Friday Night, Saturday and Postcards

I had meant to update about the Friday Night Sew In on Saturday, but as I hadn't officially joined in I had, I'm afraid let it slip.  What I did do on Friday night was to have a sort out of my scrap box as it had become difficult to close the drawer in the unit and I'd also sorted out some work to take for a sewing day with friends on Saturday.

The scrap box was sorted out into shapes and strips.  The strips may become flip and sew blocks, but I'll sort out some yardage for backing for that sometime, but for now the box is nice and tidy and I can now shut it in the drawer unit.  The pop up bin is for smaller scraps and that will go to my friend Penny who takes them to a local playgroup.

Last week I finished off a set of shaped postcards and waited a couple of days before posting to show the quilt group.  I decided to make birdie shapes from leftover strips from the  hexagon block shown here. 

And found the freebie rubber stamp from a recent magazine to stamp birdies on the back.

I've had some in return already and they're all different.

 From the top Pauline's house, Chris's dog and bone, Jan's fish and Janet's gingerbread man

 And this was pretty ingenious (although I had rotated the right way has decided on a sideways orientation).  This was from Jacquie who first sent a jigsaw pieced postcard.  If you turn your head you will see that I was sent the bottom left side of the whole picture the in a postcard she sent later.

On Thursday at the quilt group I demonstrated how to make a biscornu pincushion which was sewn all round and I finished this off on Saturday evening, after stuffing with scrap wadding, sewing the gap in the seam and finishing of with buttons on both sides in the middle of the cushion. I made a small one several years ago, so I can't remember where I saw it, but there have been needlepoint versions in Stitch magazine.

And lastly on Saturday I made some progress on a Jelly Roll quilt that I am making.  I can't show this at present, though what I can say is that I started it before the holiday and had my blocks in order and after my holiday I had to try to suss out what I put together, so Friday evening was spent getting the blocks in the order of work and bagged up.  All was contained in my large workbag with my workshop sewing machine ready to go.  I had a successful day on Saturday putting the blocks together and it's looking good.

Friday Night Sew In

It's Friday Night Sew In Night tonight. I haven't linked in this time as they are working on a specific project, but you can see Heidi's blog here.  Not sure what I will be sewing yet as I have several things on the go and another sewing day tomorrow too for which I will take a jelly roll quilt in progress.  I followed the instructions and had my organised piles of blocks to put together, now, in spite of being organised I am trying to pick up where I left off and it's not easy!

I will have a look at my scrap box which is full and give that a sort out and finish off a biscornu pin cushion that I demonstrated at the Bourne Quilters last night. I think that'll keep me going for a bit.  More on that soon
.

More Cornwall Photos

I thought I would show some more photos from the many that David and I took on our family holiday last week.  Apart from the rainy Bank Holiday in my posting before last we had a mixed bag of weather, but mostly managed to dodge showers.  As we were staying close to the Eden Project we had to visit there.  Some of us had been before, some hadn't and the small children really enjoyed it.

 The familiar Biomes

And in front was an exhibition tent showing "Freaky Nature" with a daffodil entrance on the front.

Loads more daffodils outside

A palm tree inside the tropical Biome

My grandson, Leo, really liked the waterfall and was getting wet from the spray.

Some lovely plants in the Mediterranean Biome

Some outdoor sculptures

Lots more flowers, rows of tulips this time

Sophie took some photos - here's one with Sarah (in black) Isobel and me

A few more flowers as we leave.

Back from Holiday

We returned from our family holiday in Cornwall yesterday, all of us heading in different directions. My eldest son, Alex and his family to West Sussex; Jamie, the youngest with his family to Southampton and David and I back to Dorset via Bristol to return Sarah to her home.  Sarah is a nurse and she had to work night shift last night!  I'll be updating the blog over the next few days with some holiday pics, but meanwhile I have some sewing stuff to catch up with here.

Before I the holiday I took part in the curved piecing challenge and showed my photos here.  Here are the cards that I've received last month in return.

They are from (the top, clockwise) Alice, Jan, Janet and Annette.  There should have been a 5th one, but I haven't received it - it may be in the postal system somewhere.

I also sent a birthday postcard to Chris, whose birthday was on the 10th April, and she requested Animals, so there are a few here

There's a turtle who seemed to be beheaded at the top, so I put another, with a head, on the back!

I'd also forgotten that I signed up to make an embellished bookmark until received this one from Eileen

And below is one that I made and sent for Jenny

A mix of blended roving on a cream felt base with fancy yarn on top.  I embroidered with variegated yarn before attaching to a pelmet Vilene back.

Now we are home it is a lovely clear day, although a bit cold, such a contrast to the cloudy (will it, won't rain) days.  Oh well, back to normality catching up with washing and shopping before returning to work tomorrow.

Holiday in Cornwall

Here are some pics that David and I took of our holiday in Cornwall. The Bank Holiday was a washout so we went to the Bodmin and Wenford Railway.
This is the first time that I've used my iPad for this post and will do a proper post when I get back home this weekend

Spring Quilt Fair Exeter

On Saturday I went with the Happy Patchers group from Wimborne to the Spring Quilt Fair in Exeter, one of a few quilting events run by Grosvenor Exhibitions.

There were collections from groups like Happy Patchers who had a few quilts like these on the theme of strips and stripes.

Some from well known quilter Anja Townrow, whose style I quite like, but I wasn't able to attend her workshop

And some lovely scrap quilts from Jan Hassard

I loved seeing the journal quilts from a competition on the theme of Quilted Poetry

 This lovely one with butterflies

and this was a really brilliant one with a Spitfire and the pilot's photo and medals.

Of course one can't go to a show without purchasing something. I bought a jelly roll (first time ever) but made the mistake of undoing the lovely roll of colour to reveal the strips of fabric - it never went back the same again!  So I then sorted into colour groups for a quilt that I have just started to make

The roll has fabric from the Moda collection called "Butterscotch and Roses".  I also got some yarns and roving too.  A slice of cake pincushion kit and some sequins, together with a big bag of wadding and a roll of calico (which should last me for ages!).

Lily's Quilts

I've joined the Small Blog Meet on Lily's Quilts here.

I'll do a summary of what I've managed to make in March - all finishes nothing half done.  This month has seen 2 International Quilting Day events and makings from those, one being the little bag and folded flower here

And then a little birdie (it's one of the purple ones in this flock of birds.

I made a Dresden Plate block to add to the Dresden sampler

And a hexagon block for a challenge of orange and another colour

More postcards

 A Spring Challenge

 Birthday postcard with the theme of Cats

 Embellshed postcard with the theme of the letter A

And some curved pieced postcard

What a busy month!!