ON A SUPER SUNNY JANUARY MONDAY

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all enjoyed the first week of 2018. So far, this year has been pretty good for me. I wonder what the rest of the year has in store for me and mine.

I was watching a wee robin searching for food this morning. The sun has been shining brightly but the wind is pegging the temperature rather low today. That wee robin won’t give up until he finds enough food to give him strength to carry on. I would like to be like that wee robin, never giving up on his goals and dreams.

I spent most of the day doing five-minute jobs. Who am I kidding; there’s no such thing as a five-minute job! The job itself might take five minutes but the prep work and clean up after always equates to more than five minutes. I stuck to my guns and accomplished loads of bits and pieces. My kitchen is almost back to normal now. The holidays seem to turn my little kitchen into something resembling a food warehouse somehow. How does that happen???? Having said that, I found one true five-minute job this morning. Although I have plenty of UFOs I should be working on, I decided to pull a bit of fabric to work on a simple quilt I designed last year. Here’s a sneaky peek at the fabrics I chose …..

I hope to start cutting the fabrics and doing some actual sewing next week. I’m very close to finishing my Patchwork of the Crosses, only seven more blocks to piece and a plain border to add. Then comes the fun of quilting it.

I felt I needed a change from sewing this past weekend. So, I decided to finish knitting a pair of socks that I started a couple of months ago. That went so well that I decided to knit a pair of slob around socks …..

Does anyone else have slob around socks? I forgot how much I enjoy knitting up simple pieces. Simple pleasures make my heart happy.

Last week I cleaned my sewing machine and threaded it with the appropriate colour thread and set off making little pelmet curtains for my sewing room window …..

 

I bought the fabric in a sale a couple of months ago. I really like the fabric, so it was a pleasure working with it. Here’s a little peek at the pelmet curtains hanging but before I got a chance to spread them out evenly. The fabric tones in well with the new mint green paint on the walls and also absorbs some of the noise. I’m really pleased with the finished results.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping to make a list of goals for the coming year. I’m not sure why but I can’t seem to make up my mind what my goals are this year. So many things need to be sorted out and I can’t decide where to start. Well I guess I should pick one thing, just one thing, and hopefully things will grow from there.

I wanted to show you one of my Christmas presents. I received this lovely book, A Glorious Freedom by Lisa Congdon. It’s quite an inspiring book that shows how older women, like me, go on to live good creative and productive lives; extraordinary lives even. Anything is possible if you work hard and stay true to yourself.

Well, it’s been a pretty good day in my little world. I got a whole lot of little jobs done making the house look and feel better. I’m already dreaming of starting a new project next week. I may even get started sooner than next week. I have a meal simmering in my slow cooker. And the sun is shining. What more can one already happy quilt maker ask for.

So, for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be doing some EPP work in order to push forward on the Patchwork of the Crosses quilt project. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something that brings you joy. I’ll always choose joy over anything else. Until you read me again,

Happy joyful stitching ♥ ♥

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ALWAYS LOOKING FOR JOY

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super day. Can you feel autumn setting in. While walking my Maisie girl dog this morning I could feel it in the air. The temperature on the thermometer showed 13C which is not cold at all but the autumn breeze was making it feel cool. And the best part was that I found a little pile of leaves that I could crunch thru! Have you noticed that the supermarkets have pumpkins now? I love pumpkin season.

In a recent email, someone said that they missed my chatty posts. Well I am sorry if I have been a little hit and miss when it comes to posting lately. Most of you will know that there are things brewing in the background of my life that need my attention. So I am concentrating my efforts dealing with family problems but rest assured that there is plenty of other interesting stuff brewing in the background. Once again I have been given the opportunity to re-invent myself. I have received proposals from different organisations which has given me ideas on what I might like to do next. I will of course carry on with my volunteer work. And I hope to go a little further helping ladies who suffer from domestic, violent and emotional abuse. Due to my recent circumstances I see life thru different eyes and helping others come thru difficult times is close to my heart. You can all rest assured that I will still be the happiest Lucie the Happy Quilter there ever was simply because that is my nature.

I would love to report that I have been doing loads of sewing. Well I have regularly hand sewn stuff which doesn’t grow very quickly. It’s funny how things change ….. five years ago I did not enjoy hand sewing because it took too long to see any progress. Machine quilting was my favourite but I have been concentrating on hand quilting and piecing of late. It’s a lovely quiet and soothing process that I have discovered brings me comfort in difficult moments. It focuses my mind and gives me the opportunity to come up with solutions to current problems. And while I sit hand sewing, inspirational ideas pop into my head. I try to always have a notebook close to hand to record such ideas, otherwise I will forget them. Who knows I could possibly come up with the next trend!

It seems my post today has become somewhat chatty without even showing you any progress. Well I thought I would do things a little different this time, instead of showing you progress I will show you a couple of projects I would like to progress on. The first is my knitted pullover which I started in the last couple of weeks. It’s time to add some colour pattern in the yoke area …..

As there will be a lot of counting and colour changes I need to be able to concentrate so I have decided that Sunday afternoon will be perfect time for that task.

The next project I would like to move forward on is my Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses. I pressed some fabrics this afternoon in readiness for tracing and cutting more elongated hexagon shapes …..

This is one project that I enjoy working on. Every stage is soothing, right from choosing fabric, cutting shapes and sewing them over the papers right thru to pressing the fully assembled block. English Paper Piecing is the best.

The last project that I wish to work on over the next few weeks comes from this book. I haven’t chosen fabric but I do have one or two of the supplies listed on the requirements list. Quilt Country is a relatively new magazine which is packed full of quirky projects that are my kind of style. The magazine is published quarterly and it’s in French. I can’t wait to show you what I’m going to make. Hee hee hee

So those are the projects that I plan on concentrating on during the month of October. As well as those there’s always plenty of other things running in the background. My garden is very windswept at the moment but I stepped out for an hour to do a little pruning and bagging while the sun was shining. Sweeping was almost impossible but I did manage to pick up as many clippings as I could. What I didn’t collect will be blown into someone else’s garden. Ha ha ha

I have read in a couple different places that we’re supposed to have a hard winter. I have noticed that the tree across the road from me is laden with berries which is supposed to be a sign of a hard winter. I’m sure I heard this same rumour about having a hard winter this time last year and it didn’t happen. So we will just have to wait and see how the winter unfurls.

A couple of weeks ago I was feeling sorry for myself because I suddenly realised that I was a single parent now. Well it turns out that being a single parent is a lot more interesting than I expected. A gentleman came to my door this morning to deliver these beautiful blooms …..

I suddenly realised that in the last six months I have received more lovely blooms than I did in the 2+ decades that I have lived in the UK!!! I must have been a good person in my younger years to be receiving lovely flowers like these. I am grateful for all that I have and I choose to concentrate of finding joy in all good things.

It’s been a pretty good in my little world. I spent a little time in my sewing pressing fabric ready for cutting up. I worked out what we should have for our evening meal. Yum yum. I tidied up my garden which looks a hundred times better now. And basically my day went without a hitch which is rather unusual.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be cutting elongated hexagon shapes from carefully selected fabric. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing what you love best. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

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LET’S HAVE A GIVEAWAY

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fabulous day. I’ve had a great day clearing my To-Do List. I managed to do each and every task on my To-Do List and a few others!!! The best part of my day was stepping out this morning in the snow. I love snow. You may or may not know that I was born and bred in Montreal which is in the eastern Canada where during my childhood we always had great fun in the winter snow. So going out today while it was snowing and the ground was lightly dusted with snow was a real treat. It spurred me on to get things done. By lunchtime the snow was all melted due to the bright sunshine.

 

The wonderful folks at Be Creative with Workbox magazine has sent me a couple of complimentary copies of the current issue. Most of you will have read that I appear is this current issue as the Creative Blogger of the month. So let’s have a little giveaway. It’s easy to enter the draw, just leave a simple little comment with your name and where you come from in the world. I am willing to post anywhere in the world. I hope to add a little something extra to the magazines. Two names will be drawn next Monday February 22nd. It’s easy peasy to enter the giveaway. So come on have a go.

So it’s been a really good day in happy longarm quilter land. I worked at my own speed and enjoyed every minute. Especially the minutes when it was snowing! I started looking for my stash of crochet hooks yesterday which I finally found this morning. I’ve got a craving to do a little crocheting in the evening. I started making crocheted granny squares a few years back and I think it might be time to start joining them. So finding the crochet hooks was essential to the job.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing either a wee bit of hexagon work or joining crocheted granny squares. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

 

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LEARNING A FEW TRICKS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a great start to the new week. Of late Mondays have all been quite different for me. Only because I’m dithering. I’m still finding it hard to work out a schedule so I have basically been doing whatever whenever I feel like it. I’m not sure that it’s the most constructive use of my time though. Never mind things will fall into place soon I’m sure.

So what did I do today apart from a few household chores? Well ….. I sat quietly and watched some of the Craftsy classes that I purchased last year!!! I have been longing to learn something new. And a Craftsy class suits me right down to the ground. You can start and stop the video whenever you wish and you can watch it over and over again. Today I watched Amy Johnson’s Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine. I finished watching Lori Kennedy’s Divide and Conquer, Creative Quilting for any Space …..

And I also watched a couple of lessons from Angela Walters’ Machine Quilting Borders & Backgrounds. Along with my favourite fur baby companion …..

I sat quietly for several hours watching, making a shopping list of useful equipment and doodling quilting designs. Here’s a few doodles from Lori’s class …..

Sitting quietly for such a long time is unheard of in this house. I’m always up to something. Well today I didn’t do any sewing be it by hand or machine. Well that’s not a bad thing, a change of pace and sometimes scenery makes life more enjoyable. And sometimes when the postman pops a couple of crafty magazines thru door it makes life a whole lot more interesting too. Here’s a couple of magazines that arrived this morning …..

So now I have some new material to take inspiration from. So watch this space.

It’s been a lovely quiet day in my little world. I learned a few tricks and some new quilting designs. I managed to spend the day out of harm’s way and without disturbing anyone. That’s what comes of sitting quietly. I even saw a little bit of sunshine. We’re waiting for a storm in the form of wind and rain to hit the UK sometime in the next 12 hours or so. So we had better all batten down the hatches and hope it misses us.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be working on hexagons. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something that makes you happy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

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MAKING PROGRESS WHILE ENJOYING THE PROCESS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a great productive day. I seem to be settling back into a normal (whatever normal is) routine. I did equal measures of household chores and crafty tasks. All in all, I had a really great day. I feel quite satisfied with today’s efforts.

I did a wee bit of cooking; I look forward to eating a tasty casserole for my evening meal. I changed and washed two sets of bedding. I look forward to climbing into my freshly changed bed tonight. I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight. I shifted some books upstairs and also shifted some quilts up to the loft. Apart from walking my Maisie dog I did not set foot across the threshold. It’s been cold and wet pretty much all day so I didn’t miss out on anything by not going out.

I spent most of the afternoon doing prep work on Katja’s Blocks on the Go for Quilts on the Grow. I rotary cut a few more backing/sashing hexagons and added wadding …..

I traced shapes on fabric and cut them out ready to piece three more blocks …..

And I printed out blocks 6 – 10 …..

And last evening I appliquéd block 1 & 2 to the backing/sashing fabric. All these blocks need is a bit of quilting …..

Working on this Quilt Along has taught me something; if you approach any new project in bite size chunks you will succeed. I have approached this new project step by step and enjoyed every moment of it. Even the prep work, from printing and cutting paper shapes right thru to appliquéing the block to the backing/sashing fabric has been interesting. And once you have worked out a method it becomes even more interesting because you can see your project growing. Is anyone else participating in some kind of a Quilt Along? It can be quite satisfying working on a project that someone else has designed. I don’t do it often enough.

Last week I worked on a Kantha style project. And as I thoroughly enjoyed it, I decided I needed to get a book. Well I ordered a little booklet from Angela Daymond.

This little book is worth the pennies I spent. It has a little history, a list of useful equipment, stitching techniques, Kantha Stitches library and patterns for different designs. I’m very pleased with my purchase. And I look forward to doing another Kantha style project soon.

Last week, the first week after the festive season, I found it very difficult to get back into the groove. This week things seem to be falling into place again. My mojo is returning slowly but surely. Next week I may even settle down to do some designing. I have one or two ideas that I would like to turn into a real project. Everything takes time. And it’s so nice to be able to take time to enjoy what I’m doing.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing some hexie work. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you really enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

 

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QUILT ALONG ANYONE?

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fabulous day. Do you realise that today is January 7th? And that means we all made it thru the first week of 2016. I would like to say that all kinds of exciting things have happened in this first week but to be quite honest it’s been quiet and relaxed in my little world.

This morning I decided to face the weather in order to step out to run a couple of errands. No sooner did I hit the mean streets I was made to turn around to head back into the direction I came from because the road was closed due to a nasty accident. All the emergency services were in attendance so it must have been pretty bad. I eventually made it across town and did what I had intended to do unscathed.

Upon my return home, I decided to do a few boring household chores which then gave me permission to play. So I started adding a few more guidelines to my Kantha style quilting project. My original plan was to leave my ovals empty but I found that they bubbled too much. So I added a couple more ovals inside the shapes. Once those ovals are done I will have finished my first Kantha style project. I will be doing more of this type of work because I must admit that I did enjoy it. I quite like the look. It’s not perfect but that’s what gives it character. I like character.

 

Over the past week or so I have been trying to decide whether or not to join a quilt along. I’m really trying to stick to finishing off UFOs but I think in order to make this very happy longarm quilter a more creative quilter/quilt maker, I need to work on different things to stir the creative juices. So after reading the rules and instructions of Katja’s Blocks on the Go, for Quilts on the Grow I decided yes, let’s go for it. Why not join in and meet the challenge of making one block a week. This challenge is quite good because there will be no quilt top to quilt when all the blocks are done because it’s a quilt as you go type of project. This project is based on Katja Marek’s book called The New Hexagon.

This project uses the EPP method so I got myself started off by prepping the papers for the first few blocks …..

Now I have to move onto the most difficult part of the project; choosing the fabric. And goodness knows I have plenty to choose from. So watch this space for progress reports now and again.

It’s been another dark and dreary day in my little corner of the northeast of England. Once again, I stopped myself from moping around by keeping busy doing this and that. My prep work kept me busy and my little dog kept me company. Maisie follows me from room to room supervising, when she chooses to open her eyes that is!!!

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing a wee bit of Kantha style quilting. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something that entertains you. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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KEEPING BUSY ON A DARK DAY

Hello my lovelies. Have you all had a good productive day??? While the skies have been dark and dreary I have been keeping busy indoors. I decided to get my longarm loaded with a quilt …..

I had loads of quilt tops to choose from but my Clamshells top won this time. I started by choosing some fabric from my stash for the backing. The fabric needed to be joined because my quilt top is wider and longer than 44”. After joining the fabric, I was ready to start loading the quilt into my longarm frame. I auditioned a few different colours of thread and decided on one that matches the spotty border. And I think I’m going to stitch the Baptist Fan quilting design on this quilt. Although I may change my mind before I click go.

Once my Clamshell quilt was loaded I decided that I should probably load a charity quilt into my Jackie the Juki longarm system up in the loft. So I reached into the charity quilt top bag and pulled this one out …..

It will be a perfect quilt for a boy because there isn’t one flower amongst those blue fabric prints. I’ll give it an all over freemotion design that isn’t frilly to keep with the blue is for boys theme. I didn’t even have to worry about thread colour because the perfect shade of blue was already threaded on the machine! I must state that I did not piece this top myself, I’m only doing the quilting. Sometime over the next few days I will work on both these quilt tops. I look forward to seeing how they will look once quilted.

Last evening was spent doing some more on my Kantha style quilting project. Here’s a little peek at the progress I made last evening …..

I have ordered a book on Kantha Quilting just to compare what I have done and what I could be doing that might make it more interesting. Also the book contains a short history about the technique. So I look forward to receiving it sometime in the next few days.

In order to work on my Kantha style project I have set aside my hexagon work. I’m on the last and final border now. I still have over five hundred hexagons to add to this quilt but I am getting there. And I’m determined that 2016 is the year that I will finish this lovely quilt. I’m sure I started this project at least five years ago. Better late than never.

BTW – you might think that my hexagons are different colours, well they’re not. It’s just the card templates that are different colours making the fabric look higgledy piggledy colours. I cut my own templates using a Sizzix machine and cardstock from my stash.

It’s been a pretty good day in my little world. I played in my sewing room and in the loft. I got plenty of exercise going up and down the stairs getting from the main floor right up to the top of the house. I even spent some time internet shopping for piecing thread which I have wanted to do for a couple of weeks now. I can finally cross that bit of shopping off my list.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing some more Kantha style quilting while watching a brand new episode of Midsomer Murders. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

 

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GENTLE GOALS 2016

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fab day. It’s been a good productive day my little world. I spent loads of time in my sewing room. First I worked on this lovely cheerful and funky quilt. It’s perfect for what it is intended for. This quilt was pieced by a group of ladies who hang out at  High Street Quilting  for Quilts for Comfort. The end result is a young boy’s quilt. I love the bright cheerful colours of the fabric. This morning I decided that the quilting design should provide texture. Any other design would be lost on this already busy quilt. I chose a nice fine steel grey thread and a quilting design called Simple Texture by Celine Spader. I think this quilt worked out quite nicely. It’s amazing what happens when a bunch of people work together.

After finishing the longarm quilting I went on to do a few other tasks. At the top of my To-Do List was to tidy my sewing room. Well I started at one end and then moved to another corner and everywhere I looked I found fabric! And while I was gathering fabric and making piles I decided that I have a serious addiction. Somehow I seem to have amassed more fabric than one small country should be allowed to have! I didn’t realise I had so much. I must have imagined that there would be a worldwide shortage of patchwork fabric. So I acted upon that thought as often as I could. So I gave up on the sorting and tidying until I can work out how to store my fabric while still being able to see what I’ve got when it’s time to start a new project.

I have been searching for new challenges for 2016. As well as finishing up a few UFOs, I plan on working on projects that include techniques that are outside my comfort zone. So I ordered this book …..

It’s got some lovely quilts in it. In fact, this is the second book I have ordered by Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson. All the quilts in both books are based on curved piecing. You will need a Quick Curve Ruler (QCR), which I have already purchased but not used, to piece the beautiful quilts in the One Wonderful Curve book. The instructions are clear and the photography is brilliant because you can actually see how the quilts have been machine quilted. So that makes it doubly interesting for me. So I have added curved piecing to my Gentle Goals 2016. Probably the most difficult part of this project will be choosing the fabric!

So it’s been an interesting day. Apart from walking the dog I didn’t set foot outside the house. Tomorrow I have an appointment in the morning and a trip to the train station to collect my Sarah as she breaks up for the festive season today. Roll on Christmas! Only 14 sleeps to go.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing some appliqué prep work. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing some that makes you happy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

 

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MY BEEPING ADVENTURE

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super productive day. I spent quite a lot of time in my sewing room working on Ann’s quilt. This is what her lovely quilt looks like now …..

I stitched out a quilting design called Easy Street by Lisa Calle with a quiet beige thread. It looks really good. Once the stitching was over I loaded another of Ann’s quilts. This is one is simple Irish Chain pieced using subtle cream and blue fabrics. I will be using a quiet cream thread and a quilting design of my choice. Hopefully I will be able to show you some progress on Ann’s quilt tomorrow.

When all the sewing room tasks were finished I put the kettle on and pondered what to do next. In my quest to use my free time wisely I decided to sit down to do some drawing. I have a new project which I call A Sweethearts Dozen which I have been designing for a bit. I have already chosen the fabric and it’s sitting in a bin calling my name but I feel I should design a few more blocks before I start the piecing. Sitting quietly helped me recharge my battery in readiness for a big busy day tomorrow.

Between finishing in my sewing room and sitting down to draw and as I chatted in the kitchen with my Sarah while I waited for the kettle to boil we both heard beeping. We both looked at each other and shrugged because we didn’t know where the beeping was coming from! Have you noticed that wherever you are there always something beeping? Anything that runs on a microchip makes some kind of noise. It seems that every appliance in my house beeps. And quite often I ignore the noise just because I don’t know what’s beeping. There will come a day when ignoring the beeping will get me into trouble!

I received a new book on Tuesday. If you like wool appliqué this a really nice book. There are plenty of tips and suggested tools. The patterns are well explained. And I like the fact that they use a mix of wool, cotton and linen fabrics. I’m a great fan of Piece O’ Cake designs so this book was a great find.

It’s been a really good day in my little world. I’m pleased with my accomplishments. I hope to do as well tomorrow although I will have workmen coming and going fitting my new bathroom flooring. I’ll be really glad when the flooring has been added and then it will up to me to make curtains and add the finishing decorative touches.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing some appliqué work. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you really enjoy. Oh and by the way the beeping was my dishwasher. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

 

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STARTING THE NEW WEEK

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super day. Today was the first day of our working week here in England; only because yesterday was a bank holiday. It seems funny starting the week on a Tuesday. And the fact that the kids are on half-term break from school feels even stranger. I popped out to run an errand first thing this morning and there was absolutely nobody on the roads! What an eerie feeling.

I treated yesterday as a working weekday by longarm quilting. So today I pretended that it was the bank holiday. Apart from whizzing the vacuum cleaner around and putting one load of washing on I sat quietly working on my new project and chatting with Sarah. We’ve spent loads of time discussing plans to fill up the summer and making a plan of action for settling Sarah into her University accommodation in September. One of the things we’re planning for the summertime is a visit to The Festival of Quilts in August. Is anyone else planning on attending the festival this year? The good folks that organise the show have offered me a few pairs of complimentary tickets so I can run a giveaway. Keep reading me and you can enter the giveaway starting June 10th and you might be the lucky winner of a pair of tickets. June 10th just happens to be my five year blog anniversary. I can’t believe I have been rambling on for five years.

I had a little visit with my creative friend, Sandra, last week. We don’t often get together these days. It’s such a fast life and everyone is so busy that I don’t often get the chance to attend social outings very often. Sandra surprised me with a lovely gift. Have a look at the Friendship Flower Sandra created …..

I’m tickled pink with my gift and like our friendship it will last much longer than fresh flowers.

It’s quite a long time since I last posted about an interesting book. I buy new books regularly but I haven’t posted about them lately. This new book, published by Quiltmania is called Focus on Appliqué by Irene Blanck. It’s full of beautiful appliqué work. And you all know how much I love appliqué. This book is proper eye candy for me. And of course loaded with inspiration. So if you love appliqué work as much as I do you’ll also love this book.

It’s been a lovely day in happy longarm quilter land. There wasn’t any longarm quilting going on but I more than made up for that yesterday. I got to sit quietly with my Sarah while we both did some enjoyable hand stitching. It’s so nice to see my Sarah take an interest in sewing. I never thought I’d see my daughter enjoying all things sewing. She’s even using my second longarm quilting system in the loft; and doing a great job of it too!

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing some appliqué work. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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