Old friends

Well its been an eventful few days. Checkup at hospital, all is still well, my long lost niece turns up and she now has six children! Christmas is going to be fun :0)
I have reconnected with some old quilts. While down at husbands parents I saw a lap quilt I made for his Nan who is sadly no longer with us. It reminded me of the pattern I used which I loved at the time. It was originally a quillow pattern, I did the first one in greens for my mother. When I was up at the weekend I managed to get a few pictures of that one.

  Now these are even worse pictures than normal! But the light was dreadful. Here is the one I did for husbands Nan, now this was taken on my mobile so quality not good but you get the idea.
I must try and get better pictures, I do love the softer colours I used for the second one.
Well I cant find that picture on flickr so we will have to leave it out for just now!

Saying goodbye

I love all my quilts, some more than others but I don't think there is one I don't like.
So it was with a heavy heart I took some quilts along to my new project Linus coordinator. When I was folding them up I realised I hadn't seen them for a while and I really didn't want to part with them. This batch had a couple of batik quilts in it, if you see my quilts you know I love colour and these have a whole lot of colour in them.
But when I got to see Nikki my new coordinator I realised I had done the right thing. One of the places she will be giving them too is a respite centre for children who have cancer. I can't actually write that without tears in my eyes. Having just come through six months of chemo myself it's hard to think of a child having to do so.
Anyhoo, these will hopefully give some comfort and cheer, they were made with a lot of love.
This is the top of one of the double bed sized quilts I made here are some more shots.




Now for the batiks! Get your sunglasses on!




This I think is my ultimate favourite of the batch, lovely and loud.

 

 

 

I hope they are enjoyed and bring some cheer.

Unpicking a flower head

I love the hello sun BOM from April Mae, although using fusible appliqué is not really anywhere hear my comfort zone I managed to do the first four blocks quite successfully.
Mays block however was a bit of a disaster, transferred the design the wrong way round and the flower not only ends up with its head on upside down but facing away from the sun.
I did think I could live with it but nuh huh, so am going to spend today seeing how little I can get away with unpicking, here is the before shot.

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Finished table runners

Here is a pic of the finished table runner before it headed off to the rural to be given away as a prize.

And the full length version

I love it but won't work with silk again, my Hoover doesn't like it!

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Block of the month thingys

I am a sucker for a block of the month quilt along. It really all started when I was undergoing chemotherapy last year. I needed something to keep me occupied and take my mind off things. I loved the flickr groups as well, so supportive, I can't tell you how much it meant to get an email saying someone had commented on your block, especially if you were awake at two in the morning with steroid induced insomnia!
One BOM I started and which is still ongoing is the Bloggers BOM from Canton Village Quilt works they are nice small blocks 8.5 inches square. Here are some of mine.

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I hit delete by mistake ...

Oh dear, lesson learned, never get slap happy with the delete button. Anyhow here is a shortened version of the post I deleted.
In and out quilt, from a pattern by Lisa Dinkelman from Seattle Quilt company in Aberdeen. Made during a fab weekend with chums!
First you choose the brightest Art Deco fabric and cut, and cut and cut,
Then you sew sashing to top and bottom of rectangles and layout according to pattern diagram,

Sew rows together, it comes up really quickly, main thing is to remember block placement, very important for overall look. You eventually end up with this:

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Table runners and falling out of love with silk

I have a passion for table runners, well for making them, not so fussed about having them in the house. Too much trouble to keep clean.
I also love silk, the look and feel of it, but working with it? Well that I can do without. It just frays sooooo much and husband who does the hoovering is getting fed up as it just won't budge from the floor. So i have imposed a restriction on me buying any more. The heirloom silk quilt should be ok as most of it is fused or interfaced but those irresistible little charm packs at the festival of quilts are no go from now on.
So these are my last silk items, two table runners made from the silk packs I bought last year at Festival of Quilts.

This is the middle part of the braid table runner for my niece, she has these lovely colours in her dining room.

Almost finished the second table runner, just got outer border to add.
Watch this space!

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