???????

There be things a-happening.

Stay tuned.

A Finish and a Top

Oh dear. I'm sorry - I don't seem to have posted for ages!

Things are a bit busy Chez Nous. Getting ready for winter and keeping warm seems to be the order of the day at the moment.

However, I have managed to finish one or two things.

First - the  name banner for Twilight (see new link to Leeanne and Mike's web site in the side bar to the right).

At 35.5" by 17.5" it's quite big!

Apparently it is going to be framed with glass on the front and back and Leeanne and Mike love it!

(Crap photo- sorry.)

And here we have Greengage Fool which turned out to be twice the size it was supposed to be. The good thing is there are hardly any tiny green squares left! I'm thinking of widening the black border by a couple of inches and leaving it. That green pops!

I'll be back at the weekend with a book review for you so stay tuned!

More soon.

Monster Finish!

Do you remember the craze last year for Lego quilts. When I started building bricks with fabric and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger,

until it got so big it could only be photographed outside?

All That Jazz

I decided it was time this monster was actually on the bed and not idling away in a cupboard taking up  space.

Getting read to start sewing the layers together

The kitchen table was cleared of all detritus. The Old One's favourite armchair was used to take the weight of the quilt as I turned it round. After about an hour I had 3 layers sewn together. A bit haphazardly, but sewn. Those seams are definitely not straight!

Then I rolled it up and left it for 48 hours. I wasn't at all sure if the backing was going to be strong enough. It's an old cotton sheet which has definitely seen better days.

After a lot of cogitating, I decided that if it was going to be finished I needed to get on and do it. Now!

Cleared the kitchen table again, turned it inside out (or outside out [grin]), pushed the corners out and stayed up until 2.00 am closing the open seam. I was determined to sleep under it that night.

Et voila!

It is still be be tied and I'm going to sew some orphan string blocks on the back to reinforce the sheet and cover up a few holes. That should also help keep the layers together.

I think I've got my mojo back. I rescued the Liberated Amish project from the dust bunnies under the bed and hope to start hand quilting it again soon. In  the meantime I've got Greengage Fool to finish.

More soon.

Bad Bad Blogger!

I know! Aren't I terrible!

But I have got an excuse. I'm working on a project and I'm not allowed to blog about it, but I'm going to be really naughty and show you a bit of one of the fabrics I'm working with, which should give you a hint.

In between piecing the Secret Project, I'm also doing a lot of work on Greengage Fool.

I think this is going to be the largest of the Fool quilts.

Not a lot going on at Chez Nous at the moment. The Young One passed her "code" (pronounced cod) on Thursday which is the French version of the Highway Code and is the theory exam. This unfortunately means that she can now start learning to drive properly and her first driving lesson is Wednesday week. Yikes!

So as you can see, I can't really blog at the moment, but I hope that when the Secret Project finally finished I'll be allowed to show in all its glory.

To finish this post a couple of photos I took the other day.

The site of my 14th Geocache find. A lovely peaceful spot.

Le Pont Coudé in Brantome

 More soon.

And Then We Go Green

The beginnings of Greengage Fool.  The third one in the Fool series.

Sorry I haven't been around much. I've been busy busy busy preparing for our first car boot/vide grenier/yard sale as sellers. It was yesterday and I had a ball! More like a party than a sale. Lots of laughter and giggles with other stall holders. Great great fun and I managed to sell some "stuff" too.

More soon.

Things are a'changing

As most of you know by now, the beginning of the new school year (rentrée) in France can also mean out with the old and in with the new.

New broom sweeps clean and all that.

The Old One and I (actually I) have decided to try our hand at selling "stuff", rather than buying more "stuff", so we're having a huge clear out and will be setting up our trestle tables at a local vide grenier on 30th September in aid of Twilight (click link to learn more).

So there am I starting the massive clear out and I got ever so slightly side tracked. I had to get the big ladder out so I could clear the bookshelves of no longer wanted books (I know Kathie, but it had to be done).

Then I had a brain storm. Ladder. Quilts. Rehanging Time.

This isn't a brilliant shot, but it shows how high our ceilings are. I was standing on tiptoe to hang Blackcurrant  Fool. Liquorice Lane will probably come off and Blueberry Fool will take its place, but my arms were aching. I'm only 5ft 2ins!

Music is Magic is finally hung in nearly its resting place. Again I was standing on tiptoe on the ladder and it should be further to the right.

All these photos were taken after I'd hung the quilts and the ladder came down, but to take the photo of Music is Magic I was standing on The Young One's bed. I wish I had had a bedroom like this when I was her age.

So you can see what she will see when she wakes up in the mornings. She hasn't seen it yet as she went back to lycée yesterday for the start of her last year of education. I wonder what she'll think when she comes home on Friday?

Right - back to the clearing out.

More soon. x

Summer Sewing

What does it make you think of?

Me?  Elderflower Cordial because the brand I like comes in dark green glass bottles.

However, as much as I'd like to call it that, this is actually the centre of the next Fool quilt - Greengage Fool.

More soon.

Yesterday Was a Busy Day

No words - just photos - as a lot of you asked for close ups of the batik cabins, which, thanks to Julie,  is now called "It's a Jungle Out There".

The backing

Music is Magic

The backing of Music is Magic

More soon.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

I don't usually enter Amy's quilt festival as I don't have that many finished quilts.  The tops are hanging on coat hangers waiting to be quilted.  At the last count there were 4!

Anyway, I decided to this time, just because I'm missing "my baby" and showing her off to the rest of the world might help ease the pain a bit.

For new readers, I make quilts for children suffering from Leukaemia.

Last year I made a quilt for a special little boy called Morgan, who unfortunately became an angel in April of the same year. So sad.

I had already started making a red and white string quilt, based on Mary's Heartstrings's pattern, but had put it to one side as the fabric was getting repetitive and I was getting bored with  it.

A nice person in America took pity on me and sent me a box filled with red and white fabric.  My juices started flowing again and within a few days another 4 blocks had been  made.

But what to do with what was turning into a large quilt?

Morgan's mother had started to raise funds for the children's ward where Morgan had been treated so I contacted her asking if she'd be interested in auctioning this quilt in Morgan's memory and to raise funds for the West Suffolk Hospital.  She said yes!

So I sewed and sewed and sewed, showing pictures here as I progressed.

Last November she was finally finished

I used the berthing/pillowcase method to back her, with a very cuddly cream flannel, and tied her with red and white DMC Perle Cotton No 5.

She had been part of my life for over a year and I was devastated when I had to pack her up and send her on her way to England.

I finally heard this week that she will be auctioned at the West Suffolk Hospital ball in a couple of months and the money raised will help buy equipment for the children's ward, as originally planned.

I'm so pleased that finally she will find a home and hopefully will be loved as much as I love her.

I have 3 blocks left over so I'm going to make myself a memento quilt.  It won't the same as my lovely Strawberries & Cream, but at least it will be something to remember this quilt by.

So there you have it.

The story of a very much missed quilt.

More soon.

Trying to Get Back into the Groove

I'm trying - I really am.

I've been doing a lot of web surfing. Trying to find things that will give me some inspiration.

Gwen's new book, Liberated Medallion Quilts, arrived about a week ago. I took one look and put it on the shelf with the others. No inspiration!

I've also been having a lovely time on Pinterest, adding the odd photo, but generally looking through to see if there was anything which might just kick start the sewing juices.

I spotted a sweet pincushion with a link to the tutorial and hopped over to have a look.

Ummmm - just might be what I need to get my confidence back.

Isn't it cute! You can find the tutorial here.

Then I remembered a mini quilt that needed binding.

My friend Julie shared a binding tutorial she's recently found. I'm always keen to shorten the time I have to do, what I think, is the worst part of quilting. I hate binding with a passion!

So I hopped over to that tutorial (click on the link in Julie's post here), printed it off and got to work.

Apart from a slight argument joining the two ends together (which I always have anyway), it worked like a dream!

A mug rug/table mat for the kitchen table as I can't think what else to do with it!

Now I think a little bit of stash fondling is in order and then I might chance my hand at machine quilting The Young One's Music is Magic quilt, which I don't think I've shown here before.

More soon.

Friday Fings!

I found this at a vide grenier a couple of weeks ago.

It was pouring with rain and we very nearly didn't go.

It's really a curtain, but the fabric is quite thin.

I'm going to use it as the backing for my batik log cabins.

Which reminds me. I can't keep on calling it that. Anyone got any ideas?

More soon.

Creating a Mess!

Greetings from a gorgeously warm South West France! I think we've missed out on Spring and Summer has arrived!

To celebrate I started creating chaos in the sewing room.

The plastic tub holds triangles of all shapes and sizes

Couldn't be bothered to clear the decks or swap the walking foot on Emma 1 (on the right) for the 1/4" foot so got out another machine. She hasn't been used for sometime and I wondered why. Now I know. She chews fabric! Definitely does not like string piecing.

So I started with this

This is a 5kg plastic tub and that is the top layer.

I'm finding all sorts of treasures which I'm keeping. You know how much I love batiks and I couldn't bear to use these beauties.

Yes, I know the square top left is not a batik, but I want to keep it for something special.

But I'm having fun piecing together odd shapes,

ironing, cutting and seeing what happens.

After about 3 hours solid sewing (with the odd interruption when The Old One turned off the electricity supply without telling me!), I created these.

I'm looking forward to hearing what they whisper to me.

I must tell you something funny.

For some weeks now I've been turning my Parts Dept upside down looking for some specific crumb blocks which I was sure I had. Somewhere.

Imagine my surprise when they turned up in Blogland! Pat had them! You can see what she's done with them here. I did have to mention that the block bottom right in the last photo is a house and it's now lying on its side!!!!!

On to more mundane things for family readers.

We're slowly recovering after the Big Freeze. The Old One has spent the last 3 days up a ladder trying to join pipes together where they burst. He's working in a tiny space and soldering new joints proved impossible so he's using special joints. We've finally got cold water to the main bathroom! However, when he did the hot water run he found 4 small bursts further along the line which meant hauling out The Very Big Ladder, climbing down into a very small space (lucky that he's small and thin!) and finding the leaks. I personally feel it would be easier to replace that particular pipe run, but he's adamant that he can fix it! We shall see.

Just one more thing before I sign off and start cooking supper.

The Liberated Quilters Yahoo Group (see link in sidebar) has got some astounding blogger'esses and they are churning out some wonderful stuff.

We've created a special blog so they can show off their work to the world. Click here and then click on any of the blogs which interest you. Some you may know already, but others you won't. Enjoy!

And on that note, I'll love you and leave you with a recent photo of a local church, processed with my new find, The Gimp.

Nontron Church

More soon.