Scrappy to the end

About this time last year, I signed up to the Scrapbuster swap that Kate was hosting on Delphi. I had already made several larger blocks as a Postage Stamp Round Robin swap with my Blockbuddys. I added these to the Delphi swap and had enough to make this quilt. Each little square is 2 inches in finished size. Here you can see it as a flimsie.

And here...

you can see it bound and finished. I did my first ever 'proper binding'! (in scraps of course!) I actually finished it a few days ago, but have not managed to get a shot of it until now as the weather has been dire: rainy and grey! (Time for some sun , yes, oh yes!)

It's on our bed because DH likes it. It was originally supposed to be a picnic blanket, but I actually think it's too nice to be covered in mud or left to rot in the back of my car (If you've ever seen my car...!!!). So then it was to be a sofa quilt for me, but for now it's on our bed. It's not quite big enough (!) but that's a good excuse to do another one in rose hexagons which is already started.

Talking of roses... Andrea send me some wonderful roses today. Thank you Andrea, they are perfect. Consider them packed with the rest of my lovely rose fabrics that I've had sent from some of my wonderful fellow bloggers. I will not be able to blog much while I'm away, but I will try and show you how far I am on the rose hexagons already.



Andrea also kindly included 2 FQ's for the boys.

DS1 was very impressed and I think the owls may be perfect for the pillowcase/s that will be needed to be made for next year!

I agree with a lot of the comments on my last post about keeping up with traditions. Stockings are DH's family traditions and pillowcases are mine so there will be compromise and a combination of the two!

Post, Party, Guilt

Here in the UK we have had postal strikes. Today we got mail, 2 bits of junk and a bank statement! That was all after several days of no mail. The postie says that any expected post will be piled up in the sorting centres waiting to get to us. This lack of post (mail) has left me with a lack of wanting to post (blog).

But, for all my family and friends who read this blog, I will show some photos from Saturday's "Farm Party". It was a great day, the setting was beautiful...

and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The goats were fed by the kids (each child got a free bag of food as part of the party package)

Tractor-boy inspects the Lama


Two birthday boys...


Two cakes...


We all went for a ride on the 'Wizzick', the farm's mode of transport...




While we were out, I spotted a gate that would be perfect to photograph a quilt on...


Speaking of which, here comes the guilt! I need to put the binding on my Scrapbuster top. I've had it back from Chris for weeks. I just couldn't decide on the binding. I have now decided after consulting with my creative director (DH) that I am going scrappy on the binding too.

I really want to make another one of these one day (with rose prints naturally!)

The reason I feel particularily guilty that it (along with 4 kid's quilts) is not bound is because yesterday I picked up my "Butterfly Blossom" quilt from Chris. I haven't even looked at it.

It's still wrapped up in the plastic cover - I'll treat myself to a good look as soon as I've put the binding on my Scrapbuster!!

I must love red

Lots of sewing stuff is on the go... I collected my quilts from Chris on Tuesday so now I have 4 kid's quilts and my Scrapbuster quilt to bind. I have been sewing blocks for swaps that are due this month and I have pinned together a top for Linus and just generally been busy pinning and cutting.

Lately, I've noticed that the last few things I'd purchased were red.

Red welly boots for DS1

Red teapot because my white one got chipped...

That made me look at the red things around me.
The wooden heart hanging over my side of the bed (a blue one on DH's side - both bought at our local quilt guild's show last year even though I already had a red one from the lady who makes them, but they are lovely so i couldn't help myself LOL)

The red, white and blue quilt I made that lies on our bed, sometimes straight and neat, sometimes in a heap
(The red ran in this quilt - so I don't always love red!!)

Then around me, red things everywhere:
The view out of the church door on Sunday...

And the postman who still has not delivered my "Bag o' Stuff"...

One of the nicest things about living on the farm is the post van, I just think it's so charming, probably costs Royal Mail an arm and a leg, but it's lovely to see the little van especially when there's interesting post :O)


This afternoon we went Blackberrying again. Jam and pies coming up LOL


Oh, and while I was out merrily picking blackberries DH put up more scaffolding so to use the washing machine or get to the freezer shall be very interesting - luckily all my sewing stuff is pretty much out of there now.

Unluckily I can't remember where I put most of it....

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Yesterday, I dropped off my Scrapbuster quilt with Chris from Father's Heart. She is a really nice lady and very busy which is great to see. She is in the process of reorganising her space so I didn't want to take too many pictures.
But it's always nice to pop in, except that because of my 'little problem' (The little problem of always wanting more and more fabric), I purchased a little something... Some Homespun FQ's for an upcoming BlockBuddy swap...


Today, I had a little friend come to play with DS1 & 2, but because she's that much older than my two and because my two have daytime naps, I thought I should do something more exciting with her. First we baked, then we made little bags. I managed to rustle up one for her and one her sister while she was here. She chose the fabric and can be seen here holding the bags and looking very shy (she is, she's a sweetie!) I probably should have photographed the bags before someone sat on them, but never mind!

Tomorrow, I hope to do some 'proper' sewing, but who knows something always seems to crop up, but I do have lots of bits cut so maybe I'll get lucky LOL

Odds and ends

Just because I don't post every day doesn't mean I'm not constantly up to something (quilting or otherwise LOL). I sadly can't finish a quilt a week and posting about a UFO every week made me feel terribly guilty, but I do manage to sneak in a bit here and there, such as the (wild) borders on this...

... it's the last of the 4 Smilie quilts that are going to be quilted by Chris.
I've also managed to get all the bits together for the borders and backing of my Scrapbuster quilt. And I've been handquilting my Bag O' challenge. More on that later...

Here's a little trip down memory lane for my friend Birgit. Birgit, remember this? Birgit helped me cut this kit out for a 'Children of the World' quilt that I made for a friends daughter. Sadly, I don't have a digital photo to show (and the old fashioned paper photo (LOL) is somewhere...) As Birgit cut, I sewed and she had a brilliant idea that she would cut enough pieces for 2 quilts. Except, ahem, I er.. well I haven't sewn the second one yet and so this kit has been in the bag for about 10 years (?) or at least since I lived in Germany (could that have really been ten years ago??)

The boring stuff

I haven't really had much to blog about because I've been doing pretty boring stuff... piecing the backing fabric together for my Scrapbuster quilt which meant first alot of crawling around on the floor. I was trying to use pieces as they were and not cut them uniformly and thereby end up with more scraps. Then I've been sewing these pieces into rows - I've almost finished that. Once the rows are done, I'll sew those together and Ta Dah! I'll have my backing piece. Knowing me, I'll have mismeasured, but it's so scrappy I might just get away with it LOL.

At the same time I've been pinning another "I Spy" (or "Smiley" quilt as the swap was affectionately known) together as Chris told me that she can fit one more on the backing fabric. I have already handed over three so I want to get this one done asap. Hopefully Chris will be able to do my Scrapbuster quilt at the same time, but I suspect that will depend on me finishing it... :-)

And also at the same time (I like to dabble in a bit of this and that as you can see) I have been sewing together my African Block for my swap with Kate. More of that hopefully later, should I finish it tonight....

Anybody seen my tape measure?

By the end of sewing the rows together this top was so heavy and I kept standing on it when I was trying to iron it. Now all I need to do is add a border and sew the backing pieces together then I can send it off to be longarmed, but in true UFO/WIP style I may do something else for a bit before I do that LOL.

I laid it out on our bed that got moved upstairs today (hence the uncluttered bedroom) and was surprised how big it is considering it was only supposed to be either a picnic blanket or a sofa blanket for Mummy (me). I guess that's me all over, I hardly ever measure and when I do I get it wrong a lot. I love sewing and making quilts, but I like to 'wing' it. Measure twice, cut once? Err, that is a good idea, perhaps I'll try it one day :-)