Sew far sew good - sort of!!

I’m conscious that I haven’t posted for nearly 2 weeks, so thought I’d better post a quick note. The reason being that I’m undertaking the mammoth task of quilting my first quilt – ever wished you hadn’t started something??!! I know a lot of ladies have theirs professionally quilted and I did think about it, but then realised I couldn’t afford it, so it was either let it sit in a cupboard for the next 12 months until I could afford it, or have a go myself! I’ve decided I’m going to look upon this as a learning curve (quite a big one!). Until you try it, you can never imagine how difficult it is to man-handle a quilt this size (it’s about 88 x 82 inches) through a domestic sewing machine – it is so heavy. And the idea of doing free-motion quilting all over soon went out of the window, so I’ve, so far, quilted ‘in the ditch’ (not terribly accurately!) over the diamond pattern in the centre and then I may have a go at free-motion around the borders, but we will see!! It’s a bit puckered here and there on the back, but I’m sort of hoping that when it’s all finished and I put it through a warm wash cycle and tumble dry programme, it might just sort of do something miraculous to it and pull it altogether – I live in hope! I had to smile last Sunday, because, I sat down to start it in the morning, convinced that if I worked hard at it all day, I’d have it finished by the end of the day – OK, you can stop laughing – I got about a third of the way through it, so it’s Sunday morning again and perhaps I’ll achieve another third today – just can’t wait until it’s finished though!!

Cat Tails finished!

I finished my 'Cat Tails' wall hanging over the weekend and I think it looks more or less like the picture on the front of the pattern - does what it says on the tin! However, any ideas I had that I was going to finish it in a couple of days were completely blown out of the water - all of the applique and half of the quilting was done by hand and it just takes longer than you think!!
Now I just need to get one of those nice wire hanger thingys to finish it off. It is meant to be a birthday present for somebody ........... but I'm not so sure now, I quite like it for myself. I could always do another one I suppose, but it was very fiddley with all those little bits of felt to cut out - it's not actually as big as it looks, so the stripes on the cats and the tips of the tails on the kittens are very very small - still, we shall see!! The birthday in question isn't until next year actually, so I've got plenty of time to think about it.

My first swap!!

Look what the postman bought for me this morning all the way from Canada.




I’m chuffed to bits as this my first swap, albeit a mini swap between me and Kathleen (Coffee Mom). The magazine contains a pattern for a really lovely Christmas wallhanging called ’12 days of Christmas’ – see picture of inside the magazine.

I saw it on Kathleen’s blog, and after discovering I was unable to get hold of it myself over ‘ere, Kathleen (or Coffee mom as she likes to be known), suggested a mini swap – just she and me!! And job done already as you see. Damn it though, now this means I am just going to have to go to my favourite fabric shop doesn’t it? Your fault Kathleen - can you see (or at least imagine) the big smile right across my face? Kathleen also sent me a card with a lovely picture of Canada in the Fall. Autumn is my most favourite time of the year because of the colours – they are stunning and I am lucky enough to live in an area where the woods and trees are plentiful and look so nice at this time of year (well, they’re starting to turn anyway). Having said that though, I do dream of one day going to see Canada in the Fall as its beauty is famous.

I was going to show you what I’ve sent to Kathleen, but I don’t think she’s received it yet, so I won’t spoil the surprise!! Hopefully it will arrive early next week.

Pop over to Kathleen’s blog and you will see her ’12 days of Christmas’ half way completed.

Thanks Coffee Mom!

Perambulator

When I first started out doing crafts many years ago now, I used to do cross-stitch. I don’t do them any more, because for one, I don’t have the patience as they seem to take so long to complete, and secondly I was finding it a bit of a strain on my eyes – age creeping up you see – comes to us all eventually!! I was looking the other day though at a couple of them on my wall that I had framed and still enjoy looking at.




The sampler I absolutely love mainly because of the gorgeous muted colours in it and ............











............ the perambulator because I used to have a bit of a passion for them. It was seeing Jo’s (Home Sweet Home) super new perambulator recently on her blog that reminded me of it.

And as for my current WIP (Cat Tails) – as you see, it is still a WIP - apologies for slightly blurred image!

but it’s coming along nicely so far – and if I take myself away from this computer for long enough, which I have become even more addicted to since I discovered ‘blogland’, I may even get it finished by this evening .... so that’s where I’m going ...... will show it next when it’s completed – I hope!!

Bye

Cat tails

Look what Mr Postman brought for me today. I've been eagerly awaiting its arrival from 'The Quiltroom' . They have some lovely kits and fabrics and this one is sooooo cute!!



When, though, is somebody going to invent the 36-hour day? This would give me an extra 12 hours a day just for my sewing, so I expect something else will have to give in order for me to do justice to these adorable kittens. I don't even get to keep it either as it was bought to give as a gift to someone else. Still, I'm sure it will be appreciated!

I’m shattered! I’ve spent all of Friday afternoon and all of Saturday cooking and baking. It was my lovely brother’s birthday, and a few weeks ago, I recklessly, on the impulse of the moment, offered to entertain the family in celebration of aforesaid event. Normally my, far more talented than me sister-in-law, does the cooking for birthday teas, but as they were only arriving back from Italy (lucky people) the day before, I knew she would have little time to organise it - and he is my big bro after all! As I can only seat 6 at my dining table, and there were more than 6 invitees, I opted for a buffet, which I preferred as it meant it was all more or less prepared beforehand – I simply don’t cope well with cooking a roast for more than 2 people at a time! Trying to get everything hot at the same time is yet to be mastered and if I’ve not done it by now at the age of 48, I probably never shall! Anyway, the cake turned out rather well (even though I say so myself) – very chocolatey and delicious as you can see above .......... you may think “what is a 6-year old doing drinking ‘Budweiser’”, but my brother is actually 51, but I didn’t believe the cake would stand up to 51 candles. Despite my worries about the fare I provided, everyone paid compliments, but then again they would wouldn’t they. It was fine actually, and I have to say that my cheese, onion and bacon quiche was a knock out. Of course, I have loads of left-over’s now – whatever shall I do with the other half of the chocolate cake ......... um, let me think about that for half a second!!!!!!
Anyway, having spent a day away from my beloved sewing, you can guess what Sunday will be dedicated to can’t you?!!

Is it safe to turn the TV on again!!?

Is it safe to turn the TV on again …….. have the Olympics finally finished??!!! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m unpatriotic – far from it – it’s really good to see that the UK have done so well this time, but does it really have to have 24/7 coverage by the BBC? Yes you’ve guessed it; I’m not a big sports fan. Sport is good yes, (and healthy) of course, and I could certainly do with taking more exercise (a lot more!!!), it’s just that the media seem to go a bit over the top (to me anyway) – I expect most men (and some ladies) would disagree with me. I don’t think I'm on my own either in saying that there are too many different sports these days in the Olympics – I expect the UK will be hosting the first tiddley winks or marbles event in 2012!!! Hey, I could enter; I used to be good at those when I was a young un!! LOL. Still, it’s allowed me to watch some of my favourite DVD’s whilst sitting sewing, so that can’t be a bad thing really. Actually, I do love tennis, so I’d be quite happy with 24/7 coverage of that (each to their own eh) – in fact, you should have seen me driving home to the Midlands from North Wales on the day of the men’s singles final this year! OK, so I may have exceeded the speed limit a tad once or twice!!!, but I only missed about the first 15 minutes, as there had been a delay due to rain (again!) and I then sat glued to the TV, only getting out of my chair for food and drink (my big downfall), totally gripped until turned 9:00pm to one of the best finals in years– what a brilliant match!

Anyway, as I prefer to talk about sewing and crafts etc. I thought I’d show you my serviette holder that I made about a week ago …….. I’m quite pleased with it and it’s reasonably easy to make too: just 2 contrasting fat quaters and some reasonably sturdy cardboard cut to right size, one for the base and four for the sides. As an alternative to a serviette holder, it could also be used to serve bread rolls in, although I would lay out a serviette first in the bottom of it in order to avoid marking the fabric. I’m going to make some more, as I think they would make a nice homemade Christmas present and not too expensive either. Does anyone else agree?

Bag finished!!!

................ and here it is - I'm quite pleased with it - I just hope the recipient will be too, but I shall have to wait until her birthday in October to find out. I've worked on it most of the day and it's taken me longer than I thought it would, but then things always do seem to don't they? I was taking extra care I suppose to neaten all edges etc. as it's to be a gift, whereas if it was for myself, no doubt I wouldn't have been quite as fussy! Even the inside looks good as you can see. I've had this fabric for ages and had been wondering where I could use it and I think this is just right! ...... and still more ..... I've also added a couple of pockets on the inside. You may not be able to tell very well from these pictures, but there are pockets on the outside - at the sides, which look great, but it's always useful to have pockets inside a bag. I think I may add a 'handmade' label at the inside top to cover where I've attached the back of the flap - that's the only bit that looks a bit rough. Anyway, I believe I have made very good use of my Bank Holiday - more of them please I say - like one a month perhaps??!!!!! :0)

Oh, Mr Darcy!!

I know, I should be tucked up in bed by now, but I've just finished watching 'Pride and Prejudice' (oh Mr. Darcy!) whilst working on my current project, which is a bag that I've made before. And now (following gigantic hints!!), I'm making one for my nephew's girlfriend for her 21st Birthday. In Jane Austen's day, of course, we could have sat all day sewing and chatting couldn't we - just imagine that girls. This is how it looked this morning with the bits cut and laid out. I'm about half way through at the moment, and, as it's Bank Holiday Monday here tomorrow (er, today now actually!!!), hopefully I'll be able to finish it ...... watch this space.

As predicted by several of you, I am becoming rather addicted to blogland (I'm amazed I've achieved any sewing at all today to be honest) - I start off by looking at one blog and end up visiting a dozen others from the links on each page - often I forget where I started in the first place: LOL :0) I've come across several 'swaps', which I think are such a lovely idea, but a bit disappointed to find that I've just missed out on joining them - they're clearly very poular and I would love to join one. Does anybody know of any others going that I could join?

Anyway, I can barely keep my eyes open now, so I'm off to bed ..... yawn!!!

My first blog post!

Well, this is my very first blog post!

Purely by chance a few weeks ago, I picked up a recent copy of ‘Magic Patch’ magazine (never come across it before!) It is dedicated to Veronique and her lovely Labrador, Jules, and is filled to the brim with the type of country crafts that are right up my street. I instantly started work on my own version of the ‘house’ sewing machine cover – see photograph above. It’s not identical, but it is similar and although it’s not quite up to Veronique’s standard, I’m quite pleased with it. Anyway, as a result of drooling over the magazine and then doing a general ‘Google’ search for Veronique’s website, I happened upon Jo’s ‘Home Sweet Home’ blog. How lovely to discover a whole blog community dedicated to patchwork, quilting and lots of my kind of crafts. Prior to this, although I had heard of a blog, I had no idea what one really was, and now I have my own!! The trouble now is that I’m spending even more time at my computer instead of at my sewing machine!!

I am in the middle of making my first quilt, which I started about a year ago and having attended a patchwork workshop to get me started on it, I was promptly told that I had chosen rather a complicated pattern for my first quilt (typical of me!! LOL) – the central panel of the quilt cover is a diamond pattern and it has been quite difficult to match the corners up – there are definitely some areas where I try not to look to closely!!

Now don’t ask me why, but what I really love making is rag dolls. I’ve made several and my favourite part is after I’ve made the doll body and I can get on to making the clothes. My least favourite part though is attaching the doll’s hair – if anyone out there has a secret they would be willing to share with regards to doll’s hair, I would be soooooooo grateful!! Above is a picture of my latest doll – her name is Millie.

I would love to hear from anyone out there – it’s really exciting to be able to connect with other like-minded ladies.