A Little Self Discipline.

All I wanted to do after Gina's class on Saturday was make 'pretties' for a few days, but the weight of my unfinished projects meant that I had to dig deep and restrain myself. It would have been so easy to give in and ignore everything mounting up so I made a deal with myself, to finish the biggest outstanding piece which was obviously Isla's quilt before any more play could commence. Eight hours stitching, hand and machine, and the project is finished. I started this in August last year and when I first blogged about it I assumed it would be finished in about three weeks. I keep forgetting that I can no longer free-motion quilt for hours on end, the neck and shoulders protest too much.

 Typical to finish on a day when the wind is blowing a hooly outside, that's my husband's hands holding the bottom of the quilt still whist I take piccies. What would I do without him . 

This is not the best planned quilting in the world I literally just doodled the design as I went along. The applique I am pleased with, it's vibrant and contemporary just as I wanted, worth all the hours of blanket stitching round each piece.

Now if can find the energy I want to make some Gina Ferrari style cuffs!

Quilting at Last

Remember this!! Finally I'm facing it and attacking the quilting on Isla's bedcover. Not easy on a machine with such a narrow bed, but by doing it half an hour at a time is making the stress on my neck bearable. It really helps to have it set up semi permanently so I can dip in and out of stitching. The quilting will not bear up to close scrutiny but I'm not displeased with it.  I will wash the quilt when I have finished to slightly shrink the stitching to give that lovely ripple texture. As I have said many times before I am not a quilter, I don't have that meticulous nature to produce the kind of technical perfection that I admire so much, but it is made with love and I'm sure it will be enjoyed.
Lovely workroom day with my friend Paula, we have been investigating 'the square' via drawing, printing and filling sketchbooks. Today we moved onto fabrics. Total bliss laying up textiles and over printing to make a base into which we will each start stitching next week.

As you can see I'm going down the grid route, as I'm ever so slightly fixated on them at the moment.
I will have a break over Easter from crafting.The grandsons expectations of a treasure hunt to exceed last year's will take some thinking about. I had planned on them digging over the veg. patch to find their buried eggs but as it's under several inches of snow I think an indoor hunt will be on the cards this year!

Just finished.

 I'm really not a quilter  and this is not a quilt that would stand up to any close scrutiny, but I made it in less than four days and it's two of six that I'm making for a certain garden party at the end of July. As I have around 60 guests expected I thought they would make something to sit on for the younger elements. It's full of nips and tucks and eases and not every point is perfect but the overall effect  is very colourful  and fresh. Even better these quilts are being made from my dyeing and printing experiments and a huge bag of scraps. Anything that eats into my fabric stash  can only be a good thing.

You may have noticed my last post was an error - expect many of these.

Chaos Sunday

A day in the work room. Raining torrents outside ( thank goodness).

A 'cut and come again ' quilt on the table ready to baste ( Edwina McKinnon Tutorial).

I have made quite a few large quilts lately  even though I prefer to work on a smaller scale.

Heaps of ongoing work all round the workroom - Bliss!

Sample quilt 18"x 18"

Hand dyed fine poplin, free motion quilting, freeform quilting.