Disaster!!

As a few of you will know I have been having problems with my jaw and face for the last six weeks and have been sitting around not doing much.... but I did manage to read the above books (I am now just going on to read book six in the series) I do not like sitting doing nothing, so I decided to dig out a UFO. I knew it would have to be a very small project, as I could not concentrate for long. 

I don't think I could have found a smaller project!

This project was in a poly bag in the corner of my UFO drawer and had been there for AT LEAST seven years!!

I do not know where I saw the original design, but I do know the blocks were HUGE, at least 10 inches in height.

I like my blocks to be small....

... the smaller the better, so I redrew the block to 2.5 inches and the depth of the tulip head is 1 inch.

I must have been mad!! Look at the size of those corner triangles!! They are only 1/4inch long! And I must have been having a really bad cutting-out day, as all my seam allowances are dreadful!!

I only had three tulips to sew to finish, and all the material and templates were there, so I got going. I wanted the quilt to look like a garden, so once I had the tulips sewn togethar, I sashed them to make it look like paths between the flowers, and then sewed on green borders.

I then drew out the quilting design on a piece of paper. I wanted it to look like a snail was wandering round the garden - you can see him in the picture - sorry Blogger will not let me turn it the proper way. I was concentrating (or trying to) so hard to get the stitches even that I forgot to include the poor wee thing!

You can see a close up of the design above.

I don't usually use blue wash-out pens or purple fade-away pens for marking quilts, but this time I was going for the easy option. I used the blue wash-out pen, because I knew I would be washing the quilt immediately after I finished it. 

I washed it carefully and then soaked up the excess water from the quilt in a towel.

I decided to pin and block the small quilt just to see if it improved the look of the quilt, so I left it on the floor of the conservatory, where it gets nice and warm, when the sun is shining. When it was dry, I took out the pins and had a good look at it!

Disaster!!!!!!

EEEK!!

The red material leeched into the surrounding material!! I ALWAYS wash my material, when I bring them home, so I do not understand how this happened! the above photograph doesn't look too bad, but that is after I did this -

I put some stain removal on it and it did make a difference. I washed it again and reblocked and redried it, and this is the result -

I am a bit sad it is not perfect (and neither is my quilting), but it is one UFO off the list.
Till next time.
tich

Bloglovin

I said in my last post that I had not been well for a while. Things are improving slowly, but I still can't chew. I keep on fantasising about a crispy roll and butter, or even a piece of bread, butter and marmalade. Who said I had sophisticated tastes?

Not much has been done on the creative side also. I get tired really easily, but I did start a bead pattern that I designed and also dug out a mini quilt, which has been a UFO for years. Pictures, perhaps, next time. 

I managed to get really behind in my blog reading. I had been using Google Reader, but went back to using the old-fashioned way of clicking on the blog and getting stuck in. On one of the blogs, the lady was bemoaning the fact that Google Reader was going, but gave a link to a new one - Bloglovin. It is so easy to use, and you can transfer your Google Reader blogs as easy as pie. If you want to  a look, go to this link -

 Bloglovin

I have had great fun catching up on all my bloggie friends. Hopefully I won't get behind again.

Till next time.

tich

Tulips

My bloggie friend, Lynn, had pictures of a bunch of red tulips on her blog and I was envious. When I saw these pink beauties, I just had to have them. I love tulips! They are so smooth and perfect, when they are new, and when they get older, their colour changes and they get wild and wacky. Hope this happens to me as I get older!! Who said it is already happening to my hair?!!? 

I have not been well for nearly three weeks and the tulips really cheered me up. I had a really restricted diet and was not even allowed a glass of wine on my birthday two weeks ago, but the tulips kept me smiling! They lasted ages, but started eventually to fade in colour. They did go a wee bit wacky, but perhaps they felt as subdued as I did. The photograph below was taken looking down on the flowers. The colours, which do not show, were glorious.

My husband, who has been an absolute angel these past three weeks has promised he will take me out for a slap up meal when I am back to eating normally. Yum!

Till next time

tich

This is FASCINATING!!

I didn't realise I could speak so many languages!
Till next time.
tich

Progress!!

A little bit of progress. This little quilt has been sulking in a corner, as I have been trying to make up my mind what kind of wadding to use, when I go to quilt it. It is a bit crushed and forlorn looking. Hopefully it will look a bit better soon!
Till next time.
tich

Surprise Giftie!!

This little surprise arrived in the post. Isn't it cute? I got it from one of my Bloggie friends.

It is made to be placed under your bobbin on your sewing machine.

I am working on my old Bernina 801 at the moment. Doesn't my new bobbin protector look much better than my old red one?

The bobbin protector is supposed to help stop your bobbin rattling, spinning round too quickly and to protect your machine ...

... but I think it also enhances my machine and makes it look snazzy! 

Only trouble is I was going to put this one on one of my featherweights, but my Bernina is crying, saying it wants it! 

 Oh well, I guess I will just have to get out the crochet hook and have a bash! Thank you so much, Cyn, for my cute present!!
Till next time.
tich

No Tangle Embroidery and September 18th 2014!!

You will remember this is the BOM 'Harrington & Hannah' which was given out free last year on the Raspberry Rabbits website. Click here and scroll down if you have missed any of the patterns or instructions. There is even a pattern for a cute rabbity postcard there as well. I have been trying to catch up with the blocks and have had my embroidery threads out. I want to thank one of the ladies who sent me such lovely gifts after my sister died. Unfortunately my computer died recently and I lost the database with all the details and addresses of the people who were so kind to send me such lovely goodies. One lady sent me this -

Two beautiful bundles of embroidery threads.

Look at the colours!!

Scrumptious!!

I can't make up my mind which one I like best!! Warm and wonderful, or ... 

...cool and cute!!

When I was at college studying embroidery, I was taught this trick to stop all the threads tangling up into an unmanageable mess.

 Fold the threads in half, to form a manageable length for embroidering (this bundle is just a perfect length for this). 

Cut!!

 Wrap a small piece of embroidery thread firmly round the cut end and knot. The hank of threads now has to be pleated . If you do not have anybody to hold onto one end (my husband was mucking out the horses) ...

 ... hang the hank on a hook where you hang your mugs (you can see some of mine 'hanging about'!)

Centering the hank on the hook, pleat those luscious threads together.

 Hold the end firmly... 

 ... and wrap another small piece of thread firmly round the end. Knot.

 To extract a thread, hold the end, pull out a thread slowly.
   

 No tangles...

... just beautiful threads!! (I did not bad photographing one-handed!)
When I was at college, using a lot of different threads, I used to cut lengths of the various threads, tie and pleat them as above. This meant I did not have to carry loads of embroidery skeins around with me, and I certainly had no tangles.

And

Devolution for Scotland!

545 days to go!!

September 18th 2014!!

Vote YES!!!!!!!!

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Till next time.

tich