Manchester quilting bee

I am sure most of you will have heard about the bombing that took place in Manchester at an Ariana Grande concert on may 22 this year.  Such a tragedy 22 lives being lost and a lot more both children and adults badly injured.
The Manchester Sewing Bee decided to make quilts for the families of those who lost their lives and people were asked to make 5" hexagons and attach them to 6.5" squares.  I made 16 and masses of people contributed and then on 15 th July  Rachel came with another lady and brought quilt tops, blocks etc to be completed at out Leeds MQG meeting.  The first quilt was finished by Liz who sandwiched the flimsy that had been made by a group in Chorlton, quilted it added the binding then passed it over to 2 of us who sat either side of a table and hand stitched the binding down.

First quilt

Good to see the first completed quilt.  There were individual squares, hexagons needing to be added to squares,   rows joined together and flimsies to be completed.  Rachel had been given lots of backing fabrics, wadding etc and people had sent in bindings.  Some of us took the flimsies home to complete and I did one just a wavy line through the seams as my quilting is not too good then bound it and had it completed in a day. There is an instagram page for Manchester quilting bee if you want to see more of what is happening,  think a facebook one too but I am not on facebook

my completed quilt

I am not sure when the quilts will be collected   our next meeting is 19 august  maybe there will be more to do then.

Now back to making more for the epilepsy charity fund raiser which happens at the end of august.

I am also off to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham on 11 august  have a ticket to hear Victoria Findlay Wolfe giving a talk and so looking forward to seeing her quilts and new book.  3 days I have at the show but have to get a bus 5.30am to catch my coach at 6.30 so a very early start.

3 quilts completed charity makes made.

June was a productive month for me,    have been busy making quilts and also blocks and charity makes.

A friend of Helen`s lost her 15 year old daughter  last august   so tragic she had a epileptic fit.  The Mum is having a fund raiser on her anniversary for the epilepsy charity, and Helen volunteered Catherine my other daughter and me to make some things for it!!  Catherine does glass painting and makes beautiful cards   no stitching but other techniques. I am also pleased to support this charity as my ex husband suffered from uncontrolled epilepsy from the age of 29 till his death aged 76 and I would never know when he was going to have a fit,   he often had them whilst waiting to board a plane after a holiday,  we were sure air conditioning effected him so any money raised will go to researching this illness

I have made 8 bags with embroidered cats on them

2 aprons, 3 key fobs, 5 fabric trays,1 fabric box, 2 nine patch little bags  and 2 tablet holders.

 Hope too make a few more things before august to add to these,  maybe some embroidered cards and have done a scrap HST quilt from 5.5" squares which they might like too.  Only completed this yesterday so should really not be in the june makes blog.I had  a disaster with a glass of sherry which I managed to spill on it when it was waiting to have the binding hand stitched, should not have had it on the kitchen table, fortunately it washed out okay. This one I machine quilted with a walking foot and wonky lines

I have also made 15 blocks for the Manchester quilting bee that are making quilts following the bombing at the concert last month,   the bee are coming up to our Leeds MQG on 17th and we are all going to help making the blocks into quilts.  The hexies have been attaches to 6.5" squares.

I sorted my scraps during the month and decided to make some fabric baskets for them  one for each colour,  I used car headliner     the same as bosal but cheaper and not iron on and it worked very well,

3 more quilts   a baby quilt for Debbie a friend of Helen`s   baby not born yet but Helen says she loves the quilt/play mat.  Hand quilted with a wavy pattern on the sashing and circles on the blocks.

This is the back of the quilt   liking this fabic  

now this one was done with Jennie Rayment on the create and craft channel   my first attempt at medallion quilt   I hand quilted this with purple perle  thread   I enjoy hand quilting but could not do it with hand quilting cotton and very small stitches.

Next is a crazy stack and whack quilt    fun to do  but struggled with arranging the blocks,   hand quilted.

I also made 10 assorted blocks   the winter slostice BOM was completed and I decided the blocks that were bigger than 12" I would not use in the quilt so made the substitute blocks instead.  Sorry can`t find the photo for these.
Last but not least a stitching apron for me to wear when stitching. It has pockets on the front,  I made the same as the charity ones but this was the first I made   might take the waistband and straps off and make them narrower as I have done in the other 2.  It is reversible but no pocket on the other side.

I know I have been neglectful writing a blog but did not realise it is nearly 2 months!

In may I celebrated my 70th birthday so here is a photo of the cake Helen had made for me,  not only did it look wonderful but the sponge was coffee flavour   my favourite.  One of her friends made it and she is not a professional just does it as a hobby.

a selection of things I made till the end of may

tablecloth for tv table made from fabric that was donated   some had been made into blocks so added to them with the left over fabric   (hand quilted|)

large sideboard runner using the donated fabrics and also hand quilted.

lap top bag for Sal

bag for FOQ show but think it is to big

handbag that Catherine has laid claim to

stack and whack bag   enjoy this technique though could have got the blocks put together in a better design  will use this for the quilt show.  I used car headliner for the padding   it is so much cheaper than bosal and though not iron on works perfectly well   a great buy,  will be making more bags and baskets.

fabric basket

make up bag for Sal   she chose the fabrics for it   very fussy she is!

I also made 150 scrap blocks using lots of tiny bits and pieces, a stack and slash quilt that I am now hand quilting and 2 more that have been quilted this month by hand   will share another day

I am enjoying smaller projects at the moment and as I have run out of wadding cannot do any more quilts though I have 3 or 4 waiting to be sandwiched up form ages ago.  Will hope to get another roll in a couple of months but had to buy a new washing machine a couple of weeks ago,   the previous on lasted thirteen and a half years   fingers crossed the new one will too even if I don`t.

craft bags tablet pouch

I have been busy making some craft bags,    I made the original one a few years ago, the instructions were shared at the YMQG but I did not have the correct foam stiffener on the original.

Helen has chosen the pink cat one   I am not getting the lining right   it seems too big for the bag though have done it as the instructions said.  Helen plans to use it for hairbrush, straighteners etc as she does not sew or do any crafts

The next one is or Catherine who does glass painting and various other paper type crafts   she makes the most beautiful cards    has great imagination  and also does encaustic art.  Have not given this to her yet but she does not read my blog so can share the photo.  The lining is still too big!

This one I have done for myself,  love the fabric used and went back to Hobbycraft  and managed to fins some more    reduced to £6.50 so bought some for my stash. I made this lining a bit smaller    yes you are right it is now too small but there is seam allowance I can let out but will live with it as it is for now.

Will make one for Sal if she wants one once she has seen her Mum`s     she will probably want a black one  how boring that will be,  plan to make her a black and white quilt with touches of red for her 21st in 2019 as she also likes red.

I have now sourced and received a roll of car headliner   which is more or less the same as bosal but is not iron on.   A great deal cheaper too though had to purchase 5 metres which is 60" wide     will have to make plenty to use all that up!  The roll cost £24.99

The winter solstice BOM is coming along well 18 blocks done now.  Not sure how this is going to work out as the blocks vary in size,  bit of a mishmash as once again using odd bits instead of breaking into my fabric stash. Did use the turquoise from the stash for the big block I really must start using up some of the metre and half metre fabrics I have   I dare not tell you how much I have got!

At the LMQG on 15th Alex shared a lesson on FPPing,  I did manage to make one economy block and will try and do some more but it really does confuse me.  Have taken a photo but can`t find it.

Looking through things made in the past I came across a pouch which it is exactly right for my tablet,  think it was made around 2000 when the Maderia show was still going and the embroidery group I was in were asked to exhibit at the show,  it was a great time we had, 5 of us in the group produced a large variety of makes.

That`s all for now.

medallion and women of the Bible flimsies

After sharing the WOB blocks last blog I had a change of mind and have made one quilt using 20 of the 12" blocks   all  the other blocks are on hold for now.  Not sure when this will get quilted   have the wadding and backing but not made the sandwich yet,   it is sitting with the others waiting to be done.I will bind it with the lilac that has been used in all the blocks and the corner stones

I have also made a small medallion quilt with the help of Jennie Rayment and create and craft tv channel. This was done over 2 programmes but I have not used all the instructions,  the medallion in the middle is Jennie`s design but have added plain borders, another round of Jennie`s and a round of my own. It measures 50" square.  I plan to bind it with the spot fabric used in one of the borders. A few photos went from me to Jennie for help and advice which was a good help.

A quick make yesterday was this fabric basket,  had watched Stuart Hillard make one and as I had some bosal had a go myself.  Next time I will use interfacing on the lining as it is very floppy.

A few more blocks made for the winter solstice , bee blessed, the children`s library all BOMs and 2 more red work blocks done on my Stitchin` wisdom quilt

sampler HST flimsy quilt, Sofie , Alfie

On 26 february we very sadly had to have Sofie put to sleep as she was in heart failure and struggling to breathe.  Sofie was Catherine`s cat and Mum of Alfie who we lost on 26 november last year. Sofie was about 19 and Sal my granddaughter has not known life without her,  she is so upset and sat up all night on 25th with Sofie so she was not alone.  What a lovely cat she was and she brought so much joy into our lives, she is now with Alfie in cat heaven.  Helen and I plan to have a needle felted cat made from her photos,  Helen had one of Alfie done too.

This is Alfie   the needle felting looks much better than this in real life,  for some reason the photo shows in very much a funny shape, note the winking eye,  he used to wink at the camera a lot! The lady who made him is so busy now since Helen shared the photo on facebook and does all sorts of pets for people.

I have been quite busy this month,  finally got my 24 HST blocks which I did with Blossomhearts blog in 2016 put together into a flimsy.  I enjoyed this challenge as we used the 2, 4 and 8 way methods of making HSTs.  I did not like the 4 method but loved the 8 one and now if I have 6 or more HSTs in a block I use this way and just add the extras to my stash!   Not quilted yet as I do not have anything suitable for a backing,  it measures 86" x 56" so will hopefully be able to pick up a king size duvet cover on my travels for it and the other half will be used for another quilt.  Pondering about what I will use for binding,  yellow and orange have been suggested but will wait till quilted before I make my mind up

I also used a hexie piece to make into a pouch for my pintangle tast stitches   must get some more done. I do these with Sharon from pintangle who is about to bring out a crazy quilting book,  I have it on pre order from amazon.

At last I made the effort and got my Women of the Bible instructions out,  decided I did not want to do the blocks all 10" or 15" in size and altered them to 9" 12" and 15". I found the instructions very difficult and as most went together better as these sizes was able to work them out though some I could not work out so they were left out.  Some have been duplicated in the different sizes and I now have 25  12" blocks which I am pleased with and want a square quilt. I plan to add sashing and corner stones but have no idea what colour to do but as lilac is used in all the blocks to link them together I think maybe I will use purple and do the corner stones in the lilac.  It has not show up well looks more like pale blue  n the photos.

There are 12  9" blocks   not sure what these will be  maybe just go in the blocks box.

 now for the 15" only 6 of these but maybe will make some more if I have any lilac left

I have also made 3 more winter solstice blocks and have one more downloaded,  one Childrens library block, 1 crazy red block, 3 bee blessed blocks 2 I will send to bee blessed and keep one for myself and 2 red work blocks.
Now I am taking time to sort out my narrow scraps as I want to do some string blocks,  only got the purple, black and grey done yesterday so think it will take a few days to get them sorted.,
So far this year has been pretty productive hopefully it will continue.

4 more completed quilts

Another 4 to tick off the UFO list.

Maggies dance was a BOM with Jaquelynne Steves  I enjoyed this as it has a bit of embroidery on. Sorry not a good photo and that is with my new camera . I drapped it over the couch as it is too wet and cold to photo outside and it is so overcast and dull hope we will get some sunshine soon.. This one I hand quilted

The next one started out as a BOM with Little Bunny quilts in 2014 but I added more blocks and got a bit carried away.  Now when I look at it I think it would have been much better with sashing and maybe 2 quilts instead of 1.  Catherine I am sure will want this one as like me green is her favourite colour.  I am hoping the quilting shows up better when I publish this blog

This is a close up of a very small section, I used a hera marker to get the lines 

These last 2 quilts I have done all on my own without BOMs. books, patterns etc.

Now for my rabbit lap quilt,  I love this one. Three different kinds of quilting on this random free machine quilting then diagonal lines and wavy lines with the walking foot,  the rabbit and other panels have not been quilted except on the borders,  maybe they need some quilting   advice welcome  

The final one I completed today is my disappearing nine patch with pinwheels  the blocks were made in 2015 I have not quilted the pinwheel blocks and have randomly quilted the other squares free machine  then used the walking foot with a wavy stitch to do the smaller squares and rectangles,    I felt I was finally getting somewhere with my quilting with this one,   the stitches are more or less the same size!

Not bad 9 completed this year   I have 4 more waiting to be done  2 in the aiming for accuracy BOMs one from 2014 and the other 2015  , my hexie BOM from 2015 and my secret garden BOM with Pat Sloan done last year.  I have today removed the border I had put on it and liking it much more now but need a backing for it.  The other 3 have their wadding and backings sorted but plan to put them on the back burner for now.

Feel a bit flat now after all this quilting    going to have a look at other projects I have on the to do list and also have about 50 blocks made plus 140 economy blocks but not a clue about how to arrange them so maybe time for  a new project.

All the quilts were done on my bernina 1230   how I wish I had a machine with a bigger throat/neck or whatever it is called.  I had my glaucoma check up today and the specialist always asks me about my stitching  she has asister in law that is a quilter  she said I should treat myself trouble is the savings I have will jst about cover my funeral so need to save some more before I can think about a machine

urban neighbourhood quilt

Another quilt completed,   this is the first urban one I made but in my rush did not read the making up instructions properly,  the blocks should have been attached turning them alternately sideways    I think I prefer it this way.  The second one I made is done correctly a photo on my previous blog but will attach it here too so you can see the difference. Quilting is random and had to be close as I used a wadding that had to be quilted no wider than 4" apart,  the wadding I usually use is 10!"   suits me much better.

This year I have also decided to do the rainbow challenge,   this month the colour is purple,  I also am doing the crazy block a month so decided I would link them together,  the block is made but not done any cazy work on it yet.

I have been trying to organise my lap top pictures, gathering into one file all the projects I completed last year,  not sure if I have them all but here is a collage of what I did find.  There are only a few large quilts and unfortunately the biggest one has come out as one of the smallest on the collage!

3 finished quilts

Great news re Richard,   he had a defibulator fitted on fri.day had to go to another hspital for that where he stayed overnight before being transferrd back to Harrogate and may also have a stent fitted as he has a blocked artery at the back of his heart, they are not sure about that  though. He might be going home later this week.  He has a small amount of brain damage which hopefully will improve and cannot remember anything in the 2 weeks prior to the heart attack which is 9 weeks tomorrow. Is now eating proper food and able to walk slowly with 2 sticks so really does not need to be in hospital anymore as he has a wife to care for him at home,  the recovery when it came came so quickly and he is far better than the Doctors said he would be  they talked of him having to go into a home permanently   how wrong they were fortunately.

Sucess I have completed three quilts in the last few days,   one I made from scratch which I thought might be a comfort for Richard when he leaves hosiptal but having shown him a photo he said  "what would I do with that   well maybe Gill would like it"  so I said it was okay he did not need to have it,   I am certainly not giving it to his wife so it will stay with me for now.  I used up some largish scraps and made the churn dash blocks 15" so only needed 16 instead of 25 12" ones then made the border using left over scraps  and used blue as the main colour to tie it all together seeing as it was being made for a boy,  not a blue person really but as it was meant to be for a man. Not a very good picture but the best I could get.

this photo rather dark overall it measures 68" square

Loving the backing  it is a duvet cover from Asda  100% cotton in the sale for £8,  the back is a grey version that will be used as a backing for another quilt. Went back to get some more but they had all gone, cannot complain as I also got 2 super king sized ones again 100% cotton  in a pink paisley for £5 each and a couple of others but they were poly cotton.

This next quilt I think is my favourite of all those I have made so far probably it is because of the colors used. It is called Berry Cross and I am thrilled with it.

Part of the  blocks I quilted with a walking foot and used a hera marker then I did squiggly things in the yellow squares free style. Very free style no 2 blocks are the same.

My final completed quilt is the Urban neighbourhood one,  have done 2 of these this is the second one  the other still on the to do pile.  Helen called when I was handsewing the binding yesterday and said she liked it so it now has a home to go to,  she does not often say anything about what I am doing as she has no interest really so was delighted that she liked it. Placement was not to good here just randomly pulled the cut pieces out of a bag the pink that looks white on the photo though is not so stand out as it looks  here fortunately. Again it has been free motion quilted in the most random way,  I did get better at it but at the start the stitches are too long,  considering redoing some of it but think it can stay the way it is. I used a jelly roll for this and added the black.

I now have 4 more sandwiched waiting to be quilted and three with wadding and backings cut but they can wait aas they are very big and one that I think I am going to remove the border from as I do not like it. Plan to quilt the 4 before I start anything else!!  hopefully.

A couple of photos of Charlie and Teddy Helen`s new cats,  made a mistake last blog and both photos were of Teddy but don`t tell Charlie!
They seem to like the quilt I made for Helen a couple of years ago hiding under it and just having a peep out.

   This is Charlie

We laugh when we see this as it looks like Charlie has a monkey on his back!

here are the pair of them both wanting to be on Helen`s knee. Teddy has on white and one black ear and Charlie has a tiny heart shaped  black mark under his mouth.