Questions about Quilting

I am in the process of basting my New York Beauty quilt top...

So now I am in a quandry about whether to quilt it with Baptist Fans all going in one direction,

or fans going in the direction of the blocks....

or to quilt it in circles...

... and what thread?

I hope I decide soon or it will remain a UFO for a lot longer *sigh*

Wordless Wednesday

A Shock of Pink!

Pink string quilt, machine quilted and backed in lilac....

(As usual, I made the blocks with solids squares using my 'Double your String Blocks Tutorial'.)

I made this quilt for a friend who is hoping to adopt a little girl. She has decorated the bedroom in Lilac and I do hope this is not going to be too pink...

For those who love pink, I guess you can never be too pink, but for those of us who don't, there is a limit to how much pink is too much LOL.

An obligatory cat picture:

She is a great snuggler especially if it's in a spot that I have just been lying in!

Baby Showers

It stopped raining long enough today for me to take a quick snap of the baby quilt

that I made for my friend and his wife's little baby...

The baby quilt has a lilac backing with white flowers...

Hubby is hard at work in the garden and he has extended the veg patch rather dramatically...

Two more raised beds...

And the area beyond the Christmas tree has been planted up with potatoes and beans.

Just as well I am considering becoming a vegetarian LOL

Abby came to see, had a roll, a wash...

...and was then off across the garden like a lightning bolt!

The Sad State of Affairs

I finished my friend's baby quilt last week, but the weather has been so unbelieveably dark and grim that I have not managed to get a photograph of it yet, so instead of sending it a few days after the baby was born, it will be a week or so before it gets mailed out :-(

But at least now when I am sewing I have company in my messy room...

She doesn't mind the mess or the noisy sewing and washing machines, she just seems to want to be close and that's fine by me!

I SO need to tidy up my sewing area and sort out the overflowing shelves and work surfaces, but with this wet weather I have had to share my limited space with the clothes airer and so there really is (as the saying goes) no room to swing a cat (not that I EVER would swing my precious little furry bundle!!!!!)

I took a photo of my table with the 2 sewing machines on, one in front of the other - I use one sewing machine for making hats and bags and one for making quilts and sometimes, like yesterday, I needed to sew something on both sorts of projects, so my table was full! However, DH had borrowed the camera and hadn't put the memory card back in so I was merrily snapping away and recording nothing of the chaos (probably just as well)...

Wordless wednesday - Bad Kitty!

Stitches (and Vegetables) in Ditches...

I guess from now on, no blog post will exist without my (lazy) quilty cat! :-D

Yesterday I discovered that my friend and his wife had had their baby on Sunday so the baby quilt top that has been sitting around waiting to be basted, quilted and bound needed doing a.s.a.p. With a spurt of energy, I ironed the backing, which I had with some foresight pre-washed last week, and pin basted the quilt. I only S.I.T.D.-ed, but hey, I prefer making tops to finishing them :-)

Then I sewed the binding on. I used this lovely purpley-pink batik I have had in my stash for a while. It's definitely time to use those fabrics I love or someone else will be when I am gone!!

I hope to get it done tonight and then I can move on to another deadline quilt. This one is the novelty or pink string one with a self-imposed deadline by me... I think I need deadlines LOL

On the weekend I finally cut into the charm pack that I won in the raffle when I visited Germany and the Black Forest Quilters. I had donated 2 prizes so was allowed as an exception and a non-member (although I would LOVE to be a member and fly over EVERY month for meetings!!) to buy a ticket.

I saw the pattern in 'Triangle Free Quilts' by Judy Hopkins (Great book!) and have sewed all the charms into these blocks so far.

Obviously (if you know me) I did not do it the same size and obviously (me again!) I am going to change it and add sashings in white similar to Kate's first Baby quilt in this post.

DH has been very industrious in the veg patch this year. I have been designated chief seed sower LOL.

This basically means that my job is to get seeds to seedlings, he then plants the seedlings or mini plants and then takes all the glory. Considering it's back breaking work digging bean trenches, I'll give him his well-deserved praise, although we're going 50/50 with the vegetables (especially the peas) LOL

Sewing Companion

Yesterday I got out of bed and said to my darling husband that I just had to sew today. The past few weeks I have been very low on energy and inspiration, but I had a piece of novelty fabric in pink that I thought would make a nice quilt for a friend's little girl...

I cleared the kitchen table, set up my cutting mat, rotary cutter and rulers and started to cut this large print into what I thought was usable strips....

I cut other solid pinks to go with the large print, but because my novelty print was odd sizes (6.75" and 5.25" to accomodate the design) I suddenly lost my way with it..

Frustrated and desperate to sew something, anything, I grabbed a pile of strings and random strips and sewed a few blocks...

Last night as I was clearing away and cutting solid squares so that I could double my string blocks, I had company...

Lovely purry cat company!

All quiet on the homefront

I have been neglecting this poor old blog because I have not been sewing up to 'post exciting trips to Germany to meet quiltmakers and spend time with wonderful quilty friends' standards.

Sewing-wise though I have been making lots of reversible sunhats for summer...

I love making them because I can handsew the lining in while watching TV (not that I watch much TV, but when I do...)

The boys and I went to the beach by train on the long weekend, but we ended up in the cinema and market to escape the howling wind. In the market I bought ice creams for the boys and lots of yummy wool for me...

(The bonus about having a four-year old is that he only eats half an ice cream, so I technically got wool AND ice cream too LOL)


The weather has been very dry. Windy, very windy, but sunny too. So lots of time has been spent in the garden. Growing seeds, starting a little flower bed...

And letting Abby explore outside (making sure that the door is open so that she can charge back in when something startles her... ;-0 )


April was really busy with lots of overnight guests and even a birthday for me. I was spoilt by my friend's daughter who made me this magnificent cake when they came to stay:

And Vicky made me this gorgeous bag out of a sweater that I had worn, loved and managed to shrink in the wash. Thanks Vicky, I love it!

Next year is a BIG birthday for me. I will have to change my gift motto which is usually 'If I can't eat it, drink it or bath in it, I don't want it' to 'If it isn't slimming, anti-ageing and in an easy to open container, I can't use it' :-D