craziness

Well it is finished    nearly,  I have just to attach the bit on the back for hanging it but needed to ask a friend how to do that so  I  will attach it later today, will then have to buy the dowling to hang it.
It has been fun doing this challenge and have signed up to do it next year too,. Helen wants one done in various pink fabrics with stitching in pinks and greys,  tried to dye some thread the other day but it did not work so will have to try and try again till I get it right. I use silk paint and just trickle it on but when I put the grey on and them wanted to have pink in the same piece it turned it all a purple shade.

I quite like the dark green binding,  was going to use an orange spotted one but had a change of heart.

The colours are not looking true on this photo, they are a bit louder than they look,   think is is probably better on the photo than in  real life. Not sure if I will hang it anywhere, will need to take something down and as it is my first finished patchwork it might look a bit odd in the living room with all the hardanger pictures I have done,    maybe I will make some of the pictures into cushions as they are about the right size but I am already overwhelmed with cushions,   will give it all some thought .

We had our Christmas meal yesterday due to Helen`s shift work, it went well, Helen went and collected Catherine and Sal, having dropped off  Alfie the cat  (who enjoyed more than his fair share of turkey) on her way over so he could share the day with us. I had bought a turkey crown which they seemed to enjoy,  lots of hard work but over for another year. I always make a pineapple cream pudding which Mum always made and have a little to enjoy today but to be honest I still feel rather full!    The girls departed at 6pm and it was not long before I was tucked up in bed .

Maybe one of the girls will offer to do the meal next year,   I can live in hope! Well  lets face it they are old enough,  41 and 37 and Sal is 15

block catch up

I seem to have not posted my Tula pink  blocks for 3 weeks so here is a collage of blocks 82 to 90,   thought it would be too much for you all to have them on individually!

Yesterday I was such a proud Mum,  Helen my younger daughter had her graduation for her Palliative care diploma.  It was held at Leeds University and brought back memories of when she graduated 8 years ago as a nurse.  Now she is about to start nursing in Wheatfields a Sue Ryder hospice in Leeds which has been her goal in life for a few years now.    I did take photos of her in her gown but she is not happy with them so I will not share them here, I think they are very good but she has said no.

Christmas will be soon here but we are not having our Christmas lunch till 28th as Helen is working 12 hour shifts over the holiday time.  Catherine and Sal will come over from Halifax for the day on 28th  weather permitting of course.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and all the best for 2014,    keep on blogging.

little mats for Helen

A couple of days ago I finished some little mats for Helen   (pink of course)   These I started a while ago, it was going to be a table runner but then we had a change of heart so now she has one square mat,   2 funny shaped and 4 mug sized ones.   How I dread cutting them around the buttonhole stitch but amazingly I did not cut in to any of my stitches.   Like most of the hardanger I do I just stitch with no pattern and let the needle go where it wants to.

Not sure what she is going to do with these, whether they end up in a drawer or are out on the sideboard, maybe they will appear when she knows I am calling round!  They compliment the large picture I did for her for her previous house,  that was done as a request to go over the bed, needless to say it never got hung but she is planning to put it in her lounge as she has decorated it, 3 walls grey and a feature wall of pink  flowers on a white background, it really looks lovely.   This is her first proper house as she calls it, until now she has lived in shared accomodation since she went away to uni when she was 23, she is now 37 and has bought this house.

I have also done some flowers on a piece of hardanger for my friend Carol who lives in Manchester, she was struggling with a mat she was doing so I have done the bits she could not see to do.   Must admit I find this technique so relaxing, especially after doing so much patchwork.Posted it back to her yesterday so she will get it either today or monday.

The batik blocks quilt is now tacked together with the wadding and backing and on the spare bed until I decide what to do next and also pluck up courage to do it.


Will add the latest tula blocks in the next few days.

ready for quilting

After a lot of deliberation and pondering I have joined up 24 blocks for my first proper quilt piece.     Having cut the blocks with an 8.5" square I realised I had cut 10 on one twist and 5 on the other so back to the 100 blocks and I pulled another 9 out to play with. They all have a bit or similar to batik in each block.These I cut so that I had 12 of each twist and then on friday I spent most of the day arranging them in patterns to see what I liked best. Having to climb up on a dining room chair to photo each one was  bit of a hazard.  After each arrangement I took another photo  and downloaded it to the computer,   17 attempts later I decided on the way I wanted them to be so here is a photo of them all put together,  that took less than 2 hours!

of course when I look at it now I see things that maybe should be in a different place but tough I am not unpicking and will put it down to a learning process.   Having discussed the quilting   I have never machine quilted before with my friend Cheryl,  (thanks Cheryl)  she has advised me to quilt in black on the slashings and then more ponderings as to what to do elsewhere,   feel at the moment that nothing will be done as a bit  dubious about starting. it  measures 32" by 48"   will fit over my knees and keep me warm and cosy