More Farmer's Wife blocks

I have been busy prepping some blocks and sliding the pieces into a binder ready to sew them up. It's lovely to be able to sit down for 15 minutes and sew up a quick block. However I know that I'm coming to the end of the easier blocks so progress will be slower.

In other news, my long arm machine came home on Friday. I took less than five minutes to fix it. It is still in the box as I am more than a little nervous that I will kill it again. We have nothing planned for tomorrow and I should have recovered from the sleep deprivation of ten 13 year old girls sleeping over last night.

69 practical orchard

68 postage stamp

111 wrench

73 rainbow flowers

55 Linoleum

29 Economy

21 Contrary Wife

12 Broken sugar bowl

5 Bat Wing

Scrapbook Generation July kit

Saturday was our monthly crop (note no crop in August)unless someone else organises it. I just picked up my July Super Sketch Club pack and printed some photos at the last minute. I have to say I thought the 4th July themed layouts of which there were three, were going to be hard to use. However I used all three on Saturday. All complete including any journalling. I was particularly pleased with the Kennedy Space Centre page as I'd forgotten there was a stars and stripes flag on the building.




Two layouts of our recent trip to Coutances via Granville and that was three double layouts done at the crop. I even finished constructing the other two from the kit on Saturday evening, so I just need to add the photos.

Farmer's Wife Quiltalong

Yes another project, but it'll be done two blocks a week over the next year. The group are on week 5 so have finished 10 blocks. Here's those I've done so far using Bliss by Bonnie and Camille by Moda with any white on white scraps I could find to use up.

Block 1 attic windows


block 2 autumn tints


block 3 basket


block 4 basket weave


block 6 big dipper


block 9 box


block 10 bow tie


block 11 broken dishes


block 14 butterfly at the crossroads



block 16 calico puzzle


block 48 homeward bound


block 81 snowball


block 92 streak of lightning


For those who go to Caesarea Quilters, we are planning to demo blocks 2,4, 48, and 68 (to come) with blocks 55 and 92 as extras at the September meeting. The book shows the blocks in reproduction fabrics, mine are the Bliss range by Moda and the group will make 50 blocks for the lap quilt and are planning to use Grace by Moda to give three different looks to inspire members. I think I need to finish block 68 and do block 55 next.

Riley Blake

Go over to Riley Blake to see their current contest.

Hexagon progress

I demoed the stitchery hexagons at our May CQ meeting, in preparation for the July meeting where we're going to put together some hexagons. They really are addictive and quick to sew together. I have prepped all the hexagons I'm going to do but have left one to do as a demo example. A friend has one for her holiday to Switzerland as an aide memoire, so I will have made eight of the 150 needed for a single bed quilt. I think this is going to be a fun summer sewing project for members and they won't get bored of them as they only have to do a few.

Just two more groupings of four flowers to sew together and a couple of stitcheries to do. I want to include the year 2011 and our name into the two blank cream hexagons. The fabric is all Thimbleberries scraps from the four Blocks of the Month I've completed.

July's ready

My July hanging is now complete with it's new unchipped red buttons. Maybe I should try and start June next or perhaps August?



I also finished a Scrapbook Generation sketch kit layout this morning. I started this on Friday evening when scrapping with my sister, Joanne. Just four more layouts to complete. The layouts have gone together quickly as I did most of three other kit layouts in the same evening. Now I just need to print out some photos to the right sizes.

Almost finished

Today is a busy day with a troll bead event which is must do, helping at the Itex walk, a new tap class for Lizzie and Zumbaparty, so I'm not going to have time to finish this today. All I have to do is finish quilting and buttonhole stitching the Y. Also one of the pink buttons is chipped so I will try and buy a replacement pair.

June FNSI

Well it hasn't been as good a sewing week as I had hoped for as my sewing machine is still not working as I'd hoped, despite being serviced. So I did some piecing and applique this week.

Pieicing - I started another new project. I saw the Farmer's Wife Quilt a long on a friend's blog, had a look, no too like Dear Jane (another WIP) and passed. Unfortunately Camille also posted about it on her blog. The blocks in her modern fabrics, a whole different look. I'm on board. I've ordered the book, made two blocks, joined the Flickr group and the yahoo group. Oh and I may have ordered some fabric too.

Applique - I didn't get my June calendar block made in time for June so I thought I'd make a start on the July block. I have pieced and appliqued the block but forgot to do the inside of the Y. It's now ready to be put together, embellished with buttons and quilted for the Friday Night Sew in (FNSI)

Posie's Patch

My sewing machine is back from being serviced at bernina's London office, so I've celebrated by doing some button hole applique on this second quilt from Modern Basics for month 2 of Quilting Book Club This is made with Wing It by Momo from Moda.

Now that I've caught up on this month's quilt, I'm quickly going to piece a quilt backing for this quilt and then work on quilting last month's quilt which I abandoned due to my machine playing up.

You need to hurry over to sketch support

If you want to see their latest guest designer !!! Only this morning I was looking for jumbo ric rac for a quilt. I thought the red would be the best but there was less of the red than the navy and black. Strange? Now I know why, I used 24" of red ric rac on a double page.

Into town this morning to see if can buy any more jumbo ric rac, Needle Treasures or Fabric Factory, I guess. I also need to pick up my sewing machine which has been serviced and return the one I had on loan.

Vignette hexagons

My very first quilt was made when I was a teenager, using fabric from Mum's stash and following instructions from a part work called Golden Hands. The quilt is still going strong but would offend the quilt police I'm sure. Fast forward thirty years and Issue 2 of Vignette showed a hexagon project. I knew I wanted to revisit hexagons, but not do a whole project so I have introduced it to our group - Caesarea Quilters as a summer project. I can confirm it's a perfect carry along project as we travelled to France last weekend and I worked on it on the boat. Ideal.

How did the techniques differ over 30 years? This quilt has embroidered hexagons scattered among the flowers. I decided to substitute the flower from the Block of the Month pattern as it is simplerer but the right size. I used a number of different threads but like the variegated green I bought in France the best. The hand sewing of the hexagons is still quick and therapeutic.

No laborious cutting and tacking of papers this time:
* The paper hexagons were cut using Sizzix die 656664 - 50 at a time
* I used freezer paper instead of scrap paper so I could iron the shapes to the fabric temporarily and then cut around leaving about a quarter of an inch
* I used the Sewline glue pen to stick down the seam allowance as suggested by Leanne. So quick.

In less than a week I have put together 1 block 2 and two blocks 1 with a few spare flowers and hexagons. I have shown Lorraine what to do and she is prepping for her trip to France. She is hoping her daughter will also help. A few CQ ladies are busy sewing the stitchery cream hexagons, so I hope we can make this a successful group project. All done using my Thimbleberries scrap basket so far.



Now I need to make progress on the Vignette BOM as I still have block 2 and 3 in progress and the latest magazine is out with three more blocks!!

Jazz Festival and shopping

I'm not the world's greatest shopper, but I do indulge from time to time, so here are a few purchases from our weekend trip to France. On the way to Coutances we decided to stop in nearby Granville that I've only visited once before. After lunch we went strolling, bought a few macarons in a patisserie and returned to "En peu de ci, un peu do ca". The shop had lots of Tilda products in the window and was in an artisans area with sculptures.



I indulged in a few My Minds Eye papers and some of the hard to find washi tape. They also had some sweet little bracelets to make or buy from liberty print bias binding.




Whilst in Coutances we did watch a little jazz, ate in the food village and generally mooched around.



On the Sunday we came across this bunch having a photo taken on the carousel!!




Monday saw us return to St Malo for the boat trip home. First stop Decathlon, then the Madeleine Centre. We found a few newer shops there including the one where I bought some of these wire storage baskets. The corrugated card and variegated thread were from Cultura, a regular haunt of ours. Oh and some more washi tape.



Whilst on our trip I had a little bit of hand sewing to keep me occupied. I managed quite a few hexagons and now need to do some of the embroideries to go with them. The hexagons are quick and easy to make and very portable. I'm off to Lorraine's soon for a tutorial for her holiday. I used the new Sewline glue pens instead of tacking down the fabric and the Sissix one inch hexagons and freezer paper so as to make the paper cutting quick and easy. You can cut 50 hexagons in a matter of minutes and then you iron them on to the fabric and the wax adheres the paper to the fabric temporarily.

Lots to show you

Unfortunately some work in progress photos will have to suffice. My sewing machine was making funny noises last week so it is headed off to Bernina UK, hopefully today at the latest. I was making good progress with this quilt, but the machine I've been loaned is not playing ball, so I'm going to put this to the side until my machine returns.



I have finished quilting lines in the green striped fabric. Some of the red / blue areas have been stitched with freehand feathers in a variegated green thread. All I have drawn onto the quilt are lines for the veins of the feathers and the corner diagonal for guidance. These lines will wash out once the quilt is completed.

May crop

Yesterday was our May prize crop. The date changed by a week because I had another event last week. This meant some of the regulars were missing, however had I kown in advance, we could have moved the crop forward by a week, if that would have suited more people. We did have a lovely but quiet day with Jennie and Liz winning the top prizes.

Here's one of my layouts from Sketch Support one page sketch 8. Unfortunately I left the sketch at home so had to go by memory and I hadn't uploaded it to my ipad. I replaced the 2 by 2 photos with flowers. The photo is actually a thank you message which is written beautifully on the reverse. I picked out the green from the vegetation and the blue from the girls' clothes.



Time to continue tidying my desk upstairs. Tidying the floor will be for another day. However I did finish the Ferbuary quilted hanging this morning. I've now got a week to complete the one for June. That might be a good project to France this weekend to quilt when we're in the hotel.

May 2011 FNSI

I started this yesterday for the FNSI (Friday night sew in) and have done a bit more of the hand quilting at 6 am this morning. Just need to finish the quilting and sew up the bottom of the piece. This is from a book Claire brought over called "Count on It" by Nancy Halvorsen. I ordered the book on Tuesday and it was delivered on Thursday with the hanger. I also have the June quilt to do next. I think this would be easy to prep at a Wednesday quilt group meeting as I can iron on the Bondaweb and cut the pieces ready for doing the buttonhole stitch on the machine at home.

Another busy weekend

Also a busy week. I haven't watched any television all week until the Great British Menu last night. It's been a good week in parts as Claire visited for a few days, we went to two quiltig groups, ate lunch with Lucy at the new cafe at the zoo. We also did a lot of talking and I was treated to a pedicure at The Spa. On the flip side, Dad is being operated on at the Enfield Hospital at 9 am today.

I finished a needle case I demoed on Monday night as Claire hinted it would be a lovely present for a treasured friend. So it has now left the island in Claire's suitcase.





After a busy week comes another busy weekend:

Today Friday Night Sew In. http://handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com/ I had planned to start on a bag I'd cut out but I was distracted again by a book Claire brought over. well my copy arrived yesterday so I'll work on a June mini quilt instead.

Tomorrow our monthly crop with prizes

Sunday a RIB trip to dolphin watch and go to the Minquiers.

I hope next week is quieter.

Basic Ease week 2

QBC month 1 week 2, a photo by libertyjsy on Flickr.

My book is still on its way, but the preview of the book is of this quilt so I have made a start.

The blocks are sewn, I now need to work out how to place them as I have scrappy reds as well as the blue / cream combination as I realised a stripe wouldn't work for the red.

Confirmed - I have no self control

I was innocently looking at the blogs I regularly read, oh a new post at the Moda Bake Shop, click I wonder who designed that, click Quilt Book Club of the Month, ooh that looks interesting, click through to Amazon, book on order. Oh dear in less than an hour, I've taken on another project when I said I'd finish some that are in progress, ordered the book, chosen the fabrics and uploaded the choices to the Flickr group. At least I have chosen from fabrics I already own and need to use up, but probably only because there are no quilt shops open at 7am. I needed instant gratification so an online purcahse wasn't going to satisfy me either.



The only fabrics I had in sufficient quantities were the green and red stripes so I picked up the floral fabric to go with it. I don't have sufficient of that fabric so have added in the cream floral which will give the quilt a more scrappy look.

My favourite blue Thimbleberries fabric will be used for the binding.



I am using up my stash so will piece my backing from Thimbleberries bieges and browns and I even found a block I can use as a label.

Right, I'd better go and work on my Sketch support guest designer assignments, Sketch support DT call and perhaps put some stitches in the many other projects I have in progress.

NSD challenge on Elle's Studio

Using an old Gogo kit and some Elle's Studio digital tags which I printed onto white cardstock.