Mixed Bag

Firstly, a little of sewing , just to proove that I haven't been spending all my time gadding around the French countryside !!

A finish - Chunky Churndashes!!

Well, ready for quilting at least ! This is the third quilt I've made from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site and I've been very pleased with all of them ! My first was the Scrappy Bargello, which now resides with DS1, then the alternative setting Pineapple Blossom which you can see here , and now the Churndashes, so I certainly have a lot to thank Bonnie for . Now to try and get it quilted and the binding on next week !!

An Addition!

Two more borders on the medallion flimsy !

It is starting to look a lot better now ! Next step is 80 Flying Geese !! I wish I could take better photos of these quilts , they are just becoming too big (!) , but I am sure you get the idea !

And some information for anyone looking something to do during the next few weeks (LOL!!) - have a look at this site and the wonderful free workshops that are being offered , there is something for everyone. I promise you it has to be worth a visit ! There is also a logo if you'd like to grab it .

Going.....Going...

..on its way in tomorrow's post to its new home, my 'Summer' quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. With the previous two swaps, I've waited until they've arrived at their destinations before posting a photo, but it seems that the secrecy thing isn't too important in this swap, so this is my little offering

Again colours out of my comfort zone, but I am please with the way its turned out , in fact , I think I could live with it myself !!

Another two borders have gone on to the medallion quilt, no problems so far this time thankfully !!

Sorry the photo is not very good, but this was the only way I could do it. Its getting too big to photograph on a work top so the other alternative is to take it outside but.... not today I am afraid as the weather is atrocious!!! We seem to have gone backwards into winter with heavy rain and gale force winds, just unbelievable!! I think I will leave it for a day or two now as I need to get some FPCs made for my July swaps before the end of the week.

Tomorrow, our ancient Land Rover will also be going - for some very necessary repairs to her rusty bits. She is the 'other woman' in DH's life, and at 28 years old, a lot younger than I am (LOL !!) but as I keep telling him at least I don't have a rusty bottom !!!!

Problem Solved !

Well, the wedding certainly went off very well yesterday if the noise was anything to go by !!! We are only a very small village, more of a hamlet really as there are only 11 occupied houses, so everyone got to join in the later celebrations !!! Our contribution of a bottle of champagne didn't go very far between some 50 people !!! The weather was not too unkind, rather fresh but at least the rain kept off, and when we went to bed around midnight the party was still swinging , so no bets being taken on the number of sore heads this morning !!!

Remember the problem I had with the Medallion top (posted here ), well I never did get a reply from Quilting Treasures other than an acknowledgement, so I thought I'd best sort it out myself ! After hours of trying out the piecing on scraps and with the needle on the Bernina swinging from side to side like the pendulum on a Grandfather clock (!!) trying to get it right, I eventually managed this

Not perfect, but done !! To say that the seam allowance is a 'scant' 1/4 is stretching the imagination somewhat (LOL!), but it did work out at last and at least I can now get on with the next round ! The problem must have had something to do with the bulk of all the seams on this border, which didn't show up when I tried the pattern out on paper, so lesson learnt - again !!! What I really need to stop me getting into this kind of situation again, is to find the 'pantomime' audience participation voice. You know the one I mean, the one that warns the character when something devious is going on behind their back? If I could only tap into this, then next time I get carried away when I see something and think 'I can do that!', it could shout back at me very loudly ' Oh no you can't !!!'

This week Civil War Diaries blocks

Sugar Cane (CWD)

Gloomy Prospects (LL)

By the look of today's skies, heavy & grey , we are in for some bad weather. The wind has picked up in the last half hour too, always a bad sign (!) so looks like I will just have to spend some time sewing again - Oh Dear!! What a chore !!!!

Finally, the Diet !! This week I've managed to weigh in 5 lbs lighter than last !! Now if I could achieve this every week, then this could be the shortest diet of my life! We all know this won't happen though , the first week being the time when our bodies loose any retained water - and believe me this is exactly what has happened (VBG) I will be very happy to settle for 1 - 2 lbs a week in future - but time will tell !!!