Christmas Lull

I call this the Christmas Lull as it's the bit between Christmas and the New Year, the time to sort out your sewing projects, tidy up the sewing room, work out what you are going to make for who's birthday etc. As you know I tidied up my sewing room before Christmas, so I guess I am feeling a little smug. I now know where every thing is and I have found all those missing things I was looking for.

Firstly, I must show you a wonderful photo of a Nativity scene my friend sent me that she had made, it is all edible. It is just lovely, she is so clever, her sewing is wonderful too.

Alison's Nativity 

Me, I have been doing my Tax returns and I am happy to say they are finished and it only took me two days this time.

My next job is also a job I hate doing. I have designed a little wall hanging that the magazine Fabrications Quilting for you want to buy, which I am well pleased about of course. It is lovely seeing 

your work in print. However,  now I have to write the instructions, yuck!

 I gaily make things up as I go along, until I think it looks good,.This is a corner of the said wall hanging. I can not show all of it to you as the whole design will become Fabrications. If I ever get around to writing the instructions.!

In between times I have been making up my little log cabin blocks, 40 have been made so far. They are laid out on the spare room bed and every time I pass them, I rearrange them. Bit like a design wall really and I think they are looking good. Only another 41 to go.

 I have made up my 12inch star block with some scraps from our friendship quilt, I found a good tutorial for an eight pointed Twirling star by Edyta Sitar on The Quilt Show projects page, and as I have never made a good 8 pointed star, thought I would give it a go. Not perfect but very nearly, might have to try another one. I have marked up the quiltings lines and now have to quilt it.

I have only one quilting resolution for 2013 and that is to finish up some of my UFO or WIP's as some people call them. They are all in separate boxes waiting for me. Oh joy!!!!

Happy New Year to all the people who read this blog

Keep Safe and Keep Stitching........... Doti.

Merry Christmas

I do hope all my readers of this blog are having a great Christmas especially my recent readers from Poland and Latvia. Welcome! I am having a very quiet and peaceful one. Our family is very widely spread so this year instead of traveling we have stayed at home. We are very cosy with our log fire and have ventured out only to go to Church and to take the dogs for their walks, and also to feed the birds.

Mystery Button Club quilt

I have done very little sewing, though I did finish quilting my mystery button club quilt designed by +Lynette Anderson.  I am very pleased with it, though looking very closely at this photo of it, I see the squirrel button is on the wander, or is he chasing the bee?

We are only having cold meat and pickles today for lunch, so not a lot of cooking to be done. I hope to get on with sewing some more of these tiny log cabin blocks. I have not made log cabin blocks for over 20 years, but this is to be a quilt for my youngest son who loves log cabin Quilts. I must say they are fun to make, forgotten how easy they are, though I have given myself a task as I am making them very small (9" finished size) so I have to make 80 something to get anywhere near a good size quilt. 

The start of my log cabin blocks

I started writing this blog the 30th July 2012 and written 39 posts in all. It has been viewed 1,962 times from people as far away as Venezuela, China and Russia and of course Europe. Out of all those viewings only 31 have commented. Please, when you stop by, say hello.

Merry Christmas to you all.

keep safe and keep stitching...........Doti.. 

Quilting Bee

This was our last visit to the Bee before Christmas. A fun time was had as mulled wine, mince pies and sausage rolls were the order of the day. Only eight of us were there as the others had other commitments, Christmas being so near, we did however get some sewing done. I was quilting my Lynette Anderson button club quilt. This has been a fun quilt to make and I am pleased it is coming near to the end now, just a small amount of quilting to do and then the binding. I will put up pictures when finished, I do hope to get it finished before the New Year. 

Enjoying mugs of mulled wine

Jenny with her Christmas table runner

This is Jenny with her lovely table runner she designed, the rest of the girls were putting sleeves on wall hangings, making tree decorations and finishing off presents.

As you know from reading previous blogs I am often known to go off at a tangent, and this happened this week. I saw this lovely bunny and just had to make her, so here she is in all her glory. What am I going to do with her, you may well ask. I do not know but for now she can sit by my sewing machine and keep me company.

To all my readers where ever you are in the world, I hope you have a lovely Christmas.

Keep safe and keep stitching......Doti

Friendship Quilts

Early in the year,11 friends from our Wednesday Club Quilting group, which is as you know held at Quilters Haven  decided to make a friendship quilt. We chose a line of fabric called Olivia from QH.We each had to make 12 blocks all the same and 

that was the boring bit.

Ann's lap quilt

 A date was set when your 12 blocks were to be finished, and all  blocks were duly swapped. So we ended up with 11 different blocks and an extra one of our own. Now we had till December to sew them all together however we wished.  

Maggie's lap quilt

Fiona's table Topper

Alison's  Quilt

 Lap quilts , table toppers, bed throws etc were all duly put together in secret at home , and the great reveal was at our end of year party. This is just a few of them. Some were not quite finished and I don't have photos of all of them, sorry girls. 

My Quilt

This was great fun to do and I for one love my quilt, and shall cuddle up under it often. As I look at each block I think fondly of the friends that made it.

Our next years project will be a lot easier.We have decided to make only one 12" block each and the theme is Stars, the fabric to be used is scraps from this years friendship quilts, (my we are being green.) 

I think we have till Easter , and then some one will be nominated to sew it together.

 It will then go to  the Linus Charity.

Keep safe and keep stitching........ Doti

Whoopee !

I have had a pattern published in this months Fabrications Quilting for You magazine. It is the second time they have featured one of my designs. Sorry I have not taken a very good photo, but it looks good in the magazine.

My stitchery sampler

I have hung my garland of Snow Men and Hearts up in one of the windows of my sewing room.

They are looking good,even though the window bars always seem to be in the wrong place, and the poor snow man sitting on his wreath does not know which side to look out from. The Christmas tree is up in the front window of my sewing room , but the photo does not do it justice.Will have to wait till it gets dark. 

side window of my sewing room

snowy scene under my tree

Mmmmmm. Am I just beginning to feel a tiny little bit Christmassy ?

keep safe and keep stitching....... Doti

What a busy time

Oh ! I have been busy since my last post, I had a blitz on my fabric stash and I can't resist showing you a couple of my drawers. I have 17 drawers in all. Full of tidy fabric, and believe me it feels great.

I  have two large scrap crates but  I am not showing you those.They never seem to go down and I always make one quilt a year from them for charity. I seem to add to them faster than I use up my scraps.

I finished all the socks I was knitting and now have to parcel them up.

 I also finished my snow man garland from Mandy Shaw's class. I am well pleased with them though I added little hats as they looked cold. Ha! Also I made my secret santa gift, from Joanna Figueroa book With Fabric and Thread. I have been meaning to make one of these for ages.

So all in all I had a productive as well as busy time. This weekend we always put up our Christmas tree, so I lose part of my sewing space as the tree goes up in the window.

Keep safe and keep stitching.....Doti...

Knitting

Well everyone, I have had to stop sewing and get on with my annual sock knitting or my children will not get their christmas pressies now only one more pair to go. I do like knitting socks. That and shawls and scarfs are about the only things I knit now. Gone are the days of always having a jumper on the go.

love these colourful socks 

 I buy this lovely sock wool from Anj of Meadow Yarns. She is part of my knitting group and we meet up at Mains restaurant in Yoxford weekly, though I mainly go in the summer as

 I do not like driving at night.

When we were at Wednesday Club at Quilters Haven this week a lady came in to ask how to put a sleeve on her  first quilt. She wanted to hang it on a wall. Below are two pictures of her quilt. It took her seven years to make and just took your breath away. It was all made by hand, even the quilting. She did however, buy herself a Bernina sewing machine before she left. Now that is one lady that deserves a Bernina sewing machine!

This is just part of it.

close up of one block

It made me think of my first quilt. It was a bed quilt and I too made it all by hand by English paper piecing. Though it is no longer in use I still have it and look on it fondly sometimes, all the little 

hexagons were recycled fabrics and its fun to remember where or who's dress or shirt they came from.

I have the urge to sort out all my fabrics, UFO etc and as you know this does not happen very often so I had better get busy before the urge leaves me.

Keep safe and keep stitching.......Doti... 

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Workshop with Mandy Shaw

As I said in my last blog I took a workshop with Mandy Shaw. My! what a fun lady. 

The only way to describe the workshop was fast and furious, but above all fun. We laughed all day long and made an incredible amount of different things.

This was what greeted us on the classroom wall on arrival, so many lovely Christmas decorations. I would have needed one of those cameras that piece photos together to get it all in.

Mandy's designs.

The little angel on the left was just adorable,and though my youngest grand daughter is getting a bit big for dolls I had to buy the pattern. I reckon I will just have to make her for me, she was so cute with her big feet and raggedy dress.

 Now I am home I am going to make a garland of snowmen and hearts to hang up for Christmas, and some more of the lovely little stockings. Or I might just make lots of reindeers or robins, who can tell.

 I will let you know in a later blog.

My, that was such a fun day.

Things I made in the class.

Keep safe and keep stitching....Doti.....

Tidying up my Blog

Looking over my blog posts for the past couple of weeks I seem to be flitting about somewhat, so I thought I had better tidy up a bit.

The lovely silver thread that I had to send to the USA worked out at £7.59 a skein after customs and the post office had added their bits on. So is now very precious. I have whip stitched over my elves beards to make them more visible and yes they are now looking good.

Does my beard look good in this.

Completed top.

The top is now finished and now the dilemma is how do I quilt it. I hung it on the wall at Wednesday Club and the girls all made lots of suggestions.  Its now hanging on my design wall and I have been looking at it every day but nothing has come to me as yet. It's just not talking to me.

 Sorry about the bad photo.

Talking of Wednesday Club, several weeks ago I said the lovely Ann was making tree skirts. Well they were not tree skirts at all, they were table centres and they are lovely.

Ann's appliqué table centre

One of Mandy's Book's

On friday Alison, Jenny and myself did a days workshop with Mandy Shaw at Quilters Haven.

 Oh! my, what a wonderful, wonderful day. She is so energetic and we worked from her book 

"Stitch with love."making the most lovely Christmas decorations. 

These will have to wait till my next  blog post as I now have to go make sunday lunch.

Keep safe and keep stitching........Doti...

Still Playing

I did do the stitchery on the bird house and the leaves.

Then marked the quilting lines, basted the little quilt with wadding and backing.

And so to bed.

It's a dreadful day,all overcast and grey so I am going to sit by the fire and quilt my little quilt, not feeling guilty at all, the garden can wait for another day.

I attached little corners for the hanging rod to fit in. Now just the binding to do.

little quilt finished ! 

I am so pleased with this little Quilt and will find a special place to hang it this Christmas, 

from a little drawing to a finished quilt, it's been lots of fun.

Keep safe and keep stitching ....Doti....

A little Christmas thingee

This all started with a little drawing and me wondering what to do with it. 

So I made a very small quilt, more like a block really 12" x 15"

                              with some fairly neutral scraps that I had. Now what do I do.
                                                               Stitchery or appliqué ?

I decided on appliqué, so after rummaging around in the scrap boxes, this is what I came up with. Not there yet I thought. Now what does it need?

Some more appliqué I think,.Yes it's getting there,

Well the little quilt has been on the design wall all night, so I looked at it with fresh eyes this morning. Definitely not there yet. There is some stitchery to do on the bird house and the leaves. I will do that first and then see what it looks like.

As usual I have gone off at a tangent. Did I do the stitchery on the little bird house? No...... I filled in some of the negative spaces with stitchery, as you do, so I still have the stitchery on the bird house and the appliqué leaves to do, but at last I think it is getting there  Ha!

To be continued when I have done said stitchery.

Keep safe and keep stitching.... Doti...

Wednesday's here again

                    Hi every body. Well I made the shop window at Quilters Haven or should I say Elfin Patch quilts did,also my Seaside Sampler, they were all looking very smart in the autumn sunshine. These are the first two designs that Karin from Quilters Haven and I have collaborated on, I design the quilts and she writes the instructions 

(I do hate writing instructions)  

                            Well it was Wednesday Club and there were not a lot of us there.We should rename it stitchery club as only three people had brought their sewing machines, the rest of us were doing things to do with stitchery. I have finally put a sleeve on my Lynette Anderson Christmas quilt of two years ago, and will now give it to my two youngest grandchildren for Christmas.

My finished Quilt

This is my favourite panel

This little panel always makes me smile, its just so funny and I might just make this one again for myself to hang up at Christmas.I have so many things to do on my to do list, that it might not be this Christmas ha!

I spent the rest of the day hand quilting another Elfin Patch quilt that I am designing, possibly for Karin, it's still secret so I can't show you yet.

Jan's Stitchery Pillows

Jan was working on some stitchery pillows, the Red Work bunnies were from Bird Brain Designs 

I have used lots of their patterns and their site has lots of free downloads too. Well worth a visit.

I had a bit if a shock today, I ordered some Cosmos silver thread from Crab.apple Hill, as I could not get it here in the UK, they were $6  a skein, and I ordered six, the postage was $17 and then would you believe it, I got hit by customs and then the British Post office handling fee £12.49p. These six skeins have cost me a fortune, I do hope they look GOOD on the Christmas quilt I am doing. It's for the elves beards. Will share picture with you when it is finished.

Keep safe and keep stitching...... Doti....

Wednesday Quilting at the Bee

Quilting at the Bee is a joy, we go there when we are not at Wednesday Club, which is as you know is at Quilters Haven. It is a hall belonging to the Church at Wickham Market, and not any old church hall I might say, it is bright, light and above all warm. We all sit around a large table, and do hand sewing, a bit like the old fashioned Quilting bees. It is continuous laughter from 10.30 till 3.30, but we do get some sewing done. Three of us were working on our Lynette Anderson button club BOM. and you will be pleased to know I have been very busy and caught up, there is just one month to go.  

Allison's so far

Jenny's so far

Mine so far

Fiona was working on a lovely embroidery of cow parsley or the much nicer name Queen Ann's lace, sorry no photo. She also brought to show and tell the lovely quilt she had just finished for her nephew. 

Fiona's Quilt

Annie was working on some tiny English paper piecing to match her lovely bed quilt.,Ann on her Xmas tree skirts (they are looking great,) Maggie was making another Pesky Bag for her stall for the church sale and Jean was knitting. Her knitting is so neat, my knitting consists mainly of knitting socks for the family and the occasional scarf.

I know this sounds like a long list of names but lets face it I can't leave any one out.

 We laughed so much and mostly at poor Jenny and her wonderful knitted hat, unfortunately the photos of this wonderful hat, are so poor,(my fault), you are going to have to take my word for it.

keep safe and keep stitching...Doti..

Getting started again

This little bag has been all the way to Key West and not even been opened, it has my Fern Hill BOM all the threads, yoyo's and bias strips needed to almost finish it. but sadly it languished in all the heat while I had lots of fun.

Fern Hill button Club Mystery Quilt

It has at last been opened, quilt spread out and I do intend to get on with it today as there is only one more month to go, and I really do want to keep up to date.

Coming from the heat of Key West back to England has been a bit of a shock, and I don't feel much like moving far from the fire, plus we are still a little jet lagged. I know this sounds like an excuse. No it's not, I have tidied the sewing room, and am now ready to get started again..

 P.s. I am amazed at the amount of people that view this little blog and the places they come from Latvia,Ukraine, Germany,France, Australia, USA, Canada to name but a few, I love it but I do wish people would add a comment sometimes.

keep safe and keep stitching.....Doti..