A new toy (185)

I've bought a new toy. I found this Singer Featherweight 221K on e-bay, bid for it and won it for a surprisingly low amount - let's hope there's no catch. I'd made enough by selling some books on Amazon to cover the postage, so I felt justified!!!I've spent a merry time this morning cleaning it up, oiling it (in about 20 different places!) and trying it out. Once I'd sorted out the correct needle for the thread - it seems much more sensitive to this than my modern machines - it went like a dream. I had fun getting all the old thread off the bobbins, the previous owner just wound new thread on top of old. The pad of post-it notes next to the needle is to give me my quarter inch seam. I hope to take this to workshops in future, much easier to lug around than my big one. I need to find some new rubber feet for it but that's about all.

I've not done much else today, as I'm pretty tired. Yesterday Alexander was moving out of his flat into a new one, and we went down to help. He lives up three flights of stairs, and was moving to a new flat up three flights of stairs! It took two trips in the car to move all his stuff, plus a trip to the dump. By the time we eventually got away at about 8 o'clock (having arrived at about 1 o'clock) I was tired, cold, thirsty and hungry, so came home, had a boiled egg and went to bed.

A new look (184)

I know it's a little premature, but I felt the need for a little bit of spring fever! The snowdrops and crocuses are in full bloom, and the daffodils are rapidly making their presence felt. It's starting to be light when I get up, I don't always need gloves when I go out, and I'm really getting a feeling that spring is on it's way now - hence the new look to my blog. What do you think?

What's on your bed? (183)

Lynette Anderson has posed the question - which quilt do you have on your bed at the moment?

This is the first quilt - with the exception of a small lap quilt made of square patches - that I made. It's in a mixture of browns, dark reds and pinks. Most of the browns are homespun and the reds and pinks are floral. I don't know the name of the block, but it fascinated me the way you made one block but see something completely different. It was my first attempt at hand quilting too.

I don't imagine that it will last for very long, as I had no idea how to add a border then and there's no wadding in it, though I do like the way that makes it soft and 'frilly'. It also taught me how adding a completely different fabric could make the whole quilt sing. I tried several different fabrics for the binding, but when I used the brown gingham the whole thing came alive. I suspect that the gingham is poly cotton too!!

Sorting, tidying and culling (182)

It's a glorious mild, sunny day here in Surrey and what did we decide to do? Tidy up the attic! Get stuck in the gloom and the dust and the heat of our attic instead of getting out for a walk and breathing the (almost) spring air.

Mind you, it was a job that sorely needed doing. Our attic is a fair sized room, though the head room is limited due to the sloping roof on one side, and you could barely get through the door any more. So drastic action was called for. We put on our oldest clothes, rolled up our sleeves and got down to it - we worked for about five hours, with a half hour break for lunch.

Christopher is a hoarder, hates to part with anything, but he was persuaded to get rid of loads. We halved our book collection, keeping all the good stuff, getting rid of those paperbacks we'd both read or decided we'd never read, so there's about 150 books ready to go to the charity shop next week. We got rid of loads of other stuff too, including two old shelf units that really were no use to anyone. So we've now got one pile to go to the charity shop, and one pile to go to the dump. And we're about half way through the job!

But now, I'm worn out. I've had a long hot shower and am about to put my feet up and have a rest. Hopefully we'll be able to finish the job tomorrow or Monday.

What's going on??? (181)

Yet another February finish, that's what's going on!! This was my one and only UFO. I made the top last year to use up lots of odds and ends of fabric, using the Random Ohio Stars pattern from the Quiltville site. I didn't want to buy any more wadding just yet, so I backed it with a fleecy blanket that lives in the car and quilted the two layers together. It's a fairly rough and ready quilt, one that I just wanted to get done and dusted. There's lots of bits of fabric in there that I'm not keen on, so it will be ideal to live in the car to drape over chilly knees in the winter, or drag out for a picnic blanket in the summer.Here's Rosie checking for loose threads - you can see how little space I have in my sewing room, it's impossible to lay anything out there.Rosie giving it the okay!

Now I'm at a bit of a loose end - I've got plenty of hand stitching to do, stitchery BOMs to catch up with and applique to do on my Mariner's Compass quilt. But no machine sewing planned. That won't do at all, so I'm going to have fun looking through my magazines and books and planning something new.

Noah's Ark (180)

Hooray, the rain stopped and the sun came out just a little (sadly, no rainbow!) and I was able to take a photograph outside of my completed Noah's Ark quilt. I loved doing these little blocks and then ummed and ahhed quite a bit thinking how to finish them. Then I remembered that I'd bought a jelly roll of solids in The Quilt Room's sale, and they were just the ticket. Many thanks to Lynette Anderson for this pattern - here's hoping that she does another one soon.

From February 2009 03/02/2009 16:56

Spring IS on its way (179)

Today the sun shone for a few hours in the late morning and early afternoon and it was milder than it has been (I still needed my thick coat and gloves though), so Christopher and I went for a walk in the park. Lots of other people had the same idea. The skate park was heaving with youngsters on BMX bikes and skateboards; there were more playing football and basketball on the tennis courts and a football match going on over on the pitches. The playground was absolutely full of small children haring around all over the place, going on the swings, slides, zip wires, climbing frames and roundabouts.

As we were walking along I spied these little beauties nestling in the long grass - crocuses and snowdrops, a sure sign that spring is on its way. It's the best time of the year I think, as life starts to reassert itself again.

From February 2009 03/02/2009 16:56

From February 2009 03/02/2009 16:56

From February 2009 03/02/2009 16:56

This is one of the newly laid paths in the park, and I can see a table runner calling me using this pattern.

From February 2009 03/02/2009 16:56