School Holiday Sewing Slump

The title of this post doesn't sound great,

but school holidays generally, with 3 children,

mean that I get very little sewing (and housework) done.

And it's true!

the days are filled with kid stuff

and the occasional treat

which tends to be seriously hard work,

but hopefully full of memories...

like a tour of the Manchester United Stadium...

On the 'slumpy' sewing front...

I have managed to get borders 

on my purple Oceans quilt

and I have pieced a backing for this quilt too.

A purple one!

I have put together 3 new kids/baby quilts

as I am all out of baby quilts at the moment

Hopefully, there won't be another baby boom 

among friends too soon :)

While keeping my Mother company in the evenings

I have cut loads more Applesauce blocks

and there are now about 80-90 of them

in various stages...

Here are a few of the latest finished ones....

I've started keeping them in groups of ten 

and putting them away when done

so as not to lose them...

And I am hand appliqueing some felt on a bag

for Miss Kalico...

More to show on this when it's done...

Looking at all this, it may not look particularly 'slumpy',

but it certainly feels like it to me!

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 :)

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)

Red & Green

If you asked me what my favourite colours to

quilt with I'd probably say red, purple, blue, brown...,

yet once again I am sewing in red and green!

I don't know how it happens...

I know I love Bonnie Hunter's Criss-Cross Applesauce quilt

from her book: 'Scraps & Shirttails II'

And I know my raddishes are doing nicely ;)

And there's lots of green in Yorkshire...

And lots of sheep!

So maybe I need to use some creams and neutrals too ;)

A Start, A Finish and a Few 'Bits' Inbetween

The problem with blogging infrequently

is that when you do come to write about

your projects, you have too much to say...

So lots of (words and) photos in this post.

Recently a school friend passed away.

I've not seen her since school,

but thanks to connecting again through

social media I had a chance to catch up wth her

over the last few months... so I felt particularily sad

that she has passed leaving such a large hole

in all the lives she touched with her music

and her fighting spirit...

Her passing coincided with a week (or 2!)

of nothing seeming to go right.

Troubles with the longarm,

the opressivemess of my general clutter,

teething babies, sleepless nights,

the list goes on of many many small things

that I just couldn't control

or direct in a positive direction.

So what do you do when the world

weighs heavy on your shoulders?

Why, start a new quilt of course!!!

Mindless cutting and sewing IS the cure for all that ails you!

So a new Bonnie Hunter quilt it is:

Kate you'll know which one it is!!!

(especially as you are largely responsible

for reminding me of what a great quilt it is!!)

*****

And a finish:

Although I longarmed this top,

I didn't piece it.

It's a Kate special and I just love the colours and design.

Thanks Kate! Hope you like what I've done ;)

The panto was from Plum

(Thanks Plum!)

I think it's called Peacock Meander,

but to be 100% sure I'd have to go to the studio to check...

*****

Then here are the WIP'S

(works in Progress for the unquilty):

First borders are on my Purple and Green Oceans...

Outer borders to follow...

Nearly a 'cat-astrophe' here!!

The ground was so muddy

from all the recent rain we've had

and Abby decided it would be a nice place to

keep her paws dry

so the photo shoot ended rather promptly after this shot

of her walking the quilt top into the mud:

*****

I love Tonya's wonky letters

and I have her 'Word Play' book,

BUT I've never tried any until now.

Only thing is I didn't have the book next to me

when I tried these...

They're probably not wonky enough just yet.

*****

This little table runner is on the longarm...

Just to practise on...

There is only a tiny bit left to do,

but of course the bobbin ran out

just before the end.

(this was after I'd had a few tussles with the machine anyway

so a break was needed!

I'm sure now that I've had a little Longarm holiday

and 'sorted' most of the issues that

work will commence with vigour.)

*****

And finally, here's my house block with the sheep added.

I just freehand drew them and like how they turned out...

Hopefully no more additions before I quilt it!

Because I had thought of adding our cat...

*****

And a parting shot of all the seagulls on the fields.

they are grub-hunting after the fields have been sprayed.

*****

Phew! that was hard work,

I really will try not to leave it so long between posts,

but life does seem to get in the way lol.