Gifties for Good Friends

I was lucky enough to be able to combine our trip

to Wimbledon with a visit to my quilty friend Kate.

I made her a little something with African fabrics
because for months (years?) we swapped African blocks

and I sort it sort of made sense :)

I also made her panda-loving son
a pencil case and coin purse to thank him

for giving up his room for us...

I haven't downloaded my tennis photos yet,

but will do that after I've taken some photos

of my latest finishes.

Beautiful Baby Boy!

Isn't it wonderful

when you get sent some photos

of a beautiful baby boy

on a quilt you made them!

Last year when I was in a full leg plaster-cast after

my 4th surgical leg correction,

Aga came and helped us out.

This year she has had her own little bundle of joy!

What a cutie!

He is a perfect quilt model

and it definitely helps that his mother

is a professional photographer.

I hope he gets lots of enjoyment on and under his quilt.

And thank you to Aga for sending me such lovely photos.

***

Here is his Mum

last year with Baby-Kalico.

They were very fond of each other...

And here's another photo from last year...

This one is of my plaster cast decorated by my youngest son

to make it look like I had a pair of sandals on :)

Wordless Wednesday - The Patchwork Cat

Wimbledon Hats - Take Two

As Mother suited the smaller hat

of the two hats that I had made

I gave her that one,

which left me with the larger hat.

I felt that this one in comparision

didn't have the same va-va-voom so to speak.

I was about to make yet another hat

when my husband suggested I just fancy this one up a bit...

So it's no longer reversible,

As I put a band around it

and made some roses

The band has made it a bit snugger

and a much better fit for me...

I just hope the sun shines for us now!

*****

I will be staying overnight with a dear friend

after the tennis

so I made her a little something...
She may or may not read my blog before my visit,

so here is only the tiniest of sneaky-peaks!

More to follow, when it's been gifted.

More Red & Green Appleauce (and a Traffic Jam)

42 blocks...

Untrimmed...,

so I can see why the pattern calls for so many.

Once trimmed and then sewn together

they will get lot smaller.

I am only getting time to sew on them now and then

so this quilt is not growing particularily fast!

*****

If I am not reversing out the way of a tractor

or a milk lorry, it's the neighbour's sheep...

Honestly, the 'traffic' around here is terrible :)

Wimbledon Hats

Mother and I have been fortunate enough

to get tickets to Wimbledon this year.

Neither of us have ever been...

So we are both super excited!

I'm hoping the weather will be kind to us...

As I've made us both reversible sunhats!

Both hats can be worn with either the green

or the purple facing out

And both hats have brooches that

can be used any way you wear your hat

or on your raincoat lol

On Being Anonymous & Other Works in Progress

My mother sent me a really strange text message the other day...

something about my blog and that she loved me

even though I was anonymous.

So I phoned her up and asked her what she was on about.

She said her friend subscribes to a UK patchwork

magazine and had seen my blog as June's Blog of the month.

At first I was flattered, but then

she went on to say that I was anonymous

and had lots of pictures, but not many words

(makes me sound a bit simple lol).

Now I don't have a copy of the article in my hands

as our local village newsagent was sold out

(A fact the Editors of British Patchwork & Quilting

might be pleased to hear about

and which they can safely take as a hint

that I would appreciate a copy!!)

I am anonymous insofar as
I don't publish my address, bank details etc on the web

because there are, sadly, a lot of crazy... people out there

and this I know to be true and why I have comment moderation on...

But if you are a quilter

or someone wanting to ask something about sewing etc,

you only have to comment and I am more than happy to reply.

So in an attempt to prove that I am willing to be less anonymous,

I will show you the other photos

my darling husband took of me

and some of my quilts the other day....

Here I am with my Heart quilt:

Here I am with my Berry Crush quilt:

Here I am with my ancient Log Cabin quilt:

Here I am with my Cathedral Stars quilt:

Here I am with the back of my Cathedral Stars quilt:

Here I am with the back of my Rose Hexagon quilt:

But enough about me!!

 Here are my latest Works in Progress:

A new quilt on the Longarm.

The top was not made by me,
but by my friend Andrea....

 (I did add the blue borders though)

A Scrappy Trippy a la Bonnie Hunter

being laid out as it will be a picnic blanket

(made as a wedding gift) soon (I hope!)

 A simple table runner
 in Dutch fabrics from my friend Nicolette...

 Quilted with a panto called 'Wildflower'.

Although the binding has been cut,

this was quilted while I had a few techinical issues with the machine

involving a lot of reverse sewing!!

So I am not sure whether to make a table runner

or a nice quilted bag...

And my Criss-Cross Applesauce blocks:

If you have Bonnie's book for this pattern,

you'll know what comes next...

'Make 186 blocks.'

I think not! :)

Hope you've enjoyed seeing the 'real' me.

Although I think I could get used to this anonymous stuff

and may start wearing my sunglasses
all the time around the village lol

:o)

Don't!

Don't ask your husband to take a photo of you

holding a quilt up in the wind.

He thought this was a good photo!

Now you know why I hang my quilts over the fence :o)

Oldies, but Goodies?

I know I start a lot of them,

but I also do finish a lot of quilts...

I really do!

I have been quilting since school,

which is sadly a long time ago now!!!

In the 1980's my Mother taught me

to English-Paper-Piece

and I was hooked!

Twenty-*cough*-some years later

and I still love Patchwork.

Now that I am a longarm-owner

I love Quilting too!

For those who read this ol' blog,

but don't know me (or my quilts),

I thought I'd do a little 'show and tell'

of the ones in operation in our house.

These don't include the children's quilts.

each child has at least 2 quilts that get

dragged around, used for dens

and generally snuggled up to.

These also don't include

the picnic blankets,

the wedding gift quilts, the baby gift quilts,

the charity quilts and the finished,

but not used or gifted quilts!

*****

A typical Yorkshire 'sunny' day

for my photo-shoot over the garden fence....

*****

Here are my rose hexagons...
When I was younger

my Mother had made a gorgeous scrappy hexagon quilt

and I used to spend hours(!)

lying on it looking for the rose prints.

I wanted to make mine with only rose prints

(although I do have some leaf prints

and some hand embroidered roses

that I embroidered on some plain cream fabrics,

but that;s just being picky LOL.)

And I added the Foundation-pieced rose

designed by Ula Lenz:

*****

In 2011 I travelled all the way

to Germany to see my friend Birgit

and meet Bonnie Hunter,
one of my favourite quilters

and the inspiration behind many many of my quilts!

She gave a workshop on Cathedral Stars

and this is my version:

*****

Many moons ago (the 1990's!) when I lived in Germany

and was learning to move on from English-Paper-Piecing

 and machine sew my patchwork quilts,

I did a Magda Goldbach course

learning to rotary cut and sew Log Cabins:

A lot of the fabrics in this quilt

are a bit suspect

and my tastes definitely changed after making this,

but I did enjoy learning a faster way to make a quilt!!

I did another Magda Goldbach course

while I lived in Germany: Lone Star

(um, well, that one is a UFO!

Not a WIP (Work in Progress),

no, siree, it's an 'Unfinished Object'

and probably will remain that way... forever?)

*****
Another German inspiration here...

I had moved to London (late 1990'S)

and Birgit sent me a card

which included the sewn centre block of this quilt.

Previous to this, if I recall correctly,

Birgit had sent me another card with a picture

of a quilt similar to this one.

I was inspired.

This is OUR wedding quilt ;)

because I sewed this together while 'dating' my husband....

The hearts are appliqued on cream

and then Birgit taught me how to sew

Half Square Triangles really quickly.

Thanks again Birgit for all your quilty help over the years

*****

On the right of this picture below
is a Bonnie Hunter mystery:

'Orange Crush' it's called,

although, I did mine in red so I called it 'Berry Crush'

as I am not a fan of orange!

*****

On the left of this photo below

is another Bonnie Hunter Mystery called 'Double Delight'.

This quilt spends a lot of time on our bed as it's my

favourite... a certain special furry person

spends a lot of time on this quilt on our bed too!

(She was probably wondering

what her quilt was doing on the fence!!)

*****

A quick photo of my studio:

And the house from the back:

(Our house is not skew, I was lying on the grass LOL)

And in the grass is still a trace of our sheep visitors...

and a LOT of buttercups!

So that's a bit about my quilts,

I guess my life too...