Global Piecers' Hearts

It was a good day for post yesterday so I shall write two posts!!

I received two exciting parcels from overseas, one from Japan and one from Australia.

The parcel from Australia was from my Global Piecer friend, Sal.  I knew it would contain a heart block, the final one in the swap, and so I looked forward to deciding how to arrange all the hearts I have received.  But Sal is a pretty generous gal and so the parcel contained not just the heart block (which was fabulous) but loads of other goodies:  fabric, beads, soap, chocolate bunnies (I imagine Sam will help me with those) and a lovely cosmetic purse that Sal made for me.  I love swaps, they're fun to put together, buying and making things you hope your partner will love, and they're fantastic to get.

This swap was for a heart block, of any design or technique.  The block was to be 6.5" in one direction and a multiple of this in the other.  We all indicated our preferred colour palette, mine being:
I would like traditional dusky pinks and dark reds for my heart blocks please, I'm thinking full blown English roses :-)

Having a break coming up soon I wanted to have some hand stitching to take with me.  I started to layout all those heart blocks and, amazingly, I have managed to assemble and layer a wall hanging today and now I have lots of lovely hand quilting to do.  While I am stitching I will be thinking of you lovely Global Piecing ladies, you're great.

Sewing, At Last

I have finally got sewing, after a long break.  My sewing room is tidy and I know where most things are (the drawer of "gadgets and accessories" still needs attention) and I have a running order.
So far this year I have made a second little bag for Beads of Courage, almost finished my Hadrian's Wall journal quilts and made them into a textile book and layered and machine quilted my birthday blocks from my Global Piecer friends.
I have some enjoyable hand stitching to do.

Firstly, the final page of the Hadrian's Wall book which is dyed with leaves, lichen and bark found in the area and needs embroidery.  Secondly, the birthday quilt needs some hand quilting and then binding and labelling.

I also have an additional project.  Before Christmas my sister and I sorted out a lot of Mummy's art and craft things.  She was a talented water-colourist, a knitter and did tapestry.  In addition to lovely examples of her work in these areas we found a partly worked quilt.  In typical Mummy fashion it is all recycled fabric, the plain is curtain lining, the patterns are from sample books, old clothes etc.  The papers are cut from Christmas cards which makes the work very heavy at the moment and quite rigid.  The weights of the fabrics vary and the colours represent the entire rainbow.

In with the quilt was a stock of fabric pieces, a supply of old Christmas cards, a reel of thread, a needle and Mummy's Singer scissors.  I agreed with my sister that I would finish the quilt.  I will be making hexagons and half-hexagons whenever I have time to spare, in front of the television, in the waiting room at the hospital etc etc, it will be my current portable project.  We haven't discussed what we will do with the finished quilt.
On Tuesday it will be the first meeting of Country Roads Quilters in 2014.  We have an exciting year ahead, with a busy programme of meetings, I'm looking forward to catching up with all the members, it seems a long time since we met for our Christmas event.

Country Roads Quilters, September

I had a lovely day with Country Roads Quilters today after the Summer break.  We had a good attendance and an inspiring show and tell of what everyone had been doing, textile wise, over the Summer.  We also planned some workshops and activities for the coming months.

I was delighted to have the help of several fellow quilters to arrange a lap quilt.

This consists of blocks I received for my birthday from members of Global Piecers  and is sashed with some of the extra fabric they sent. The crossing points will be squares of a rich russet when I find the ideal fabric.  There are more blocks to make up the reverse of the lap quilt (I have a few of a suitable colouring from an earlier block swap), but one thing at a time.  Thank you ladies, I think we cracked it!