Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all enjoying the run up to the new year. There’s only twenty days left in 2017. Before we hit the new year, I will be celebrating Christmas. I haven’t put any Christmas decks up yet but I have been thinking about it though. I just can’t seem to muster up the energy yet. I am looking forward to the quiet break.
Winter has hit my little corner of the northeast of England. We don’t usually get much snow where I live. And in the twenty-four years I have lived here I can only remember having a white Christmas three times at most. Yesterday, we got a nice dusting of snow. My Sarah and I stood in the front window watching big fluffy flakes falling gently on the ground. It was cold enough that it didn’t melt immediately. We woke to enough snow on the ground which meant that the roads could be treacherous in places, not to mention the black ice in strategic places such as intersections. I stayed home today but Sarah had to make her way to university forty miles away.
Now that winter is finally here I plan on spending more time in my sewing room. So, today I decided to have a little play. I should really have been tidying up but I really wanted to flash up my sewing machine to make something. So, I pressed some fat quarters, layered them up and did some simple quilting …..
I cut the little quilt up and sewed it back together in a different order …..
And turned said quilt into bucket bags …..
It was a pleasure using up some of the fat quarters I purchased a couple of years ago. These prototypes turned out pretty good. Now that I have a better idea of what I’m doing I can make a few more in different sizes. And using up some of my stash is brilliant.
I have been quietly working on my Patchwork of the Crosses. I was hoping to have it all finished by the end of the year but that’s not going to happen. I have joined 36 blocks together so far. This equates to 6 across by 6 down, the blocks measure 11-1/2”, that makes my quilt 69” square at the moment. I plan on adding another 13 blocks making it 7 across by 7 down and should measure 80-1/2” square. And I will finish off with a plain fabric border (not EPP) but keeping the integrity of the EPP shapes. I haven’t decided how I’m going to quilt it yet. One thing I do know is that it will be machine quilted because it will be too big to hand quilt.
I’ve made great progress on my Sweet Dresden Lollipop quilt. All it needs is a bit of embellishment. I plan on adding a few beads, buttons and yo-yos, just enough to give it some texture. I thoroughly enjoyed designing and piecing this latest quilt. I have no idea where I found the inspiration for this one but I think the brighter fabrics on a white background is lovely and fresh. A cheerful finished project to enjoy in the new year.
So, you can see that I’m not just lounging around watching television every day all day. I am always working on something in the background. I realised recently that quite often over the last couple of years I have said things like someday when all this is finished, I’m going to start doing this or that. So, with 2018 just around the corner, I’m going to try to make all those things that I promised myself happen. My promises may have to be altered a little but they should come to fruition in some form or other that suits my way current way of life. All too often life chips away at us and we stop believing in ourselves. It’s important to get up every day and try again and again to make things happen. I have new ideas for projects for the new year. And I certainly will carry on stamping my personality to my home. I think I need to be surrounded by a few more girly things. I can start making that happen by decorating for Christmas.
So, for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be working on piecing more blocks for the excellent Patchwork of the Crosses project. I’m finally getting somewhere. I hope you all have a super cosy evening working on something that makes you happy. Until you read me again,
Happy stitching ♥♥
Lucie The Happy Quilter's Blog 