Wip Wednesday - 13-06-07 and Machine Quilting

Jean and John have been quilted and I've nearly finished "Katherine" in stem stitch. Today is wet and miz again so I'm going to catch up on a few chores and then knuckle down and try to get the centre finished. Then all I've got to do is to tackle the border which is giving me nightmares.

Onto the next question. I am thinking of machine quilting Tamzin's wall hanging quilt cos then I might just be able to get it done, if not in time then at least before they go to L.A. What thread mix do you use, or what make? I am hoping to get up to the QS at Thiviers on Saturday so can have a rummage in the thread section then.

What length of stitch, etc, etc, etc. I don't have a walking foot, just a plain old universal one that does everything. Would you advise me to get one or just see what happens. On the other hand, perhaps I should stick to hand quilting. After all, my machine isn't a posh one and I do prefer hand quilting. What do you all think?

And to brighten up what is turning into a miserable day, here is a picture of my Alex lying in the freshly cut hay talking to Magic yesterday evening.

Wip Wednesday - 06-06-2007

Well, here we go. The first photo of My Family as it is at the moment. I have just about finished stitching "Jean", will then go on to "John", finish off adding names and words at the top and then move down to "Diana" and "Martin".

Am itching to get this finished so that I can start on the Wedding quilt, but the weather seems to have taken a turn for the better so quilting is not included in today's activities, whereas grass cutting, pool cleaning and catching up on the laundry is *sigh*.

Whoops - picture has come out a bit dark. Bear with me - this camera is taking a lot of getting used to.

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.

WiP Wednesday - 02-05-2007

Aunt's quilt has been basted and backed and I'm in the process of quilting it.

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.

WiP Wednesday

Same as last week I suppose, but I am on the home stretch. One more row to tie and then bind and label.

I have to confess that now the good weather is here I would prefer to be gardening than quilting, but we do have yukky April to get through yet.

However, one thing I am doing is going through my RSS feeds. I have an awful habit of just clicking on the link and looking at the last entry on a blog. If it looks interesting I will investigate further, if it doesn't I don't. So I was missing out on a whole load of interesting stuff.

What I am doing is altering the name of the blog, so instead of the feed saying, for instance, Dordogne Quilter, it will now say Clare's blog.

WiP Wednesday

Rachel's quilt is now pinned (again) and I hope to start tying it tonight.

I have four more Qs4L to make up and I am starting to think that I am going to have farm these out for basting, quilting and binding.

I have a Family Quilt to make up for my aunt's 80th birthday in May and there is still sister's wedding quilt. I desperately want to start these as I know I can turn them round quite quickly, but when.

Not enough time, not enough time. What is it the White Rabbit says?

I stayed up last night and watched Bridges of Madison County. Never seen it before. What fantastic scenery. Are those bridges for real?

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the end so can someone please put me out of my misery. Did Meryl Streep go with Clint or not?

In the meantime, a bit of local colour discovered in the main square in Mareuil last week.

Sorry

Been so busy completely forgot about WiP Wednesday. Just to update. Rachel's quilt has reached the flimsey stage, but that is just about it. Weather gorgeous so gardening, gardening and gardening.

Yesterday was Alex's birthday so we didn't get a lot of stuff done and now I've got to get showered and changed as we are off to friends for lunch.

Go over to the other blog for catch up goss.

WiP Wednesday

Wet cold and miserable here today. Finished off another quarter of the Sunburst blocks last night, and am hoping to get a few more done today.

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 :(

WiP Wednesday

Zilch, rien, nothing!

Going through a bit of a quilting slump at the moment. Even the Strings are lying in a heap on the table untouched.

WiP Wednesday and "The Weather"

WiP - Sophie's quilt is tied and needs to be bound. Sunburst Strings (woooo good name!) is being "strung" and I am enjoying doing it. Je suis getting hung up on strings LOL.

Sorry no pictures - batteries have died and I am in a bit of a rush here.

The Méteo is forecasting 140 km hour winds for today. Last time we had this we were sans electricie et eau for 2 weeks and no phone for a week. That was the tempete of 1999/2000. Remember when Versailles lost all those trees? That was the same tempete only 24 hours later!

Anyway, it has just started raining, has gone rather dark and I don't like this AT ALL.

WiP Wednesday

This is the latest Quilts 4 Leukaemia which I am in the process of tying. I have only the top and bottom strips to do, tie the border and then bind it.

I have started cutting strips for the dreaded Sunburst quilt. I have redesigned it and feel a lot happier.

The basic colours/material is

That's it for the time being. This time next week I hope to show you one finished quilt and the start of the foundation squares for Sunburst.

WiP Wednesday

Not a lot to report - the gas has run out!

Sophie's quilt is being tied and have nearly finished the quilting on Crazy Scraps.

So much for finishing by the end of this week.

WiP Wednesday

A good'ish week I think.

Nancy's Heartstrings are finished and waiting
to start their journey across the pond to Texas. As she is very kindly doing me a 9 patch red and white top for Quilts 4 Leukaemia, she will probably get some more out of me, but not yet as

....................

I have started Sophie's Leukaemia quilt.


This one has been put together by my Alexandra. We have blocks from Turkey, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the UK and America.

I have sashed together the bottom 2 rows and should have this finished, hopefully, by the end of next week.

My Crazy Scraps Challenge quilt is nearly there. Hopefully another finish next week.

WiP Wednesday

I forgot to thank Debra of The Quilt Studio for letting me join the Quilt Studio ring. Thanks Debra.

So, Wednesday's WiP is in the post below. There are a few additions, but I can't show them at the moment as the batteries in the camera are charging, but they do include a block for Nancy's Heartstrings. I am really enjoying making them.

I have also been discussing with Tonya making a Wedding Quilt. Tamzin is getting married in July so I thought it would make a nice present.

More tomorrow - I think I am coming down with something. All I have done today is slept and quilted!