Name tag finish

At last - a finish to speak of!  And happily even though this is a name tag for the Fat Quarterly Retreat, it is not a secret because it is doubling up as a belated LMQG name tag swap too.  I received this jazzy name tag from Amanda aka MetroQuilter who is a lovely and increasingly prolific member of LMQG:

Amanda made my name tag very punctually in February because she is a good girl.  My tag-making has been delayed, partly by my own inability to carve out some sewing time to do it, and partly as a result of my notorious tendency for indecision.  I changed the concept at least 3 times before deciding that I would use the famous Paris Metropolitan lettering for the "Metro" from MetroQuilter:

So here is my version:

And the back, taken from a Petite Ecole panel:

 

The lanyard is a bit too long - this is what comes from blindly following an online tutorial - so I think I will rectify that before I give it to Amanda:

 

I used this beasty machine - the Crop-o-Dile II - to punch the hole fix the eyelet.  The eyelets I bought initially were too thin and flimsy for my liking so I ordered some heavier duty ones with washers which arrived today and which definitely give a better finish than the rubbishy ones.

Now I have to get started on my Sample Swap items for the Fat Quarterly Retreat - luckily for me, Amanda was kind enough to wait patiently for her tag, but the Sample Swap has a  time and a place so they will just have to be ready on time!  I will be making Mug Rugs, so I need to decide on a design sharpish and get sewing.

Bee blocks & more FMQ practice

I enjoy being in a Bee but I do feel the pressure of getting my blocks done and dusted asap.  These are April's blocks for Kate, and are called Converging Corners - here is the link to the online tutorial.

Kate wanted to use up scraps from a green quilt she had been making so here are my 2 blocks:

 Apologies for the big creases running down the middle - I had packaged them up for sending before remembering that I hadn't taken a photo!

I have also been having another go at FMQ - this time a paisley / clam shell type design:

One of the things that I am finding hard is keeping the shapes big - I thought it would be harder to do smaller shapes but actually it's the other way around.

Still lots of things on the back burner - Pervalong, Amelia dress, my PP'd February block that I need to knuckle down and do.  I have half the binding machined down on my daughter's Dolce quilt so hopefully that will be a nice thing to hand sew in the evening once I get the other half machined on.

I have also been doing a lot more reading recently.  Earlier this year I read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which is just a superb book.  I think Bring up the Bodies has just come out in paperback so I am going to get that one to carry on the story.

 

Another good book I read this month was The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh - little spoilt girl gets sent to South Africa - another good read.

Any book recommendations gratefully received!  I am getting to the point where I am too old to waste my time with rubbish books.  I only have time for good ones!