A posh cup of tea

Last post of 2017, ive had a blocked ear for over two weeks. Drops did nothing,  docs refuse to syringe nowadays so i went private.
Snow was heavy, i struggled to get into Edinburgh but i did! Walked four miles there and back to audiologist but i got my ear cleared.  Its a small thing but small things matter.
I treated myself to a posh cup of tea to celebrate.  Cute teacosy 😀 🐣

This is four table runners ...

Obviously this is not four table runners! It is actually four finishes combined from my FAL Q4 proposed finishes numbers 7,8,9,10 to be precise. Well i was going to make four table runners but then when i got down to it, i had this gorgeous pink paisley pattern fabric that went so well with the charm packs. But i couldnt use it up in just one table runner, so i thought and i thunk and then came up with this! I also needed something bright and cheery to keep my spirits up and boy did this one do the trick! So i dont know if its elgible as it is changed so much from the origianl proposal but hey its the taking part that counts! And this will go to siblings together which makes me happy.

Jenny Haynes, Pappersaxsten quilt top

OK, i may have gone at Q4 with a vengeance! Yep another finish from the FAL Q4 list number 2 to be precise. This was from the workshop the EMQG ladies did with the rather lovely Jenny Haynes @pappersaxsten i chose to make the sunflower cot quilt

I had quite a bit of Heather Ross fabrics left over from a baby quilt i made earlier this year, so i threw in some sheep and unicorn greys for the center.

Those wee dancing ballerinas are ace arent they!

Annnnnnnd just enough IKEA pink polka dot for the back and binding.

Twisted snowball with Zen chic True Blue

Q4 has been pretty epic! Another finish from my list!! Number 12 to be precise, it was a last minute addition but i got cracking with this at the Thistle Patch retreat. It was such a quick and easy pattern from Pam and Nicky Lintott, snowball with a twist. I so wanted to use up my zen chic True blue layer cake, i adore the effect. Its been really really grim trying to get pictures in the grey Scottish winter so this is the best i could do!

I used up some meterage of camper van fabric, fun and cheerful. This one will either go to Social Bite quitl drive by Jo Avery or Project Linus.

Using up precious scraps

It's done!! Number four on my proposed finishes for Q4 I had some quite substantial scraps left from my Petra Prins quilt. There was a sweet cross pattern from a schnibbles pattern book and hey presto we have a sweet wee quilt.

I even backed it with Liberty thanks to my huge stash of cheap seconds! I like it.

Skipper Mark

Do you remember the big bad snow of 2010? Towards the end of it there was a huge big dump of snow when I was at work and we got sent home. I couldn't get my car out of the station car park, scoobs was stranded on the motorway and I was six miles from home. There was max two hours of light left. Now the sensible thing would have been to go to a hotel. But Bud was home and I knew he would stress if he had to mess inside. I couldn't bear it and also I was pissed off and fed up with the snow. Angry with it. So I set off and walked home on the frozen canal paths. It was totally stupid light was fading as I headed into Bonnybridge one false move and I would have been in the frozen canal but I was determined to get home to my boy. All was well but when I went up north and told my family I got such a row, mum was mad at me my sister was mad at me. There was only one cheeky wee face who grinned at me and said "bet you never felt so alive!!!" That was skipper Mark, my beautiful nieces husband. We said goodbye to you far too soon, heartbreakingly too soon. But that's how i will remember you, sweet cheeky gentle and gorgeous.

Gartmore, last visit of 2017

A night away with this lovely man?? No contest! 

A lovely meal followed by a few drinks in front of the fire.

I just love this place it feels like coming home.

   

Christmas cushioning along

And we have a finish!!!! In the giant christmas cushion along 2017. Love this event, any excuse to bust out the snowmen pandas 😊🐼

This year and last years cushions make a nice pair.

Smashing my personal best

I seem to have many draft blog posts about works in progress, its high time i got my act together and  finished them! Neve mind its been s good weekend, fairly chilled and relaxed. Im in the step count challenge which is a fun thing, in the last week you are supposed to try and beat your personal best. My personal best was 33,286. This weekend i set out to try and beat that. The paths were icy so i wasnt hopeful but then i forgot about my sheer and utter thrawness .... 😊 I walked to the kelpies, six miles, met Mark there for lunch then walked home again. Lovely day, listened to Murder on the Orient Express from radio 4. It reminded me what liberties the recent film adaptation had taken! Here are some highlights.

I added on about another 1,500 after that pic was taken. Tired but happy.

A month in the country BOM

Oh the force has been strong with this quilter in Q4! Finish of number 11 on my Q4 list this has been a year in the making. The month in the country BOM from Todays Quilter by the rather talented Jo Avery (shes a chum you know :-) i get hugs :-) ) I loved making this, i had a load of animal themed fat quarters, sadly the fair trade fabric shop closed down, i got loads in their sale. It did feature applique which im not terribly great at any more with my stiff wonky old fingers. I just machine appliqued what i could. I do love it, nice and bright. Here is some work in progress:

And here is the finished quilt! Please note that the block second row far left is four small snowflakes. They are waaaaaaaay smaller than they should be as i forgot the “enlarge by 200%”instruction! 

Walk on by

Doesnt it just! Its been a funny old weekend, a good one but a funny one. I wasnt surprised to find some snark on facebook, i seem to expect it there, but instagram?? Hey ho, not everyone can understand why your knitted doggie has his own account ....

Anyhoo after much rumination i have decided to cope with this in true budsmam fashion, sticking two digits up at the world and walking on by 😊😊

First finish! FAL Q4

You know that thing when you are scrolling through your photos and you realise you did your first finish of Q4 and hadnt noticed!!! Yup - that.

 

No.3 on my list for Q4 was to make a mini sewing machine in liberty, i did this as my entry for the mini competition at the last Gartmore retreat.

Gertie the Gartmore sheep approves 😀 first tick for Q4

Gartmore mon amour

Check me out channeling my inner Greta Garbo 😂😂😂 third time to Gartmore this year and another fab weekend with quilty chums. Gartmore you never fail, good food, good company and gin, life really doesn't get any better.

Ok .... As well as gin there was wine 😊 Just to lubricate the vocal cords you know ....

Having recently been to the rheumatology physio who told me I could still jog a little bit I took the opportunity to get up early go for a little run/jog - fabulous!

I took along the mahoosive Liberty quilt to work on .... Memo to self don't blether/chat/drink alcohol when working on such a big and complex project ..... I had to unpick all the borders back to the flying geese and do a bit of nifty sewing to remake it .... My own fault, having too much fun and not paying attention 😊

How cute is this! Gertie the Gartmore sheep! I had to buy her, so many happy memories at Gartmore and gertie reminds me of them every day.

Sheena did us proud as ever organising a mini competition and quiz, here was my mini.

What a funky pair of dudes we are, me and Sheena with our fab shoes 😍

Gertie suddenly sported s rather gorgeous Liberty scarf! Now who would be sweet enough to do that for me?? Only the sooper luffly Ruth that's who 😊 Thank you Ruth an even nicer reminder of a lovely weekend.

Don't worry Gartmore I'll be back 😊

Jenny Haynes a weekend with Pappersaxsten

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd breathe, 😊 budsmam towers has been busy with a humungous Senior Fellowship application for the higher education academy. All very worthwhile etc etc but its taken up my sewing time 😱😱😱😱😱 also taken up my time to reflect on all the fun stuff which has been happening *tuts* So lets catch up and remember the fun stuff.

The fun stuff kicked off on the friday night with steak chips and wine with lovely Ruth, i call her lovely Ruth because she simply is lovely. We try to have a meal before any evening talks and i cant think of a nicer way to kick things off. 

How fab is this lady?? The sooper fab Jenny Haynes @pappersaxsten. 

Jenny came up for a weekend in Edinburgh, giving a talk on the friday night a class at Mybearpawcraft on the saturday and a class for the Edinburgh Modern Quilt guild on the sunday. What a fab talk and as with all our speakers its the chance to see some amazing quilts up close and personal. Love this one, especially as the amazing honeycomb quilting was done by the fabulous Tatyana Duffie.

Can you see the sooper fab Ruth @fallingshoes peeping out?? She was on door duty. Cuddliest fluffiest bouncer ever 😊

This was it, this was the quilt i wanted to make. The one which stopped me in my tracks when i first saw it online.

So, onto sunday where i pulled out some cute fabric and deployed Jennys wonderful templates. What a fab technique!

I managed to get heaps done in the class and then finished off the quilt at a Gartmor weekend, but thats another story 😊