Sew Silly

Ricola's Quilt

2010-02-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

This was so easy to make. No complicated piecing, just cutting and sticking. I enjoyed doing all the blanket stitching around the flowery fabric shapes. It has been tacked together in its sandwich and the binding put on. I am quilting heart shapes in the blank squares and plan to have it completed by 9th March when Ricola reaches the grand age of 15.

Star Quilt Top Finished

2010-02-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

The top has been pieced together now. I have ironed it and hung it up ready for sandwiching together. Putting that off as it's such a big job.

Underfoot ? Who ? Me ?

2009-12-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

Completely oblivious to how difficult he's making it for Stanford to reach the kettle ! If pushed with a foot he doesn't move either - makes a very good floor polisher.

Last Minute Stocking

2009-12-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

Couldn't find the stocking for daughter #2 from last year - must be somewhere in the attic along with the advent calendar which has not surfaced this year either.

Quickly put this one together so she's not left out of the system...

Star Quilt Next Stage

2009-12-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

I have cut out all the rectangles to go between the star blocks and am now piecing it all together. Nice to be at the stage where it feels like it will one day be a quilt.

The spaniel is my little helper Lyra who nicks my seat as soon as I get up to take some photographs !

Button and Beads Bag

2009-12-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

When I went to a quilt festival for fabric and pins I somehow ended up buying a bag pattern too. Instead of lots of tiny buttons I put on clusters of seed beads for the flower heads.

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

Made all these decorations to sell to raise funds for daughters' school but the turn out at the sale was appalling so have them all for our tree!

Have a whole box of them.

STAR QUILT

2009-12-12T03:06:00.000-08:00

I have made 16 stars varying in size from 6inches to 18inches. They are going to be put together in a very random order, filled in between with pieces of various sizes in all the pale fabrics used in the stars. Eventually it will be a king size quilt.
I wanted something in all the lovely white on whites and creams. Threw in a little gold and black and hope that whatever colour I end up decorating my bedroom it will sit happily in there.
Done a bit of machine applique again, this time for a wall hanging Christmas tree. Enjoyed making it as it so SOOO quick and easy.

Luckily I don't have to sew in the living room as it has been transformed overnight. On the plus side you can no longer see the carpet which desperately needs a shampoo !! One overnighter has gone so only one staying on for the day.

Quilted trapunto cat bag

2009-05-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Went to the quilt show at Malvern last week and, as well as some more fabric, I bought a pattern. It's an applique cat called Stalker (see the pattern at http://www.storyquilts.com/html/cats.html).

I'm not very confident of my machine applique skills so thought I'd better practice before committing to the real thing. Got a double thickness of calico and had a go at machining around the lines. Although not perfect it's never good to throw something away or put it in the bottom of a drawer of unfinished projects so I trapuntoed it and appliqued it onto a quilted sandwich to make a bag. I'm very pleased with the result.

Christmas is coming

2008-10-26T07:11:00.001-07:00

A little goose to hang on the Christmas tree.

The green tree was made by daughter Rowanne at the sewing workshop and I used up some gold triangles she cut out and didn't need to make the black and white tree. I didn't put a tub on it but think it will look better if I add one.

This folded triangles tree was what I made at the workshop.

My little helper

2008-10-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

My daughter Rowanne (10) proved to be a dab hand at firing microstitch tacks into the quilt which saved me the job. It's much better than spending hours with a tacking needle and thread to do the job which always gives me back ache. A bit of a boring task when it comes to snipping them all out of the quilt but still well worth using.

Some cushions

2008-10-16T11:52:00.001-07:00

My friend Steve intends buying a new sofa covered with orange fabric and wants some new cushions to go on it. I hope these are going to be to his liking. When choosing the fabrics I tried to go for masculine colours and textures highlighted with shades of orange which, fingers crossed, will compliment the colour of his new piece of furniture.

First day of pheasant shoot

2008-10-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

Mac and I had a wonderful day in the autumn sunshine on the first day of the pheasant shoot. All of the other beaters' dogs are labradors or spaniels but he performed well, didn't go too far away and came back when called. I look forward to being able to take Lyra next year and have had a kind offer from one of the pickers up to go to him for some help with her training.

Mac has flaked out after a hard day's work.

My gorgeous dogs

2008-10-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

Mac the Shetland sheepdog when he came home in April 2007 and him now, all grown up.

Lyra the sprocker when she came home in May 2008 and with friend Mac a couple of months later.

Lyra September 2008 with a bloody mouth after chasing pheasants through the woods.

Some Bags

2008-10-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've been making a few bags as well as quilts. They are quicker to do and come in useful as well. What I'd really like is to make a load and find some sort of outlet for selling them.

Quilts so far in 2008

2008-10-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

This quilt was designed using EQ6 and is hand pieced and hand quilted. The central dahlia has over 120 pieces and I don't think I'll be making one of those again!

I made it for my daughter earlier this year and it won second prize in the Winchcombe Country Show in August.
This quilt top is ready to be wadded and backed and is to go on the back of a settee and be used to snuggle up under when watching TV.

I made this on a machine and will have a go at machine quilting once it is sandwiched together.

This is an image of the design from EQ6 and another picture of the quilt.