A nice cup of tea

This is actually not the picture I wanted to show - I have been trying to upload some quilt pictures from the Festival of Quilts but blogger wasn't having it, no way, no how, and I should know, I've been trying for nearly 3/4 of an hour.
But for some reason blogger is happy to upload this picture of my favourite drink - tea. I drink lots of tea, and I like it strong, with a little milk. When we go to Europe I really miss it because it is not worth asking for as it comes very weak and the water it's made with isn't boiling. I just like the packaging on this box but this brand makes good tea too.

On the quilt front, I have been mainly cutting out more strips for the recycled top and will hopefully be able to sew more this weekend. However, could be dodgy as I have also taken it upon myself to hire a skip (think you might call this a dumpster). The time has come to declutter - starting with our garage, which houses a large and growing collection of old cardboard boxes, kid's toys and odd tins of paint. To give an idea of the scale of this problem, I have to confess that our garage contains no less than eight bicycles. And the loft (attic), well, I couldn't even begin to go there. No, seriously, I couldn't even begin to go there, the floor is covered with boxes, books, more old toys - you can't walk from one side of the room to the other.

Tomorrow is the first day back at school for DS, and DD starts Sixth Form College - feels like Autumn is here already.

Lake District

We spent the weekend at my in-laws in Carlisle, which is in the north of England near to the Lake District, one of the most beautiful areas of Britain. It is about 4 hours drive from where we live, DH's sister and her family were there also. I have to confess that this is an old photo, we didn't go into the Lake District itself this time. Although we did hop over the border to Scotland to do some shopping at an outlet village in Gretna and we visited the Roman excavation site at Vindolanda in Northumbria which was fascinating. There was a Roman fort there as part of the fortifications on Hadrian's Wall, which was northern limit of the Roman Empire. They have found an amazing number of Roman artefacts there including the earliest known document handwritten by a woman (actually an invitation to a Roman birthday party). An archaeologist on the site said that because of the sheer size of the site it will take them 200 years just to excavate it fully. They can only excavate in the summer months as the place is very bleak and inhospitable in the winter and the weather would be too cold and the winds too fierce to dig.

No more travels on the immediate horizon, so I'm looking forward to concentrating on some sewing and catching up on all your blogs.

We are spending some time with DH's family this weekend so I'll be offline until next week. Thanks for all the kind comments on my recycled top and have a great weekend everyone. P.S. This is the first post I've ever done that doesn't have a picture - feels kind of weird.

Much better

I took heart (and inspiration) from Finn's comment about cutting up the strippy top and decided to make a version of another of Bonnie's patterns from www.quiltville.com, Strip Twist, which I've made before. So I cut up the Simply Strippy top into squares and triangles and put it back together like this.

I am so pleased with how it came out, I like it much better than the strippy one that I started off making and this one will lie flat. It used up all of the top that I had made but I am going to carry on and make a bigger quilt - I just love the randomness of it.

The perils of recycling

As some of you know, I like to use recycled fabrics in my quilts as well as new quilting fabric. When my mum and I went to the Quilt Show at the weekend, we both found that the quilts that most appealed to us were the ones in Kaffe Fassett's collection of vintage quilts, like the one in the picture. We both like the 'maverick' quality and to us the imperfections made the quilts so much more lively and interesting to look at than some of the very perfect, planned quilts on display. Because the quilt has been washed, or the fabrics were cut down from clothing in the first place they also have that lovely soft look to them.

At the show my mum bought her first rotary cutter and ruler and is now fired up to start quilting. She has always sewn a lot, and when she had her shop she made cushions (both the living room and lacy bedroom varieties) and other goods to sell. So she has quite a big collection of furnishing fabric but not much lighter weight printed cotton. To start her off I made her a basket of pieces - all the fabrics except two are recycled from shirts or other clothing and they are in the pastel colours she likes.

So, I was all inspired to make a very quick quilt on Sunday. I thought I would make a 'Simply Strippy' quilt from Bonnie's www.quiltville.com in blues. However ... here's where it gets perilous. I was using all recycled fabrics, all 100% cotton, but they were different weights, some of them are very flimsy Liberty and Laura Ashley Fabrics and others were shirts so thick they were almost homespun. Generally when I piece this doesn't matter because the pieces are smaller and the differences in the thread count and 'stretch' are minimal and don't cause problems. There were lots of recycled fabrics in my Depression Block top but it went together just fine. But because the strips in this quilt are longer the differences between the fabrics become more pronounced! At first the top went a bit like a banana - curved over to one side, so I compensated for this by stretching the next strip that went on and so on. It did come back straight again but this made great big 'pillows' in the top that I don't think will quilt out. You can sort of see them in the picture. It's no great disaster - I can cut up the top into smaller pieces and make bags, or cut it in half and see if sewing it together a different way will help. I am clearly not a person who learns from her mistakes because I have just remembered that the same thing happened at Christmas when I sewed strips together to make stockings. Maybe I should have tried piecing using a walking foot?

Back from our travels

We got back from Berlin yesterday - I've done so much walking I feel as though my feet don't belong to me anymore. My DH is very interested in the history of the city and provided our very own tour commentary! It's hard to imagine it as a divided city now, very little of the wall remains, although the line of where it ran is marked in paving stones. The first picture shows the Berlinerdom or cathedral and to the right of it is a more recent landmark, the Television Tower - it has a revolving restaurant on the top - we went to the bottom but the queues were too long to wait to go up (apparently the lifts are very small). Instead, we went up to the glass dome of the Reichstag at ten o'clock at night and had a lovely view of the lights of the city.

There is still a lot of building work going on in the city as they build on former open spaces or replace buildings erected by the former East German regime. What is fascinating is that where there are gaps in buildings they erect scaffolding covered with painted tarpaulin to show what the building will look like when it is completed and to provide a more aesthetic view for people. So the 'building' you see in this picture is actually a printed cloth covering scaffolding, a bit like a film set, I suppose.

And lastly, I couldn't resist a picture of this bear, the symbol of Berlin - don't you think he looks quilty? We also went to the Zoo, which DS enjoyed greatly - no bears there though (or at least I didn't see any).

Tomorrow I am going to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, it is meant to be the biggest Quilt Show in Europe so I have high hopes that it will be inspiring and that I will be able to take some pictures to share with you.

Firstly, thanks to all those who have given advice on the thread - I think I am going to go for...cream (now why didn't I think of that - you can see why I need to ask for advice). But...I am also toying, just toying mind, with Patti's suggestion of handstitching. Although I have said that handstitching is not my favourite occupation, I can't bear to sit doing nothing either. I thought crochet had filled that gap, but somehow, right at the moment I'm not in the mood to crochet. I did once make a quilt with appliqued ducks and ducklings all over it and they were all sewn round with blanket stitch - the handstitching was effective - it wouldn't have looked half as good if I'd machine sewn it, but I can't say that I enjoyed the actual sewing. Strangely enough, I don't mind sewing down the binding on quilts at all. I'll mull it over a bit more before I make a decision, but I am tempted. Sadly, I don't have a picture of the quilt to show you those stitches - it was made for a friend's baby and I forgot to photograph it before I gave it her.

As a bit of light relief after all that cutting, I made up a couple of Tonya's http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/ wonky houses. Doesn't the one on the right look straightlaced against the nice and wonky one on the left? I know which one I prefer - the wonkier the better.

I have just bought this book. I think part of what attracts me to quilting isn't just the artistry and colours but the history of them too. I know this book isn't specifically about quilts but there's a sort of tenuous link. It is entirely made up of diaries and letters of women who travelled on the Western Trails, complete with spelling and grammar mistakes. It had really good reviews on Amazon, although it seems quite an academic book. I'll let you know how I get on with it.

This will be my last post for a few days so have a good weekend all.

'Antique Cutie'

This is the block pattern for the floral quilt I am making, the blocks are set 3 X 4 with sashing in floral and muslin. The pattern is called 'Antique Cutie' and is from Terry Martin's book, Focus on Florals. I've just laid out the bay leaves so you can see the rough layout, I think I've cut up about 46 different floral fabrics for the bay leaves and the sashing strips so I think it qualifies as scrappy, but surprise, surprise, doesn't make much of a dent in the stash.

One thing I would like some advice on...when I iron the leaves down properly and go round the edges, what colour should I use for thread. In the book she seems to use black, which I think would be the traditional colour, with a machine blanket stitch. My machine doesn't do blanket stitch so it will be a widish zig-zag. I think black will be too stark, but what are the alternatives? I'm currently thinking green or maybe even red.

This has taken me the longest time to cut, yet it doesn't seem much when you look at the pieces in their zip-lok bags. I don't expect to make much progress for a couple of weeks as we are off again on another break soon, this time to Berlin. Yes, that's right, Berlin, that well-known holiday destination. Don't ask, my DH has always wanted to go there so where he leads, we follow!

Shirts and stash

Today I went to the hairdressers. I HATE going to the hairdressers, I would rather go to the dentist anyday. It was a catalogue of disasters, I got there only to be told that they had mixed up appointments and could I come back in 3/4 of an hour. My confidence was further eroded by the stylist announcing that she was leaving (as coincidence would have it to become a dental receptionist). Hairdressing not her vocation then! She then proceeded to cut my hair, finishing with a fringe (bangs to you in the US, I think). Not a straight fringe, oh no, but one sweeping across my forehead at a ski slope angle. She straightened it up a bit when she heard my gasp of dismay but it was cut totally blunt and I like mine feathered a bit. I asked her to do so and her reply was "I don't have the right implements". Apparently, scissors aren't good enough these days. She didn't get a tip and I will have to get my mum to sort out my fringe tomorrow. Good job hair grows, eh?

On the quilting front, I am not partaking in the August stash buying embargo as you can see. I do not feel guilty about this - I allow myself a certain amount of money every month to buy fabric and I usually order it from the US because it's cheaper. Other than that, the only way that I buy on impulse is shirts from charity shops. The top pic is shirts all cut up and ready to use. There aren't any really good quilt shops near to me and the couple that are near are so expensive that I wouldn't be tempted to buy on impulse anyway.

The next pic is my fabric for this month (although strictly speaking it is out of last month's salary. I don't have many brights in my stash but I love the look of them so I ordered some of those from Thousands of Bolts. Other than that I just buy what I like the look of and worry about how to use it later. I figure that if I buy it because I like it, at some point or other it will fit together with other fabric that I've bought for the same reason.

And lastly, here is part of what I have been cutting up for my floral quilt - it is going to be part-applique, but fused and machined applique of course! I was hoping to get all the bay leaves cut out today but I ran out of bondaweb (steam a seam) and though I nipped into town at half past four to try and get some, neither of the two places that stock it had any. Cutting the pieces is my least favourite part of the quiltmaking process.

My first FMQ

Yay, my first FMQ quilt! I need to put the binding on but it is quilted all over with loops and swirls and I am particularly pleased that when you turn it over the quilting is distributed evenly - I had a fear that it would be far apart in some bits and close together in others. My daughter likes it, though I have explained that it was just for practice - close inspection bears this out as there are, shall we say, some interesting variances in stitch length here and there and some rather wobbly lines in the border :-) This top is about 40 X 57 inches - what I think I'll do soon is to make a couple of smaller charity quilts to get more practice in. But all in all it has turned out OK for a first attempt.

And for my next project ...
I have started cutting out a pattern in florals but not much to see yet so no pic.

All work and no sewing

What a week - I've been to Coventry (twice), Derby and Grantham for work and fitted in a visit to my Mum too. Although I have tried to keep up with other's blogs I haven't had time to comment much - although bloglines is a great help I think I'll have to go back to just going through my bookmarks to catch up with everyone. I think this is about the longest I've gone without posting for a while. It's just one of those times when work takes over and I've been too tired to do anything in the evening other than water the allotment. So apologies for not commenting and I will get round to it soon.

I have got a new free motion foot - and guess what, I don't think the other one I had was a genuine Brother foot as the new one is different (and hasn't broken and does float better over the top of the quilt). So maybe it was a fault with the foot rather than with me. The FMQ is going OK so I'm hoping to be able to post a picture soon.

Just so I do have a picture (after all this wouldn't be too interesting without one) here is the afghan I crocheted for DD. The colours are brighter in reality. I want to crochet a rug like Darcie's out of fabric but can't quite get round to starting - maybe in the winter I'll get round to it.

Quilting Disaster

Okay, I thought I'd have to give free motion quilting a go. So, once I'd put borders on my pink and green squared top I thought that would be good to start on - I didn't care too much about it so I wasn't worried about 'ruining' it. DD is going to camp at a music festival next month so I thought she could put it in the tent. So there I was, stitching away merrily (but not very evenly - hey I'm still learning). I remembered what Anne, at Quilting Bebbs had said about starting in the middle and moving to the edges. I thought this could be like one big practice piece.

And then THIS happened. The needle broke into 3 pieces and the actual plastic part of the foot sheared off. I don't think I hit a safety pin so I have no idea why this happened. Maybe it's a cosmic message ~stick to stitching in the ditch~. So I have no idea whether it's a faulty foot or whether it was something I did wrong. Either way, the quilt will now have to wait until I can order another foot. I haven't tried the machine with another foot yet, so I hope there is no other damage to it.

One thing I did find out when I was doing the fmq - my machine always stops with the needle up and you can't set it to stop with the needle down - kind of annoying when doing this. Other than that I love my machine, it's a Brother star 230E and has lots of features that I like such as a top loading bobbin so you don't have to put it in a seperate case and pull the thread through.

And, best news yet, it's raining, what a relief!

Back from Prague

Back from our short break in Prague - as you can see from the pics it was absolutely beautiful, but very, very hot. All of Europe seems to be suffering from a heatwave. The second pic shows the view from a hill on the edge of the city - normally you can go up by funicular railway but it was closed for repairs so we walked up (in the baking sun). Just the three of us went - DH, DS and me, my daughter didn't want to come - just too uncool to be seen walking around with parents and a younger brother, so she stopped with my mum.

We nearly had a disaster - I thought we were coming back on Thursday but when I checked the tickets we were actually coming back on Wednesday - good job I looked because otherwise we'd have missed our flight home for sure.

This was the first week of the school summer holidays for DS - in Leicester the kids break up a week earlier than most of the rest of the country. This is historical as years ago all of the textile and engineering factories shut down for the second two weeks in July so the workers could go on holiday. Not many places take the traditional fortnight now but the schools have kept to it as where it is still in force workers have no choice of when they take their holiday and it would cause some people inconvenience if the schools only broke up at the end of July. Of course, this means that Leicester schoolchildren still have six weeks holiday but they have to go back to school a week earlier than the rest of the country - so there are drawbacks.

Not much sewing going on around here lately, the new job is quite demanding (particularly as I'm still doing my old one at the same time - don't ask) and I've had to travel about a bit this week.

Also I've been packing as we are going away on holiday for a few days to the Czech Republic. I hate packing - I just can't imagine how all you bloggers out there who are moving house must feel, just packing a suitcase stresses me out. I am looking forward to going away though.

I didn't want my last post for a few days not to have a picture so I've just used another postcard made for a friend's birthday to fill up the space with a bit of visual interest :-)

I'll look forward to catching up when I get back - bye for now.

Depression Block Progress

Blocks all sewn together and pinned to our old shed - I like the rustic air it gives to the quilt top!! This was nice and easy to put together and I really like the fact that because it's so scrappy you never quite know how it's going to turn out in the end.

It's a pity that some members of my family don't share my reverence for all things quilty. I came home the other day to find my 24inch ruler leaning against a wall instead of in it's usual holder. Suspecting foul play I questioned DD, only to be told that she had been using it to try to swat a fly! My acrylic ruler, a fly? What is the world coming to? Needless to say she has been given very firm instructions not to do it again, ever.

I did finish it

Here are a couple of pics of the quilt I made for my DS - he really likes it, which is the most important thing, but it was a learning experience for me. I didn't realise how difficult it would be to stitch a thicker batting by machine so I just had to do my best and stitch in the ditch between the squares. I never intended to do anything more complicated on it but just doing that was a real headache. Note the cunning way that there are no close-ups! The second pic was meant to be the only one I posted but the quilt did seem a bit too far away! We all went to the cinema yesterday to see 'Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest' - a bit of a disappointment and way too long at 2 1/2 hours althought the more comic parts were good. It was only the second day of release here in the UK and the cinema was packed.

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Progress so far

All the HSTs have been sewn into squares so now it's just a matter of making up the blocks - not much progress this week because I don't have much time in the evenings but I have completed four blocks so it's coming along. There might just be a few dodgy darks in there but I'm pleased with it overall. The other pic is of the lavatera in our garden after the rain. Yes, after days of sweltering sun it has now rained for the last 3 days and I've had to bring Frankie inside so he doesn't get wet! Thanks to those of you who have given me rabbit keeping tips - they are much appreciated.

Introducing...Frankie

The latest addition to our family - Frankie the rabbit. Apologies for the 'behind bars' pic - we had only just got him when DH took it and I haven't taken any since.

My Dad got him for us - I have to admit I was a bit dismayed at first because I didn't have a long haired rabbit in mind, just your common or garden normal short haired rabbit. Long haired rabbits take a lot of grooming to stop their fur becoming matted and with a full time job, allotment, and 2 kids I did wonder just when I was going to fit this in. (Yes, I know he is DS's rabbit and I will encourage him to groom him but it's going to take him a while to become confident)

However, I am pleased to report that Frankie seems to have a lovely temperament and will let me pick him up and groom him so things aren't looking too bad now.

The other downside has been the weather - it has been unbearably hot here and we've had to put the rabbit run under a parasol to protect him from the sun. In fact today we put the hutch in the kitchen because it was just too hot outside. Frankie's well on the way to becoming a house rabbit.

Depression Block

Haven't posted any sewing lately but I have been working on a depression block quilt. This is my test block - I have nearly cut out enough HSTs for setting the blocks 4 X 5, just need to cut a few more dark ones. Then I'll jumble them all up and see what comes out - nice and scrappy, just the way I like it. I'm hoping to get some sewing done on it this weekend.