A New Me!

Just so you know.

I've noticed another Clare has emerged in Blogland so I have changed my sign in name to Dordogne Clare. Same picture, different sign in name.

Whilst on the subject of blogs and blogging, I am trying my hardest to get round the rings and keeping up to date with my RSS feeds, but it is getting harder and harder and I get side tracked by a new blogger, or the connection times out, or I get sucked in to doing something else. Please don't give up on me. I am still reading, even if I don't leave a comment. There are so many fantastic quilts to look at these days.

Quilt going well, nearly there with the top and then the border to do. Got some lovely Coats & Clark Multicolour thread yesterday and am deciding whether to do fans or spirals. Which will be the quickest I wonder? This quilt has got to be ready in 2 weeks and I'm having panic attacks that it won't be. I was up at 5.30 am yesterday sewing like mad and finally had to give in at 11.00 pm last night when I started doing the nodding dog bit.

When I start designing/making a quilt, sometimes I cannot see the wood for the trees and it is not until the last few stitches are being sewn that it all comes together in my head.

Are you the same, or can you see it right from the word go?

And on that note I will bid you au revoir. Must get some chores done before settling down with the quilt.

Sorry - no photos. I've tried but a combination of connection and Blogger is making uploading impossible.

Frivoulous Friday (at last)

I wish this rain would stop. It's warm but the minute we have one whole day of wall to wall sun, the thunder and lightening returns the next day for 2 or 3 days. Don't know what is up with the weather this year, but if this is supposed to be global warming where did they get the "warming" from?

Sunset at Le Brouillac last evening

The lemon tree has lost all its lemons and is all leaf because it has rained so much. They hate too much water. The cherries are rotting on the tree or are splitting, the nectarines have already rotted and I can't weed - its either too hot or raining!

Ummmmmm - c'est la vie mais bizarre! "Tant pis" as lovely Maryse would say with a French shrug.

On to more important things. I finally finished the top half of Aunt's quilt yesterday and have started on the bottom half. Pictures next WiP Wednesday. Anne will be familiar with some of the words I think, having lived in Herefordshire some years ago.

Now on to the machine quilting question I asked on Wednesday. Sue over at From the Magpie's Nest answered my question. Quilt it in the way I feel comfortable with. So it will be hand quilted.

And the words for the Wedding quilt? I'm sticking with what I suggested in the first place. I haven't got that much material to do it with so short and sweet (thanks again Anne) is the answer.

The Wedding Quilt and Fabric Diet

This is the material.

The FQ's for the letters cost a Euro each, the background cost a little bit more (ouch), but it was a "must have".

Thanks to Kim for this month's fabric diet badge. She's got a lot on her plate at the moment so it was great of her to take the time out to upload the new design.

No Surprise There Then

I ordered a new camera. A very smart new camera and was getting all excited about its arrival yesterday or today.

The web site is one of those "follow your order" ones.

I checked about 10 minutes ago. It left the warehouse at 11.21 am today. Arrival date? Your guess is as good as mine.

On to the quilting. My Family (Aunt's quilt) is going well. I started on the top row last night and have still got "Diana" and "Martin" do to, plus a bit of infilling. Then onto the fans.

I need some words for Tamzin's wedding quilt. Anyone any ideas?

I thought of Marriages are Made in Heaven. Love at First Sight. That sort of thing, but it seems a bit tame.

Whoops - since writing that bit I've found, lurking in the depths of my Inbox, an old mail from Tonya which contained some ideas. How about

May Tom and
Tamzin always
be happy

7 July 2007

Oh calaminty calaminty! Woe is me.

I've dropped my precious camera! We took it into the SAV at Auchan yesterday who said (with a lovely smile) that it is cheaper to get a new one than get this one repaired (I promptly burst into tears). So I am sitting here trying to get some sense out of HP Support, in both English and French.

This is one of the last photos I took with it before the dreadful event.



I have quilted the middle three rows (click here for a photo of the quilt in its entirety) and have a few more names to add before doing the top and the bottom lines. I am stitching the ditch of every single seam which is taking an age, but at least my stitching is getting better.

Then some big Fantabulous Fans I think for the border, some black binding (do you think black will work or should I do something a bit more jazzy?) et voila!

I wasn't too happy with the material I bought for Tamzin's wedding quilt. It just doesn't feel right. So I ventured into a QS on Friday and, oh my goodness, fell in love with the most gorgeous Tamzin type material and matching thread. Et maintenant le appareil photo numérique est en panne! So you will have to wait to see what transpires.

More as and when, but from now on the posts will be photoless (sob).

WiP Wednesday - 09-05-2007

A finish at long last!

This is Rachel's quilt and has well and truly wrapped the world, with blocks from America, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, and the UK.


I busted the batting stash on this one. I used up the bits from the really thick stuff that I used on Alex's 9 patch so it is thick and heavy and tied really well. Never, ever again will I fuse bits together.

Aunt's quilt is not going too well (sniff). Got a bit of a problem on the quilting front. I think I am going to have to be naughty and machine quilt the letters in the ditch.

Aunt's Quilt and The Bent Needle

I used the door to one of the guest rooms!

Putting it up and and having a look at it in a different way has helped. Do you think it will work like this? Perhaps I can leave the "ands" out and just stem stitch the grandchildrens' names in between. There are, would you believe, 10 names to be added.

Oh and whilst I'm here, go over and visit Sassenach's monthly blogzine called Bent Needle. In honour of Tonya's imminent arrival in Paris (yippee) Sassenach takes you on a whirl wind tour of parts of Western Europe.

WiP Wednesday - 25th April 2007

Loads of pictures today. I am in the process of trying to piece this lot together and it is driving me crazy!

I wanted to try to keep the names together. Elizabeth has been cut about so much the letters were getting smaller and smaller so this is how she stays.



The same with Richard. At the moment it is in 2 pieces because it has to go next to Tim, but then I will have a huge long strip in the middle.






Let me explain.

Jean (aunt) is married to John (wrong colours, but it stays), Elizabeth is the eldest child who is married to Bill. Then there is Sarah who is married to Tim, then Richard who is married to Sarah and, last but not least, Diana who is married to Martin. I originally thought of making "and" for each pair, but changed to a +. I then decided that if I kept going with ideas the quilt would get bigger and bigger and wider too! Oh dear, big sigh, what next? Why not stem stitch ampersands in? Why not indeed.

Then another hiccup. I need a gap between Tim and Richard, but Richard is too long for one strip so it is split, but if I put the last half of Richard with "his" Sarah then I have a huge block of blue fabric over the two lines which won't tally with the rest of the quilt as Diana and Martin are going to be squashed up at the bottom.


Somewhere in between all this lot the names of the grandchildren have got to be stem stitched, and believe you me there are loads of them.

I suppose I could have big blue blocks over the two lines and fill them with the names of the grandchildren, but would that look too busy in that section?

Okay, look what I will do is to pin them together and then we can have another look. How does that sound?

Anyone any ideas? This is supposed to be finished in 2 weeks ( not!)

Ooooooo Blogger and connection are being nice. Quick another post!

Belated WiP and Oodles of Fabric

Do you know the worst thing about living in rural France? The blasted phone system and the fact that we are one of the last villages in the Dordogne not to have ADSL. Apparently they are working on getting us connected sometime in 2008 or 2009, but I don't think I can wait that long. My ISP is driving me nuts. It's not their fault, it's the fault of France Telecom and their antiquated telephone exchange and that the wet pieces of string are, quite literally, hanging in loops from the telegraph poles. I have been trying to post this for well over a week and I just hope that this time I don't loose the connection.

First things first - WiP. Well, I've started my aunt's family birthday quilt. The letters are very wonky but I'm enjoying it. It is great to be piecing and sewing again and watching a quilt come to life, rather than trying to push a needle through 2 inches of fabric and loosing the skin on my thumb.

Now on to more important matters. A friend in the next village has recently come back from a trip to the UK. She had the sad task of doing a mini house clearance. SiL has got Breast Cancer and MiL has gone into a home.

Guess what she bought back with her? Fabric. Lots of fabric. Lots and lots and lots of fabric.

Some of it is curtain material and curtain lining, some of it is too silky and thin for quilting, but she let me have a rummage and this is what I came back with.

Updated 13th April - eye candy time.

Frivolous Friday

We have WiP Wednesday so I thought Frivolous Friday was a good idea. Don't know why, it just sounds good.

Soooo - quoi de neuf? I've found another little girl to do a quilt for - 3 years old - just waiting for the ok from her father.

The Sunburst Strings are driving me demented. Do you ever get that feeling when you sew and sew but it doesn't get any bigger? I feel as if I've been sewing for months and months. Wednesday night I made a decision.


This is as big as it gets and I just ain't doing any more. I have 4 more quarter blocks to make up, then I shall baste and back it and turn it into a



rather wide and long table runner. That's the lovely fabric that Pippa gave me which will be the binding.

Alex and I planned Rachel's quilt yesterday evening. A few more tweaks and then I can start sashing it.

Have added a site feed to this blog for Quilts 4 Leukaemia so you can keep an eye on what is going on over there, rather than hopping from this one to that.

Oh forgot to say - look what the postman delivered on Wednesday.


All the way from Florida and all Joann remnants. Amy - you are brilliant.

WiP Wednesday

Not a lot to report. Have made up enough squares for another Sunburst block and made a pot holder for Mum out of the reject Heartstrings blocks. She mentioned on the phone the other day that she is sick of the "two gloved" oven gloves and could do with a pot holder.

So she has got one. I whipped it up so quickly and stuffed it in an envelope to catch the post on Monday that I didn't take a photo :(

Have I broken the jinx?

The quilt for Sophie

She hasn't been doing too well recently so this should cheer her up. It will start its journey on Monday.

I also managed to do 2 more squares for the string project yesterday so perhaps the jinx has been broken.

Thanks for all your lovely comments and for the support and encouragement. You are all a great bunch!


Oh my goodness - that photo is awful. Please be patient. I will try to upload a better one tomorrow.

That's better!

Sunburst - the First 2 Blocks

And yes the sky is really that blue today and it is warm warm warm (so what am I doing sitting here chatting to you lot!).

A+

Decision Made

Thanks to everyone for leaving such lovely comments.

The first one it is! I started doing the first block yesterday, in between sewing squares, and I have to say that I am quite pleased with it already.

Decisions, decisions

Comme ça

or

comme ça?

I prefer the first one cos the squares aren't exactly "square" and sashing in between each one will sort of "square" the block up. Do you understand what I am talking about?

Comments on a postcard please!

Cutting and Sewing

Yesterday saw me cutting and cutting and cutting with Alex beside me cutting out sheets of greaseproof paper.

Then last evening I tried to go to bed and not burn the midnight oil as I normally do, but the material kept on asking me to play with it and start stitching. So I had to didn't I!

Fabric

There has been a sort of mix up on the fabric purchases the other day (see this post).

The fabric at the bottom with the roses on it is not for Tamzin's wedding quilt. It is the backing for the Qs4L quilt, bought in bulk cos I love it so much and just in case they run out!

Blue Jeans

I have been on and on about this quilt which was supposed to be hung on our bedroom wall and doubling up as a headboard.

Not any more it isn't. Alex was off school most of last week with some sort of flu bug and spent the whole time on the sofa under the quilt. This quilt is now going to be used for what quilts were originally designed for!

BTW the green border showing underneath is part of the sofa throw - not the quilt!

A Purchase ..................

Went up to Javerlhac yesterday to get some more backing for the Qs4L quilts (loads left so no need to panic - yet) and on the next rack along spotted these colours which called to me. These are going to be for Tamzin's wedding quilt - waddyafink Tonya? The fabric on the top is going to be the border.

I am now disappearing off into the land of quilts - I'm running on gas!

A Boo Hoo

Heigh ho (big sigh).

The one on the left - the centre strip is off centre and is not exactly square. The one on the right is too small! Do you know what I did? Put the material onto the cutting mat and cut out what I thought was a 10 inch square. The edge of the fabric was on the 1 inch line and not the 0 inch. Doh!

Never mind, I'm hanging onto them (they will be used) and now that I have got the hang of this I am hooked!

I am changing my mind about that stupid Sunburst quilt design which I loved designing, but can't seem to get motivated to do it. Despite having cut out most of the squares for HST's, I am going to string it! Got the material, it will help bust the stash and I will get my quilt done. There, 3 birds killed with one stone! Mais quand?