Pocket full of Posies

Match Point

It's good to be sewing and blogging again and I have so much to catch up with!

This is the Christmas tree mat my daughter Elise asked me for. I couldn't reveal it until now as she has only just seen it. She wanted a mat, rather than a skirt, but left the design up to me. So it is my fault that it was so tricky! 

I needed to buy the cream and gold fabric, which I got at the Knitting and Stitching show the other week. 

I spent the night before the show wide awake mentally designing it. I love working with diamond shapes and matching up all the angles  - it's really challenging. My new pink cutting mat came into its own, as it is so hard to cut dark green on my other mat. (So that justified that purchase!)

And this little seam roller (free with Today's Quilter magazine) is my new best friend. So useful for pressing as you go, it really helped with matching the points. Viv and I spotted the Clover equivalent at Duxford for the outrageous price of £16!
I did minimal quilting on this one, so there was no need to go up in the loft. 

Stitch in the ditch is actually harder on the long arm machine and the pointy shape wouldn't have been easy to lay out on the frame. So I pin basted it the old fashioned way - I forgot what a chore that is- but it wasn't very large. 

The quilt measured about 50 inches point to point, so I inserted a strip to widen the backing. Then, to make sure I had it centred accurately, I loosely sewed a small bead to the middle of the backing so I could feel it when I had the wadding and top all laid out. 

Then there was the binding around three different shaped points (32 in all). I had to study a few videos on YouTube to learn how to mitre the inverted angles and I think I've got the hang of it now. Two days work, including all the hand stitching.
It was worth the effort as she was really pleased with it and can't wait to put her tree up now!




Now she is visiting for a week and we have had a lovely time sitting and hand stitching together, (like we had planned to after my op!)
I found a lovely book of stitches for her at Ally Pally, with really clear diagrams. I'm a novice at embroidery myself, but we did quite well I think. Mine are the roses of course!

I've dabbled with a few other projects since I've been home. There was the 'denim challenge', due for the Connecting Threads November party. 

That one is under wraps for now, but here is a little teaser. Can you guess what it is yet? 

Before that, I thought a bit of hand stitching was in order and I started on this block for my Laura Ashley project (again from Today's Quilter). It would have helped if I'd read the instructions properly, as I assumed it was English paper piecing. Half way through basting the pieces on to paper templates I wondered how the curved pieces would fit together. Then I looked at the photos and realised it should just have been hand pieced with a quarter inch seam, and I had cut it all wrong. So I went to the machine and 'fudged it'! A bit wonky, but I will be able to quilt it out (I think). 





My latest creation came about as a consequence of the Christmas tree project. I found that I was losing my seam ripper and other small tools all the time, with so many pieces on my work surface. (I'm really untidy when I'm engrossed in something!) So I decided to make this pocket/ arm caddy for my bar stool. It will also help to protect the arm covering which I keep catching on the table when I swivel. A visit to the Duxford show (and the self indulgent purchase of some '3 Sisters fabrics') inspired me to use some of my pretty fabrics for the flowers. 

But, true to form, I couldn't bring myself to cut it up. Instead, I dug out some little scraps of fabric, with fusible web already attached, which I had salvaged from Claire and Tom's wedding quilt from 4 years ago. Well I used a few bits up and it kept me up for more than the extra hour we got when the clocks went back.







Now I am feeling nearer full strength again, I have even been up in the loft to finish off a quilt for the NSPCC Christmas Fair on 17th of this month at Allum Hall in Borehamwood. 

Come along if you can!

Happy Quilting Everyone!

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