Finished at last

In September 2012 I started work on a quilt that appeared as a block of the week at Grandmother's Choice . The blog is written by Barbara Brackman and the theme was celebrating 'Votes for Women' There were 49 blocks in total for the quilt and over the weeks I got horribly behind. I also found some of the blocks really difficult to piece. In fact I'm amazed that I stuck with it and finally finished the quilt and gave it to my older daughter Kathryn.

I chose to make the quilt using the colours of the Women's Social and Political Union in the UK - green white and purple.  The blocks I found difficult included this one. It finished a little squiffy but I'm so impressed I made it

The bottom two blocks in this photo also caused several problems, especially the circular one (yes the one join is off).

Unfortunately I was unable to take the quilt outside to get a good photo. I would have loved to have left it on my bed but I had promised it to Kathryn.

I had fun with the quilting. On a lot of the blocks I quilted in the ditch around the pieces. I love the 'puff' effect that you get as a result. The sashing has a leaf trail along it and on the white cornerstones I quilted a daisy. The border was a large meander. As the quilt is large my shoulders and back were aching by the time I'd finished.

I bound the quilt with the same purple fabric as the sashing. I love the effect you get looking at the rolled quilt.

A while back I made a large tote bag with the intention of it being a gift bag for the quilt. Kathryn was very pleased with both her quilt and the bag.

It was great to have finished this quilt but I now feel like there's something missing. Never mind I still have other UFO's to work on and I need to get on with quilting Richard's quilt.

I'm linking this post with Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts and Thank Goodness it's a Friday Finish

Wishing you all a happy weekend.

Lyndsey

Think Ruffles.

Another fun hop organised by Madam Samm over at Sew We Quilt and with lovely Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy as our cheerleader. I've been thinking ruffles since this hop was announced and had so many different ideas. But.. all the ideas were thrown out the window by a little accident. Oophs! A very fortuitous accident as it happened and one where no one got hurt.

Three weeks ago at Brownies one of the girls was getting something from our cupboard and she came across a gold pot. The pot was our crock of gold from Rainbows which we use to put prizes and badges in.  She thought the pot was so pretty that she ran to show her friend and oophs fell over her own feet and dropped it. The pot which was a terracotta plant pot shattered and the Brownie burst into tears. 

Having cleared up the mess, calmed the girl down and explained what the pot was for the Brownies wanted to make something to replace it.  This led to a big discussion and I suggested they might like to make a bag and if they put ruffles on it I would put a picture of it on my blog for this blog hop.  Of course I had to explain what a blog is and how a blog hop works. Once they knew they thought it was a great idea and got out the fabric box.

Two girls made the bag over the next two weeks but they all learnt how to make ruffles. They are very pleased with the results and the bag will be given to the Rainbows this week. Now all the girls want to make a bag using my sewing machine so this will run along side the main programme.

Showing the girls how to use the machine was fun as was teaching them to make ruffles. So the accident was good because it has started an interest in sewing for some of the Brownies. I hope they get as much pleasure from it as I have. Tonight is Brownies I have to take my computer with me so I can show them the picture of the bag. they are thrilled that something they have made will be on the internet.

So the item for this hop is not exactly my project but I helped cut the fabric and I showed them how to use the machine, make the ruffles and I sat next to them whilst they made it. 

Now you need to go and see what the rest of today's participants have to show you.

March 12th 

Quilted Delights

Patchwork Breeze

Sheila's quilt world

vicky myers creations

Words & Stitches

Sew Many Yarns

Sew and Sow Farm

Have a great Wednesday.

Lyndsey

August Finishes and NewFO

This month has been a bit of a whirl wind month due to our two week camping trip with our Guide unit in Switzerland. We got back yesterday and have still got to collect our camping kit and get the tents dry as it decided to rain overnight on Thursday. Because I knew it was going to be busy I only set myself a few goals this month. So here is my round up of what I achieved which I am linking with Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs for @A lovely year of finishes' linky party and with Barbara at Cat Patches for her NewFO linky party.

I set myself 4 goals this month. First one was to finish my swoon quilt top. I have now decided to call this Happy Anniversary. Yippee I actually finished this top and I am so pleased with how it looks.

I took the top outside to get a better picture  but this was the best I could do as it was fairly windy. Now all I've got to do is decide how I'm going to quilt it and what fabric to use for the back. I have had some very helpful comments from my followers and will be making my decisions soon.

My second goal was to finish my Hexie Queen project. For this I made a hexagonal table topper to sit under my fruit bowl. The topper is called fruit bowl and I love the fruit fabrics I used to make it. I had to take this to Switzerland with me as I hadn't finished sewing on the binding. This was my NewFO for the month. 

My third goal was to work on my 'It's a dogs life' embroidery. I haven't touched this at all this month. I decided not to take this with me as I didn't want it getting dirty or worse still lost.

My final goal was to work on my 'Votes for Women' BOW as I am rather behind. Unfortunately I didn't get to make any of the blocks. Still I should be able to catch up over September.

I did finish one of my June NewFO's. I'm very pleased with this bag and intend making another one.

Not a great month for sewing but at least I finished the quilt top. Now I need to think about my September plans and some time this year I want to start on my own anniversary quilt. I have all the fabric I need, I just need to get my act together.

Use the links in the top paragraph or the buttons in the side bar to visit the linky parties and see what everyone has been up to. I'm off to stroke some fabric and dream of what I will sew this month. I'm not going to do anything tonight as I know I will make lots of mistakes but I will be fully rested by Monday and will be eager to get back to my sewing machine. 

Lyndsey

Happy Anniversary Top Finished

I've had a great week of sewing. Although I am trying to get all organised for our trip to Switzerland on Tuesday I have managed to finish both a quilt top and my bag. I posted about the bag earlier in the week but just because I like the picture here it is again.

and a close up of the centre panel. I still haven't decided if the flower needs a button or something to give the centre detail.

Getting that project finished would have been great on its own but yesterday evening I sewed the final border piece to my Swoon quilt which I have named Happy Anniversary since it is for a friend's 25th wedding anniversary. This morning I took it to the common when we walked Scamp to try and get a reasonable photo.

There was the distinct possibility of rain in the air and the wind was a little blowy which meant it was impossible to find somewhere to lay it out without the risk of it blowing away. However you do get to see how well the red and the purple work together.The grey solid is called silver and looks more silvery in person. The red looks like a solid here but has a tone on tone design on it which you can see a little better in the photo below. I love that you get different patterns within the blocks depending on how you use the medium and dark fabrics. My friend told me her favourite colours are red and purple. When I started the top I thought it was a great idea to use both colours but then I went through a panic that it would look awful. Now I'm really pleased with the final result.

While I'm away I need to decide on what colour backing fabric I want. Could be red, purple, silver or white. If you've got any thoughts please leave a comment. When I get back this top needs to turn into a finished quilt as soon as possible as the anniversary was back in July. 

I'm taking part in a 'Lovely Year of Finishes' at Sew Bittersweet Designs and I'm linking this post with the mid month linky party. I'm also linking up with Richard's Link a Finish Friday , Can I get a whoop whoop and Amy's TGIFF Why not go and check out what everyone has been doing.

I've got the rest of today and some of tomorrow to sew before I leave my machine behind for 2 weeks. I've already sent hand sewing in my personal kit. All the camping and personal kit is travelling by truck and we fly out on Tuesday. I will be posting photos of our trip both on this blog and on Guides Have Fun. I hope you'll join us on our trip.

Enjoy your day

Lyndsey

Bags of room

Over the summer I try to catch up with all those jobs that just don't fit into the time available through the year. Running Rainbows, Brownies and Guides I always seem to be behind with the paperwork and the accounts. plus you have to plan for the next year as it does run much smoother with an overall plan. Along with that plan is the need to have something to keep and carry the books and records for the groups and this is where my June NewFO came in

I decided I wanted to make a large bag for the books that would be colourful and could be carried on my shoulder. There is a gate and door to unlock to get into the hall where we meet so you need your hands free.

The pattern I chose was designed by Emma Corbett and Lisa Harper for Buttonberry and is designed to use a charm pack. However I found some fabric I loved and so cut my own charms.

I very quickly finished the front of the bag. It was meant to be done quilt as you go but I didn't have any batting so I stitched the blocks together and quilted it later. Here we are in August and over the last two days I found time to finish the project.

It went together very easily The flower and heart were hand appliquéd using buttonhole stitch onto the background. I'm still considering putting a button centre to the flower. I did a line of stitching 1/4inch away from the heart itself and I quilted the backing fabric with a small meander. The rest of the bag was quilted in the ditch.

I'm pleased with the finished bag and it is very roomy. Finished size is 18 X 18 inches with  41/2 inch side and base panels. 

Having made the bag I'm now in a quandary. I can either use it as my bag for carrying what I need each week for my guide meetings or I could use it as a present bag for a project I am currently working on. It would be big enough and means the recipient actually gets two presents in one. I just can't make up my mind. Either way I need to make a second bag. Quilting is self generating, you finish one project and it immediately generates another. 

I called my post bags of room. Over the last few weeks I've been organising my scrap fabric. I've cut some into 5 inch and 2 1/2 inch squares. Some has become rectangles and the bigger pieces have been ironed and folded properly. It seems I now have lots of room for more fabric so maybe I'll need a shopping trip before work starts again next month.

I'm going to try and finish up my swoon quilt top over the next couple of days and I must finish my project for the hexie blog hop. I hope you have a good day today.

I'm linking this post with Connie's linky party at Freemotion by the river Why not go and see what everyone has been doing.

Lyndsey

HO HO HO

Welcome to my day on the HO HO HO blog hop. I've had such fun popping over to visit and see what everyone has made. As always there are lots of great ideas.  For my project I wanted to fill a small gap in my Christmas decorations. I have a Christmas table runner for my dinning table that I made last year, I have an advent calendar which we have used for several years now. The calendar is more fun now the children are grown up as they don't pinch the sweets ahead of the date.....or was that dear husband? I've also got a lovely Christmas pillow that I made last year for the Holiday Lane hop. So what was I missing,

Well I wanted a table topper for my coffee table and I also wanted a Christmas star. So for this project i combined them together and came up with a table topper made using Christmas fabric and the rising star block. I had to buy in fabric as I only had very small scraps left from last year. My Christmas Tree which stands in our living room is always decorated in gold and red so I wanted my table topper to match since they would be in the same room.

This is my completed table topper. It measures 15 inches square. The little camera I've used doesn't show the true colours. Unfortunately my camera just stopped working a couple of weeks ago and has to go back to Nikon for repair, I love the gold fabric and I wish I'd been able to buy more but the FQ was the last piece of it in the shop. The table topper is quilted in the ditch with gold top thread and red bobbin thread. The backing fabric is a red solid. I'm sorry I forgot to take a photo of the back which is silly because I spent ages enjoying how the quilting looked on the back.

I have also started a piece of cross stitch called O Christmas Tree. It's a DMC kit. I haven't taken a photo of my stitching as it is just blue half cross stitch. Instead of starting at the middle of the piece I started on the mid line  of the length and to the right of the tree which means I'm just stitching sky. Having just finished a piece of embroidery with lots of single stitches it is nice to work on a piece with an area of solid colour. This will be completed in time for Christmas but I doubt it will be this year. Most likely it will be ready for Christmas 2014.

As this hop started my Christmas preparations I decided to make some more mini tote bags. I made them last year to use as present bags. I had used up most of my Christmas fabrics making them  but I had this one cut out and waiting to be stitched. Some of them I quilted with an all over meander pattern but this one is stitched in the ditch. A trip to my local quilt shop restocked my supply of Christmas fabric and I've now got 10 cut out and waiting to be stitched together.

I must thank Madame Samm for organising this hop and Carol our cheerleader for keeping us motivated and on track. Here is the schedule for today. Go and visit everyone and see what they've been creating.

August 2

Quilt Doodle Doodles

life, quilts and a cat too

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Ridge Top Quilts

Editha

Stitchin By the Lake

Quilts, Fabric and Thread Tales

Sew Many Yarns

Kwilty Pleasures

Kris Loves Fabric

52 Quilts in 52 Weeks

Robin’s Fabric Nest

It's been lovely to have you visit. I hope you pop by again. Have a great day.

Lyndsey

Cutting, organising and Liebster Award

Yesterday it snowed all day and I was hopeful that they might close the university and I could have some extra sewing time. Unfortunately it wasn't really cold enough for the snow to settle and build up so I caught up on my paperwork and generally reorganised my work life. Today I'm off and as it is raining/sleeting I've been cosily settled indoors organising my sewing projects and cutting out.

First up was my Nancy Drew piece for the 'is a clue' blog hop taking place from March 6th. Click the button on the side bar for more details. It has taken me ages to decide what I wanted to make but last night while just drifting off to sleep warm and snug in bed I had an idea. I had bought a Nancy Drew charm pack so today I cut some of it into 21/2 inch squares and I cut some white fabric. Still a few bits to cut from other fabric but this is the start of the project.

I also like to take some knitting or stitching with me to work either for working on during the journey or in my lunch break. Last year Scarlett from Chile was my partner in a mini quilt swap and with the adorable mini she had made she sent me a little pouch.

Now I hadn't decided what I was going to use the pouch for until yesterday when my bag with my stitching in broke.  So this morning I moved my bits into this one. It has so much room that I am able to carry a couple of mini projects which is great in case I change my mind on what I want to work on.

Later this evening I must cut out some more hexie templates. I printed off another 300 today but they still have to be cut out. A tedious job but it's all part of English paper piecing. If I keep the picture small it will stop the job being too daunting.

I then spent some time stitching more of my granny blocks. I've now made 34 of the 49 blocks I need. I was hoping to get them all finished today but my older daughter has just phoned to say she and her boyfriend will be at home for dinner tonight so that will have to be put on hold. The next big job with this quilt is cutting out the sashing and borders. It's looking very good to have this top finished by the end of the month.

Finally Lynne from Never too hot to stitch nominated me for the Liebster Award which is odd because I had been reading about it on another blog a few days ago. The origins seem to be lost in time and the rules (not rules but information on how it works), seem to have changed over the years. So what exactly is it?

The Liebster Award isn't an award that involves prizes or certificates, which is a great shame as I love presents and prizes. In fact it is a little like a chain letter (but doesn't make any threats - would quilters do such a thing!) It is for people whose blogs have under 200 followers. How it works seem to change but the gist is that the person nominating poses 10 or 11 questions for the person receiving it to answer and so people get to know more about you. You then pass the nomination forward to other blogs. It appears that originally the nomination was passed forward to 3 to 5 people but it has increased now to 11!

Anyway I am happy to accept this nomination from Lynne and will be answering the questions she has posed in my next post. I will then pass the nomination forward to 3- 5 people. I feel that if it is passed to too many people, in a very short time it will take up all of blogland and we wont get to see any lovely fabrics or projects. Since I'm about to start a fabric and calorie controlled diet for Lent I need to be able to enjoy the sight of everyone's yummy fabrics. However if you want me to pass it forward to more blogs I will.

I linking this post with Connie at Freemotion by the river for her Tuesday Linky party.

Don't forget to visit Madame Samm for today's schedule for the Hugs and kisses blog hop. There is sure to be lots of lovely ideas for valentines day. 

Happy stitching

Lyndsey

In your own words.

Today is my day on the 'In your own words' blog hop. Many thanks to Madame Samm for organising the hop and to Linda from Buzzing and Bumbling for doing a really great job as our cheer leader. For this hop we were asked to tell you something about ourself using words in any way we liked. I spent a lot of time thinking about my project for the hop. I wanted to make something I needed, that would be useful and that I would enjoy making. Oh and time was a very important factor as I have only limited time for sewing and several big projects started or planned.

So from my stash I pulled these fabrics.

Seeing that lovely fabric with the knitting needles and yarn you have probably guessed that I decided to make a knitting tote. My old knitting bag had to be retired a few years ago due to old age and a lot of holes. Since then I have used recycled plastic bags to keep my projects together and clean. However this isn't very safe with pets around that like to nose into bags to see what's going on and also isn't environmentally friendly. 

The knitting fabric already has several knitting terms on it such as 'slip one', 'knit one' and 'check gauge   but I wanted to add some words of my own. Using the embroidery stitches on my Elna 6600 I embroidered Stay calm and knit around the maroon band. I hadn't used the alphabet on this machine before and it took a little time to remember how to enter the letters into the memory so it would embroider as a phrase. Once I'd remembered it stitched up very quickly. Just as I finished it I remembered I had a digital copy of the manual on my computer!

I practised my FMQ doing a loopy pattern over the bag but not on the band with the lettering. I have finally managed to master getting the stitches an equal length and moving the fabric smoothly. I've decided that FMQ is a bit like learning to drive (especially a car with a gear shift). When you first start learning there seems to be too many things to concentrate on - while you work on one thing another goes slightly awry. So I've now reached the point of being a very early novice with FMQ rather than a total disaster area. Unfortunately my loops and squiggles don't really show up in the photo.

For the lining I used some polka dots - they seem appropriate for any project.

It felt good to be putting my latest knitting project - a jumper for my older daughter - into my new knitting tote. It's very roomy and all the items for the project including the completed pieces fitted in with ease.

Everything now looks neat and tidy and the tote doesn't look out of place next to my favourite chair in the living room all ready for me when I want to relax and knit while I watch a programme on TV.

So does this project tell you anything about me. Yes it tells you that as well as quilting I also knit.   The words I have machine embroidered on the band form a continuous sentence with no full stops between each phrase. This is because if I am calm I knit but also if I knit I stay calm.  

Let me show you some things I've knitted in the last year. First there were 15 baby blankets that I knitted for Project Linus. I also knitted several prem baby hats.

Then there was a little knitted rabbit for Isabel, the daughter of a friend of my son's, who was born in May 2012

There was a baby blanket for Isabel. This was fun to do because the pattern was slightly more intricate but still relaxing to knit.

Squares for blankets to be given to Battersea Dog and Cats Home. I love the paw print.

I helped Lucy, my younger daughter, knit an elephant as a birthday present for a friend

I'm currently knitting a jumper for my older daughter. The back and front is finished and I've started the first sleeve. It's in chunky wool so knits up quickly.

and finally, I still have to finish this jacket for me. Unfortunately I have been having too much fun quilting to finish this before. I have also agreed to knit some more blankets for Project Linus.

There you have it, a little more information about me. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and now go and visit the rest of the ladies posting today. Since the hop started there have been lots of lovely and creative items made so relax and enjoy.

Wednesday, January 16

My Collection of Things  

Quiltin' Jenny  

Shade Tree Quilting 

(Rosemary B.) at “that other blog”

Pat Sloan, The Voice of Quilting 

Dachsies With Moxie  

Sew Many Yarns You are here.

Tomorrows Treasures Today 

The German Mom  

Christa Quilts 

Read, Quilt, Cook, Pray 

Sew We Quilt  

Planning ahead here are 2 fun events coming up later this month.

1. Grow your Blog Party on the 19th January. This is being organised by Vikki at 2 Bags Full. It isn't too late to sign up. No sewing needed to join in. The link here will take you to the information about it.

2. Dare to Dresden Blog hop organised by Madame Samm and with Christine from Quilt monster in my closet as our cheerleader. The hop runs from January 24th to the 31st ( not over the weekend). My day is January 25th.

Happy Sewing 

December NewFO, the last one of 2012

I love starting new projects they are always so exciting, the choice of the pattern and the fabrics even deciding on the size. Starting a new project also makes me work a little faster or longer on  a work in progress so that it doesn't fall too far behind. So all in all NewFO at Cat Patches gives me a win win situation.

So what have I started in December. I've managed to convince myself that I haven't done very much sewing but starting to write this post has made me realise this isn't entirely true.  To start with I finished off my 6 mini tote bags and used them as gift bags.

They were such a success that I might have to make more next year. 

I started a Christmas table runner. I didn't want the runner for use this Christmas which is a good job as it isn't finished yet. I decided to make a pinwheel design. By the time I had cut this out the only Christmas fabric I had was my Cherry Christmas jelly roll I had won earlier in the year.

There are 7 pinwheels in the piece as I wanted a long runner. It has now had the borders added and is ready for the quilting. I plan on finishing it by the end of this week so it can go in the Christmas box to be stored in the loft until next year.

At the end of November NewFO post I said I had started cutting the fabric for a Christmas quilt. I had in fact cut one strip of my jelly roll and that was on the 1st December so it is a December start. I had seen several granny square blocks and rather liked them so I decided this was what I would make my quilt with. I had also seen great granny squares - there is an extra row round the block - and I quite liked this as an idea. However as I started to play with the fabric I decided to stick at granny squares as it give greater flexibility with the use of the fabric.

I have sewn 14 blocks so far but as I want a large quilt I have a long way to go. I decided I would square the blocks up once I had sewn them all. I'm sorry the photos are so poor but the light here today is awful as yet again it's raining. I think I'm developing webbed feet and quack quack quack ......

I also managed to fit in sewing a tea cosy for each of my daughters. They'd both been complaining their tea gets cold very quickly.

Barbara asked us to share any finishes from the 2012 NewFO if we wanted to. I started linking in August and since then I have finished up all the projects I have shared except the table runner and quilt shown this month and the grandmother's choice Votes for women BOW quilt which doesn't finish until August 2013. That's because all the projects I've started since August have been small ones and therefore easy to complete in a short time. Next year I have some big projects planned so I probably wont be able to say that next December 31st. 

My favourite projects I have posted about as a NewFO were the two mini quilt swaps I took part in. 

I plan to take part in a couple of mini quilt swaps in 2013.

I've taken part in a couple of blog hops - the wicked hop and Holiday Lane. I have already signed up for a blog hop in 2013 as I found them such fun to take part in and I've made some good friends in blogland as a result.

I still have 4 work in progress pieces to finis. 3 of them I started about May and my millennium cross stitch sampler was started Christmas 1999 and is still not quite finished. The cross stitch should be finished by February. The grandmother's garden English patchwork quilt is completely sewn by hand and I plan to finish it by the end of the year excluding the quilting. The dresden plate wall hanging needs the final border sewing on and then is ready to be quilted which I'm going to do by hand. The other quilt I should have finished by now but I've been having too much fun doing other things.

So that is me about done for 2012. I'm excited about what I will be making in 2013 and need to be very careful not to waste time if I'm to finish the bigger projects. So it's goodbye to the 2012 NewFO button at the top of the page and welcome to the new 2013 button. Go and visit Cat Patches to see what everyone else has been up to in December.

All that remains is for me to wish all of you and your families a very happy New Year.