Hello
So it's been a while since I updated.
The Wilding Angels: The Wilding Angels quilt from Letters Tied with Blue is now fully embroidered, so I have six angels and a large central panel. I have also pieced it - though this nearly ended in disaster - I don't know whether it was my cutting, or the destructions, but the top
and bottom panels ended up 2 inces shorter than the central panel, which couldn't be reduced. The original shop where I had bought the beautiful red fabric had sold out, so we went on a major hunt for the same fabric. We finally found it in another local quilting shop, where I bought the final meter from the bolt. It was a perfect match so the quilt front is now pieced. I'm backing it with some fairly plain fabric from French General (from the Lumiere de Noel range). It's all tacked together and I have made a small start on the hand quilting. This project is getting very close to completion, but I've loved doing it, so when Mum said that she loved it, I've offered to stitch it again for her - she's having a think about where she could hang it before committing...
Essential Sampler Quilt: Linda and Aunty Barbara
and I have been attending a monthly course following Nikki Tinkler's Essential Sampler Quilt book. We've done four classes so far and have complete
d a lot of the blocks. I didn't like the Lady of the Lake block, so I've replaced it with the Northumberland Star (which I drafted myself), which is now completed; and I wasn't keen on the results of the Rocky Road to Kansas. This was a fairly straightforward star design but the pieces were themselves pieced out of crazy patchwork - with my very limited colour palette of dark blue, lilc and raspberry, this didn't work. 
Instead I have found a block called World without End. This uses the same shapes as the Rocky Road to Kansas, but instead of it being done once for a 10" block, it is repeated four times and there is no crazy patchwork. The result gives the illusion of a
circle and looks fantastic. I've drafted this as well but I haven't pieced it yet. I have decided to follow the quilt as you go method, so that I do more hand quilting - I think if I left it till I
had a huge piece of fabric I probably wouldn't do anywhere near as much quilting simply because of the logistics. I haven't quilted all of the blocks I've pieced yet, but I've enjoyed the ones I have. This month's blocks included bias applique.
I bought myself the little Clover iron and the bias tape maker and had a ball. I love it. I'm eve
n happy with my applique because you can barely see the stitches - I think I will be doing more with this technique - Kim (at the Fat Quarters) has just
got in some of the Moda primitive fabrics and I think the pale fabric on the darkest brown fabric would make a stunning Celtic Knot design- I'd like to fi
nd a design out of the Lindisfarne Gospels to keep it local. Also, I love the potential with the Stained glass designs and Rennie McIntosh designs (which Linda would love).
The Yellow Tablecloth: this is now completely pieced. Mum was up last week and we bought the wadding and the backing, so I need to create my quilt sandwich and get quilting, which I will be doing on the sewing machine (providing the gap to the right of the needle is big enough....
Calendar Girls: Ongoing I am embroidering 6 Calendar Girls each month as a Christmas present. I have forgotten to photograph a few, but here are five of the March ones (Granny already had her's!), but I'll get some pictures next timeI'm at Linda's.
They are designed to be hung individually, and swapped at the end of the month for the next one. But Granny is haning them one below the other and apparently they look great, so I'll have to get a photo of that when I go down to visit at the end of June. I am currently stitching the final May Calendar Girls, ready to send out in the next couple of days... and Mum has said that she likes them and would maybe like them next year....
New Projects: Log Cabins: Back in March Linda and Aunty Barbara and I went to a Scrappy Log Cabin class. I didn't like the end result, but I love the effect you get from Log Cabins - the ultimate contrast is black and white and the traditional central colour is red.... so I bought three black on white fabrics and three white on black fabrics and a nice bright red fabric and I'm going to make myself a cutting mat bag. So far I've made 12 of the necessary 24 log cabin blocks.
New Project: Vignette Quilt: I am buying the new magazine called Vignette - no adverts just lots of gorgeous photos and beautiful projects. The highlight of the magazine is a Mystery Quilt that will be published over 2 years. It will be double bed sized and there is piecing, applique and lots of embroidery. The model is made from the Lecien fabrics, but I'm not keen on this range, so I have bought the Moda fabrics from the Lily and Will range. I haven't started the project yet - I need to finish some others first....
New Project: Tail Feathers: this is another quilt with patchwork, applique and embroidery from Cinderberry Stitches. It's another one I haven't started yet, but the fabric is bought and ready for when I've finished a few other projects.
And on top of all of that I have completed a button sampler for Linda, a Meerkat for Michael (pictured),
cooking mice for Mum , birthday cards (Spinning a Yarn was for Linda and the bird cage was for Mum) 
and Steph as asked for a quilt for her 21st Birthday. She's picked a design from the Moda Bakeshop and likes the Lily and Will fabrics as well - 
but she's gone for the pink range - very unlike Steph.....
Well - I won't ever get bored - there's still a long list of projects not yet started, mostly Cross Stitch.....
So it's been a while since I updated.
The Wilding Angels: The Wilding Angels quilt from Letters Tied with Blue is now fully embroidered, so I have six angels and a large central panel. I have also pieced it - though this nearly ended in disaster - I don't know whether it was my cutting, or the destructions, but the top
and bottom panels ended up 2 inces shorter than the central panel, which couldn't be reduced. The original shop where I had bought the beautiful red fabric had sold out, so we went on a major hunt for the same fabric. We finally found it in another local quilting shop, where I bought the final meter from the bolt. It was a perfect match so the quilt front is now pieced. I'm backing it with some fairly plain fabric from French General (from the Lumiere de Noel range). It's all tacked together and I have made a small start on the hand quilting. This project is getting very close to completion, but I've loved doing it, so when Mum said that she loved it, I've offered to stitch it again for her - she's having a think about where she could hang it before committing...Essential Sampler Quilt: Linda and Aunty Barbara
and I have been attending a monthly course following Nikki Tinkler's Essential Sampler Quilt book. We've done four classes so far and have complete
d a lot of the blocks. I didn't like the Lady of the Lake block, so I've replaced it with the Northumberland Star (which I drafted myself), which is now completed; and I wasn't keen on the results of the Rocky Road to Kansas. This was a fairly straightforward star design but the pieces were themselves pieced out of crazy patchwork - with my very limited colour palette of dark blue, lilc and raspberry, this didn't work. 
Instead I have found a block called World without End. This uses the same shapes as the Rocky Road to Kansas, but instead of it being done once for a 10" block, it is repeated four times and there is no crazy patchwork. The result gives the illusion of a
circle and looks fantastic. I've drafted this as well but I haven't pieced it yet. I have decided to follow the quilt as you go method, so that I do more hand quilting - I think if I left it till I
had a huge piece of fabric I probably wouldn't do anywhere near as much quilting simply because of the logistics. I haven't quilted all of the blocks I've pieced yet, but I've enjoyed the ones I have. This month's blocks included bias applique.
I bought myself the little Clover iron and the bias tape maker and had a ball. I love it. I'm eve
n happy with my applique because you can barely see the stitches - I think I will be doing more with this technique - Kim (at the Fat Quarters) has just
got in some of the Moda primitive fabrics and I think the pale fabric on the darkest brown fabric would make a stunning Celtic Knot design- I'd like to fi
nd a design out of the Lindisfarne Gospels to keep it local. Also, I love the potential with the Stained glass designs and Rennie McIntosh designs (which Linda would love).The Yellow Tablecloth: this is now completely pieced. Mum was up last week and we bought the wadding and the backing, so I need to create my quilt sandwich and get quilting, which I will be doing on the sewing machine (providing the gap to the right of the needle is big enough....
Calendar Girls: Ongoing I am embroidering 6 Calendar Girls each month as a Christmas present. I have forgotten to photograph a few, but here are five of the March ones (Granny already had her's!), but I'll get some pictures next timeI'm at Linda's.
They are designed to be hung individually, and swapped at the end of the month for the next one. But Granny is haning them one below the other and apparently they look great, so I'll have to get a photo of that when I go down to visit at the end of June. I am currently stitching the final May Calendar Girls, ready to send out in the next couple of days... and Mum has said that she likes them and would maybe like them next year....New Projects: Log Cabins: Back in March Linda and Aunty Barbara and I went to a Scrappy Log Cabin class. I didn't like the end result, but I love the effect you get from Log Cabins - the ultimate contrast is black and white and the traditional central colour is red.... so I bought three black on white fabrics and three white on black fabrics and a nice bright red fabric and I'm going to make myself a cutting mat bag. So far I've made 12 of the necessary 24 log cabin blocks.
New Project: Vignette Quilt: I am buying the new magazine called Vignette - no adverts just lots of gorgeous photos and beautiful projects. The highlight of the magazine is a Mystery Quilt that will be published over 2 years. It will be double bed sized and there is piecing, applique and lots of embroidery. The model is made from the Lecien fabrics, but I'm not keen on this range, so I have bought the Moda fabrics from the Lily and Will range. I haven't started the project yet - I need to finish some others first....
New Project: Tail Feathers: this is another quilt with patchwork, applique and embroidery from Cinderberry Stitches. It's another one I haven't started yet, but the fabric is bought and ready for when I've finished a few other projects.
And on top of all of that I have completed a button sampler for Linda, a Meerkat for Michael (pictured),
cooking mice for Mum , birthday cards (Spinning a Yarn was for Linda and the bird cage was for Mum) 
and Steph as asked for a quilt for her 21st Birthday. She's picked a design from the Moda Bakeshop and likes the Lily and Will fabrics as well - 
but she's gone for the pink range - very unlike Steph.....Well - I won't ever get bored - there's still a long list of projects not yet started, mostly Cross Stitch.....
And did I mention already that I finished Charlotte from the Elegance range
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