Catching Up With the Splendid Sampler

After a short gap to make the journal quilts Bank Holiday Monday was spent caching up with some of the Splendid Sampler Blocks.  The series is now up to Block 57, which I started off with. This is Starting Point by Lissa Alexander.  A simple block, I was able to use left over pieces from previous blocks, but in spite of my intentions I did use one fabric twice.

Next was a pieced block, Block 53, Whirling in Cirlces by Deb Roberts, which had a pinwheel centre

I started with the outside blue flying geese before doing the pinwheel and I think the colours contrast well together.

Later in the afternoon I tackled a fusible applique block, Block 55 Dedication Rose by Lisa Bongean.  I've got to sew the pieces but here's the block fused onto the background.

Quite relaxing putting this together.

I'm working on an English Paper Pieced (EPP) block and this evening finished tacking the pieces ready to be seen together, called Bee Happy, so will show photos of that soon.

Two More Journal Quilts

One was made some time ago but not posted and another was made at the weekend, fulfilling the deadline of the end of August. These quilts had to have at least a small amount (.5") of green and the finished size 8" wide by 10" long.

This was the first of the four, made back in May but not photographed, let alone blogged, Instagram-med.  I had some strips left over from the Jan Hassard workshop in April and utilised those for the background of this little quilt and applied circles with applique and reverse applique. A couple of the circles were the cut away ones from the quilt top.

I quilted this with the wavy quilt stitch on my machine and turned the backing fabric over to the front for the border, that's the yellow spotted fabric. I stitched down by machine instead of hemming by hand, which wasn't that successful. I think I'd rather take the time to hand sew as it wouldn't have taken long.

The latest one was inspired by the Sticks and Stones quilts that I saw at Happy Patcher's exhibition in Wimborne last week. I didn't take any photos as the hall was dark. So using strips of batik fabrics I set to on Sunday afternoon. Some strips were joined and re-cut as strips of squares and joined to strips and so on going this way and that until I had the size I needed.

So this is what I ended up with, I'm sure it's nothing like the quilts I saw but a lot looser. Using that wavy stitch again and with a red/green variegated thread for the quilting and the edging. This was the August quilt done.

I've uploaded to the Contemporary Quilt Group Yahoo group yesterday evening together with prepared descriptions, so I'm pleased that I've caught up.

There they are in clockwise order from top left - May, June, July and August.

Sorted!

I've cut both quilts down and this is how they look

Cut a bit off top and bottom and zig zagged across both ends.

I managed to cut the top end off and undo the yarn from the cut off bit and rejoin on that end.

Just one more quilt to do which I will make next week.  I may have to resort to sew and flip. See how it goes.

Meanwhile I have been doing some crochet in the evenings. I made another sheep

Here she is with my first sheep

I could have a flock, but the turquoise one will be on its way to Yorkshire next week for Yarndale.

And progress so far on the Crochet Now Crochet Along (CAL)

Keeping busy.

Doh!

I'm taking a short break from the Splendid Sampler Blocks to concentrate on Journal Quilts as I signed up to this at the beginning of this year.  I'm a member of the Contemporary Quilters sub group of the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles.  I've done a series of small quilts before when I made the Calendar Quilts back in 2009 with the BQL Yahoo Group and I've made lots of little quilts since then, so no probs.  It didn't matter too much if you didn't submit a quilt photo each month so long as it was done every 4 months, so I kept up to begin with but now playing catch up.

The quilts had to be 8" x 10" in a portrait orientation with a certain colour used in each quilt and the colour changed every 4 months.  However playing catch up meant that I didn't keep to the size - I made these quilts A4 - which is 8" x 11" - doh!!!

Now do I make 2 more quilts or do I alter what I've done?  I think for this one it'll be easy...

Cut a bit off both ends and re-zigzag and it'll be job done.  Annoying to cut bits off that were stitched but I don't think I'll lose much of the design.   This quilt was influenced by Wimbledon with the green, cream and purple.  Ran out of purple so added some pink.  The strips were added quilt-as-you-go in liberated log cabin style.

Want to see the back?  I used some indigo dyed fabric from ages ago.  Backs alway look more interesting than the fronts.

More of a problem is this one, which I made this morning and I used some green fabric which David had found and thought it was mine. I don't think it was - it could have been what my Mum used for one of her quilts and had left.  So I took advantage of found fabric and teamed it with some other to make a wavy quilt.

I added some wavy quilting some couching and some decorative stitching too but because I added some yarn around the edge and I don't have any more of this (just a smidgen) to re-do the edge.  I don't want to cut off the orange so I may have to sacrifice the dark aqua and a bit of yellow. The waviness of the panel would make it difficult to cut in the middle to rejoin.  So suggestions please!!

A pic of the back too.

So this one for May is the perfect size, but I looked at when making the other two quilts thinking I would have to make that bigger, but now I don't have to.  At least it is better to take off the surplus from the other two quilts than to add anything on.

This year I'm not going to the Festival of Quilts. deciding to give it a miss this year and will think about going next year instead. Whether I shall regret my decision when I see Facebook, Instagram or blog pictures about the Festival I will have to wait and see.  If you are going have a great time and enjoy.

The Splendid Sampler 10

Now at the halfway point with the Splendid Sampler instalments, Block 50 was released on Thursday and finished on Saturday morning.

To date I have completed 44 blocks, 4 are in progress, 2 not made. I've also made 4 bonus blocks. Here I'm going to go in reverse order, starting with the latest block 50 - Flghts of Fancy, designed by Joanna Figuerra.  I had a feeling I'd seen this before but I hadn't; having made quite a few half square triangles and flying geese it seemed as though I had!

I found part of a flying geese block in dark blue and light blue with the flower fabric see this set my choices for this block.

A few days before as a prelude to block 50 was a bonus block from Pat Sloan, Top of the Hill.  Consisting of a triangle and a circle, but from Pat's story I could see the potential with this

The triangle (for me) represents the heathland, as the area where I live is surrounded by heath. The heather is currently flowering and is a lovely purple mixed with the greens of other vegetation, the circle the setting sun.  The sky fabric was intentionally used on the wrong side which make it a little more subtle.

Block 49 Summer's Gift by Karla Eisenach, a pieced and appliqued block. Another chance to use one of the owls

I liked the way that the pieced triangle showed under the applique.

Block 48 - Whim by Faith Jones is a foundation pieced crazy quilt block.  Quick and easy and a one piece foundation piecing meant there were no awkward joins, so took no time at all to make.

I decided a few days ago to make a couple of collages of the blocks, bonus blocks and the made so far.

Here are the fabrics I've used, some are almost used up so will have to look around for replacements. Considering I started with just reds and whites it's amazing how many other colours and fabrics have blended in with them.

These were the reds and whites that started the colour palette that I've ended up with below

There's been a few other additions depending on the designs, but I've more or less kept to this. Basic colours with some additions to give the blocks a bit of spark.

In spite of the blocks to catch up on and those yet to be made, I'm still enjoying making these blocks, it's been a lot of fun along the way. Made a few friends through Instagram (my name on there is suewilduk, just request to follow me) and I'll continue to keep sewing.

Not Just Sewing

I don't think that I'm unusual in that I like other crafts besides patchwork and quilting. Although it is my main hobby, I do enjoy a change now and then and having enjoyed crocheting the sheep recently I bought a crochet magazine, Crochet Now and found a mystery crochet along, designed by Jane Crowfoot. The magazine I bought was the second part of this series, so I bought the previous magazine online to give this a go.

Looks like a crochet snake so far

I'm not using the correct colours as the designer but it is just to gain a bit of confidence in my crochet skills. To make counting easier I used some red yarn to mark every 20 stitches.  I've learned that ergonomic hooks are much easier to handle than my old metal hooks so have bought this one above and another in the next size up.  Joining a Facebook group someone mentioned about a You TubeVideo  about a foundation double crochet (single crochet in US terms) instead of a long chain and foundation row.  I will blog about my progress in future posts.

I have managed a finish in July. I don't know how long this UFO has been around but I know I bought the charm pack from Villavin Farm when I stayed there in 2008.

I made a Disappearing 9 patch which with the border ended up at 30" square.  I've quilted in the ditch a few weeks back and a couple of weeks ago bought some moss green fabric to bind it.

Just a glimpse of the back

Here's a close up.  This quilt may go to Linus, I hope it's not too grown up for them.

So still keeping busy.

The Splendid Sampler 9

Almost last month since my last update I thought I would catch up with where I'm at with this project so far which has reached Block 45 so almost at the halfway stage. I've been away on holiday for a week and some blocks are needing more work with embroidery and foundation piecing.

This is not on the block list, but is one of the fabrics that I've used in my Splendid Sampler stash that I just cut up a 6.5" square.  You can see it looks good on its own.

From these little 3/8" hexies 

Came this Inchy Hexagon Club designed by Jane Davidson

This didn't take as long as I thought as I hand stitched these little hexies while watching the television in the evening and at a Sewing Saturday afternoon. I stitched this onto this quirky little dog background  fabric.

My next block is a fusible applique block Block 38 Vintage Flower Basket by Pam Vieira-McGinnis, aka Pam Kitty Morning. I used some Passion flowers and a butterfly. The centres of the flowers have small flower sequins and ricrac is used to make the handle of the basket.

I could have done with this block to have taken away on holiday, but this was posted on the SS while I was away, so it had to wait until my return home, but I still had a Hexie project to take away, more of that next. This is Block 41 Sew South by Jennifer Mathis.

The next block made Pincushion Love, Block 43 by Pat Sloan, she asked about our favourite pincushions and this photo is taken with my large orange strip pieced one. This block was also a fusible applique block so was was quick to make.

On the above right is my new pincushion which is the Hexie project that I took away on holiday and finished at home as I needed some polyester stuffing which I had plenty of. In the middle of the pic is a real strawberry from our garden. This block was enhanced with a bit of embroidery and a couple of sequins for pin heads.

Now I come to a casualty.  This is Block 40, Flighhts of Friendship by Barb Groves and Mary Jacobson, aka Me and My Sister Designs.  I made this block, containing 52 pieces, ok, but the seams were a bit springy and the block wouldn't lie flat.  I sprayed some water before ironing but didn't let it soak through the fabric and left brown marks on the block.  Tried to wash out but the marks didn't all come out, which shows most on the background fabric.

So I made one larger Friendship Star block instead. Much happier with the result, better than trying to cram 4 stars into one 6.5" square.

Still in progress

One of 3 pencil blocks - I used a selvedge middle which I quite like - 2 more to make.

An embroidery block and and applique block to add stitching too are in progress.

Another Sheep

Following on from all those pictures of lambs and sheep from my last post, here is another sheep with a difference.

There is a community project connected with a wool gathering in Skipton, Yorkshire in September called Yarndale. Unfortunately I've never been and I don't think likely to go there this year, but hope I may do one day. However through Instagram I found a recent posting about the project to make either crochet or knitted sheep for selling at Yarndale to raise funds for the local hospice.  More details and links to the patterns can be found on the Yarndale website: http://yarndale.co.uk/

I decided to have a go at a crochet sheep, the pattern designed by Lucy from Attic 24, which I started on Saturday morning and finished sewing up on Sunday.  This is my practice sheep and will make another to send to Yarndale. A cute little thing, she measures 4.5", from head to tail, long by 3.5" from head to foot tall.

She (she is a ewe, of course) looks quite resplendant is her little lilac and purple jacket and just about stands up with a tweak of her legs. 

Buoyed on by my little bash at the crochet sheep I shall make another to send on, but thank you to Lucy for the really clear instructions.

Lambs and Sheep

There were quite a lot of photos in my last post so I wanted to share some collages of photos that I took of the Go Herdwick sheep and lambs.  These sheep are displayed in Keswick, Grasmere, Ambleside and Windermere during the summer with catalogues sold for a donation for spotting these lovely works of art around the towns.  The lambs are for children to spot with stickers to mark which ones have been seen.  As you can see below, we got to see all the lambs in Keswick, where we stayed.

The collages below are of sheep taken in different locations, apart from Windermere, which we didn't visit during our stay in the Lake District.

The sheep and lambs will be auctioned in October in aid of The Lake District Calvert Trust which provides outdoor learning experiences for disabled people. Here's more info here http://www.goherdwick.co.uk

Post Holiday

Last week David and I were on holiday in the Lake District staying at a B&B in Keswick, right by Hope Park, beside Derwentwater. Several years ago we spent time in the south of the Lake District in Grange Over Sands but never explored the north. 

Our first day on Monday was spent in the town where we quickly discovered a Herdwick sheep and lamb trail around the town called Go Herdwick. Pictures of lambs and sheep were taken and some were posted onto my Instagram and Facebook feeds.

This was one of the lambs, called Arthur, in one of the many outdoor clothing shops.

This was one of the sheep outside Keswick Museum.

I also took photos of scenery around the town too

And some more unusual sights 

Dogs are well catered for with this Dog Bar outside a shop for pets (but mainly dogs).

And this gorilla outside a climbing wall centre

The weather soon turned to rain later that day, but a better day was in store the next day for our trip to Carlisle where we visited the castle and Tullie House Museum.

The photo above shows a part of the underpass between the castle and museum. Old street and railway signs inset in the wall.

Not wanting to look at the shops as they are the same in most town, we ventured just north of the city to see part of Hadrians Wall

There was part of a fortification along the wall. Incredible that it remains from Roman times.

David suggested going to Scotland, so we went to Gretna, by which time is was evening and Gretna was shut. We saw the Blacksmiths Cottage, which had a cafe and souvenir shop behind it.

And this metal sculpture of clasped hands, which looked really lovely.

On Wednesday we went of a bus journey to Ambleside and Grasmere. More sheep spotting both model and real ones. It was pretty amazing how a double decker bus manages Lakeland roads and negotiating its way through the villages.  We visited a museum in Ambleside which had an exhibition of Beatrix Potters life and drawings and also the smallest NT site we've been to 

Bridge House which has just two rooms the top one was once used as storage for apples.

Onto Grsmere and after visiting the gingerbread shop and William Wordsworth's grave we visited Allan Bank where the house was destroyed by fire some years back and after renovation the house has been left undecorated and without its original furniture.  People could come in and out of the house, sit and read or draw or paint, or even play the piano.  The steward there also pointed out the picture of the NT card is the view out of the window of one of the rooms.

There was a viewing tunnel though the hill in the gardens 

The was a lovely little scene with some knitted Beatrix Potter characters

Thursday saw us back in Keswick and finding more sheep and lambs. We than had an interesting drive  from there to Cockermouth through the Honister Pass and some interesting scenery.

The photo which I took through the car's windscreen shows the road ahead being very windy travelling through the valley.

And real Herdwicks

Such lovely wild scenery.

I then photographed our last Go Herdwick sheep just down the road from the B&B before departing on Friday

On Friday we stayed overnight in Stoke-on-Trent, which we hoped we could have a look around before  continuing our homeward journey, but the rain was so heavy we just decided to go home. The weather was awful until we got to Birmingham where it was dry and there was even the appearance of sunshine by the time we reached Southampton.

I'll post some more photos soon.