Coming soon.

The Quilt Qwazy Queens blog hop starts on the 18th March. Here's the full schedule;

March 18
Life In The Scrapatch
Sew Incredibly Crazy
In The Boon Docks
Quilting Affection
Words In Stitches

March 21
QuiltShop Gal
TeaTime Creations
Ravelly
Meadowbrook
Bumbleberry Cottage

March 22
Feather Your Nest
Grandmama’s Stories
Pamela Quilts
Vroomans Quilts
My Quilty Musings

March 23
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Ridge Top Quilts
Quilt Art
Patchwork Breeze
Kwilt Krazy

March 24
Marjorie’s Busy Corner
Just Because Quilts
Moose Stash
Batts In The Attic
All Things Sewn

March 25
Just Let Me Quilt
Sew Many Yarns
Quilting Queen Online
Jane’s Quilting

This blog hop isn't about making a new piece but what makes us love quilting so much. Of course they will be lots of quilty eye candy. I can't wait to see everything.

Lyndsey

It's raining scraps!

We all have scraps right? Are you plagued with them or do you embrace them enthusiastically as you plan out your next scrappy quilt. I love scraps. They look so pretty in their boxes and it's amazing how much money you save by using up the scraps. If I go to my local quilt shop here in London most of the good quality quilting cottons cost between £14 and £22 a metre (20 to 31 US dollars) so using up the scraps saves me a lot of money.

Last year I set out to get my scraps organised by cutting into useful sizes and storing them by colour and size.

The only problem with scraps is that the more you sew the more scraps you produce, so on a regular basis I try and revisit my scrap basket so I can keep the scraps under control. On Thursday evening I got out my cutter and the scrap box and spent a little time cutting 1 1/2 inch squares. I didn't get very far as it is quite a time consuming job but I did end up with a small pile of squares that I can use on my nine patch baby quilt.

I still need to cut a lot more squares in order to finish the baby quilt. Sarah from Confessions of a fabric addict has a new linky party so we can share how we organise our scraps and then how we use them. My goal with my scraps for March is to cut enough 1 1/2 inch scraps to complete the 9 patch baby quilt. Simple! I also want to press all the scraps in my box and start the cutting process . I tend to cut scraps into 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2 and 3 inch squares. I've found these are the sizes I use most frequently.

Now I need to cut the pieces for my 'Once I caught a fishy' baby quilt. This is my 'Let's book it' project for March.

I found this lovely fish fabric. The fish have such happy faces.

I also have a pale blue for the fish to be appliqued onto. I have already cut the template for the fish from a thin plastic sheet.

Today the weather was fabulous here in London. Yesterday morning was cold and foggy. The fog in town wasn't particularly bad, but you can see the frost on the car windscreen,

Looking across to the city from the 10th floor of work  you couldn't see most of the tower blocks

In contrast today was clear and sunny and very warm, up to 17 degrees C (62F) 

So John and I made the most of the weather with a trip into London to go to an art exhibition at the Tate Britain and then later we took Scamp for a long walk on the common. This afternoon I got the cutting done for the baby quilt and made a start on the stitching.

This quilt should go together very quickly.  I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow. 

Lyndsey

Preparing hand stitching.

Today was a tiring day at work as I had 6 hours of teaching with a new group. The traffic was quite light on the drive home and so was quicker than normal Once home having greeted Scamp and Picasso and spoken to Richard I decided to get on with preparing the three blocks I am behind on the splendid sampler. The first is from a week ago and when I first saw it I hated it. In looking through the photos of the  block as made by other people I still wasn't sure I wanted to be bothered with it. Still I'm not a person who makes rash decisions and so I had another look at it and decided I would see what I could do. I found some floral fabrics and fussy cut out the shapes and this is what I have so far.

Everything is fused down but it all needs top stitching and I need to embroider the stems of the flowers. It's growing on me slowly so I'll see how it goes as I top stitch. I love the effect of the flowers jumping out from the fabric. I'm hoping that will stay as I topstitch.

Block 7 is an embroidery block so I drew this one out. My following the lines wasn't very good as I usually use fabric solvy to transfer my embroidery patterns but it will be OK. I'm currently deciding on the threads I want to use.

Again I'm having a period of indecision. Do I just outline the quilt or should I add some quilt block patterns to it. I'll think I'll complete the little one and her two snuggly friends before I make a final decision.

I should have had time to complete the stitching on one of these blocks but my younger brother phoned. He's recently had spinal surgery and needed to talk. Still the blocks are all ready to start on tomorrow. I've also chosen the fabric to make block 6 which is pieced and that should go together quickly tomorrow evening.

I was going to cut the fish template and individual fishes for the baby quilt but I forgot to print out the template so I'll do that tomorrow . I have almost enough plain fabric for the fish but I do need to purchase a couple of colours.I can probably do that on the way home tomorrow. I feel I deserve a browse in a quilt shop. 

Today was very tiring or it could just be me getting old so I've decided to go to bed and curl up with my book and Scamp. He loves to cuddle before I settle down to sleep. Richard gave him a bath yesterday so he smells all lovely and fresh and clean. His fur is very soft like hair and it is so relaxing to stroke him. I'm also going to have a chocolate rice crispy cake. I had some rice crispies left over from camp and I bought some chocolate. Melt the chocolate and add the rice crispies and you get super easy chocolate cakes that don't need cooking. Ummm yummy.



I'm going to take the flower block to work with me to stitch during lunch time. The good news here in London is that after tomorrow the weather is supposed to turn milder. It would be lovely if the temperature would go up as I'd feel much more like exercising.

Lyndsey

Hand stitching

Last week was rather frantic at work and as a result I was down on my number of daily steps. I aim to walk 10 to 11 thousand steps a day but I can only achieve that if I go out for a walk. A day at work can give me 3000 steps if I'm in meetings or about 6 to 7000 if I'm teaching. I walk more if I'm teaching because I walk up and down the stairs while meetings usually take place on the same floor as the office. Because of the lack of exercise during the week it's important to get out and about at the weekend and so bring the step average for the week up to a reasonable number. Yesterday was very wet so we didn't take Scamp out but today was dry and clear and perfect for a walk. I took my camera with me as I wanted to get some photos of Scamp but unfortunately he wouldn't co-operate but I did see a great tree I want to draw so I took some photos of it instead.

I just love the texture on the trunk. Following our walk I spent a few hours marking before I needed to cook dinner. Whilst dinner was cooking I got on with some hand stitching. I worked on the two blocks I made from the splendid sampler that needed some embroidery. I stitched around the heart using blanket stitch.

Since my eyes were tired from marking I was very pleased that my stitches were reasonably even. I then added the antennae to the butterflies.

I couldn't make up my mind whether to have all the antenna on the same side or not but in the end decided to make one facing the opposite way. I altered this block slightly from the original pattern as I only wanted to use the three colours. After all patterns are made to be altered....right?

After dinner I pulled out the millennium sampler as I wanted to finish the foot on my horseman. It's such a small addition I didn't take a picture. I'll show you again when I've finished a little bit more of it.  So only a little stitching done today but at least I did some. Block 7 of the splendid sampler was released today so tomorrow after work I'm going to make three blocks. Block 5 is applique, block 6 pieced and block 7 is embroidery. I don't expect to get them finished but I'll certainly make a start. I also want to make the fish template for the baby quilt and maybe start cutting the fish out.

As it's Sunday I'm linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. I can't wait to see what everyone has been up to this week.

I hope you've had a good Sunday with time for some stitching.

Lyndsey

A cold walk and slow stitching

Yesterday we had planned a walk, so after running some vital errands (more dog and cat food and collecting a parcel) John, Scamp and I collected our friend Tony and we drove to The Devil's Punchbowl. The Devil's Punchbowl is a large hollow of dry sandy heath to the west of Hindhead in Surrey, England. The main A3 from London to Portsmouth used to run around the Punchbowl but in 2011 the Hindhead tunnel was opened. We hadn't travel this route since the tunnel opened so we were keen to see how it looked.As I was driving I couldn't take a photo but we were fascinated by the lights as we went through the tunnel, it was very colourful with green arrows and purple lights along the side.

Unfortunately the day wasn't the best for taking photos as at times it was a bit misty. The view across Surrey was good.

Looking down into the punchbowl. There is even more of the hollow out of shot to the left.

The gorse was very pretty.

The area is National Trust property and there was a cafe at the car park so we started our walk with a mug of hot chocolate and when we had finished we enjoyed mushroom soup with homemade bread for lunch. Walking around the top of the punchbowl was very windy and I was grateful when we descended to the bottom. We took the wrong route at the bottom and this made the ascent much steeper than we had planned. The walk wasn't that long as we haven't done any serious walks over the winter. The ascent confirmed that I am not as fit as I was last autumn. 

I underestimated the temperature difference between London and at the top of a hill out in Surrey. I needed to have added another jumper to what I was wearing and as a result I got very chilled. We had the heat on in the car but John, Tony and Scamp were very warm after the walk so I couldn't put it on full which meant when I got home it took a while to warm up and left me feeling slightly unwell. Never mind this morning I'm feeling better and ready to do some sewing later. First I had some laundry to do and the inevitable marking.

So this evening I did a little more work on the millennium sampler. I had hoped to complete the 1066 block but I still have the horseman's feet and spear to do. Hopefully there will be time tomorrow. Here is how it looks. In order to make the chain mail you had to backstitch around every stitch and it took me longer than I'd anticipated.t

I'm creating a shadow as I'm taking the photo but I couldn't find a place to take it that avoided shadows. Never mind I tells you how far I've got.

I'm linking this post with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching  I was also working on this embroidery as my Let's book it project run by Sharon. I may switch to a different embroidery for the next month as there are a lot of fractional stitches and it makes my eyes sore after a while. I'll make my mind up in the next day or two. 

I hope you've had a good February and completed some of your goals and projects. I'm hoping for a warmer March.

Lyndsey

Colouring and things.

Last night I'd planned to get back to my slow stitching during the evening but as time went on I just felt tired and as I didn't want to make a mess of the stitching I decided to do a little colouring whilst watching TV. Kathryn (older daughter) gave me this adult colouring book as a present and although I'd enjoyed looking at it I hadn't done any colouring.

A while back I was given a fabulous set of colouring pencils. The pencils are watercolour pencils but can be used to just colour or used with water.

I spend a happy time colouring whilst watching TV. I had a great time, picking my colours and deciding how I wanted it to look. I still haven't finished the picture but I'm very pleased with how it looks. Meet Ellie the pretty elephant.

I shall be finishing this off probably tonight (if I can stay awake) I like this book because it gives you a detailed picture to colour but on the opposite page gives one with less detail and space for you to draw in your own design.

Opphs my shadow head got in the way of the photo again! I was going to show you some more pictures from the book but there are so many beautiful pictures I couldn't make a choice.

I've done very well for presents recently. Kathryn gave me a cute dog soft toy It has a basket of tea fastened around its neck and was made by a quilter in Hungry.

I've seen this pattern recently in the magazine that I used for the baby quilt. The pattern suggested making the quilt and making the dog to go with it. I've already gifted the quilt but I might make the dog. The quilt was made with 2 1/2 inch squares but I think the dog would look better made with smaller squares.

Today at work the students were teaching each other a skill. They are all healthcare workers but they were asked to demonstrate a skill that had no link to healthcare. One of them showed us how to create a small indoor garden without soil. He gave it to me as a present....mostly because he had a train journey home and it would have been difficult to carry.

It's pretty but I'm going to take some of the glass beads out as I think it would look better with less of them. The students enjoyed the session and it was fun finding out their different skills.

For now I must practice some of my skills and do a little stitchery. Tomorrow I need to get some marking done but tonight is my time.

Lyndsey

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

A walk and lots of slow sorting.

Although rain was predicted the day was dry and quite bright so we rang Tony to see if he wanted to walk with us. We planned to start at Wimbledon common which is only 10 minutes away in the car and then do a circular walk taking in one of the highest points in the area  as well as Putney Heath. I'd already started sorting and organising scraps and it must have affected my brain because I totally forgot the amount of rain we've had recently and so didn't put my walking boots on. 

Scamp was really happy to be out walking, well running in his case. He bounced and ran for the whole 4 plus miles. He wouldn't even stand still for his photos.

Although it was dry it was still very cool so Scamp wore his coat as his fur is fine and short. It was late afternoon as we were walking so the sun was starting to set. As I looked behind me I saw the sun reflected off the buildings. 

Turning back to our route I was in time to get this shot of the sunset

When we got back to the car park the cafe was still open so we all enjoyed a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. Scamp was miffed to only have water. He had enjoyed running through the mud and puddles so his paws were mud encrusted. By this point he was very pleased to be wearing his 'Top Dog' coat.

Back home and having cleaned Scamp I went back to my organising. By the time I finished I had 3 neat piles of 2 1/2 inch squares and 5 inch squares in the plastic bags. All the 5 inch squares are children's fabrics from the various baby quilts I've made and some fabric I was given. The next job is to sort the cut squares by colour.

This pile of fabric and the three full plastic pots are the remainder of my scraps which I need to deal with when next I have time. Hopefully that will be Tuesday evening.

This getting organised really is exhausting. I went through my fabric stash and also through all my ongoing projects, making sure everything was in order. When I went through my stash I used the questions - do I still like and/or love it?, do I have a use for it?, is it part of an ongoing or soon to be started project? There were several pieces of fabric that were put into the bag to go to the charity shop. I made several discoveries including that I don't need to buy any white solid fabric for a while and I took the opportunity to hunt out blue fabric for this month's RSC block which will have to wait until Wednesday to get made.

I have work on 4 days this week but on Tuesday  I'm in Reading so I will get some hand stitching done during the train journey. Otherwise it could be a quiet sewing week. The weather is also supposed to go a lot colder at the end of the week and they say we will get snow. 

Anyway bedtime. Have a good week.

Lyndsey

An odd couple of days

Yesterday and today I was at work and that involved teaching all day. It's not as arduous as it sounds as I know the material I'm teaching so well and it was fun topics. The group yesterday was large with 40 overseas students, all with english as a second or third language. This can be very tiring but the students were very motivated and eager to join in so the day was fun. Today was a much smaller group of home students but again involved a lot of discussion and interaction.. I know I grumble about work at times but you what - I really love my job. The down side is I was too tired to do any stitching yesterday or today but that doesn't mean I wasn't trying or planning to be creative.

Yesterday in reading through the blogs I follow I came across this at Prairie Moon Quilts

Shelly likes to have a theme for the year and this year her theme is cultivating creativity. To help us achieve this she is posting a  challenge a week on a Thursday and inviting folks to join in. The challenges aren't necessarily quilty but some will involve sewing.

This week's challenge was to doodle for at least 30 minutes and see where it takes you and what you produce. Now getting out my sketchbook and doodling away has always been a favourite activity of mine  so I rushed upstairs and pulled my book and box of pens from their hiding place in the cupboard. My eyes were feeling too tired to cope with my cross stitch and this provided the perfect activity. Here's my end product.

š

This evening when I got in from work I sat down with my cup of tea and did my usual read through the posts from the blogs I follow. What grabbed my attention was the title 'resistance' for Kathy's post  What was she resisting? Oh I should never have started to read that post as unlike Kathy I have no resistance for the quilt blocks being offered each month by Sentimental stitches There are 64 blocks, mostly applique being offered over the next 20 months. I've already downloaded this month's blocks. Tomorrow I need to purchase the backing fabric and I'll use my scraps and stash for the applique. Yes I know I wasn't going to start a new project yet but I'm sure I can fit it in if I plan carefully.

This weekend as well as getting on with my quilting I'm going to get to grips with the fabulous birthday present John gave me.

My birthday was back in early December but I needed a memory card  and wanted to have space to read the manual before i started to play. Due to christmas reading the manual wasn't top of my priorities but now I want to find out exactly how this camera performs.

I also haven't fully looked at my christmas present from John and Richard.



When I was a child my father made me a scale model (1/12th scale) of the house we lived in and I loved to play with it but I loved making furniture and accessories for it more. Unfortunately it was completely wrecked by two of my male cousins but I always promised myself that if I had the space I would have a period doll's house. This victorian home is currently packed in the two large boxes it was delivered in as I need to buy a table or cupboard to put it on and it has to be built. First job will be to rub the wood down and decorate it before putting it together. I'm really looking forward to making miniature quilts for the beds and other pieces of embroidery work. I have already warned my children that this will not be a house for any young grandchildren I may have in the future to play with unless they are supervised.

I've still got a little bit of evening left so I'm going to finish now so I can do some hand stitching. John and I were going to walk tomorrow but the weather forecast is very wet  so I shall be sewing instead. There may be several more sewing days as the weather is due to get a lot colder and they are predicting snow as well as rain. The best thing to do in bad weather is stay in and sew.

Lyndsey

The final walk of the year.

This morning was bright and sunny but colder than the weather has been this month so we decided to end the year by walking on Wimbledon common. Scamp thought this was a great idea and couldn't get himself and us ready fast enough. We headed for the windmill car park and then down through the trees to the lake - Queensmere.

The lake was a busy venue for birds with 4 cormorants, mallards, tufted ducks, coots, moorhens and lots of black headed gulls

We like to follow the bridlepath that circles the common. This gives us a walk of about 4 miles which today was very muddy.  Scamp was trying really hard to catch a squirrel but he just isn't fast enough. He also looked very small as he run through the mud and puddles. I thought a puddle might swallow him up but  fortunately he managed to jump clean over most of them.

When Lucy had visited last night she had told us she gathered holly for Christmas whilst walking her dog over the common. This had lead to a discussion of 'what would happen if everyone did that?' So today I was laughing when we reached an area where the undergrowth had been cleared. A notice told us that they had been clearing out the holly which was encroaching all over the common and preventing other species from flourishing.

Scamp, like all dogs loves to run ahead, and then stops for us to catch up.

Once home and with clean dry paws Scamp settled down for a nap. I totted up the miles I've walked this year. Last year John and I took part in the challenge to walk 1000 miles in a year. We achieved that and decided to try to walk 1500 miles this year. I didn't manage that but did manage 1245 miles.

I got the sewing machine out and pieced the back for my 9 patch quilt. I used this fabric and some solid white. The machine was a bit grumbly having not been used for a while but I gave her a gentle stroke and cleaned all the fluff from around the feed dogs and she started to purr along beautifully

I also made the orange and lime blocks for the rainbow scrap challenge. I didn't really have any lime fabric so I just used the green I had.

I think I've nearly caught up but I need to check as I'm not sure I made the brown blocks.

I was given a book on quilting history for Christmas. I'm looking forward to reading this. So far I've only browsed through the pictures. The book was published to support a major exhibition at the V and A museum in London in 2010. I didn't get to the exhibition but I'm planning on visiting their textile collections this year. I also want to visit the current exhibition 'The fabric of India' as it looks really interesting and the fabrics are so beautiful. I need to get a wriggle on as it ends on the 10th January.

Several bloggers I follow keep track of their stash. I decided to let that look after itself so long as it fitted into the space I had to store it. However Sharon at Vroomans Quilt totals her thread usage each year and I thought this would be fun. Here is this years usage.

The two large spools hold 876 yards and the smaller grey spools hold 328 yards making a total of 5,032 yards used. I have used more as I'm only counting the completed spool and quite  a few of my quilting thread are quite low. . Not a great distance compared to many quilters but I'm happy with it  I wonder if I'll travel further in 2016?

Are you staying up to let the new year in? We usually do but I might go to bed as I'm feeling very tired. Richard is working and probably won't be in until 3 or 4 am and it's very quiet here with just me and John. Tomorrow we have Kathryn and Olly coming over for a New Year's dinner which will be fun and if the weather's good we'll take Scamp for a walk.

Hope you enjoy your celebrations.

Lyndsey