Trying to get a little privacy here

When we added on the extension we lost a wall at the front door which made up a sort of internal porch and now not only can anyone who passes see right in (not that that happens too often luckily), but the sun likes to get a look in really early in the morning. It's not to be a permanent problem (hopefully) so in the meantime I have hung a little quilt. A friend of Birgit's called Beate Ade made this top and I bought it off her at Birgit's Annual Quiltfest a few years back. I came home, backed it and hand quilted it. It's a really interesting quilt as it's made up of allsorts! Some of the hearts are made up of cut up bits of knitting, velvet, dishcloths, leather/suede... you name it, you'll probably find it in this cute quilt.


Here's another shot of it hanging over our garden gate. I like this spot to photograph my quilts and while I was at it photographed my old log cabin too.



Here's a family portrait.

We went for a lovely evening walk (just down the driveway LOL, I am not a big walker!).

A woman of few words

I had to sew last night, I just had to...! I had one seam to go this evening after getting back after a busy busy day and now my New York Beauty blocks for July are complete. This is month 2 of the Quilterscornerclub New York Beauty project.


I put the four I've done so far together and they look like so...

May need to re-think my colour scheme, but not tonight, I'm off to bed, I'm exhausted....

Another one of 'those days'

I hope to get to my sewing room later, but after the last 2 days perhaps I should just go to bed early LOL. I have been covered in baby puke, cleaned bottoms and floors and just generally had no sleep at all. Last night was so rainy and far too cold to go outside to get to my sewing room so I did some hand quilting on Toby's heart quilt - spilt tea on it of course! All this cleaning up after kids meant a bit of tea was no problem for me LOL

Yesterday DS1 came into my bed really early, a few hours later we heard the bins being collected, he wanted to know what the noise was, I said "go to the window and you'll see the 'dust-truck'" I was so tired I couldn't think of the right name for the bin-men (still don't know what the right name is...). He was so cute, afterwards he told me that the truck had come to collect our dust! If only they came to collect our dust, I'd be one happy bunny!!!

The one highlight of my day was a parcel from Kate with a block from our African swap - I really like it. Ok, this is not a great shot, I seem to have taken it a bit off-centre and I could have ironed it (yeah, right!), but it's lovely in the flesh so to speak.


Also in the parcel was a piece of shark fabric (ditto re the ironing) for Jack (DS1) - he was delighted, he just beamed and said "Sharks!".

Of course it means another quilt for my wishlist. I guess if I finish some UFO's this year, I'll need to start some now for next year?

ps this picture is for Kate: Toby (DS2 - pictured here with the last of his chicken pox spots) wants to know

"where's mine?" LOL

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 :-)

Yum, plum! And a purple UFO for the week.

My fabric arrived from Chris so as soon as I have a chance I will be cutting more triangles. Wish me luck - there are only so many big triangles I want spare!

All this plum fabric reminded me of a UFO I started ages ago, long before I enjoyed foundation-piecing. It's based on a Kaffe Fassett pattern in one of his patchwork books called 'Pennants' or something (?). I started it so long ago and the book is in South Africa so I hope I have the name right.

Basically instead of foundation piecing it I English paper-pieced it over papers. So lots of hand work which I do enjoy, but I somehow lost interest and didn't quite know whether I should keep going or what.

DH helped me pin it in this layout (Aha! so that's where my pins are!), but I don't think I like it. Anyhow, with all these plums and purples back in the daylight perhaps I'll use the scraps to finish this as a table runner or something. Any ideas?

Spot the difference

Anyone got any good ideas for some big navy triangles? Don't ask, just don't ask!! But I managed to cut them too small, first cutting the most enormous squares and then cutting the diagonals only to find when I attached them that I hadn't added a seam allowance! I can't believe I did that - although now I am pleased, because that means that this scrappy quilt gets to be even scrappier. I have used bits of my absolute favourite colour: plum. I didn't have one big piece, but I used my raspberry (or is it plum LOL) Fossil Fern piece that I was saving (not sure what for), some plum stars and some other plummy purples. I am a few triangles short so feeling virtuous that I am not buying backing fabric because I will be piecing a scrappy back, I placed a little order with Chris for some other plum stars. I hope it will arrive tomorrow, so I can keep the momentum going on this quilt top.

Pins, pins, pins

I never seem to have enough pins! Last night and today I have been doing lots of pinning. I have pinned 8 baby quilts, 2 are finished, 3 are in need of borders and the last 3 are just pinned LOL.

DS1 was taken out, I was at home in quaranteen with DS2 and his chicken pox SO while he slept, I laid out my Scrapbuster quilt on point with the navy corners. I have one more block to do, but it's pinned LOL. And then once that's sewn tonight I'll pin the whole thing together (see how many pins I need). DH came back from the shops with Jack and brought me some pins - he's the man! OK, I did ask him too, but seeing as he normally forgets stuff, I'm impressed.

No sewing today!

We have been visited by the chicken again!

Toby has chicken pox - the nasty little spots came out today. Last night was very disturbed so I have nodded off each time I had to put Toby down for a nap instead of doing anything creative today. In fact, I had to cancel all the days plans... coffee with a friend, lunch with another and any chance of finishing the hospital quilts I started last night.

Trying to see the lighter side of it, I thought I'd show this little chicken wallhanging from a BlockBuddy Spring/Summer wallhanging swap from last year. I made 2 from a pattern called "Silly Chicken" by Quilterscache and received a beautiful bird wallhanging in return for the one I sent off to swap.

So no sewing, but a few photos of the countryside, caught on the way home from nursery and just before the big rains have started! Jack enjoying some tractors!



These beautiful foxgloves are all over the place - here they're swaying in the wind...
Some of our neighbours sheep
A barn outside our closest village

Pretty pink pincushion post

This little lovely deserves a post of it's own...

I got it in the post from Anne.
It's really lovely and is going straight down to my sewing room. What do they say you can never have enough pincushions (or is that pins? LOL) Thank you Anne!

Not much sewing, but soon...

Yesterday DH moved the wardrobes up to the new bedroom, this meant unpacking them all and repacking them again. It's amazing how it's easier to unpack than to repack. Somehow you can't just sling it back in as before, you feel the need to tidy it back, weird? Not like me at all LOL!
Here's the view from the new bedroom window

Here's an action shot of DH vaccuuming the carpet so that I have no excuse, but to repack the wardrobe...

Here's the view from the en-suite


So not much sewing done, although I did make a few decisions and did some preparation along these lines...

1. I am going to use my stash to piece together a backing fabric for my scrapbuster top and I will not be buying backing fabric. So I went through my boxes and chose fabric that I had liked at one point, but couldn't see myself using for a while as well as left over fabrics from other projects that would remind me of things when I turn the quilt over..Now I just need to sew them all together!

2. I am setting the scrapbuster quilt top on point and I am not buying any fabric for this purpose. In fact last night after packing some of the wardrobes back, I cut out the setting triangles (after much mathematical muddling on my part) from a large piece of navy fabric that I had. I was pleased to use this up as I had bought it by mistake! Don't ask, let's just say it looked like black when I bought it online LOL. The squares had to be 23" so it was a real fiddle to cut, but they are done now and waiting to be attached as soon as ...

3. I washed the fabrics for the hospital quilts, I hope to make a start tonight. They are very simple so I hope when I visit Vicky tomorrow, I will have at least one or 2 to take with me... this will depend on how my day pans out! As well as if I get the fabrics cut, ironed, pinned, sewn... Where does one find the time?

Big trouble brewing

I'm about to be in big trouble.... Around about this time last year we started building work on an extension to our little cottage. We decided to add a new bedroom downstairs. The cottage has/had an unusual layout with the bedrooms and bathrooms downstairs, and the lounge, kitchen and conservatory upstairs (for the views one presumes!). Anyway 2 bedrooms (and one very small one at that) was not going to be enough with another little might on the way, soooo we decided to extend. I was about 6 months pregnant at this point, but not worried because the builders 'promised' (don't make me laugh!) they'd be done in 6-8 weeks. I'd still have a 6 weeks to prepare and nest and if all else failed they had a months grace and I'd have about 2 weeks to prepare and nest. I can't remember the date of this picture, but I remember we were way over schedule already...

As if that wasn't bad enough with no kitchen wall and exposed to the elements, we then had no roofers. I got extremely 'excited' and made it pretty darn clear to the builders that this was no good. My midwife said I'd probably not have the baby until a roof was on as I was, needless to say, pretty stressed. (Toby was born about a week after the roof was on - he was 4 days late!)

A year later, why are we still building? Well DH has decided to change the entire layout of the house... the bedroom we added became the lounge, the old lounge became the master bedroom (still next to the old kitchen at present!). We will gain 2 bedrooms and a bigger lounge, we'll have access to our garden and we will have access from the house to the laundry/my sewing room. This will all be fabulous as I currently have to go outside to get to my sewing room EXCEPT I will have to move everything out to allow for the wall to be bashed into a doorway. EEK! Firstly, where am I supposed to put everything and secondly, when he sees the sheer proportions of my fabric/UFO/sewing stuff will I still be a happily married woman?

I phoned a friend to see if she'd like some baby fabric for one of our LQG's charities, she said if I made it up into tops, she'd finish them for me. What do you mean for me? I was trying to give the fabric away! Now I have to find the time to make tops and 'distribute' my stash around the rest of the house - not easy when the house is chaos! Being charitable is hard work or as my Step-FIL says "No good deed ever goes unpunished" LOL.
Joking aside least a few FQ's will find a good home, but where am I going to hide the rest!!!


I have been uncertain to post photos of my sewing room, as this is probably the worst it's been for a while, but I see it as a bit of a 'before' photo. Perhaps 'after' will be an improvement. DH was tidying up today and it always makes me nervous. I said to him..."lets just face it we're both messy, and not one is messier than the other". I thought if I sounded tolerant of his mess he might be a bit more understanding of mine... Here's hoping.

Budding beauty

The only sewing I got done today was a little bit more foundation piecing on my Ula Lenz rose. Almost all the greenery is now complete and it's just all the fiddly bits left that are needed to construct the final full rose (It should look like Birgit’s). I know I should have done the fiddly bits first, but I wanted to make sure I'd have enough of the background fabric and I think that's a good enough excuse LOL! Once I get going, I really do enjoy foundation-piecing and after re-designing a block for my 'Bag O' challenge last night, I have even more respect for foundation-piecing designers. I don't have the brain to think in reverse. With 2 small kids, I hardly have a brain at all LOL

Creative Embroidery

DH was trying to watch the rugby and DS1 just would not go for a nap even though he was exhausted so while Toby napped, I put Jack in the car and took a trip to Clapham (about 10 mins away), I was barely down the road and he was fast asleep! So I had lots of time to look around Jenny Scottt’s Creative Embroidery.

I had a great chat with Jenny Scott and just had to have these little beauties!

Feeling challenged

My artistic director (a.k.a DH) was full of ideas tonight while I was working on my BlockBuddySwaps "bag O' stuff challenge. Sadly, I can't show you what I've been doing because it's supposed to be a secret... However, as soon as it's quilted and if you promise not to tell (LOL) I'll post a photo of it, but I'm pretty pleased with it and DH's imput was quite useful actually. I would have been in bed already, but as he had got me going, I couldn't stop, but now I'm off... but I'll leave you with a view of Toby's finished quilt hanging over our garden gate and with a view of the countryside beyond. It was a beautiful evening after a scattery showered day.

Binding and baby on

Both kids had a morning nap which is completely out of our normal routine as Jack is normally in nursery and not at home almost over the chicken pox, but not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I dashed down to my sewing room and sewed down the binding. This is not a 'winning' quilt in any way except maybe to the boys who've both been enjoying it already... a big hands up from its new owner.

Stash and grab

Yesterday I met Chris at Embsay Mills to pick up my quilts. She did a fabulous job on Toby's First birthday quilt (deadline October).

It's just a simple all over design, but I'm very pleased with how it's come out...

Now I just have the binding to do. We have had new carpet laid in one of the converted rooms in our building site, er.. um I mean house, but it was a great place to attach the binding and Toby gave his new quilt a test run at the same time....



Chris also basted my Ostrich and as soon as I've finished handquilting the heart quilt, I'll get going on it.


Because Jack has the pox, I couldn't bring him in the shop, so with both kids asleep in the car, I ran around the shop and 'grabbed' this little lot. It felt like a 5 minute trolley dash LOL...

Quick out of the starting Block for a change

Feeling inspired to do some sewing again to get away from those with spots LOL, and having printed off some lovely patterns by Carol Doak I thought I'd try one out for Kate and myself for our African Blockswap. Normally I would have taken a lot longer to do a return block, but I need to get going on the Bag o' stuff challenge and I knew I wanted to try one of these patterns so here's my block...

It's called 9-Patch Star Block and was fun and easy to do. I think the colours are a bit wild, but luckily I had a big fingerprint (not mine) on my lens so the blurriness may make it a bit calmer .

Blocks, chocs and the pox

Yesterday was 'one of those days', I had meant to post, but got nothing done. The hightlight of my day was getting this block in the post from Kate as part of our one on one African Blockswap.


The lowlight was discovering that my little chicken has the pox! Jack (DS1) has picked up this lurgy from nursery. We're pleased to get it and then be done with it, but the nights are bad as he is itchy and doesn't want to sleep.

I was going to do more hand quilting on this


but decided it was more important to eat an entire tub of chocolate ice-cream to cheer myself up and didn't want any chocolate stains on it. The pics are not good, but show up the quilting better in this light...

Also received my baggie for the BlockBuddySwap Bag o' Stuff quilt challenge this week and have been thinking, thinking, thinking. Can't show you the baggie as it's meant to be a surprise. We only find out afterwards who's bag we had and who had our bag. Should be fun.

A Blast from the past a.k.a. the Mother of all UFO's

Having a quilty visitor on the weekend gave me a bit of courage to do something I've been meaning to do for a while now.... open a suitcase with a quilt in it. This suitcase as not been opened for at least 2 years. In it, not just any quilt, but my first ever quilt! And it's miles from completion... I started it when I was still at school. It's basically 4 star panels that were batted and backed (with muslin) and quilted with thick-ish embroidery pearl.

I was frightened right up until it was completely unfolded, I thought it might have gone mouldy or been eaten by my little sewing room creatures, but other than needing a bit of an airing, it looks ok.

It's been put together as a King-size quilt on a cream backing with cream sashing in between and I've started hand quilting it with circles and stars... but that's it. There's loads still to quilt although I will only outline the stars which were originally paper-pieced and 'quilted' in pearl to the first lot of very thin batting and muslin.

Here are loads of pictures of it to show the 4 different star panels (although I've just noticed only 3 can be seen clearly), the quilting in the embroidery pearl and the little bit of hand quilting in one of my made up designs....









It's still destined to be a UFO, but perhaps this winter if we don't go to South Africa and I'm freezing in the UK, I can sit under it, keep myself warm and finish it before it's more than 20 years old!