Another swap joined and an Invitation.

It must be addictive - joining in swaps I mean! as you will all know I have done two this year, not as many as most and probably more than others but no one warned me they are habit forming. Still it's not a dangerous activity and it is VERY enjoyable- all the anticipation of waiting for your partners details to arrive, then visiting their blog to see preferences for fabric and colour etc. This one is a Christmas stocking swap via the Quilting Gallery and I have my pattern ready and waiting, my partners details are due on the 7th  Nov. then I can start to sew.
I spent a day at Malvern quilt show, I went on my own this year as Sheila couldn't go at the last minute so I planned to spend most of the time doing some workshops. I arrived early and got signed up to 3 from my list. Then off for a cuppa and a quick look round at the quilts. The first workshop was with the lovely Sadie Yeomans for some Christmas Redwork, a very good workshop with everything supplied to complete a small wall hanging.

Next it was off to try my hand at Image Transfer with Ruth Brown which I found great fun if a little messy but managed to produce this, though I'm not sure what I shall use it for!

After a quick bite of lunch I was off again this time to an intriguing workshop called 'Striptease' with Jane Davies. I was not sure what to expect but we had great fun layering all sorts of fabrics onto a curtain fabric base then securing it with lots of random embroidery stitches.

Detail

 I also bought this kit from her which looks fun to do

by then it was 3.30 so another cuppa was enjoyed before a final walk around the traders before heading off for home.
In the last couple of weeks I got fired up about using teeny scraps while reading a post at 15 Minutes of Play , now I have always said I don't 'do small', I love miniature quilts and really admire and appreciate all the work that goes into making one but it has never occurred to me to try it out for myself. However the idea set out by Victoria just seemed to appeal, so I set to at the machine with some reeeeeally small bits of fabric and tried it out. Within about 20 minutes I had produced these,

 now I was really fired up and decided to try to use them to make a mini quilt and in the course of last Tuesday afternoon I had produced 9 little blocks. Then using some leftover 1.5" strips as sashing I put together this little project

The whole thing is 8" square and it needs to be 12" to comply with the challenge, so now I have until the

end of the month to make it a bit larger. My first thought is to try to make a really tiny Prairie Braid border then bind it but I'm not sure yet as I have never done Prairie Braid before. All suggestions be considered!!

And now for that invitiation. Several weeks ago while catching up on some of the Blogs I follow I read a post from Dianne over at The Cheshire Quilter who posted about a Pay it Forward idea currently doing the rounds and soo... I joined in, I think this is a great idea and a lovely way to give someone a nice surprise. So how does it work? Well, sometime in the next year she makes a small gift for me and in return I do the same for 3 of my followers who want to take part so if  you are interested in taking part leave me a comment and I will get back to you, I promise not to forget, I will write down your names and put them in a prominent place to keep reminding me.
So as they say that's all for now folks, I'm off for my tea!!
L

Di