International Quilting Day Blues

Yesterday was International Quilting Day and I started out well.  Then it became Unquilting Day.
I'd free motioned my way down one side border of the wedding quilt, a section about thirteen inches wide and five feet long.  I was pleased with it (I'm not the world's best at FMQ).  I spread the quilt out to add the border for the other side and wham!  a massive tuck of fabric the whole length of the quilt appeared before me.  I'd been happily quilting, the backing had been happily wandering about unseen or felt by me.  DH, who shall be forever blessed (and is recovering well from his recent hernia operation but feeling rather bruised still), said,
"Have you got a second unpicker thing, I'll start at the other end and we'll meet in the middle".
There are worse things in life than sitting in front of the fire with your beloved unpicking quilting in companionable silence (and with great concentration).
So, this morning I am going to tackle that quilting again, making sure all the layers are firmly attached to each other.  After that, and the opposite border, it's binding and labelling, I'm nearly there but must remember, 'more concentration, less unpicking'.

Quilt Retreat

As the quilting retreat I was involved in planning for later this year is not now happening I thought I'd have a little retreat of my own.  I've gathered a bag of quilting and a box of quilting, my sewing machine and a pile of books and magazines.  Hopefully there'll be a lot of progress and even a finish or two to report when I get back online.  Wonder if DH will cope?!  Last weekend we had a lazy eating two days as he was helping to fit SiL's kitchen and I was celebrating IQD.  We bought ready made food (we don't usually), bags of salad, a tiramisu in a plastic container, Thai fishcakes in a plastic container, pizza in a box etc etc.  I was staggered at how much I spent on food for just two days and by how much rubbish it produced.  Roll on the veggies growing!

Friday Night Sew-In: Saturday Morning Report, March 2011 and a Giveaway

Happy International Quilt Day

Last night it was FNSI time again and also Comic Relief night here in the UK.  If some of my stitching is wobbly I can blame it on laughing at the acts, sketches, songs etc that were on BBC all evening; but if some of my work is soggy I can blame it on weeping at the desperate situation of people going blind in Africa for the sake of a simple operation that takes twenty minutes and costs £17.  It was amazing to see the reactions of people as their bandages were removed and they realised they could see, a real miracle.

I didn't do all these blocks last night, I started a couple of days ago, but this is all I can do for the moment as I've run out of the main fabric, Nara Gardens from Hoffman.  Very, very fortunately when I phoned my LQS yesterday there was 3.5m left on the bolt and Barbara is saving it for me.  It's more than I need but I'm not risking running out again and it won't be difficult to find a use for this wonderful fabric.  The quilt is the same design as the Round and Round le Jardin (scroll down on the right) but is to be a quilt for my guest bed.
Thank you to Heidi and Bobbi for hosting FNSI again, it was sew lovely to be stitching away with people all over the world, especially with today being InterNational Quilt Day (click on that link for more information

and a great free Log Cabin quilt pattern).
DH is spending his day helping SiL install a new kitchen, sounds as if I've got the whole of today to sew, hooray :)
Susan is having a great NQD giveaway on her blog, the Quixotic Crafter, so pop over there and please tell her Lis at Online Quilting sent you, thank you.
And while you're blog-hopping, please go over to two posts on my sashiko blog, one about help for Japan and one an amazing letter from a lady in Sendai that will change your day.