Sunday 27 July 2014

7 flimsies

I really must stop making quilts until these flimsies are complete!!!    I have ordered a roll of eco friendly wadding/batting which should arrive tomorrow or tuesday then there is no real excuse apart form having the confidence to quilt them.

This is the aiming for accuracy quilt from craftsy 2013,  I bought the pattern after I saw it on another blog (Red Delicious Life) so did not do it as a BOM but done this year.  I really like this one, something about assorted sized blocks really appeals to me.




This is the quag done on the create and craft channel with the one and only Jennie Rayment.  I have cheated here and done a courthouse steps block instead of the celtic one as that was beyond me.  I should be made into a quilt that folds into a bag if I can work out how to do it, otherwise it will just be a quilt.


sorry put this on first and do not sure how to remove it, this is the kitchen floor prior to joining the block together


This is my wrist watch quilt,   pattern from the Sassy quilter on the  bear creek studio site.  Thinking hand quilted butterflies would look quite good in the large grey rectangles as they definitely need something and I know I could not machine quilt them,   will consider  bit longer, it is for Helen who I am doing the crazy wall hanging for too,   also pink and grey.


here is the spring sampler quilt from Cora`s quilts done over a few weeks,   to be honest I am not in love with this,  even bought bump instead of wadding as it is so much cheaper, a mistake I feel as it has made it so very heavy,  the girl I bought it from says she uses it in all her quilts but she ties hers instead of quilting,  maybe I could do that but feel the border is shouting out for a pattern of some sort and I am not a fan of tying quilts,  not sure I will be able to quilt it but feel it should be finished,   will be the last on the list to do.



Tula Pink blocks,  here I have used 49 to make into a quilt for my older daughter Catherine.  We spent a while crawling over the carpet till she found the way she liked the blocks and yesterday I was at the machine at 8am and had it done by 10,  not bad going for me.


This is the last of the Tula blocks,  another 24 block quilt to go over the back of my second couch,  the first one is already on a couch completed.  When I look at all these blocks I feel I should pat myself on my back as these are one of the first quilting challenges I did,   fingers crossed the quilting goes well too.


On the 19th we had our Yorkshire modern quilters group meeting and were shown how to do a vomit quilt, Liz one of our members shared the pattern and instructions with us and she had her completed by the end of the evening   ( think it is a Katy Jones pattern   I`m a ginger monkey girl)    7 blocks with 49 2.5" squares in each. I had the squares already cut and finished making it on monday.  there are 2 different blocks,    if they were all just random squares it would have been a bit of a muddle,  I like this effect and maybe in years to come when I have sufficient squares will make a bed sized one   or maybe not.



Hope you have enjoyed my flimsies but don`t hold your breath till they appear again completed.


Wednesday 23 July 2014

crazy quilting

Today I would like to share first of all a photo of my beautiful granddaughter Sal     here she is about to go to here prom.



It seems strange that she has reached the age of 16, does not seem long ago that we welcomed her into the extended family,  my only grandchild.

Today is her Mum`s birthday,  even more amazing that it is 42 years since Catherine was born.

We now wait to see how well Sal has done in her GCSE`s and what she will do next,  a few ideas floating around from doing A levels to health and beauty,  the police force was considered but this seems unlikely due to her ankle that was so badly broken 2 years ago,  she is still unable to play contact sport and is not a lover of exercise anyway, the police force needs you to be pretty agile!

I am a very proud grandmother.

Now for my CQJP piece for july



I am also sharing the little bunny quilts BOM which this month is a Martha Washington star


I am enjoying this BOM, I expect it has something to do with having my background fabric green which is my favourite colour and I got a massive piece of this fabric,  think it was £5, the man was clearing out his warehouse,  when I washed the fabric and checked there was over 8 metres in the piece so a fantastic buy   100% cotton too.

We are enjoying a lovely hot spell here in Leeds,   schools have now broken up so no doubt the weather will change now the children are home for 6 weeks.   I thought I would share a few photos of the plants in my garden which when I moved in was just privet hedges, grass and weeds.

this is a close up of a rose bush I bought in memory of my dear Mum.   It has been in the garden for nearly 7 years and has the loveliest  flowers plus a nice scent.



here is my magnolia, another rose bush, the tree trunk is a gum tree which I need to cut down as if it were to fall in the wind it would land on my next door neighbour`s greenhouse.  I will crop it then keep in pruned as a bush, hopefully that  will work. Like to have a gum tree as my Dad was born and brought up in Australia.Memory has deserted me for the moment  re the other bush oh yes   memory back I think it is a fatsia japonica.
 

This is the top of the back garden,  the fence was put up last year as there were privets that were tree size that I could not maintain. The oak tree will take years to establish, must have been in 5 years now also there is a holly, broom, white lilac. pieris, large rose bush and other bits and pieces, to the left I have planted a silver birch and to the left is a  mountain ash (I think) that has got berries on for the first time this year. I also have 2 apple trees, one cherry, 2 pear and 1 plum,  apples are doing well, no pears and 5 plums,  all the cherries the birds have eaten.  Various other shrubs etc down the sides of the garden,  will share some more photos another day



this is the rose bush that the earlier photo is of. Also a hydrangea which the rose is tending to take over, will prune the rose right back when it is time to prune,  and a mahonia





                                                           What a beauty this hydrangea is


think that is enough for today  I will be sharing the 6   yes 6 flimsies I now have waiting to be quilted in my next blog


Monday 14 July 2014

stitching catch up

I had not realised it was so long since I had blogged till I had an email asking if I was okay,  thanks Mary for your concern.
Well time has flown and not only have I the july hexie to add but the june one is also being uploaded.


the june item is a flower


                                                                    july is an icecream,   why not have a mixture,  here we have chocolate, tangerine, strawberry and raspberry      delicious   or should I say naughty but nice!

I have not been happy with the binding on the 2013 crazy wallhanging for some time now so removed it and decided to do a scrappy one,  partly so I could put it into a quilt show,   the best plans go wrong but here is the photo



I have not got this done very well and it cannot go to the show as it is too small!    never mind one day I will enter something.It is by no means straight,   do not know where I went wrong but do not plan to try and put it right,  it will just go in a drawer for now.

The batik wheels cushion was in the tour de france show after all,  the rumour about white was incorrect.

Well that is all for now,  I will do a further blog in a few days with the other bits and pieces on