Make it on Sunday & Monday!!

Just thought I would share a couple of things with you all. While looking at other peoples blogs I've been seeing lots loads of Mug Rugs out there but, until now have not made one, well! while H was here for a weekend of sewing I needed a small project to work on while she was busy with her sewing, she is getting very good with her sewing skills now and will work quite happily once she is told/shown what to do. Soo the object of this post is to show you what I made, several weeks ago you may remember I started to sort out the Scrap Bag, I used some bits for my hexie project (I'm still stitching fabric over papers, in fact I seem to be a bit hooked on that  in the evenings!!) I also used some larger 2" pieces to make a small  machine pieced block using bright fabrics. In my usual manner when  I am bored, I just started to sew them together in pairs, then 4's, then joined four 4patches together ending up with a 6 1/2"  block, better stop I said to myself and get organized, so over the w/e, I decided a Mug Rug would be just the thing for a small project and this is what I ended up with in between helping H.

                                   
 

I used the exercise to practice a bit of Free machine quilting which I was quite pleased with, then during another quiet spell I decided that this would be an ideal fun gift for Jane our Slimming World consultant who is leaving us tomorrow evening, and after a bit of thought and discussion with H about a suitable design this is what we came up with.

Jane has been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration and has helped all the group members  (over 90 people including men) to lose weight successfully during the 18 months she has been running the group and is always telling us to eat more fruit & Veggies etc. I used bondaweb Applique and a bit of wax crayon 'art' and have too say I am very pleased with the end results, I finished binding it about an hour ago and thought I would share it with you all straight away. I hope Jane likes it. If you would like to see what I did I'll post the process next time. Right now I'm off too bed!!! 

Nighty Night.

Lorraine

Visiting Blogger

Hi I'm H ,

Lorraine has said I'm allowed to post something on her blog to explain what we have been up to. Lorraine picked me up this morning w a a a y to early at about 10:00 am, She said we weren't going straight to her house but wouldn't tell me where we were going!  Finally I saw the Pets At Home shop and realized we were going to my Aunties house to see my new cousin, baby H, I was really exited and couldn't wait as I love babies<3 and I love seeing Monty and Ted because they are soo playful. While we were there I got to hold my first cousin :)), at first she cried a bit but I got her settled down and she fell asleep, we took loads of photos !! Baby H has a really pretty bedroom and lovely clothes ! It's funny because Lorraine keeps getting our names confused, its a lot more confusing now there are 2 H's in the family.

Today I finished the Pennant I have been making to send to the Olympics

 and tomorrow I'm hoping to start some new projects,I would like to make something to put on my bedroom wall, so that I have something I've made on display. On Saturday my friend L is coming over and we are going to make cupcake wall hangings. I'm going to put mine in my school locker at the beginning of term. (if it comes out OK) I'm also hoping to get a chance to use some Angelina fibre, as I saw a demonstration by a stallholder at the FOQ who explained how to use it , Lorraine bought a stamp to try out but we haven't had chance yet! I also want to make a patchwork bag with some 'music' fabric that Lorraine bought for me at Malvern and a Union Jack cushion, I have soo many projects I want to do at the moment. I hope to pop by another time. Love H

He takes Sugar !!!

I think I finally lost the plot yesterday, around mid afternoon I offered DH a nice cuppa, nothing difficult there I hear you say but..... Kettle on, cup, saucer & mug ready- T bag into cup- add 2 low cal sweeteners to cup Doh! they are supposed to be mine - extract T bag and sweeteners, add sweeteners to mug, return T bag to cup - pick up sugar bowl and put 2 spoons of sugar into mug (with sweeteners!!) tip sugar back into bowl and fish out sweeteners with spoon, put tea bag back into cup and pour on water, repeat with tea bag in mug. OK! finally got there, fish out teabag, add milk, stir and take through to conservatory and hand to DH - who takes a sip and Ugggh! no sugar - go back to kitchen for sugar. See what I mean? 

Later I decided to go and tidy up the workroom, thinking to sort out my scraps bag. Recently I have been sorting through it looking for pieces to use in a Hexagon project and have had to admit there are scraps in there that really are too small to use, NO I mean REALLY too small! Anyway I decide to sort the bits into piles that are graded thus, Large scraps - 3+", small scraps - less than 3", Fabric strips, Poly-cotton scraps and bits that really are  too small or simply not usable. The result of this is that now my scrap bag is a normal size carrier bag instead of a huge one! I am very pleased with the results and it was worth having to clear up the mess on the floor. 

So! whats been happening around here lately .. I went to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC taking 'H' with me, we had a really good day, though later she said she found it all a bit overwhelming. I only took a few Photos as my camera decided to play up, but here are a couple of the better ones, sadly I did not buy a catalogue so I am unable to credit any of the makers by name except for the Bell Quilt made by Pippa Moss from over at 'Welsh Quilts' (HERE) it was made as a commemoration of the Bells from Christchurch Cathedral NZ which was so badly damaged by the earthquake in February, it was lovely to see the quilt and to meet Pippa personally as I had made a Bell block to go in it following an appeal on her blog. See

 

Bell Quilt By Pippa Moss

Miniature Whole cloth Quilt - Applique

 H had a try at long arm quilting and took to it like a 'duck to water', she tried 2 types of machine and I was very impressed by her efforts on both

Long arm quilter in the making

 The work of the Tent-makers of Cairo was stunning, we stood and watched this chap and I have never seen anyone sew so fast and so neatly, I explain a little about this type of work in my talk entitled 'A Trip Around the World' but this is the first time I have been able to watch them in action. The picture below shows a small selection of the items they had on show

Egyptian Tent maker at work

Egyptian Quilts

and last but by no means the least my personal favorite has to be this one.

'Meercats' - winner of class

Last Saturday was the August meeting of Clock Tower Quilters, we always have a Cream Tea at this meeting and this year was no different. We used the opportunity to hand over the Quilt made for Baby G, our newest and smallest member.You may remember I have been blogging about a 'secret group project' which I have been involved in. Well this was it, it all started with a meeting at my house about 4 months ago to plan the quilt, deciding on 'wonkey' Log Cabin blocks in bright colours, we all then went away and made the respective blocks plus an extra block to form a cushion as this was going to be a Quillo. Things got a bit hectic when G decided to put in an appearance 3 weeks early and we had to quickly organise an extra meeting to put it together (using QAYG) Pheww!  It was finished in time for the meeting so now all we had to do was hope that Laura and Baby G made it to the meeting, which they did here is a picture of Laura with the quilt

I have a hankering to do some small hand sewn projects and started working on a Hexagon project. I saw some super down-loadable hexagon sheets in several sizes ready to print and use over at 'Snippets and Blabbery' blog - (HERE). I have been working on them in the evenings for 2 weeks or so, I have tacked about 20 'sets'. The idea behind all of this is if (and it's still if) we are allowed to sew during the flight to the USA next month that's what I will be doing, I know you are not allowed to take scissors on board but I have asked the tour organizers if we are allowed to have a needle but am still awaiting the reply.
Here's a taster of what I've done so far using the tacking method seen on 'Sunshine Creations' Blog, (HERE) I used the aforementioned down-loadable 1/4" templates and hand tacked the fabric on

Tacked Sets

Ready for the off!

My trip is now only 3 weeks away, we fly to Boston on the 14th Sept. I am soooo excited and have been sorting out my luggage this week, yesterday I borrowed a case from Mum and stuffed (literally) all my travel  belongings into it then put it onto the bathroom scales and Whooo Hoo! it only weighs 10Kgs, we are allowed to take 23Kgs so that means I will have plenty loads of room to bring back my purchases IF I happen to do any shopping while visiting the quilt shops included on the tour Itinerary. I am taking three patterns with me and hope to get the fabrics for those, there's a project for my new Granddaughter, a pattern for a wall hanging which I brought back from Canada in 2006 and never got around to making and a small wall-hanging to be ready for Christmas. There is a 3 day sewing retreat at Lake Morey in the middle of the tour and we can take along our own projects to work on or choose one from the list supplied by the Quilting shop that will be there. Nothing took my fancy so I think I will be working on either the Canadian wall-hanging or the baby project (or maybe both).
Well I guess that's enough from me for this time so I'll be signing off, will try to drop by again soon
Regards
Lorraine

A Week-end approaches

Hi All

As the title suggests I am getting ready for the week-end, not a frantically busy one though there is an exhibition afoot, Clock Towers have been invited to exhibit some of their work along side the Flower Arrangers and Banner Group for St. Mary's Church Almondsbury. (See poster in previous post 14th July) I have a selection of quilts here for those who could not deliver directly to the Church tomorrow plus a few of my own. I will stay and help set up if I'm needed, otherwise I'm planning to have some sewing time.

I have decided to exhibit several small quilts and 2 wall hangings which you have seen before in previous posts, the one you haven't seen is 'Bears in Squares' approx 40" square, this quilt is one I made as a sample when I  taught a 'Quilt in a Day' workshop several years ago,  nowadays it is usually included in my bag when I go out to give a talk, I have another quilt top made using the same technique which was my working sample and now resides in my UFO box waiting to be finished.

On Friday evening I have a ticket to hear Bettina Havig giving a talk, which has been organized by Region 5 of the Quilter's Guild, then on Saturday I will try to take my Mum to see the exhibition and take  some pictures of the CTQ quilts on display, we have a photographic record of most 'Show and Tell' items brought to meetings so these pictures can go in our 'archive'. In the evening I will probably 'veg out' in front of the telly while DH is out for a few a 'swift halves' at the Cricket Club. Sunday of course is the day of rest (I wish!!) and I may get a bit of sewing done in the afternoon.

I'm going to the F.O.C at the N.E.C on Saturday 13th and taking Harriet, (though she doesn't yet know it) it will be interesting to see her reaction to an international Quilt show after the way she enjoyed Malvern. If any blogging friends are reading this perhaps we could meet up for a quick coffee/natter, leave me a comment or send me an email and we'll see what we can do, I'm certainly going to try to see Pippa from 'Welsh Quilts'  and look out for the quilt she has entered with my Bell block in it.

I have been doing some knitting, I saw an idea for a knitted rosette on Vanessa's blog over at Do you Mind if I Knit  and asked her if I could copy it, she very kindly said Yes! It's knitted in cotton yarn on very small tiny needles (size 13 UK), so far I have made the centre which I am struggling fighting with to make it lie flat, I have it pinned into submission on the ironing board with a damp cloth over it and we'll see what happens when I take it off tomorrow, so it's a bit watch this space as they say, anyway here's a WIP picture.

I have just realized that it's 10.45pm and 'im downstairs AKA DH has NOT made me a cuppa all evening so I'll be off to make my own and then I'm going to bed or it will be too late to read any of my book while I drink the tea!

See you all soon.

L