Monday, August 27, 2007

Coming along


You wouldn't believe how long it has taken me to come up with a design for the outer border of this quilt. It has gone through several stages - most of them abandoned because of my lack of applique skills. It would have been good to use bias tubing but not right now (yes, I am a bone idle good for nothing woman and you all thought I was industrious). It would also have been good to do hand applique but I can't get my head round that one right now (and possibly ever). So I took the short cut - machine embroidered stems and fused leaves. However, what I really wanted to do was to use one of my new yo-yo making tools to make the tiniest size of yo-yos and use them in this project, so at least that's a first. Here's the progress so far with the first leaves fused on but not machine appliqued yet.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Fall Quilt Progress

Here's the start of the Fall Quilt - it will get a bit more busy than this before it's finished. It seems weird to have pulled all of those fabrics and yet used only the tiniest piece of each one. I cut 2" strips to get the squares so I may feel the urge to make another in a different pattern once this is finished.


Finn surprised me by tagging me for Nice Matters - the logo is so pretty I've put it on my sidebar for a little while. I would find it well nigh impossible to limit my nominations to just 7 people - so instead I'm just going to say is that this is a great international community and I love being part of it.

Monday, August 20, 2007

First of all thank you to everyone who left a comment on the mile a minute top - much appreciated! But be warned - it is infectious, once you start making them you can't stop - check out Andrea and Lynda's blogs to see theirs, and Patti, who started it all, has completed a mammoth 534 blocks

I couldn't resist joining the Four Seasons Quilt Swap and pulled these fabrics from the stash for the Fall Quilt. Can I cram them all into a quilt that has a maximum size of 18" X 18"? You betcha!


My other non-quilty news is that I have got a new job in a college, starting in the middle of September. Even better, it is within walking or cycling distance of home so I might get a bit fitter, you never know.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

'Mile a Minute' Progress

My string bag is now virtually empty - I'd been making 10 blocks at a time and I don't think I've got enough strings left to make even another 10.

Here is the result - a year's worth of strings and oddments that I think many people would have thrown away (though I have to confess that I did use my pre-cut 2.5 inch squares for the centres just to have that bit more variety). I can't tell you how much I enjoyed making this and how much I love the finished effect. The colours though are a bit bleached out in these pictures, they are brighter in 'real life'.


I am just so sad that I'll have to wait another year to build up enough strings for another one. I know I could use strips from yardage but I just don't think I'd get the same effect - this uses lots of odd long triangular pieces from cutting straight the sleeves and yokes of shirts and besides, I just love the notion that nothing is wasted and it's kind of for free. I'm going to put a dark navy border on it to make it up to a big enough size to use as a throw on my kitchen sofa.

Siobhan commented that sewing mile a minute blocks is kind of like therapy and I couldn't agree more. I've had a bit of a stressful time lately for a variety of reasons culminating in a trip to London for my son to have an MRI scan last Monday. We were in an awful car accident nearly two years ago and my son was badly hurt and in intensive care for a short period. Thankfully there is no lasting damage and the driver of the car who caused the accident was prosecuted, but for insurance purposes my son has had to have MRI scans of his head. This was the third try - he had a panic attack in the first, traditional enclosed tunnel-like one and then they tried another wider one which was supposed to be less claustrophobic but he still panicked. This was the last resort, a 'wide open' scanner where he didn't have to go into a tunnel and I am glad to say that he was okay and stayed still enough for them to do the scans (not easy for a ten year old) and he was very proud of himself. On the positive side, after that was over the two of us had a lovely afternoon and evening in London (including a trip to Hamleys Toy Shop in Regent Street for a reward) before heading home on the train.
This morning we went to Birmingham. I like to go to the 'Rag Market' - of course it doesn't sell rags any more but it does sell fabric and has lots of haberdashery stalls. I like markets anyway - I'm far happier in a market than a globalised chain store.
Have a good weekend everyone.