Winter Stitching Update

With one day to spare, I squeeze my Winter Stitching Up-Date in and will be linking it up with our uber mama organiser, Sarah - to be found at FairyFace Designs (but you knew that already).

Unlike all those bloggy friends of mine who made lists a mile long, I kept mine relatively short so you would think that I had nothing but success to report. Ha! Chance would be a fine thing!

1. The first item was my Modern Christmas Tabelrunner Swap which I can report I am absolutely thrilled with - except for poor Annabella who seems to have had her tablerunner eaten by the postal service. I will be remedying the situation when I see her in June though so even this can be fixed, hopefully. My partner seemed to be very happy with the runner I made for her and I was pleased to have tried something new and have it come out as well as it did.

2. Finish Helen's Quilt - Success!! I am thrilled to report this, and it makes me smile every evening when I kiss her good night and the quilt is helping keep her warm. She loves it. I love it. Yea!

Within the same challenge for me was to then move on and work on Emily's. Well I would like to up the ante and say that before the Winter Sewing challenge is finished Emily's quilt will be too!



3. I was supposed to make 3,000,000 Christmas ornaments which might have been a slight exaggeration, but I can say that I made well over 100, sold some and gave lots as presents to friends and family. I would count item 3 as a success, as long as you ignore my tendency to exaggerate!

4. Make my Brit Bee Quilt. Um - no, this would still be at the stage of occasionally getting out my blocks and admiring them. No further work has been done.

5. Zips! Woohoo - this was a big, fat resounding success. So pleased that I no longer quiver in fear at the mere mention of zips.

6. This challenge was to start a new swap - with a bloggy friend or two. Well, seeing as how it is all I talk about half the time (swaps and birds!) then we all know that this is a success too. Mouthy Stitches was launched with more participants signing up than we could have imagined. Hopefully by the end of the Winter Stitching we will be able to report that it was a huge success - fingers crossed!

7. Try paper piecing. Not yet. Need to find the right project. Any suggestions?

8. Crochet a throw - something adult sized not baby size. I'm afraid that ambition and budget did not connect here. To make a throw the size I want is going to take a lot of yarn. And I want nice yarn. Soft, cuddly cotton yarn that is a joy to snuggle under. When I have the budget then this will happen, meanwhile it will just have to go on hold.


That was all there was on my list. It looks pretty pathetic unless I add in the things that I did make that never made it to the list. Here is a quick summary -

I made pouches of many sizes.

And went on a cushion making rampage.

There were fleece lined baby blankets.

Copious amounts of bunting.

A quilt for himself for his birthday.

I kept up with my Brit Bee blocks obligations.

A quilt for my brother and his family for Christmas.

One of the cushions I made.
They became a popular gift item for me to make this year.

My first attempt at a tote.
The reason people should use a pattern sometimes!

I started this,
soon to be finished.

I developed a bird obsession.

And an even bigger obsession with Heather Ross fabrics.

So all in all I don't think I did too badly. The worst I did was in my ability to predict what I was going to make, not in  my ability to actually make. (Does that make sense?)

For the remainder of the Stitchery list I want to finish the Terrain Quilt, finish Emily's quilt, keep up with Sarah's Stained Pink QAL when it starts (tomorrow rumour has it) but using my Favourite Fabrics in it, get the rest of the bird fussy cuts framed (only about 50 more to go) and then figure out how to go about piecing them together, and figure out a design for the Heather Ross Fan Club quilt. I need to finish making a pouch for my partner in Mouthy Stitches. Make a swap item for the FTLOS swap, and then do the hardest challenge of all - February's bee blocks.

Don't hold your breath that I will manage to get all that done. That would just be fanciful thinking on my part. But now I have focus I had best stop writing and get sewing!

Susan

Almost There...

... with my Terrain HST quilt. Because the lovely Judith helped me get hold of some fabric and then sent it to me. I now have the backing fabric for the quilt.

Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler

I quickly pressed the backing, put the layers together and got on with the basting.

The quilting is going to be very simple on this quilt because I do not want to distract from the fabric or the pattern at all. Needless to say I haven't actually got the thread I want for the quilting but I will get around to purchasing that more quickly than I did with the backing.

I also received another fabric gift this week. From Wendy, who sent me some scraps for both For the Love of Birds and my Favourite Fabrics quilt.

Ruby and Bliss!! Joy!
And new birdies.
Love that charm square, middle row, second from left.
It's already fussy cut perfectly for me.

So another huge thank you going out to Wendy. This is going to be the best quilt ever because of all the generous donations so it is going to represent my blogging life as well as a quilt I love. And (I repeat myself here) Ruby and Bliss! Sarah will be launching her Stained Pink QAL any moment now and I am going to be all set because it will be  my Favourite Fabrics Quilt. Well, I have a huge number of scraps I am waiting to put in this quilt and I have the solid I need for all the narrow sashing. All I need is the time and energy to make it. While doing two swaps, and having visitors. How hard can it be?

Meanwhile, I am cooking dinner while I write this. Bouncing back and forth. Rather shot myself in the foot tonight by making the Penang curry too hot. So now I am making a quesadilla for Emily with raw veggies on the side, because her eyes near popped out her head when she tasted the curry. Way too spicy for her! I sort of knew that was going to be the case, but best go make sure I don't burn her quesadilla. I would be running out of options of what to feed her if I do!

Susan

Attempt Number Two

There was a mixed reaction to my too incredibly scrappy piecing of the aqua fabrics yesterday. I can't say I am surprised because I have rather mixed feelings about it myself. On one hand I like the little pieces all put together. But on the other hand I don't think I like it on that large a level. I am thinking of another use for yesterday's work. It won't go to waste. And today I had a rethink about how to piece my aqua and orange parts of the Mouthy Stitches pouch.

I am happier with this attempt. What do you think?

Front and back.
A little Heather Ross in there.
The triangles will be separated by a linen strip with some hand stitching on it.

I am happier with my work today. Hope my partner is too!

I have also been trying to set aside some time to stitch on Emily's quilt every day, whether it is fifteen minutes or an hour. Just to progress it forward. There is a lot of blank space on the quilt as I have mentioned before - legacy of letting a five year old help design her own quilt. I can remember the age by the house we lived in. Isn't that sad! We were in Newchurch on the IoW, therefore Emily must have been five as she had her birthday the first week we were in that house and we were there for slightly less than a year.

Anyway, I digress (as Rhonda would say), I am hand stitching hearts with perle all over the blank space. Some in coloured thread but most in white. I am not sure how I feel about this quilt. It will not be my favourite, but Emily loves it. That is what we aim for. Customer satisfaction.

Hearts...

... and more hearts.
I can see a finish on the horizon.

Thank you for your kind words about the car yesterday. It is behaving itself again and showing no sign of not wanting to start. What on earth happened is beyond me - but it wasn't a complete girlie moment because my Samaritan and the garage mechanics couldn't make it start with the key in the ignition either. I'm just happy it is being nice to me again. And I could take the girls to school today. And sew happily here, in my warm house. I love being comfy inside when it is cold out.

Susan

Good Samaritans Still Exist

I went to the school to pick up the girls this afternoon. On the way back home I realised that the fuel gauge was pretty well on empty and I had come out without my purse. So I popped into the house on our return and grabbed a money source without turning the car engine off.

Get to the petrol station. Put some fuel in the car, pay, hop back in the car and...    ... nothing. The engine wouldn't even turn over. My heart dropped to my stomach. I had a car that didn't work - again!

Then a very nice gentleman came over and offered to help. Bless him! He checked the battery didn't have a lose wire. And then he towed me to the garage up the road. He even stayed while the garage checked the battery and then jump started the car, just in case I needed a drive home. So a huge thank you to my Samaritan today. He won't ever read this blog but this is my way of telling him thank you again.

When I got home and turned off the car engine, I tried starting it again, and it worked. So I repeated the process two more times. And it started each time. What on earth was that all about?! I couldn't start it at the petrol station. Mr Samaritan couldn't start it. The garage couldn't start it. I came home and it was acting okay. Wonder if it will be nice to me in the morning?

Meanwhile I have completely forgotten completely what I was going to blog today. I did spend quite a bit of time handquilting on Emily's quilt. And then I played with some aqua scraps thinking they might work in my design for Mouthy Stitches. I gathered together even the smallest bits (because Judith makes me keep them).

Here are some on the world's most vile ironing board cover!

I then spent an age piecing - which was rather quite fun. But I have no idea if my partner would be interested in something so scrappy. I'll  have to  post a photo on Flickr and see what she says, if anything.

At some point between smiling happily picking up my girls at school and returning home I seem to have lost some brain cells. It is taking all I have to piece together this blog post.

Suppose I am going to have to make dinner too! Not sure if I trust myself around a cooker right now.

Susan

At a Loss for Words

It  had to happen sooner or later. Me being speechless - a rare and unusual occasion. Now add in the fact that I have come up against a challenge that I don't think I am up to. I will give it my best go, but I am very afraid of letting down one of the wonderful Brit Bee ladies who has set this challenge. Letting Jenny down would be worse than my fear of this project.

Jenny is Miss February. She blogs over here. And this is what she is asking for her bee blocks for February -

Well not these blocks exactly.
But a self portrait block.
A fabric picture of me.

I think I'll consume the 'E' numbers she sent first.
And then make my block really psychedelic.

Meanwhile, I was doing things this morning and it occurred to me that it was going to be a very boring post today. Until the postman rang the doorbell. Things looked up after that. Because there were four parcels for me. The first one was the above bee block package. The second one had my awaited Zipit order.

Ten multi coloured 8" zips.
And ten blue 22" zips.

I have an idea for my Mouthy Stitches swap partner. But I am not sure if I am capable of doing it. I will try, and it will involve one of those 22" zips. If I fail then I will fall back to plan 'B' and one of those 8" zips will be used instead. When I have had a go I will show you what I want to do, whether it fails or not, but meanwhile I will leave you in suspense.

Number three parcel was some more bird fabric from a lovely reader of this blog by the name of Mary. She is quiet, but we have chatted a couple of times by email and she is always lovely. So these latest birds for the quilt have come to me from rural Wisconsin. Thank you so much, Mary!

I love those eyes on the owls.
And isn't the middle fabric gorgeous!

Last, but certainly not least was another HR delivery. This was one of my mini purchases for little money and lots of satisfaction. I finally decided I needed to have the little girl playing with her toy horses. And some orange flowers to go with it.

One more mini order to arrive.
I haven't ordered any HR in the last little while.
Honest, I haven't!

When I wasn't opening post I was cutting fabric. I have 44 fussy cut birds now ready for their sashing. I hope I have enough stash to find the right fabrics for each and every one of them. Because they all deserve an appropriate frame.

The other main thing I did today was go for lunch with a friend. We get together about once a term for lunch and a good old gossip. It was much needed for the goodness of my soul - chatting, laughing, bitching and generally catching up. That will keep me going until the arrival of my bestest Canadian buddy's arrival in 17 days - not that I am counting or anything!

Susan