Thursday, 29 November 2007
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
Patch Périgord à Chateau L'Evêque
WOW!!!
My first ever patchwork show. No! I don't mean as an exhibitor - I mean as a spectator. By the time I get to hear about expo's they are normally finished, or miles way, but a friend of ours belongs to this group of ladies and told me about it. It wasn't so much quilting as patchwork.
DH voted this the best in show. It's made by our friend who is a quilter/patchworker extraordinaire.
She also made this one which I voted for. Labyrinth. The background is the vertical view of a labyrinth somewhere in Ireland. The labyrinth you can see over the top is the view from above sewn on to gauze and then flipped over the hanging. It's so so gorgeous.
I fell in love with these cats.
Another of Sheila's - look at the needlework that went into this one!
Monday, 26 November 2007
Monday Mutterings
Quite a lot to say, but not all quilting related.
First of all Tamzin's quilt. I hand quilted "alway"s in the ditch, then stem stitched "love" to the left of it. (You can see where I had started in the photo link). The whole quilt puckered up and could not be smoothed out. Desperate attempts to try and sort it out without unpicking everything, but it was not to be. So spent most of Saturday unpicking it all - hurrrumph!
I know the "official line" for quilting is "start from the centre and work outwards", but a word of warning. If you hand quilt Tonya's Fantabulous Fans (which I do on most of my quilts), then start from one of the corners (I prefer bottom right) and work upwards (or downwards) and outwards.
If you start from the middle, even stitching the ditch, it won't work. Well that's the conclusion I've come to anyway.
November is the time for pruning trees and shrubs. The weather has been so bad - either pouring with rain or freezing brrrrrrrrrrr cold - that I haven't been able to get outside to do it. Sooooooo I've been pruning my blog roll instead. There was over 200 quilting blogs alone - OM Goodness! I got out the pruning shears and pruned and pruned. I decided that if I hadn't commented on a blog for weeks or months, or if the person hadn't posted for a long time (certain people excepted), then that blog was going to be snipped. That's why I haven't been commenting a lot.
There was something else I was going to say, but I'm having a senior moment.
First of all Tamzin's quilt. I hand quilted "alway"s in the ditch, then stem stitched "love" to the left of it. (You can see where I had started in the photo link). The whole quilt puckered up and could not be smoothed out. Desperate attempts to try and sort it out without unpicking everything, but it was not to be. So spent most of Saturday unpicking it all - hurrrumph!
I know the "official line" for quilting is "start from the centre and work outwards", but a word of warning. If you hand quilt Tonya's Fantabulous Fans (which I do on most of my quilts), then start from one of the corners (I prefer bottom right) and work upwards (or downwards) and outwards.
If you start from the middle, even stitching the ditch, it won't work. Well that's the conclusion I've come to anyway.
November is the time for pruning trees and shrubs. The weather has been so bad - either pouring with rain or freezing brrrrrrrrrrr cold - that I haven't been able to get outside to do it. Sooooooo I've been pruning my blog roll instead. There was over 200 quilting blogs alone - OM Goodness! I got out the pruning shears and pruned and pruned. I decided that if I hadn't commented on a blog for weeks or months, or if the person hadn't posted for a long time (certain people excepted), then that blog was going to be snipped. That's why I haven't been commenting a lot.
There was something else I was going to say, but I'm having a senior moment.
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
WiP Wednesday 21-11-2007
Drum roll please :-)
Can you spot 2 pairs of legs behind the quilt? DH was holding the top up and Alex decided to join him.
Now the quilting starts. I've got 3 quilts to hand quilt so the sewing machine is going back in its box for a while. Perhaps if I get fidgety and the fingers start itching I'll make up some Quilts 4 Leukaemia quilts
Saturday, 17 November 2007
Hiver arrive et mise à jour DH
Winter is here. 3 nights of really heavy frost. The Banana tree has collapsed, but, surprisingly, the geraniums are still in one piece. Must take them in before they get blasted tonight!
The wood for the wood burners was delivered on Thursday. Deux brasse of oak stacked up against the wall ready for DH to saw into 50 cm lengths. I think we shall be warm this winter.
DH is doing fine - he can't believe all the get well wishes flooding in from all over the world and is very very touched. The nurse has been coming in every day to change the dressing. Today she said the wound is healing very well and he can make a rendez vous with the medecin next Wednesday to decide when the stitches have to come out.
The top of HH is nearly there. There has been a slight hiccup (quoi de neuf LOL). I was going to put piano keys along the bottom but it didn't look right so "halloween" is going in instead. "Haunted houses" and "ghoulies" have been stitched to the inner border so I guess I am 75% there.
It has taken me years to get a photo like this. I love the way the branches reach up to the sky like fingers.
Have a great weekend.
A+
The wood for the wood burners was delivered on Thursday. Deux brasse of oak stacked up against the wall ready for DH to saw into 50 cm lengths. I think we shall be warm this winter.
DH is doing fine - he can't believe all the get well wishes flooding in from all over the world and is very very touched. The nurse has been coming in every day to change the dressing. Today she said the wound is healing very well and he can make a rendez vous with the medecin next Wednesday to decide when the stitches have to come out.
The top of HH is nearly there. There has been a slight hiccup (quoi de neuf LOL). I was going to put piano keys along the bottom but it didn't look right so "halloween" is going in instead. "Haunted houses" and "ghoulies" have been stitched to the inner border so I guess I am 75% there.
It has taken me years to get a photo like this. I love the way the branches reach up to the sky like fingers.
Have a great weekend.
A+
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Not WiP Wednesday
because I haven't really done anything, except some hand quilting on Ab Fab.
Tonya has shown on her blog some photos of a brilliant building somewhere in Paris so I thought I would change the subject today and show you some photos I've taken over the past year or so.
This photo was taken about this time last year. It's a squashed Citroen 2CV on the front of the old chateau at Nontron, which is one of the principle knife making areas in France. The trademark of the knife factory is this arch.
One of my all time favourite buildings is a privately owned chateau not far from us in a tiny village called St Pardoux de Mareuil. The chateau is at the end of what we call the secret walk, hidden away from the tourists, with peacocks strutting their stuff around the gardens, peace and quiet and not a person in sight!
Hard to believe this was taken this summer. Sitting outside a cafe/bar/resto in Thiviers on a gorgeous sunny day, I couldn't resist the yellow parasols with the granite brick.
And back to quilting/sewing.
I'm trying out various different sized needles on Ab Fab. This quilt is beginning to turn into a teach myself hand quilting lesson.
The needle on the right is a hand quilting needle size 10. The middle needle is the one I use when I'm quilting with embroidery floss strands. 3 strand or 6 - it doesn't matter as it threads through the eye and doesn't knot as I pull it through as the needle is the same size as the floss! The needle on the left is embroidery size 10 which I am using on Tamzin"s quilt. This needle is dangerous! It slipped into the batting and I couldn't find it. I turn the quilt over then folded it and ouch! Huge ghash on the inside of my thumb.
And last, but least, my quilting threads stored in a tin that used to contain prunes.
Tonya has shown on her blog some photos of a brilliant building somewhere in Paris so I thought I would change the subject today and show you some photos I've taken over the past year or so.
This photo was taken about this time last year. It's a squashed Citroen 2CV on the front of the old chateau at Nontron, which is one of the principle knife making areas in France. The trademark of the knife factory is this arch.
One of my all time favourite buildings is a privately owned chateau not far from us in a tiny village called St Pardoux de Mareuil. The chateau is at the end of what we call the secret walk, hidden away from the tourists, with peacocks strutting their stuff around the gardens, peace and quiet and not a person in sight!
Hard to believe this was taken this summer. Sitting outside a cafe/bar/resto in Thiviers on a gorgeous sunny day, I couldn't resist the yellow parasols with the granite brick.
And back to quilting/sewing.
I'm trying out various different sized needles on Ab Fab. This quilt is beginning to turn into a teach myself hand quilting lesson.
The needle on the right is a hand quilting needle size 10. The middle needle is the one I use when I'm quilting with embroidery floss strands. 3 strand or 6 - it doesn't matter as it threads through the eye and doesn't knot as I pull it through as the needle is the same size as the floss! The needle on the left is embroidery size 10 which I am using on Tamzin"s quilt. This needle is dangerous! It slipped into the batting and I couldn't find it. I turn the quilt over then folded it and ouch! Huge ghash on the inside of my thumb.
And last, but least, my quilting threads stored in a tin that used to contain prunes.
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