Back To Normal

Well, that's that, that is it... We are back to normal from today.
What a wonderful few days I spent in Quilty Quarters... I had fun...
I hope you enjoyed your Bank Holiday break?
There's another one in August and, if you would like to take note, my little shop will be closed from the Saturday, which will be the 27th August and not open again until Thursday 1st September...
I'm getting very used to these wonderful breaks, ha ha ha.
The next break though, I will be away... A wonderful Quilting Retreat again at Westhope Craft College, my new favourite place! but there are a lot of sleeps to be slept until then...
Today is the first Thursday of the month so there's an SPQ meeting tonight. The talk is about the Tent Makers Of Cairo, I bet it will be colourful and interesting.

This is a quilt made by a customer who popped into my little shop before my break, to show me her first ever quilt and to check it was good enough!!!
It was fabulous!  Lot's of people say that, it's not good enough... phooooey, if you love it, that's enough... it IS fabulous and, best of all FINISHED!!

Memories...

I just spent 30 minutes deleting and organising/filing  pictures on my computer and found this gem taken in July 2013... a finished quilt top made with a Moda Layer Cake, I've used this quilt a lot-ly-lot... Helpful Hubby's plane before the crash this weekend 

and Molly before her Occurance which has left her deaf and with dementia... bless

Toot Toot Toot, Dazzling Diamonds

I present to you, my fabulous and finished Dazzling Diamonds quilt and, if you don't mind... I would love a tooting fanfare, all for my very own self. The rest of the quilting didn't take too much longer... only 8 more hours today, but that includes making and adding the binding, I guess that's quite a long time at the machine though eh... Faux Piped Binding (though it is a fiddly-faff) finishes the edges very nicely. I'll be putting a hanging sleeve on to the back next. It's ended up being a good size for a wallhanging.
Do you like it?

Quilty Quarters

I spent a lovely day in Quilty Quarters, popping out occasionally to sort out stuff in the various domestic appliances, including the kettle!
A full day of stitching was achieved...
Once all the strips were stitched together.. tricky with all those angles I wanted to meet perfectly!... I came to a big deciding bit... what to do for borders. 

Jan Hassard (she's the lady who taught the workshop) doesn't add side borders to her design, but my project was too thin for how long it was, in my very own opinion that is... I had some quite long pieces of each of the strip sets left and really, I could have continued cutting the 2" strips to make the quilt wider... but no... This project has to be finished ASAP... I really want to take it to SPQ for 'show and tell' on Thursday (Staffordshire Patchworkers and Quilters) also... I have sooooo many things on my pile that I would rather be stitching, including Kate Tunics all cut out and waiting!.. so... after half an hour or so of playing with ideas, including leaving it and doing something else... I just sliced a 5 inch wide strip from each of the strip sets and fudged some background shapes for the corners.

It turned out OK and lick-etty-split my better proportioned quilt top could be declared finished and, much to my surprise, I actually quited like it! Sandwich time...
I pushed my sofa to one side and rolled up the rug (it's clean under there! ha ha ha) to make my quilt sandwich on the living room floor... if I had gone down to the shop to use my tables, two things could have happened
a. I would have stayed too long tidying and faffing with the fabric on the new shelves (Yes, I had a new shelf!!) or
b. I might have come back with another quilt kitted up ready to make because I had a few fabulous new books added to the stock! ha ha ha

I had started to quilt like Jan Hassard quilted hers, lots of stitching and lots and lots of thread colour changes... not to mention all those ends to tie off... it would have taken me all of my days off to do that. I rooted for all the right colours of thread and spied one of those mono-filament ones... I hate that stuff, really really ... but I used it! I got loads of quilting done, in the blooming ditch no less!!!
I'll show you later...

Just So You Know...

My lovely little Quilt Shop

 is now closed 

until 

Thursday 2nd June 

The plan...
Is to be kidnapped and held hostage in my very own, marvelously messy, Quilty Quarters.
I will not know what to do with my very own self!!!
If it happens, there might be pictures!
BUT
The Whiston menfolk are to enjoy a weeks holiday from work at this very same time... so things could get tricky... Now then... how to get my cunning plan under way... that's the first thing to sort out.
Oh my gosh... It's already going wrong... I can smell the dreaded bacon cooking, yuk yuk yuk...

Friday Quilt Club

Friday Quilt Club? It's not a Quilt Club as such, you don't have to be a member or anything... It's just a lovely way to spend a Friday, you do have to book a table, but that's easy to do... 10am until 3pm stitching with like minded people. You just bring your project and stitching paraphernalia (what an absolutely fab-u-lous word!!) set yourself up, get a little advice or help if you need it, then... sew, sew, sew!!

Longport Lynda treated herself to a day at Friday Quilt Club. She had a piece of Linen that she wanted to embroidery wonderful words on to, to then turn into a gifting cushion. A few ideas were discussed then, after a bit of pondering, she made this cushion front and went home to do the hand stitched embroidery

Claire used the opportunity to cut our her Beatrice Pinafore
This is my wonderful Art Gallery, 100% Cotton Denim in Scarlet Brick
oh boy, oh boy,, oh boy... is it ever wonderful!! 
Claire is going to line her pinafore with a Moda, French General red print

Claire also needed a little help to get her started on Free Motion stitching with her darning foot. Free motion embroidery is a great way to start. The little birds on the right were the practice piece, It didn't actually take Claire many minutes for her to move on to the main project... Boom... an expert already!

Sandwich Saturdays are very popular... it's much easier to pin baste your quilt sandwiches up on my tables... Rose needed a sandwich Saturday and I don't have one soon enough... I am an enabler!!! I'm here to aid and encourage your stitchy addictions!!! So...We made a Friday afternoon quilt sandwich, after the Friday Quilt Club ladies had packed up and gone.
Rose can crack on with her quilting over the upcoming Bank Holiday break.

Stitching News

Our lovely Peggy finished this fabulous kiddy play mat and instantly donated it. This one's going to The Linus Project. She loves to make little quilts and is very, very happy to know they will be loved by someone. Toot toot toot Peggy.

Fran Cupcake is making this beautiful, and quite tricky, quilt to donate to a local hospice. She has worked on the block units and those fiddly sashings for a lot of hours and now it's time to make the rows stitch to each other... You have to love quilt fudge!

New Sue worked on her Churndash blocks, they are quite large and easy to piece... After a little holiday over the pond she has a rough case of the dreaded jet lag... she probably doesn't even remember making all these blocks on Tuesday... So this is a little reminder for you Sue!

Princess Jackie's photo bombing Cockerels... I promised you a better picture last week and here it is... close your mouth!!! ha ha ha... arent they just fabulous! My goodness there's a lot of beautiful fabric being used for each one...Very pretty boys!!

Princess Jackie's almost finished, personalised cushion with the very cute bunnies...Lots of little. chunky French knots in a bunch make a very tactile little bunny tail. The base fabric is the wonderful Linen and Cotton blend from Moda... feels quite luxurious me thinks

Our Sheila had a lot of Batik fabric left over from her last quilt so I suggested she make Quarter Log Cabin blocks with them... "When you've made a pile of them Sheila, we will play with them and decide what to make," said I. Well, we did play and we decided to go on-point... haven't they turned out fabulous!!!

Brenda Barbara is almost done with her quilting on the two beautiful quilts she's been working on. Binding fabrics have been chosen and purchased so, I'm guessing there's a plan to stitch over the upcoming bank holiday weekend?

All blocks were quilted as she went...the blocks're joined apartment-ly to each other into rows... Check! Farmer Lynda is on the home straight!!..The rows are being joined apartment-ly too and they match up! by George she's got it... It will be a wonderful quilt now... not a chuffing one! ha ha ha

Margaret's Noah's Ark quilt, being made for little Noah with a Kids Quilt pattern... the quilting is coming along nicely and, as you can most probably see, more than half way done!

Have you had a go at making a Fiddle Quilt yet?...
This is one of Pam's... she's making a few and as she does she's thinking of lots of other bits and bobs that could be securely stitched on for twiddling and fiddling with... oh how we have laughed!!!

Tooting News

Lady Judith has been busy. this is fabulous finish number one...
A very pretty quilt and ready for gifting
fanfares please... toot toot toot

Left over fabrics pieced together to make a fun and fabulous backing too.
Do you you piece your quilt backings?

And lady Judith's fabulous finish number two...
This quilt / play mat is for a little boy baby...
 How cute are those elephants!! Lovely warm colours

The back of the elephant quilt... as you probably expected...
 all the fabrics left over from making the front, perrrrrfect!
Toot toot toot Lady Judith, both quilts are just fabulous.

Carol finished her new Holiday tote... how fabulous it looks too!
Bosal In R Form was used in place of wadding so it stands perfectly upright... all the time! Makower's Radiance fabrics look amazing. Carol used the Whimsy Bag pattern from Lazy Girl designs ... the very best and easiest to understand bag patterns I have ever used!!