Well Punxsutawney Phil came out of his burrow and saw his shadow so we will have six more weeks of winter!  Bummer!  Well Phil may be right as they are forecasting snow for us this week which is very unusal for the UK in February.  Some people in the UK have daffodils (a harbinger of Spring in the UK) flowering already, but mine are only just poking their noses out of the soil but we are in The Midlands and it is a bit colder here.  Nevertheless we can curl up on the sofa as they are showing the film “Groundhog Day” on TV which is always fun.

Yesterday I made the fatal mistake of sitting down at my desk to do a bit of work and was still there are 5.00pm instead of getting my house jobs done, which now falls to today to do.  We are out this evening at the business meal and hopefully tomorrow I can get some quilting done. 

Talking of quilting I have had several run-ins with flying geese where they have all turned out the wrong size despite being cut the right size!!!  Anyho my friend Susan sent me a link to a quilting tutorial of how to make it easy to make flying geese and also a Sew A Long, the link is here https://fortheloveofgeese.com/2018/02/01/sew-along/.

Picture from The Amish Country Quilts (https://www.amishcountrylanes.com/Pages/hs2384.shtml)

I definitely need this and will try and keep up with the sew a long and thank you Susan for helping to try and make my flying geese fly straight!!!!  Don’t you find that you always have a quilting block that everyone else finds a breeze and you don’t?  I need to sort this out especially if I want to make a sampler quilt and so far the flying geese block is the only one I seem to not be able to get right. 

I am hoping to get three more of my UFO’s finished this weekend and if I can get my summer quilt sandwiched and pinned and start the quilting on that as well I will be well on my way to start my new projects. 

Speaking of UFO’s the new series of The X-Files begins in the UK on Monday, yeah!  Can’t wait as this is my most favourite of TV shows ever but I am sorry that there will be no more series with Gillian Andrerson.  In fact I don’t think the show will work without her and although I have not seen the new series yet this should be the final one.  I will let you know what I think about it when I have seen the series.

Whatever everyone is up to this weekend I hope you have a great one and if winter is still with you, stay warm and have a great one.

Hugs, Susie xx

Treacle has her whole weekend planned already, eating and sleeping with a little light exercise in between, but mainly eating and sleeping!!!

I don’t know about you but I am always looking for ways to make life easier in just about anything I do, being my work or house jobs or quilting.  Last weekend I found two things which helped me no end with quilting things.  

I always wind my own bobbins on my Janome machines and it is not a problem with standard colours but when it is a special colour that you use for just that quilting project you are then left with the cotton on the bobbin and start to run out of empty ones.  The boys for quite a few Birthdays and Christmas bought me packs of ten Janome bobbins which was great and I have lots until I got down to around five left so I had to empty the special colours. 

So I put the bobbin on the end of a pencil and started to pull the thread off but it kept coming off the pencil, lets just say everything I tried did not work well until I saw in my box of tricks my walking foot with its bar attached.

 

If you have one of these and can take the bar out of the foot put the bobbin on the bar as below and begin pulling the thread.

It works really well and the bobbin cannot jump off because of the angle of the bar.  I managed to clear out twenty bobbins with this method really quickly the other night.  If you can’t take the bar off your walking foot perhaps look for something else which has this angle to it to help clear the bobbins.

My second tip is for a magnet which means you will need to speak nicely to your children/grandchildren/niece/nephew etc for help with this one.  Our Boys had these games, Geomag, and lots of different versions.  They are little pieces of magnets wrapped in plastic which you can make shapes or play games with and the Boys loved it.  I did not love it when I was picking them all up off of the floor when they dropped the boxes but I did find a great use for one of the pieces;  for picking up pins and sewing needles when I drop them.  So I now keep one in my little box of tricks for when I drop my pin box!

Talking of boxes one of my favourites which I use a lot of in the sewing room and in the attic and in the garage and just about anywhere else I need to store things and those are clip boxes as I call them and mine are from Really Useful Products Ltd.

They come in all different sizes from huge to little itty-bitty ones and I have found lots of uses for them.  The big box at the back has all my things in which I use day in day out for quilting so different quilting feet, tools for my machines, cleaning tools, pencils, pens, quilting pens; you get the idea.  The box on the left is smaller and holds my bobbins and I have two more of these; one with quilting safety pins in and the other quilting pins in.  The box on the right holds my boxes of sewing needles for my machines.  They do all stack together which is great.

DH and The Boys bought me this clip box which has a lift out container inside for all my cotton and a section on the bottom for other things.

I also store my fabric stash in several of these boxes which are long and not too deep.  I would say they are the best thing I have found to use in my sewing room.  I don’t get any money from Really Useful Products Ltd, I just like them and thought they might be useful to you too.

It is raining and very cold here today so I will be quilting for most of it.  DH is still not well although he is better than at the start of the week so we are hoping he is getting better and he has to be as he has to go to Scotland next week.  Youngest now has it and went coaching this morning and when he got home went straight back to bed.  He has an audition and interview at Stafford University on Wednesday but they have said he can re-arrange it if he is not feeling up to it.  It seems to have settled on my chest and although I am not coughing like DH when I do it sounds like nails on sandpaper and I am wheezing!!!  Treacle is despairing of us all!

I hope you are all keeping well and have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs, Susie xx

 

Yes well he has gone and done it and infected me with his cold, DH of course!  I knew he would and Treacle has decided it is not a good idea to sleep in her basket in our room at all and is sleeping on Eldest’s bed.  At least I don’t think it is the flu which is doing the rounds at the moment, although the cold seems bad enough.

Anyway on to happier things, DH’s cousin sent me a picture of her table runner I made her for Christmas, with a jug of lovely daffodils resting on it. 

She loves it and I think it looks great and certainly brightens up the horrible January weather. 

I managed to get all this mess unpicked on Sunday and last night I quilted it (it came out much better) then I found some material which I had used for a quilt last year to make the binding and sewed that to the front and now just have to hand sew it to the back and that will be another UFO done and done.  I just now have to decide which one to pick next to finish. 

Just to add insult to injury I have managed to crack a tooth so I now have a trip to the dentist tomorrow for him to fill it!!!!  Oh joy.  At the moment I think I will be glad when January has ended!

I am now off to see what I can rustle up for dinner, I think it will be quick and easy!

I hope you are having a better Tuesday!

Hugs, Susie xx

Evalyn’s quilt is done!  DH is helping with the photographs although he is poorly sick still.  I love the way it has turned out and I hope she will like it.  I finished sewing the binding on at 3.00am yesterday morning, mainly because DH kept coughing so I knew I wouldn’t get much sleep but I was watching the tennis as well.

A close up of the bunting and quilting.

This is the back

A close up of the pink gingham.

I also finished Treacle’s bag, which she can take with her when she goes on holiday.

Treacle with bag, I think she likes it!!!

Yesterday I also managed to get the rest of the unpicking done on my Autumn wall hanging so that will be my next UFO to be done and ready for next Autumn.

I had a great weekend quilting and of course looking after DH, who is not the most patient of patients!  Even Treacle is a bit confused as he is not up and about as normal and in fact she spent the night in Eldest’s room as DH kept coughing and keeping her awake!!!!  I, of course, had to put up with it.  Good job the tennis coverage begins at midnight so at least I had something to watch most of the night.  Of course now at 5.00pm I am starting to flag a bit!!!!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Susie xx

I don’t know about you but I start looking for something on the web, quilting wise, and then that leads me to look at other quiltings things and before I know it an hour has gone by and I have completely got sidetracked from what I was doing originally.

It usually starts with me reading my favourite Blogs and I find something on there that I want to check out and then that leads to another blog or to You Tube for a tutorial and that’s the hour gone!

One of my favourite sites on the web and You Tube is Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I love Jenny’s Tutorials and can find quite a few projects on there that I  want to try and have made quite a few already.

This was a Tutorial from Jenny for a bag which I made for Jayne for her Birthday.

One of my favourite Blogs, Thelma at Cupcakes ‘n Daisies (http://www.cupcakesndaisies.com) has a list of Life Time Quilts she has made and wants to make, which I think is a great idea (Thelma very kindly said I could copy her quilt that she made for her dog Cooper, for Treacle) so I am going to make a list of what I would like to do.

Another You Tube channel I like is Shabby Fabrics and some of the tutorials on there for various projects.  I am definitely a visual learner and like to see how things are made rather than reading a pattern.  I can follow a pattern, but it does take a while and I have to read the pattern several times to make sure I have understood what they want and definitely how to do it correctly.

So here is the start of my list of quilts and projects I want to make (in no particular order), which I will also put as a new page on my Blog and will add to it as I find things on my trips around the web!

(All pictures off of Pinterest from various blogs of talented ladies who made the quilts)

*  A Scrap Quilt

*  A Bookcase Quilt

*  A Log Cabin Quilt

*  A Market Tote

*  A Quilt which I will hand quilt instead of machine quilting it (thinking of one   of the small quilts from my new book, instead of starting with a full size quilt!)

*  An Airedale Quilt

*  A Red and White Quilt

I am sure I will keep adding to this list as I find things on the web or from my favourite blogs, where inspiration can be found in bucket loads.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

Hugs, Susie xx

Treacle today!  They have forecast snow, ice and high winds for us today and tomorrow so Treacle is hibernating!

Well I am happy after the weekend, not so much all the paperwork there is to do at my desk and the call from our Accountants, but we can’t have it all!

Anyway ignorning business I quilted all weekend with the occasional interruption of DH and Youngest coming back to change clothes and get food before going out again!  I managed to get Evalyn’s quilt finished and the binding sewn on and now just have to hand sew it to the back of the quilt and it is done.  I haven’t taken any pictures of that yet until it is completely done and washed.

I did get one job done from my UFO’s.  The cushion covers for our hallway. 

I change them every season, so have just taken the Christmas ones off and I needed some Winter ones and I have always loved the red and white quilts so thought this would be a great idea for this time of year, especially with my previous post of red pops around our home to make it feel less wintry.  I loved the way they turned out.

So I have not got a set for Spring so dug in my stash and found this yellow little flower material and some yellow gingham and a little white and made these.  I already have a set for Summer which have pink sweet peas on and for Autumn I have material with pumpkins on, so now have a set for the whole year.

I then started to work on Treacle’s bag so she can take her things with her on holiday but only got the material out when DH and Youngest arrived back for dinner.

We had a problem with the radiator in Youngest’s room so had to switch the heating off.  Fortunately it was not too cold but cold enough for Treacle to not be happy and settle, so I dug out her old t-shirt, which was DH’s, and put that on her to keep her warm and she was then settled.  

It wasn’t too warm in Eldest’s room either so this was Saturday when she was keeping me company.

This was Sunday.  She was very happy with the blanket over her and spent both days with me in the sewing room asleep.  She only stirred for snacks and a quick trip outside into the garden.  The weather all weekend was really yucky so it was a great for quilting.  Next weekend DH is busy again on Saturday so I intend on spending the day quilting again.  So far I am keeping up with my goal of doing some quilting each week!

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Hugs, Susie xx

When I showed you the Christmas things I forgot to show you what Youngest had bought me for Christmas.  The above is a decoration which is now on the sewing room door. 

He also bought me this.  A mug with pictures of DH, Eldest, Youngest, Treacle, Evalyn and Owen on.  This is one side

This is the other side.

By the handle it says this!  I loved it and it is now in my sewing room as I would not want to use it and it get smashed so it now holds my small scissors and other sewing notions.

Now I promised you some quilt talk.  I got this as a quilt planner for this year for my quilting.  I love Tilda fabrics and I am hoping this will keep me on track.  With that I have taken pictures of all my UFO’s and will show them here and have them on my blog and hopefully as I complete them I will be able to show you.  So this is a bit of a picture heavy post.

I had this lovely Autumn panel which was going to be a wall hanging and started off well with the free motion quilting and then ran out of the cotton.  I had some more and loaded my machine with it not realising that it was a completely different thread and below is what happened!

So I have been slowly unpicking it to re-do it with the correct cotton!  So UFO Number 1.

This is the cloth I used on my Quilt Stall at our Carnival and DH loved it and said I should make it up into a quilt, so on holiday last year I added some borders to make it a full size quilt and bought the backing fabric and need to sandwich it and then quilt it.  UFO Number 2.

I had a panel left from a baby quilt I made for Elijah and it looks like treacle so I added a white border and then a doggy border and am going to make it into a bag so we can take Treacle’s things in it to the Kennels when she goes on holiday.  UFO Number 3.

This is the material for a boy quilt which I bought two year’s ago so not really a UFO as I have not started it but I would like to get it done.  UFO Number 4.

These two lots of fat quarters are to make cushions for the two small cushions I have in our hallway.  I have an Autumn set and a Summer set and a Christmas set, I just now need a Spring set (the yellow) and the red set for winter.  UFO Number 5.

This was a Mystery quilt from Nottingham Patchwork Group  which as you can see I have made some of the bocks and the others are cut out so definitely UFO Number 6.

These are the blocks I made for my Red, White & Blue Blog Hop hosted by Madam Samm years ago.  I need to do some more and make them into a small lap quilt.  UFO Number 7.

These were going to be baby blocks but I only got them half done!  UFO Number 8.

Left over blocks from Girlfriend’s Quilt so need to do something with these.  UFO Number 9.

Now this is an interesting conundrum.  This again was a mystery quilt from the Patchwork group and we got to choose the fabric ourselves and I loved Lavender and purple but when I finished the blocks and sewed it together DH hated it!  He said it was too old fashioned so it has been left in the bottom of my basket. 

It doesn’t help that the flying geese are all different sizes and the border is not straight either!!  But what do you do with something you don’t like?  It’s not big enough for a lap quilt and it really is not good enough to give away so throw away?  Let me know what you think.  UFO Number 10.

These are not UFO’s but another aim is to make some Christmas things each month so that I don’t have a rush when I am busy with everything else.

Another aim really.  I made this bunting for the show and it is now in the sewing room as well as the Christmas lights!!!  Anyway I would like to make bunting for Spring, Autumn and Winter (this one is Summer colours) and change them as the seasons change.

This is my basket which Girlfriend and Eldest bought me two Christmases ago which I keep my UFO’s in.

This is a moan really and I don’t suppose that anybody from the Starbucks Corporation reads my Blog but I was not happy this year that there were no red cups!!!  I mean it’s a Christmas institution!  I always have tea and then wash the cups out and use them in the sewing room.  I drop the pins in here as I am quilting and then put them back in their proper clip box. 

I have clip boxes in all sizes and love them.  As you can see these three, one has bobbins in, one has pins in and the bottom one has new needles for my machines in. 

Sorry it has been a long post but that is what I am going to get working on after Evalyn’s quilt is finished and before I start a scrap quilt!  Hands up all those who hate doing sewing repairs?  I have a few of those to do as well and keep putting them off but need to get them done and out of the way!!! 

DH and Youngest were out at swimming last night so I started quilting Evalyn’s quilt.  Once I get in my sewing room, time seems to disappear and before I knew it, it was 10pm!!  Will try and get some more done later.  Today is house jobs day and tomorrow we have to take the decorations down 🙁 and clear up and I have a basket of ironing waiting as well.  Sunday is the swimming Open so we will have to be there at 6.30am and it won’t finish until about 5.00pm! Oh joy!

Have a wonderful weekend and Epiphany Sunday.

Hugs, Susie xx

As you know New Year is not my favourite bit of the whole Christmas celebrations, Monday morning ish and all that but it is inevitable.  Over the years I have made resolutions which of course I keep for about a week and then completely forget about them as life takes over, so last year decided on a goal which seemed a little better.  My goal was to do some quilting everyday which worked out okay during the winter months but come spring and summer didn’t always happen.  So this year I am modifying it to do some quilting every week in the hope that I can get something done each week.

  I am still trying to get my UFO’s finished and that will also be my aim this year along with making a scrap quilt for myself.  I also have another smaller quilt to make but I can’t say too much about that just yet.  I can now show you pictures of the Christmas presents I made as they have had them and loved them.

Two years ago DH’s Aunt passed away who we used to see a lot and who the Boys knew as Grandma.  Her three daughters, Kathryn, Judy and Elaine all looked after her and they always called her Flo.  When I was making Evalyn’s new quilt I bought a lot of fat quarters in different colours and styles and you will see why when I show you that but I realised that two of the fabrics, made by Lewis & Irene, were called “Flo’s Little Flowers” so I just had to make them Table Runners made of these fabrics.

One of the runners

All three

The back

A close up of the block

A close up of the back

All three together again.

They loved them and I am very pleased how they turned out.  The green square you will see from the close up of the block is daffodils which were Auntie Margaret’s favourite flower and we had them at her funeral. 

Talking of Evalyn’s quilt, it is now sandwiched and pinned so I just now need to start quilting it, but as it is twin size it will take a while to get it done on my machine but I am hoping to start it today and get it done by the end of next week.  Goal 1!

I also have on my sidebar Mr Happy from the “Mr Men” and “Happy is my Deafult setting for 2017”.  When I look back 2017 was not the best of years for various reasons and my hope is 2018 is going to be better but that’s the thing you just don’t know so we can only go forward with hope, so this year my setting is “Hopeful and Happy for 2018”.  I saw a very good article written by Sir Richard Branson about his tips for happiness in 2018, you can find it here https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/my-tips-happiness-2018.

I hope everyone has a good year, now off to do some sewing.

Hugs, Susie xx

(The above banner is from http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/)

Now don’t faint, a post about quilting, I know amazing!!!  Also it is not another Christmas post well there my be a little Christmas at the end!

I can now show you the second of my super secret quilts I made as it has been finished and sent off and they have received it.  In April I sent Sue and Molly a quilt, well someone else I met, through our blogs is Susan (yes there are no Susans around these days but there are three of us in Quilting Blogland!!!) and because of one thing and another I wanted to send her a quilt.

This is the front of the quilt.  I always end up taking pictures at night and in our kitchen!!  Anyway DH is helping with the fingers at the top of the quilt! 

I did a free motion quilting all over and it went lovely and crinkly after the wash.

This is the back which I love.  The white material has little bees all over and I love it and I’m going to try and find some more of it.  I also used it for the edge.

 

I also sent a bandana for Susan’s dog, Tara, which is the same as Treacle’s and Molly’s so they are now triplets!

Anyway Susan loved the quilt and a few other things I put in.  I meant to send it at the same time as I sent Sue & Molly’s but life got in the way (!) but at least Susan got it before Christmas and you could say it is an early Christmas gift (see I got Christmas in there!!!!)

I have house jobs to do today and errands to run tomorrow.  It was snowing again last night but it didn’t last as it turned to rain but I am glad as I have been worrying a little bit about Youngest.  He passed his driving test at the beginning of this year, which is great, but this is the first time he has been driving in the snow and ice so everytime he sets off my heart is in my mouth!!!!  Hey ho.

I hope you are having a Thrilling Thursday.

Hugs, Susie xx