I'm back from holiday

I'm back from holiday - in fact we came back about a week ago - but I've not been feeling absolutely the ticket, haven't even uploaded my photographs yet, so no blogging for a while, but I hope to be back soon.

First finishes for September

My first (and probably last) finishes for September are both items of clothing. I like to knit when I'm a passenger in the car. I can't sew as it required too much close focus and I get queasy, but simple knitting I can do with one eye on the horizon. I fancied a big, warm sweater for the winter, that I can wear over blouses and lighter turtle neck jumpers. Quite what I liked about the colour at the time I'm not too sure now, as it certainly doesn't go with anything else that I possess! But it will be warm and that's the main thing.

When we were last down at Brighton I found this fabric and thought it would be ideal for a shirt, and I loved the idea of the spotty fabric for the neck band. It's quite a while since I made myself any clothes, although I used to do a lot of dressmaking. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, though it's a little roomy, so I'll need to adapt the pattern if I use it again.

We're heading off in the motorvan on Saturday for a two week holiday in the Lake District, so I'm busy stocking it up with food, and lots of clothes. The weather forecast doesn't look too promising, so I think the warm sweater will come in useful. Never mind, it will just be lovely to get away somewhere new. Christopher is planning lots of sleeping and reading. I've packed about fifteen books so far, as well as a new sweater to knit, backgammon and a pack of cards, puzzle and crossword books, DVDs and loads of music - everything you need for a holiday in the UK. And of course, plenty of hand sewing. I'm starting to think about Christmas presents for this year and I'm planning to make Christmas placemats for everyone, with a hand stitched panel.

I'm hoping to take lots of photographs to share with you when I get back, but doubt if I'll be able to get an internet access while we're away, so have a great two weeks everyone, and just hope I don't get webbed feet and fingers while we're away!

Small finishes

I've made a few small things over the last week or so; having finished my Spring Fling I didn't feel like doing anything large for a wee while.

I've taken up Jenny's (at Elefantz) challenge to make a cover for my sewing machine. It's not particularly pretty, but I wanted to use up some of my leader/ender four patches and then added in some strips to make it fit (this is me using up my stash).

From August 2009

We had visitors last weekend, one of whom kept banging his head on the way into our kitchen, where the doorway is pretty low. I'm so short that it doesn't bother me, and Christopher has got used to ducking his head a bit, but it's a bit unfair on our taller visitors, hence the warning sign.

From August 2009

Through World Vision I sponsor a child in Ethiopia, and it's the time of year to send of Christmas cards, and very small, flat, light gifts. So I made her a little Christmas ornament, using a link that Candace (Wraggedypatches) sent me. Cute, isn't it?

From August 2009

And finally, this picture is for Gina (Quilting in the Valleys). Gina visited me a couple of months ago and brought me a lovely rose. I planted it in the garden and pruned it a bit and it's just rewarded me with a second flowering, and still several buds to open. Thank you Gina.

From August 2009

A giveaway

There's a lovely giveaway at Calamity Jane's Cottage.

Spring Fling

I have at last finished my Spring Fling quilt. I started this back in January, at an intermediate quilting course. Unfortunately I missed the last two sessions because of our move to Somerset. However, I finished the top fairly quickly after our move and have been intermittently hand quilting it ever since. Another self imposed deadline helped to get it finished and up on the wall before our weekend visitors arrived (about an hour before they arrived!)

This is by far the most complex quilt I've made and it is quite heavily quilted, but I'm pretty pleased with the result. The colours are brighter than in the photograph, but it was a bit of a rush to grab the tiniest bit of sunshine to take the photo before putting it up on the wall.

Ship Ahoy!

In our small bathroom we have a nasty hole in the wall, presumably left so that you can get at the shower workings should you need to. We've got a bit of a seaside theme going on in there, so I made a small quilt to go over the hole.

I've not done much foundation piecing before, so this was something new to try. The pattern is based on one in Popular Patchwork magazine and was made much easier because they gave instructions on the size of fabrics to cut. In the past when I've tried I've ended up with bits of fabric cut far too small. The signal flags fabric is some that I bought in a sale a year or so ago, and works beautifully with this quiltlet. Now all I need to do is get Christopher organised to hang it up.

Flutterbyes

I have just finished my Butterfly Quilt, except for the label. This is to be a donation for a friend's charity. I had many lovely suggestions for this from many blogging friends, but in the end went for a pattern in Popular Patchwork magazine. The quilt has finished at about 2 feet by 3 feet. I loved doing the machine applique, which I did through all three layers, giving the butterflies a slightly puffy effect. I used fancy machine stitches on the sashing and meandering for quilting the background to the butterflies.

It is of course properly rectangular, it just looks a bit squiffy because of the way I had it laid on the garden bench!