Bearing Gifts

And this is what the lovely postman brought me today (while I was having a great time in York at the Sashiko Exhibition and then at the Quilt Museum, more of that later)......  It's my prize from Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival which I received from Natalia Bonner at Piece N Quilt in Utah.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It's Moda's new "Birdie" range.

Quilty Gifts

This is what the postman brought me this morning (and no tax to pay!) - a wonderful parcel of quilting goodies from my Great Global Christmas Swap partner, Sal, who lives in Australia and has just been on a quilting trip to South Dakota (to meet up with her swap partner from last year).  The red batiks are wonderful and truly scary - I have challenged myself to use red - and the magazines are full of lots of exciting projects so I've set aside this evening for a good read.  What lovely people quilters are, I am so pleased Fiona Marie teamed me up with Sal.
More excitement is on the cards for tomorrow - a trip to York to visit the Quilt Museum and also the Art Gallery where there is an exhibition of sashiko textiles.

The Sick Quilt

I finished William's (age 5) farmyard quilt today (fastest ever start to finish project) and backed it with fleece so it's lovely and cosy for when he's using it.  I suggested he might like it when he's tired and watching television or when he comes in from riding his bike and is chilly and he said it would be great when he's poorly so from now it's known as the "sick quilt" - I'm not offended!!  I'm not sure if the wavy seams would make him feel worse rather than better though!

Cotton Cocktails Giveaway

 You could win one of these!

Quilthaze is having this lovely giveaway to celebrate just over 3 months since she started blogging regularly.  Get over to Cotton Cocktails for a chance to win one of these lovely gift bags.

Talking Threads

There's a new series on television called Talking Threads which looks really promising.  It's on Sky 171 at 1900 hours every Wednesday, under the Country Channel CCTV.  For those without Sky it is possible to watch the programmes on the internet (isn't that brilliant?).  Go to Talking Threads website for all the details.

Quilt In A Day

Well not quite a quilt in a day but I did do the top today, from scratch, and so the quilt "just" needs layering, quilting, binding and labelling!
I made this farmyard quilt for my elder grandson using wavy seams as explained in my tutorial (my first blog tutorial!!) posted before this post.

Wavy Seams Tutorial

This is a little tutorial for sewing wavy seams, a technique taught to me at Dayspring Quilters by Jenni Dobson and all the credit for the written content of this post is due to her, the photographs are mine and the "I" comments are me.

Start by cutting fabric in strips - between 3" and 5" is effective and gives you room for seams even with quite a wide curve.

Select two strips of contrasting fabrics, iron them and place them one on top of the other, both right side up.  If they are not the same width then put the widest strip at the bottom. 

Cut a gentle curve along the length of the fabric pieces.  I find it easiest to use a rotary cutter on a cutting board but it can be done with scissors.  Don't go too close to the edge of the fabric and don't make the curves too steep.

You now have two pairs of fabric strips:  the top strip from the right with the bottom strip from the left and vice versa.  Pair them with their right sides together.

You will need to ease the edges to match.  Some people prefer to pin first, others match as they sew.  I find it better to pin as I tend to panic if I'm trying to match curving seams as I machine!  You don't need to clip the curves at this stage but you might need to clip a little once the seam is machined if it will not lay flat.  Jenni's advice was don't clip unless necessary.

Once the seam is machined, open it out and press carefully, clipping as required, you have a wavy seam!  (And crikey, what a state my cutting board is in!!)

          

This is how it will sit in the quilt I'm making today:

Once wavy seams are mastered there is no end to their use - what about a simple nine-patch with wavy seams, or what about wavy log cabin?

Ryokan booked

I have booked our stay at Ryokan Sawanoya so that we will get a good dose of Japanese culture during our stay, really looking forward to being there.  We'll be in a tatami room and be able to enjoy bathing, Japanese-style.  I just hope we follow the rules ok and don't offend anyone!

Grrrrrr!

This is what the lovely postman didn't bring me this morning!  This is what I had to go to the sorting office to collect...and then I had to pay over £11.00 for the honour.  I made the mistake of placing an order with lovely ZandS Fabrics in Denver that was over £18.00, so, not only did I have to pay £3.46 tax, which I accept, it was my mistake after all, but, on top of that I had to pay a staggering £8.00 "Royal Mail International Handling Fee".  This "fee" apparently just covers the costs of Royal Mail collecting the tax and passing it to the customs office, or some such explanation.  It will teach me to be more careful (and the lovely fabric still works out at a good price, just not as good as it could have been) and I thought I'd post my woeful tale as a warning to others.  Right, moan over, better get that gold fabric ironed and ready for my Christmas quilt project.

Where to stay?

I've been trying to choose accommodation for our stopover visit to Japan next year.  It's so difficult to know what and where to go for but I have narrowed it down to Ueno/Asakusa area (take a look at the map, you'll notice the proximity of interesting things like shrines and gardens!!) and I've emailed a selection of places - including a traditional ryokan which I'm most excited about - why go to Japan and stay in an international chain hotel with a load of tourists?