Much Better

I took another picture of my Wonky Log Cabin and it has come out much better.

Something else I have been working on is this star quilt. It was quick to make and I enjoyed it, so much so that I'm thinking about making another one. For a different colourway check out Pam's blog. Pam is teaching it in April.

Enjoy your weekend and Gina if you read this I hope you're feeling better.

Sketchbook Work

I've done some more sketchbook work and I've been enjoying it.

Following Gina's example for using a stencil  I combined two and used a metallic oil pastel in purple. It's very difficult to see that it's metallic from the picture but it looks very striking over the white card.

Much more subtle against the red page.

Here I used a white oil pastel and mixed purple and red Kohi-I-Noor colours together to fill in the poppies and then I cut away some of the page to reveal part of the underlying page.

I worked some more on the combined stencils page adding some texture. The top of the seed head is covered in the tiniest dark purple beads and I added a few words using my stamps.

This is the page that lies underneath the cut away page.

I took this picture so that you could see the beads on the surface.

This is my favourite page. I used water soluble crayons in various shades of red, orange, yellow and a dark purple mixing them all together. It made such a nice smooth surface to work on that I was reluctant to use it but I did. I'll show you the results in my next post I'm waiting for it to finish drying.

The tumbling block quilt is finished and has recieved lots of nice comments.

I've made a start on putting the pink and green star blocks together for Anthony and Nicki's quilt. I'm hoping to get the top put together today.

The purple and green log cabin hanging is coming along nicely and I've ordered the perspex rod for displaying it.

I must go and get on with the stars now.

Finished

I finished the quilt last night and I'm very happy with it. Can't imagine why I didn't finish it sooner!

Here's a close up of the binding and quilting. 

So pretty.

I have at last made a decision about how to finish the edges of my Wonky Log Cabin. You can see on this sample that I've tried binding in both colourways. I did consider the orange-but not for long,  I'm going to bind them in the accent colour used in the block. I think this helps to give each block a strong and positive finish. It feels as though the hanging is really starting to come together now and I may have decided how to join the blocks together, just need to do another sample to try out my idea.

Today I'm hoping to do a little more quilting on this.

I'm hoping to get to Gina's on Sunday for the Open Artists Studios . Hope you all enjoy your weekend.

Baby Stuff And More

This is the little quilt that I've made for the babys crib.

A close up of the cornerstone and you can see just how cute the little birds are.

As for the bumper, all I need to do is hand stitch the binding and make some ties for it. They know it's a girl but wanted something neutral for the crib. Baby is due 22nd September and so far has had two names, the first one been Hope and the current one Ellie. Both nice names but we'll wait and see.
 

On Tuesday I took part in Adult Education Awareness Week at the town hall and whilst I was there this is what I achieved. Not much I know but I was talking to people for some of the time. It's not finished, I don't know what I'm going to do with it but I am going to keep working on it.

But now I am going to make a start on quilting my Wonky Log Cabin.

Green Is For Go

I have got all the blocks done now for my hanging and I just need to quilt them. I've been giving this a lot of thought and I'm going to try invisible thread because I don't want to detract from the visual impact of the fabric and colours.

I really like the way these two colours work together.

The next thing I need to think about is how to hang them all.

We're In !!!!!

At last. We had a very busy weekend moving the shop. A lot of very kind people gave up their Sunday to help us and we wouldn't have managed without them. So thank you all we are very grateful.

Here are a few pictures of the new place, there will be more to follow. Ladies were queing outside on opening day which was exciting. We have had a lot of kind wishes, cards and pressies from customers It's been lovely to have so many people popping in.

These are the goody bags we gave out, all the ladies loved the little bags.

This is the first wonky log cabin block and I'm very pleased with it. It wasn't as easy to do as I thought it would be it takes a lot of concentration. Anyway must get on with some more and a challenge set by Gina which I will tell you more about in another post.

Lots Of Pictures

We had a great time in Wales last week and really didn't want to come back. I don't think we realised how tired we were, the rest was very welcome and we slept a lot.

Don't the Lambs look cute. I didn't take any mint sauce.

The lovely scenery even on a cloudy day.

Pictures of the resevoir, the water was so still like a large mirror.

A disused lead mine.

This picture should have been further up before the pictures of the resevoir but it's got jumbled up and I'm not even going to attempt to move it.

This picture was just because, it looks interesting and full of texture, Neil wasn't convinced but never mind.

More paper play, not the best picture though. This is roughly how the blocks will be but I haven't decided how they are going to hang. I can't decided whether I should sew them together so they hang in three rows or have them hanging in three rows but join the blocks with tabs. Something to ponder.

We've got a very busy week and even busier weekend ahead of us moving the shop but so far everything is going well. I will update you later in the week.