February Goals.

This year I'm taking part in One Monthly Goal over at Red Letter Quilts.

My goal for January was to quilt my 9 patch quilt. That didn't happen, in fact I did very little quilting on it at all but I did finish the baby quilt I was making. So here we are at the start of February and a new goal. Well an old goal revisited. I want to complete the quilting on the 9 patch quilt. Here's the finished top.

I have quilted some of the blocks and it is looking good. I'm using the monofilament thread again as this is a scrappy quilt and I couldn't decide on the perfect colour of thread for the different blocks. 

I'm keeping the quilting nice and simple.  I've just increased my work hours so I don't have time for anything complicated.

This month I'm also working on my millennium sampler for my  'Let's book it' project. This has taken an age to complete and the pattern is obviously old and needs finishing. I've done quite a lot of work on the borders already this month. Knowing I'm working on it for a purpose has made me pick it up more often so far this month. Here's how far I'd got when I last took a photo. Come back tomorrow to see my progress

I have also set myself a goal to lose weight this year. I would love to lose 2 stone as this would help my hips and knees and would bring me back into the right weight for my height rather than at the top of the overweight band for my height. I could have started a diet on January 1st but past experience has taught me that this is not a great day to start anything, particularly if you stayed up and celebrated the new year the night before. On Tuesday 2nd February I started my diet. The aim is to increase my exercise and stick to 1200 calories a day. My goal is to lose 6lbs this month. I know there will be days where the diet will go out the window but that doesn't matter so long as the weight is going in the right direction. Here's a photo from our holiday last year which shows my size. Mmm it was raining then and it's raining now. Why is it always raining?

I've walked Scamp this morning. We had fun being blown along by the wind and Scamp was chasing leaves and anything else that was blowing past him. My plan for the rest of the afternoon is to sew. I hope you've got some time for sewing this weekend.

Lyndsey

Quilting with monofilament

Yesterday evening I got on with stitching the binding down on the baby quilt and sewing in the remaining ends from the quilting. When I started quilting it I decided to use monofilament as the top thread because I couldn't decide on an appropriate colour thread to go with the scrappy blocks. I chose a clear monofilament and set up the machine. I had a small square of quilt sandwich to practice on and with a little fiddling around the tension was great so I made a start on the quilt. All the quilting I did that day worked really well..... well some of my lines have a slight wobble to them but otherwise it was good. When I sat down later in the evening I decided to do a search on google about stitching with monofilament and I learnt a lot.

Monofilament is a very fine thread and can be made from nylon or polyester. It is really down to personal choice but most of the blogs I read preferred nylon. You can also get it as clear or smoky. I had chosen clear. You need to take care when choosing your thread and make sure it is made by a reputable manufacturer such as YLI, Sulky or superior threads which will ensure the thread is very fine and pliable and feels really soft. It should also break easily as if it doesn't it can cut through the fibres on the quilt top, not something you want to happen after all your hard work to make it.

Without having done any research I had bought a reel of clear YLI nylon thread. It felt soft and was incredibly fine When I was setting the tension I found I needed to reduce the thread tension - this is because the thread will stretch. I also found I needed to reduce my needle size a little because the thread was so fine. I used my usual 50 wt  cotton quilting thread in the bobbin. This combination worked well.

I had put my cone of YLI  onto the upright thread pin of my machine purely because of the size of the cone. I found out this was the right thing to do. The spools made by the reputable manufacturers are straight wound so putting it in the upright position the thread comes off without twisting. Cones are usually cross wound and the thread needs to be lifted off the top of the cone to avoid twisting possibly using a cone stand similar to what I have for my overlocker machine.

With the rest of the quilting I had a few times when the thread broke but this didn't cause any serious problems. All in all I enjoyed trying a new technique and I love the final effect. I'm also using the monofilament to quilt my nine patch quilt.

I'm loving the way the quilting is looking.

If you haven't tried monofilament thread I would encourage you to try it on a suitable project as it could give you just the effect you are looking for.

Tonight I'm playing with my 1 1/2 inch scrappy squares as I have an idea in my head for a small quilt. I'll show you what I'm planning tomorrow.

Lyndsey

Back to work.

Monday was my first day at work for 2016. It was a real bind getting up and leaving home whilst it was still dark and also driving home in the dark in the evening but apart from that it was an OK day. Monday evening I sat and did some hand stitching as I wanted to relax by watching TV. Yesterday I planned to start the quilting on the baby quilt but I had some jobs to do and once I'd finished those Kathryn came over to visit and wanted to go shopping. I bought myself a couple of jumpers for work but didn't see anything else that I needed or wanted. I have to admit I'm not a great shopper unless I have something specific that I need. Very little stitching got done on Tuesday evening as Kathryn and Olly stayed to dinner and we sat chatting until late.

That brings us to today. This morning I sat down with a cup of tea to catch up with my blog reading and in doing so found a link to OMG - one monthly goal. Sadly 'a lovely year of finishes' has come to an end but Heidi at Red Letter Quilts is running a monthly link up called 'One Monthly Goal'. You set yourself just one goal for the month and link that up at the beginning of the month. At the end of the month you link up again to share how you got on. The button is on my sidebar.

I have 2 goals for the month but the one I'm picking for this challenge is my nine patch quilt.

My goal is to quilt and bind this quilt by the end of this month. 

This morning I set up my machine ready for free motion quilting. It took a little while to get the tension right and decide on the thread I was going to use but I finally got myself sorted.  I quilted three blocks but wasn't sure about the thread so I went back to my quilting threads. That was when I saw the monofilament. I bought this early last year but hadn't tried using it yet. This seemed like a good time to give it a whirl. I was pleased with the outcome and decided to unpick the blocks I'd already finished and re quilt them. I'm just doing simple straight line quilting. Well simple isn't really a good word for it because I find quilting in a straight line quite taxing.

I do love the science theme fabric in that block. There are cute robots on it as well.

Jen at Quilter in the closet has set herself a 100 day challenge to complete three quilty or craft goals. In reading her post I realised this would help me to complete some of my goals as they will take more than a month and I don't do well with open ended goals. So my three goals I want to complete by April 15th (the end of the challenge) are.

1. Complete my millennium cross stitch sampler. This is one of my goals for 2016 as it has been hanging around since Christmas 1999.

2. To complete the arcs for my double wedding ring quilt. I can't remember off the top of my head but I think I need to make 98 in total. I'm not sure how many I've made but I guess it is about 10. I'd like to move this quilt on although I don't expect to finish the top this year as it is my long term project. 

3. I want to blog more. I let work get in the way and as a result I post for a few days and then get bogged down with work so don't do a lot of sewing and don't post. I don't want to set a number of posts I'll do in a month because you can't be that specific but it would be good to do a post alternate days if possible.

This evening I've been doing a little more work on the christmas tree cross stitch. I was going to switch to a different piece of stitching but I'll carry on till the end of the month before I switch on the millennium sampler. Shortly I must go to bed as I have work again tomorrow but I'm looking forward to doing some more quilting tomorrow evening.

Results of December goals.

December was rather slow for goals but I did complete one item.

1. Complete the advent calendar for Kathryn.
I finished the advent calendar but I didn't finish in time for it to be used this year, but it's all finished and ready to use for Christmas 2016. I also forgot to take a final photo before it was gifted so this will have to do.

2. Baby quilt for baby Lucas

Not completed  I chose this pattern from Today's Quilter issue 3.

So far I've made one block but I'm going to work on this tomorrow.

3. Quilt for Buddy
This is still at the thinking about stage. I will get it started in January. I bought him treats for his Christmas present instead.

4. Finish the hexie quilt top.
The top is still short of its outer border as  I need to purchase the fabric.

I'm linking my dismal finishes for the month with A lovely year of finishes for the final finish party of 2015. I hope you achieved more than I did this month.

Lyndsey

The Best of 2015

Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a 'best of 2015' linky party and you know how I love a party so I just had to join in.

So what are the best 5 things around here this year? 

1. Finishing Richard's Star Trek quilt. 

This is a big quilt and I quilted it on my home sewing machine which only has a small arm aperture so it was quite a struggle and took a long time to finish. My aching arms and shoulders were very happy when it was finished and Richard was really pleased with his quilt. As one of the comments relating to this quilt said 'Trekkies never grow up'. Richard had wanted a quilt or something for his room like this since he was 7 or 8 and he is now 30.

This was an opportunity to practice my FMQ so the ships on the center panel were outlined, I did a pebble pattern on the sashing and a meander around the blue background of each block.

2. The red work 'It's a dogs life' quilt top.

As well as quilting I enjoy hand stitching. I saw this design at Bird Brain Designs and decided I had to make it. It took many months to finish all the hand stitching but then the top went together very quickly. This will be quilted in the new year. I have the backing fabric and need to get on and make the quilt sandwich.

Trying to show you the individual blocks is rather difficult but I hope you get the idea. In the New Year I'm starting some stitching involving cats. The dog's quilt was made from a kit but I'll be choosing the fabric and quilt blocks for the cat quilt.

3. Taking part in the Rainbow scrap challenge. 

Like anyone who quilts I generate a lot of scraps and I also love turning the scraps into something beautiful. I have been joining in with the 2015 challenge and I chose the churn dash block for my pattern this year. I make 4 blocks a month. I'm a little behind with my blocks so need to make a few before the years end.

Last year I made 4 nine patch blocks each month and a hexie block. Recently these were turned into quilt tops.

The hexie quilt needs its borders added and the 9 patch is waiting to be prepared for quilting.The 9 patch will be going to my younger daughter Lucy/ The nine patched will have a pieced back made of 9 patches. I hope the blocks made for this years challenge will finish up so pretty. The blocks this year are for a charity quilt.

4. Taking part in a blog hop.

I love blog hops as I have to work to a deadline which means I definitely complete something in a year but also I discover blogs I haven't visited before. This year I took part in a couple of hops and also visited several more.

5.  Advice, help, support and friendship from the blogging community.

This has been the best part of 2015. Quilters are so good at sharing and supporting. When I've needed advice  e.g a good metallic thread to use or how to do a tricky technique you have all been there to offer help and good advice. You have left lovely supportive comments on my blog and you have been visiting lots. Thanks to you all I am having a great time with my quilting and stitching but also with my blogging. I'll try to be a little more consistent next year as this year has been disrupted in places due to work. 

So that's my choice of the best of 2015 and I really did leave the best bit till last. I'm looking forward to a great 2016 with lots of quilty goodness, embroidery, dressmaking and quiet time catching up with what you are making and doing. Mmm now I've written this I think it's time to make a cup of tea and settle down to catching up with reading through the posts on my blog feed.

Lyndsey

November stitching

November has been a good month for finishes and I'm feeling really happy. My goal for 'A lovely year of finishes' was to complete and post the quilt for baby Ella.

It was quilted as an all over meander with variegated sulky in shades of pink. The backing was a small pink on pink print and I used my pink polka dot for the binding.  My colleague wanted a girlie and pink quilt and I think this fits the bill.

One of my students and his partner have just had a baby boy so now I need to make a baby quilt for Lucas. I do like making baby quilts as they are a very manageable project to make and can be completed quite quickly.

My second goal was to finish The turtles. My son Richard screenprinted this fabric several years ago whilst still at school. It was part of his school art and design coursework. The fabric hung in the school art showcase for several years after he left but we eventually got it back thanks to his sisters who went through the same school.

Originally we decided to leave the outer border unquilted but I may add a meander. I love the shapes on the back of the quilt. If you're part of the quilt police don't look too closely at the stitches as they just aren't of an even length but I don't care, I'm happy with them.

So having finished my main goals I also finished the 'It's a dog's life' quilt top. All the stitcheries were fun to do and I think the top looks fab.

As the top came together all my concerns about the fabric melted away. I had thought the patterns together were a little over the top but it really works well.

My finishes didn't stop there as I turned the 9 patch blocks from last years rainbow scrap challenge into a top.

This top is just so clean and cheerful looking, I love it. I'll quilt this in the new year.

I also almost finished the top for the hexi quilt blocks from the 2014 rainbow scrap challenge. It still needs its outer borders . I love this quilt too. I will be keeping one of these for myself but the other one may go to my younger daughter Lucy.

All of that leaves me doing a very happy dance. I think that's the most sewing I've done in one month all year. With December 1st tomorrow I need to think about what I want to get finished before the end of the year.

I'm linking this post with Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs for the November link up party. I love checking out what everyone has been busy finishing. I hope your November has been productive.

Lyndsey

A finished top

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. At guides on Wednesday we had a thanksgiving themed evening which the girls really enjoyed. They wanted to try some recipes they had found from America and the one that won the day was roasted sweet potato and marshmallow. Mmm tasty but very filling. Some of the girls thought it was the best food ever whilst some complained it was too sweet. Whatever their feelings about the food we tried they felt it was a great idea to theme the evening around a celebration from another country. By the end of the evening some of them had devised a list of religious and other celebration days from around the world.That takes care of planning for quite a few weeks next year.

I haven't had a lot of time for stitching this week but I made good use of the time I did have. I finished up the top for the 'It's a dogs life quilt'. The more I stitched this top the more I liked it.

Unfortunately today in London has been wet so no pretty photos taken outside. Our bed had to supply the background. I am very happy with how this quilt top looks. I've got some other projects I'm going to be working on so this wont be quilted until next year.

I have also been working on my hexi quilt from last years rainbow scrap challenge. This top still isn't finished as I have to add the borders.

I love this top and I can't wait to get it finished.

Finally I was asked by older daughter if I would make her an advent calendar. There were quite a lot to choose from but most were aimed at children and Katy is an adult. In the end I bought this one.

I've already added some of the pockets. It takes a bit of fiddling and a lot of concentration to get the pockets to match the background pattern.

I must remember to get our advent calendar out the loft this weekend and buy the sweets ready for the first of December.

Earlier today I realised I have 3 weeks at work before my two week break over Christmas and the New Year. I know we all tend to say the year has flown by this this year really does seem to have vanished. Realising Christmas was so close sent me into a spin until I remembered I've just about finished my present shopping and just need to make a final decision on the menu. I do need to make a quilt for Buddy for Christmas. It's a shame that he's such a big dog. If he was the same size as Scamp it would be a quick job.

I'm linking this post with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday  November has been a great month for finishes for me. I hope November has also smiled on your quilting projects.

Lyndsey

Baby quilt and scrappy top

It's time for Friday finishes and this week I'm doing a happy dance as I have two finishes, plus this is the second week in a row I've been celebrating. It's such fun as it has been a while since I finished anything.

First I put together a top with the 49 blocks made for the rainbow scrap challenge in 2014. These nine patch blocks finish at 6 inches and the quilt top overall is 58inches square.

I love this top it's so bright and cheerful it just makes me smile. I haven't had time yet to go through my stash for a backing fabric. However I wasn't planning on quilting this at the moment. I want to work on some of my other unfinished projects.

My second finish was the baby quilt. This really should have been finished a while back but at least it's done now and I can get it in the post tomorrow.

Getting a picture of the quilt has proved difficult as the weather is being most uncooperative. I tried it on my bed but the lighting is rather dim. So then I draped it over the settee with pillows to push it out abit.

The strips across were cut from fat quarters and from scraps left over from other projects. I love the different fabrics.

I thought you might like to see the backing fabric and the binding.

I'm very pleased with this quilt and I hope Charlene will be pleased with it. This also means I have completed another of my November goals. I now have to to collect my fabric for another baby quilt, but I won't be starting that until next week. 

Tomorrow I'm going to cut out the blocks for the 'It's a dog's life' quilt. I'm hoping I'll get time to stitch some of the blocks together. I also want to catch up with this years rainbow challenge as I'm two months behind 

I'm linking this post up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts Why not go and check out what everyone's been finishing this week.

Lyndsey

Diwali, Remembrance and sewing projects.

On this date in 1918 the guns fell silent at 11a.m. as the World War 1 ended. Today at 11a.m many schools colleges and other workplaces observed 2 minutes silence to remember those who have died in conflict around the world.

Today is Diwali.

We had a fun evening at Rainbows and Brownies celebrating Diwali. The girls enjoyed trying Indian sweets but some found them too sweet.  They designed their own Rangoli patterns and also coloured some patterns we had printed out. We made diya lamps and put tea lights in them and also learnt a little about the Hindu religion and the festival of Diwali. 

On the sewing front there hasn't been a lot of time to do anything today but I made some decisions. Having laid the rainbow scrap challenge quilt out again I decided it is perfect as it is.

I've now put this top away whilst I work on some others. It will get quilted in the new year.
I pulled out the fabric for the 'It's a dogs life'. Looking at it with fresh eyes I decided I like the fabric patterns and so started cutting the pieces for the blocks. I've also been stitching away at the binding on the baby quilt and set up the first of the cat stitcheries.

I'm now working for the next two days and going for dinner with older daughter tomorrow evening so not a lot of chance for sewing. I'll take my hexi block with me as I can stitch whilst we chat.

Opps it's half past twelve and I'm feeling very tired. Time for bed as the alarm will go off in less than 6 hours time.

Lyndsey