What's going on here lately...?

Here's a few snippets of life as I know it at the moment, in this glorious season, when there is hardly a moment to spare. I thought I'd take a bit of time to reflect and share:

I did a bit of felting at school, at a workshop inspired by advent

This one is upside down...ouch!

I quilted some teeny bits to make coffee pot warmers

I bought some sparkly goodies from the pound shop

made a papier mache moose head, adorned him with lights and Max's decorations of peace, love and goodwill

and have gazed at a wonderful square of fabric sent all the way from New York....now what to do with it?

Blessings duly counted.

Hope you too are having a lovely beginning to the advent season. x

In the Pipeline

Not for the faint hearted!

My camera doesn't do the colours justice ..they gel alot better in real life. As soon as I've started to sew and its possible to move it closer to natural light, you'll get a better idea. But I tell you what...I'm LOVIN it!!

Inspiration

A couple of snaps from the subway near the Elephant and Castle tube station!

Gives you an idea or two...?

Project Linus September in Shipley, Heanor

They came in their droves...

Some on their bikes...

They saw the sign....

Standing room only!!

Saturday morning saw a prompt start to a fabulous turnout of quilters and knitters to the Parish Room at Shipley (20 folk all-in-all, a record turnout).
Not only did these wonderful women arrive and immediately set to and make some inspiring quilts and blankets on the day, but many came laden with bags of items , completed since the last session. Some from themselves and some from absent friends, who couldn't make the date. One batch of tiny hats came from an elderly mother who knitted around 50 of these bonny coloured bonnets despite having one eye and a cataract - a 'life saver' her daughter described the goal of knitting for this much loved cause.

The word of our Shipley Linus sessions had spread to Cornwall, as a friend of one of our regular knitters pledged her support in the form of 2 beautiful  neonatal blankets ..plus 2 more from a friend of hers...passing on the goodwill.

We sewed, chatted, knitted, shared ideas until we ate a well earned lunch of hearty Autumnal soup and crusty hot rolls...(thanks to the generosity of our funders UK Coal) and then continued into the afternoon. This saw the unveiling of our huge roll of wadding as quilts drew near completion (how on earth did Mary Ann get that whopper in her car and still manage to drive??"!!) her car has all the traits of Dr Who's tardis!!

Knitters nattering

Ingenious blocks made of recycled mens shirts

Industrial extension leads were called for!!

As 4 'o'clock beckoned, the day slowly drew to a close - eager to know the date of the next meet up, we reluctantly packed every scrap away. And the tot-up of the 'Glory Pile' of quilts commenced:

Knitted baby quilts                                 x 18
Quilted baby quilts                                 x 4
Incubator quilts                                      x 32
Quilts (biggies!)                                      x 15
Hats                                                      x 116

plus 2 Laura Ashley 'shabby chic'vintage fabric quilts made with the sole purpose of raffling or autioning to secure the rent for another couple of Linus days in the Shipley Parish Room.

What a glorious end to the day!!!

The return of the mojo!!

At last the cogs are churning and the needles are flying..thanks to a lovely Project Linus sewing day with my dear friend and Linus partener in crime Mary Ann..I found the inspiration to start creating another quilt. This picture is particularly lousy but you get the gist. I LOVE the whole process, how snippets of inspiration hit you and you combine techniques and ideas to make something quite personal.
Firstly by thumbing through Material Obsessions (beautiful book - I do a link up later) I thought I would tackle a scrapbuster of a quilt. 4 blocks in and a whole day has passed and my will to carry on with the thought of another 20 blocks to conquer was waining. So in a 'quick fix' sort of a mood I trawled through my fabrics and came across about a metre square of a beautiful soft furnishing remnant/sample piece that I picked up at a charity shop and seemed perfect colourwise. Having made the borders to my 4 blocks, I started thinking about the GEEs Bend quilters and how they quilted with little or no mod cons - no rotary cutters for them..and started to rip big slices of two georgous remnants recently acquired (some £2 curtains with great big cabbagey flowers and another £1.99 remnant from local charity shop possible lightweight curtains) and I really enjoyed mixing the weights of the fabrics, it really didn't detract from 'the look'. I have echoed the four inner blocks with giant 10" outer blocks ..then bordered with some linen/ticking tablecloth that has been looking for the right home,
By Jimminy, I'm lovin it!! Its growing quickly and is forever open to twists and turns as the fabric takes me on its own journey. When I suss out the photography element of new Blogger, there will be more photos,
Bye for now. It took months but it's sussed now!!

Been Away.....

 Life has got in the way of blogging recently and so it should!... This is one of my lovely boys during a weekend that some would say was a wild goose chase but I would maintain that it was a learning experience, and a gift of some time together to create memories of adventures of times when sometimes you have to just...jump in...give it your best shot...and keep your fingers crossed .Some you win and some you lose...and often what you win isn't what you'd hoped but nevertheless is a priceless unexpected gem gifted by the universe.

unsure...and thinking about it....

Borders...shmorders

and of course without a border...its TOO SMALL.........rats!!

I'm audioning borders for my quilt as you go. I fancy using coduroy as its a substantial weight and I have 2 scraps that are gagging to be used... but are they right for it...I'm not convinced.

Project Linus 2012 style

Oh how I wish I styled this photo a bit better!! This one in the foreground was an amazing quilt - made from men's shirts gathered from charity shops. bordered and backed with calico and hand tied with a brownish silk. Kath really made a fantastic job, it even has a pocket here and there salvaged from the shirts. Because its hand tied and not quilted by machine or hand, it has a lovely loftiness about it. A mCuhh9]Octor!!
These quilts were handed in, before we sxwpc|JRik)on - whick means that our little group must have sewn and knitted over 50 quilts, thanks to 2 sessions and alot of home-work. How brilliant!! and to say that some are first time quilters too -a fine bunch of wonderful women (and one small star of a boy!!) Now we start afresh and start to count again for 2012.....!!

This yellow fabric is recycled duvet and curtains...quite zingy

Here are some of the busy bees...15 joined in this time

and here's another one being made from the shirt blocks..perfect for boys. I love the reds and oranges

Huge thank yous to all those wonderful ladies that ventured out even with the threat of bad weather advancing...and the snow did start about 3 pm. It was a lovely atmosphere and some fantastic quilts were started. We will be back again in force in May!! Watch this space.

Guerilla Knitting

Just wanted to share these images with you on the same day that I learnt to crochet...(Big thank you to my dear friend Mary Ann who shared a link to a great tutorial...more to come on that)

This HAS to be my very favourite,,,and my next project!!!!!

Quilt-as-you-go Scrap Buster!!

This is my new love! I've always wanted to have a bash at Quilt as you go..and through one link or another I stumbled across this..here
Its not a tradional way, as you don't add the backing until last, therefore the back won't be technically quilted, just a bit of stichin in the ditchin! But it has meant that I can test out a few new stitches on my new machine and the quilt top will be lovely and quilted.
At the moment I'm not sure how big to go, I might stop at 9 squares, add a Q.A.Y.G. border and then hand tie with a button on each square and use as a throw...not sure yet...and I'm getting impatient!!

each square of batting starts out approx 14 inch square

each oblong of fabric..I didn't use a ruler...is sewn log cabin style and quilted as it is layed down

I'm currently hiding from the Quilt Police as there are some VERY DODGY stitches that are TOO nicely in focus!!

BUT who would know and I won't tell if you don't...

This is a really fun approach, a brilliant scrap buster, so far I have only shelled out for a metre of cotton batting. I have some backing that might be JUST right but thats another story.

Project Linus day of quilting on Saturday here in Derbyshire..we have a machine you could borrow, we have the fabrics and the batting ...we even have lunch. If you're free and would like to spend a day quilting for a VERY good cause - let me know and I'll forward you details  .

BOM meets Project Linus! Finished at Last..

Saturday, January 14, 2012

BOM meets Project Linus! Finished at Last..

Thank you Victoria for encouraging me to complete this quilt in time for the 16th BOM quilt deadline - I've really enjoyed the whole process. I combined my Hybrid T- Rose   BOM (x 2 plus a couple of mini ones)with some donated blocks for Project Linus to make a quilt for the project to be distributed locally in Derbyshire.
When I was wondering about how to put it all together you guys at 15 mins helped with tips and colour suggestions - so I added red and some navy - and its been a real joy to stitch as close up, these fabrics and colours are enough to make your heart sing!

I've quilted the rose in a 'liberated'spiral!

Backed with bubblegum pink fleece and finally a binding of a recycled navy and white dress fabric

Mostly I've quilted in the ditch, but on these leaves I've quilted with some horizontal stitching - plus I picked out the stars and quilted around them

Wonderful mixture of vintage and new fabrics - my favourit bit is on some text fabric that mentions Tea Roses - I LOVE IT!!

So again, thank you for the inspiration - sorry there wasn't more more BOM's within it ...but I'm recycling ...what can I say??!!