Wednesday 27 July 2011

Now it is really Wednesday....

I was in a lot of pain on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday so you'll just have to forgive me getting the days muddled. Today is a bit better and I'm  compos mentis.

Today I got a lot more done, two flowers. When I started this quilt of Esther's she sucked us in with quite a simple block. I was at a stage when I couldn't think of what I wanted to do and it seemed a good idea at the time! If I had known how challenging and time consuming it was going to be I probably would not have started. It is a super quilt, if you click on the link to Esther and scroll down you will see it finished in her colour choices. As a rule, I don't make other people's designs. If I'm going to break this rule this has been a good quilt to do it on.
I wondered how I was going to the anthers of the flowers, and today I decided to machine them. Here's how I did it, much much quicker than hand stitching and I like the effect and the 3d thickness of them. I used a polyester embroidery thread.
I put the area into a small embroidery hoop with a layer of very fine interfacing underneath. I placed the needle half way along the line and bought the bottom thread to the top.
I stitched away from the start (I have the feed dogs down and am freemotioning) just far enough away from the start so I can cut the ends off. I then just stitched up and down the line not quilt in the same place until it looked thick enough.
To do the next one I just jumped across (again in the middle of the line so the ends will be hidden)
When finished I just turned it over and cut away the interfacing quite close. I don't want it affecting the natural give of the fabric whilst quilting.
I love how this is turning out. I will probably change the vase into something which goes more with the 30s fabrics, something a little less art deco.
And having done the anthers on the flowers of course I realised I could use the same method for the tendrils on the previous blocks.


Tuesday 26 July 2011

Work in Progress Wednesday.

Not quick by any measure, this one flower has taken most of today with  breaks to make a couple of cups of tea, and accpet and put away the supermarket delivery....
There are three flowers on this block and four repeats of the block. It might take more time than I thought....

Sunday 24 July 2011

Not sewing but painting (and not pictures)

The conservatory is coming together.The floor cannot be install for another month or so until the screed has totally dried and there is no chance of any damp.
Some time ago when one of the chains of leather furniture shops went into liquidation I bought four coffee tables to paint up.
Before painting but after sanding.
Midway through with two coats of primer undercoat,
And after two coats of paint,
Meanwhile, Steph undercoated the front door, I loved the colour and the mat finish of the primer....

But now it's black,
It just needs another coat.

Wednesday 20 July 2011

WOW Heart's Desire

WOW = Work in progress on Wednesday
Esther has come up with this idea, we all should post what we are doing on Wednesdays. Well today saw the finish of my root canal work so that took up a goodly part of the day. I started doing my first block 4 in Esther's BOM on Monday. Life has got in the way and I haven't much to show. But a start is a start....
There will be four blocks the same as this one. Take a look at hers, she has finished and it is super!

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Back to Quilting

I apologise for being such a bad blogger recently. I shall endeavour to try harder. In my own defence it's partially due to having had a very bad tooth abscess which seemed to take over my entire brain, body and soul. After two visits to the dentist and more to come,  I am back in the land of the living.

I got the baby quilts finished.


I've finished Month 2 and 3 of Ester Aliu's BOM,
Block 2 The feet in her design were beyond my appliqué skills, so mine got prosthetic legs and I added a tail. I haven't embroidered the 'twirly' bits on either block, as I like my quilts to be rock solid in the washing machine. I might do them in satin stitch though I'm not fond of that on quilts..... decision to be made later.
Block 3 (these took so much more work than Block 1 led us to believe.

Today's post arrived with exiting things. Who would have thought I could be so desirous of some else's offcuts. But these offcuts are Patsy Thompson's, and they are very special.
She's used the positive of these feathers, so I get to play with the negatives. Obviously I cannot place the in the same sort of way (or can I?). As soon as I wrote that I realised nothing is impossible, I could cut close to the outside edge..... But I won't, I just want to play.
We've had a green visitor to the front garden yesterday, I assume it's a green finch but I know nothing of such things.
 I am quite pleased with the quality of these photos given they were taken through the kitchen window.
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I'm always on the lookout for new quilting designs, and I saw this commercial quilt in TK Max.
Such a simple idea and so effective. This has obviously been done on a computer driven machine as the pattern repeat shows but as a freemotion design it would be fantastic.


For absolutely years I've been planning to take a photo of this, The Lion and the Lamb in Lion and Lamb Way in Farnham. So I've taken this just with my phone though sadly it's now coated with a very ugly polyurethane varnish. They had a choice of leaving it be and let it go grey naturally, or oiling it every so often, but they went for the ugly solution... why? Kids climb over it and love it and that's exactly how it should be.