Thank You from Baby-Kalico!

Thank you to everyone for all the lovely messages

and kind comments about our little girl

(or my new sewing companion as I like to think of her!)

An extra special thanks to Andrea (Welsh Quilter)

 for this really beautiful hexagon quilt

that she made for Baby-Kalico.

It is so beautiful and I confess I did shed a little tear (or two)

upon opening the parcel today.

There was also a beautiful knitted cardigan in the parcel,

which I'll photograph on her when she's awake!

Thank you Andrea for your very generous and beautiful gift.

And thank you to everyone for making my little baby

feel so welcome to the world!

Her Royal Highness (HRH) Has Arrived!

Harriet Rose H. born 22nd October 2011.

6Lbs,8oz

After several hospital delays (and a protest on my part LOL),

I was induced 'properly' and in just over 3and a half hours

we held our little baby in our arms.

I am very happy to be home with all my boys

and my little girl at last!

Running Out of Time

Tomorrow I have to go into hospital to be induced.

I have not felt very happy about this decision, but feel that,

obviously, Baby-Kalico takes priority over my dreams

of a calm and peaceful labour

at the hospital that I want to deliver at.

With me not having felt 100% the last few weeks,

I can, at least, look forward to holding a healthy baby

and getting back to a healthy me (from tomorrow if all goes well).

My nesting instincts have been almost non-existent and sewing slow going...

Although, I have managed to quilt this table topper with my own writing...

It's bound and ready for use, but the matching runner is only basted

and waiting to be quilted. However, in the meantime,
I found some quilting inspiration on You Tube.

And I shall think calm and peaceful thoughts until I can update the blog again...

A Sense of Scale

Firstly, Thank You to everyone who offered suggestions

on my previous post about the 'Mill-Stone Monster Quilt'.

Secondly, I thought I should actually take some photos of it

to show the scale of it:

This is me trying to hold up half of it:

This is an eighth!:

This is the half section again (heavy arms!!!):

After much thought and heeding lots of the aforementioned advice,

I have decided to take this out of the box:

And put this in the box:

I have enough of my own UFO's

that would actually make me happier to finish!

Mom doesn't care about the quilt

and although I would love to finish it for her,

she doesn't even want it for her spare room.

One of her suggestions included: "throw it in the bin" which is very sad.

One day, when I have more time and more of a plan I'll open the box,

 dust it off and give it another go...

In the meantime, my Carolina Lily's are calling my name....

So let's see if I can get those border vines and berries on!

Help Wanted!

I am at a loss as to what to do wth the 'Monster'!

I was supposed to be resting today, but with the sun shining at last

and resting being the most boring thing to do on a sunny day...

I got up and snuck into the garden to photograph the Monster Quilt.

DH caught me and so came over to help me.

It is currently in 5 sections.
4 quarters have been sewn together and then there are 4 loose quarters.
As we were laying it out he whispered:

'I don't really like it.'

The thing is doing anything with it is going to be a lot of work

and I don't really like it either....

But I sort of feel duty-bound to fix/finish it...

I was thinking of taking it back in to be a proper Lone Star,

which would involve a LOT of 'reverse sewing' (unpicking) which I hate hate hate!

I'm also concerned that the seams are fragile after 20 years

and because the papers have been removed it may prove difficult

to get the setting squares in or applique the edges to a background...

On the plus side, the wedges that would come out could be used for a smaller quilt...

(2 monsters from one LOL) 

The initial idea of squaring it up with green would just make it bigger and bigger

and I don't know if they even make beds as big as this quilt top already is!!!

There's nothing like getting a skeleton OUT of your closet!
But I don't think DH will want it on the bed LOL

Any suggestions/advice gratefully received!

Borders, Binding & the Hopes of Mindless Sewing

Last night we thought that baby Kalico was coming (again).

You'd think seeing as we've done this twice already that we'd know better by now LOL,

but we got it wrong and so we had a dreadful night and hardly slept a wink.

This morning when I finally surfaced, I asked my DH

if he minded if I carved myself a way into my sewing room

to just do a bit of mindless sewing.... for me...

He didn't mind, but I had nothing really ready to just sew,

so instead I had to do some cutting first and deciding and planning...

I wanted to do something with my Leader and Ender 9 patches:

So I cut some

 setting squares and triangles, but changed my mind and the quilt idea

(from Bonnie's books) twice at least!

So the 9 patches got abandoned.... for now.

In desperation to just sew. Something.

I put borders on these Corn & Beans blocks that Kate kindly gave me.

I LOVE the colours Kate used in these blocks!

 

(The runner looks a little yellow in the evening light...)

The runner and bedside table mat are ready to quilt now

and the binding is prepped too so hopefully I'll get another chance

to sew before baby Kalico arrives.

I also ironed the binding that I'd cut for baby Kalico's quilt,

which Kandy has very kindly offered to quilt for me.

Hopefully little Miss Kalico will not be early and I'll get both

Kate's Corn & Bean blocks quilted and Baby's quilt bound before D-Day :o)

Young Abby, approves of me being in the sewing room

and even tidying one or two things away

so that she has more surface area to spread out.

Miaow!

Not Ready to Tackle a Monster Yet!

First, I need to categorically state that this is:

my Mother's English Paper-pieced UFO from the 1980's.

The Autumnal colour scheme is definitely not one of my choosing at all,

and the design has just spiralled out of control! ;o)

I assumed it was a Lone Star, but actually it's not star shaped at all

apart from the centre 8 diamonds....

(With the miserable weather I have not been able to lay it out

in its entirity (all 8 sections) on the grass for a photo)

.

It should have been brought back in (in my opinion),

but it extends to infinity (do I sound overwhelmed here!? LOL)

A few years back Mom bought a whole lot of green fabrics

to tie the 'star' back to the centre

and for me to square it off, but I am not sure that that's going to be possible

with the sheer size of the project...

Unfortunately, most of the papers have been removed

to make it lighter for travel

so getting it star shaped again could be tricky.

Plus I'm also thinking 'Is it a waste to unpick all this work?'

and should I maybe just square it off with a rotary cutter (Heaven Forbid?!?)

In the meantime, my sewing room looks like a dump

and I am unable to get in to sew

- the big tidy up for Mother's visit saw all sewing related clobber,

from around the house, dumped in the sewing room, making access

and movement limited :o(

The cat still likes her spot though!!:

(More) Hospital Hexes

Well, if you wondered where I've been,

I have been doing a few nights trial run at

the maternity hopitals (!) nearby.

No sign of baby, but a kidney infection!

So I am now on a 2 week course of antibiotics

and hope to be fit and well when baby is due.

Sadly, my hospital stays coincided with my brother's visit from South Africa,

but we did get to have one lovely lunch together:

A food shot for those of you who like foodie pics ;o)

(Fig & Blackberry Tart with cinnamon ice-cream)

My hospital visits also disrupted several birthdays:

My youngest turned 5 and my husband turned...

well, never mind that LOL, but he was very understanding

that we had to postpone any celebrations

while I was getting hospital bed rest:

A nasty drip, but paid to any chance of hand sewing for a day or so...

But lovely visitors brightened up my stay!!!!

And progress as been made on my folded hexagons:

Now to just get better and ready for our little girl's arrival

in about 2 and a half weeks!

The Monster has arrived!

My Mother has arrived safely from Cape Town to stay with us

while we await baby and hopefully for a few weeks after baby's arrival.

With her came 'the Monster'!:

An English-Paper-Pieced Lone Star that she worked on years ago.

A few years back I made a start on trying to finish this quilt top for her, but also didn't get very far...

I suggested Mom bring it over this year and we make another attempt at getting it completed.

As the weather has turned and it's rainy outside (and I have been instructed to rest)

I decided to just take a quick sneak pic of it.

More to follow when I lay it out and get my head around working on it again....

**********

Yesterday, we celebrated the boy's birthdays at a Farm party.

It was great fun and the unseasonally 27 degree centigrade weather was not wasted

on all the families that attended.

What bliss being able to sit out in the sun!

On the way home we passed our kindly neighbour

who had rescued a poorly hedgehog.

He and his wife are great animal lovers and have a veritable animal rescue centre at their house

so here's to a speedy recovery little hedgehog!!!

Folded Hexagons

Of course, I should be finishing something else,

but having had a spurt of doctor's/midwives... appointments lately,

I thought I'd prepare some 'small' handwork for keeping in my bag...

But, ssshhh, it's a secret...

Borders On, Papers Out

All the cream borders have now been handsewn on to my rose hexagon quilt

so it's at top stage, awaiting a pieced backing and then quilting...

I have started taking the papers out, this is quite time-consuming,

but strangely fun. If I can get the back pieced soon,

I can get this quilt off to the Longarmers and hopefully on our bed

in the not too distant future.

I can't see my husband liking the rose quilt too much,

 but I can always just put it on my side of the bed ;o)

Now, it might be time to think about my Carolina Lily

that needs borders..........

Sweet Stash

"stash - verb (used with object)
1. to put by or away as for safekeeping or future use, usually in a secret place (usually followed by away ): The squirrel stashes away nuts for winter. "
or
The wife stashes the secret Marzipan and Mozart Kugeln away from the rest of her family!

My dear friend J travels to Germany on business and very kindly sent me my absolute favourite chocolates: Mozart Kugeln, which are simply too good to be shared with those who are not discerning  in their chocolate taste ;o)

Thanks J. I shall savour them slowly and scroogily!

Mere Quilters (in Every Nook & Cranny)

I was very fortunate to be invited along by my dear friend Vicky C.

to the Mere Quilters Quilt Exhibition in Windemere today.

Set in a beautiful home overlooking glorious Lake Windemere

and bursting with charm and character and....

QUILTS!!!

I overheard a lady coming down the stairs saying:

'There are quilts in every nook and cranny!'

And there were! Quilts in the bedrooms,

the hallway, the shower room, the workroom...!

What an amazingly prolific group of quilters.

An absolute feast for the eyes and so many beautiful quilts to see and enjoy.

I certainly didn't manage to take everything in!

But I did spot a Lone Star which was lovely

 and reminded me of my Mother's long-term Lone Star

that we are hoping to finish together one day!!

Lots of Christmassy quilts

(less than a 100 days to go now I believe!!)

Quilts on beds...

And quilts needing close-ups like this hexagon quilt...

So many beautiful quilts...

and fun wallhangings...

And this one with sheep! Love it!

With all the beds and chairs etc. adorned with quilts

there was nowhere to sit and admire them, 

however, the dining room offered some excellent home-made refreshments!

I was delighted to have met a lovely lady called Janet

who made this super hexagon bag! (among many other wonderful things!)

And I also met a lady called Susan who made this Log Cabin

(also among many many other wonderful things!)

What a great day out, thank you Mere Quilters!