Re-use, Recycle, Re-purpose!

Friendship!

Life has taken over big time these last couple of weeks...no quilting done but I have managed to piece these.....

That's two sets of friendship stars for an international block swap.....that's 60 blocks which will make a twin sized quilt....I think they should be somewhere over the North Atlantic Ocean on there way to Georgia by now to my friend Shannon at  Pieceful Quilter who is facilitating the swap, (that's my word of the week, 'facilitate') ......now I just have to wait till April to see what I get back in return.....hmmmmmm!!!!!

I got a Double Whammy or should that be Grammy Award!

I have a new friend and blog follower.....Cathy of Cathy Tomm Quilts....Cathy enjoyed her recent visit to my blog so much that she passed on the Liebster Award to me and my blog.....

"Thank You Cathy"

Cathy lives in Alberta, Canada....It is such a shame that Cathy and I live so far apart as we seem to have so much in common.....I am sure we would be very good friends....who knows one day we may meet somehow....somewhere....I'm looking forward to it Cathy!

And then, my good friend Shirley at  The World According to Me also gave me the Liebster Award.....wow so much blog love all in one week.....lol....I have followed Shirley's blog for a while, Shirley is like a whirlwind.....she gets through so much work on her longarm in her studio through the day and then does pieceing at home at night too....along with logging and house renovation...makes me tired just reading about it....I'm sure Shirley and I would get along just fine....I would love to go 'thrifting' with you and your Sister Shirley! 
Shirley was one of my original nominees so I am sending the Liebster Award right on back to her.....I don't know if that means Shirley has to nominate again....Shirley, guess that's up to you to decide.....but don't sweat the small stuff!

  "Thank You Shirley"

The Liebster award is designed to bring recognition to interesting blogs with 300 or less followers....there are so many wonderful blogs out there it's difficult to shortlist three (or should that now be six) that I visit regularly....I visit a huge bunch of blogs...but......drum roll please....... the winners are......

Joan at Leschenault Joan lives in Western Australia and is the most amazing freemotion quilter...on a domestic machine....go take a look at what she can do!

Shirley at The World According to Me ....Shirley is a longarm quilter from The Mark Twain Forest, Missouri with a wonderful view on life...Shirley has so much energy she wears me out....I can't believe how much Shirley can fit into one day!

My friend and American Sister  Viki at Fiberobsessive ...It's a long story but Viki and I think that we must be related....Viki lives in Indiana......I am always so inspired by Viki's wonderful quilting....Her designs are always wonderful...I am sure that Viki's customers are so pleased to have her work on their quilts!

For a world of colour, inspiration and encouragement go take a visit to Shannon or Doodlebug as she is affectionately known....Shannon lives near Atlanta Georgia and is another wonderful longarm quilter from the US (all freemotion)...even when she is in a slump (as she calls it) Shannon can't fail to make me laugh!

My good friend Janette at J-Quilts is doing some wonderful work on her longarm here in the UK and has just started her blog and her own business quilting for others....Now I have to say that Janette is the odd one out because Janette and I have met, in real life we live about 3/4 hours apart but we email each other most days and offer each other help, advice and encouragement on all things quilty!  Thank you Janette for being my penpal too!

We are all so fortunate to live in this age where the world really IS a small place….we are all so interwoven and connected by our various threads…pun definately intended!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines day to all my blogging friends!

I had intended to quilt a feathered heart and may still get it done later in the week but for now.....

Front and back views of a wallhanging which hangs over my Granddaughters Bed....quilted pre-longarm on my Mega Quilter and Inspira frame in 2010!

On a clear day....

You can see forever......

And ever......

Enjoy it while you can as the rain is coming back again tomorrow!

Out and about!

Out and about on Tuesday....I know I'm late!

No prizes for guessing where!

The river Tweed, highly acclaimed by Salmon Fishermen......

And a bit of architecture.....

Fieron's First Quilt!

I am so proud of my Grandaughter Fieron for her perseverance with this quilt.....she is eight years old and although I did help and encourage when needed, I am sure Fieron has done 75% of this quilt herself....

All the nine patch blocks finished hooray....

Here she is piecing the blocks together as seen in a previous post.....

Fieron was so pleased with our choice of backing fabric.....snow leopard fleece/fur.....she stroked it for the rest of the afternoon....

We decided on the RnS swirls boards so that Fieron could quilt it herself from the back of the machine...then we had a bit of a set back when I realised that I had the wrong bracket for my new and updated 'Bliss' carriage......so, we had to come to a compromise as we needed this quilt quilted NOW.....I have to say that Ron from RnS sent me a new bracket (from a Lenni) that will fit on my Bliss carriage...'Thank you so much Ron'!

We had to use the upfront system on my Quiltazoid, the RnS boards can be used on it but we could use only one board...... that meant moving the system four times across the quilt on each advance.....a bit tricky but WE managed it......

I moved the system, rolled on the quilt and 'Fieron Quilted it'!

Here she is standing on a chair.....Look at the concentration........
 

I decided at the last minute to use a layer of Pellon Legacy 80/20 batting...it's a very thin batting...we used Black metro thread, it doesn't show up on the fleece but you can see the texture, the quilt finished at 60" x 84".

Here it is all finished.....

This swirls board design is so useful...I've seen it on a variety of different pieced quilts and it always looks wonderful...it's very versatile and will be useful on customer quilts.....

Fieron loves that her name is quilted into the quilt....

Fieron's quilt in it's new home!

Fun on Friday!

Sometimes life just sucks.....so....today it was time for a bit of FUN...ON FRIDAY!

I've been promising to do this project for a while, I got the DVD from Ferret last year when we were at Linzi Uptons Summer Retreat near Aberdeen (UK)!

I didn't take before or during, but only after photos, simply because once I started I didn't want to stop not even for lunch....so here is the finished flimsie....

This is my take on Ricky Tim's Chantelle quilts.....

I am calling it 'In Search of the Elusive Black Tulip'!

I think my tulips are just starting to open up...lol...

It's totally scrappy and just incase you don't know it is supposed to be 'wonky'! These quilts are all about breaking the rules, having fun and just finding out what happens when you relax and let it happen!

I think I need to quilt it on the longarm...wonder what designs I'll choose?

Doodle Doodle Do!

I can't sit still for long......

Life of an Ebay Quilt Top ... Part 2....

Well, just made it for January, this is my first finished quilt for 2011 ... as some of you know this is an ebay quilt top.....Part One can be found here

I filled the outside borders with freehand echoed feathers on a curved stem....not too obvious on the patterned fabric but I was please with the way they looked from the back of the quilt on the cream fabric.

On the inside border I went all out with hatching using a template board on my Quiltazoid another first....it was a long way around that border but I was amazed at how it turned out and how my hatching matched up at the join point.....

 

As I worked my way around the nine patch blocks I stabilised the quilt all the way to the bottom. In the nine patches I did continuous curve using my Fine Line Rulers from Carol Olson at Accents in Design, these rulers have finger grips to hold onto so are very secure for using around your hopping foot, I finished off those coloured blocks with a stylised swirl as I went.

Once everything was stabilised I came back to the top and quilted the plain blocks, again I used my Quiltazoid but this time with the feathered wreath template, this was the first time for this template too.... a bit tricky at first using the segments but once I ignored the instructions and just followed my instincts it was fine!  Freehand echoes, pebbles and tendrils.

This quilt finished at 82" x 90", I used Quilters Dream mid loft Poly and Metro thread in cream top and bottom.

Bearing in mind that this was a cheap and grubby quilt top....I think the terms Silk Purse and Sow's Ear come to mind....

"What do yo think"?