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...

Double Delight - Take 2

I just published the last post when I spotted some sheep on the hill so I crutched outside and hung my Double Delight on the perimeter fence. Then the sun went in, but at least it's a more interesting photo than the last 2...

Knowing me I'll keep trying :-D

Double Delight Done

Last night I sewed the last few stitches on the binding of my Double Delight. No label as yet, but perhaps when that's on I'll take some better photos. These photos are not great. The first one shows how my life has changed, The garden gate is no longer a good spot for photos because the garden is full of kids stuff! A trampoline, trikes and a jungle-gym all obtruct my view! :-)


In the second photo, my quilt holder was too impatient, it was too windy and he is only 6'4" which was not tall enough to show the top of the quilt. After a few attempts, he quit before I could sack him!!!


Anyway, it's done. I love this quilt and Bonnie named it correctly - it is a delight and even more so now that I have it done!

Double Delight: Sewing the binding on...

Today I finally sewed the binding on my Double Delight by machine!

One of the reasons for the delay is that I wanted to bind it in brown, but I didn't buy enough. I had lots of blue, but I have already bound a quilt in blue (is that a silly reason to want to do brown or what LOL!) I bought the first piece of brown off Ebay and luckily the Ebayer still had some which she kindly listed for me. Unfortunately she put it on a 7-day listing so I had to wait a whole week to bid on it! Never mind, it's here, it's washed and more importantly it's on! Now I just need to hand stitch it down, but I doubt I'll get it done for April as it's a pretty big quilt and I haven't even started the handwork part yet :-)


It has been Longarmed quilted by Chris at Fathers-Heart. I chose a pantograph called "Dahlia Delight" and I think it goes so well with the Michael Miller Daisy print which also has tendrils... Dahlias? Daisies? Not sure I can tell the difference :-)


And instead of a quilted back, which I started, but after discussing with Chris the difficulties in lining a 2 sided quilt up, I used an old cotton duvet cover of DH's which he liked, but which we no longer use. I think it goes quite well with the overall feel of the quilt.


The quilt that I started for the back is going to be made (eventually) for a special friend's special birthday so I've got just less than 2 years, but hey I'll probably be sewing the binding on the night before (or the week after!) LOL!

Two tops done and a winner

Our combined quilting effort is now a top.


Pieced entirely from scraps left over from my brother's quilt, it should make Mom a great lap quilt for when she visits us. I hope to get it basted and quilted a.s.a.p.

And here are the borders on my Double Delight....



These 2 little trick or treaters, despite being poorly, had a grand Halloween thanks to our kind neighbours and their impressive stash of chocolates...



At last, a photo of our new kitchen. Thanks DH, you did a great job!!


(Even if you don't notice when it's tidy LOL)


The winner of my 300th post giveaway chosen by a random number generator of all the comments on the last 2 posts is The Calico Cat. Please email me your address and I'll pop a 'Lucky Dip' parcel in the post for you!