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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MESSY TIME FOR R & R

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a good creative day. It’s been a lovely relaxing and very interesting day in my little world. I was up at the crack of sparrow fart this morning doing a little more spring cleaning. Little by little I’m getting there. And it feels so good to sort, tidy and clean.

As well as my little fix of spring cleaning I headed out to have a little creative me time. I made my way south to The Crafts House to work on another art journal page. The process started last weekend when I created this background …..

I’m really enjoying the whole process of working on journal pages. The whole process is relatively simple and you can add as much to a journal page as you wish. And trust me none of it is rocket science. The most important part of is to enjoy the process. This is what my art journal page looks like now …..

I enjoyed every minute of working on this page. When I first started working on art journal pages I found it quite hard to decide what to put where. The whole process was rather daunting because I wanted it to be perfect. Well my friends, nothing in life is perfect! So why should my artwork be perfect. All too often we push ourselves so hard to achieve perfection that it takes all the fun out of it. Today messy time session was intended for rest and recuperation. So I psyched myself up to accept that whatever I created today work be artistic even if a little wonky. Wonky suits me just fine.

It’s been a lovely day in my little corner of the northeast of England. Although it was dark and dreary first thing this morning the sun eventually came thru for us and brightened our lives and cheered us on. I thoroughly enjoyed my day. The best part of today is that my Sarah came home for a long weekend. We’re going to have a seriously girly weekend!

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be hand piecing double wedding ring components. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly love to do. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

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ADDING COLOUR TO MY LIFE

Hello my lovelies. I hope you all had a super Monday. It’s been a great day in my little world. Once again I flitted around doing one thing and another.

I started the day by loading a large quilt into my longarm quilting system for quilting sometime in the next few days. Loading this quilt wasn’t very easy as I needed to piece 44” wide fabric to turn it into a 100” square. When it comes to larger quilts my preference is to use wide backings but in this case it was better to use up what was readily available.

Now yesterday amongst other activities I spent some more messy time with my friend Sandra on The Hill. I worked on another art journal page. My Sarah and I got ready early and headed out for our messy time fix. I worked on another rather colourful art journal page. Put your sunglasses on and feast your eyes on this …..

I really enjoyed creating this page. And using such bright colours is so far out of my comfort zone but I forced myself to choose these bright cheerful colours. And I’m glad I did!!! It’s time for a change. And adding a bit of lively colour to my life is just the ticket.

In the spirit of working on UFOs I decided to add the binding to one of my Freemotion Quilting Samplers from last year. The sampler was stitched on basic calico using designs that I really like. Stitching a sampler gives me a chance to practice and improve my skills. Doodling these designs helps give your brain a preview of what you want to stitch out on fabric. So we should all do more doodling. Doodle wherever and whenever you can. It keeps your brain active and makes you more creative.

It’s been a really good day in my little world. I did a variety of household chores and played with fabric, sewing machines and Clover binding clips. I wonder what tomorrow will bring???

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will most likely be doing some fine hand appliqué and perhaps some hand binding. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

 

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MESSY TIME ON THE HILL

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all have a super day. For many, tomorrow is the last day of freedom as the kids will be breaking up from school for Christmas. Yippeee

My Sarah and I stepped out this morning for a crafty session. We headed south to Marley Hill in Gateshead to The Crafts House for a delicious couple of hours. It was sheer luxury to sit and let someone show me how to make something. Our wonderful creative friend Sandra has more patience than anyone I know and she shares all her know-how while teaching to make lovely whimsical hand painted ornaments and such. We chatted, we ate goodies and drank coffee and here’s what I made ….

 

EVERY TIME A BELL RINGS AN ANGEL GETS HIS WINGS

 

A TREE SLICE OF CHRISTMAS

Here are my crafting mates …..

It was really lovely crafting today. We played with some paint, paper, glue sticks, pen, dotting tool and more. Messy time is bliss. I can understand why children love arts and crafts of any kind. All too often we grownups don’t have/make time to play. Well today, while I was having messy time, all the stresses that I experience this time of year just melted away. I forgot about all the things I have to today over the next three days! We should all have an outlet for our stress. Messy time sure works for me. I reckon crafting sessions like these should come on prescription to sort out anything that ails us.

It’s been a brilliant day in my little world. I never picked up a sewing needle all day but I’ll make up for that this evening I’m sure. Tomorrow I’ll be spending time for some like-minded ladies for a beginner’s mixed class at Stitchin’ Heaven. I have no doubt we’ll all have a great day sewing and discussing the festive activities we’ll be participating in over the next couple of weeks.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be working on clamshells. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing some you truly love. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

 

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TUESDAY CATCH-UP

Hello my lovelies. I hope you all had a fab weekend. Happy longarm quilter land has been a whirlwind of activity over the last few days. Operation Taking Flight is fully operational.

I’m sure most of you would prefer to hear some quilt making related news but over the last few days each and every one of my sewing machines has been sitting quietly waiting for me to come along and switch it on until today. We spent a couple of days getting my Sarah moved into her university accommodation and then putting my house in some kind of order. After shifting the bulk of Sarah’s belongings my little old house was in a shambles. And Sarah’s move has launched a domino effect. We’ve shifted some furniture out and quite a few pieces got shifted to other rooms.

We had two very sunny days for Sarah’s move. She’s got a nice little comfortable flat. And her building is full of interesting young people studying at the same uni. There were a few tears on the first night that Sarah slept at her flat but I think we’re both feeling better about this new adventure now. I have more to tell you about Operation Taking Flight but I’ll save it for another day.

Over the last few days I have had the opportunity to do a wee bit of hand sewing. So here’s a little catch-up. I’ve been quite tired over the last few evenings so I didn’t produce much of anything however I did play with hexagons …..

And I did do some fine appliqué work …..

Today I loaded the next quilt into my longarm quilting system. This is one of Sandra’s sampler quilts. This one will be given a custom quilting job.

On Sunday I went to The Crafts House for a little me time. I played with paint and glue sticks and produced this …..

It needs a few embellishments but I think it will look great once it’s finished.

And lastly, this afternoon I disappeared into my sewing room to work on this simple quilt. While I sewed I watched a few episodes of a box set on my laptop. What a great way to unwind from the last few days!

The past week has just flown by. Everyday has been full of all kinds of activity. I finally sat down in front of my laptop over the weekend to compose a little post about my experience of participating in a special quilt challenge. You can read all about this by clicking here.

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

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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TRIP ON A HAMSTER WHEEL

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fab weekend. Mine was busy on Saturday and relaxed on Sunday.

I have a little bit of progress to show today. I started the day off by loading a very large quilt into my longarm quilting system. This one was pieced by Isobel in measures in just over the 100” mark. So it will take me a good while to get this one quilted. I’m so glad that Isobel decided on an all over quilting design in this case. Isobel chose a design called Plush by Hermione Agee and a nice fine white thread.

I did finish a wee hand quilted project today. Well almost. This is little project is the spring block out of my Four Season Button Club Whimsy. I decided to make extra blocks which I can hang on as a door banner. So I finished the hand quilting and added the binding, hanging pocket and, of course, a label …..

These are the hand painted buttons which I will be adding this evening …..

And to give you an idea how it will look when the hand painted buttons are sewn in place …..

Now I reckon I will  also be adding odd buttons from my button box all around the in the quilted circles. Once that’s done I will hang it on my lounge door. For more info about purchasing some of these hand painted buttons please contact Sandra at The Crafts House. The next block is the summer one which I plan on doing some freemotion machine quilting on. It’s a good while since I had a little Freemotion Quilting session using my domestic sewing machine. How exciting.

So that’s my report for today. I wish I had some fantastic news for your today. Goodness knows how much I would love to receive some good news. Over the last few day I have decided that I need something to look forward to. So every week I’m going to concentrate on finding something positive that I can focus on, something to look forward to. I’m getting that feeling that I live on a hamster wheel again. So if I have something to look forward to that hamster wheel feeling might disappear.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be sewing lots of buttons on my small hand quilted project. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you really enjoy. 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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QUILT SHOW ANYONE?

Happy Friday everyone. It’s been a brilliant day for me. A few days ago I convinced my Sarah to come to the Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate today. It wasn’t only Sarah that needed convincing. I spent the last day or two psyching myself out as well. I’m not that keen on driving long distances and it’s a good 90 miles from door to door. So when I got up this morning and saw the rain I was a little disappointed but they skies dried up and although it was overcast we only drove thru pockets of showers a few times and the sun even came out now and again. We had a super journey south and an even better return journey back north.

The show was rather busy. Well what quilt show isn’t busy! You can always tell which stands are good because you can’t get near them. I was armed with a list of stands that I wanted to visit and a list of books to look for. Well the list of books will have to wait until another time because I couldn’t get near enough the bookshelves to find what I wanted. And although I didn’t get my books I did get to visit every stand on my list and a few extra.

I did purchase a few things …..

But the highlight of my purchases is this ….

This fab Donegal Tweed which I purchased from Fabric Affair is so lovely and I can’t wait to start working with it. I don’t know of any LQS that stock tweed for appliqué work or piecing. It’s so exciting to find a tweed stockist even though they aren’t local. So watch this space. This is just the perfect new technique for me to stuck into during my quiet break.

I’ve had a lovely day. I searched high and low for Susan who was supposed to be wearing a butterfly pendant but didn’t spot her. So I’m sorry Susan I couldn’t find you but there were so many ladies that it’s no surprise. I’ve come home full of inspiration. I’ve seen some lovely colour combinations and superb projects which I don’t have time to make but one can dream. And as today is Friday I have the weekend ahead of me to do some interesting things. I will spend a little time preparing for a speaking engagement on Monday. I will be joining my creative friend Sandra to speak to a group of ladies who may or may not help making quilts for Quilts for Comfort. It’s a little daunting, however, I think I’m old enough and ugly enough to stand up and speak my mind.

In yesterday’s post I mentioned my lovely friend Carolyn starting her teacher training next week. Well in a few weeks’ time my lovely young friend Amy will be starting her studies at Nottingham Vet School. As I understand it studying to be a vet takes at least 6 or hundred years. Well Amy, we’re going to miss you’re beautiful smiling face on The Hill. You’re an amazing your lady who will go far in life. I wish you well in all your future endeavours.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will probably be doing some fine hand appliqué while watching some mindless TV. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

 

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MORE JELLY ROLL WORK

It’s been a lovely day in my world. The sun is shining and it’s really feeling like the last days of summer are around the corner. My sandals have been packed away and the socks are coming out of the drawer to be worn every morning. The kids in my area will be going back to school starting Tuesday. My Sarah has an extra week at home though.

I have a little progress to tell you about this evening. Do you remember the Jelly Roll quilt which I longarm quilted on Tuesday? Well I hand finished the binding yesterday when I attended the sewing session at Stitchin’ Heaven. I’m really pleased with the way this simple quilt has turned out. I plan on making one for myself. I have the perfect Jelly Roll to use. Now if I can just work up the courage to pull the ribbon off said Jelly Roll I’ll be able to get started!

Let’s go back to Sunday morning ….. I stepped out on my own to have a decorative painting session at The Crafts House. I have a lovely friend who will be starting her teacher training program on Monday so I decided to paint a little something for her.

This simple little apple was for Carolyn. Carolyn is going to make super teacher.  Carolyn and I decided to collaborate on a project some months ago. And I’m just starting to work on my part of the project. I can’t show you very much of the project but I can reveal that after being a very brave girl and pulling the ribbon off another Jelly Roll called Posy by Aneela Hoey for Moda …..

I have turned it into this …..

This wee project is quite magical. You can’t see the centres of the blocks which contain lovely magical stitcheries. Carolyn is a great doodler and she turns her doodles into stitchery pictures. I can’t wait to reveal the whole project.

It’s been a wonderful productive day. I ran a few errands, visited some crafty friends, played in my sewing room, caught up with a friend on the phone and just generally stayed in the 30mph lane. Things are just so much more enjoyable in the slow lane.

So for this evening, this very happy longarm quilter will be doing some fine appliqué work. I hope you have a super cosy evening full of interesting things. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

 

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IN THE COMPANY OF OTHER CRAFTERS TODAY

Does anyone know what day it is? Since starting my summer break a few days ago I have become very confused about what day and date it is! That’s what happens when you turn the alarm clock off and you stop running around counting the minutes. I must admit that I have beat myself up, more than once, for not completing more things in the space of a day. Does anyone else feel like that? Perhaps it’s time I start taking breathing seriously; because if I stop breathing I won’t be able to complete anything.

I’ve been doing things at my nice slow measured pace. I kicked off my day with the normal morning routine which consists of dog duties. And then we headed out the door to the post office depot to collect a parcel which I missed yesterday. The parcel consisted of nice fine thread. I love nice thread.

I showed you a photo of something I planned on working today …..

Susan guessed that it might be a bunting template. You were very nearly correct Susan. Have a look at what the shape is all about.

My Sarah and I headed up The Hill to do a spot of painting. My lovely creative friend Sandra inspires me to work on all kinds of different things. This week I decided it was going to be a wee bit of mixed media bunting to hang in my lounge over the mirror that sits on my fireplace mantle. It’s a relatively simple project which I all but completed in two hours. I added curling wire, scraps of fabric and a bit of hanging twine. I am very pleased with today’s crafty effort. It was so nice to do something different from longarm quilting and sewing for a change. We drank coffee and put the world to rights. There were actual minutes when we were quiet; that doesn’t happen in any room I happen to be occupying very often! I thoroughly enjoyed the company of other crafters today. I look forward to doing it again soon.

There was a surprise delivery this afternoon …..

Someone is celebrating an 18th birthday. Yes my Sarah is celebrating a big birthday this weekend. Hence the lovely flowers from family in Canada.

I collected the last of the finished blocks which were pieced at our Quilts for Comfort event on Sunday. I now have all 16 blocks in my possession. And I will be joining all these blocks to form a quilt top and then longarm quilting it. I want to thank all that participated in the sewing session. I promise to do my best to turn these blocks into a special quilt. 😉

I have been working quietly on the next two blocks that will be pieced at my beginner’s sampler quilt classes next week at Stitchin’ Heaven. Here’s a little preview …..

I’m sure for a newbie these blocks look a little bit complicated. I think we should look at these blocks in sections. If we take the task of piecing any patchwork block in bite size pieces it makes the whole process a lot easier to manage.

Although I am officially on my summer break I have had a few commitments this week. And tomorrow is no different; I have a lunch date in celebration of Sarah’s birthday. I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend of doing bits and pieces. Today has been bright and dry. Not one drop of rain. After yesterday’s deluge I was relieved not to have a precipitation.

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

Happy stitching. ♥ ♥

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