TIME TO ENJOY THE JOURNEY

Well it was back into the old grind for the happy longarm quilter gang today. My Sarah went back to college and hubby disappeared into his workshop while I was longarm quilting today. I worked on Marjorie’s quilt for several hours today. Marjorie was having second thoughts about the quilting design she chose over the weekend. After a little chat on the phone and comparing her second choice to the first we decided to stick with the first choice after all. I texted Marjorie with a work-in-progress photo to set her mind as ease. Here is what Marjorie’s quilt looks like …..

Marjorie chose the Independence Day quilting design by Patricia Ritter and a lovely fine mauve thread. All in all I think the results are stunning. I’m sure Marjorie will be delighted with the results.

After visiting a garden centre recently, I have decided that I fancy planting some potatoes this year. I had a little go many many years ago with quite good results. I don’t have a big garden so I will be planting my potatoes in a container on the patio. I have also purchased a few seed packets  which I will be planting in my kitchen garden which happens to be planters outside my kitchen door. I think its great fun to plant seeds and then watch them grow. Hopefully the seeds will produce some kind of crop that’s edible!

Yesterday I cut out a block using the old fashioned template method. And thru the afternoon and evening I sat quietly and hand sewed the patches together. There’s always a worry that when all is done it won’t be the right size. Well I’m very pleased to say that my block turned out exactly as it should.

I am hand piecing the 16 blocks in my Beginner’s Sampler Quilt which I am teaching at Stitchin’ Heaven. My sample of the Beginner’s Sampler Quilt was machine pieced because of time constraints. However in order to show my beginners that it can be done without too many problems, I feel it’s important to show willing. So eventually I will have a second quilt that I may have to hand quilt!

So far I have pieced 3 blocks which I am keeping in my Block Keeper Roll which by the way is also a class on March 7th …. So if you’re interested you can register your interest in taking the class by phoning 01665 570 833.

Well I think I kicked off the work week in a good way. I worked on Marjorie’s lovely quilt which has given me a great sense of accomplishment. My house alarm has had its’ annual service and works perfectly. The sun has been shining mostly all day which always spurs me on to get things done. Tomorrow I plan on working around quietly again. I will load the next quilt and do some planning. I have lots of bits and pieces I want to get done over the next few weeks and so I’m going to get started tomorrow. However I’m going to make sure I set a little time aside every day from now on to stop and smell the flowers. I saw a sign with the following quote on it when I was in the garden centre which I quite liked. So I stitched it out roughly on a scrap sandwich …..

Apparently the author of the quote is Ralph Waldo Emerson. So I think setting aside a few minutes every day to stop and smell the flowers and to appreciate what’s happening around us is a super idea. I plan on engaging the cruise control and enjoying the journey more often …..

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be reading a new book and perhaps doing a little appliqué work. I hope you have a lovely cosy evening working on something you thoroughly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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GETTING READY FOR BEGINNERS

I spent most of the day messing around. I did a little embellishing ……

I finished my own Block Keeper Roll this morning by adding some buttons, Yo-Yos and a label. I am storing my hand pieced Beginner’s Sampler Blocks in it. I’m tickled pink to have been able to make one for myself.

And I packed and unpacked several times. I’m always afraid to arrive at a class without everything I need to teach. Here’s a little look at a few things I will be taking with me tomorrow to teach my Beginner’s Sampler Quilt at Stitchin’ Heaven.

I’m very pleased to tell you that my Miss Daisy is sitting in my driveway this evening. We got a phone call late this afternoon saying that Miss Daisy was ready to be collected. So we headed off in dreadful weather to collect her. We drove thru driving rain, sleet and snow. Coming home I was alone in our big grown up car while hubby drove Miss Daisy. It was dark, very windy and raining like mad. I was so pleased to pull into our driveway! Well it’s over now.

So that’s my little report for today. As always I’ve had good day. I must admit I didn’t enjoy wandering out at rush hour to collect Miss Daisy but sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do. I spent a couple of quiet hours doing some appliqué work and watching some nail biting TV. And I guess that’s another week under my belt.

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

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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GENTLE GOALS STILL PROGRESSING NICELY

Hello my lovely friends. It’s Monday and if I wasn’t a wee bit weary I would be dancing a jig. It’s been a brilliant day in happy longarm quilter land. I got so much done. I spent loads of time in my sewing room just quietly finishing up one thing after another. I’ve loaded a really interesting quilt into my longarm quilting system. I’ll show you that quilt tomorrow when I start stitching. It’s a quilt I’ve never come across before.

My hubby stepped out this morning to collect a parcel from the post office. During one of my many trips to and from the sewing I caught my dogs looking out the window waiting for hubby’s return. I guess you’ve worked out who spoils the dogs the most…..

One of the few things I finished up today was the second version of my Block Keep Roll. I quite like it and as usual the photos don’t do the project justice….

For more details on where you can learn to make this project click of the Upcoming Events & Workshops page. I’m going to select a few fabrics from my stash which I will use to make another Block Keeper Roll just for my own blocks. My gentle goals 2014 are progressing nicely now.

After taking photos of my Block Keeper Rolls I moved onto the adding the final borders to my Freemotion Quilting Sampler …..

This is another project that I have absolutely thoroughly enjoyed working on. As most of you know, I love doing Freemotion Quilting. So this project was a dream come true. And today while I was adding the last of the borders I could appreciate how nice this simple project looks. I’m quite tempted to do it all over again just because I can!

Well the sun has set and it’s time to unwind after another productive day. I decided to hand piece another Beginner’s Sampler block this evening. I cut out the patches out this afternoon. I find hand sewing rather relaxing in the evening while watching the TV.  You don’t need a great deal of equipment to get on with it. Although good light is a must for me. Tomorrow I’m going to get start longarm quilting Muriel’s quilt but for this evening relaxing is at the top of my To-Do List.

So now that you know what I’ll be doing this evening I just need to say that I hope you have a splendid cosy evening working on something that makes you very happy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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COMFORT FOOD ON A COLD WINTER DAY

It’s been another super day in happy longarm quilter land. My Sarah and I stepped out this morning to have a crafty session at The Crafts House. All the old regular were in today. I think everybody had the same idea……. Let’s get out and make hay while the weather is reasonably good. The sun was shining brightly the wind was still blowing a gale though. During my session I caught up with all my lovely friends. I have to admit that I did more chatting than I did crafting. I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what to make or work on. However I did play with an ink pad and a bit of paint…..

I was trying out some ideas. And now I have a much better idea which direction to take this particular project after using my creative friend Sandra as a sounding board. She always has the best ideas.

Have you noticed the yummy oatmeal raisin cookies in the photo above? They were baked by my lovely assistant Sarah using a recipe that I’ve used for 25 years. My Sarah and hubby have always loved these cookies. So if you want to try a very simple recipe for these most yummy cookies click here. These oatmeal cookies are the perfect comfort food for a cold winter day.

Now you’re probably thinking that I had a lovely day between my crafty session and eating some yummy oatmeal raisin cookies. Well it gets better….. I even had time to squeeze in a brilliant little sewing session in my sewing room while working on a second sample of my Block Keeper Roll……

I really enjoyed making this second sample. My measurements worked beautifully and easily. Now I’m thinking about making a third one for me to keep the beginner’s sampler blocks that I will be piecing with my students over several months to come. If you fancy some of the fabrics you see in my Block Keep Roll they were purchased at Stitchin’ Heaven and I must remind you that their surprise sale starts on Tuesday February 4 thru until Saturday February 8. The sale is 20% off everything including wadding!!!!! Perfect time to get your fabric for any upcoming classes you’ve signed up for.

So I guess that’s my weekend. I’m going to spend this coming week catching up on things that need finishing up. I have a few quilt tops that need a bit of longarm quilting over the next few weeks. I hope to be able to set a few hours aside now and again during the month of February to have a little time to work on my own sewing projects. I have a wedding present to get started …. Who knows when I’ll get that done … Perhaps I’ll even have time to breathe.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be hand finishing a bit of binding on this afternoon’s projects. Hand finishing the binding is my favourite part of any project. It’s a sign that you’re nearing the end. What a great feeling….. I hope you have a splendid cosy evening working on something terrific. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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OLD MOTHER HUBBARD’S CUPBOARD IS FULL

Well it’s been another fantastic day in happy longarm quilter land. I spent part of the morning food shopping and running errands. And once the food filled my fridge and cupboards and lunch was over I went into my sewing room to play. Playing in the sewing room is always the highlight of my day. My friend Helen has a super example of a very simple block keeper roll which I think would be very useful for anyone who has a Block of the Month or a Beginner’s Sampler quilt on the go. The idea is to keep your blocks nice and tidy while still being portable. At the moment my current block keeper is full of blocks for “A” is for Applique and the Beginner’s Sampler quilt blocks I have been working on are on my design wall so I think I could use another block keeper in a different format.. So the long and short of it is that I borrowed Helen’s block keeper roll to make a similar one for myself. Helen has made a few suggestions that would make the keeper roll even more friendly. I don’t have a pattern so mine will be a little different but just as useful. Here are the fabrics I am using ……

I’ve had this Washday selection of fat quarters for several months. And I really like this fabric because it has a vintage look about it. So I was brave today and cut into three of the four fat quarters. And so far this is as far as I got. My next step is to do a bit of machine quilting.

As usual I really enjoyed my sewing session this afternoon. And as I will be out teaching tomorrow I will not be returning to this task until Friday so hopefully I will have another finish sometime over the weekend. Once my block keeper roll has been proven to work for its’ intended purpose I will make another tweaking it by adding embellishments and so on. I love playing in my sewing room quietly especially now that I’ve been working on gentle goals 2014 projects.

It’s been another super day in happy longarm quilter land. Once again I feel I’ve had a pretty productive day. Between having a lovely sewing session in my sewing room, visiting the supermarket to top up low levels in Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard and even finding time to make a pot of soup, I think I’ve scored quite nicely. I know I won’t be anywhere near as productive tomorrow as I have been over the last few days but Friday is another day.

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

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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