Old and Familiar

Nothing much new to show you today, so I thought you might like to see a few older quilts from years past. My fabric stash was much more limited when I made most of these, and I wouldn't necessarily do them all the same way now, LOL! They aren't in chronological order, but they were all made between 5 and 9 years ago.

I made this one for my older daughter's room. She doesn't use it now, but I like the colours and I still think it makes a nice quilt for a girl's room. The pattern is Rosy Posy from Barbara Brandeburg's book Fancy Things. I liked the pattern because of the buttons on the flowers.

It was the first and only time I've done curved seams, which weren't too bad. The applique is fused and machine blanket stitched. I used a polyester wadding (batting) which makes the quilt quite puffy - it was after doing this quilt that I realised I liked very thin flat quilts, and I stayed away from polyester wadding from then on!

This was for my younger daughter. She had requested a log cabin for her quilt. It was fun putting the fabrics together for this - I didn't use a pattern. I did some very minimal wavy line quilting, and also a large grid on the seam lines where the blocks join. I would quilt it much more closely now.

This one is more recent, though still 5 years old. The pattern is Amy's Four Patch by Jo Morton. I use it as a throw, my favourite use for quilts. The original was square, but I made mine rectangular.

This is called Pennsylvania Dutch, another Barbara Brandeburg design. I liked the way the centre appears to "float" against the outer border. You can see how some of the blues have faded where it's been folded. How naughty am I for allowing that to happen?

Again, all the applique is fused and machine stitched.

To finish off with, a Thimbleberries classic. If you've been quilting for a few years you probably recognise this pattern. This was one of my first attempts at meander quilting.

That's it for now and thanks for wading through this very long post! Have a great weekend :)

Foxgloves

I had to show you this crowd of foxgloves, all self-seeded. This is an odd corner of the garden which is really just a very small area of waste ground. The soil is very poor, dry and stony and bakes rock hard in the sun, but the foxgloves don't seem to mind. There's a yellow poppy in there as well.
I've been trying to get some tidying up done in the garden this week, but it's pouring with rain today so all I can do is look out of the window at work I'm itching to get on with.

I can't leave that knitting alone, and I've started making a rabbit. The pattern is from Nursery Knits by Debbie Bliss. This is an oldish book, published 1996, but I sought it out on eBay because I knew there were some toy patterns in it.
Love my books :)

Bunny parts. The yarn that looks grey on the photo is actually more of a fawn shade.

Tangled Threads and 5 Things Meme

How's this for a tangled mess? This is my box of embroidery threads. Maybe I should wind them all onto plastic bobbins, but the time it would take puts me off. Even when I used to do cross stitch, I never wound threads onto bobbins.

I've been tagged for this meme by the lovely Dawn. I'll warn you in advance, my answers are seriously boring!

The Rules:
Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

1.What I was doing 10 years ago: We had lived in our current house 1 year and our children were 10 and 14. Since then, one of them has been through university and now lives at home. The difference is she now goes out to work instead of to school. The other daughter is doing a university course but spends a lot of her time at home. So really my life hasn't changed very much in 10 years. I live a quiet life, I was looking after a family then and I still do exactly the same now.

2. What 5 things are on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
1. Get weekend grocery shopping
2. Do laundry
3. Do some sewing
4. Get some gardening done if it stays dry
5. Prepare evening meal

3. Snacks I enjoy: There's only one answer to that really, and that's chocolate!

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire: My first thought was to buy myself an isolated house in the countryside. Then I asked my husband what he thought I could do with a billion pounds, and he suggested buying fat quarters.

5. Places I have lived: I haven't lived in many different places. Apart from 2 years living in Australia in childhood, I've only ever lived in Yorkshire, but not always in the same area.

The people I will tag are:
Wendy K, Wendy, Mary Ann, Susan and Ila. I don't know if any of you have been tagged for this already, but it's up to you - participation is optional!

Rambling Rose Applique

With all my recent knitting activity, I haven't been neglecting sewing. This is the quilt I'm working on at the moment. It's taken me a couple of weeks to almost complete this centre panel.

It's really nice working with these lovely colours and fabrics. The pattern is a Pat Sloan design from an old McCall's Quilting magazine. I saved the magazine intending to make this pattern "one day", but when I looked at the date I was surprised to see it was April 2004. Didn't realise I'd had it for 4 years! I did some research on the McCall's website and it seems this magazine is still available as a back issue.

The background is pieced from several different neutral prints. It was good to be able to use the green sampler-style print.

There will be a narrow defining border, then a wider one with more applique.

Knitted Cushy-ness

There was a time I thought I'd never pick up knitting needles again, and that was when I discovered quilting fabrics. Sewing is still my main "thing", but knitting and crochet seem to have a much more positive vibe now than they did 15 years ago, with more and different creative possibilities.
And there's something about the warmth of the wool and the rhythm of working that's very calming. In my case, that can only be a good thing!

This cushion (pillow) cover was inspired by a pattern for a throw in the book Pretty Knits by Susan Cropper. I would consider some of the garment patterns in this book to be a bit on the girly side for me, but many of the home and accessories patterns are very nice.
Rather than knit a whole throw, I made a sort of "cushion version" of the throw, using the same stitches but to fit a 16 inch cushion pad.

The cover itself is Rowan Pure Wool Aran. The lovely pale blue shade is called Cloud. The flowers are made from oddments of dk that I already had.

The front is just a square and the back is 2 rectangles.

The crocheted thing in a rather muddy green you can see in the picture is a throw I made last year. This is the ensemble for my blue sofa, including the quilt. Maybe I could squeeze on some more cushions?

Pansies

I made this doily a few months ago. Yes, I've become a closet doily maker! I wanted to make a classic pansy doily and found a good free pattern here.

It was enjoyable to make if you don't mind crocheting the same thing many times. Darning in all those ends can be a tedious part of the process, but it's got to be done! My pansies are all purple, but they could be made in any colour or in a combination of colours.

I did have to steam press the pansies to make them lie flat, because the petals are quite full and they all need to be folded the same way.

I used my favourite 4-ply-weight cotton, and it's a bit heavier than an authentic vintage doily, but I like it that way.

a bit of everything

A whole two weeks after I started sewing blocks and sashing together, I've finally got this quilt top assembled. It's okay, but I don't think it's one of my best. The whole thing's quite buttery-looking, and now I'm thinking it could have taken a darker yellow. I like yellow, but it can be a tricky colour to get right. *sigh*
It was all from stash though, and I'll be making a pieced backing to use up more stash.

More knitting, and this will be another cushion (pillow) cover. It doesn't look much now, but hopefully it will when it's finished. (Think knitted flowers.)

We've had some beautiful sunny weather this week, and our auriculas are just about at their best now, a riot of colour! Most of them are planted together in an old ceramic sink. I like this photo which shows them against a background of bluebells.