Special Delivery

A friend asked me to make 2 custom made bags for her...

 I machine make the bags, 

but I just love to handsew the names and decorations on...

One for David:

 And one for Orlando:

 As Orlando is a special new baby,

he got a special quilt too!

 This time I didn't use a pantograph

 and instead practised what I'd learnt in the class with Ferret,

 and freehand machined the stars.

very enjoyable and much quicker than a panto!

(Now if only I'd insured my mother's Christmas parcel!!! 

Maybe then she would have had her Christmas gifts.

I'm still hoping it's just delayed 

and not stolen by workers in the South African postal service!)

*****

This is the gift I made for Alice in the BQL Secret Santa swap:

Photos of the gifts I made Chookyblue are on my dead laptop,

but hopefully I'll be able to link to that soon.

Christmas Spoils

This year, I joined Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas swap

and was lucky enough to have Denice as my partner.

She made me these cute cinnamon star cookies.

They were so beautifully packaged as a pack of cookies,

but I forgot to take a picture before putting them on the tree...

 The tree was heaving this year 

as the children wanted to put everything on!

 Denice also made me this gorgeous table topper:

In the British Quilt Secret Santa that I joined,

I got Irene who made me the most stunningly modern table mats and coasters

They go perfectly with our new decor.

 Thank you Denice and Irene!

And a wonderful parcel arrived from a dear friend in Germany.

Birgit spoilt me rotten again!!!!

Beautiful fabric:

 My absolute favourite chocolates!

(Both the Mozart Kugeln and the Mon Cherie!!! Nom nom nom!)

and treats for the kids....

 I felt very lucky indeed!

Thank you Birgit!!

On the sewing front...

There's not been much activity with the house move

and the decluttering 

and the constant tidying involved in living so open plan.

However, I have started a baby quilt for a friend...

 And I've started Bonnie's Celtic Solstice Mystery

(part 1 not even nearly completed!!! Oh dear!!)

I'm borrowing my son's computer and feeling the need to be quick

so more to follow as there were quite a few photos on my camera that I should blog...

In the meantime:

Seasons Greetings!

A Mystery

I have just worked out how to upload a photo from my tablet.

These are my colours for Bonnie's new mystery...

We're in a new house and there's no sewing machine here yet

(But there is heating!!!)

If the move, which is just down the road,

becomes permanent my Nolting will be rehoused here too!!

In the meantime I still have access to my studio

and plan to spend plenty of time there

(weather permitting!)

Gone AWOL

I didn't intend to not post for so long, 

but it's all change here at the moment...

My run of bad luck included the heating breaking down

with no chance of repair, and a new boiler a long way off,

my car not starting...

and my laptop refusing to charge up...

Hence no photos :(

I did however receive my secret santa and it looks

FABULOUS!! (Well the decoration does -

I am saving the gift for the big day,

these Secret swaps are the highlight of my Christmas!)

THANK YOU.

I will try post photos soon...

Linus Day at Quilting Antics

Spent a wonderful morning 

at Quilting Antics

sewing underpants

(blocks) together...

The blocks came from all over

and there were loads of us this morning who sewed,

pressed, unpicked, made tea etc etc

to get 7!!! quilts together for Project Linus!

I had to collect a little person from nursery,

but not before all 7 were almost assembled!

Then I left the ladies to baste, quilt and drink more tea...

Great fun!

Workshop with Ferret at High Trenhouse

My LQS (local Quilt Shop)

organised a visit from Ferret 

to come and teach us basic machine quilting.

I love my Nolting Longarm quilt machine,

but don't get as much out of it as I should

so I thought I'd go along and do the workshop

even though we were doing it on regular machine.

(Many principles can be applied from one to another

as I had already discovered in the few months I've had my Longarm.)

Here Ferret is trying to see what the .... 

I have done to my machine LOL:

The setting was High Trenhouse

which is in the middle of nowhere :)

As I feel I already live in the middle of nowhere,

I wasn't exactly getting away from it all,

but as you can see from the view from the workroom window,

it is pretty darn lovely up there

with Malham Tarn in the background...

I learned a lot about my little (and fairly basic) Janome.

The mornings excercises involved using decorative stitches.

My machine has about 4 or 5 usable decorative stitches

and so I was offered another machine 

which I declined as Longarms have no decorative stitches either 

and it's not something that I plan to use very much anyway.

However simply doing what I was told allowed me to learn

so much about needle size, thread weight etc etc.

Things I should know.... But it's a bit like driving a car,

after a very long time 

(and I have been machine sewing longer far than I have been driving!)

you pick up some bad habits!!!

Ferret is a mine of knowledge 

and seemed to enjoy bossing us into shape.

Finally, a teacher who is bossier than me LOL

My Machine:

(With the thread the wrong way up!!)

Just for a giggle,

I took some photos of the other machines being used on the day:

Some had over 200 decorative stitches!

 Amazingly I didn't have stitch envy ;)

And I definitely don't have computer machine envy!!!

At the end of the day, I just want to put my foot down and sew

(bit like driving LOL.)

 There was an amusing incident of people reserving tables

after other people had already plugged in their machines!

So in the end, myself and a sweet lady,

who had never machine quilted ever before,

moved to a table of our own.

She was a great table companion 

and we had an enjoyable day together.

After lunch, we moved on to free-machine quilting

and gradually worked up to some simple designs.

I always get my hearts wonky, but after listening to Ferret

explain her 'theory' on hearts, I hope I never forget!!! ;)

Anthea of Quilting Antics (My LQS)

provided threads for us to try.

In fact the whole day was just great

and I am very grateful that I have a LQS

The afternoon just flew by,

and before I knew it we were packing up :( 

 But not after some fun ways to free machine quilt

and fill small and large areas of quilts...

We then discussed a few UFO quilts

that people (especially me) had brought along

 And helpful suggestions were made....

I came home just wanting to sew sew sew...

Pity I have to cook, clean, wash... ;o) 

*****

On another note, my dear friend just became a Granny!

I thought this ribbon was a great way to 'wrap' a quilt.

What Do You Do In A Quiltshop?

Why you hide around the corner

and take off your clothes, don't you know??!!!

 And when you get found out,

you hide behind a quilt,

because the rule of kid's is

that if you can't see them,

they can't see you!

Jared Takes A Wife in Large Portions

My Jared Takes A Wife quilt

has been quilted.

Just needs binding...

Here's the back... 

 I've also quilted a baby quilt.

Just needs trimming and binding

(are you sensing a theme here...)

And I had a lovely quilty visitor

over the school half-term holidays.

 Anne came to visit and brought me this lovely gift...

Thanks Anne!

Little Things

I'm always busy

(or easily distracted),

this time experimenting with teeny stockings...

One could pop something even teenier in them...

Other small things on the go are these cakes

I made for Little Miss Kalico.

She loves tea parties....

Tea & cake!

My mother sent the boys some crafty things for their birthdays.

It kept them all quiet for a few minutes ;)

And I have finally finished quilting

my super-size 'Jared takes a Wife' quilt...

almost had too little batting...

Phew! Only almost!!!

Family Time

Someone made a snippy comment to me the other day,

they have 2 children and they said:

 "You only have one child more than me!"

Implying I shouldn't make a fuss and I should just get on with it??

Yes I just have one more....

Just one more who is now only 2!

(2nd Birthday cake!)

Just one more who needs constant attention 

or she's likely to spill, break or colour in etc...

EVERYTHING!

Just one more who needs all functions monitoring and supervising.

Just one more who needs mental and emotional stimulation.

Just one more who is at home with me most of the time...

(and I love that soooooooooo much!!)

Just one more, who along with the other 2 

needs feeding, and clean clothes and a clean house and and and...

I'm not complaining!!

I love my 'just one more!'

And my family:

 And the wonder of purple cauliflower!:

 And the vitality of youth:

 And where we live:

And the very occasional lie-in:

 And the sewing that I do get done:

So yes, just one more,

but it's a lot more.

A lot more to love!!