Feathers and Small Quilts

Look  !!  Not only a finish, but my first quilt with free motion feathers !

From this book , it's just 39 inches square, but I am  thrilled with the way it has turned out !  The feathers are from this  DVD  by Patsy Thompson, who's method  I've found the easiest to master.  I am so pleased with myself that I'll even show you the back as long as you promise not to laugh at my 'swirls' - more practice needed there me thinks :-)

Not perfect I know, but not too bad for a first attempt either (even though I says it as shouldn't !)

Moving on, some while ago I joined this Yahoo Group  dedicated to making small quilts and recent I joined their first quilt swap  .  My partner Tricia  (no blog) from Michigan said that her favourites were autumn colours and purple, this is what I made for her

Measuring 16" x 24" , finished block size 4", containing 47 different fabrics not counting the neutrals - I was gutted when I discovered I had duplicated one colour, but by then it was too late to  do anything about it .  This is the  lovely little quilt I received in exchange which  is Tricia's first swap quilt

So to finish, the same Group also issued a Red & White quilt challenge a couple of weeks ago and here's my entry , just 15 inches square.

 ...and look !!  More feathers !

Where Did It Go ??

September that is -  it seems to have passed by this corner of the world without a whisper, or so it seems ! 

Perhaps it had something to do with DH going into hospital for his knee job at the start of the month for 10 days, followed by another 15 days filled with a parade of  hyperdermic-wielding nurses twice a day.  Not too bad you might think, except that the morning visit was 6.30 every single morning - but then I shouldn't really complain as it wasn't my nether regions they were playing darts with  : )

Add to this mix physio for the patient 3 times a week and throw in a couple of visits from our GP for good taste , can you wonder that September is just a vague memory ?  I feel exhausted just writing about it all!

Thankfully things are getting back to what passes for normal, DH is hobbling around without falling over his crutches, doctors and nurses have left to help others and only the physio is ongoing, so good job done by all!

In the middle of all this, I did manage one finish

and another UFO for that drawer!

Not too bad all things considered.                                                                  

I have some more news to share on the sewing side of things, but will keep that for another post, for the moment it's just good to be back in Blogland!

Jinxed July !

July has been a strange kind of month .The weather has been the most unseasonable  we've had since we arrived in Brittany, staying wet and cold for most of the time.  The heating has been going just about every evening as the house has been so cold, and when it hasn't been raining, we've been plagued by those heavy grey skies that seem to be trying to push you into the ground !

On top of this there have been a number of minor domestic hiccups, like the new laptop playing up again and again, DVD recorder/player giving up the ghost and having to be replaced, moles digging up our lawn and mice eating all the roots on the runner beans - the one veggie we love and can't buy in France. The final straw was the oven door falling off in the middle of my cake bake to raise funds for the local Animal Welfare Charity !!  Needless to say I 'm very glad to see August and hope its going to be a better month weatherwise and less expensive !

All is not doom and gloom however,as I have not one but two finishes for July, so I'm still on course for one finish a month during 2011.

Firstly a sofa size Triple 4 Patch quilt,  which I just had to make after seeing several around and about Blogland.

My 'use it up' backing

During my holiday in June I was fortunate enough to meet up with a very talented quilter, Angelika, who doesn't have a Blog but if you're a member of BQL you'll know Angie!  Not only did she have some amazing (prize winning!) quilts to show me but she very generously shared some of her own designs with me and my second finish is one of Angie's beautiful Art Deco mini quilts.

It only measures 8" x 23" but I am very pleased with it as its my first attempt at stained glass quilting- will I use it again, well,  I do have a  second pattern which is a bit more intricate, but maybe I'll wait a little while until the tips of my fingers have recovered from a few close encounters with the iron fixing all that black binding  :-)

Still Here!

Where does the time fly to ? Maybe the reason the last couple of weeks passed in a blur had something to do with getting ready for an invasion of grandchildren followed by a great visit, followed by a not so great couple of days listening to the washing machine chuntering away getting all the extra linen washed ready for the next invasion - whew!!

These visits are very precious to us and it always takes a little while to get back into our routine again - 4 extra bodies around the place certainly calls for changes, but although peace has once again descended on Chez Nous,  I am not too sure that we like it very much at the moment. 

Not a great deal of time to spend stitching, as you can imagine, but I did manage 2 finishes

Scrappy Tumblers all finished and already claimed and on its way back to the UK with its new owner :-)

Soot & Ashes - at last something done with these blocks!  In the end I only used 9 blocks to make my own Red & White mini !

Although you can't see them I actually quilted mini feathers in the 4 plain blocks - they turned out to be 'acceptable' in the end, but - a lot more practice needed .  One day I might be brave enough to use a contrast colour instead of a blender :-)

That's it for June I'm afraid, as we are off on holiday the end of the week, so see you in July !!