Happy Halloween

Pumpkins and trick or treaters, some things are very traditional for Halloween, However in our house costumes are not traditional. Jenny went out dressed as a shark attack and her friend as a devil ladybird. I am not going to say who my pumpkins look like!

Not Quilting but Reading

I have just started reading the Elm Creek Quilts novels kindly loaned to me by Janet. As Sarah starts her first quilt with Mrs Compton here is a picture of my first quilt too.

Quilters lunch

Friday was class day at The Fat Quarters but first Margaret, Helen, Dawn,Jenny and I met up for lunch at The Herb Patch. Check out their website for opening times www.herbpatch.fsnet.co.uk/. After a nice lunch there was time to stroll around the gardens, for Dawn and Jenny to check out the bunnies and Helen and Margaret to check out the ducks. Sorry the picture is a bit dark. Anyway on to The Fat Quarters where Ann and Janet were already getting down to some work. Jenny has finished her Tilda Christmas mouse and I made some bunting for Halloween and a cute halloween bucket bag for collecting all those goodies. The seahorses are coming along, all layered up now and quilting has begun. I can't wait to get it finished.

Too busy to quilt

We have been away for a long weekend break to visit my Dad up in the Scottish Borders. The weather was fab so we had some lovely walks and a trip to Edinburgh too. Sightseeing for the boys and shopping for the girls. Jenners haberdashery department had a half price sale so I bought an embroidery ring and some bias binding. The lovely Rowan yarns were half price too but I resisted temptation to start a wool stash. Also visited a lovely shop in the neighbouring village of ST Abbs. Woolfish is a tiny shop selling yarns, blankets, throws and cross stitch. I bought a tiny cross stitch of an owl which I completed while watching England get thrashed at the rugby. Check out their web site at www.woolfish.co.uk. Must get down to some serious sewing tonight before the class tomorrow.

Glorious Autumn

The glorious autumn weather continues and the colours of the trees are absolutely stunning. Here is one I snapped earlier today while out walking with Jenny in Wylam. There has still been time however for some quilting over the weekend and I can now announce that the seahorses are finished. Not the whole quilt but the applique of the actual seahorses. When I started this I liked applique but I have sickened myself. The seahorses are now sewn onto the background fabric, the foundation pieced background went out of the window as being too time consuming and fiddly so I now have a large piece of stitch and tear going spare. All that's left is to add a couple of borders.

Sunny Saturday

Today Jenny and I have been for a girlie day out in Hexham. The weather was beautiful and the autumn colours of the trees near the hospital are just stunning. We had lunch at The Cornmill then went to the Forum cinema to see Hairspray. Jenny bought some furry boots and I got a new cardigan.
Then I went home and did some gardening, and then an opportunity to take a quilt photo in the sunny garden too. This was my summer quilt finished earlier in the year, made in purples and pinks from the Moda sanctuary collection to a pattern from the book Bundles of Fun - quilts from fat quarters by Karen Snyder. This is a nice book with easy quilt blocks made from bundles of 12 fat quarters. This was my first attempt at free motion quilting too so I was quite pleased with it.

Cup cakes quilt

Progress on the seahorses quilt is very slow at the moment, I now need to mark out all the lines for the foundation piecing of the background. So I thought I would post a picture of my favourite quilt I have made so far. It is a cup cakes quilt made from a pattern by Dandelion Designs. I also made the matching cushion and bunting on the pattern too. The fabric I made it in is mostly the Poetry Collection from Moda. I got the kit from The Fat Quarters, (where else?) earlier in the year. I enjoyed doing it because there were lots of different techniques involved, Patchwork, applique, embroidery. Its a shame we never got any summer to hang the bunting up in the garden!