Apologises for my absence....

I am sorry to my faithful blog readers for my lack of post recently it has been a time for family in one way or another.  Last Sunday we were told of the tragic death of Colin's nephews partner Nicky, she was only 26 and leaves behind a five month old little girl named Lily. We do not know as yet what caused Nicky's death and naturaly we are all in shock. Colin and I have been supporting Karen (Colin's sister) and Mark (his nephew ) by being there for them as much as possible.  On my side, my brother Tony is due to become a father for the second time, any day now but the house they bought several weeks ago needed completely gutting. He is fighting against time to get it finished before the baby arrives, so its all hands on deck, paint brushes at the ready.  My friend Janet recently mentioned on her blog that to her family is everything and I agree completely.  My family are everything to me and with out their love and support my world would be a sad and lonely place.  I have however managed to fit in a little bit of sewing. Its a stitch along quilt in the latest addition of Homespun called O'Little town of Bethlehem. I pop it in my bag every day and I stitch it on the train going to Karen's or on the bus going to Tony's.  It is so therapeutic, it is my escapism and  my comfort zone all wrapped up in one, who needs counselling or therapy when you can sew :)     

Feeling Blue

A few days ago I started a new quilt. I decided to make Blue Lagoon from one of the jelly roll and layer cake books by Pam and Nicky Linnot. Also I have got two draws full of blue fabric which kind of swayed my choice as again I wanted to use my fabric stash. Personally I think blue and white quilts are really fresh looking and very pretty. I am in no rush to finish this quilt I am just enjoying making it at a nice leisurely pace.

Tilda toiletery bag.

I adore Tone Finnagan and Tilda designs I have all her books that are translated into English. I think I mentioned a little while back that my niece Kay is going to Uni in September she is doing a nursing degree. Kay asked me to make her a charm bag so she can carry her toiletries to the bathroom. As you know I made the bag last week so yesterday I thought I would add to it and make her a little cosmetic bag. The pattern comes from Sew Pretty Homestyle. I have slightly adapted the image of the angel. Kay's favourite colour is pink and has even had pink hair on several occasions so I thought I'd make her angel a little pink lady.

One UFO completed....

Some of you who follow my blog may remember this quilt. I won all the fabric in a Janet's Liverbirds raffle in February 2011.  I loved the pastel colours and decided I wanted to make a simple little lap quilt. I think at the time Jelly Rolls where the in thing so I cut all the fabric into 2 1/2 inch strips. The Pattern is from Pam and Nicky Lintott book Jelly Roll Quilts and it is called Friendship Braid, although I have called mine Slings and Arrows (don't ask cos I don't know why). It was a lovely quilt to make and it only took a few days to complete the top. That was way back in March 2011. A few weeks ago I decided that I would complete a UFO after finishing a new project and this is my first one completed. I am so pleased with myself because I am not very good at quilting. Today I will be able to start a new project but which one? Far too many to choose from.

Acknowledge??????

I have got a terrible bee in my bonnet its been there now for a few days and today I decided it was time to get it out. My bee is if people take the time to leave a comment on a blog surely good manners calls for the comment to be acknowledged with a reply.  Politness cost nothing and is often rewarded with many blessing. There the bee has gone. I hope I have not offended anyone with this particular post as that was not my intention. :)

TA DA .......

You will all be pleased to know that today I finished my Summer Harmony quilt. I am really happy with the end result. I asked DH to take a photo of the finished quilt and this is what he did, cool or what! Please feel free to drop by Janet's blog to see the original Summer Harmony over at Lemon Tree Quilts I promise it is a blog well worth a visit and the quilt  is stunning.

I have set myself  a little challenge to finish a ufo before starting a new project. I looked through the box of quilt tops and I have picked out a pretty little lap quilt. Today I have layered the top, wadding and backing and I am just in the middle of securing all three layers. Hopefully I will start quilting it tonight. I will pop a photo on when I have completed it. 

Parting is such sweet sorrow.............

Strippy Log Cabin designed by Janet Keenan made by me.

I am parting company with this quilt and I have very mixed emotions about it. It is going to a very good home, my sister in-law Karen. It will be a gift for her 50th birthday. I made the quilt in 2010 and it has only been out of the box that stores all my finished quilts 3 maybe 4 times, in the last two years. I know she will cherish, love it and more importantly she will use it to keep her extra warm in the winter months. So why does a part of me ache at giving it away? Does anyone else feel the same about parting with their quilts?

A little bit more.....

I had a few days break from sewing and watched some mindless TV instead.  However today I decided I continue with Summer Harmony. I put all the boarder blocks on and quilted two of the final outer boarders. Unfortunately I only managed attach one to the quilt. I am really hoping to finish this quilt tomorrow as I want to move on to other projects. 

Frustrated....

Kays bag.



Summer Harmony so far.....

My niece Kay is going to Uni in september to train as a nurse and she asked if I would make her a charm bag for her toiletries. She also asked for floral fabrics and her favorite colour is pink hence the colour scheme.  I know I said I would not start another project until I had finished Summer Harmony but on Friday was a bit of an emotional roller coaster and things began to go wrong when I attachted two of the block boarders. I decided I needed time out from SH and before I knew it I had cut the squares for Kays charm bag. Bag completed I took a deep breath and unpicked offending wobbly block borders and last night I sewed them on correctly. I am now back on track with SH and hopefully it will be finished soon.