completed wall hanging,september hexie,cozy afternoon block cut.

I have been absent from blogging for a short while but now back and will try and catch up on your blogs but it takes so long when away from the computer for 2 weeks, please accept my apologies if I do not comment on everything.
I do not have much to share today but have completed the cat wall hanging,   not as in the pattern as I have used cat fabric in the 4 corner blocks rather than making star blocks. I am pleased with it,  have hand quilted cats around the border then machine quilted down and across the sashing and the border but left the embroidered blocks without quilting as the batting only needs quilting every 10".  Apologies for my shoes at the bottom of the photo!  Not sure what I will do with it as it is a bit big  to hang so at the moment it is thrown over the back of the couch.

Here is the hexie block for september    cannot decide what to do with these blocks as they are so big,  they should have been done as 3/4" hexies but I did 1" not so fiddly and I only had 1" papers. The hexies measure approx 16"

This is the 5th block for the cozy afternoon BOM waiting for the next set of instructions but all the embroidered blocks now done.  There was an applique version too and you could also use a patterned fabric for the centre, I choose the embroidery as I have not learnt applique yet,   another want to try on my list one day.

Harrogate quilt show

I enjoyed the quilt show last weekend so now sharing some photos with you

This is the overall winner,  I thought I had written down how many rosettes it won but seem to have mislaid it but there were at last 5

this one really caught my attention

Loving the colours here,  there was quite a bit of discussion re this one,  people either seemed to hate or love the colours    orange always draws my attention

a beautiful pictorial hanging

this one is a bit of fun    we all now how cats love their comfort

completed quilt, turtle screen cleaners and a flimsy

I have three things to share today but first a link,  I am hoping this will take you to see all the winning quilts at the FOQ show,  I know I shared a few with you all but these are the winners.

http://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/page.cfm/EMSLinkClick=14441_4406_4659_1170538_114952_316   hope this works, no doubt someone will let me know if I have done it wrong.

Now my completed quilt,  it is steps to the altar made from 980 2.5" squares.  plenty of cutting! the blocks are 14" square so measures 70" by 84"

I also have made some screen cleaners,  they are backed with fleece and seem to work,   a bit if fun and only take a few minutes to do I got the instructions for a  blogger who had made some.

  At last my little bunny BOM is assembled,  I have added lots of extra blocks so it is now 72" by 60".I dread the thought of trying to layer it up,  my kitchen floor is not big enough   well I do not have a space unless I do it in the sitting room and that is carpet so difficult to tape the backing down,  I have found since I discovered taping the backing it is easier to put the layers together, before that I kept having to redo my pinning as the backing was moving.Working on the floor is so difficult as I have a bit of arthritis on the knee,  also it is hard to get back up!!These quilt blocks were done in 2014 and have been in a box waiting to be made into the flimsy   hurrah   it is done!

I had 3 days at the quilt show in Harrogate,  photos to follow,  it is a much smaller show than the Birmingham one but still managed to spend too much money there,  fabric that I did not need but just felt compelled to buy!  I guess most of you can understand that   a weakness to quilters.

photos from the Festival of Quilts

Finally as promised I am uploading some photos from the Festival of Quilts,  hope you enjoy them

this is a 2 person quilt

There was a display of Alice in Wonderland quilts and this one really caught my eye,   still love the book!!

The next two were made by my friend Cherly

 


Such a peaceful scene, loved this one

This is a bit of fun

certainly plenty of HSTs here

What a show stopper,  a chess board that took 10 years to complete and was made by Mavis Walker

   This appealed as it was so colourful

This is the show winner   made by Janette Chilver    a beautiful quilt.

this is the binding on the winning quilt,   love the little scallop she put on prior to the binding   fascinating have not a clue how it as done

This Stonefields quilt was the visitors choice winner on the satuday,  not sure if it won everyday    what a beauty,  quite a few bloggers I follow are also making this quilt

This won the young quilter 5-8 group   such talent in one so young

This is the 12 - 16 age group winner    a real beauty.

I have also added a bright green 4" border to the cat wall hanging and this morning quilted the steps to heaven,  just the binding to do now  which |I hope to do monday   The quilting is slowly improving, just diagonal and straight lines following the squares.  Pictures will follow in the next blog

quilted shopper, cat wall hanging.cozy afternoon

I have a few things to share today, seem to be rather lazy in writing my blog but not in keeping up with the ones I follow.

I made this shopper to take to the quilt show as it is very roomy!  I used some of a jelly roll I got as a gift from Popular patchwork magazine,  not my fabric choice but it works well on the bag.

  

All 8 cat blocks are now done, corner blocks added and the sashing done,  now to decide on the 4" borders,  was thinking a darker orange but now not so sure,  will take it to my local shop today and pick there brains and see what they suggest. Back from the shop and have a bright green for the 4" border,  trust it works okay  maybe will get it done today though I need to get out and find backing for 4 flimsies,  need sheeting really so far not tracked any down as I do not want to piece the backing   far too complicated 

I have also done 4 cozy afternoon blocks so now caught up with the BOM,  quite   well no very pleased with how these have worked,  the last one was difficult to do but oh so worth it.  There is one more block to do which should be out next week




I even managed to make a paper foundation block,  used rubbish fabric as did not know what I was doing,  took me ages and still not really understanding how to do it but    well I have done a block,   pat on the back for me.






This blog was started 2 days ago but could not upload photos till today   lap top seems to be playing up since the windows 10 upgrade.

Will post the quilt show photos tomorrow if lap top allows.

august hexagon

I am home from my visit to Birmingham and the Festival of Quilts show.   So many quilts to see and admire   will be sharing some photos on my next blog,  need to sort through them all first.

Not much stitching done,   the august hexie I finished this morning

I signed up for the twinkle quilt along with zany quilter and made a trial block to see if I would manage them okay   What appealed to me is the sashing is done as you go adding 2 pieces to each block and like the flying geese that are different to any goose I have come across before..  I think I will do it in assorted fabrics rather doing all the blocks the same,  there are 5 different sizes to choose from so will see how I go on.  This one will not be used in my quilt   just a scrap one, I would never put these fabrics together normally.

I had a bit of a shock when I realised I had 10 projects on the go and far too many on the to do list and now this one is added along with the midnight mystery quilt and also the mystery quiltalong which is little houses that are not foundation paper pieced    so glad as I cannot get my head around paper piecing.   I must not forget I gave in and bought Lori Holt`s farm girl vintage quilt book as I have seen so many blocks on the internet and so wanted to have a go myself,   this is on hold for now though

cats, hexies and flimsies

I have not managed to complete anything these past few weeks,  seem to have too many projects on the go at once,  I am sure most of you have the same problem!

The cat wall hanging is progressing   4 new blocks stitched,

I have used a different perle thread for each block,  some have worked better than others, hoping when completed it will be okay otherwise I will restitch some of them,  3 more to go and then the patchwork blocks to make sashing and borders to do   followed by the dreaded quilting!

I have also done the july hexie for the BOM
sorry not too good a photo,  thought I had taken one with the camera but can`t find it,  this is on the tablet and still learning with that but can at least email ti to myself to download to the blog   must be learning something.

I took part in the littlebunnyquilts blog row by row quilt,  I did not do it till this week,  prefer to collect the BOM posts and save till I have them all,  not sure about it,  the sashing and borders should be done in the background fabric which is a white on white but of course did not read the instructions fully when cutting out the blocks. They were all cut out together but the sashing and borders should have been cut first,  serves me right not enough fabric as you had to cut 2 76" lengths. I had to buy more and the shop had sold out so got a new roll but it is a different white to the first,  not to worry we decided on the bright pink instead, I think it works okay. It measures 54" x 76". The colours are brighter than they look here, think the second row is too wishy washy and noticed a mistake in it, not sure if I will correct it will decide later when I get around to quilting it.

Now here is the steps to the altar   also on a flimsy stage . It measures 56" x 70". I am not planning on a border   to be honest not planning to do anything with it for now,   dread layering it up and quilting it.  When I was doing embroidery I would complete each project before starting anything new   how times have changed.

I also did the scrap vortex quilt with crazymoms blog,  what a great way to use up scraps   now I need more. This is made up by adding scraps to. scraps until I got a block about 12.5", it measures 60" square   I loved doing this and can see me cutting fabric into scraps to do more

Off to Birmingham on friday for 2 days for the Festival of Quilts. Was not planning to go this year but had a change of heart,  wish I could have gone for the 4 days but too pricey,  no plans to buy any fabric but would like to get the loc bloc rulers,  HST and flying goose which also works on square in a square,  aparently it is much quicker using them and I do not enjoy trimming HST blocks I always cut mine a little bigger to allow for errors! .Last year I left it till the last day and they had sold out.  Hopefully we will soon have a supplier in this country that sells them rather than waiting till they come over form USA for the show.

I have 2 more sets of blocks waiting to be joined into 2 quilts,  one a square in a square project and the other a disappearing nine patch with a pinwheel in one corner of each block

mug mats and assorted projects

We are having a mini heat wave here at the moment,   how I love the sun,  sitting out in it is my idea of bliss.  Fortunately I do not burn   having inherited my father`s Aussie genes,  mind you I would not want to work in this heat.  We have had 2 beautiful days and today seems glorious too,  thunderstorms are predicted for later today.  Helen and I are off to Roundhay Park for lunch and we will sit by the lake afterwards and feed the ducks with defrosted peas,  that is what they say we should use these days and no bread.   Have just spoken to Helen and change of plans,  we will go earlier and feed the ducks in the morning in case we have a storm,  suits me better I can come home and watch Wimbledon providing they do not get the storms, no that will be okay as they will just close the roof.
Not much in the way of finishes for you today spoI am adding some mug mats I made from the left over economy blocks.  I use one as a pad for my mouse for the lap top,  cannot cope with using the pad itself.

I am also working on a cat redwork wallhanging.  It has 8 different cat blocks,  I am doing them with assorted green perle cottons,  here is the first block I have done

Another project on the go is a steps to the altar quilt,  Each block has 49 2.5" squares in so had to cut out 980 in total! I have made 20 blocks but not joined them together yet,   seem to get to this stage and then no further.  Now have 4 in this state!  Not sure how I would manage without the kitchen floor to photo on!

Also cut out waiting to sew into blocks is the row by row quilt with littlebunnyquilts   and of course a lot more of   " I want to do projeccts"  in hand