Have I been quilting?

I was told the lights have not been on in my sewing room lately.
I think I have made up for it.

This very cute bears quilt has gone back to T for her grand daughter. A totally crappy picture that does not do this lovely quilt justice.

 This is a quilt made by Newton craft group, finally finished, a pink one is on the machine waiting for quilting tomorrow

and this is going back to D tomorrow. I love batiks. She chose a swirly panto.

Sadly I didn't get a photo of a quilt I did for Chris, I hope I will see it again sometime and there are photos of four more on my camera for next time.
Liz

They are breeding like ....

...rabbits, well, more like Easter bunnies.

Easter bunny gift bags to be precise. Lovely little project enjoyed by some of my Newton villlage craft group, just waiting to be filled with little gifts or sweets for Easter.

The blog I took this from is here but I lined mine.

http://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/2013/3/4/bunny-treat-bags-a-free-tutorial

We also managed to persuade a couple of our knitting ladies to put down their needles in favour of a little sewing. These are knitting pinies which have a large pocket to hold a ball of wool instead of chasing it round the floor. They have proved very popular and we have had orders for a couple already. I have found mine useful for holding my mobile phone when I am quilting and listening to books on audible with my headphones on ( I am scolded for tucking my phone in my bra). We were asked for a gardening version too.
There has been a little quilting going on, although not as much progress as I would like and spring cleaning in the kitchen, bleugh.
Back to sewing.
Liz

Binding for Linus

One of the problems with family staying over is that I have to move stuff. One of the advantages is that you uncover stuff you had forgotten about, get it done and have less to move back. Here is the result this week, two incubator covers and a  quilt.

 A convergence quilt with hand dyes ( and a peep of my new steel toe capped Doc Martins. I am a little bit in love :-) ) and sparkly fabric with an attempt at feathers out of a pot.

My nephew comes to me during school holidays.

 "Aunty Liz you have a lot of tablets, your phone, one in the pink room and one in the sewing room." Imagine if you will, small boy, hands on hips, with an attitude of, who in their right mind gave you so many gadgets but you only play solitaire!

OK. So I fish through the 'to be quilted pile' for something that will show up the quilting and thought this would suit him perfectly. 

(Thank you if you gifted this top  but apologies from me because I can't remember who to thank.)

Load it up, set it up and away goes my machine all by itself. 

Look on boys face.... priceless.

By the end of the day he was demonstrating to my sister how it was done. Love it!

So binding done and quilts now gone.

I am busy de-constructing curtain samples and prepping for knitting aprons for my ladies in Newton.

All may become clear next time.

Liz

Some recent finishes

 A Tula Pink custom quilted finish for Muriel. Happy Birthday X

 A Bionic Gear bag for me. I wish I could say it is a fantastic pattern and I am thrilled with the result but I can't and I am not.

 A Linus challenge quilt and a workshop/evening Linus finish.

A little silk purse from a kit given to me for my birthday. Thank You Holly X

And a hexi quilt, same front and back, which was a struggle to keep the backing in order and has a variety of vintage fabrics.
I am working on quilted slippers because I can and mine need a trip through the washing machine.
Till next time
Liz

I am back with a couple of finishes.

This beauty has been with me a while. It was rescued from the tip when the makers home was being cleared by her family when full time care was needed. Lovely candlewicked and embroidered blocks have had quite a bit of quilting and blank blocks and borders feathered. I have several hours of thread ends to deal with now.

 This quilt has the most fabulous colours. S used a printed panel and added other fabrics and some applique. I fiddled for some time to get the quilting to a size that was similar to the printed flowers. I think it was worth the fiddle. The thread she provided was a bit temperamental but I love it now.  I look forward to see this when S has finished it, I understand it is to be donated to the British Legion home where her Father is cared for.

 The back is just as lovely as the front.

 This is the second quilt for I. Like a fool I let a couple of quilts leave before being photographed, one was for I. the other was the biggest quilt I have ever done,  a scrap quilt 112 inches long, dense quilting each pass taking nearly 1 hour to stitch.

A demonstration at Lutterworth Piecemakers last month lead to this little bag.

 A photo on Pinterest led to this little bag to store my camera charger.

There have been other quilty goings on I have fallen for the fabric boxes I have seen online and made some and donated a couple for the village fete on Saturday. I gave them away this morning but may have to go and buy one back as I like them and don't have any more of that fabric to make any more.I have been persuaded to move to Instagram but I have yet to find how to share photos from there to here without taking them twice. 

Off to the kitchen now to make my offering for Lutterworth Christmas get together this evening.

Till next time

Liz X

 While Master Chaos was around I used him to take outdoor photos of the quilts I have done recently. This is destined to be a fund raiser for Myton Hospice I believe. I really like the setting for these sampler blocks.

Lovely bright top with butterfly prints and scraps and a lovely butterfly e2e that shows up pretty on the plain backing for S.

 I used a pipes e2e for H.and then I had fun playing with free motion on my domestic machine. I have called her Pearl but I have yet to find a use or place for her.

I failed to get a picture of another quilt I quilted nor a waistcoat with a South African flag that I was asked to make as a wedding gift for a best man.I was worried as it was a surprise and I was unable to try  it on the gent before the wedding day and he was 2 sizes bigger than my pattern. I was relieved to hear he was very happy with it, I don't think I will offer to make another one any time soon though.
If you are anywhere near Leicester at the end of the month this event might be of interest to you.

Till next time
Liz

Festival of quilts

 

My companion at festival of quilts yesterday was Master Chaos number 2 who has expressed an interest in making his own quilt. He likes the snowball block and has designed a quilt with blocks on point. A couple of people we got chatting to asked if he was there to carry my purchases and were a bit surprised to hear he was shopping for his own project.

I don't think I needed help to carry some thread and a new bobbin case, pathetic I know, but when faced with so much choice I get overwhelmed and unless I have a specific project to shop for I tend to come away with nothing. I do have a couple of UFO's  to keep me busy for a while.

We saw many super quilts some of them are below and I saw some friends, one of them prompted me to blog today. Hi Mo.

 I am sure I have done several quilts and a bit of dressmaking since my last post, I certainly have been involved with 2 shows, (I hadn't realised it had been that long) I did a bit of crew work on Up Pompeii when the set had to appear to shake and fall down after a volcano eruption and I made 20 graduation gowns for the youth project production of Fame. There is a  load of theatre laundry drying on my washing line as I type.
I have a lovely quilt on my machine at the moment and a very good reason to go and get on with it.
 I will post about it soon.
Liz