Mothers and quilters

Having seen this mosaic many times ... and how true it is:

I was very happy to see another one on Miss Rosie's blog for quilters ... also true:

Paper piecing is not my strong suit

I have my computer back, hurrah!  It is like regaining feeling in a lost limb.  I have felt rather cut off from the world without it, not least because we then all decamped to the West Country for a week, where the 21st Century has still yet to arrive in some places.  What the South West needs is a nice big MOTORWAY.

Although given that any road in the South West is liable to be roped off with orange string at any given moment to allow a herd of 200 cows to pass by, perhaps this wouldn't be such a good idea.

Not much sewing going down last week as we were too busy driving along wiggly roads and trying in vain to wear out the children with a variety of exciting activities.  In fact all we succeeded in doing was exhausting ourselves whilst the children went into overdrive, although we did manage to watch most of the first series of Breaking Bad once they finally went to bed.

So a bit of a catch up first - here's what I was working on just before the Retreat - my final block for the FQR Bee:

This was actually February's block but I was so scared of paper piecing that I put it off until June.  Bad girl! 

The fabric we got was Sew Stitchy by Aneela Hoey, and we got free rein on the block except that it had to be sewing related.  I was blown away by some of the blocks the other girls did, such as this one by KettleBoiler:

... and this one by Dandelion Liz:

Er, pressure!  It took me a long time to draft the pattern from a fuzzy picture I found on Google Images, and then a great big panic when I realised there wasn't a lovely straight line to sew down at the end.  Thankfully it didn't end up with a big crease in the middle - just as well, as I don't do unpicking if I can get away with it.

I have also just finished my Siblings Together quilt top so hopefully will have a blog post about that very soon too x

Warning: blogging with prehistoric computer

I will be interested to see whether this blog post comes out more or less badly laid out on the page than the previous iPad post.  On the plus side, it is a 'proper' computer ; on the downside, it is so old that it might possibly have been found in a cave in France along with troglodyte art and perhaps a fossilised mammoth.  Typing leaves huge pauses while the computer has a little think and then suddenly posts three-quarters of a sentence with some bits missing.  So if any of this post makes less sense than usual, it might (for once) not be my fault.

Something that is squarely my fault is that I didn't take my camera to FQR.  Another thing that is my fault is that I was so late sewing on the binding to my last Sample Swap mug rug that I didn't take a photo of any of them before I swapped them.  Happily, my swappees have more brainpower than I and so I have a photo of one kindly sent to me by MammaFairy Rachel:

Once I have charged my camera up (oops) I will post photos of the lovely sample swap goodies that I received too - 3 lovely things that I have been using every single day and that make me smile every time I pick them up!

I may have done more chatting than sewing at FQR but it has definitely re-ignited my sewing mojo.  The morning after I got back, I sprang into action (possibly the knowledge that it was my last child-free day for the next 6 weeks may have spurred me on too).  By school pickup I had pieced the majority of an Improv quilt for Siblings Together.  I now have one last seam to sew before I have a quilt top.  Definitely a record for me.


(PS - see this post on Lily's Quilts to see some of the fab Siblings Together quilts that were handed over to the phenomenal lady who runs the charity, Delma.)


If this post works then I shall go back and re-edit my disastrous iPad post.  There still won't be pictures, but there may be paragraphs! 

Pictureless FQR

Just a very quick post to confirm that I am still alive (apologies for recent blogging hiatus) and to say thank you to the many lovely folks I chatted with at FQR (more chatting than sewing if I'm honest) and who made a good weekend into a great weekend.

Unfortunately my desktop exploded (literally) when I got back from FQR which means I am tapping this out one-fingered on the iPad. I don't know how to get photos onto the iPad so this will be a pictureless post.

Anyway, back to FQR! So glad to catch up with Helen & Moira again and to meet Di & Liz for the first time - thanks to you all for some lovely lovely chats. It was also so nice to catch up with many of my Bee members - some for the the first time (Kate, Mary, Carol) - and see the 2 Siblings Together bee quilts in the flesh.

Inspired, on Monday as soon as the kids were dropped off I knuckled down with my offcut Bee blocks (more of which later) and Portholes from FQR, and whipped together the majority of an Improv quilt destined for next year's Siblings Together. Hoping to finish this next week although we are now in school holidays so my sewing time reduces from 'not much' to 'almost nil'.

Also a big thank you to Rachel Pinheiro who kindly refitted my Amelia dress bodice onto me so that I can move onto the next stage. Without her help I think this might have been consigned to the scrap pile so I am extremely grateful. When my computer is up & running I will do a whole blog post on this.

Another thing that will get its own blog post is the sample swap - I got some gorgeous goodies from Nicky, Rachel and Anna and I hope they weren't too underwhelmed by my mug rugs. I am such a donkey that I didn't even take a photo of the mug rugs I made before I swapped them. Rachel has sent me a photo of one so once my computer is back to life I will have a picture to post.

Anyway, I shall sign off here - too many words and not enough pictures! And why won't my iPad do paragraphs? Trying again....

Edited to add some links and some much-needed paragraph breaks!

Needle vs finger

Take heed of my sorry tale:

In the battle of needle vs finger, there are no winners.  Ow.

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!