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

More holiday pics

Just last week we visited Brixham and Totnes. A very changeable day weather wise so made use of the good bits. Just a few miles from where we were staying in Paignton, Brixham is well known for fishing and this Banksy painting was just outside the fish market by the harbour. This was beside a door from which one could buy fish.



There were quite a few mosaic murals that decorated the walls opposite the fish market






We visited the replica of the Golden Hind. Quite a small boat but worth a visit to see how seafarers lived back in Tudor times.






Found this above a fish and chip shop



In the afternoon we went to Totnes, but soon after arriving there there was a rain storm so we spent some time in a tea to (mostly) sit it out.




The High Street is quite narrow and uphill, but there were some unusual shops to see.


We found our way to the Castle but unfortunately it was closed, this was the nearest I could get.

However I did make some fabric purchases in sewing shops in both towns



Saturday was spent In Exeter, before going home on Sunday. It was a really good break away with good company. It shouldn't be too long before we have another break.

There'll be some sewing on the blog soon.

Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Half Term Break

I don't work in a school, but my sister-in-law does so her and my brother-in-law's holidays are normally taken in the school holidays. So for this half term break David and I went with them to Paignton in Devon from Wednesday to Saturday.

Thursday we had to visit a heritage railway. This is the Dart Valley Railway which runs from Paignton to Kingswear, then there is a ferry across the Dart River to Dartmouth.




The engine, Lydham Manor, one of GWR's Manor class engines


The observation coach, which had an interesting history, which was at the rear of the train as we travelled to Kingswear.

Didn't take many photos in Dartmouth, but it is a very quaint town. I could not resist taking photos of daffodils


Aren't they a lovely sight?


A view back to the town from the quayside. You can see what a brilliant sunny day it was, sunny though cold, but nice to be out and about.

We bought this from a touristy shop, David couldn't resist this



A little birdhouse (sorry too good for birdies) but not too sure where to put this at present. It does look so cheery.

More photos to come soon

Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Textile landscape

So completely different from the precise blocks of last week's post, here are photos of my landscape. Made with silk paper onto a backing of canvas



The stitched picture


The original photo.

These photos actually taken on a sunny morning this morning, makes a change from the drab rainy weather. I went to class on Friday having to go out in persistent heavy rain, accompanied later by high winds so packing sewing stuff to take back to the car was challenging, hence the crease as I folded it. Now I've rolled it up so should ease the crease out. I've heavily stitched the path and parts of the grassy bits. Will need more work, but that's where I've got to so far.

Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Too Busy Sewing

I can't believe how quickly this year is going already, although I can't wait for Spring to arrive and drier weather with it.  We are very lucky that in this area while there is some flooding it's not as bad as some areas in the country for whom it is catastrophic.

Rainy days mean that I don't get far apart from going to work, so have been busy sewing.  As well as the mug rugs for the Winter Olympic Swap (can't show that yet, I must get that sent off) I have been making a couple of blocks for a quilt along from Sew At Home Mummy called Classic meets Modern Quilt Along.  One, the Bear Paw block went very well, but a little less well is the Amethyst block.  Think I may need to hand sew into the Y seams, a good job I left lengths of thread after machining the block together.

This is the Bear Paw block

Amethyst block (looks good from the top but a bit untidy underneath (but you don't see that, do you)

While having breakfast last week I was looking at another blog and linking to another and I came across a cushion with half square triangles arranged in a heart.  I since found out the site was called Fort Worth Fabric Studio, linked through The Crafty Quilter's "Sew Thankful Sunday" posting. I decided to draw this out and took a photo to email to a friend

(this was from my iPad and you will not imagine what a fuss there was trying to upload this onto the computer to put this on the blog! The wonders of modern technology ;o(  )

I worked on this cutting and sewing (using 2.5" squares) on Saturday afternoon at the Sewing Saturday group and made one heart.  Going so well I made another on Sunday, later it became a table runner.

Sunday evening the binding was sewn down, threads tidied and all done.  Must be a record for me to get something finished so quickly.

This coming week I will be at the textile art class on Friday so will hopefully progress my landscape picture a bit further.