Memories

And Christmas is Creeping Up!

Next up on my frame is the first of two 'memory' quilts made by Sandy for her dear friends' little girls across the pond. They feature fabrics selected from a big bundle of favourite clothes which Sandy has sorted through, laundered, pressed, cut and painstakingly pieced into quilt tops for these lucky little girls. Many of the fabrics were stretchy and had to be stabilised on to an iron-on backing. Now she has entrusted me with the quilting, I hope to do justice to all her hard work. So far I have stitched in the ditch around the blocks and will do some simple ruler work on the various feature fabrics. The on-point sashing and borders are wide enough for me to do some fancy freehand work, which I am looking forward to.




 

The Studio Quilters' Christmas scrap bag is nearly depleted as I have finished the little wall hanging I started last Saturday.  











Also, I put together a few little place mats with other odds and ends I found, for the NSPCC Christmas Fair at Allum Hall next month. They just need the binding finished off. 








My commissioned 'H' Block quilt is completely finished now and ready to be dispatched. 

35 hours work from start to finish.

I have at least 4 more quilt tops to finish for others and then I hope to find time to complete a project for myself, with some of the lovely fabrics in my stash.

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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Rockin' Robins!

And 12 Laughing Ladies!

You wouldn't think a group of grown up girls could have such a laugh making these cute little Christmas robins at our Studio Quilters' sewing Saturday. I thought there was going to be a 'Tena' moment at one point! It just goes to prove that if there is a wrong way of doing something, we can always find it. Some of them had their feet on back to front and at least one had his beak coming out of his bottom! I chose not to make one myself and sat back and enjoyed a good laugh at everyone else's expense! But they turned out adorable in the end and will be a real talking point at the NSPCC Christmas Fair at Allum Hall next month. As for me, I got stuck into the Christmas fabric scrap bag and set about piecing a wall hanging, which turned out to be a lot more fiddly than anticipated - still to finish!

Not that I have been idle at home this week. 

The binding on Christopher's Rainbow quilt is all hand finished. (Full pictures to follow after he has seen it). 

Also, I have quilted a beautiful 'busy' batik quilt (again with lovely Fantastico thread) for Pat at Connecting Threads, who is too modest to let anyone see it!









And since Monday night, I have planned the design, cut, pieced and quilted the 'H' block quilt I was commissioned to make, in these gorgeous Blue Sky fabrics by Edyta Sitar (new in my store) and have only to bind it. Not bad in under a week, if I do say so myself!

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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Raindrops keep falling on my head!

And a MAJOR restock!!!

Can't reveal too much of Christopher's Rainbow until I have shown it to him. But suffice to say it is a BIG quilt for a little boy! The quilting was more challenging than I expected. I was going for a raindrop effect and my first attempt wasn't good enough. So I unpicked it and started again. It went better but, when I got to the end of the first row, I checked the back only to find that the tension was off, with terrible eye-lashing and I just couldn't live with it. 

Two hours unpicking!!

I've decided not to use the Empress Mills Egyptian Cotton for quilting anymore. Whilst it looks nice and crisp and clean white, it doesn't have a soft enough texture to show off quilting to its best and it is really unforgiving when you have to unpick!!


This week I re-established my account with Makower Fabrics and made a trip down to their new warehouse in Maidenhead. 





I am never asking SIRI for directions again!! I don't know where he was trying to take me, but it certainly wasn't Maidenhead! 


I have the worst sense of direction, but even I knew he was wrong! However, I found where I needed to be and was treated royally by the lovely George.

 I came home with a boot full of fabric (literally, 225 metres!) including 7 bolts from Edyta Sitar's GORGEOUS Blue Sky collection.

 I just LOVE her blues!!! 

And following my sale of the Bonnie Hunter quilt - the buyer has commissioned me to make a different quilt for his son.

When I showed him these prints - he was happy for me to make it with them. 

So I will really enjoy that!

Today I have had fun with my friends at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally. I told Susan to make sure I didn't buy any more fabric as I didn't quite trust myself! But I was a good girl in the end. Just a couple of new rulers, a machine foot, some fancy hangers, a blade and some needles (and maybe a few frivolous little buttons when no one was looking).

I have a lot of work lined up. I need to finish the binding on the Rainbow quilt, four quilts to finish for other people and the commissioned quilt. I also need to get a cushion done for the NSPCC Sale in November.  

Better get cracking! 

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

Thank you for visiting my blog and for leaving your comments. Please share on Facebook, Pinterest and Google+ etc