Busy January!

For the New FO challenge this month hosted by Barbara at Cat Patches,  we have EASY STREET, the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt

The 3 blocks that went a bit haywire have now been corrected & we have a completed top! I'm still debating whether to add borders or not and & thinking I may hand quilt this one.

Bottom row missing - not enough room to get the whole top in the photo

I really got into the swing of piecing by machine with easy street that I just carried on when I came across this Swoonalong & before long.........

Parts 1 & 2

became......

........a completed top!

 (I was too impatient to wait for the rest of the instructions)

Last weekend it was basted & quilted(very simply)

Lucy helped with the binding!

Ta Dah ....finished. 

I used Kaffe Fassett scraps in reds & yellows but not having any modern neutrals I went with shirtings, marrying the old with the new. I was initially worried that you shouldn't really mix the 2 styles, but then thought why not? and am now pleased with the result, i think it works out ok, what do you think?

This month I also managed to finish the big stitch quilting on my Hot Wheel quilt and bind it, so that is another WIP completed.

This one now stays on my bed as my winter quilt & is super cosy!

 ......and finally, I thought it was about time I cracked on with the Sue Spargo Imperial Blooms BOM, before I get stuck into this year's Bird Dance lined up as a New FO for February.

 The first pack arrived this month & I'm itching to get started 

Block 7 done

Block 8 in progress

Oh...and I nearly forgot, I also added another 2 rows to the Japanese boxes EPP top.

So, to recap, January has been a very productive month, foul weather has helped as well as staying away from the laptop, the latter for which I hope you will accept my apologies for not having visited your blogs or responding to messages promptly.......I promise to do better next month :)

Keep on stitching........

Where do I begin?

Well, Happy Easter to one & all, hope you were spoilt with lots of chocolate goodies :)

2011 was not a great year to start with. Early January a large shadow appeared on a chest xray which was eventually, after numerous scans & biopsies diagnosed as lung cancer which led to major surgery in Southampton removing 2 lobes of my right lung. I am very fortunate in that they were able to remove all the tumour & have not had to follow up surgery with radiotherapy or chemotherapy & am pleased to say that all has gone well. May I also take this opportunity to thank you all for your best wishes & prayers of support which were very much appreciated during this difficult time :) Now back to quilting!

Knowing how boring hospital stays can be, I prepped a whole load of patches to take with me should I feel the need to stitch, and thus began the start of a thimble quilt, inspired by this amazing red one by Ingrid at Supergoof and this beauty created by Katrien of Scrappatch . For this one I have taken all the repros I have collected over the last few years & added them with shirtings & lights to make up this scrappy top.

This was a great little hand piecing project to work on whilst convalescing post op & I decided to make 12 & 12 blocks to join together in rows.

Of course Lucy kept me company whilst stitching & had to try out the patchwork for comfort!

Progress so far

Imperial Blooms

Another project which was great to work on whilst on the road to recovery was the Imperial Blooms BOM by Sue Spargo. I had decided to join this one as I loved the design & had for while wanted to have a go at wool applique..........another technique now ticked off the list!



I am really enjoying working on this. As well as the wool applique I'm also brushing up on my rusty embroidery skills. Currently working on block no 7 which is nearly done, then just 2 more to go before attacking the borders.

Kaffee Fassett

Remember this? It had been on my design wall since July 2010!

Well last Sept/Oct I decided it was time to tackle this quilt designed in the Kaffe workshops I was lucky enough to attend. So here we have a tada moment with a top quilted, bound & studied by my 4 legged quilt inspector!

Boy, does she manage to get into every shot somehow!

This blue diamond quilt was intended for my bed but isn't quite wide enough & with winter on it's way the colours felt too cold, so inspired by a quilt on the cover of Kaffe's book Caravan of Quilts & one that Cathy of Cabbage Quilts was making, I decided to also use the EPP (English paper piecing) method to make my own in warm reds, purple and gold using Kaffe Fassett & Philip Jacob fabrics.


As each round was completed I laid it out on the floor to choose the next round of fabrics to use & once again, it had to be checked for comfort by Lucy!
Finally, by Christmas Eve, this top was completed, not bad going for EPP started mid October! Unfortunately it is still just a top which I hope to have quilted & bound ready for my bed next winter.

So, all in all, being absent from blogger has given me more sewing time & as you can see I have not been completely idle during my time off :)
More to follow.........