Apron - Birthday Pressie

I made a cute apron this week, it was a birthday present for a friend to go with the cookbook I'd bought - Kitchen by Nigella Lawson. Several of the fabrics come from the L'Amour range by Sandy Gervais for Moda, the colours reminded me of strawberries and chocolate (all were in my stash). The pattern is by Fig Tree. If I made this pattern again I would cut the binding wider, it was a real struggle to sew it down neatly!

Christmas Quilt Along - Still Going

I wanted to get the borders onto this quilt, so I've cracked on today, and I have to say I'm very pleased with how it's coming along. I love working with these brushed cotton fabrics, they're so friendly and well behaved :o). The second picture (taken in the conservatory) gives a better idea of the colours of the fabrics, they look very washed out against the green carpet in the lounge, but the shadows were a bit strong in the conservatory to give a good image. Now it just needs sandwiching, quilting and binding. The hardest part is going to be deciding on the quilting pattern, I'm thinking stars and swirls, but I'm open to suggestions.

Christmas Quilt Along - Calling it a Night

I've been sewing sporadically all day and have got to the point where I need to sew on the borders and mitre the corners. Since I don't want to spend tomorrow morning unpicking, I've decided to call it a night, it's gone 9:30 so I'm not going to push it. I've laid the top out on the floor to get an idea of how it looks, I think it's going to be a good 'un :o). The binding will also be in the red.

I also took a few snaps during one of the torrential downpours, it really was stair rodding! Sewing in the conservatory was the best place to be.



All ready to go in the morning ...

Christmas Quilt Along - Going Well

Good progress so far this morning, I've put the centre of the top together. It's looking very muted at the moment, but it's going to have more red in the border. The green carpet doesn't help, but there's too much sun and shade in the conservatory to get a good picture. Not that it's been sunny all day, we had some really torrential downpours earlier and overall it's been great sewing weather.

Time to stop for lunch ...

Christmas Quilt Along - September

Today is the second Christmas Quilt Along that QuiltSue has organised, I made a head start yesterday, and am planning to crack on today (though I confess I have already been distracted by the PC this morning!). Yesterday I cut out my squares and also some triangles to make some stars, I had to have a good rummage in my ruler drawer for the right tools to get the triangles on accurately. A dear friend of mine brought the Quilters Boot back from a holiday in America, it's been quietly sitting and waiting for the right moment and I have to say it was invaluable yesterday. I used the boot end to trim the ears off the triangles, then used the Scrapmaster ruler to trim the corners off the squares. And hey presto, accurate triangles on my squares :o).

The Cardi's Slowly Getting There

I've now finished both fronts and the back for the cardigan, I'd been putting off finishing the top of the second front because it needed some concentration on the decreasing. I must have had a niggle at the back of my mind about the other side which contributed to my procrastination, because I ended up unpicking the top triangle on both of them once I re-read the pattern properly! But, they are now done and look the right size and shape, so it's on with the sleeves. I've done about 8 rows of the first sleeve, they are made completely in the cable pattern, so they're going to take a little while. Or do I cheat and do them in stocking stitch??

Frosted Memories - Extra Pictures

Tennessee Waltz - Extra Pictures

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