Mini quilt, gifts and FQ's

When the postman delivers to our house there are quite often packets and parcels for my husband and son but today was exciting as for once the package was for me. Inside was a beautiful mini quilt made for me by Kim Riley in Texas.

This quilt swap was run by Quilting gallery and is the first quilt swap I have taken part in. The quilt had to include the embroidery and had to be no smaller than 12 inches square and no bigger than 24 inches square. Thank you Kim I love the quilt.

Kim was also very kind and included a scissor fob with a lovely quilt block on it. My daughter thought this would look great on my mobile phone but my phone doesn't have anywhere to attach it. To make sure it doesn't disappear the fob is already attached to my embroidery scissors. 

Kim also included this lovely moda panel depicting Texas. I have a couple of ideas for using this panel once I've finished up my current large projects. I didn't realise until I started writing this blog just how much fun I would have with quilting and how many new friends I would make.

On Sunday I met up with an old friend of 40 years. We started our nurse training together in 1972 at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. My father was adamant that if I was going to become a nurse I would train at a London teaching hospital. So 40 years ago I left home in the Midlands to move to London and I've been here ever since. My father was right about getting the best possible training and as a result here I am 40 years later teaching nursing degree students and other subjects at a university in London.

Anyway Lynne and I plus Hilary (Lynne's friend) met up to visit the Stitching and Knitting exhibition at Alexandra Palace in north London. It was the last day of the exhibition but it was incredibly crowded. As the name implies it covers all aspects of needlecraft and includes work on display and supplies to buy.

Colour improvisations curated by Nancy Crow had a lovely selection of quilts from artists around the world. They were beautiful to look at but unfortunately you were not allowed to take photographs so I am afraid there is no eye candy.

My problem with buying supplies was ensuring I didn't overspend. It is far too close to Christmas to blow the budget. So I was careful to only buy what I needed for current projects or present making. I did however get cards and web addresses for the suppliers whose fabrics were more unusual. I will give my DH a short wish list of fabrics I would love for my birthday (December) or Christmas should he be stuck for ideas.

What I did buy was FQ's. This one I needed for Wicked Blog Hop.

I needed some green and purple and white for my Grandmother's choice quilt and another ongoing project. Unfortunately the colours aren't showing up right in the photo. It could have something to do with the really intense light coming in from my south facing window. 

I found these FQ's for the sewing bag my friend asked me to make.

I also needed these for doggy Christmas presents.

I couldn't resist the alphabet FQ's. These will be used in the quilts the brownies are making for project Linus

I also needed some Christmas fabrics.

Finally I bought a small scrap bag containing Japanese fabrics. These fabrics were beautiful but rather expensive by the yard. Plus I couldn't make up my mind which one I really wanted. So now I have some small pieces I can use and see how they handle when I sew them up and also how well they wash. I don't want to spend a lot of money if they are difficult to handle or care for.

If I had been buying a bigger piece of fabric this is the one I would have chosen.

So I came back from an exhibition with money still in my purse and I only bought fabrics with an identified and current project in mind. I think that is a first for me.

I am linking this post with Connie at Freemotion by the river. Click the button on the right of this post to see what everyone else has been up to.