I Spy Finished (photo heavy)

You might remember last month that I was teasing you about something I was making (here). It was, of course, and I Spy quilt, and I was making it for my granddaughter's birthday. I was making it with some of the wonderful material I received from quilters all over the world, when my sister died. I thought I had better start early, as I was still not feeling very well, and I wanted to take my time.

I cut out lots of lovely squares, ...

...and sewed them into nine patches. No, these squares are sewn correctly, because ...

...I was making a disappearing nine patch,... 

... to make quick blocks!  

I layed out all the blocks, once I had them made,... 

 and then I numbered the rows. I was trying to get the different materials spaced out, but was not concerned about the self-coloured material.

I had some really quirky material for the backing. I sandwiched it and quilted it on the machine. I quilted it with straight lines, but with random spacing in between. Some of the lines were a bit wobbly, but I don't think my granddaughter will notice. 

The binding was made from the self-coloured material, in random lengths. 

 

I bought a packet of hair clips, and used these to hold the binding, whilst I was sewing it down. They were great, and only cost me £1.20 for 30 clips!!

Below are some pictures of the quilt. 

One of the ladies included some labels, so I used one as well.

I hope my granddaughter likes it.

I  am sorry I cannot name the ladies who gave me the material. I made up an Excel file with all the details, but both my computer and my backup external hard drive crashed in the same week, and I lost most of my files.

But THANK YOU again!!

Till next time.

tich xx

New Life

The rule in our house is that if an animal has a name it does not get eaten! When this new lot of ducklings came out of their shells, I could not stop laughing. One of them had a pompadour haircut, so he just had to get the name 'Pompei'. He is just adorable!!
Till next time.
tich

Hooked!!

Oh these crochet triangles are so nice - I can't stop making them. I am going to hang these up in my studio, when I start using it again. Perhaps I will just go and hook another triangle!
Till next time.
tich

Claiming My Blog

  I kept on putting off 'Claiming My Blog' in Bloglovin', but this is it done and it was so easy. Procrastinator, that is me. If anybody needs help, just holler!
Till next time.
tich

BAD, BAD, BAD!!!

Oh I am so bad!! This is the year of finishing up projects, but I have started TWO new ones this month!! I am still sewing Shh - you know what, but I got a book out of the library on unusual crochet blocks, and then read Attic 24's article on making crochet banners, and I just had to have a go!! 

I adapted both patterns (in other words I made up my own!!)

I have been wanting to make a banner to show my support for Scottish Independence...

... and I had seen a lot of yarn bombing, which looked great fun!! 

I thought I would yarn bomb the fence on the field next to our house...

...but I would have to put some weight at the bottom of the pennants, as we get so much wind, ...

 ... so I sewed on some beads in the appropriate colour...

... and I made a banner in the middle ...

... and a flower to represent the Flower of Scotland (the song!) ... 

... sewed them together... 

 ... in the colours representing the Scottish flag...

... YES!! 

I couldn't quite get a picture of it altogether ... 

... 

... (excuse the feet and jeans!) ...

My husband said it was too nice to go on the fence, where it would get extremely dirty, so .... 

... I hung it in our conservatory.! 

It is quite small, ... 

... but next year there will be a larger one!!!

YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! 

Till next time.

tich

I Spy What and Bloglovin'

What do I spy?

I spy beautiful materials.

I spy beautiful materials with wonderful patterns on them. 

But does anybody recognise them? 

 I spy beautiful materials with wonderful patterns on them, which were sent to me by equally wonderful ladies from all over the world. These materials were sent to me when my sister died. The colours excited me, the patterns made me smile and the love and concern from ladies I hardly knew uplifted my heart and consoled me in my sadness. 

I decided that these materials would be kept for a special project. I did not know what, back then, but I knew I would need them for a SPECIAL project in the future. That project has arrived!! I am having so much fun, and despite my jaw still being a bit off, I have started sewing a little , and I am smiling at the wacky patterns and the gorgeous colours. What am I making? WAIT AND SEE!!!!

I am LOVIN' BLOGLOVIN'. I read on some of the blogs I follow, that a lot of people do not like it, as they cannot leave comments on the blogs or follow live links. I had the same problem when I started, and was getting really frustrated. I couldn't believe that the software developers would develop an app with such a fundamental fault. I started playing about and found that the developers were not as daft as I thought. It was me that was daft!! To leave a comment on a blog that you are reading on Bloglovin', click the cross on the right hand side of the Bloglovin's taskbar at top of the page. This takes you immediately to the blog itself, and you can comment and link no bother! I have kept up with all the blogs I read, and I don't get overwhelmed with posts I have missed. I LOVE BLOGLOVIN'.

Till next time.

tich

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