Postcards

It's been a long time since I posted about postcards.  I have cut right back on making them because I want to make other things and felt that the time was right to move on.  I am still part of the BQLPC (British Quilt List PostCard) Yahoo group and signed up to the lottery swap that takes place this month.  There are 6 of us including me and this month I was the lottery winner, so no need to make a postcard but the other 5 sent to me.  Here are the lovely cards below.

Normally the members of the swap would post a photo of the postcard they send and because there was one missing in the group album, the moderator of the group asked me if I could take a photo of that was missing in the swap album.  No problem, I thought. Except that the lady In the swap didn't send a postcard, but another did who wasn't on the swap list! Confused? I was. So I posted in the group album the photo of a postcard that I have received but that wasn't in the group album (it was the one on the bottom right). I am really pleased with what I've got and the next time a lottery comes up I will be choosing a number for the moderator to pick the next winner.

When at the Quilters' Guild conference there were tombolas one of which was a postcard one, below is one that I'd won.  A pretty card but the maker is anonymous, which is a shame.

Pretty, isn't it?

Quilters' Guild Conference and AGM

As the annual Quilters' Guild conference and AGM was fairly local being held in Portsmouth at the Guildhall.  I attended on Friday and Saturday (the conference continued to Sunday lunchtime).  I had booked back in November last year just for the conference so I had the opportunity to hear lectures.  I decided to stay overnight in one of the hotels and unfortunately it was not one that I thought I had booked but another in Southsea which is just about 20minutes walk from the venue.   Normally when visiting Portsmouth by car we head straight for Gunwharf Quays shopping centre but not the city itself, and as I went around on foot it was a chance to explore a bit of the city.

The Guildhall

Charles Dickens, who was born in the city 

Ravelin Park gate, which these leaves over the gate

On Friday afternoon was a lecture by Maryke Phillips, who runs online store "Batiks and Beads" and her experience of patchwork and quilting, from thinking she knew no-one who did patchwork and quilting until she discovered other patchworkers in a new area. Then from embarking on a course which turned out to be a City & Guilds course.   She has a love of batiks and whatever is left from making quilt tops gets pieced as part of the fabric on the back so nothing is wasted.

I then took the chance to shop from the retailers there and came away with a creative pack of felt and fabric from Maryke's shop and also thread and fabric from The Dye Bag shop. Just look at the variety of colours, yummy.

After finding the hotel and later having dinner at the pub opposite the Guildhall the evening lecture was by Susan Chapman, who is a textile artist and teacher, who teaches City and Guilds and degree courses at Eastleigh College, so very artistic and contemporary stuff, but an interesting speaker nonetheless.

Saturday started early with a walk on a quiet Saturday morning back to the Guildhall when during that walk came across the Anglican Cathedral, not very showy, just tucked away. Just to the right is the top of the Spinnaker Tower

The AGM took place until lunchtime and afterwards had the chance to hear about a project the Guild has started to undertake called "Talking Quilts" which is currently in a few areas at the moment, but will spread to other regions.  Here's a link with info about it.

There were some meetings after, but just at the end of the afternoon I met up with David and with a short walk back to Gunwharf Quay it was nice to relax with dinner.

But I can't finish this without a pic of more quilty purchases. This time another ruler - a 45 and 90 degree ruler

Then these lovely new Janet Clare fabrics "Hearty Good Wishes" from Quilters' Dream, they have a lovely textural quality about it.

And just look at the selvedges!

Quilt in an Afternoon

My Mum passed some of her fabric scraps to pass onto Bourne Quilters to make scrap quilts for Project Linus but a few strips of a Noah's Ark fabric took my eye. I thought they would be good for a small baby quilt.  Yesterday afternoon, which was miserable and rainy, just the weather for retreating to the sewing room, I got out a fat quarter of pale yellow Spraytime fabric and cut some strips to alternate  with the Noah Fabrics.  Before I knew it a quilt top came together. Machine quilting in the ditch made it a quilt then with some striped fabric which toned with the top the binding was stitched on. All in a few hours.  

Yesterday evening the binding was slip stitched while watching the telly and this morning I sewn some wavy lines in the yellow stripes and added a label on the back.  Job done.

And a glimpse of the back.

And yes, it is a different shade of yellow. The pale yellow didn't stretch to covering the back of the quilt and I had a darker yellow in my stash, but I think it goes quite well.

Knitting to show

Linking with Wool on Sunday.  My socks have progressed to almost a pair, just the grafting on the toe of the second sock to do. On my last link up post at the beginning of March Catherine very kindly sent me a link to a You Tube video of doing Kitchener Stitch using knitting needles instead of a sewing needle, which makes sense, just need a little quiet time to sit and concentrate, but I'll get there. Here's my progress.

A few weeks ago I bought a book called 20to Make Knitted Beanies and last Saturday when I was in Southampton at John Lewis I bought a couple of balls of Sirdar Crofter yarn to make the beret design that's shown on the front cover.  There are a large number of stitches so have used a circular needle but knitting in rows rather than in the round.  Nice bit of knitting to do while watching the telly.  

Since the photo taken above was yesterday morning, I have since finished knitting beret while watching The Hobbit last night.  This morning it was all sewn up and ready to wear.

Woohoo! A finish! Now for those socks!

New ruler

In my post yesterday I said about a new ruler that I bought having seen it demonstrated on Saturday. It's called '2 Peaks in 1' and I had a go at a block on Sunday.  I made a nine patch which also included half square triangles and a square and auditions some settings

This is what the ruler looks like

The angle of the big triangle is less than 60 degrees, so can't get away with using the 60 degrees mark on a normal ruler. I took a photo of this on top of an equilateral triangle as a comparison.

From the demo on Saturday rectangles can be made from using the half triangle bit of the ruler with a square in the middle.

As you can see I had fun playing with this. 

That was March, now here's April

Another month has flashed by but well into Spring and some warmer weather.  The big thing that has happened is that I'm not working as of today I am officially unemployed, or as some may say 'a lady of leisure' having given up my job.  I hope to take a couple of months off, there are a lot of things to sort out, before going back out into the world of work once again.

Looking back over this month I have made a few bits and bobs. I've made and finished several bookmarks using up scraps of fabric, pelmet Vilene and  Bondaweb (they will go towards crafty makes for the special school where the quilt group meet) and I've made a small pouch for David's camcorder.  I've also made a mug rug for an Easter Swap (which I can't show here yet). In progress is my landscape picture, which I have progresses any further. 

I've also been to quilty events, the IQD day two weeks ago, a lovely day with a lovely group of ladies in a village hall in the Dorset countryside. On Saturday a group of us visited an open day of White Orchid longarm quilt service in Wimborne, with a visit from Pam Lintott of the Quilt Room. She was demonstrating quilt rulers and their uses mainly with jelly roll strips.  I succumbed to a triangle ruler which I will post about later.

Yesterday I helped a friend with a sales table at the Holt Quilters and Crafters table top sale.  The fine weather bought a lot of buyers and it was pretty packed out! There's also nice tea and cake so that was another attraction.  My friend must have sold half her stuff and I know that she made more money than expected.

So that was March.  What about April?  I've had an email this morning that I have won the April postcard lottery so I look forward to some lovely postcards.  There are 6 people signed up so I won't be inundated.  On the 11th April I will be going to Portsmouth for the Quilters Guild AGM and looking forward to that. A big sort out of my sewing room is needed and this morning have started out sorting books and old magazines to get rid and make room.  That's just the start.

Flowers

I officially leave my job tomorrow, but my last working day was last Thursday, so for now I am a 'Lady of Leisure' for the time being.  I did get a nice bunch of flowers.

Jamie, my youngest and his wife Carly gave me some flowers for Mothers Day.  David and I babysat last night and taking the flowers home afterwards, they were left in the kitchen sink overnight before finding a vase to put them in.  

So 2 lovely vases of flowers. Outside the flowers in our garden are doing well.  Of course we have daffodils and last autumn we bought a mixed bag of daffodil bulbs which have really done well this spring seen here with some periwinkle and pieris. 

The bight yellow Kerria has taken off alongside the white Stellata Magnolia, which doesn't stay in flower for long.

What didn't flower last year but has made an appearance this year are some Grape Hyacinths

It's good to see plants coming along nicely in the garden.

What I've been up to this week

I've been influenced by Diana's blog, the Cheshire Quilter, to make some bookmarks.  For me it was a way of using up odd bits and pieces of pelmet Vilene and Bondaweb/fusible from postcard making, which I've cut back on this year. Of course it also uses up scraps, but as you all know it doesn't really reduce the size of the scrap box.  When I went to Bourne Quilters on Thursday some were taken by the ladies who took a fancy to them.

I've also taken a Craftsy class called Machine Embrodered Appliqué. A bit disappointed with the class instruction but liked the embroideries, so have had a go at the apron pocket, although I can't imagine me with a pinny apron, so the pocket may get another use.

I think it turned out well, although each piece was Bondawebbed, I felt they didn't need it as they held down well after being pressed.

I've given my notice in at work and taking a few months off.  The job itself is quite complex and quite difficult to pick up and felt it wasn't the job for me.  It's been a diffcult time for me and know it won't be easy getting another job after a break but felt I needed it. See how things go.

International Quilting Day

Yesterday, Brenda, Ann. Lynn, Linda and myself went to a village near Blandford to where Tarrant Valley Quilters hosted a day for Quilters as part of International Quilters Day.

Barb, who organised us all had some helpers who did some mini workshops, crazy patchwork, making a felt strawberry and fabric tags, pictured below.

Forgot to say, we were each given a pretty name badge

Found this lovely little fox (he is hiding a Creme egg) on the bring and buy table and pictured is a little box that we also made.  

With a delicious lunch and cakes and tea in the afternoon we were well catered for.  A quiz, show and tell it was a really packed day, but none the less a really brilliant one with lots or chatter too.

A lady called Jenny gave me this little poem, which is rather good.

How true it is!

An Update

Thought I'd do a quick catch up as I've not posted for nearly a fortnight.  Not much sewing done until today, when I went to the machine embroidery class working on my landscape.  Here's how it looks now.

I should have looked at frames and mounts earlier as I found the picture was slightly small for one size, and a lot was lost behind the next size down, however it was suggested that if I added a bit more sky at the top it sort the size issue out.  Good thinking, and I added a bit more hill on the left.  I added a the fencing  and more stitching on the hills and sea.  Its difficult when working close to seeing the effect, but photographic just creates that bit of distance and it doesn't look too bad.

The class is in Wimborne, which is a small but bustling town just a short distance away from Poole and Bournemouth.  I really liked the view at the back of the library and museum beside the River Allen

Can't resist daffodils, especially when mixed with primroses!

Almost a fortnight ago, I received my package from Pam, my swap partner in the Olympic Mug Rug swap, all the way from Virginia, USA.

My gorgeous little mug rugs came with a small bag and a beaded scissor keeper. She'd received my package just the week before and loved hers.  A really good swap.  I've decided not to take part in the Quilting Gallery swap for Easter, but instead will take part in the Popular Patchwork forum's swap which is Easter themed too, but to an individual design, rather than the design chosen by the swap organiser.  So will have to get my thinking cap on.

Last Sunday was the first of the really Spring like days.  We went out to Corfe Castle in the afternoon for a wander, which was really busy as a lot of other people were making the most of a sunny warm day (in case it disappeared again, but there have been a few more sunny days this week).  I took photos of sculptures there.

Tomorrow is International Quilting Day (or I've heard it called Worldwide Quilting Day).  How are you celebrating it?  I will be joining friends going to a small group in a village hall near Blandford.  Taking some hand sewing with me and something for a bring and buy.  I hope it'll be a good day. 

Have a good weekend, whatever you do.

One and a half socks

Today I am linking up with Wool on Sunday with Janine at  Rainbow Hare.   I don't do as much knitting or crochet as I could, but occasionally some appears in my blog.




I am knitting a pair of socks, one of which I will put back on needles and carry on with as it didn't go quite so well, but the other one I'm pleased to say is now at the grafting stage at the end of the toe.




The wool I bought for this was way back when I lived in Yorkshire and bought from John Lewis store in Sheffield and is a Kaffe Fassett one by Regia.  We've been lived here in Dorset for over 3 years now, so the yarn has been waiting patiently to be knitted.  I've found recently that rather than sitting with my iPad that I'd feel more productive if I did something in the evenings so the knitting has come out.

I can't do Kitchener stitch without looking at an old magazine that has step by step pics so when I find that it'll be a sock done!

February sewing

Although a short month, there has been some sewing last month. I made this table runner, shown with some daffs


And without.

I can also reveal the mug rugs made for the Winter Olympics Mug Rug Swap, which I sent out to my swap partner, Pam in Virginia earlier this month.









The pattern was designed by Amanda, The Patchsmith, and I was really pleased how they turned out. I know that my mug rugs are making their way to me in the post, so hopefully some pics of those I the next few days.

I also signed up to a Craftsy class and am plodding my way through seeing 'Free Motion Quilting a Sampler' by Leah Day. Lots of lessons, about 14 I think and she does go into quite a lot of useful detail. It was on special offer when I signed up and I think well worth it. So I started to have a go yesterday using some fabric that I was never going to use in a quilt. Being a peachy colour with white thread doesn't show up too well on a photo, but it was just to get a feel of the stitching, especially as I haven't used the Pfaff machine that often for free machining. Here goes




Some wiggly spirals


Some arch shapes (can't remember what they're called)


Some snake paisley shapes, though they look more like flames.

So that was February. March will have Worldwide Quilting Day on 15th, and I will be stitching with friends. Not sure of other plans for this month but I think it may involve a bit more free machining. As it's the 1st I will join in with Fresh Quilting Day with Lily's Quilts.

http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/fresh-sewing-day-and-small-blog-meet.html

(Please excuse not posting the badge from the blog as I'm typing on Blogpress)



Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad