The Sewing machine - a girls bestest friend

Hi everyone,

Its all great excitement today as I am going to try my new machine. It actually arrived last Thursday at 8.30a.m. while I was still in my Jammies :-O  Mark from the Huskqvarna shop in Bath showed me the basic ' basics' but till now I have not tried it out for myself so I hope I will be able to 'drive it' OK.

 

As you know we had the dog last week, and I try to stay downstairs with him, then Saturday it was CTQ and the workshop. Sunday was taken up with the arrival of DD and Baby H to collect said dog, then after lunch DS arrived and we both went to see my Mum who is not well. Here are the latest pictures of Little H playing in our garden yesterday

daisies are soo interesting

Do I HAVE to wear a hat?

Grandad helps her try her feet

and Ted gets in on the act

So today I am planning to spend the morning trying out some easy functions on the 'new machine',  and will attempt to finish the bag I started at the workshop on Saturday, which by the way was a hoot! Heather came along to show us how to make a 'squishy bag using triangles and surprisingly mine looks OK so far.

have to put in the lining, make handles, ties and fabric beads then add binding round the top, so that should keep me busy and I will keep you posted on my progress later in the week as DD will be here again tomorrow and we are going swimming (or playing in the garden depending on if this weather holds up a bit longer.

So Folks sorry for the brief post but there is serious sewing to be done, see you all soon

L

Geat British Jam & an invitation to join the fun

Mornin all, 

May I start off by passing on an invitation to all quilters out there to join in the fun of blogging, Michelle over at The Quilting Bloggers website (HERE) has launched an appeal asking us all to encourage more quilters to join the fun and start their own blog. I'm sure many of you have been reading these for ages and have thought about starting your own blog, but not sure if you should, I know I did! Well whatever your skill level I can highly recommend it as a great thing to do. You will make new friends from around the globe and may even get to meet some of them (see previous post) there are tutorials for just about everything PLUS you become part of a huge world wide caring quilting community who love to see what you have been working on, so come on give it a go and if you do let me know so I can come visit with you. There are tutorials on the Blogger website (unfortunately I can't get a link to work here but if you type www.blogger.com into your search engine it should take you there) which make it really easy to get started.

I had an early start again today with Mr T the spaniel, off out to the fields by 6.30a.m and back home by 7.15am what to do with the day I think, while sipping my cuppa hmmm? I know I'll make some jam before the sun gets too hot! A quick trip to the freezer and voila! Fruit, (which has been lurking in the freezer for too long) apples from our lovely Brambly tree picked last September were quickly chopped and frozen by DH who also picked blackberries from the hedgerows of our friends organic farm, find the recipe book, this one's a favorite, bought for me by DH when we got married, at first I thought perhaps he doubted my ability in the kitchen but he swears not!!! however it very quickly became my 'bible' for all things on the cookery front, (Sorry Delia!) 

Place all the fruit (about 2lbs of each) in the preserving pan, add a little water (about a pint) and and put on to heat, gently at first, to thaw it all out.

While that's happening I look in the larder for the sugar, which according to the packet it is the only sugar grown in Britain and as this has to be great British jam it's just right for this project

the fruit has thawed and started to gently cook I just love the colour of these fruits once they start to blend together, now for the jars, find some in the cupboard, give them a wash and dry them carefully, lining them up on the worktop ready for filling.

once the fruit is nice and soft increase the heat and add the sugar, making sure it all dissolves. Now with the thermometer attached to the side of the pan I slowly increase the heat some more to bring it to boiling point.

After about 15 minutes it smells wonderful and the thermometer has risen to the correct temperature, I test to confirm it has reached 'setting point' by dropping a little on a cold saucer, wait 5 minutes then push the surface to see if it 'wrinkles' and it does Yaaay! Carefully pour it into the waiting jars and here are the 'fruits of my labours' 10 jars of yummy Blackberry and Apple jam to go with fresh bread for tea.  Damn! I just remembered I'm dieting and won't be able to eat any!!! :-(( Well not much anyway LOL

As for the rest of the day? well I guess I will be 'forced' to sit in the garden under the Bramley apple tree and stitch while the sun shines, its a hard life folks ain't it?

Byee for now

L

Quilt shows & meeting new a friend!

Hi,

I hardly had time to recover from last weeks busy schedule when Ted arrived for his little holiday, so this week (till Sunday) I'm up and out with him for his walk at 6.30am, now that's real early but its the only way I can guarantee an almost 'dog free walk' by that I mean we don't meet any other dogs while we're out. I go through the fields at the end of our road and use the public footpath into the fields (See earlier post on 17th May 2011) We can't go all the way around the field at the moment as it is planted with Rape seed and the plants are way above my head, so its a matter of going straight down the hill and out onto the road to get home, though we both get soaking wet from the dew dripping from the rape plants and the long grass. The weather has improved and at last we have a hint of summer which is great. I was in the garden after the walk the other morning and found this suspended between the frame we built for our Clematis and the garden wall. It looked so beautiful in the sunlight, every strand covered in tiny dewdrops sparkling like diamonds.

DD and Co (minus Ted) are on Holiday in North Wales and the last we heard they are having a good time with the same weather as us so hopefully it will continue till they leave on Saturday, this will be the first time Little H has been to the seaside so it will be interesting to hear what she thought of it.

I went to Quilts UK last Thursday and had a good day meeting up with my friend Sheila, then I went off to meet up with Giles a quilter whose blog I follow (Here), and we had arranged to meet for coffee. He has previously been living in the U.S. but came home recently due to health problems and to be nearer to his family, he is now living about 90 minutes away from the showground and was planning to visit to see the quilts and hopefully meet some other male quilters. Giles is the first male quilter I have met and it was really lovely to talk to him, I was very impressed to hear how he manages to sew as he has very limited vision, he explained  how he learned to quilt at a centre for the visually impaired in Atlanta and sews mostly by hand using self threading needles, and using a machine for the quilting. Unfortunately he had to leave his sewing machine behind,\:-((( but managed to get his stash safely back to the UK :-)))). He had brought along his first quilt to share with me which was gorgeous, and I got this picture of it and him while we talked, I just love the colours and the Owl print backing fabric.

We went our separate ways after about an hour though I did bump into him a little later on and he said he was enjoying the show. Just 10 minutes after I left him I met another Male quilter - are they like buses do you think?  you know you wait hours for one to come along then 2 arrive at once! Gile's Mum told me she is going to learn to quilt now having seen what Giles can do and they are planning on getting him a new machine in due course. After meeting up with Sheila again to have lunch and as I did not have much to get in the way of shopping I concentrated on looking at the quilts, I don't think there were as many this year and nothing actually made me say WOW! but these are  some I liked

 As for purchases. I bought these charm packs, I'll use the blue one for a bag workshop at CTQ on Saturday not sure about the other one yet though.

Gorgeous threads (to use on my new machine

Oliver Twist Threads for couching or hand stitching

More fabrics for this little wall-hanging

and a nifty board which folds in half - great for carrying around

 

 

 

 

Well that's all for now got to go take over dog sitting downstairs so DH can go out for an hour,  sun is out so I will take some coffee in the garden and work on a small crochet project, I'm planning a little restoration project - but more on that later. SVQ tonight so I'll report on that later too!

See you soon.

L

Babysitting and Excitement

Here I am babysitting my darling little granddaughter for the first time, it was felt bit scary once they left, not that I have never bathed and put a baby to bed before, but this is the first time I have been left alone with little H for longer than an hour or so. (wanted to put an explanation mark there but the number one key is missing on D.D's laptop courtesy of Little H and the incident with a teaspoon). Well anyway it's almost 9.30pm and I have just checked said sleeping babe (again) and all is quiet. Bathtime was fun if a little wet - me as well as her, but it was a bit like riding a bike, you know once learned never forgotten.

Yesterday's visit to Threads & Patches with SVQ  (See Here) went off well we all had a great time at the shop. We arrived in good time after a 7.30am start and were welcomed with chocolate cake and coffee, there then followed a series of demonstrations with lots of laughter and we received a small kit to try one technique at home, after a delicious lunch we then had time to browse in the quilt shop, upstairs is the Knitting Basket, a knitting shop, Craftability, a craft shop and a long arm quilting machine which we were able to see in action. Then there was time for another cuppa and yet another demonstration before the coach arrived to take us home with all our purchases I of course was very controlled and did not buy much. ROTFL.

So why the excitement? Well, tomorrow I will be leaving here after breakfast and travelling to Malvern for Quilts UK where I will be meeting Giles from the Blog 'Touch and Sew' (will give you the link next time as I can't quite work out how you do it on the laptop) Giles will be the first male quilter I have met so I am very much looking forward to chatting to him. Hopefully the weekend will be quieter as I have discovered that its not CTQ on Saturday as I thought - reminder to self - check the dairy more often. LOL Well it is almost time for DD and partner to arrive home from the theatre so I will sign off for now and go check on little one before I put the kettle on ready for them when they get in.

Byee. L

Hi,

I hardly had time to recover from last weeks busy schedule when Ted arrived for his little holiday, so this week (till Sunday) I'm up and out with him for his walk at 6.30am, now that's real early but its the only way I can guarantee an almost 'dog free walk' by that I mean we don't meet any other dogs while we're out. I go through the fields at the end of our road and use the public footpath into the fields (See earlier post on 17th May 2011) We can't go all the way around the field at the moment as it is planted with Rape seed and the plants are way above my head, so its a matter of going straight down the hill and out onto the road to get home, though we both get soaking wet from the dew dripping from the rape plants and the long grass. The weather has improved and at last we have a hint of summer which is great. I was in the garden after the walk the other morning and found this suspended between the frame we built for our Clematis and the garden wall. It looked so beautiful in the sunlight, every strand covered in tiny dewdrops sparkling like diamonds.

DD and Co (minus Ted) are on Holiday in North Wales and the last we heard they are having a good time with the same weather as us so hopefully it will continue till they leave on Saturday, this will be the first time Little H has been to the seaside so it will be interesting to hear what she thought of it.

I went to Quilts UK last Thursday and had a good day meeting up with my friend Sheila, then I went off to meet up with Giles a quilter whose blog I follow (Here), and we had arranged to meet for coffee. He has previously been living in the U.S. but came home recently due to health problems and to be nearer to his family, he is now living about 90 minutes away from the showground and was planning to visit to see the quilts and hopefully meet some other male quilters. Giles is the first male quilter I have met and it was really lovely to talk to him, I was very impressed to hear how he manages to sew as he has very limited vision, he explained  how he learned to quilt at a centre for the visually impaired in Atlanta and sews mostly by hand using self threading needles, and using a machine for the quilting. Unfortunately he had to leave his sewing machine behind,\:-((( but managed to get his stash safely back to the UK :-)))). He had brought along his first quilt to share with me which was gorgeous, and I got this picture of it and him while we talked, I just love the colours and the Owl print backing fabric.

We went our separate ways after about an hour though I did bump into him a little later on and he said he was enjoying the show. Just 10 minutes after I left him I met another Male quilter - are they like buses do you think?  you know you wait hours for one to come along then 2 arrive at once! Gile's Mum told me she is going to learn to quilt now having seen what Giles can do and they are planning on getting him a new machine in due course. After meeting up with Sheila again to have lunch and as I did not have much to get in the way of shopping I concentrated on looking at the quilts, I don't think there were as many this year and nothing actually made me say WOW! but these are  some I liked

 As for purchases. I bought these charm packs, I'll use the blue one for a bag workshop at CTQ on Saturday not sure about the other one yet though.

Gorgeous threads (to use on my new machine

Oliver Twist Threads for couching or hand stitching

More fabrics for this little wall-hanging

and a nifty board which folds in half - great for carrying around

Well that's all for now got to go take over dog sitting downstairs so DH can go out for an hour,  sun is out so I will take some coffee in the garden and work on a small crochet project, I'm planning a little restoration project - but more on that later. SVQ tonight so I'll report on that later too!

See you soon.

L

There is a drought they tell me!!!

But! this was the now familiar 'view from the window' on Saturday afternoon, it was so dark I had to put three lights on in the sewing room. I was spending the afternoon just messing about in the sewing room and decided to have a look at some scraps that I had been given, I hate waste and beg all the scraps and selvedges from the girls at CTQ (and previously from students), this is what was lurking under the extension table on Elly (the Elna)

 

I had previously sewn together some strips quite randomly i.e any width as long as they were of similar length. I cut a 6" square from the smallest piece.

Using an odd bit of wadding and some backing from an old pillowcase I free motion quilted it.

with bindings added, again from the bag of strips, I made this scissor poke, it takes my 5" scissors quite comfortably and with a popper added will be perfect. In all this took 2 hours so I will maybe make some for sale at the next exhibition

Next up were these squares which had been left over from someone's borders...

Which when sewn together made some nice blocks which I may use for a charity project.

On Monday I continued the theme and stitched together some little squares to make some slightly smaller 'scrappy' blocks like these.

Yesterday DD came for her weekly visit, the sun was out for a change so we had all the doors open after lunch. Little H is now on the move, and here she is following her Mum out of the living room (where she was supposed to be asleep!!!)

10 months old and full of fun!

Just so he won't be left out here is a rather nice shot of Monty Dog- H's best friend who is always to be found where she is (especially if there is chance of a snack!!!)

Today was the monthly hand sewing afternoon for SVQ (we meet midway between our evening meetings) only 5 of us there but a good time was had by all. I am currently working on a piece of Indian Kantha embroidery from my UFO box, never having done this type of embroidery before it's a bit like the blind leading the blind scenario, but hey! lets just plod on regardless!! I started this ages ago, probably several years:-() and have been sort of making it up as I go along. I drew some butterfly and bird shapes with a wheel in the centre using some quilting/applique designs from a book, I had just stitched the 3rd bird seen top right, and thought it looked better than the others so I decided  to unpick the first two and start again, still not perfect but better I think?

Bye for now

Lorraine.