.

I have had my Big Brother sewing machine for about 7 or 8 years now.  I do love it, but I have always wished it had a seam guide to help me sew a nice, straight 1/4" seam rather than having to eyeball it whilst keeping my fingers crossed, which I can tell you is not an easy way to feed the fabric.

A couple of days ago, I was looking through the instruction book to check something, and guess what I found?  A picture and some words about a seam guide.  What?  Have I got one of these?  So I start rootling through the bag of extra feet and accessories that came with Big Brother and guess what I found?  A lovely seam guide.  So now I'm a happy me.

The moral of this story?  Always read the instruction manual.

Shhhh, it's a secret ..........

...... so I can't tell you what I'm working on at the moment, so I thought I'd show you some pictures of a quilt I am especially proud of.  It is hand quilted and the design started from the Sanderson Star in the centre, and I just made it up as I went along from there on.  It's a queen size quilt and it took me about 6 months from start to finish in 2004 - 2005. It was difficult to get good photos, but I think you can see it fairly well in these pictures if you click on them to get a larger view.

 

 

Good news, bad news and an announcement.

The good news is that Mr Fixit has gallstones.  The bad news is that Mr Fixit has gallstones.  This is good news, as the suspicion was that it might have been cancer.  The bad news is that he now has to have 2 operations to firstly remove some which have escaped from his gall bladder, then he will have to have his gall bladder out.  It could have been so much worse though.

Now the announcement.  SewCalGal is having A Golden Quilter awards ceremony.  Here is what she says on her blog here:

Anyone can nominate a candidate who has made a difference in the world of quilting. Key awards will be given for the following categories for 2009 that are the most inspiring :

1) Designer:
2) Teacher/Instructor:
3) Author: Most inspirational
4) Quilt Store (physical)
5) Quilt Store (online)
6) Best Long Arm Quilter
7) Most Innovative new product (physical item)
8) Most Innovated new product (software item)
9) Most influential person in the world of quilting to-date, aka "Lifetime Achievement".

If you haven't yet submitted your nominations, you can submit via email or by posting a comment on this blog.  Visibility to all announcements will be made March lst, when votes for winners of the Golden Quilter Awards will be accepted...and entries to a March Golden Quilter Awards giveaway will also be accepted.
    
Do go and enter your nominations, you might even win a prize if you do.

Finished...........

...... well, almost.  I've still got to put the binding on.  This is the quilt that Dad claimed at the end of last year.  It was made from a jelly roll and a pattern from Kim Brackett's book "Scrap Basket Surprises" and I quilted it yesterday.

I used an allover design which was chosen by Professor, who happened to be here when I was trying to decide what pattern to use.  It is somewhat more dense quilting than I usually do but I am very happy with the result, and so was Big Bertha I think, cos she didn't skip any stitches at all!

Happy anniversary .........

........ yes, we were married 43 years ago on Valentine's Day. The date was chosen by Mr Fixit.  "Aah, how romantic" I can hear you saying.  Sadly, no, not romantic at all.  His reason was that if we got married on that day, he would never forget our anniversary.  Well guess what?  He forgot our first anniversary, until my mother reminded him!  I can promise you he's never done it again though!

Happy birthday to me - again..........

....... The postman came down my path yesterday with a huge box in his hands.  It was addressed to me and was from my bloggy friend Yuki.  I couldn't think what it was.  Well, when I opened it, just look at what was inside:  there was loads of gorgeous batik fabrics, some great patterns, a ruler set that will be really useful for doing triangle-rectangle thingies, some wonderful shower gel (which isn't in the picture cos it's already being used so is in the shower room) and some fun teabags.  Each bag has a funny joke or quote on the tag - things like "well-behaved women rarely make history" .  I love it all.  Thank you so much Yuki.

A mathematical puzzle ...............

........... so, here I am with 15 blocks in front of me.  8 of Block A and 7 of Block B, all with a directional print in the centre.  I want to turn these into 3 rows, 2 as block A, Block B, etc and 1 starting with Block B.  How many errors can I make when it's late and I'm suffering with a cold and a bad throat?  We tried to work it out last night, but when we got to something like 192 to the power of............. my eyes glazed over and my brain stopped working.  Actually I don't think it was working in the first place, which is why I made so many mistakes.

Have you seen..........

............ this fabric?

My friend Bilbo, a quilter with the biggest stash in the world, is in desperate need of a yard or two of this. 

You can read more about her desperate plea on her blog here.  She's searched Quiltshops.com, most of the big stores and even googled, all to no avail, so now she's appealing to her quilting buddies.  Obviously, she's happy to pay the current price for it, so if anyone has some lurking around their sewing area that they don't want, please would you consider liberating it and sending it to here?

Since I feel a bit responsible, cos it was a comment from me that had her dig out some unfinished blocks that use this fabric, I thought I'd better send out an SOS too.

An important announcement..........

Ms Polkadotsandrickrack and I have decided to proclaim this week as a "no housework" week, where we are all free to just have fun with our quilty friends.  Good idea don't you think?

Since it's February ......

......... and it's Mr Fixit and my wedding anniversary this month, I decided it was time to change my snowy header and background.  Hope you like the new one.

Hello, I am still here.......

......... life's been a bit hectic though, which is why I haven't been sitting here chatting to you all much lately.  Bearing in mind that this blog is called "Quilt Times", I thought it was about time I showed you something quilt related.  So, without further ado, may I present...

I made the stack'n'whack kaleidescope blocks at a workshop in about 2005, but I didn't want to make them into a quilt, so..... this tote is the result.  The pocket made from 4 blocks is just the right size to take a 12 1/2" square ruler, and the long pocket on the other side takes a standard 6" x 24" ruler.  The other 3 outside pockets take whatever I want them to take.With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had made the bag the other way round, so that it is not so deep, but there we go, nobody's perfect! (Specially not me!)

You never know, tomorrow I might show you what I've been working on recently.......

They're back.....

......... so, I log on this morning and what do I see?  My Followers have come back.  Obviously this is due to my technical skills in deciding NOT to change anything.!!

So I say, welcome back Followers.

What's going on? ..........

I prefer to use Mozarella rather than IE, but suddenly funny things are happening to my blog when I go in through Mozarella.  For several weeks the link I had on my sidebar to Quilting Gallery disappeared.  Then yesterday, all my followers have disappeared too.  When I visit myself through IE, everything is there. 

So I ask again "what's going on?"  Any ideas anyone?

She's not colour blind at least...........

............. "Who's not?"  I hear you ask.

Bertha, that's who.

I've been busily, with Bertha's help, quilting a top made from 3 fabrics, a dark green batik, a light green batik and a neutral non-batik fabric, all backed with a plain calico.  Well, Bertha is quite happy on the light green, and on the neutral, but as soon as she gets to the dark green, she misbehaves and skips stitches, breaks thread and so on. 

So I reckon she doesn't like dark green.

Happy Birthday...............

......... to Me and Chatterbox.

It's our birthday today, Chatterbox is 8 and I am a few years older than that.

I have had some lovely pressies, including subscriptions to 2 quilting magazines, a gift voucher for to buy some books for my iPod, some money, which is burning a hole in my pocket, and this beautiful journal with a quilted cover from my friend Bilbo.  She knows me so well, it is in a lovely mellow yellow fabric, and she has quilted my favourite feathers on it. Note: here is the photo I promised:  
Another note:  Bilbo has sent me much better photos so I've put these in instead.  She did also point out in passing, that I had shown the back.  Well, in my defence I would say that was cos my photo of the front was not very good.  As for opening it up, well, I never thought of that.  Duh!!!!

     

The weather is horribly grey and icy today.  Just the day to curl up with my new quilt magazines this afternoon, and this evening Chatterbox is bringing his family round, and on the way they will be picking up his favourite meal of fish and chips for us all.  I'm looking forward to that.

What WAS I thinking of? .............

.............. so, there I was. 120 blocks made (6" blocks too, what was I thinking of when I started this?).  These blocks had to be turned into 12 rows with 10 blocks in each and the layout of each row was a little different to the others.  I ask again, what was I thinking of when I started this?  I checked each row and pressed as I went cos there were bias edges, and lots of points in these little blocks.  Everything was looking good.  No stretching, lovely pointy points.  Perfect, even if I do say it myself.  Next, turn my 12 separate rows into a quilt top, making sure I was adding the rows in the right order.  Easy, shouldn't take long, should it?  Sew 6 rows together, then sew the other 6 rows together, then sew the 2 halves together, and stop for the day and go and cook dinner, then press it all after dinner.  I felt very smug about how much I'd achieved.  Then I started pressing it.  Why, oh why hadn't I checked as I added each row?  You know my pointy points?  Well, where I'd joined the rows, they weren't pointy any more.  I really should have taken it more slowly.  Could I live with it as it was?  No way.  So start unsewing all my rows.  Next day, sit down to put it all together again.  Checking after each row this time.  All looking good UNTIL..... I came to join the two halves together.  Guess what?  They didn't match to create the overall pattern.  (What was I thinking of when I came up with this design?)  What had I done wrong?  Each half was fine.  It took Mr Fixit and I quite a while to work out that I had sewn the 7th row in the position of the 12th row, so no way was it going to work.  Out with my trusty friend the seam ripper again, then resew this half with that rogue row in the right place.  Sew the two halves together and check very, very, very carefully that everything was OK.  So the moral of this story is check everything, every time, even when you know it's right!

So I ask again, "what was I thinking of?"

Remember this?

well look at her today

It snowed a little bit more last night, just in case we'd forgotten what it looked like!