Star Quilt

Remember those star blocks I was making? Well, here's my completed quilt top. I had some trouble with the star points and I ended up making three of the blocks again, but I'm happy with them now. It'll be a long time before I applique any more stars;)
It was only when I was putting the borders on that I realised I hadn't given a thought to the backing, so I ordered that and I'm now waiting for it to arrive.
Love those reds and warm pinks!

I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt it yet, still thinking about that. It's a nice size for machine quilting, not too big. I think it might be an opportunity for some fancy quilting.

Oh yes, and I got that blanket finished at last:

I like the colours and it's soft and cosy. What more could you want from a blanket?

Quilt Show

My friend Wendy asked if I would show some of my quilts that I had used as backgrounds in my photos. So I had a big photo session and here they are.

I made this one about five years ago. The main part of it is quilted in diagonal lines so it wasn't too difficult to machine quilt, although heavy. I remember showing my mother what I was working on, and telling her the vines were made from one long bias tube. She said, "How on earth did you turn it?" and I explained that there was no need to turn it because the seam allowance was hidden underneath, but I could tell she didn't really know what I meant! She isn't a quilter herself.

I bet these two are smaller than you thought! They are both from Jo Morton patterns. I hand quilted the log cabin one. I like the colours in that one.

For this one I combined two different Jo Morton patterns. I use it as a throw on a sofa, but it would have made a good wall quilt. The dark red sashing fabric was actually a subtle print, but it has since faded.

I was pleased with the mix of prints in this one. The pattern was called Fragments, by Liberty Star. It goes folded over the back of a chair in our dining room, and it has featured in more than one photo.



I'm just sneaking these two in because I like them:

Can you tell I like working on a small scale? These are both from American Doll Quilts by Kathleen Tracy. The triangle one hangs in my utility room, which I think you would call a laundry room outside the UK.

Well, that was a long post for me. If you got this far, thanks for reading to the end of it!

Hook & I

My student daughter started her new summer job today. I dropped her off at work before the grocery shopping I usually do on a Monday. So now they're both out at work and it seems very quiet round here.
What on earth will I do on my own all day? Only kidding!
The photo is the edging I'm doing for my crochet blanket, and yes it's purple. It's worked the "short way", to be sewn on with some gathering at the corners. The blanket is about 62 x 50 inches, and I'm making yards of the stuff:

The pattern is only a two-row repeat and very quick to do, and there is a certain satisfaction in making such a lot of yardage.
We've got torrential rain here today, hope the weather's better where you are.
Have a good week!

Brought by the Postman

You know that lovely sound you hear when a book you've been waiting for finally comes through the letterbox and lands on the doormat? Well this book arrived today, and it's full of gorgeous primitive projects. I'm already sorting out the wool for the red heart cushion on the cover.

I've started the edging for my crochet blanket, and I'll show you that next time when I've done a bit more.

Another flower photo:

I've always liked tall flowers, things like hollyhocks, sunflowers and foxgloves. My mother gave me a seed head from her giant poppies the year before last, and now mine have self-seeded. This is one of the flowers. They are this beautiful colour, and about 4 inches across.

Star Blocks and a Blanket

No garden work going on at the moment, because it's been raining solidly for two days. But I've been busy inside the house, and I've started appliqueing these blocks for a quilt, in shades of red and pinky-red.
It's hard getting those star points sharp and not waving about. I think I won't have to mind too much if they're not perfect;) The quilt is from a Jo Morton pattern.


And I finally finished all my crochet squares, and I'm using navy blue to join them together, quite a strong contrast. Now I'm thinking it would also have looked nice, and completely different, if I'd used a light colour for the joining, maybe cream or pale pink. So many possibilities with colour! Decisions, decisions. Anyway, I've gone with the navy. I thought the joining would be a major job, but actually it's going quite quickly. I used a hook a couple of sizes smaller for this because I thought it made a better seam. When it's done I'm planning to do some kind of edging round, I'm not sure yet exactly what.
I'm really enjoying making this blanket. I didn't go near any kind of yarn for years, but then I came back to it, and now I wouldn't be without some crochet or knitting.

June Garden

I've nearly finished crocheting all the squares for my blanket, and I should have some progress to show you soon.
In the meantime, here are some photos I took yesterday in the garden. It's too hot to actually do any gardening!

There are a lot of purple and blue shades to see just now. These blue pelargoniums or geraniums were buzzing with bees. You can see some bees on the picture.

I don't know what this is called, but it grows everywhere. Here it has sprung up from a tiny gap in the paving and is trying to grow up the wall.

Here's a bit of pink. I think this is called astrantia. The lavender next to it is covered in buds. Looking forward to that lovely lavender scent.

Pincushions and YSP

I finished this, and I think it might be my new favourite pincushion. The ground walnut shells didn't happen though. There was I, laughingly thinking I'd easily be able to get ground walnut shells. So I went to the local pet supply shop and they didn't have any, then I tried a garden centre that sells pet supplies, but no luck there either. So I gave up and used sand in a cotton liner, and it makes a nice weighty pincushion.
I thought you might be interested in seeing my other sand pincushion. This one is in use all the time and lives on my cutting table. One day I'll post pictures of my sewing room and you'll see how disorganised it is.

This one was from a Blackbird Designs book. Bleeding heart flowers are a favourite of mine because my grandmother always had them in her garden.

I think making pincushions may be habit-forming.

Thank you for all the nice comments about the strawberries in my last post. I should make it clear they were all made from patterns and not my own designs - I'm a pattern junkie and I love my patterns:)

On a different subject, I wanted to show you some pictures from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Bretton. My husband was at home from work last week and I've currently got one daughter at home all day, so we took advantage of some fine weather and off we went. There are lots of beautiful views there, and I could have taken photos all day long! Here are a few of them:

Rusted iron gates.

Can you see the figure on the tree stump? This piece by Antony Gormley is called One and Other.

My daughter took this one of me when I wasn't looking.