Finished quilt for charity :)

This evening, I finished my quilt for the charity Macmillan Cancer Support. Please read this post for the story. Did I really start this just 2 months ago? Looking back, this is what I wrote: 

I scare myself sometimes ... with my unfailing blind faith that I can look at a pile of fabric, think of an idea, draw a rough pattern (and I mean rough!) and start cutting and sewing with an absolute certainty it will all work out in the end. I really am the eternal optimist * sigh *

Well, my optimism paid off! From this 'original design':

I have to agree with many bloggers (other than our friends down under) that this is a terrible time of year to photograph quilts, so forgive me, these were taken in my loft / sewing room and the light wasn't great:

The front and back, this finished at 50" x 50":

I straight line quilted a 1/4" around the blocks (still rubbish at this!) and originally tried pebbles in the butterflies but that was a disaster! Unpicked and went for a squiggly free motion quilted thing with antennae. Thirteen butterfly blocks - six knots in each to bury = 78, which was about an hour's work:

Definitely the part of quilting I would happily forego ... perhaps I can teach DH! Now there's an idea :) 

And the label:

What's extra nice is that the fundraising event isn't until January so I've finished with time to spare. I hope it raises lots of money for this very worthy charity and that whoever wins it loves it :)

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict: 

3 finishes, a WIP and a new start ...

Happy weekend!

Why stop at one teddy bear baby quilt when you can make another? Having made the blue one for baby Matthew, last weekend I started on a pink one from these fabrics:

 

This was made for Jacki; our families lived next door to each other in Skelmersdale, Lancashire in the 1970s. We were very close back then, we'd go off on camping holidays a couple of times a year, our Mums and Dads were great friends and Jacki's sister Mandy was my first best mate! We were also part of a dance troup trained by my Mum and their Mum, Aunty Brenda. Here we all are in (I think) 1973/4. That's me in the bottom row (with the end of my arrow on Mandy and Jacki in the centre with the end of her arrow on my older sister, Debbi):

 

When I was aged 7, our family moved to Wales and we still met up for camping holidays and visited for a few years but, sadly, over time we lost touch :( until the end of last year when, out of the blue, Aunty Brenda rang my Mum and through Facebook, I'm back in contact with Mandy and Jacki ... got to love social networks, hey?

So here's the quilt I made this week for Jacki, she's thrilled with it:

 

Love making these teddy bear quilts - I could seriously make baby quilts all day long, couldn't you? My other two finishes are the Christmas Tree mug rug for Pam at work. Made from scraps and a penguin fat quarter, I free motion quilted some stars and loops and straight line appliqued the Christmas tree, star and tinsel. It really didn't take very long to do. I even hand sewed the back of the binding but then, that is my favourite part of quilting:

 

The binding fabric for both of these came from my little binding basket. This is where all my leftovers go until I reuse them:

And the advent calendar made out of a Makower Christmas panel. This was a fun project to sew - the instructions were very clear (half the battle when doing anything for the first time) and this one's actually for us! I have two more to make which I'll be gifting to friends with children:

 

My WIP is a Moda charm square lap quilt for my deputy at work, who's going to be off sick for a few weeks :( started on Wednesday, here's where I'm up to:

 

 

And this weekend, I'm starting on my niece's table runner and mats from this bundle of gorgeousness:

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE my hobby! What are you up to this week? I'll pop over and take a look as well as drooling overall the beautiful things shared at Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday and Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict:

I cried ... and I cried ... and then I cried some more!!

It's been quite a tough week at work so after dinner last night, I was going to do some quilting on my butterfly quilt but instead we decided to watch a film. A comedy would have been a good choice or even a thrilling action movie ... but we watched Les Misérables and the tears came! Boy, did they :'(

I cried when Fantine's hair was shorn. Then, again when she died. Pulled myself together (just!) until Jean Valjean sung 'Bring him Home' and sobbed my heart out when he died at the end ... what an amazing film! Bless him, DH was a bit worried about me ... said he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen me cry at a film like that! 

If you've never seen it, there's lots of clips on You Tube to whet your appetite - I particularly love Colm Wilkinson's version of Bring him Home and, of course, the brilliant Susan Boyle brought the epic song I Dreamed a Dream to the masses when she auditioned with it on Britain's Got Talent in 2009.

So, from crying like to a baby, to my one finish this week which was this little baby quilt for Laura at work:

I posted about it earlier in the week and have since been asked to make another one for a friend and, as this really was such a dream to make, how could I refuse? And a bonus for me - this one's for a baby girl so I get to use my pinks! Here's my choices of fabric (so far!) and some fleeced fabric for the backing ... I just might get cracking on this over the weekend: 

Or I might finish quilting my charity quilt - I have done all the straight line quilting but think it needs something more - perhaps some FMQing in the butterflies? There's not a lot of space to move around in so my usual stippling is not going to work. Have been over to see what free motion quilting designs the fabby Leah Day has to share and I think I'm going to try making her pebbles. She really has the best site - everything's clearly signposted, categorised by ability, and there are videos for each design ... yes, pebbles - how difficult can it be?!

And no more sad films for me this weekend! 

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict: 

A quilt in under a week!

I actually finished this last Saturday night (whilst watching The Notebook ... sob sob!!) which means from start to finish, this quilt took me 6 days to complete :) Undoubtedly, the time needed to make a quilt is reduced when using pre-cuts and when you can spend 2 uninterrupted days at the weekend to get the bulk of the work done (a piecing day and a quilting day).

I free motion quilted some little flowers in the sashing just to break up the stippling ... I keep saying I'll make up some practice squares to try out different FMQ patterns but I never seem to find the time. These are by no means perfect but I like the effect:

I tried some different photo angles of the finished quilt:

But I think you can't beat it being held up by two willing volunteers ... even if they do muck about during the process:

And the label:

It's Aunty Ruth's birthday tomorrow and we get to give it to her the quilt before the big family meal we'll be having ... it'll be a surprise gift - I'll let you know her reaction :)

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I get a Whoop Whoop.

No time for sewing :(

Busy busy busy week so no time for any new quilting projects :(

Have finished FM quilting the Snooker Table Quilt, though:

And the builders have finished the loft / sewing room. Can't wait to get back in there with all my sewing loveliness:

Nell hid in the cupboard when the builder came for his money (I did feel like joining her ... yes, take all my money - ouch!)

Dear SIL and hubby are visiting us for a long weekend ... Yay! After a couple (or four!) of these:

Deb and I ended up in the hot tub:

We may have a painting party today, we may garden or go out somewhere for the day ... whatever we do, I know we'll have fun :) Wishing you all a happy weekend too! 

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday and Karen @ Sew Many Ways - Find a Friend Friday :)

They say it comes in threes ...

... and that was true in our house last week. First, the tumble drier finally gave up the ghost (it was repaired in January but the guy wasn't optimistic!) Luckily, the shop delivered a new one on Saturday and it's drying our towels as I write.

Next, because of the major house upheaval (fingers crossed the builders will finish by Wednesday), I set the ironing board up in a different place with a different plug. I wasn't looking where I was going and tripped over the lead and the iron crashed to the floor and the front smashed open. I tried to fix it but no joy :( Oh well, I just plugged in my quilting iron (longer lead too!) and carried on :)

Yesterday, I plugged the iron in, had just finished ironing some binding, turned it off at the plug and there was a flash and a bang ... after resetting the fuses, I tried it again in a different plug but it smelled real bad! Goodbye quilting iron :(

So shopping today for two new irons! Beauty and the Beast describes them well, I think:

But life is surely about balance? And good things come in threes too? Here are the best three of the good things that happened in my life last week.

1) Lucky me got a day off work to attend a great bag workshop on Tuesday :)

2) Finished quilting my Snooker Table Quilt yesterday :)

3) Went to my dear friend's (Swedish Wedding) UK party last night and there was an ABBA Tribute band!! Had the best time in the company of some really lovely people. Also got to meet up with some friends I haven't seen for ages :)

No disastrous lows in the grand scheme of things but some wonderful highs ... 

Finished Floral Star Quilt :)

Updated 26/04 linking up my April finish:

I am a happy quilter tonight having just finished dear niece's partner's Grandma's 80th birthday quilt ... AND 2 weeks ahead of schedule (smugly smiling to self, sorreeeeee!)

I started this 67" x 67" LAPquilt two weeks ago today and it has been a dream to work on. Did my usual: bought some fabric, came up with an idea, cut and sewed and it all worked out lovely. Even better was the delightful green Robert Kaufman fabric that was £14.79 (ouch!) when I bought a metre for the front of the quilt but was in the sale at £6 a metre (about $9) when I went back for 4 metres of backing fabric ... yay the quilting munchkins were working for Glinda on that day :D

Here is the journey. Dear niece (I love her to bits - a hard working, dedicated nurse with more integrity than is good for her!) asked if I would make a quilt for her partner's Grandma who is having a big party for her 80th birthday in May. We 'Facetimed' in my loft (sewing room) so Hannah could choose the style and colour of fabrics she liked. So I went out and bought all this loveliness:

I Googled '4-colour block' and made the first block - liked it so I decided to mix up the green and white but kept the Tanya Whelan Delilah flowers in the middle of the blocks. Nine blocks later and I had this:

And then came the question - border or no border? The advice back from my faithful few was to add a border which I duly did.

When it came to quilting, I reverted to my favourite FMQ stippling (only 3 hours - that's why I love the stippling, ladies!) and, just for a change, added a little flower here and there:

Attached the binding on Wednesday night and Nell decided to park her furry bottom on it! See that look? It's so saying, 'if you want me to move ... make me!' Grrrr ... thankfully, no damage done:

After work tonight, my mission was to hand sew the rest of the binding. I knew I was tired when I fetched the quilt down from the loft, made myself comfy with the quilt on my lap and realised I hadn't trimmed it!! Doh!!!

And by 9pm tonight, it was all done. Here she is in all her glory:

And her name? Well, given that Grandma will have an afternoon nap under this darling quilt when she gets home from WORK, yes work! For this amazing lady, it has to be:

Do you think she'll love it?

Linking up to Amanda Jean's Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday and hoping everyone has a great weekend :)