SSCS 2014 - Thank you

Just a quick post 

to say thank you very much to my Secret Santa:

Thimblestitch!

ak.a. Susan (from Australia) 

Susan sent me such beautiful gifts this year.

Although it has been a very sad year for both of us....

My Mother passed away suddenly on the 4th of December

and Susan's Father passed away a few days later 

so we were both feeling a bit blue this year...

Look what Susan sent:

 A beautiful zippered pouch, love the detail....

.

Look at the 'k' - love it!

 And a lovely zipper pull...

The magnet is wonderful...

and is already on the fridge.

Susan also included some notelets

and a beautiful hanky (love birds!)

Thanks Susan!

Thank you also to Chookyblue 

for organising this wonderful swap!

*****

This is what I sent my partner Peaceful Threads

a.k.a Fiona (in Australia)

The Christmas decorations...

And the gifts...

Including an embroidered pincushion...

A needle-case...

And a reversible sunhat.....

as well as a cosmetic bag set.

*****

Still on a Christmassy note...

Some stockings I was asked to make this year:

R.I.P. Dearest Mum, Beloved Granny.

SSCS2014 - Thank you!

My Secret Santa Christmas Swap 2014 arrived today!

Beautifully wrapped,

but no card on the outside so still VERY secret :o)

I was allowed to open the decoration

which is gorgeous - love it!

And it's embroidered on the back too! Lovely.

There was also something for the little people in this house.

A very excited 'Kalico Kid' had the honour of opening it...

and was well pleased with the contents!

Thank you very much Secret Santa!!

(I couldn't email you a thanks, but I hope you get to read this!)

SSCS 2014

Secret parcels going in the post....

Started: 2006... Finished: Not Yet!

Ahem...

This quilt top was started in 2006 

as part of the BQL(British Quilt List) Ostrich Challenge

.

Every month we were given something to do to add to the quilt,

until this became a top....

I started handquilting it some years back, 

but soon lost interest :(

 Now I'm wondering if I should load it on my Longarm

quilting machine and just get it finished??

It's weird how it's sort of red-ish and green

and quite Christmassy 

which is not what I had had in mind at all!

Watch this space...

It may get finished one day!

Wordless Wednesday - Crafty Cat

If Quilts Could Talk...

I'm sure it would say something like this....

I really do need to get piecing and quilting....

Because I would love to see this one finished...

But I've got some friend's quilts to do before I can play.

*****

My UFO list should be getting smaller

with my Longarm machine, 

but as usual I'm constantly adding to it....

I may blog some seriously old UFO's to push me into finishing them,

but oh the shame (some are as old, and older than my children!!)

Quilt Talk

Last week was the school half term holidays.

The week went past in a blur of entertaining the 3 Kalico kids...

A trip to visit an old Aunt in Manchester 

and then the Trafford Centre (ugh!),

A trip to Bolton Abbey to do the Pumpkin Trail,

A Halloween Party... etc etc

and in the midst of it all

I went to visit Levens Quilters to talk about some of my quilts..

My friend snapped a few shots of me

showing the only 2 unfinished quilts I took along,

(not the 23 finished ones LOL!)

I shall finish my Carolina Lily quilt one day.

Entirely hand pieced including the borders...

 And my mom's UFO.

Also entirely hand-pieced and no borders

(or a single straight edge to help me decide how to quilt it!!!!) 

It was a busy week 

and now that the children are back at school

I hope to find the floor and some time to quilt!

Happy November everyone.

Not many sleeps 'til Christmas!!!

(Which is another reason 

why I don't blog much at the moment....

too many secret things in the make!)

Just a few Quilts

Over 25 years of making quilts 

in one big pile...

(plus loads given away over the years

and another kingsize quilt found in the blanket box

after this photo was taken!)

Wordless Wednesday - Miss Kalico turns 3!

Hexagons - Finishing Off by Adding Borders - a Tutorial

So you've done some English  Paper Piecing over papers 

and now you want to quilt it...

 To get square edges to add a border, 

I tend to just fold over the hexagons

 and trim them to a quarter inch to square up the top...

Often it's just two sides that need this folding over and trimming.

Then I take my border strips of fabric and fold over a quarter inch seam on one side.

(You can iron the quarter inch seam if you prefer.)

Sometimes I have done these border strips over paper 

and then just sewn them on paper pieced bit to paper pieced bit,

but just folding over is much quicker.

I then pin the border on to the edge of the quilt top...

And just stitch it together.

Hopefully, on the left in the picture below, 

you can see the borders being sewn together

(both obviously have quarter inch seams.)

This is the attached border piece from the back:

And from the front:

 Now with borders on, you will be able to quilt it!

I used this technique to add the borders on my Rose-Hex quilt.