LONG OVERDUE CATCH UP

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all enjoying the arrival of spring. My little corner of the northeast of England received a generous dollop of sunshine recently. The sunshine has brought the Daffodils and Crocuses. The grass is finally growing and everyone seems to be in a relaxed state of mind. Spring really is here.

I have been busy working on UFOs and Quilts for Comfort projects. I’ve spent time making a plan to simplify life and slowly but surely implementing the changes. There are lots of ongoing lists. One of my lists is planning our summer holiday. I can see our brand new shiny life peeking out a little bit and starting to take shape.

I machine quilted a few quilt tops for Quilts for Comfort. These tops are donated by wonderful volunteers. And as I have the equipment I volunteer to finish them off by quilting and binding them. So far, I have finished five quilts which is exactly what I was hoping for.

I did a little more work on my Patchwork of the Crosses as well …..

It’s a project that I don’t work on too often but it’s the one I turn to when I can’t decide what else to work on. English Paper Piecing is the perfect armchair project. I do the prep cutting during the day and sit quietly in the evening wrapping the fabric patches around the card templates. The repetitive process is very soothing. And accompanied by a good old English murder mystery on TV, I can’t think of anything I would rather do of an evening.

I have spent some more time sorting and tidying and came across this little collection of felt. I have been thinking about what I can do with this little pile of felt which I have collected over the last few years. Every time I went to a craft show, I bought a little bundle of something soft and inviting. Now I am on track to make something different using a little of this collection. This is my chance to have a little play with a different medium. I have been wanting to learn a few new techniques. So, watch this space.

I have received a few messages of concern recently because I haven’t posted in a while. Rest assured that Sarah and I are perfectly fine. Life’s little challenges have sort of taken over life. We have been busy quietly coping with the challenges presented as they come along. The garden needs a little attention and I have been planning the work to be done inside my home as well. There’s a collection of paint charts and different colour paint has been applied to small patches of wall just to audition different colours. It’s definitely time for a change as we move on from our old life. If I’m honest, it’s quite an exciting time.

Now that spring is here, I’m finding inspiration everywhere. The fresh spring greens are luscious and the deep yellow of the daffodils are so appealing. We’ll soon see the Bluebells blooming. I think I should head over to the beach for a relaxing walk on the sand while the waves roll in. Spring is a brilliant time of year. It’s been another challenging but interesting winter but we seem to have survived once again. I received this little gift last week …..

So, for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be work on my Patchwork of the Crosses project. I hope you all have super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until you read me again,

Happy 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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GIVEAWAY REMINDER

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a great day. I’ve had a full day of running errands followed by coffee with my lovely friend. It’s amazing how my ladies are coming forward in support of my current family situation. It warms my heart to know how many people care. Someday I hope to pay it forward by helping others thru difficult times.

I have received many questions about my Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses project. So far I have only pieced two blocks which I posted a photo of yesterday …..

You may have noticed that both blocks are the same layout except that I have changed the placement of the light, medium and dark patches in different places giving each block a unique look. I have seen this Patchwork of the Crosses design made up once or twice before over the years and didn’t realise what it was all about until I saw someone working on it recently and she had a small stack of finished blocks. And that’s when I realised that it was hexagons, albeit elongated hexagons which of course are my favourite. It’s a long term project that will definitely get me thru the winter and beyond.

I just want to remind you that I am running a giveaway. If you want to enter please click here to be taken to the post for details on how to enter.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be working on POTC and thoroughly enjoying it. 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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ENTERTAINING LUCY BOSTON AND MR. POLDARK

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fabulous weekend. My weekend was busy mooching around the neighbourhood. I worked on UFOs, I packed some boxes for long term storage and took a trip to our local tip to get rid of well-worn household stuff and garden rubbish. It seems everyone decided to visit the tip at the same time!!!

The favourite part of my weekend was a real treat for me. As you know I have concentrated mainly on working on UFOs since the turn of the year but this week I decided to kick off one of two winter projects. I spent a little bit of time choosing fabric for my Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses quilt. Once I had chosen the fabric I decided that it didn’t look right against the background fabric that I have already chosen and had my heart sent on. So it was back to the drawing board. My background fabric is a lovely light grey print. So I have finally decided on a colour scheme that includes pink, corals, reds, blues and teals. This project will be a good way of using up my stash. So here’s little peek at the first block in progress.

I’m using the English Paper Piecing method to piece this quilt top. And although these are elongated hexagons they are still hexagons. And hexagons are my absolute favourite. So it’s such a treat for me to have started working on this project sooner than winter.

Last week I promised that I would be back this week with some news about my Autumn Giveaway. So here’s the big announcement …

Yes folks, it’s time for my super-duper Autumn Giveaway. Here’s a little peek at what I have gathered so far for this special giveaway …..

These items have all been crafted by my fair hands. Some are UFOs, freemotion quilted practice pieces which I have turned into table topper-like quilts. And the sewing caddies were painted by my fair hands. The chunky wood hearts were purchased from The Crafts House and were originally intended to be used a tea light holders but I decided turn them into sewing caddies. I appreciate my own funky sewing caddy and I use it all the time as it keeps everything together on the table beside me. I will gather up a few more bits to add to this collection over the next couple of weeks.

So here are the rules to enter the giveaway ….. All I want is for you to comment and please, please, please include where you live. I don’t need your exact postal address, I just want to know city/county and country you live. It’s as simple as that! And ….. I am willing to post anywhere in the world, even to New Zealand, Singapore, West Africa, the United States and Canada. So don’t be shy. Click and send a simple comment and let’s see how many people in how many different countries we can reach out to. I plan on drawing three winning names on Friday September 30^th. Good luck everyone.

I hope you all enjoyed watching Mr. Poldark last evening. Swoon ….. Now I have to wait a whole 6 days to see him again in the third episode, series 2 of Poldark. Swoon …..

So that’s my weekend report. I have been enjoying the end of the summer. I thought by now the temperature would be dipping at night but it’s not happening yet. In fact, the weather girl was saying just this morning, that the temperature might hit 30°C down south today! We rarely get such hot weather in my little corner of the northeast of England. Isn’t it too early to have an Indian summer?

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be working on Lucy Boston POTC. Wahoo! I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching  ♥ ♥

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FRIDAY CATCHUP

Hello my lovelies. I’m sure most of you think I’ve disappeared off the edge of the earth. Well I assure you that haven’t; I have been enjoying the last little bit of summer in private.

While the kids were going back to school this past week I have been getting myself ready for some new learning of my own. I decided that I needed to learn a few new skills. So I’ll be hitting the back-to-school supplies section of a different kind pretty soon in readiness for my learning sessions. I’ll tell you more about it when the new learning starts.

I spent most of the summer working on UFOs …..

I also spent some time contemplating what was important in my life. It seems top of the list is minimising the drama. I’m learning to take each day as it comes while getting rid of all the toxic stuff that piled up over the years. I suppose this could be considered my “What I did this Summer” report. It’s been a summer like no other I can remember in all of my 57 years on earth. This is going to sound really goofy but I spent the summer trying to find myself. Over the years I have been a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mother and now I have suddenly turned into a single parent! It’s not something I ever contemplated until earlier this year. Both Sarah and I are building new traditions and finding our way to a new life all the while making some fantastic new memories. Our friends and family have been and will be with us every step of the way no matter what life throws at us. If I haven’t thanked all those who have shown support along the way for your kind words, thoughts, actions and gifts I do it now. Thank you x

I have been Lucie the Happy Quilter for many years. I am just simply a happy person who tries to make the best of any and all situations. This time next year I will still be Lucie the Happy Quilter only new and hopefully improved with a lot less baggage. I will still be the creative soul that I have always been but hopefully brimming with even more inspiration to share with you. I’m so looking forward to Christmas and the turn of the year.

I’ll be back next week with my Autumn Giveaway news. So don’t forget to pop in again soon.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be working on Sarah’s UFO hexagons. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. And remember don’t ever let anyone suck the joy out of your life. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching

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MORE GENTLE SUMMER BREEZES

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all enjoying a fabulous weekend. The warm sunshine and gentle breezes have been just wonderful in my little corner of the northeast of England. I can’t imagine a better place to be today. And although I have not even picked up a needle so far today, I feel like I have crammed a lot of living into this one day. I spent part of the afternoon writing an article. It all started as notes which grew into a full blown description of my life over the last twenty-something years. In my quest to rediscover myself I have learned quite a lot.  And I hope to help others work their way thru loss while trying to rebuild their lives.

My plan for today was to mark another area of my Sweethearts Dozen quilt in readiness for hand quilting but I got carried away with writing my article instead. I’ll have to catch up on the hand quilting this evening. I set myself a goal to have a certain area of my quilt hand quilted by Sunday evening and I believe I still have a chance of meeting the challenge on time. Quite often in life, things don’t go to plan. I think things happen for a reason. Perhaps this article that I’m writing, is more important than hand quilting a quilt.

So far it’s been a really good weekend. And I have two more days of peace before I have to face the real life again. Tomorrow I plan on being kind to myself. Once I have walked the dog and done a couple of household chores I plan on hand stitching to my heart’s content. I’m determined to catch up on the hand quilting I didn’t do today. I’m hoping for the same warm sunshine and gentle summer breezes we had today.

I’m going to leave you today with something to think about. Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~ Mary Pickford

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be doing some hand quilting. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you thoroughly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

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BANK HOLIDAY BUSYNESS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a brilliant day. The sun has been shining here in my little corner of the northeast of England. Taking my Maisie for a walk this morning was so enjoyable. The sun was mixed with light breezes making it very comfortable.

I got up pretty early this morning because Sarah and I had a plan of action for today. However, I desperately wanted to move forward with my current UFO which I am very happy to tell you that I have joined all the blocks together and I’m so pleased with how the quilt looks at this stage.

The next step is to find something in my stash to use for the outer borders. I’m not sure if I have any of the printed fat quarters I used for the appliqué. Those prints would be great to piece together to turn into the outer border.

Once I finished joining all my blocks, Sarah and I moved onto our plan of action. We decided to piece a few wee quilts. The little quilts only just 16” x 20” in size and we used mainly Jelly Roll strips and other fabric in our stash. I managed to piece and bind two very simple little quilts …..

And Sarah, the big show off, pieced and bound three little quilts …..

I know these five little quilts will be appreciated. So spending a few hours piecing them was a pleasure. It was a good way of using up some of my stash, scraps of leftover wadding and calico for backing. The best part is the feeling you get from doing something useful.

I’m sure I’ve probably mentioned it already, but it’s a bank holiday this weekend here in England. Usually the bank holiday weather isn’t brilliant. I’m hoping that the weather between now and Monday is as good as todays was. I have one or two outings planned not to mention a couple of trips to the tip to dispose of surplus to requirement household stuff. Hopefully I will be able to scrounge up a some packing boxes in order to pack up a few things to be put in long-term storage.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will carry on hand quilting the Sweethearts Dozen. I had set it aside for a while because I had hand quilters block but I’m back on track now. I hope to show you some progress photos next week. I hope you all have a super cosy weekend doing bank holiday stuff. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching

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CHARM PACK ADVENTURE WITH A LITTLE TWIST

Hello my lovelies. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. My Sarah and I have had a great couple of days mooching around. I stepped out on Saturday to have a sewing session with some of my friends in Shilbottle. Goodness me it does a soul good to get out and about and socialise. I’ll show you soon which UFO I was working on during my sewing visit on Saturday.

I’ve been working pretty steady on UFOs over the last six months. And in my quest to keep the number of UFOs down, I worked on a small project today and saw it to thru to the end. That doesn’t happen very often. One of my lovely friends set a small challenge for me to test a new tool she just purchased. So in order to make the job easier I chose a Charm Pack to use instead of cutting a variety of 5” squares. Note to self: purchase a couple of packs of 5” Charm Squares because they are very useful. I do have plenty of fabric I could have cut up but it would take forever to choose the colours and prints. So I followed the suggestions on the packaging of the ruler I was testing and joined 24 squares together and added a 3” border on all four sides …..

Here’s a little peek at the ruler and the leftover scraps after I cut up the quilt top using the Lil Twister tool. I must admit that using this ruler is quite a good method of making this twister type windmill block.

Within two hours of ripping the band off the charm pack I was layering up the Lil Twister quilt top in readiness for machine quilting …..

 

I did some simple in the ditch quilting and a wee bit of wavy stitch quilting in the borders …..

I added the binding which I plan to hand finish this evening …..

This is a great little project when you want a short sharp fix of quilt making with a twist. The instructions are clear and so you can’t go wrong. The ruler has cushioned grippy dots that help keep it in place while you’re rotary cutting around it. And the alignment markings in the centre of the ruler are very clear making it easy to centre your ruler over the correct part of the quilt top. All in all it was a great adventure.

I had a little trip to my loft yesterday. I was searching for my needle felting kit. Luckily I found it without any struggle whatsoever. I have a special little trial project in mind. I’ve heard say that needle felting by hand is very therapeutic. So if you’re going thru a stressful time, you should take up needle felting by hand. I’ll let you know if it works for me. I’m really looking forward to having a play. I’ve had my needle felting tools for quite some time but never did much of anything with them. So I’m going to combine supplies that I have been collecting from Oliver Twist for the last few years along with roving from my needle felting kit and see what I can produce.

It’s been a rather good and productive day in my little world. I’m really pleased that I managed to piece a little quilt from start to finish in one day. It was a real treat to flash up my sewing machine and have a good old sewing session. While I was busy in my sewing room I enjoyed the sunshine and the little birds outside the window bathing and feeding. I definitely enjoy the simple things life has to offer.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be hand finishing the binding on today quilt making effort and planning a new needle felting project. 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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BACK TO SCHOOL SOON

Hello my lovelies. I seem to be missing in action quite a lot of the time this summer. Well I’m just busy having a good time. The summer will soon be over and I don’t want to miss out on any summery activity I could possibly be taking part in. I have noticed that a lot of the back to school merchandise is disappearing off the shelves in the shops which reminds that the kids will soon be back to school. I can remember getting my Sarah ready for back to school all those years ago. Nowadays she purchases her own supplies but I must admit I still love looking at all the new stuff. And although I don’t buy pencil cases for myself I still have a good look at them at this time of year. I can’t believe how time is flying.

I’ve done so much over the last few weeks that I can’t remember half of what I did. I can tell you that I have been living a very fulfilling life. Probably because I have stayed away from watching the Olympics. My Sarah and I have had a few road trips exploring the north of my little corner of the northeast of England. We’ve made new friends and had one or two catch up sessions with old friends. Life is much easier in happy quilter land of late.

Now let’s move onto a little sewing news. Well to be honest there isn’t a lot because I have been keeping busy by doing other things. I’ve been playing with woolly bits …..

I’ve been re-acquainting myself with hand quilting tools …..

I’ve revamped old designs …..

By adding a new twist …..

And in my quest to stamp my own personality to my space, I’ve added a lick of paint to old furniture …..

And now and again I observed nature do what it does quite naturally …..

So far it’s been a pretty good summer. My Sarah and I have recharged our batteries in readiness for any opportunity that might come our way this autumn. There’s so much to look forward to. I look forward to the warm colours of autumn. And this year, Christmas will be very different, something else to really look forward to.

Something that always amazes, and I have mentioned this many times before but I’m going to say this again. I am amazed about how many people read my simple daily ramblings. Readers from so many different countries around the world. When I got up at 6am this morning these were the countries I got hits from, US, UK, France, Russia, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Algeria, Singapore, Ireland, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Italy and India, just to name a few. It’s amazing! I think it must be time to organise another giveaway just to say thank you for popping in. So keep reading and I will announce something soon. In the meantime, I will find some nice prizes to award to the winners.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be making circles to appliqué onto a 25 UFO blocks. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something that you truly enjoy doing. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

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IT’S SILENT SUNDAY TIME AGAIN

HAVING FUN DOING SIMPLE MACHINE QUILTING

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