Frosted Memories Quilt

My SIL was 40 this year - she won't thank me for announcing it to the world, but I've been there already, so I'm allowed, hee hee :o)! Unfortunately I didn't realise until about a month before her birthday that it was the big 4-0 this year, which meant that I needed a quilt fast. So, a fairly simple patchwork design was the answer, my bro said she liked autumn colours and a friend had recently made a gorgeous cuddly quilt in brushed cottons from a range called Frosted Memories by Holly Taylor which I'd fallen in love with. A quick surf of the web and I found what I was looking for, then ordered it from the States and kept my fingers crossed (you would have thought I had enough fabric in my stash, but you'd be wrong :o)). Anyway, the fabric arrived in good time and after paying a hefty ransom to the customs men, I got cracking straight away. I used EQ6 to design the quilt, with input on colour placement from OH. And this is what I came up with. Probably a bit more winter than autumn, but she says she likes it, and my bro approved the design beforehand.


In reality the colours are a bit more subtle that the EQ6 picture.



For the moment I'm afraid there are no pictures of the finished quilt, because I was in such a hurry to get it done and posted that I forgot to take any of it!! My brother has taken some and promised to send them through when he has time, so I'll post them as soon as I can. In the meantime I'll tell you that I used Quilters Dream Cotton Select (mid loft) as the wadding, to make a lovely soft and cuddly quilt which is 100% cotton. I quilted it with a King Tut thread called Pharaoh's Tales which picked up the red and green nicely. I used my favourite method with the Golden Threads quilting paper and did a fairly large all over flower design. I made the label on my embroidery machine that doesn't come out very often. My brother and SIL live in South Africa, so it's too hot for a quilt for a lot of the year, but the winters feel cold because the houses are all built to be as cool as possible. So whereas at the end of a long winter we think 10 degrees is balmy, in the subtropical climate that they live in, it feels darn cold, and the quilt should get good use in front of the telly during the cooler months.

I learnt the hard way with this one that it's not good to rush a quilt, I had plenty of fabric for the backing, but managed to sandwich it crookedly, and then didn't even notice this faux pas until I'd got the binding on. In the end I took the binding off again and trimmed half an inch off one side, and restitched, but what an idiot. This crisis delayed the posting for nearly a week, hence the final scramble to get it off and the resultant forgotten photos. And the good news is that it arrived on the morning of her party, so all's well that ends well :o). Happy Birthday dear SIL!!

Still Maintaining a Good Finish Rate

I'm pleasantly surprised that I have finished 7 projects by the end of July, thus sticking to my hope at the beginning of the year of finishing a project a month. Unfortunately I have started a couple of new projects as well, but they have both been started and finished, so the WIP list hasn't grown at all. Phew! My last completed project will be revealed soon, watch this space :o).

Heaven

I can't show you any more than this at the moment, suffice to say that I've been doing a fair amount of sewing recently and I'm having a great time! What better way is there than to spend time in the conservatory being creative? I've made some progress on the Tennessee Waltz quilt and I'm working on a new project which will be revealed soon.

Cardi - Left Front

I've obviously been watching far too much telly recently, here's the left front of the cardi which was finished on Wednesday evening. Spot the deliberate error - I think I've chosen the spot for one of the buttons already :o).

New Knitting

I've made a good start on the yarn I bought whilst up in Northumberland a couple of weeks ago. This is the back of a cardigan. The yarn is a King Cole Bamboo/Cotton and it's absolutely gorgeous to work with. I can't wait to finish and wear it, though it's going to take a while yet. The sleeves are done all in the fancy stitch, definitely not a two evening job :o). Still, I'm feeling less guilty about watching the tennis!

Socks Again

I finished off the second pair of socks a while ago, but forgot to post a picture, so here they are, all done and waiting for winter.

I've since made another pair for OH - when asked what colour he wanted, he said "bright", I think that's what he's got! I'm a bit socked out at the moment, my next project is a cardigan. I bought some gorgeous fuchsia pink bamboo/cotton yarn when we were up at Kielder Water a week or so back - it's not safe to take me anywhere :o).

Tennessee Waltz - A Start

I've started quilting the huge Tennessee Waltz quilt top I finished last year. It's going to take a while, but I've done the first 3 blocks - I'm not even thinking of counting how many there are to do just yet! I'm not completely convinced about the swirls on the star block, I'm going to do the white blocks first and see how I feel about it then. The back's going to look stunning :o).