Another week !

Thank you all so much for the good wishes for my birthday - another year older, another year wiser....Or just actually older - lol !! I had a nice day and with my birthday money I started saving for my old age - ha !! No I bought some fabric. That warehouse I go to really is having some good stuff in lately and so cheap. I can't keep away...

My Lady of the Lake blocks are nearly all set together - I will resist the temptation to show you yet. I am so pleased with it so far. Thanks to Vicki who suggested the dark red for the setting triangles. I don't think I would have thought of that but you know what - she was spot on. After trying loads of different colours and variations I came to the concusion that red it was. I had just about enough to cut them all out with just a tiny scrap to spare. Don't you just love it when that happens ?

I had a busy week last week as I wanted to finish all the work I had in for various customers as the kids are off school this week and I like to get it all out of the way if I can. So this week will be a bit more relaxed. Actually don't think I will see much of Jess as she is in LURVE !! She is 17 and I don't think I'm being too biased by saying she is a pretty girl. From about age 14 she has had different boys asking her out but she has never bothered with any of them. But when she started college a few weeks ago a certain young mans name kept getting mentioned and bingo..... The pair of them are absolutely smitten - sweet !!! He seems to be here quite a lot and because he doesn't live in our town good old mum keeps getting roped into driving him home. He is a nice lad though and I don't mind - both I and Jason approve of him !!

Also I have been doing a little knitting. As the weather has been getting colder I have realised that I do not have any nice scarves to keep my neck warm. The prices in the shops are absolutely ridiculous - I'd want a pair of shoes for the money they're charging - lol ! So I've bought some wool and finished one last night. Nice and easy and best of all - cosy. I've already started on another and I may even make some for pressies. My mum especially has a thing for scarves.

Mum has just asked me to make a little baby quilt for my aunties step-daughters baby who has been born this weekend prematurely. I don't know the parents but apparently they have had a bad time trying for a baby - they had one still-born last year. So sad !! Anyway this little one is 11 weeks early and weighs 3lbs and I think is doing well... You see the fishy fabric in the above photo - I may use some of that. My mum said just something simple would do so I will get that done this week with a bit of luck.

Got to go and start making our evening meal now - what a nuisance - lol !!

It's my birthday and I'll.....

... start a new quilt if I want to. ( sing the tune of It's my party and I'll cry if I want to ) LOL !!

OK I haven't physically started this quilt but the fabrics and pattern have been chosen and I will get going this evening. Yes today is my birthday but we won't be going out tonight. We had a nice family meal out yesterday instead. If you've been reading my blog for a while you may remember these blocks

Well they're all joined up and I'm nearly done with the final border now so have been looking for my next hand work project. I spend a lot of time at the sewing machine - both with my quilts and my work ( curtains and such like ) so I do like to sit in the evenings and do some hand sewing.

Gail has been trying to tempt me into making a grandmothers flower garden quilt with some of my leftover 30's prints. I have ordered a template set but am going to have a break from English paper piecing for a while so I have something else in mind. I will show you a picture when I have done a couple of blocks.

Patrick asked me would I like a home made card or a bought one and of course I said home made. Here's what he came up with - click for a better look.

He is such a sweetie - shame they have to grow up and get all hormonal and teenagerish - lol !

Here he is with my DH Jason watching England in the Rugby world cup final on Saturday night. Technically speaking we are Welsh not English although we are all British. There is quite a bit of rivalry between the 4 countries that make up the British Isles but it's usually good natured. Of course we cheered on the English team on Saturday to no avail... I picked up the funny hats whilst out clothes shopping for Patrick. The bells on the points were lovely and jingly and drove my poor kitties mad - they all went to bed in disgust - lol !

A quick word for Bren - I think your prayers worked for us yesterday. I took Jason for a driving lesson and he did brilliantly until a young girl - who we suspect was talking on a mobile phone decided to take a right turn at a crossroads without looking - as we were crossing the junction straight on. Don't know what she was thinking but if Jason hadn't reacted as he did and put on the brakes she would have hit us well and truly. She mouthed " sorry" and drove off leaving Jason and I shocked and a bit shakey. It's the closest I've been to being involved in a crash in nearly 20 years of driving and it was only poor Jason's second time out in his car although he's had a few lessons from the official instructor. So glad he managed to brake in time. The ink's hardly dry on the insurance papers as we've only had the car a week.

One last thing - this is turning into a long post. I had a question about the instructions for the bucket bag. I can't reply personally as it was a no-reply but the lady wanted me to post the rest on the instructions. Well they are all on here - there are 4 posts in all I think following on from each other. Not sure of exact dates. Hope you find them ok.

Time to go - I may just make myself a birthday cake :-)

Phew !!

OK - just a quick post. Patrick and I are going shopping straight after I pick him up from school to buy him some much needed trousers. He is very into rollerblading at the moment and has managed to put holes in most of the knees of all his trousers. So off to the sports shops we go !

Here are nearly all my finished blocks. Couldn't actually get them all into the picture. AND I was up top of Jess's bunk bed to take this photo. I was fine climbing the ladder but nearly came a cropper coming down due to the fact I was wearing fluffy socks - silly me lol !!

Quite amazing that I have been through these blocks umpteen times to check on colours and pressing them and only when I took the photo did I notice the humility block !! I'll let you find it. It's not hard to spot. I've just laid these out any old how but will now have a play with them to get the final layout. I'm still undecided if to use one fabric for all the setting triangles or not !

Once these are all sewn together and I know how big it is I will think about borders. Probably won't get a chance to do much on this for a few days as I have a lot of work on.. Also I have been roped in to driving supervision. My DH and DD are both taking driving lessons and this week we have bought a cheap car for them to practise in as I didn't want them driving my car.... So I will be spending a bit of time chewing my nails in the passenger seat for some time. Wish me luck - I think I'm going to need it. I am a patient person but we will see how it works out AARRGH !

Have a great weekend and hope you all get some sewing done.

Triangles, triangles !

I am still working on my Lady of the Lake blocks and the grand total is now 60 finished. The others are half done - the hst's have been sewn and pressed - some have been trimmed and I should finish them in the next couple of days. Honestly my sewing room ( which I share with Jason and his computers ) has looked like a triangle explosion went off. The blessed things were everywhere. Looking a lot more organised now - the end is in sight. I have cut loads of extras so I can have a play with an idea I have for a border. If it doesn't work out no matter - they will come in for something.
I have been laughing all week about the dripping tap or waterfall thing. Perhaps it really is time for me to get out more - lol !

In the absence of anything new to show here is a couple of pictures of another one of my unquilted tops. I made this about 2 years ago. The fabrics I used were from the very first order I got from the US.....I had the fabrics a while before I came up with a plan of what to do with them. This is also the first quilt that I did not have a pattern for. I like how it came out although I was so sick of those appliqued leaves in the border. One day I will get this quilted. Probably by machine as there are so many seams and I don't think I could face hand quilting it.

I really like 1930's prints - teamed up with white they always look so fresh and pretty.

On Thursday I went off to a new quilt shop which I saw advertised in a British quilting mag. I never knew this shop existed and indeed I found out it has only been there since June. Lovely shop with a nice selection of fabrics - although like most English quilt shops the prices are steep - most were £9-10 a yard. Still I bought a few nice fat quarters and a good long length of wadding.

But most exciting of all they have a long arm quilting machine and I got to see it in action. Oh how I would love one !!!!! I was asking about prices and so on and I may get this Lady of the Lake quilt done here. It would cost about £100 ( roughly $200 ). I will have a think about it. Or otherwise I could just have it basted there ready for hand quilting - I forgot to ask if they do that.

I am going back to my trianges in a minute. Don't know what it is about Sunday afternoons but I always feel like stuffing my face with loads of chocolate and as I am trying to lose weight that is not an option - lol !!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Next post should be of my finished blocks - fingers crossed !

Are you a dripping tap or a waterfall ??

Silly heading I know but let me explain.....

This week I am on a mission to make as many Lady of the Lake blocks as I can. I want this quilt made asap. I am so enjoying trying various colourways together and the blocks are coming out beautifully. I have lots of UFO's ( like everyone else ) but I am determined that this will not be one. As this is going to be a BIG quilt I will not be able to machine quilt it so I plan to hand quilt it - I think. I would love to have the top made and basted soon so I can quilt it through the winter. I have hand-quilted one other king-size quilt ( my very first one ) and it didn't take as long as I thought it was going to.

I have worked out I need to make 77 blocks and so far have made 46. This is where the dripping tap thing comes in. I am working on these blocks little and often. Instead of having a huge chunk of time to sit down and power sew I am chipping away and am surprised by how many I've done. Sometimes if I have a few free hours I think I will just park my bum on the sewing chair and go !! BUT it doesn't work for me - I start getting fidgety and thinking about what else I should or could be doing. So this last week I have been just doing a bit here and there. Chain sewing some HST's together whilst waiting for the washing machine to finish - pressing a few open whilst waiting for the vegetables to cook - trimming some down to size while waiting for the kettle to boil for a cup of tea. All these minutes add up. I am making sure I always have something ready to do in these odd minutes.

At the moment I have a fruit cake in the oven ( I am craving one really bad. ) so while waiting for it to cook and after finishing on here I am going to cut out some more triangles as I am getting low. Here's what my ironing board looked like after the first cutting spree.

I have decided not to post a picture yet of the blocks I have done but will wait to lay them out so you get a better idea. I am toying with the idea of using just one fabric for the setting triangles -as the blocks are on point. In the pattern they are all scrappy and it looks great so I am a bit undecided yet. I have also been thinking - could be dangerous - of a border idea. I love pieced borders and these books I just bought have given me food for thought.

So - I'm curious - are you a dripping tap or a waterfall ??

( or have I completely lost it as my dd will say when she sees this latest heading - lol ! )

One last thing - we have a postal strike in UK at moment so to everyone I have promised patterns and PIF's I am waiting til it has ended before posting stuff out. Thanks.

What's a girl to do . . . .

. . . . .when she's got the Monday morning blues ?? Start a new quilt of course ;-)

OK I know it's Wednesday but I did start this on Monday morning. Grey, cold damp start to the week - all alone with a mountain of washing ( even though all I seemed to do all weekend was washing, folding clothes and ironing ). I was feeling bleugh so decided to cheer myself up. I had just the thing too from when I sorted out my quilt mags a few weeks ago. This pattern comes from Quilters Newsletter and has been calling to me for a while. Jason and I only have one big quilt for our bed and although I haven't succumbed yet and put it on top of our duvet ( I will be airing it this weekend probably ) I quite fancy a change. So this one will be ours !! All I seem to have done lately is make quilts and then part with them.

In the magazine they have made the quilt with 18oo's repros and it is stunning. I have a few such fabrics but not many so mine will be a bit more random. I have starting pulling fabrics I think will work and have been making a lovely mess of those nice tidy drawers !! Still all in a good cause - lol !! The block finishes at 8 inches so plenty of big pieces to hand quilt in. The pattern calls for making the half-square triangles a bit bigger and then trimming them to size. Really accurate but a pain in the bum to do in my opinion ! I am going to make a load and then take them to my Tuesday night quilting group and trim them all there. If that's all I take I will have to get them done !

Here are the first few.

I want a lot more colours in this and will get some more cut later. The pattern is called Lady of the Lake.

Nothing really else to tell. Alfies 9 patch quilt is awaiting binding and will be delivered next week. Can't wait for a cuddle - will try and get photos ! I've done some knitting and enjoying that too.

Oh yes - before I forget - the winner of the UFO was Gudrun. Please email with your address Gudrun and I will get this to you. Many thanks for taking this out of my hands - lol !!