The Finishes

I rushed to finish my New York Beauty (NYB) wallhanging and so never got a chance to take any decent photos of it in its completed state:

I took a few close-ups of the hand quilting in the borders...

Sometimes I followed the patterns in the blocks...

Sometimes, I just went with what I thought suited the quilt...

And sometimes I just had to do a few circles...

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I have also finished the doll quilt. I gave in and quilted it 'Stitch In The Ditch' (SITD), BUT I drew lines that went all the way to the edges and through the solid squares so that the quilting made up a grid.

I enjoyed the quilting and am now pondering the baby quilt, more stitch in the ditch in a grid OR free-motion hearts?? We'll have to see :o)

Basting for Baby

I have managed to quilt and bind (but not photograph) the doll quilt and thought that with less than 10 weeks to go until my due date I had better get a quilt made for baby...

So today before I took the boys down to the beck for a picnic in the cold and a dip in the water which was FREEZING (I know this as I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my trousers and went in to help my son rebuild a bit of a dam wall for approximately 2 minutes before I lost all feeling in my lower limbs!!), I basted the baby quilt....

As usual I used the Sharon Schamber method of basting which works a treat with the bedposts that I keep on hand for just this purpose =)

I started this quilt before we found out what we were having and I am hoping it's still sufficiently neutral should the information be wrong :-)

Now to find time to quilt it, wash the baby stuff, get the baby a bed sorted, clean the house, entertain the boys for another 2 weeks before school starts.... oh and in September meet some wonderful bloggy friends in London!

Royal Armouries

Wednesday I took the boys to the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

It's a great day out and there was so much to see and do.

You would definitely have to like guns, swords, weapons, battlefields etc. a bit more than I do to get the most out of it, but I can see the bigger picture and enjoyed myself nonetheless =)

And of course I did love the costumes!

The boys had an absolute blast. My youngest son pretty much ran everywhere! He could not get enough of the place (even if he barely glimpsed in any of the cabinets!)

The views out the windows onto parts of Clarence Dock were great too!

There were some pretty spectacular displays... here the boys enjoyed watching a bullet being fired in slow motion... (I had to bribe them to look at me for a photo!)

It's a very airy building with galleries on 3 levels...

The children's play area was very well equipped with lots of dressing up kit, mini archery and a chance to decorate a paper sword, shield or crown...

Definitely a great (boy's) day out!

Seeing Yellow

I wasn't going to start anything new, but I had the instructions printed out and I had that yellow phobia I wanted to explore further and I had lots of spare florals and, and, and...

SO I did a few little blocks just to see what all the fuss was about and I have to say Bonnie's Florabunda is a very cute block!

Not cute enough with all that yellow to make a massive quilt,

but definitely cute enough to maybe make 16 blocks for a baby quilt...

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Of course the doll quilt sits on top of my other sewing machine waiting to be quilted

while my attenton is diverted, but I will do that soon...

... well as soon as I can come up with a quilting design to try out

as I think I may be all Stitch-In-The-Ditch-ed out =)

While I was taking photos I looked up and saw the printer's tray that I bought at a Village Fete for a £1.

I love it filled with threads...

I have far too many polyester threads so will be putting cotton thread on my list for the next quiltshop/quiltshow expedition! I like 100% cotton threads for quilting and polycotton threads for bag making... just one of those things...

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Abby is still using my battng/wadding as a 'nest'.

I noticed when I tidied the sewing room that she has scratched herself a cosy spot

so I will have to re-wash it and use it for stuffing toys if I am allowed to use it at all!

But how could I even contemplate ruining her special place =)

It's been oh so quiet!

My little boys stayed at their Aunt's house for a night.
Besides the deathly silence in the house, I did get a chance to tidy my sewing room
and get a few things done...

White borders on the baby quilt:

I ironed the backing for the scrappy heart quilt.

I was really pleased with how this pieced backing turned out.

It's very scrappy and it used up a lot of rose prints that I wasn't sure what to do with.

I also got my Cathedral Stars out and auditioned borders...

And I basted the doll quilt...

So although I can't wait to get them back, I did get quite a lot done.

Wordless Wednesday - Quilty Cat

Sunday Sunflowers

We went to visit my DSIL yesterday and she had the most gorgeous sunflowers

in her front and back gardens...

This is one form of yellow that I do like :-)
(Especially when the bees like them too!)

Her front door looked so pretty...

Spot the ladybird...

She also had these berries which I had in my wedding bouquet.

I had them combined with white roses...

Now that was a while ago...

A Trophy Finish

Today was the Annual Village Show and so I had been furiously hand quilting to finish my New York Beauty quilt. I wanted to enter it in the show and only just managed the last few stitches on the binding last night. But my efforts proved worth it as my quilt won a 'First' place in the Needlework section and a 'Best Exhibit in the Handicraft Section'. It was great to have a judge who appreciates patchwork and quilting as a lot of work has gone into this quilt.

(This is not a great photo, but I didn't have time to get any shots in any decent light as it has rained all day and it was only finished last night - perhaps a decent photo to follow this week.)

My first ever doll also won a 'First'. (I like this judge LOL):

And one of my bags also won a 'First'. (I REALLY really like this judge! LOL)

The children also did well with their exhibits and enjoyed receiving some prize money.

My eldest son was very proud of my trophy for: 'The Most points in the Handicraft Section' which made Mummy very happy indeed.

How Many 9 Patches Does It Take...

... to realise you are making them the wrong size for the project you have in mind?

30!

I had a bit of a sewing session this morning as I was up early and needed to sew. I took a wodge of my Leader & Ender 4 patches and made them into 9 patches. Later I cut setting HST's and then, and only then, did I realise they were the wrong size! Oh well, never mind... they'll be used for something else I'm sure...

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I never confessed that while in Germany visiting Birgit and meeting Bonnie Hunter, I bought ALL 3 of Bonnie's books (and Tonya's too!)

I needed inspiration for a very mini cot quilt I have been asked to make for someone's granddaughter's doll...

So 'Sister's Nine Patch' it was from Bonnie's Adventures with Leaders & Enders...

Now to quilt it!

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The garden continues to grow and we are enjoying all it has to offer,

including courgettes/zuchinnis which are absolutely delicious in a cake

filled with home made lemon curd and topped with cream cheese and lemon icing!

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The weekend saw us head off for a picnic. DH takes fishing for tiddlers quite seriously :-)

They must find it so curious to be fished out, admired and then thrown back after a bit...

Maverick Stars

It has been so nice having the space to sew without having to reshuffle my sewing machines around. I fancied a bit of 'loose' sewing and I also felt I had been neglecting all my beautiful African fabrics so I made some Maverick Stars....

3 of these blocks are on their way to Kate for our African swap. I am sure I am the one holding up the swap so I have sent 3 to make amends, and as we had suggested 6"finished blocks for our borders and stars to boot, I thought these might get the swap rolling again? Although Kate you'll have to forgive my very 'loose' measurements this time, but at least I'm sewing ;)

When I'm in the sewing room, I get some very furry and purry company...

She found some freshly washed batting/wadding and thought it made a very cosy place to hide.

It May Not Seem Like Much...

... but it's the little things that make all the difference.

I have been clearing and tidying my sewing room or should I say re-shuffling and re-jiggling my sewing stuff around a very small room that I share with the laundry, the washing machine, the tumble dryer and all sorts of odds and ends that have nowhere to go :-(

Upstairs in our bedroom I had my treadle machine (still not operational, but a great table for dumping books and cardigans etc.) The treadle table also needed to be re-shuffled to make space for the baby's crib. So.... down came the crib out the loft, down came the treadle to my sewing room creating an extra horizontal surface for sewing use! Yippee!

I sew a lot of bags and non-patchworky things and I use a machine for that (more about the fact that I may have a new second-hand machine for that another time LOL). Anyway, anything 'patchworky' gets sewn on my Janome Quilter's Companion. I have previously sewn bags with this machine, but the repairs afterwards were very expensive indeed that I swore never again!! So just like one has a pair of scissors just for fabric, I have a machine just for patchwork-piecing!!!!

It's wonderful having the space to have both machines out and so I have already sewn Kate's Corn & Bean blocks into the layout I need for our dresser and I also started putting together some blocks* for a quilt top:

*One of the online groups I belong to was doing a springclean of their list and it got me to thinking of all the swaps I had done with this group and all the blocks just sitting there waiting for something to happen to them. Many have been donated to Linus, but these Maple Leaves were just waiting for a layout... So I laid them out on the bed like this and now they are being sewn together.

I'd rather have tops than blocks lying around!

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For 8 days, I had a poorly little boy. Today was his first trip out. We went to the Beck for a paddle. We didn't stop long, I think it was a little bit too much for him, but at least he's on the mend.

Wordless Wednesday

It's a Wallflower

With reference to my previous post...

...the plant attracting the butterflies and bees is called Erysimum,

a.k.a. a Wallflower.

No-one would ever describe me as one ;D

Buttons, Butterflies & Baby Hedgehogs

I love buttons, I am always on the lookout for buttons and when I saw these being sold by one of my favourite charities at the Street Market on Saturday, I had to snap them up: all three jars of them! I have thrown them in a small cake tin - I never bake small cakes LOL so at least now the tin is being used :-)

Our new 'Buddleia' or 'Butterfly Bush' is in bloom and it, along with some of my other new plants, has attracted some lovely butterflies:

(Not sure what this plant is called, but it's right next to the Buddleia so benefits from the butterfly visitors too.)

 

And our garden is home to other creatures too. A little hedgehog can be seen late in the afternoon/early evening walking around looking for food...

here he/she is in the potato plants...

I hope to be able to get around to some actual quilty sewing this week as I have been doing more custom sewing of late. Although I do have a repair and a few small custom orders to get done before I can work on my baby quilt, I'll hopefully have a burst of energy (or a big coffee!) and get those out the way quickly!

Wordless Wednesday - "Boy Carrot"

;-D