Ooops!

Did you notice today's deliberate mistake?  Well, I managed to post with just this photo.....

 .....instead of saving it as a draft ! Sue spotted it and luckily was kind enough to leave a comment which made me realise what I had done - thank you Sue!  That'll teach me to pay more attention when I am 'clicking' :-)

As you will have guessed, my Pineapple quilt is finished.  I'd just put the last couple of stitches into finishing the binding before the wrist kicked in so at least I have one finish for March, but that's going to be it for the rest of the month.  Getting to the end of this one has been very slow and perhaps not helped by what was building up in my wrist and maybe all the pulling and pushing during the quilting didn't help matters either, who knows!  Whatever the problems though I think its been worth the struggle.

If you have a moment pop along and have a look at Sue's blog and read about the amazing new book she has written - I promise you won't be disappointed !

Still Here!

Update on the wrist is that - wait for it - I have gout! Well, a form of gout in as much as the problem is a build up of  crystals in the joint causing restricted movement and inflammation. Caused by a build up of uric acid in the body, these crystals can apparently attack any joint, not just the feet, and can also affect the kidneys, hence kidney stones.

The good news is that the pain is now bearable, the swelling has gone down and hopefully the crystals can be dispersed with medication.  Bad news is that I can't use my hand properly without the support, and this coupled with instructions to 'rest' the joint means still no sewing, but in comparison with all the other problems happening around the world, things aren't too bad really.

Glorious Spring sunshine has meant that even though my quilting passion can't be fed at least my other favourite pastime, walking, is keeping me sane :-)

Disaster !

Seems like the pains I've been complaining about in my wrists , the left one in particular, when quilting over the last couple of weeks, were something more sinister than just the usual arthritic aches and pains .

My left wrist has been getting progressively more painful over the last 2-3 days and when I woke got this morning, after a very disturbed night,my wrist was badly swollen , my hand curled up like a claw and  I was unable to open it!

An early emergency appointment with the GP resulted in a very painful exam, what felt like at least a litre of blood samples,  a very stinging jab in the rear end (!) to help with the pain, and my left wrist strapped up in one of  these

Mine is actually quite a fetching blue, this photo is from an advert,  as  I just can't manage to snap one handed - typing is difficult enough :-)

I've spent most of the day in a drug-enduced fug, but the pain has improved a lot. X-rays first thing tomorrow morning if the swelling has gone down enough, then back to the GP for all the results. In the meantime, please keep everything crossed that it is a short term condition , as the last thing I want to hear is that I won't be able to use my hand for weeks!!

Weather Check

We have had the most glorious weather over this last week  - lovely sunny days but keeping a bit cold thanks to the North wind that's been blowing around the place.  Today though the wind has dropped and this afternoon it feels almost like Summer with temperatures around 14 C, positively T-shirt weather don't you think :-)

All around us Spring is working hard - everywhere you look there are clumps of daffodils

On banks, under trees and along the verges, and nestling not too far away some shy primroses

All the hedgerows are starting to bloom

and then there's forsythia in our neighbour's garden

Isn't this such a lovely stand of trees ?

Don't know what these fellows were up to,but there were rather a lot of them -  looking for lunch maybe ?

Not the clearest photo by any means, but it was a bit of a challenge trying to snap a flock of whirling birds!

So better days are definitely on the way, but before getting all excited about it and loosing the thermal undies - this is what we woke up to first thing this morning

A little reminder that Winter is still lurking there in the background after all!!

Dydd Gwyl Dewi

St David's Day, 1st March, a day of celebration for all sons and daughters of Wales no matter where they have wandered!

Isn't it strange that although many have travelled the globe throughout the ages and settled far and wide, 'home' is always 'home' with a special place in ours hearts and minds, and this family is no exception!

The house is full of bunches of daffodils, we are having leek soup with fresh French bread for lunch and tonight dinner with Welsh friends with cawl  and  'teisen lap' on the menu!  Lots of chat, laughter and 'hiraeth' guaranteed, and who knows maybe even a little singing :-)

Whilst  getting  links from Google, I came across a very good site about Wales if you're interested.  In case you don't have the time to visit,I thought these few facts were quite interesting. Whether they are all true or not I'll leave to better minds than mine to decide !

* The Captain of "The Mayflower" was born in Wales

* The world's first working steam locomotive ran on a nine mile stretch of track at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales in 1804. Richard Trevithick's four wheel engine hauled ten tons of iron and 70 people before the track plates broke under the weight !


* St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, was Welsh by birth (according to legend) !
( Patrick was born and was subsequently kidnapped from Banwen, Wales. - our own Patron is St. David )

* Mount Everest was named after a Brecon man !

*The first game of lawn tennis was played in 1873 at Nantclwyd Hall, Clwyd, North Wales !

* A Welsh mathematician, from Tenby, invented the "equals" sign =

* The first place of Christian worship in U.K. was Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and similarly the first UK Cathedral was St. David's, Pembrokeshire, Wales

* The Welsh invented the longbow - the world's first armour piercing weapon.Welsh longbow men were feared throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.

* The northern hemisphere's longest place name is located on the Isle of Anglesey, northern Wales.The town is called:

 Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

* Up to half the signatories to the U.S. Declaration of Independence had Welsh ancestry, including Thomas Jefferson !

One last item that isn't mentioned on the website is that Wales gave us
'Myfanwy' , the one of greatest love song ever written in my opinion, and it always brings a lump to my throat.

February Update

Being away from home means not a great deal has been done on the sewing side of life.

Quilting the Pineapple top has taken a great deal longer than I thought it would, not only because of my wanderings, but it also because it has become a battle of wills between me and the quilt top!!  Until now I seem to have been the loser, but finally I can see an end to it all!  The sheer size of the quilt has made it almost impossible to feed through the throat of my machine as most of the quilting has been on the diagonal, and all the pulling and tugging causes the arthritis in my hands to flare up, so it's been a very slow process!

I think that perhaps 'straight lines' was not the most intellegent choice of quilting for something this size as I've ended up with quite a lot of  rather wonky lines , but they are my wonky lines and.......they are all finished ! Just the borders left to do so hopefully it'll be done in next couple of days and then there'll only be a trillion or so threads to bury and the binding to get on with!

All things considered, my target of one finish a month was disappearing fast,so I took some time out and finished another  UFO -  small yes, but at least I have a finish for February :-)

My mini quilt version of  Kelly's Flower Garden Pillow.

You can find the tutorial on Kelly's blog if you're interested.Can't remember how long this one has been hiding in the cupboard, but the date on the tute will give you some idea:-)

I'm also adding a couple more items to Myra's PhD Challenge as I need to tackle something smaller and easier to finish in March after  all the push and shove lately, so, remember this post ?  Well, not long after, DGD decided that the bedroom was not to her liking and it changed it to pink!  D9P really did  disappear into the cupboard and there it has stayed. I'm hoping to finish it in the next couple of weeks as its on a promise to Project Linus! 

Next it's to do something with these - Soot & Ashes by Cheri

I did finish all 15 blocks, put them together as per the instructions, didn't like it, so I took them apart - as one does!  Time they went back together again I think!!

Been A-wanderin'

But I'm back now!

I'm afraid I've had a touch of February-itis and enough of the grey, dismal weather that's the main cause of it, so we've been across to the UK to annoy as many of our children as we possibly could :-)

Seeing the grandchildren is always a pleasure as is spending lots of money ,until the bank statement arrives that is, but, as always, its good to be back in our own home.

The grey dismal weather is still lurking unfortunately, but Spring is trying hard to take charge.  Temperatures seem a lot milder, even the rain feels warmer (!) and look what is hapening in the garden!

Beautiful 'Lambs Tails' catkins dancing around on the Knarled Hazel bush

A few shy Camellias peeping through, and, just in time for St David's Day

Miniature daffodils nestling among the new Geranium leaves  - better days must be on the way don't you think?

Mug Rug Swap

Yesterday my Mug Rugs arrived from my partner Tessa Mc Ardle (no Blog) in South Australia - didn't I do well? 

I have to show you the backs as well, as they are just as pretty as the fronts

Tessa sent other goodies too

A lovely sewing themed card , a notepad, bookmark and even a 'cup' of coffee - how good is that !  Thank you Tessa,I love the mug rugs -  you have been very generous!

Thanks also to Michele for organising the swap!

Another PhD!

One more flimsy to add to the list, and for me a complete change of colour choices :-)

Totally out of my comfort zone, but I thought it was time I tried my hand at a Black and White quilt, and this is the result.  I've been piecing it quietly over the last few weeks, fitting it in as and when between other projects and now it's ready for backing and quilting.

I haven't changed my allegiance to Reproduction fabrics though , how could I after seeing what Kathie has been making! I am a great fan of Kathie's work, and she has been very kind and helpful to me in the past.  It's thanks to Kathie that my Tumbler quilts (here)  were made and she was also a great help when I made my Civil War Diary blocks , which are still waiting to be sashed :-)

I just love this new quilt and have watched it coming together for days, so what else to do but make a few blocks to try

I think I'll carry on with the Courthouse Steps quilt  and keep the Barbara Brackman Civil War blocks for another time.  The blocks are getting more complicated as the weeks go on and really need to be paper pieced for complete accuracy, and as PP and I do not get along at all, it's best to admit this now rather than end up with more orphan blocks - maybe a bit later I'll feel differently.

Another reason is that, having seen the old post about my CWD blocks, guilt has reared its ugly head so maybe I should do something about these instead of  starting yet another new quilt :-)

Flying Start

I'm off to a flying start for February with 3 finishes already!

Number 1 - Tessellation doll quilt  quilted and binding done

In case you're wondering, the chair was made for DH when he was 2,  and ,  like him, it's  getting on a bit now :-)

Number 2 - DGD got herself a   RED  'beginner's sewing machine' for her  8th birthday on Christmas Eve ,  and is all ready to make her dollies some new clothes.We are due to see her and her new sewing machine on Sunday, so as well as a parcel of  goodies for her to play with, I made this mini Charmer tote bag  (Penny Sturgess pattern) to pack them in and maybe double as a work basket too.

Number 3 is another mug rug, which I can't show you yet, but I can show you this one which is the one that stayed at home!  I wasn't too happy with it in the end so decided to make an alternative to swap and keep the reject for myself :-)

Don't know why Blogger has turned the photo again!

Quilting on the Pineapples is on stop for the moment as my wrists have been aching so badly, but  I have finished all the white 'stars' and  5 of the coloured ones too, so another 7 to go plus the borders. If  I get the quilt totally finished by the end of the month I'll be more than  happy as we've a couple of busy weeks ahead and can't see much more getting done :-)

OPAM 2011

This year I'm joining in One Project A Month, hopefully to try and get a few more finishes this year!  I'd  really like to spend a little more time making something other than quilts, large or small, and maybe this challenge will encourage me to branch out a little.  I have a whole list of small projects I'd like to tackle but keeping putting off so now is the time to get started.

I'm well on the way with Myra's PhD Challenge with the second of my listed quilts being quilted at the moment and maybe - just maybe - I can squeeze in a couple more before the deadline in June, so between both challenges, I hope to be be sewing up a storm :-)  

Slow Progress

 Finally I've got up the courage to make a start on my Pineapple quilt!  It's been backed for a couple of weeks now but I still couldn't make my mind up on how to quilt it but eventually decided that 'less is best' and just follow some of the straight lines.   This turned out to be a good decision as once under my machine it seemed even larger than I originally thought  !

I also decided to use the Janome as its a long time since it's seem the light of day. I just can't seem get as good results  with my FMQ on this machine as with the Bernina but its OK for everything else, and for all Janome users  out there-  I am sure its me not the machine :-)

After two long sessions I have managed to get all the anchoring lines done and have just 2 rows to finish on the white sections, but today it's back to some gentle piecing as both my right arm and shoulder are suffering
from wrestling with this monster!  I think that finishing this quilting is going to a slow process, as little and often seems to be the best way of tackling it without disabling my right arm :-)

My Mug Rugs are finished and ready to go to my partner in ...? and as its a secret swap, this is the best I can do for a sneak peek

 I  don't think I've given too much away do you ?

Been Playing Again

I've often looked at Tessellation quilts and wondered at the way they go together and how difficult it would be, so over the weekend I decided to have a try and see if I could work it out from a photo - Voila!

Another little quilt just under 12" x 16" and in need of a good press. (it does lie flat in real life - honest!) It took me a little while to work out the angles etc but it went together OK in the end.

I must say this about quilting, tackling  projects like this certainly keeps the old brain ticking over, and it looks like Lucy Doll has another quilt in the pipeline !

Bad Blogger!

Yes, I'm afraid I'm turning in to a very bad blogger indeed  -not only is my blog turning into a weekly event , but I also keep forgetting to tell you what's going on in Blogland.

I didn't mention this

                                                               


over at Quilting Gallery , not that I  think this was very serious as even without my help (!) there are 330 participants from 25 countries, now you can't get more international than that!

What A Week!

It's been one of those weeks when I haven't time to catch my breathe, but I've got very little to show for it! Most of the time has been taken up with visits to the vet both planned and not planned!

First off it was time for William's annual jabs and a follow up x-ray after the scare we had following his last stay at the cattery.  Don't think I blogged  about it, but he was a very poorly cat having contracted a virus there which affected his lungs.  This has now cleared up, but two days later my poor little cat was attacked by one of these

Coypus ,  which are in the stream at the bottom of the village - well, I think that's what they are and they are HUGE!  The local farmers lay traps for them because they are very destructive, but there are still plenty around , I saw 2 just the other day when I was crossing the  bridge.

After all the rain we've had lately  the drainage ditches,  which abound around the fields and roads in Brittany, are full to brimming and I think Will must have fallen into the ditch at the bottom of the garden and was very unlucky that Mr Nasty was around too!  This is the only explanation we can come up with as he was very, very wet and covered in mud when he came home and there are no other cats in the vicinity that might have attacked him.  Thankfully,  his rabies injections are up to date, but he still had a huge abscess and nasty cuts on his rear end which have needed treatment consisting of several visits to the vet.

I do have one (small) finish to show - one of my Christmas presents was this book

and I used some of my scraps to make this little quilt

which is just right for Lucy !

There is a story about  Lucy, but that'll have to wait for another time :-)

Every Cloud....

...has a silver lining!  Well, that's how the saying goes and it's certainly true about the last number of days when it has rained & rained and rained! Because the weather has been so dismal there has been nothing to do except sew, sew, sew and now I have my first finish for 2010!

 

Scrappy Sister's Choice all quilted and bound - first UFO off the list and also my first quilt without a single stipple stitch in it !  I've quilted the blocks with a kind of 'flower' motifs out from the Pajama Quilter DVD/workbook- they don't quite look like Dawn's but not too bad.  Border 1 has a vine of small leaves,  and border 2 is a combination of  flowers, leaves and ribbons would you believe!  Probably not the best quilting you've ever seen, but on reflection no worse than my stippling was when I started and that's quite reasonable now so maybe if I keep practicing...............?

Block 2 of the Civil War quilt is up if you are taking part, - here's mine

I do wish I could take 'square' photos then my blocks would look square too, maybe it's time to nag DH again about the promised portable design wall .

I got so carried away with the first block on Barbara Brackman's blog  last week that I failed to register that the book she is referring to was on my bookcase

Needless to say it's not longer on the shelf but being  perused with more attention than the last time around :-)

Couldn't Resist!

How could I possible not join in the Civil War Quilt block a week being offered by Barbara Brackman on her new Blog ? Even if you are not a fan of Reproduction fabrics, I am sure it will make a lovely sampler quilt - me, well it's no surprise to hear that I'll be sticking with the original theme:-)

Block 1 - Catch Me If You Can

I've just realised that I didn't post a photo of my last finished  for 2010

My Half Hexagons -  I finally finished the binding just before Christmas! My excuse for taking so long with the hand stitching is that I did get a bit sidetracked during the build up to the holiday with bits and bobs for the grandchildren and what seemed like endless stockings to sell at my Cat Charity Christmas Fayre - but done it is now !

Happy New Year!

                                                                      

May all your dreams come true in 2011!

'Tis the Season!

Time for the last minute shopping, wrapping the last few presents, worrying if everything will fit into the oven and more importantly - be cooked at the same time!  Wondering who's will be the last Christmas card to arrive - always the person you missed off the list and now it's too late to do anything about it !

I wish I was one of those  people who can get everything lined up in time and then forget about things, but its never going to be that way so this Christmas will be the same as all the others - stressful, tiring and totally disorganised, but great fun just the same!

Whichever category your Christmas falls into, may it be peaceful and joyful.  May you keep safe, well and warm and,  however you choose to celebrate, enjoy the day to the full !

Taking Up A Challenge

Tucked away under my work table I have a box whose contents rarely see the light of day once they disappear under the lid.  Its the kind of box that I am sure every quilter has and just in case I should forget what's inside, it has a label that says - you've guessed it - UFOs!!

Try as I might, I cannot reduce the number of items lurking inside, in fact I am convinced they multiple without any help from me , so when I came across Myra's PhD Challenge it sounded like just the push I could do with to get stuck into finishing some of these projects!

 I've committed to finishing at least three items with perhaps (!) another three smaller projects thrown in, but this will depend on what life sends my way over the coming 6 months :-)

For starters though finishing these would be great

My  smaller version of Bonnie Hunter's Sister's Choice pattern , a long time quilt -in- waiting !

Windham Fabrics pattern  Old Virginia Calicos , with a slight colour change on the border as I messed up cutting one of the fabrics (!)  This is probably my oldest UFO and it's well passed its 'should be finished' date!

Number 3 really needs to be this one as I so want to get it done, but just can't make my mind up how to quilt it - any suggestions , nothing too complicated mind !!

So, if you have any UFOs that need a little push - come on along and join in the fun!