Lovely parcel

This is what arrived with the postman this morning - not only lovely KonaBay fabrics but beautifully presented and at a good price too! I'm a happy bunny as another parcel is on it's way. I ordered the fabric from ZandS fabrics in Denver and am delighted with the service as well as the fabric. I would always recommend supporting local suppliers and do buy a lot of my fabric and goodies locally but ZandS was recommended to me and I thought I'd give it a go. Even though I had to pay p&p I got a mini cutting mat and 6m of gorgeous fabric for just over £23, not bad eh? My next order is coming with a 15% discount so even better value! Thanks to Trudi http://trudi-quiltingprolifically.blogspot.com/ for recommending ZandS, now all I've got to do is make sure I get to the postman before my beloved!!

Great week

I had a great time away in Norfolk last week and, among other things, managed to get my Lynne Edwards' (book 2) Sampler Quilt top finished. I'm only doing nine blocks as that's the right size to go over the sofa but I think I'll do the other blocks eventually, it's a great way to learn.

While I was away I joined the Dayspringers Quilting group in North Walsham. What a great group of very friendly people. Lots and lots going on, they had a mini workshop making a pin cushion with Brenda, Ros led the block of the month which was Strip Rail (from Lynne Edwards' first Sampler Quilt book), there was a library, fabric sales and a raffle. I came away with French beans in the raffle and borrowed Jennifer Chiaverini's "An Elm Creek Quilts Album". I've never thought about reading novels about quilting before but I finished the first book in the album, "The Runaway Quilt" (about the Underground Railroad) and it was a brilliant read which I would heartily recommend to anyone, quilters and non-quilters alike.

While mooching round North Walsham I found a traditional haberdashery shop - I thought they'd all vanished off the face of the earth. Brilliant. And of course I made a visit to Sew Creative for a few things!!

My birthday today so I think I'll do a little sewing before my daughter and grandson arrive for lunch :)

Moving and still shaking

Phew, I think we have finally got my daughter and grandson moved! Her new house is piled with stuff, our house is piled with her stuff (we're "just looking after it for a while"....again) but at least her old house is empty, clean and the keys have been handed over. What an exhausting few days, especially as she had serious ex-partner trouble in the middle of it. Her new place is great, the house has a very good feeling, so I'm sure they're going to be happy there (once they get everything straight).

Today is a very lazy day (I'm not sure I'm even awake yet) but I have my sewing group tomorrow and then a few days in Norfolk. I'm not taking my machine this time but have my sewing box packed to the top with hand-stitching. I'm making scissor cases for a local sale in September, have to finish off a New York Beauty block and have a Celtic applique block to sew. I think I'll have to visit Sheila at Sew Creative at Wroxham Barns as I need more fabric and one of those block viewer things, and some more needles, and some thread, and ...

Giveaway

Amy is having a great Giveaway this weekend, go to her blog for your chance to enter:

http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/2009/07/31-boxy-tote-pattern-giveaway.html

While you're there have a look at her wonderfully creative projects.

Worry or Quilt?

Well I've had a very successful quilting day today, although not for the best of reasons. My daughter and grandson have had a very difficult day and there was nothing I could do to help except wait and pray, and quilt to keep my mind occupied. Finally all turned out well for them.

I started on a quilt I have had in my mind for a long time, based on a trip to Wester Ross in Scotland (where my quilting guru friend lives). I am using Jodi Barrows "Square in a Square" technique for the first time http://www.squareinasquare.com/ It's a good system, producing accurate results but it seems to use a lot more fabric than I would otherwise.

You can see the fabrics I've got for the quilt, they represent the colours of this area of Scotland, the mauve heather, the greys of the birch trees, lichens and rocks, the greens of the leaves and mosses, and I also have a black/green for the deep waters of the lochs. I want to add crystals for drops of water and some beading for wild flowers but I'm still thinking about that, so watch this space as they say! And of course I couldn't resist a little bit of "tartan"!!

Thank you for your prayers today, it was really appreciated and they were answered. God bless you.

The Bargello fest continues

An excellent day's sewing yesterday and, inspired by my recent bargello work, I decided to tackle the bargello block in my Sampler Quilt. A long, on-going project using the great Lynne Edwards' second sampler quilt book, New Sampler Quilt Book, which is great for learning new techniques and trying things I never fancied before - I actually enjoyed the Celtic Knot, to my surprise (although I did cheat and buy the bias tape ready made, and iron-on!!) and will do some more of this style of work soon. No sewing today, except for salad seeds, I really must get out into the garden...weeding, beans and courgettes to pick, potatoes to dig up for this evening, it's a lovely life, we are so blessed.

Bargello selection

I've just had a lovely few days in Norfolk and, because of the poor weather, I had more time for sewing than usual. I finished the BQL July challenge which was a bargello project. This was really fun to do and the method was much more straightforward than the last time I attempted bargello. Then it was only the second quilt I had made, and for my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary so maybe it was all rather ambitious. I was pleased with the results (and they were thrilled) but, as ever, there are lots of things that could have been better....I wonder if any quilter is actually totally satisfied with a piece of work?

I've also used the technique to create a journal quilt for my 50th birthday project (two pieces done so far, ten more to go!) While I was in New Zealand last year I went on a hot air balloon flight over the Canterbury Plains, this little quilt commemorates that lovely day. The other one I've finished is to commemorate a really important series of events during my 50 years - the space race and the Apollo moon missions. This is that photo - Earthrise - taken by astronaut William Anders on the Apollo 8 mission on 24 December 1968.

Skegness Quilt Show

I had a delightful visit to the quilt exhibition staged by Jolly Quilters of Skegness and the Banovallum Quilters of Horncastle at the Methodist Church in Algitha Road, Skegness. It's on tomorrow, 1.00 -4.00 p.m. and well worth a visit if you're nearby.

Two stained glass window quilts caught my eye, the first, Dragonflies by Bess Smith and then a reverse applique quilt by Margaret Wheatley, both beautifully executed.

There was a lovely selection of cakes, a trade stall, tombola etc and also the group's challenge quilt results on display. They had made A4 quilts on the theme of a song title and we had to match the songs with the quilts. Some were very obvious, others less so, and there were two "Somewhere over the rainbow"s. Also on display was a stunning Calendar quilt with each small section cross-referenced in a file to its relevance to its date, a really interesting project.

Transformation

This is my version of the June challenge quiltlet designed by British Quilt List http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BQL/
co-ordinator, Kandy Newton. I'm pretty pleased with the result - a fairly simple method to produce intriguing results, a great combination.

I'm just back from a brilliant trip to Jerusalem with my son, we saw and did some wonderful things and had a wonderful time. No quilting but I did spend time in a bead shop and also saw some wonderful embroidery. My mind is buzzing with inspiration, how about these tiles on the Dome of the Rock for a starting point?