Time to Play

Things are finished at the moment. UFO done and both quilts for Siblings Together 2 

bound and with  labels all ready for posting off.

Now, as you know, I do love to play. So out comes one of my scrap bins, yes I do have more than one of these. Two in fact, but this is the fullest or should I say overflowing.

I do love to make something out of nothing or "scrap busting". So following on from one of the siblings quilts, I thought I would make mini blocks as I have quite a bit of the sashing fabric left.

Oh, I do think they are cute, five inch scrap middles, then a two inch border of white and shadow.

Also used were some orphan blocks. These blocks when finished are trimmed to seven and a half inches, so I shall need a lot more to make a quilt.

Also, nearly finished the North Pole block for this month. Just the hand sewing to do.

So off to clean out the greenhouse as the sun is shining and though it's very cold it feels a bit like spring is on its way. :0)

Keep safe and keep stitching........................Doti...

What a Week.

This has been a week of finishes with my first UFO finished, just the binding to do .

It's very difficult to photograph even outside in natural light.

This is the binding going on, then my favourite bit of quilt making. Hand sewing the back of the binding down, attaching a label and "voila" quilt finished.

My next finish was the Siblings Together 2 group charity second quilt top. It is already for sandwiching with batting/wadding and backing.

Then to quilt it, although at the moment I am not sure how I will do that. Any suggestions please.! Straight line or maybe cross hatching seems uppermost in my mind at the moment. I do love this quilt as the coloured blocks look like they are floating.

My friend Ann is the "mama" of the month this month for ST2 and has asked for 3 strip blocks, the middle strip being white and yep, have done them too! 

Hope they are OK Ann ?

 Finished also is this months pair of socks (way hay) seem to be on a roll. I just might keep this pair for me as I love the colour.

Now to visit  Perlen,Samt und Seidenttaft to see if she has put up the block for the North Pole Village SAL.

And by the way, I am still plodding on quilting the Floral impressions Quilt by hand. I did say it might take a long time. I sound just like Captain Oates..

Keep safe and keep stitching................Doti...

Time to start on a UFO.

Yep, it is high time I started on a UFO. Even my daughter has done two already this year. 

So I got out the first crate and, low and behold, it was the heirloom quilt I started making two years before our 50th wedding Anniversary,  and as this year we have been married 53 years its about 5 years old. Ha!

I have a sneaky feeling there are some even older UFO's in some of the other crate's but this one will do for now.

Not sure if that white block belongs.

You can guess who this block represents.

Mr M's Block.

 All the blocks laid out on the guest room bed so now where to start. Not all the blocks are quilted so I guess I should start there.

This is a quilt as you go project, the middle diamond is stitched together so it now needs squaring up.

So it is a case of watch this space :0)

I have not been entirely idle. I did make some new cushions for the sofa in the sewing room on the weekend.

Now to start on the first Un Finished Object, for those of you who are wondering just what a UFO was.   

Keep safe and keep stitching.......... Doti...

January is going really well.

Well pleased with 2015 so far with two new finishes this week.

 My first Charity Quilt of the year, this one is for Siblings Together 2. I hope to make two quilts for them this year, this one is finished and quilted with just the label to do. The blocks were very large and so it went together very quickly. The second one needs to be sandwiched with wadding /batting and backing.

The blocks were quilted in a grid and the sashing was quilted following the curves. Well pleased and thank you to the girls in our group who sent such lovely bright blocks made from their scraps.

Quilting done on my home machine.

This charity is very dear to me as I was parted from my siblings when I was very young. I do wish that this had been going on when I was young.

The other finish is the first pair of socks for the year, only 11 more pairs to go. Not pushing myself this year at one pair a month it should keep the family happy.

Though I do need to make some for myself this year. My aim is also to start on my UFO's when every thing I started last year is finished.:0))

Keep safe and keep stitching.............Doti...

First Finish.

It is indeed my first finish for 2015.

I turned the new ways with Cathedral  Windows blocks into a wall hanging, though it could still be a table runner. Very pleased as I used up some of the fabric left from my appliqué quilt, which I am still hand quilting, but getting there slowly.

I am not sure if I will keep this hanging or gift it as yet, as we are running short of wall space in our little cottage :0)

Some progress has been made on the "Welcome to the North Pole Quilt", it does feel odd making a Christmas quilt just after Christmas, but hopefully it will be finished by next Christmas.

Jen's Gym was finished yesterday along with Molly's Ice cream shoppe, the stars and the Candy Cane  factory need finishing.

Things are progressing on the decorating front, and the spring cleaning should be finished by this week end. Then the holiday cottage will be all ready for the first guests of 2015.

Back to the painting ...

Keep safe and keep stitching........Doti...

Fun at the Bee.

We did indeed have a fun day at the Bee on Wednesday. Six of us were making

 New Cathedral Window blocks, although one of the girls had gone home by the time I took this photo.

They are such fun to make, and all so different.

The last one I made I turned into a cushion, as I showed you two blogs ago, but this time it will probably be a table runner. You know me by the time I have finished it might be something entirely different. ;0)

Mine is however, getting rather long. It's 38" without a border so it's about the size needed to fit our little dining room table.

close up of blocks.

Mr M and I are getting our holiday cottage which we rent out, ready for the season. So sewing will be relegated to the evenings for the next week or so while we do lots of painting etc..

Keep safe and keep stitching..................Doti...

Time Flies.

Where, oh where have the first 10 days of the New Year gone? 

The first meeting of the Bees was on Wednesday, so here is a little round up of what was going on.

Maggie had brought in her pieced top and wanted some help on how to quilt it. We all decided that some straight line quilting following the zig zags would be the way to go.

Maggie's quilt top.

  Fiona was doing her tapestry, I am not sure if it's going to be a cushion or a fire screen. It is really lovely.

Fiona's tapestry.

 The lovely Sue was hand quilting her fairy quilt, her grand daughter is going to love this one.

Sues quilt.

And Jenny was frogging her granddaughters cardigan again. Now we all thought it was great how she winds up her wool, they look like little pods, so some time was spent teaching us all how to do it.

Jenny's wool pods.

Me, well you can guess exactly what I was doing.Yep, I am still hand quilting my appliqué quilt.Well, the middle section has just one block left to do. Then it is on with the border, so I am getting there.

I also have done the Block for ST2. I am pleased Sue who was the Mama of the month had chosen an easy block to start us off.

Now this is a warning,  if you have a bottle like this in your wine rack look after it.

Just before the New Year all of our children descended en masse, and during the meal it was noticed our bottle was leaking. It was duly opened and decanted, and it was delicious!!!!!

The following day we checked on Google and found out it was valued last year at 400 pounds sterling, worth every penny :0))

Keep Safe and keep stitching.................................Doti,,,

Welcome to the North Pole.

 I have been reading a blog by Christiane who lives in Nuremberg Germany, 

Perlen,Samt und Seidentaft for some time now and she recently started a SAL.

Well, I thought what a lovely idea and duly bought the book from Amazon.

Thinking that if I started now (Christiane started in October) by next Christmas I would have a lovely Christmas quilt to hang, or to gift...

Also thinking a lighter quilt was needed for our little cottage, I have picked from my stash a line called Snowbird by Edeta Sitar. A mixture of cotton fabrics and batiks, and some linen for the background. 

It was bought awhile ago when it first came out and has been waiting for just the right project to come along. Well I think this might be the perfect project for it.

I could not wait to start, so this is the first block, Sprinkles Ice Cream Shoppe though I called it Molly's Ice Cream Shoppe. 

When Molly my granddaughter was very little she saved her penny's to take me to an ice cream shop, she will probably have forgotten by now as she was very young.

I do think this fabric will be perfect for this project,very cold and chilly.

I do also have a finish. The cushion started in Lynne Edwards Class, and yep I am pleased, looks great on the old chair.

I did intend to make two but I need to catch up with the North Pole blocks :0)..

You can find Christiane's blog, in the blogs I follow on the right hand side. Do go and have a look.

Keep safe and keep stitching..................Doti...

Things are progressing.

Things are indeed progressing but very slowly. I am hand quilting the Floral Impressions Quilt, and as I said before, this could take some time.

 I have been playing around with some blocks that I learned at the Lynn Edwards Day.

I am liking the ones at the bottom at the moment. It is fabric left from the Floral Impressions quilt.

Sorry the photo is not very good, I am using the backing fabric as the main fabric this time as it's so pretty.

One of the Siblings Together 2 tops is put together and needs to be sandwiched with wadding/batting and then quilted. This is going to be a machine job after all the hand quilting I am doing at the moment. 

The second quilt for the ST2 is waiting for some more blocks, then it will be pieced together. Love the way these blocks look like they are floating, they are such fun to make and huge (19" square.)

Things are definitely progressing along though very, very slowly.

I have opened one of my Christmas presents. I know naughty naughty but I was so excited as I have always wanted one of these, and yep I have wound a hank of wool up already :0)

Now back to stitching. Mr M is off to watch his football team today so I should get lots of sewing done...

Keep safe and keep stitching...................Doti...

A day with Lynn Edwards

My friend Maggie and I spent a wonderful day with Lynn Edwards at my favourite quilt shop 

Sew and So's of Bungay.

Wallhanging by Lynn Edwards.

This is what we were aspiring to achieve or just even one of her beautiful cushions.

This however is all that I achieved , not even one block finished and it took me all day. :0)) But the inspiration I received was enormous. I have lovely ideas running all around in my head and I do hope they stay there till the New Year, when I intend to put these ideas to good use.

This was one of Lynn's work in progress and it is just lovely.

Cushion by Lyn Edwards.

I might just finish the block I made on the day and turn it into a cushion. One can never have too many cushions can they?

Though it was scrap fabric I am quite pleased with it.

Mr M and I are going to put our Christmas tree up today. I do however loose my ironing space in the sewing room, but it is only for a short time and I am hoping it will make me feel a little more festive..

Keep safe and keep stitching ....................Doti.....

Prairie Points.

Would you believe in all the years that I have been quilting I have never made prairie points to go on the edge of a quilt.

It was a cold, wet , miserable Sunday so I thought prairie points here I come. 

Am I pleased well 

YES !

Making up the tiny 2 inch Prairie Points

Now aren't they just cute, all 158 of them.

Quilt sandwiched ready for quilting.

 Wool Wadding/Batting was bought and a beautiful backing fabric from my favourite Quilt shop 

Sew and So's of Bungay. They have the most beautiful subtle fabrics,

and this quilt called for a subtle backing.

So now, it is all ready to quilt and the lovely Designer Deborah Kemball has suggested echo quilting around every berry, leaf and flower. Eeeeeeek... this could well take another year.

At least, I will have something to take to my hand quilting group for a long time to come.

Keep safe and keep stitching .....................Doti...

It's finally together.

Yes, I have finally put the top together.

This quilt/ wall hanging was started October 2013 and is called Floral Impressions and is designed by

  Deborah Kemball. The fabrics are from Oakshotts.

It was originally started to improve my hand turned appliqué, and I think it has definitely done that. Now to sandwich it and echo hand quilt it all over. That could take another twelve months  :0), though with winter fast approaching it might be something to sit inside in the warmth and do. Watch this space...

On the knitting front, I went off at a tangent again, which I am very prone to do. This time with a sea urchin beret, 

I am such a sucker for knit-a-longs and sew-a-longs. My friend Anj from Meadow yarns  teamed up with Tend magazine and a group was started to knit this lovely beret. It was truly the hardest bit of knitting I have ever done. I have never frogged so much on anything else I have made, but I love the end result and it should go beautifully with my mammoth scarf/ wrap that I am in the process of making, (not sure I will knit all 70" of it though.)

Just a little more embroidery on the quilt to do. I can't decide whether to do the prairie points on the edges as yet.

Keep safe and keep stitching..............Doti...

Post Jet lag.

It seems ages since I have written a post, so much has been going on. Our vacation was great although a little tiring and on coming home we do suffer badly with Jet lag. 

While away, I was not completely idle, a little retail therapy was indulged in.

Some lovely border fabrics for the ST2 blocks, and backing fabric. Also of course my lovely Aurifil cones. I do wish I could buy them here in the UK at such a good price.

Making a wrap

Also some lovely soft wool called Loft. The lightest and softest wool I have ever knitted with, recommended by the lovely designer Deborah Kemball. Designer of the Floral Impressions Quilt I have been making for the last year, only 4 more appliqué flowers to do and then to put it all together. ( Photos when it's together )

We are doing a lot of work on our very old cottage (built about 1700), and today we are totally upside down and crawling with workmen putting in central heating.

So I am holed up in my sewing room with the woodturner, putting borders on the ST2 Blocks.

My blocks with borders.

Some lovely blocks came this morning from Helen of (The Magpie cat.)

Keep safe and keep stitching........................Doti.....