Getting back to normal.......

Life is on the way to getting back to normal...at the end of the Easter break my Grandkids took advantage of the beautiful weather to ride the horses....Fieron was very brave and rode her Grandads bigger pony. Bess is about 14hh but is very gentle natured and has been out of work for a full year after her self harming accident last year. Kyle rode Tessa and hopes to ride her again for the coming 'rideouts' all being well and Mille escorted them riding Willow who is a young horse from my old mare Moth. Willow was just backed last year so lots of new and exciting experiences for her. The horses are still really unfit, holding onto their winter coats and all the mud caked into their feathers, that's all the hair around their hooves.

Well,  a bit of splashing really cleans up the feathers easily....

In between customer quilts and my other bigger project I wondered how small Quilt Path could quilt a continuous pantograph type design so put on a half hard of backing fabric and quilted up some fabric....

These small feathered leaf motifs are only an inch wide...

So with the fabric I'd quilted up I made a wallet style pouch ....then because you can't only make just one I made another three....just because....pockets front and back and ample room for your phone and some small change....

Spring is here....

Spring has finally arrived, I think.  We have had a really mild winter this year, too much rain but very little snow....trouble is this kind of warmer spring weather, (hard frosts in the morning and bright sunshine days), makes you a little complacent, next week could be back to cold sharp winds....

The sheep are lambing thick and fast, cows are calving and although there are always problems all seems right with the world outside.

Primroses

In my little bubble of a sewing room pantographs seemed to be the order of the month.  Well, I'm a little late to post these as some were quilted up last month.
Quilt Path has been quilting up a storm, it's good to be able to change up the density of the designs to suit my customers likes and needs.

This is a fun quilt for Carols Grandson, it was difficult to catch the quilting design against the busy fabrics, I used Dave Hudson's 'dinosaurs' pattern, lovely fabrics for a child's quilt.

Not to be left out this quilt is for Carol's DH, love this piecing design. Carol sent the tops and backing to me in the post, left me to choose the quilting and was very happy with Buzz by Hermione Agee as my choice, it's a buzz saw type design, great for men. This quilt had a very dark backing fabric (Chocolat by Three Sisters), and was also a little difficult to capture the quilting but the circular design against the geometric lines was just striking...

I seem to be having a bit of a run on these 'trip around the world' type quilts....it's amazing how different they all look but strangely I don't seem to have taken a full photo of this one (note to self... when things settle down a bit time wise, I must remember to spend more time taking photos for reference). Jane chose 'feathered leaves' by One Song Needle Arts, it was a great match, this is a big quilt...

Next in line, a raffle quilt for one the local quilt groups. Souter Quilters in Selkirk, will be having their exhibition in June, some of the ladies pieced up this quilt to raise money for funds. again I was left to choose a design, this is Florance by Anne Bright, I quilted it with an open density for a softly draping quilt

This one is now off to the binder and will be finished very soon.

The Clock is ticking.....

The clock has been counting down since June 2013, the official start of the Common Riding which is the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Hornshole is 5th June but Rideouts start 4/5 weeks before that on 10th May...not long at all.....

Tick Tock....

Sundries.....

As usual it's a bit soon to show any customer quilts just yet this month but they will be delivered soon. Instead here are a few photos of the 'Delightful Stars' sampler sew a-long I'm  doing.  It's surprising how quickly this quilt is coming together even though I seem to be doing it in fits and starts, although we will still be sewing-a-long till into August.

So that is another 3 stars plus a Friendship Star to send off to Canada for the Teacher......

I had a commission to make a set of Aga hob covers so decided to make two sets same fabrics slightly different binding and stars. I think I like the stars with the skinny spikes best.  For those of you who have never heard of an Aga, it's a stove for heat and cooking. The hob covers save the stainless steel covers from getting scratched by plates and pans and also let you warm your hands when it's cold outside without getting your fingers burned.

I seem to have overflowing scrap bins, this is the second flimsy I've pieced up recently and guess what the bins don't look any different now than they did when I started.  Another quilt top in the queue for quilting.....