Pieced!

Busy times mean that the only way I was going to make some progress with the quilt was to 'seize the day' when I found myself awake at five am and get on with it in the lovely calm of the early morning.

So now the quilt looks like this...

There are a couple of bits I would do differently next time, such as trying not to use the strips with the obvious stripe to them.  

Next stop, borders.

Not much chance of that this weekend though, as we have a kitchen to fit in the flat my step-daughter is moving into.  Mr U-t-B is very confident that it will go smoothly, but with the discovery late last night that the boiler is leaking, I think we may be held up by that needing sorting (replacing?)  And if it does need to be replaced, it will mean that my design could have been much more straightforward, as we would put the boiler in a more suitable place to free up floor space.

Off to phone the British Gas people!

Snapdragon Quilt - Day Two

Thanks to two sneaky half-hours yesterday, the rest of the snowball squares are done.

A bit of reducing bulk and thread trimming required today, then I can piece the nine-patch and snowball squares together.  Might just achieve this today in spite of being at work!

Snapdragon Quilt - Day One

Thought I'd show progress so far.  When books say that something is quick to make, I never really believe it, but this is what I've done so far, with just an evening's on-off sewing (some bits of 'One Born Every Minute' being too watchable to miss - makes me laugh and cry!) and about an hour squeezed in today between more pressing jobs.  I think it's pretty fast progress...

Hidden in the piles are all 18 nine-patch blocks, 5 of the 17 snowball blocks, a few short strips to go towards the border and all the cut squares for the rest of the snowballs.  Boo hiss I'm working tomorrow, but I'll try to squeeze a bit more in all the same.








Oh!  PS  Did you read this story today!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12213615



Lovely news, but I have to say that if I was the generous woman who had gone through all that, I don't think I'd be pleased to be called 'our gestational carrier'!  Sounds like some kind of futuristic robot!

A Pause in Proceedings

Well, I don't know if it was the charity tin-shaker (see previous post) who jinxed me, but today I really do feel like the old lady he took me for.  My back, knees, elbows and some of my fingers are complaining with almost every move, so I've decided to take the day off from any further decorating and pursue something a less energetic.  I think it was all the clambering on and off the platform and stepladder for wallpapering and painting duties, plus scraping peeling paint off walls that did it!

Remember this book which I was given for Christmas?

From the very talented Pam and Nicky Lintott, of The Quilt Room blog  or The Quilt Room shop.

Well, last week I received a very nice parcel in the post...

...a Moda jelly roll - 'Lumière de Noël'.  


Sorry about the slightly fuzzy photos - gloomy days and our camera don't mix well.  I got this roll (which not many stockists seemed to have) from Pollyanna Patchwork, by post, and a very quick service it was!  


In spite of its name, it's not overly Christmassy, which would feel all WRONG now, but the warm tones will be great to work with just now.  


I chose the quilts I would like to create.  The reason the book is called 'Two From One Jelly Roll Quilts' is that each section details how to make two small quilts from one jelly roll (obvious really!).  Being an indecisive sort, I have chosen quilts from different sections, but this is still achievable, as one uses 20 strips, and the other 16.


Here are the ones I've chosen...

The Snapdragon Quilt

 The Jigsaw Quilt

I have pondered the strips in my roll and split them up following the instructions for each quilt..

Now all I have to do is decide which one to begin with, and get cutting, then stitching!


I will keep you updated on how things are progressing!

Parcels!

It put a smile on my face to see a red 'We tried to deliver your parcel...' slip on the hall floor when I arrived home yesterday from a busy day teaching French.  Well, a smile and then a small harrumph of annoyance because I would have to wait till today to collect said parcels (yes, not just one, but two!)

 So I was up early this morning to go into town and fetch the goodies home.

 The bigger of the two contained...

 

Four mini hot water bottles, which I'd been trying to source since December last year (not that I'd tried that hard!)  More of those in another post.

The second was from the great Tikki Fabric and Patchwork shop in Kew.  I have been there before, but being a bit pushed for time this week, and trying to save a bit of diesel, I decided to use their mail order service. And it was fantastic - ordered Wednesday, arrived Thursday.  You can't say fairer than that!

So here is what lay within...

The top layer is some stitchable vinyl.  I like to try out different things.  Not yet sure what I'll do with this but will do some thinking over the weekend. 

Then some...

I have been wanting some of this for a while to make myself some new oven gloves.

Then the real fun...

Sevenberry Liberty inspired floral quilt fabric, pale blue

 

 

Sevenberry quilt fabric, small floral in pale blue 

Lecien Roses quilt fabric, pale blue form Mrs March antique collection 

 

Retro Europe map/cruise fabric

 

 

Rosalie Quinlan Grandmother's Flower Garden fabric by Lecien pale green

Philip Jacobs patchwork quilt fabric Delphinium pink

 

Westminster quilt fabric by Fabric Freedom, cream circles

 

Yellow kids retro fabric

Isn't Christmas Jolly quilt fabric by Mary Engelbreit for Moda, Toss Green

If you like these fabrics, do take a look at the website or if you're in the Kew area, see if they are open!

With all that loveliness come into the house, it's just a shame that I'm going to be away on a school reconnaissance mission all weekend!

Not much in the way of craftiness went on yesterday.  With it being the first day since before the summer holidays that I had been into school teaching, I was reminded how sapped of creative get-up-and-go I am after 6 lessons of very vocal teaching. So I blobbed out in front of the television and enjoyed first the delights of Mr Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (love the Stew Club idea!) and then Mr Gareth Malone's Extraordinary School for Boys.  Hooray for Gareth - was so pleased his efforts were not in vain on the measurable-difference front!  Just went on his website to get that link and found that his wife has just given birth to their baby, a little girl...How lovely!

So off to do a bit of creating...I'm going to be frustrated all weekend as I drive through rural France on behalf of my school, and will be longing to get back home!