Still working on the bag. There will be a bit of handstitching - seed stitches on the backround of the photo, beading around the edge and some decorative embroidery along the seams.
I've been working on my sister's messenger bag today. This is just a glimpse of the flap with a photo of her as a little girl transferred to fabric. I have stitched angled strips of fabrics around it, log cabin style, finishing with charcoal linen, which is what the rest of the bag will be made from. Next it needs a bit of hand stitching - some embroidery and some beads - before I construct the rest of the bag. I never thought that I would be making another one, but luckily I jotted down some measurements and a rough sketch in my notebook for the previous one*, so I should be able to remember how I did it.
I'm enjoying a quiet Sunday at home, sewing, reading and watching films. It feels really good to slow down a bit after yet another hectic week at work. There doesn't seem to be much energy left for evenings during the week at the moment, but things should improve in about a fortnight. I do have some pretty quilting fabrics waiting in the wins, and if I can just concentrate for a while, I might be able to remember what I was going to make from them as well...
*I can't believe I never posted a picure of the finished bag! Here it is now!
I have spent most of my morning here hopping from one blog to another, following the Cross Country Christmas Designer Blog Hop started by Gudrun. There are 12 quilt designers sharing stories about their Christmas traditions and memories, and a free project every day. I only found out about this yesterday, and they are half way through, but there is lots of fun stuff to read and some pretty good projects to get inspired by too. I feel myself getting into that good old Christmas spirit, and have also stocked up on some nice holiday magazines. So I guess this weekend will be all about planning holiday projects - what to make and buy for everybody and to get started on all those lists: shopping, baking, parties... oh, what fun! I think I like this part of Christmas the most - all that anticipation and figuring out what to get for everybody that they'll really love - luckily we aren't that large a family, so the strain on the credit cards doesn't get too heavy. And I tend to go in for lots of handmade anyway, which means that most of my spending has been done in advance (read: fabric stash!).
The illustration is yet another of those "Listen, Honey..." designs from Twisted Thread, see the links in the sidebar.
I thought I'd show some of the things I have made from that red and white fabric, over the years, and have managed to unearth some, not very good photos. The items in question have long since gone to new homes, so these photos will have to do for now. These Christmas hearts were made some years back when I came across a bag with lots of little cross-stitched christmassy motifs I had stitched when I was a young girl. I added some fabric, cut out heart shapes and stuffed them, making them into Christmas ornaments for someone's tree.
It might not be entirely clear from this picture that this is a fabric cone filled with sweets. It has an angel's head and wings attached to one side, making it look as if the angel is offering an armful of sweets to you. I made some of these for friends, and had planned on making some for myself as well, but as these things go, I never got around to it. This Christmas, however...
These angels in their nighties are ready for bed. The pattern for these, and the angels above came from one of Tone Finnanger's books, one which has been put to good use here over the years. I think I might have made about half the little people and creatures she presents in this book, so it is one I can really recommend. Hm, I suddenly got the urge to sew something - must go and have a look at that book...I have been rather quiet lately, mulling over what will be my next project, rifling through my fabric and notions, but not getting anything done. It might just have been that quiet moment before the storm sets in, though - it suddenly dawned on me that it is Christmas in just over a month, and if I am to make any presents I really need to get started! Some recently added fabric might give me the push I need, though.
It must be the season, the chill in the air and the darkening evenings, but I'm getting the urge to do some hand stitching again. I have been thinking along the lines of doing some hand quilting and was very inspired by Jan's post yesterday. But a bit of cross stitch wouldn't be so bad either, and looking through my charts, I realize that I have several fun ones from Twisted Threads, two of whi(t)ch seem to fit right in with the season. I have several witchy pieces in my collection already, and these would fit right in. I just love the quirky humour here. I have the chart for the first one in my stash, but when I was looking up the page to link to these, I came across the pumpkin one, which made me laugh out loud. I might have to order that one too!
The first witch is saying: "I made my husband a pumpkin pie" The other one replies: "I made mine a toad".
It was my birthday last week and I took the opportunity to gather friends and family for a small party. Any party, however small, takes a bit of planning, shopping and work, of course and I tend to get myself a bit worked up about all the things that "ought to be" in place before people arrive. I ought to dust and hoover, the sink ought to be empty and shiny (creating the illusion that all the food didn't take any work at all, but just appeared by magic) and the windows should be clean and... You get the picture. Sometimes it just gets too overwhelming, and all the fun seems to drain straight out of the event.
It might just be that I'm getting older and wiser, but in the midst of all my preparations it suddenly dawned on me that I was the one setting the standard for how things were supposed to be, and that really there was no need to strive for perfection. After all, the guests were all close friends and family members who choose to come because they want to be with me, not to check on the cleanness of my floors.
I was saying in a comment over at Jan's the other day that I hadn't bought any Jelly Rolls yet. But it seems that her post about Moda's new Authentic range got me on a roll ;-) I just couldn't resist Authentic, and went straight online to order some yardage of the most interesting prints, and a Jelly Roll too. I could see several of these fabrics as accents in quilts and other projects, and smaller pieces would be just right for these. A bit of a "stroll" through some web shops later I had come across this roll from Westminster - strictly not a Jelly Roll, (as that is a registered trademark, I believe), but lovely just the same. So, of course I "had to" get some...
I have been thinking of getting some Kona cotton solids too, but there were so many colours I wanted, and I didn't really want that much of each, so getting a roll seemed like a good idea. The only problem with these rolls is that they are so pretty, that it is hard to convince oneself to unroll them.
I seem to be dabbling away at lots of little somethings these days. But at least I'm doing something. I showed the beginning of this and told the story behind it here. But I knew that it wasn't finished. It needed something, but I didn't know quite what. Some kind of caption, I thought, and finally managed to decide that it would be "Say cheese!" Yet another curious thing adults demand, without explaining why. - I seem to have gone through my childhood completely baffled by all sorts of strange, unexplained adult behaviour, which is probably why I tend to go at great lengths to explain things to the children in my life. My cousin has a fond memory of a conversation I had with his first-born when she was about one year old, and I tried to explain to her what it meant when her parents said they were going skiing on their winter holidays. My explanation was apparently complete down to the description of the wooden sticks that they would fasten on to their feet and that white thing that covers the ground and that we call "s-n-o-w". The sweet little girl was sitting on my lap with a deep frown of concentration as if she were really trying to understand it all. Well, I'm still the one she comes to fourteen years later when she wants things explained to her, so I must have been doing something right!
Anyway, back to the subject. I stitched the letters on black felt using my sewing machine, and cut them into tiles which I stitched to the background with a running stitch. It just didn't look right. The tiles were too big and overwhelming next to the sketch. I tried adding some black blanket stitch around the edge to counterbalance it, but no, that wasn't enough. I added some shisha mirrors in the top left corner with black perle cotton, thinking that you would occasionally catch flashes of light in the mirrors like the one's you get thrown in your face in a photo booth. I liked the effect, but the black tiles were still too big. I contemplated removing them and making new ones, but having used a sturdy perle cotton to attach them, I realized that there would be holes in the background fabric, so that was not a good idea. Eventually I came up with adding some decorative stitches in green to blur the edges of the black a bit.
I vaguely remembered having seen a tutorial for a moleskin pencil pocket a while ago. After a bit of googling I managed to find it again here. Thank you Krommama. I made my version with a whole piece of fabric for the pocket, and attached some selvages and a scrap with the text "for colour" on it. That seemed fitting for this book, especially as there turned out to be room for three watercolour pencils in the pocket next to the drawing pen. So there you have it. A few minutes by the sewing machine and a handy accessory was made. Very satisfying.
No quilt is considered all done to me until it has been photographed and posted online, so although I finished stitching the binding on my zigzag quilt last weekend, it wasn't until the weather cleared enough today so I could snap a few pictures for a bit of show-and -tell that I really felt I was at the end of this labour of love. It seems to have taken me forever to stitch. After I chose the fabrics and tried to create a pleasing arrangement where the colours from one would run gradually into another, I needed a while to ho and hum about it, before I had to make a couple of them go. That meant that the quilt ended up narrower than I wanted, so I had to find some border fabric. I found that black worked well, if it had some tan or brown in it, making it a bit warmer. But wouldn't you know it - years ago when I was trying to find pure black fabric, the only ones I could find had lots of tan or brown in them, but this year all the blacks seem to have grey in them, making them too harsh for this project. Eventually I came across a piece in a bargain bin which was just right, though, and the top was finished. 
Then, wouldn't you know it, the backing fabric I had in mind was too small... I was considering this issue, when my gaze fell upon the discarded triangles from the end of the zig zag strips, and started playing around with them. Before you knew it they became blocks, and there I had my solution: I would include some borders and the discarded fabrics that were meant for the front and make an interesting backing as well. The rest should be easy... Well, it wasn't too complicated, but I decided I would quilt it in lines following the zig zag pattern. And being such a clever clogs, I decided that it was much quicker to do this by machine than quilting by hand. It didn't occur to me that I would have a plus size quilt on my hands where I needed to stop every four inches and turn the whole thing 90 degrees. Well, I can tell you - it was rather time consuming... After a while I got bored, so towards one side I started making the lines gradually less angled, ending with wavy lines on the black border. On the other side, I let my quilting lines shoot out towards the edge to create smaller areas to be filled in with stitching. 
It ended up quite densely quilted, but it has retained its soft drapey feel, and at 66 x 95" it has become a lovely quilt to snuggle under on a chilly autumn evening. And when I toss it aside, there's that interesting backing to look at as well. Now it's time for a little rest while I consider what my next project will be.
So I finished this little quilt. This was my first attempt using the X-block ruler. Not very tricky, but there's a lot of waste, as you make 9-patches first and cut away a skinny triangle on each side. I have a bigger version in mind in the same colours, and I'm already cutting strips and squares for that one - I might as well since I had already started. That one is going to have a few extra borders, making it a larger quilt (40 x 40" or so) but this one, at 19 x 22" (I made the borders slightly wider than planned) is just what that extra spot on the wall needed, once I started rearranging my pictures. I need to adjust it a bit so it hangs straight before you see a picture of the whole wall.
I have been listening to old Lloyd Webber musicals lately, but that's not the Memories I have in mind. I was looking through some old photos the other day, and remembered an old photo strip my grandad kept on his pinboard for as long as I can remember. The two of us shared the same quirky sense of humour and we both thought it was hilarious. Sadly the rest of the family never saw it that way, and it has probably ended up in a landfill somewhere after he passed away. I still have an image of it in my mind though, and somehow the idea of recreating it in fabric and thread planted itself in my mind.
The actual photos were of me, at the tender age of four. I have a vague recollection of the day they were taken: My grandparents had just returned from a coach trip to Italy and we were all at the bus station to meet them. There was a lot of hugging, kissing, and high spirits, presents were exchanged and somehow in the midst of all this, someone thought it would be a good idea to let me have my photo taken in the photo booth. Nobody remembered to adjust the seat, and it didn't occur to any of them to explain to me what was going to happen once that little curtain had been closed and I was left alone in the booth. The photos told their own story, like a comic strip: In the first picture you saw just the top of my worried little face; in the next one, blinded by the flash, there I was, eyes wide open and somehow much higher up - I was probably suspended in thin air from the shock...; in the next one, you just saw the back of my head on my way out; leaving an empty booth as the fourth image.
Now I'm not all that good at drawing, but I have made an attempt to recreate the images, like a comic strip with thread sketching. I stitched strips of fabric onto wool felt with white thread to form my background and stitched my sketch with black thread on top. Not perfect, but I think it tells the story the way I intended. Now there is some space left, so I could cut it down to size, or maybe add some kind of caption? Now what would that be? "unprepared", "surprised", "flash" , "tales of the unexpected"... I'm getting sillier and sillier here - any suggestions?
I seem to have been working on my zigzag quilt forever (the quilting is all done, just the binding to do before show and tell!) and yesterday I just needed a diversion. I had an idea I wanted to try out and got some craft felt out to do some stitching. When I had cut the piece I needed, I was left with some scraps that turned out to be just the right size for some bookmarks. I had a friend's birthday party to go to, and had bought her a book, so why not make her a bookmark to go with it? I sat down by the sewing machine and stitched some selvedges and other bits and pieces to one of the felt scraps - just parallel lines with white thread, and liked the effect so much that I continued with the other two scraps. A bit of hand-stitching and voila: three new bookmarks.
I could have sworn I had blogged about this earlier, but it seems I've only mentioned it in passing and shown pictures of the work in progress, never the finished quilt. I remember I was trying to get some good photos of it, and was waiting for the rain to stop so I could take it outdoors, but it never happened. Well, the rain stopped (and started again...), but the photo session never took place. I unfolded it quickly the other day to snap a few pics, but I see I should have smoothed the wrinkles out as well...
Never mind. The quilt went to it's new home last Monday, as a gift for my Mother's 70th birthday, and was received with a gasp of delight. The same lovely reaction I got when unfolding it at show-and-tell at my guild a week earlier. There's nothing like that spontaneous gasp through the room when presenting something you have made, is there? So you have to take my word for it - it is actually much better "in person" than the picture shows. There are a few close-ups here that show off the pretty café fabrics that made me start this in the first place.
Still working on my zigzag quilt, but not too much left now... There is a lot of stopping and turning, which seemed tedious at first, but I'm getting into the groove and finding that I quite like the texture of these parallel lines.
I'm still quilting along on my zigzag quilt, and although there is a lot of stopping and turning, I finally feel that there is some progress, and I'm enjoying the work. Working on one project doesn't stop me from dreaming about the next, of course. After hearing a lot about it, I caved and bought an X-block ruler the other day. The idea of this is to make a nine-patch, put the ruler on top, aligning the lines with the seams in the block, before trimming the block. I grabbed some scraps and had a go, and voila - here's my first block. The blocks can be used to make a variety of intricate-looking quilts.
I have been thinking and dreaming about a red and aqua quilt for a while, and after playing in EQ for a while, I came up with this. The blocks are quite small, so the quilt will be 40 x 40" - just the right size to drape over the back of my sofa or use as a tablecloth - I haven't decided which!
I have been planning on giving two of the pictures above my sofa a rest for a while, and as I mentioned earlier, I have framed some cards to hang there in place of one of them. I haven't actually hung them yet, because I didn't know what to substitute for the other one. Then the thought struck me: why not a quilt? There are quilts on the walls everywhere, except in my living room. I kept working in EQ, and this small quilt (16 x 20") is what I came up with. If I make it in the same colours as the other one, I can make blocks for both quilts at the same time, getting two for one, so to speak, and I get the added bonus of a coordinated look.
- I didn't win the lottery. So it seems I'll have to keep the day job and squeeze my quilting and crafting time in where I can. I'm at the point with my zigzag quilt that there is very little to show right now - it's just a lot of zigzagging lines. I'm beginning to regret choosing this mode of quilting, because I get bored with all the stopping and turning of this big quilt, so while I'm trudging along I find myself struggling to restrain myself from veering out from the pattern, maybe go in a straight line out from halfway down and fill the open areas with lines, or maybe let the zigzags become looser and looser until they become waves?
I managed to stay on the straight and narrow path I've carved out for myself yesterday, but couldn't help sketching out my idea when I sat down to relax later on. Am I being undisciplined, not wanting to stick to my plan, or just creative...?
Talking about creativity - I really began this post thinking about how little time I actually have for creating during the week. Being distracted by new hobbies doesn't help either. My subscription to Quilting Arts some years ago quickly led to a subscription to Cloth Paper Scissors and the new and exciting world of mixed media. I find myself with an urge to create, and have started dabbling a little, without much to show for myself so far. The main problem is having nowhere to set up a little crafting corner, so my supplies have to be put away after use, and the thought of all the mess I create stops me from getting them out again. I'm still at the point where I'm working on creating interesting backgrounds with collage, paint and stamps and I have redone this little canvas several times already. Coming up with a theme for something to put on top is still a challenge, and it gets easier when I actually have time to let my imagination fly. I keep coming back to houses as a theme, though, so that may be one thing to explore for a while. Hm, houses, a room of one's own to create in... there might be something there...
I made the mistake on this one of spraying it with a fixative that has given it a sheen that makes it hard to take a decent photo of it, but it's all a part of the learning process, I suppose. I'll probably glue or paint something new on top of it one day soon anyway, I guess. I'll keep you posted.
Somehow my balcony doesn't seem too tempting today... It's been raining non stop since last night I think (at least all my dreams have been accompanied by the sound of rain) and even the big trees are swaying in the wind. You probably can't see it in my photo, but the sea that you glimpse beyond the trees has choppy white topped waves that would make me really reluctant to go out in a boat (not that there would be any reason to anyway...)
It's much better to stay indoors and do a bit of this. I spent most of the morning layering my zigzag quilt, which has been languishing in the To Do pile for ever it seems. I have been distracted by other projects and once you go down that slippery slope, it can be difficult to haul yourself back to finishing off those ongoing projects... Or maybe that's only me? No, didn't think so! ;-) There are just too many lovely distractions out there!
Oh well, I'm doing it now, though - once I'm finished pinning this I intend to settle by the sewing machine and do some quilting. I will do this one in parallel zigzagging lines, following the pieced zigzags. I was contemplating doing it by hand, but I think I'd rather have a finished quilt before I get distracted by something else...
After getting my Material Obsessions Two book home earlier this summer, I went straight online an searched for this Echino fabric. It's surprisingly called Panther. A big cat with spots, I would have thouht the designer was aiming to depict a leopard myself, but who am I to judge? - I love it anyway. It is a bit coarser and more heavyweight than standard quilting fabric, but has a nice feel to it, so I am looking forward to working with it. If you have seen the book (highly recommended) you will know which quilt I'm planning to make. Maybe this will be my next one? Or maybe I'll open my Bali Pops. I also have a red and aqua x-block quilt in mind. I'd better get started on one of them, soon though. I haven't spent too much time with my sewing machine lately...
I really shouldn't have gone in search of the link for the Echino fabric - I just found another one with circles and ladybugs... No! Put that credit card away!
No shopping today!! I think...
I've had an Olfa mat cutter for a while, and finally managed to source some mat board in order to do my own framing. Being a procrastinator extraordinare (yes, I admit it!) I kept putting off a tryout. When I finally decided to start, the cards I wanted to frame had disappeared. I spent ages searching everywhere, but finally had to call it a day. As what so often happens in these cases, my brain solved the mystery while I was sleeping, and the next morning I got up and went straight to the folder where I'd put those cards - love it when that happens!
Then I had some stuff to stitch, so it took a while, but finally I decided to give it a try. And you know: it was much easier than I thought! I had some difficulties with the first mat, because it turns out that you have to cut a little bit past the corners because the board is cut at a slanting line, but once I had worked that out, I did a much better job.
That made the corners of my first mat slightly ragged, but this is my second attempt, and I must say I'm rather pleased with it!
The cards I've framed are by Michael Powell, from his Venetian Window range. Have a look at his site - love those quirky houses of his!
I've been fiddling around, not seeming to get much done the last couple of weeks. I have lots of plans, but a few stitches here and there, and I was fed up and drifted on to someting else. Pulling myself by the scruff of the neck back to the sewing machine I'd add a few more stitches, meet another obstacle and take a break. A long break. The reason for all this was this bag. I have been working on the two panels for the bag on and off for some time, and I could have added a lot more, but decided that enough was enough: it was time to finish this and move on. Not having planned anything before I started, gave quite a few challenges. The woven panel was smaller than the one with the tucks and pleats, so I added some side panels to that bit - a braid and some mure tucks and pleats, before I stitched the two pieces together. This made the bag a bit wider than I had envisaged, and I decided to make it taller by adding a piece around the top. I still felt that it was too wide, which led to adding lots of little stitced pleats going half way down the top band. Once I had finished the outside, I realized that the piece of fabric I had planned to use for the lining was too small. I went through several different options and a variety of colours, but eventually managed to narrow it down to one - red to go with the handles.
A search through my stash (which led to anouther great session of tyding, sorting and refolding, but that's a different story) and I came up with this old red and white favourite. I bought this years ago and I loved it so much that I couldn't bear to cut into it, so it has been languishing amongst it's red friends for ever. There was more than enough of it, and I'm really glad I chose this - I get a happy jolt every time I look into the bag - which is a good reminder. If you really love a fabric, use it for someting you see often! I added a hanging pocket with zipper and room for a cell phone inside, and an inset gusset with zipper at the top. I did that on my pink and green bag last summer, and I really like this solution. It was a bit fiddly to stitch to the bag though, because of all the pleats and tucks on the outside, which makes the sides ripple, so after several attempts and lots of ripped seams, I ended up doing it by hand, and it looks OK that way. The long zipper with its white ring pull was actually on my sister's cardigan when we were kids - I have a bag full of old zippers that have been ripped out of old garments to worn out for wear. How thrifty is that?
I used my strawberry handles (and a tiny strawberry pull for the pocket zip) for this as I had planned, but I'm not entirely convinced that this was a good idea. I'll try them out for a bit, but they might actually be a bit too small for this bag. No harm done - I could easily remove them and use them for another bag. Anyway, I have a new bag finished, and can stopp fiddling about. Time to start another project, I think. Now what will it be? The possibilities are endless - I think I have to sleep on it. More pictures on Flickr.
My dear cyber friend Calamity Kim posted about her new Johnny Depp bag a while ago. I left a "swoon" comment and before you knew it, Kim generously offered to get me one too. After a bit of mailing back and forth we decided to do a swap, and just in time for the weekend I got to pick up an exciting box from the post office... I couldn't wait to get home, and see what was inside. And what a lot there was! First of all there was the bag, of course. Isn't he gorgeous? Can't wait to take him to town ;-)
And as if the bag wasn't enough - look at all this! Books, magazines, cards, fabric, labels and a marvellous envelope full of all sorts of little treasures. Everything was so prettily wrapped too, that I'm definitely keeping the paper to use in future craft projects.
I'm back at work after three weeks off and life is slowly falling back into the normal pattern after weeks of lazing, gazing, reading and a little bit of stitching. There was none of that hectic Olympic Quilting effort from last summer, and all plans of spending the time efficiently flew out of the window as the temperature soared and the holiday mood took over. But it was lovely. I can hardly remember a time when I was this lazy since I was in my teens. Just something so heavenly as sitting down in the shade in the middle of the day and read a book! And I managed to ignore that persistent little voice in the back of my head telling me about all those useful things I should be doing, and after a while it seemed to give up... There was plenty of time to hang out with friends and family too.
I think this was just what I needed at this point in time, after a really hectic spring and pre-summer at work. I dabbled a bit on a few projects, but I haven't really got all that much to show for it. And all my well laid plans of things I would do when I was off from work was forgotten. And the funny thing is that I'm fine with it!
One of the things I have been working on, is this old thing, and it is slowly evolving into a handbag of sorts. I added some braided and folded sidepanels to make both pieces wide enough, and then decided it was too short and wide for a bag. So I added a top strip to make it deeper, but still thought it was too wide, so I added pleats, and the work continues... I might add some more stitching here and there, or I could just stop here and put it all together. It might need to marinate a bit before I decide. Maybe I'll just read another book.
I'm enjoying a bit of nostalgia today - just found the Cats-CD on special offer (I have the LP, but no record player), and find to my surprise that I still remember all the words of all the songs and that Rum Tum Tugger still wants to leap on your lap in the middle of your sewing, and the old Gumbie cat is forever tying the curtain cord into sailors' knots - such crafty cats ;-) So I sit here typing away and singing my head off. Later I might go and make a lining for my bag. Or maybe not. I could just impersonate that gumbie cat ("she sits and sits and sits and sits, and that's what makes a gubie cat"...)
This is what I'm working on at the moment. It has been left in the UFO pile for far too long, but you don't know how hard it was to find a black fabric for the borders with brown or tan in it - it seems that all black fabrics now have some grey in them, and that just wouldn't work with these colours, I thought. Well, that's the power of fabric trends, I suppose. I eventually found my black in the clearance bin!
I'm working on the backing now - trying to incorporate the cut-offs and leftovers. I think I will quilt it in zigzagging stripes following the pattern in the top, but I haven't quite decided if it should be hand- or machine-quilted yet. There is a zigzag quilt in one of Kaffe Fassett's books which is hand quilted in quite big stitches with floss or something, I think. Maybe that would be a good approach. I'll have to look it up.
Oh well, back to my piecing - I'm invited out for dinner and I really must make some blocks before I leave...
Another quiet holiday moment - but it is wonderful to be able to take time to smell the flowers, read, and sew. The weather the last couple of days was awful - rainstorms in July is not excactly what you expect... but at least it was perfect weather for sewing. I finished quilting my Café de Paris quilt - pictures when I've finished stitching the binding to the back. So that gives me something to work on while watching the box in the evening - I just don't seem able to just sit there and watch a film or whatever, I need to have something to do with my hands as well.
I got a bit stuck on that zigzag quilt, because it ended up narrower and longer than I'd thought. I pulled a few fabrics out of the mix and couldn't find any that blended in the way I wanted. I finally found a black with some brown in it to use as borders, though, so it will get borders along the two long sides. I also trimmed it a bit more, so it ends up at about 88" long. That's quite enough, I think. I'm using the offcuts to make some blocks for the backing. I have decided to be more creative with my quilt backings and not just go for one single fabric. With a bit of piecing I'll be able to use more of my stash. There are lots of fabrics that I'll probably never use in a quilt top, but will work just fine on the back. And then I'll get more room for new fabric...
And reading. What a luxury it is to be able to sit down in the middle of the day and read a book! I've worked my way through a whole pile of Jill Mansell's novels these last couple of weeks (a 3 for 2 offer at my local bookshop), the Barbara Erskine one too - although it was almost too exciting at times... and I still have Weldon and Trollope to go plus one by Mary Wesley along with her biography. We're having a sunny day today, but really, come rain or shine, I have plenty to fill my time!
Posts
All Comments
Posts
All Comments
