Easter's coming...............

..................so the quilting has stopped to be taken over by little stuffed figures

This is the small Easter bunny from "Crafting Springtime Gifts" (Tilda) and I have to say I am smitten! I have been wanting to make these for a while but never quite found the time, somehow. The clothes are fiddly  but she does look so cute clothed!

Parisville Jelly Roll

Remember the Parisville Jelly Roll I received at the beginning of this year? I decided it was time to put it to good use

Mixing it with lots & lots of white, this is what I shall mainly be making over the coming days...............

I know - not a great picture, but you get the idea, right?

What're you working on right now?

Red, Turquoise & Mid Grey

These colours go so well together, don't you think?

My Kona Solid arrived from Simply Solids end of last week so I decided to start cutting & sashing the 16 wonky log cabin blocks I have made

I had originally considered Charcoal Kona for sashing these blocks, but when I whippped out my trusty Kona colour card, I realised that it was a little too dark for the look I was after. So, I went for  Mid Grey and am really pleased with the results. A blue-grey which goes perfectly well with these blocks

7 done and another 9 to go. So far, the quilt will be around 62" when finished - I may add a little extra sashing around the edges to make it slightly bigger. I am contemplating using this as a picnic quilt (particularly for the twins, who just love picnic-ing right now!) - is that big enough? I can't decide...................

Upcycle!

A month or so ago, I took a trip to our local furniture charity shop & came away £70 lighter and waiting on a bookshelf delivery. It wasn't particularly my type of piece of furniture - it was antique pine with fairly ornate handles on the bottom two drawers. But it was the perfect size for the space we had in the kids playroom (the dining room as was). It's been sitting there ever since, covered in lego constructions, toys & some of my quilting mags & books. I had intended on having a go at it yesterday as the weather was nice and we had an unexpected "kid free" day. However, I had my sensible head on and Tax Returns *bleugh* won.

This morning, however, I cooked the kids breakfast, DH returned from his early morning cycle ride & I declared that I was going to paint it. I think sometimes when we vocalise our thoughts, it makes it more real and there is no going back! So, DH kindly sorted dust sheets, brushes, paint & a roller & I chose a sunny position in the garden & started to paint. J&A were very keen to get in on the action but a bit of gentle persuasion from mummy & daddy saw them cleaning the barbeque, watering plants & generally helping without actually getting in on the action

4 hours later and a trip to a local DIY shop for new handles & it's finished. And I have to say I am rather pleased with myself

I can't say that I actually enjoy painting furniture but I do enjoy the effect of it. So, I think it's pretty safe to say that this will not be the last piece of painted furniture in our house. Oh, and I used the same paint as that used on the twins' table & chairs set so it all matches rather nicely

Hope you are enjoying the sun this weekend xxx

I'm Back!

Phew! Seriously where is this year going???

3 - 5 March we held our 2nd Scrapbooking retreat here in Warrington and it was a huge success. A few annoying niggles with the hotel but our side of the event went smoothly & the classes went down a storm. I have an amazing team of girls supporting me and am truly blessed for that. We auctioned my Unfurnished Quilt as mentioned and I am thrilled to confirm it raised £216. Added to that other donations from bits and pieces we did over the weekend, a cheque for £500 was sent to our local Macmillan Cancer Support offices.

In other news, I did a bit of scrapping the other weekend. I am somewhat ashamed to admit this is the first page I have created this year *blushes* - scrapping has taken a bit of a back seat to sewing of late - it's something I need to do in my craft room where sewing can be done here in the lounge with Ross. Here is what I created:

I have also been sewing. My Red & Turquoise blocks are now finished & awaiting the grey Kona sashing I have purchased - hopefully that will be here in the next couple of days. And then last night I finally sat myself down to make a friendship bag for my BFF Lianne (pattern from PS I Quilt - love that blog!)

Hopefully I will not take as long to post again. And hopefully I am not just sitting here talking to myself!

TTFN xx

Crazy Nine Patch Quilt

It's all but finished! Quilting took longer than normal. Lesson learnt - get the right machine needle for the job. I needed an 80 - I only had a larger needle to hand so "made do". Every 10 seconds or so, the top thread broke. To say I was frustrated was an understatement. Then, in my rush to continue, every so often I left the foot up (anyone else do that??) resulting in a mess of threads at the back of my work. Anyway, half way through, I rooted out the correct machine needle & the second half was a breeze

I've not quite finished sewing on the binding, as the pictures will attest, but I have to say, I am rather pleased with this one! The binding is a blue sheet I picked up from IKEA. I won't do that again. It's 100% cotton but feels awful. Really shiney. Not nice. Fine for binding, though (not for backs of quilts or sashing as had been my intention, however)

So here is my almost finished quilt for Georgie's birthday on Valentine's day. What's next???

Stippling again

I arrived safely home on Saturday from a fabulous trip to CHA in downtown LA. The time difference is a killer. Staying in the new, swanky JW Marriott Hotel at LA Live helped. Having Lianne as a companion also helped. Two days of shopping followed by a day of touring helped too. So, my purse is lighter, my eyes heavy and a mountain of work ahead of me, what do I choose to do with my evenings? Well, finish those crazy 9 patch blocks & get them sewn into a quilt in time for my youngest nephew's birthday on Valentine's Day

And here it is under the machine....................

What's currently under your machine??