Happy New Year to everyone,    and belated Christmas wishes too.

I have been very neglectful with my blog,  it is over 3 months since I posted but have been following everyone else in my absence.

Will now try and add some photos of what I have been up to.     Success these photos look ages to add,  having problems as at the moment my lap top is not working with windows,  have been locked out somehow so now it is going very slow,  takes 30 mins to open a folder and the same to get onto google. Have spoken to Microsoft who say it is my problem and will have to pay a technician to sort it,  seems they are passing the book as when I went onto bing and put in what the computer says is the problems there are loads of people with the same problem.  Rant over.

This is my aiming for accuracy 11 quilt,  it was a block a month but I waited till I had them all then started it a week before Christmas and finished it Boxing day,   well to the flimsy stage so it now joins aiming for accuracy 1 on the flimsy pile.  It is one of Michele Foster`s of MiskhasPlayground.com  BOM`s.  I am thrilled with it, the triangles were a pain to do on the border and are not all they should be but I can live with them.

 These are  in another series with Michele,  she is sharing 6 mini quilts,  have now done the first 4 and waiting for the next 2 to be shared with us. They will be 24" square when completed. Thought this would be a good challenge as maybe just maybe I will not have too much of a problem trying to machine quilt it as there will not be a lot of weight to battle with,  I am living in hope anyway. The first 3 I made at the same time then the 4th when it was released. I arranged the first in a different way to the way we were shown and the second one I managed to get 2 pieces around the wrong way but what the heck I call in a personalised quilt. The 3rd and 4th are I think correct.
 

oh dear now I look at this the error is quite noticeable   maybe I will  no it will be too difficult to put right,  I will live with it

This is a BOM by Jacquelynne Steves,  we were able to either embroider, applique or use a fabric in the squares,  of course I opted for the embroidery version. It is the first quilt I have done on point and unfortunately is a little out of shape but hopefully when it finally gets off the flimsy pile the quilting might disguise the shape.  Jacquelynne has now joined up to work with Michele so I can see some amazing quilts being shared by them.  They are bring out some mini quilts soon with embroidery/applique on so will have a go at those too

Loving this next wall hanging  Home and Heart it is from Bird Brain designs and the same people who designed the cat one I did. I decided not to do it all in one colour but used a different perle cotton for each block Have now bought their latest design Stitchin`Wisdom Quilt which  I am looking forward to starting. Sorry the quality of the photo is poor think it is easier to see enlarged like this than smaller. I am hoping the hospice Helen is a nurse at is going to like it and maybe use in a raffle to raise money as they need every penny they can raise to keep the hospice running smoothly

Just a couple of pincushions I made   the owl was so quick to do, thought the little one was a little too little so enlarged the pattern, liking my pyramid one too,  have made quite a few cushions in this shape over the years  mostly embroidered  and bigger but not pin cushions.

These are the Christmas table pieces I made for Xmas 2015,  a table runner that goes down the centre of the table and, 4 place mats and 4 mug rugs. we used it on 24th when my 2 daughters and granddaughter came for the day for their Xmas meal,  Helen the hospice nurse was working on 25th she always volunteers to work on Christmas day as she has no children, so a quiet day I had on 25th and ate left overs and got on with the A4A11 quilt. They are now put away till next year, (the mats not my girls)    have had the Christmas fabric for years so glad to get something done with it at last

This is a small runner I made from some scraps Jennie Rayment gave me,  it fits on my horn cabinet which I have finally got downstairs and my benina Heidi is housed in it. I was so cheeky when the fire brigade came to fit new smoke detectors I asked them if they would bring the cabinet down for me and they agreed to.  Will post a photo of my set up next blog as have not taken one yet. Hopefully I will be less than 3 months next time it will be less than 3months next time. The fabric is rather Christmassy so think I will make another one for the rest of the year or maybe do a spring, summer and autumn one and ring the changes.

These are the last 3 blocks in the hexie BOM and all 12 laid out,  did wonder if I could join them all together and then attach them to some fabric but changed my mind at I am now in the process of sewing them on individual blocks which I will then join together with sashing,   not sure what colour I will use for that,  have 2 more to do then will decide.

This is a bit of fun fabric,  I could not resist when I saw it and bought a panel and have now made a holder for my fountain pens, roller ball pen, biros and propelling pencil. 

Think I have added enough   hope you enjoyed it all if you managed to last till the end of the posting

 I have Alfie Helen`s cat staying for a couple of days so not much stitching will be done as he demands attention!

completed wall hanging,september hexie,cozy afternoon block cut.

I have been absent from blogging for a short while but now back and will try and catch up on your blogs but it takes so long when away from the computer for 2 weeks, please accept my apologies if I do not comment on everything.
I do not have much to share today but have completed the cat wall hanging,   not as in the pattern as I have used cat fabric in the 4 corner blocks rather than making star blocks. I am pleased with it,  have hand quilted cats around the border then machine quilted down and across the sashing and the border but left the embroidered blocks without quilting as the batting only needs quilting every 10".  Apologies for my shoes at the bottom of the photo!  Not sure what I will do with it as it is a bit big  to hang so at the moment it is thrown over the back of the couch.

Here is the hexie block for september    cannot decide what to do with these blocks as they are so big,  they should have been done as 3/4" hexies but I did 1" not so fiddly and I only had 1" papers. The hexies measure approx 16"

This is the 5th block for the cozy afternoon BOM waiting for the next set of instructions but all the embroidered blocks now done.  There was an applique version too and you could also use a patterned fabric for the centre, I choose the embroidery as I have not learnt applique yet,   another want to try on my list one day.

Harrogate quilt show

I enjoyed the quilt show last weekend so now sharing some photos with you

This is the overall winner,  I thought I had written down how many rosettes it won but seem to have mislaid it but there were at last 5

this one really caught my attention

Loving the colours here,  there was quite a bit of discussion re this one,  people either seemed to hate or love the colours    orange always draws my attention

a beautiful pictorial hanging

this one is a bit of fun    we all now how cats love their comfort

completed quilt, turtle screen cleaners and a flimsy

I have three things to share today but first a link,  I am hoping this will take you to see all the winning quilts at the FOQ show,  I know I shared a few with you all but these are the winners.

http://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/page.cfm/EMSLinkClick=14441_4406_4659_1170538_114952_316   hope this works, no doubt someone will let me know if I have done it wrong.

Now my completed quilt,  it is steps to the altar made from 980 2.5" squares.  plenty of cutting! the blocks are 14" square so measures 70" by 84"

I also have made some screen cleaners,  they are backed with fleece and seem to work,   a bit if fun and only take a few minutes to do I got the instructions for a  blogger who had made some.

  At last my little bunny BOM is assembled,  I have added lots of extra blocks so it is now 72" by 60".I dread the thought of trying to layer it up,  my kitchen floor is not big enough   well I do not have a space unless I do it in the sitting room and that is carpet so difficult to tape the backing down,  I have found since I discovered taping the backing it is easier to put the layers together, before that I kept having to redo my pinning as the backing was moving.Working on the floor is so difficult as I have a bit of arthritis on the knee,  also it is hard to get back up!!These quilt blocks were done in 2014 and have been in a box waiting to be made into the flimsy   hurrah   it is done!

I had 3 days at the quilt show in Harrogate,  photos to follow,  it is a much smaller show than the Birmingham one but still managed to spend too much money there,  fabric that I did not need but just felt compelled to buy!  I guess most of you can understand that   a weakness to quilters.

photos from the Festival of Quilts

Finally as promised I am uploading some photos from the Festival of Quilts,  hope you enjoy them

this is a 2 person quilt

There was a display of Alice in Wonderland quilts and this one really caught my eye,   still love the book!!

The next two were made by my friend Cherly

 


Such a peaceful scene, loved this one

This is a bit of fun

certainly plenty of HSTs here

What a show stopper,  a chess board that took 10 years to complete and was made by Mavis Walker

   This appealed as it was so colourful

This is the show winner   made by Janette Chilver    a beautiful quilt.

this is the binding on the winning quilt,   love the little scallop she put on prior to the binding   fascinating have not a clue how it as done

This Stonefields quilt was the visitors choice winner on the satuday,  not sure if it won everyday    what a beauty,  quite a few bloggers I follow are also making this quilt

This won the young quilter 5-8 group   such talent in one so young

This is the 12 - 16 age group winner    a real beauty.

I have also added a bright green 4" border to the cat wall hanging and this morning quilted the steps to heaven,  just the binding to do now  which |I hope to do monday   The quilting is slowly improving, just diagonal and straight lines following the squares.  Pictures will follow in the next blog

quilted shopper, cat wall hanging.cozy afternoon

I have a few things to share today, seem to be rather lazy in writing my blog but not in keeping up with the ones I follow.

I made this shopper to take to the quilt show as it is very roomy!  I used some of a jelly roll I got as a gift from Popular patchwork magazine,  not my fabric choice but it works well on the bag.

  

All 8 cat blocks are now done, corner blocks added and the sashing done,  now to decide on the 4" borders,  was thinking a darker orange but now not so sure,  will take it to my local shop today and pick there brains and see what they suggest. Back from the shop and have a bright green for the 4" border,  trust it works okay  maybe will get it done today though I need to get out and find backing for 4 flimsies,  need sheeting really so far not tracked any down as I do not want to piece the backing   far too complicated 

I have also done 4 cozy afternoon blocks so now caught up with the BOM,  quite   well no very pleased with how these have worked,  the last one was difficult to do but oh so worth it.  There is one more block to do which should be out next week




I even managed to make a paper foundation block,  used rubbish fabric as did not know what I was doing,  took me ages and still not really understanding how to do it but    well I have done a block,   pat on the back for me.






This blog was started 2 days ago but could not upload photos till today   lap top seems to be playing up since the windows 10 upgrade.

Will post the quilt show photos tomorrow if lap top allows.

august hexagon

I am home from my visit to Birmingham and the Festival of Quilts show.   So many quilts to see and admire   will be sharing some photos on my next blog,  need to sort through them all first.

Not much stitching done,   the august hexie I finished this morning

I signed up for the twinkle quilt along with zany quilter and made a trial block to see if I would manage them okay   What appealed to me is the sashing is done as you go adding 2 pieces to each block and like the flying geese that are different to any goose I have come across before..  I think I will do it in assorted fabrics rather doing all the blocks the same,  there are 5 different sizes to choose from so will see how I go on.  This one will not be used in my quilt   just a scrap one, I would never put these fabrics together normally.

I had a bit of a shock when I realised I had 10 projects on the go and far too many on the to do list and now this one is added along with the midnight mystery quilt and also the mystery quiltalong which is little houses that are not foundation paper pieced    so glad as I cannot get my head around paper piecing.   I must not forget I gave in and bought Lori Holt`s farm girl vintage quilt book as I have seen so many blocks on the internet and so wanted to have a go myself,   this is on hold for now though