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Monday 30 April 2012

3 quilts quilted one to go!

Before the shocking title news some super cute fabric arrived in the post today....Father actually bought it to me this time O_O! It was sent from Emily at Strawberry Patch, as well as the fabric she sent me some bunting, which I put around my sewing table. (The scissors were like that from last night)






Now onto the title. You read right! I not only finished quilting the quilt I've been trying to for the past few days, but I started and finished the next one! I have one more to quilt, then binding all four and they'll be done! I just need to find some yellow/gold thread...(mosaics are back in town!)


I never thought I'd say this, but hand quilting is actually not so bad! I've gotten better with each block I've passed, it's actually straight and mostly even stitches! I won't do this for all quilts, but definitely a few here and there. I used a thicker large needle...so maybe Jano might need one too.
I'll have to make another mosaic of my April finishes....Where did the month go?!
Happy April everyone, hope you all made some great things and will continue to do so in May =D

P.S. More swaps, giveaways and random crafty things to come next month!

Sunday 29 April 2012

Is it really Sunday?

Today didn't feel like a Sunday. A lot of things were missing. The Older Giant and Father are usually out at boot fairs, one working and the other buying...can you guess which.
Mother. The Younger Giant and I usually stay home making the Sunday Brunch. Then I'll have a driving lesson, come back and do some sewing.

Today however it was raining....Mother is on Holiday and The Older Giant and Father didn't go to boot fair, nor did I have a driving lesson.
I did manage to do some sewing. Though this was in between making dinner. (Rice and peas...Chicken...Gravy...Salad) Help from the Giants.

It's still not finished! One row is done and I've started on the next..only I didn't take a picture of it O.O
The backing has shrunk slightly on this quilt, but it should be OK one the row is quilted too. I'm thinking of binding them with some silver Gingham...?
Well that's strangely all from me today...tomorrow should be more productive....I hope =D

Saturday 28 April 2012

When is a scrap not a scrap?

Answer..When you order them from Fabric Shoppe.
I was expecting some small scraps, you know those odd pieces you end up with from various projects right?
WRONG because instead I got these




I received 28 different fabrics ranging between 5-17" in length and 21-44" in width...most of them were 44"! Prints from designers and collections such as: Alphabet soup-My minds eye.....Hoo's in the Forest-Doohikey Designs.....Ann Kelle...Robert Kaufman.....Riley Blake...Just wing it-Momo.....Indian summer-Zoe Pearn.....Colourful Christmas....Screen print.
When I first opened the pack I thought they were FQs and they had gotten my order wrong! Until I unfolded some and thought WOW these are the "SCRAPS!"

There isn't one I don't like, there are some I LOVE! It has a great range of colours and prints that fit in really well with my stash. As I wasn't expecting them this size I didn't allocate space! So I had to shuffle some things around to have a spare under-bed box for all the other fabrics I have yet to come!

Still no sewing! Seriously it feels odd not sewing! We went shopping, then I came back and sorted out all those fabrics, cutting a 5" strip from each for my charm collection and then from the ones I bought yesterday.  At half 4ish was my Driving lesson! I've gotten a lot better at steering and turning corners....I need to learn to follow directions better mind you. It's great, hard work remembering everything, I know it'll be worth it in the end.

It feels like a Sunday as that's usually the day of my lessons. next Sunday will be cake making!
I hope nothing major gets in the way tomorrow I really want to finish that quilt!
Oh My Mother goes on holiday tomorrow, she's off to Tunisia for a week, with a friend of hers!
Well that's all from me today...=D


Friday 27 April 2012

Feeling a Little Froggy....

Today I was all set to get on with finishing the hand quilting on charm quilt 2. I got up earlier than usual and everything to have more time...only things didn't go to plan!
Father kept nagging me he was going out and I'd be at home all by myself...So I continued on with my morning routine, he still kept going on. After I was done and ready to jump into quilting he asked me if I wanted to go with him and to get ready. I had to write up some envelopes to post, but he waited and then we went to the post office first. So ladies who swapped with me your fabric is on it's way.

So we drove for quite some time down some long winding country lanes and through the rain that seemed to be on off at various parts of the motorway...Strange. We arrived at the Hemel Hempstead market...only to His surprise the market wasn't there!! We walked round the shopping center instead seeing nothing of interest then made our way back to the car.
I had spotted a shop on the drive there, but thought nothing of it at the start, then Father saw it too and suggested we go over and have a look.
He parked up the car on a side road and saw you couldn't actually park there whilst I went inside....WOW was my first thought as I walked deeper into the shop....the outside is very deceptive!
The shop is called NeedleCraft, you can't order online so anyone living in that area can pop in and have a look.
As you go in there's knitting accessories, wool and card making things...I thought that's all there was until I walked in a little more and saw fabric!! Lots of lovely designer fabric! Some I'd seen online and stopped myself from buying...some I'd seen in blogs, but the designers were unknown. Most are Makower UK fabrics. So first I grabbed a few prints here and there, then Father scared me as I didn't know he had come into the shop, as its split into sections....He spotted some prints after I had paid and we were on our way out...so naturally I got pulled back in and brought another lot of fabric! Some panel strips and some FQ's of must have fabric..Here it all is....I spent £69 in total.
We then drove (down those long country lanes and through the rain) back to our local square to get some food and saw The Older Giant in the shop, which was rather funny as he was talking to the owner about my Father! (I must mention they do the best chicken and chips I've had in quite some time!)
I really didn't intend on adding more fabrics to my stash, but hey it's not everyday you stumble upon a quilt shop in this area!


A lot of pictures to follow
2 Bundles of 5 prints and 7FQs-A bicycle print, 2 music prints, 2 owl prints and 2 sewing themed prints 

The two bundles....the girly one I was about to order online and the froggy one I've been looking for, for a while now!

A random assortment of scraps, some picked by Father
 These are the panel strips I got 6 different sets there are 11 squares to each strip.
A sewing themed panel strip

The rest of the pattern

A boutique style panel strip

The other half

A baby boy panel strip

The other half

This one is a birthday/celebration theme

Other half

A baby girl theme

The other half

The froggy theme

The other half
I showed the froggy themed print to The Younger Giant....he didn't like it! I really thought he would...I think they look really cool! Maybe it's just me!
I folded the fabrics so store then went to make dinner. Pizza from scratch! I was a little afraid the dough wouldn't rise as one of the packets of yeast I used was open, so I put the closed one in too, but it came out perfect!
Tomorrow food shopping and a driving lesson! I might also get to finish the quilting, we'll see how it goes =D

Oh and soon there will be another
Charm About You

Thursday 26 April 2012

Just Chilling out...

Instead of my normal get up and sew...it was more get up and go..(out that is) I haven't seen my best friend Fiona in quite some time now, since she started her new job. Today she had a day off so we hung out and caught up on all the time we'd missed out.
Her unofficial Aunt's...daughters son is turning one soon and she asked me to make a cake for him! I'm no real expert in cake designing, though I did take a course, but it's great to have practice. I've made cakes with Father (with me doing all the cutting, rolling and colouring...of the fondant that is,) here are a few of them (there are more, but hey can't show them all )

Well this one was for a junior competition when I was at college. I got a merit for it. BTW it's not real cake under there, polystyrene dummies..and I still have it up in the loft/attic (protected in a black bag of course). The colours remind me of fabric!

We bought the flowers for this one at the time I hadn't learnt to make them 

I had to cut out all those little daises to go around the edge

My Father did the work on this cake...I mixed the colours... and the above mentioned..again the flowers were bought

This cake was for my Aunt she didn't even know we were making it. I made those roses, Father did the other side cherry blossom design as some of the fondant had cracked and that was to cover it up..Shhhhh



I made the little girl sitting on top of the cake...Father got hand cramp piping the grass..poor man!
 

T
his cake guess who had to cut all those decorations? And can you guess the theme?
 

The one I'm making soon will be a Mickey's Clubhouse theme....We've sketched out ideas and jotted things down...I should have taken some pictures of the sketches....oh dear.

No sewing today....Those poor quilts! Well that's all from me....now you can all be thinking of cake.....=D

Wednesday 25 April 2012

More Hand Sewing

I was going to start as soon as I'd finished up my morning routine...but then a book caught my eye from my pile and well I just had to read it!
Teen Idol-Meg Cabot, It's been on the pile for almost 2 months now! Mother read it before me! I finished the book and even did some hand quilting after =D



Using red Perle cotton this time round. I did slightly bigger stitches..or at least that was the intention...it's hard to tell, I did them from the outside going in..Still have to finish the row I started and then quilt the other HST row too. Then it will be 2 quilts quilted and 2 to go.

Oh I almost forgot...this came in the post this morning from Al-{sew}Allergorical


Love that fabric!!
Well that's all from me today...going to see a good friend of mine tomorrow =D

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Hand quilting in progress!

Before that..this morning the doorbell rang....Father got up to answer it.....instead of bringing me my mail he left it on the ironing board...How nice of him not to 'wake' me!

I placed an order not too long ago on Etsy from Surly Sheep They specialise in fat 8ths...I needed more variety in colour for my stash so I got the 36 colour wheel bundle and a 5 Fat 8th bundle of neutral browns to go with it....Here are the fabrics 





I actually love them all! Which is shocking as usually with these there are always some I don't like. The reds aren't too red which is perfect. There were some small selvedge pieces on them which I noticed....some designers were Michael Miller, Riley Blake, Alexander Henry, Amy Butler, Art Gallery, Studio E, Robert Kaufman and a few others.
Some are even premium cotton, which feels slightly thicker than normal cotton, somewhat close to home dec weight. 

I haven't got a project in mind for them yet...I'm looking for some quilt patterns so any suggestions would be most welcome.

Now onto the hand quilting. I was a little nervous, as I've never hand quilted before and thought I'd be there forever!...I actually wasn't and managed to get one quilt done today. I used a deep purple Perle cotton..which looks black in the picture!


I'm not sure whether or not to quilt the white centre squares in each row or to leave them...I only have red or brown Perle cotton at the moment, which I'll be using on the other quilts....need to find a yellow or gold one for the last quilt. Then they all need to be bound...maybe next week.....
I need to work on my hand stitching, but It did get straighter as I went along. I think I'll try long stitches for the next quilt.

My stash is ever growing and I still have a 32 FQ order to be delivered as well as a 6 yard scrap bag (and just about the space to store them when they arrive).....Crazy? Me? Of course not....
Oh and the fabrics I swapped out from my stash....yeah...I might have to get some more boxes.....=D

P.S I've updated my Swap Shop so head on over, these fabrics could be joining your stash 



Bye for now =D