Feeling better

Whoever invented Night Nurse and Day Nurse capsules deserves a knighthood.  I'm sure I remember, as a kid, Night Nurse having the colour and consistency of washing up liquid, but I got capsules and they have done the trick.  (mind you my grandfather used to say that a cold lasted 7 days without remedies, and just a week if you took something for it, he also reckoned that Whiskey was his favourite of all the cold cures that didn't work)

Possibly one of the I'm-feeling-better reasons was two packets of loveliness that arrived in the post:  I have taken part in the BQL skinny quilt swap, and the ladies sending quilts to me have been far more efficient than I have.

this lovely quilt came from Ann, the squares are just one inch each, and the quilting pattern is lovely

and this came from Marian - she dyed the fabric herself, and the simple quilting really brings out the design

So that's why I'm feeling better, but my memory - still rubbish ... where was I?  ... Oh yes, so I have cut up my lovely Moda batiks into 10 inch squares, stitched them together in pairs [see here for method] cut them into triangles

 and opened and ironed them into half square triangles (HSTs).

(I really aught to get a new ironing board cover, it's AWFUL!)

Now I'm pinning them together and should get twenty two 12" pinwheels.  While I'm doing that the embroidery machine is plodding through 20 fleeces for a local builder, and then 30 polo shirts for a transport company, so I'm earning the money to pay for the fabrics :-)

And now I've just seen the time ... nearly midnight, so Good Night!!!

a bit more exciting

A while ago I made this, thinking maybe for the BQL skinny wall quilt swap.  I made this one because the first one was too small, and this one is actually no better (they are supposed to be about A3 size)

This evening I was 'helping' Brian finish Lisa's floor, and the landing floor (this means I was on call for hooving and an extra pair (LOL) of hands when needed) and I decided to have a go at another skinny hanging.  I haven't really enjoyed free motion quilting as I've had problems with tension, but I had a new foot that I hadn't tried and figured I'd give it a go, and I could always hide the back!

Well it went really well, so I kept going, and now I have this piece.  

It's pieced and quilted (all raw edge applique), and the back of the quilting is as neat as the front - yay, I love my new foot :-)  The scene is based on the one I did for my Aunt's 90th, but doesn't have the cottage and the boat house on it.  As this is meant to be night (I ran out of day-time-sky fabric LOL) I think the yellow cottage would look out of place, so for now it's just a moon lit beach.  If you click on the picture you can see it enlarged, and one more click will zoom in further.

Anyway, the point is that I have started this for the swap, and whilst I would be disappointed if neither of the other two were picked by anyone, I'd be gutted if this one wasn't, but that's because I love what this represents, and really why should anyone else be interested?

Ho hum.  I shall ponder this while I sleep!

Some finished projects, and a new skill

I have saved a number of photos of quilts and other things I'd like to try, but haven't found a way to go back to the website or blog that the photo originated from.  Whilst I am under no illusions that people will be flocking to my blog for inspiration, it did occur to me that watermarking photos wasn't a bad idea.

So I asked my friend Mr Google to help, and he directed me to this site and I can now get my photos watermarked ... for free.

So here, multitasking as a watermark example, is a photo of projects finished in the last 24 hours ... a skinny quilt for the BQL swap (that is NOT the required size, oops), two rug mugs that kind of go with the skinny quilt, and the completed rugby logo designed and stitched out for customer approval