What I've been doing

Firstly thanks to all for your lovely words on Jess's trip. I'm afraid she had a very tearful goodbye from me. I tried not to weep but it is like asking the sun not to set - that's how I am. I must say though I was not the only one so that made me feel better - lol ! Jess has been in touch by text and email and is having a fantastic trip although in her last message she said since visiting the AIDS orphanage she cannot stop crying - bless. She is like me in that respect. I will post photos when she returns for anyone who would like to see them.

I have been keeping busy - not so much sewing but lots of cleaning and re-organising. I am in the process of making new cushions for our living room but don't feel like doing them today. I finally got round to putting this little quilt up on the wall.

It has been done for months and had just been folded up and moved around. Because it was creased I pinned it to the carpet and gave it a good soaking with a water spray and left it to dry and it did the trick. It is now flat as a pancake :-) It is a Bareroots pattern called written in Thread.

The Chinese coins quilt I half started and then changed my mind about now looks like this.

I have border fabric ordered for this and have bought some funky flowery polar fleece to back it with so hopefully that will get done soon and another UFO off the list. I think I will give this to Jess to keep in her car in case she ever needs it.

And this week I fell in love . . . . .with a quilt from the latest Quilters Newsletter.

It's this one

Gorgeous, gorgeous !! This one is made mainly in 1800's repro fabrics which are quite hard to get hold of here. I have a few but not many. Although I really want to make this I want to do it with fabrics from my stash. So I plan to loosely follow the colourway with what I have. Of course I could not rest until I made a sample block

I really did not want to start another big quilt but resistance was futile - lol !! We all have no willpower . . . .

A few ladies have asked me where the pattern for the Mariners Compass came from. As these ladies were showing as no-reply I will answer here. It is a 2 part project from Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine - Vol15 nos 3 and 4.

And finally the raffle quilt finally got to Canada to the lovely Kathy. It took it's sweet time getting there ( over 10 weeks I think ) but is now in it's new home - thank goodness.

I think that's all for now - I am flitting about like a fly - lol !!

Take care xxx

A quick update

Here's my Mariners Compass with the extra borders - not sure if I've finished yet. It's on the back burner for a while until I decide.

In the meantime I'm working on a UFO. Last year I had a charm pack which I decided to make a chinese coins quilt with. I had sliced the charms in half and sewn them together into 4 rows. BUT now I have decided against it and have spent a little time unpicking. I have a plan......

And my stash busting plans went awry when I visited the fabric warehouse. The last few times I've been the selection was very poor and I came away empty-handed. but this time I was tempted and bought 15 yards - all washed but with nowhere to put it yet.

And it is a big day tomorrow - do you remember the quilt I raffled to raise funds for dd Jess's trip to Africa ? Well tomorrow she flies out and I am feeling very emotional. I know she is sensible and it is all well planned. We have had the AIDS and drugs talks and safety briefings etc but she is still my little girl and I know I will worry for the 2 weeks she is away. It is SO hard letting them try out their wings...

She has a very full itinerary - helping out in the orphanages and shanty schools - and I'm sure will have an amazing time - but I sure hope the time goes quickly for us at home. And also thanks once again to those of you who bought tickets and helped to make this possible for Jess.

Take care xxx

Coming along

Here's where I'm up to so far.

I've really enjoyed doing this - my first attempt at a Mariners Compass. Definitely NOT perfect but good enough for me. I really like paper piecing - great fun. I even don't mind pulling all the little bits of paper off at the end.

I have actually added a couple more borders to this now but don't have photos yet. In the magazine it is the centre of a big quilt but I am not making it full size. I think I want to have this on a wall not a bed.

My friend Sue has always wanted to make one of these but has never done so. She is going through a bad time just now and I am thinking of doing her a block too. This finishes at almost 20 inches and has 101 pieces.

This is just a quick post - need to ice a chocolate cake I've just made then I'm going to cut out some more papers for my hexie quilt. Yes my quilting slump is over - thank goodness.

Have fun xxx

Slowly . . .

. . . . but surely I can feel myself coming out of my quilting slump.. I know I'm not the only one like this just now. Must be something to do with January but now it's February I'm feeling the need to cut up some fabric - lol !

Anyway I haven't been completely idle on the stitching front. I've been doing some cross stitch. Now I'm no expert - I have only done a few pieces but I have been really enjoying this. I saw a pattern to buy online and ordered it from http://www.the-chart-shop.com/ . When I printed it off I set about ordering supplies - aida and threads. These duly arrived and I was realised I had made a little boo-boo. Man - those holes are close together on this VERY dark fabric - lol !! ( The fabric is much darker than the photo ) I decided to have a bash anyway and so far it's turning out well. Here's what I have to show so far after many hours of stitching

It's called Midnight Moggies and is a great design. I really want to finish it before I start this

I do not want cross stitch UFO's as well as quilting ones - lol !

And like I said I really wanted to get back into quilting so have been flicking through some magazines for inspiration. Before I knew it I was picking out fabrics from my stash

and made a little start on something. Keep tuned . . . .

Have a good day xxx