Friday 23 December 2011

A Shepherd's Convention???

There's a collection of shepherds crooks and walking sticks left at my front door, I think the shepherds are having a meeting to see who gets Saturday night off?










Of course this is my DH's stick collection but this one is my favourite, carved from burr elm.....it was a Christmas gift a few years ago.


Monday 19 December 2011

Handy Andy!

My new customer is a really handy lady, all of Margaret's quilts are hand pieced beautifully...because of this we chose simple quilting so as not to overpower the charm of her quilts.



This one really matches the colour scheme of my room......



The next two are '10 minute wonder' quilts





I have to add that some Longarmers may have continued there overall/pantograph pattern and quilted over these 3D medallions, even though it is more time consuming there is no way I could do that, I needed to make a feature of them!



All done and actually already delivered!

Saturday 17 December 2011

A bit of company.....

It's nice to have a bit of company sometimes when you are quilting.....


Meet 'Red' the Red Admiral....





I like to see butterflies on quilts but I don't really want to attach a real one....sometimes he gets so close to the needle I'm scared I'm going to stitch him in ....of course he's trying to get under the lights of my longarm.....he should really be finding a nice dark corner here in my studio to sleep in for the winter.


Sunday 11 December 2011

Merry Christmas Everyone.....


A Christmas message for you all!


Friends Across the Ocean!

Remember these? These are my block swap blocks....the deal was pick one black with white fabric, one white with black fabric, and two bright fabrics......




These 2 x 30 sets of blocks flew off to to my friend Shannon in Atlanta, Georgia, Shannon sorted all of the Friendship Star blocks and I received these blocks in return....of course you all know these are 'friendship stars'.....


My blocks are in the four corners pulling it all together, borders added and quilted with a 'star burst' pantograph which blends right on in and is hidden....Hmmmm.....to me the quilting can be the best part of a quilt and it can't even be seen....'Oh Well'




I had a few blocks left over that were perfect for pillow shams.....






I set myself a few tasks to finish up some UFO's before the end of the year and here it is all finished at last from my 'Friends across the ocean!'

Can you see your blocks?




Update:- this quilt now lives in Scotland capital city of Edinburgh with my youngest Son....



Friday 9 December 2011

We are building a boat?

Two days ago these fields were under six inches of snow and it was difficult to travel into town....90 mile an hour winds along with torrential rain and a fast thaw mean the fields are now flooded along with my utility room...hey ho!




Sunday 4 December 2011

Invisible thread....Wow!

Honestly..... Wow.... I Stiched in the Ditch (SiD), the whole of this quilt with no thread breaks at all, not one! I usually use S's monopoly on my longarm but unfortunately had quite a few thread breaks so I recently purchased this Aurifil invisible thread, it's advertised as 'no break thread'. It's a 15000 metre cone so not exactly cheap, I wasn't pleased when I still had thread breaks but I thought I'd give it another try on this quilt. Once I realise I didn't need any kind of thread net, not even the more open plastic ones, it was a breeze, I just hope that I can find that sweet spot with the tension again next time???



Unfortunately you'll have to wait a little while to see this quilt finished as there is now another quilt on the frame that took precedence....'Thank goodness for Red Snappers!'

Thursday 1 December 2011

A few small finishes!




That's two Christmas wallhangings, two Christmas table mats, two pillow shams, and three cushions with quilted fronts and backs....and a partridge in a pear tree....lol....all of the cushions and the pillow shams are made up from either orphan blocks or pieces left over from quilts you have previously seen too, well except for one quilt which is still being bound.













OK, they are not all finished, I still have the binding to hand sew down on one cushion but it will get done tomorrow!