END OF FALL BREAK

We are back after a great time at my sister´s in Great Britain. She liked her socks (main thing!) and we did a lot (like shopping at the interknit café, going to the cinema to watch Mamma Mia, or spending a day in London).
All that time I could not sew nor knit so I haven´t much to show this week.

I had finished quilting that piece before going. The blocks were friendship blocks from allover the world. I machine quilted it and then washed it to get the antique look.

While in Great Britain, I bought some food colouring to try some more yarn dyeing. And this time I am very pleased with the results:

The three skeins were dyed with a mixture of Kool Aid and food colouring. Now when am I going to knit all those socks and/or scarves?!

Not tomorrow as I will give a workshop on machine quilting! I will show the result of the course next time.

I wish you a nice week end with a lot of sun (as we had today).

RUNNING NOSE

Two weeks without posting! I had a reason: a nasty bad cold, with my head feeling like a pumpkin most of the time.

The week before I had started quilting my siggy swap blocks quilt and I hope to show a picture of the finished quilt soon.
This week I received the last lot of my yarn subscription. That was something I could drool over. Quite easy with a running nose! I can see some nice socks or scarves there.

As my dear son and I are flying next week to the UK to see my dear sis, I had to finish her socks. And here they are. The pattern is called Clessidra from Knitty.

She wanted some flaps to fold over boots and there are still some buttons missing at the outside sides.

I hope she will like them, if not they are coming back with me!

This afternoon we had a gorgeous weather and so I spent some time dyeing more sock yarn with Kool Aid.

Pictures will be in the next post too.

I want to thank you all for your nice comments on the scrappy star quilt. They went down like honey, which was just what I needed this week.

Well enough whinging! I wish you a nice week with pumpkin in your gardens or on your plates!

ANOTHER FALL QUILT

The recipient of my 4SSQ, Sarah, received the quilt and told me that she is pleased with it. I am very glad and relieved. It was the first quilt swap I took part in and I was a bit anxious and impatient too. So impatient that I started a mini quilt straight after registering for the swap. I had an idea and I wanted to put it into fabric. Unfortunately after Magaret sent me the name of my partner and her requirements, I realized that the first quilt would not do at all. So here it is:

Scrappy as I like them with mute colours and a lot of tiny pieces. It is hand quilted. Now what am I going to do with it?! Is there another Fall quilt swap going on somewhere? Maybe I will HAVE TO keep it! LOL
Anyway it will teach me to be more patient. Mind you I haven´t even registered yet for the winter swap and I already have an idea. I don´t think I will be able to wait until January before starting it!

This week I didn´t manage to do that much as I had a bad cold and my head felt like being in a lot of cotton batting! I started a little stitchery and finished some socks for my DH (in some boring dark grey, hence no picture).

Some time ago, quilt bloggers were showing their treadle machine. I had promised I would show mine too so here it is. A friend gave it to me to clear her cellar. It belonged to her mum but she has no use for it. I managed to find on Ebay its booklet for directions for use and I have used it a few times already. It sews very well and silently and gives nice thighs!
Usually the top is not that clear, piles of fabric, magazines, paper cover it!

What I like most about it is that it works without electricity. One never knows when the next power cut is going to happen and for how long!

Thank you very much for your nice comments on my Siggy quilt. I hope I gave some ideas to the other participants to start sewing theirs too!

It seems we are going to have very nice weather this week-end (at last!) and so I will try to spend some time trying taming the green jungle out there which is supposed to be my garden.

I wish you a nice week-end.

SIGGY SWAP QUILT

Not much going on on the quilt front here. In one week it is half-term (two weeks of holidays). We will be spending some time in France to celebrate my aunt´s 60th birthday and then we will visit some friends in the german countryside where we are expected to drive cows back home for winter! That should be fun for some town dwellers like us!
After I had seen Anne Heidi´s Siggy Quilt, I decided that it was time to get mine finished too. This week I managed to sew the top together.


The most difficult part was to find a border. I wanted to use my stash (you know the stash reducing idea!) but I don´t have that many big pieces of fabric as I buy most often fat quarters. After many hesitations, tries, over-night stewing,... I decided to go for something neutral to bring out the siggy blocks colours.

I am thinking of quilting some pansies in the border too.

Maybe I will tie the quilt with buttons in the middle. Anyway I still have time to think about it as I have other projects on the go which need attending to.

I wish you a very successful week.

MINI QUILTS

At the beginning of the week I received Cynthia´s siggy blocks.
I am so happy I could take part in the swap, all the blocks are nice and no two fabrics are alike. I have some of my own over so if anyone is interested in swapping, please let me know!

Today I will show you two miniatures I made last year for our new TV room. The room, under the roof is cream with red accents like cushions, curtains, quilt (I will show this one soon!), candles, etc... but the walls were quite bare and I thought minis would do the trick. They are machine sewed and not quilted as they don´t have any batting. Some of the fabrics are fussy cut.
The pictures are a bit blurred, sorry about that! I still have to learn to use my camera for near shots!

The weather is wonderful today, it doesn´t rain enough though and so I will go outside now and enjoy the sunset.