Operation Over and Feeling Fine

Hi everyone
I'm delighted to report I had my gallbladder removed last Friday following an ambulance trip into hospital in the wee small hours of Wednesday! My surgeon, Mr MacFarlane, did an excellent, neat job and I'm getting better every day.
I may even manage a little bit of sewing over the next couple of days. That would be good!
It may be a little bit longer before I get back on my bicycle! But keep your eyes peeled on my cycle blog and keep up with what's happening over there. The link is on the top left of this page.
In the meantime I'll be reading all your blog updates and finding out what you've been up to in your quilting moments.
As I've no new sewing pics to publish I am sharing a photo of where I live. The view is very near where my house is. It's a lovely little village and I do enjoy living here very much.



My house is further up on the right hand side and I have a great view of high hills and a valley. The sun sets over the hills and often the sky looks as if it's on fire.
Until next time, take care, keep stitching and remember you are loved!

W.I.P. Wednesday

I'm so glad I "signed up" to the W.I.P. Wednesday because it did make me sit down and apply myself to my new broken Star quilt for my friend Cheryl. However, with a young kitten in the house my time was seriously limited and anyone who has had one of these bundles of fur will know they never sleep when you want them to!!
However, I've got a bit of the centre of my friend's quilt done, although it HAS driven me a little mad!! I just couldn't seem to get the whole thing to sit flat and fit together neatly, but I think I've got it sussed now. Funnily enough the very first Broken Star top I made when I was VERY new to piecing went together pretty well.
Maybe I'm losing my touch!!
Here's my progress for this Wednesday.....



Hopefully you'll see a big difference on it by next Wednesday!!
While you're here, feel free to pop over to my cycling blog I've just started.( Click link top left) This is my new hobby! Hhhhmmmm......pity I can't cycle and sew at the same time. At least I'd be away from the kitten's little teeth and claws!!



Don't worry, he was only yawning!!
Back soon!

Livingstone Daisies

Hi again, just want to share with you today a piccy of the lovely Livingstone Daisies that are smiling so vibrantly in my garden today. DH planted these especially for me and I think you'll agree they are just fabulous. Those colours are very inspiring and I am so fond of the orange ones.
Now I'm off to do some sewing so I have something to report on the quilt front soon!! Have a lovely weekend.

Broken Star Quilt Started

Hi, as promised yesterday I'm going to show you the very early stages of my new Broken Star quilt for my friend Cheryl.
As previously mentioned I had free reign with the colours so it took me a little while to decide fully on which colours I would use. This may have been due to the fact that my first Broken Star quilt top was very bold and bright. In fact I called it "Fire Star" but didn't finish the quilt as I was not happy with the quality of sewing. I had started it at the beginning of my "quilting life" and had not as yet discovered Freezer Paper as a backing. The paper I had used had a bit of a sheen to the surface like magazine pages. Here are three photos of that first unfinished quilt top.....



And now the new quilt colours which may seem a bit dull compared to the colours in the above one but they are brighter in real life. The turquoise is a great fabric, nice and fresh and bright, followed by a beautiful lilac/pale purple fabric. The next fabric is a rich purple and I think sits very well between the paler purple and the bright sunshine yellow. Here's how it came out in a photo......



To test my colours I always use my trusty little "peeper"!! Have you discovered how useful a door peeper is in quilting yet? You can buy them for a couple of pounds in most hardware stores. Here's the one I use. I attached a piece of string to it so I can keep it round my neck and not lose it while I'm playing with colours!!



Try this little gadget. It really works. Just have a look at your quilt or selected colours through the peeper. It's always best to have your coloured pieces already cut so you are actually looking at a test piece instead of just pieces of coloured fabric. You'll soon know if there are any glaring "no-no's" in your quilt.

Please tell me what you think of the new colours for the Broken Star quilt. Have you used this combination of colours before and how do you feel it worked in your project? And I'd be delighted to know if there are more door peepers out there being used in quilting rooms rather than in doors!!!

Until next time, which should be soon, thanks for dropping by. Please let me know you've been here and follow so I can visit and follow you too.

Kate

Another Cute Pic for You!!

I took this photo of Sebbie and Teddy today. Tomorrow I will be posting about the new quilt I've just started so stay tuned!!
Here's Sebbie and Teddy............



Kate

My First Comissioned Quilt....Yay!!!

I have to say I'm quite excited that someone is trusting me enough with a pile of fabric and some wadding to make them a quilt they will treasure!! The person who has asked me to make the quilt is a very dear young ( MUCH younger than me!!) woman with a growing family. Her name is Cheryl. She says she doesn't mind what colour or pattern it is, so I have free reign!! Dangerous!!
No, seriously, I am SO looking forward to making this quilt and I've already been auditioning some purple and yellow fabrics to make a "Farmer's Wife" quilt. That's the plan at the moment!Here are some of the fabrics I've pulled from my stash........


And here are some blocks I may use. The border will be a rich, dark purple and nice bright, rich yellow, which I'm hoping will give the quilt a bit of "ZING"!!



My other project is going to be decorative cushion covers and I recently found the perfect companion fabric to go with some lovely fabric I bought about 10 years ago. That particular fabric is the mustard and red pattern fabric for which I found a red and tan stripe fabric. The colours have not come out as bright and true to their original colours so as you look just think "mustard and rich red"!! It's hard to explain what I have in mind so please keep watching this space for my progress. Here are the fabrics and ribbon.....



And finally for today a couple of pictures from our little garden which my husband tends with much love.......


Himalayan Poppy. A lovely little flower which has survived strong winds and rain here this summer.


This darling little flower is actually a wild orchid. We didn't pinch it from the roadside!!! We can only presume a bird "passed" a seed while it was feeding in our garden. Aren't birds delightful! They sing out of one end and "sling" out of the other end!!!


This gorgeous pink poppy only came out yesterday so I thought I'd get a photo while it was still reasonably fresh. We've had red, pink and salmon pink poppies this year so far, thanks to hubby!


Last, but by no means least, the unstoppable snow in summer plant.
I like the contrast of the snow white against the green foliage.

Well, that's all my news for today. Thanks for stopping by. Please follow so I can follow your blog too and see what inspiration we can share. Back soon.

Cushion Covers

Hi just showing you a couple of things I've been doing in the last week or so between other quilty things and waiting for my op.
The cushions are for my sister's suite. There are 4 cushions in the set. She's really pleased with them. The fabric was originally a pair of curtains from a charity shop and I bought them knowing what I was going to make them into. Here they are......



That's Brodie Bassett posing alongside and making sure the cushions don't fall over. He's a great help!!!

And these little guys are going to be a large quilted cushion cover for my husband who has arthritis of the spine and needs something quite large and soft at his back while he watches TV..................



I have plenty other projects in the pipeline so come back soon or follow to see what's doing over here in Sleepy Hollow.
Thanks for visiting. Please let me know you called by leaving a comment.

A Photo From My Garden Today

Just sharing a photo I took in my garden today......



And of course there's no show without Punch................or rather, Magda!!



Be back soon!

Blue and White Snowball Quilt Top Finished!!

I'm delighted to say I have finished the top of my blue and white snowball quilt. I have enjoyed every second of this English Paper Pieced quilt and am looking forward to hand quilting it. English Paper Piecing and hand quilting are definitely my favourite ways of creating a quilt. So here's a pic of the quilt for you.....



I cropped quite closely on the photo to spare you the sight of my husband's little legs below the quilt. He very good-humouredly held the quilt up for me, even though he was watching something "important" on the telly!!

I will be using a simple quilting pattern on it and will keep you up to date with my (slow) progress! But come back soon for my other postings. Thanks for calling by today. If you're not yet following, please do so I can follow your blog as well.

A Couple More Pin Cushions and a Coaster in the Early Stages!

Hi everyone, this is a little catch up bloggy just to let you know what I've been up to between gall stone bouts!
Here is a little cockleshell pincushion, front and back......



And I love the fabric in this little cushion. Sadly I only had enough to make one.........


The other side of the cushion is green polka dot fabric which matched the green spool of thread on the front perfectly. I wasn't initially sure if it was too much of a contrast but I'm happy with it now and feel it works fine.

I decided to make something a little bigger today so I selected some puffin fabric and a bright red "dimples" fabric and cut out a 6 inch square of each plus 6 inches of thin wadding to make a coaster. These are the fabrics.............



Click on all pics to enlarge and see the fabric better.

I will be making them in sets, each set consisting of four coasters. They will be bound in a multicoloured fabric that picks out all the colours in the puffin fabric. I'll post a photo once I get the first set done.

Puffins come here to Shetland every year to breed. They are adorable little birds and so tame you can get right up to them to photograph them. Normally there is a webcam set up to watch a particular nest at the south end of Shetland. Unfortunately this year nature was not in this puffin family's favour and the egg didn't hatch. It's just one of those things. It happens in the natural world.

I will be selling the puffin coasters on Etsy but if you would like a set I can always accept payment through Paypal. There will be another set coming soon with gannets on. The fabric is just as beautiful and, as we have gannets here too in abundance, I will be selling both these sets as Shetland souvenirs. A great present for friends or family.

My next blog will hopefully be tomorrow, when I will show you a couple of things I picked up in a charity shop and destined for my Etsy shop.

As always, thank you so much for dropping by. If you're not already following my blog, please feel free to do so and keep up to date with the very fabric of my life!!

Some Cutey Little Pin Cushions!

Although I haven't quite finished the snowball quilt yet and I thought I maybe would have done by now, I have actually been sitting at the sewing machine this weekend for some of the time. The rest of the time was spent trying to tidy my sewing room/office.
It was crying out to me!!!
So I thought I'd show you the little pin cushions I've been making for Cancer Research UK. My friend Polly is having a stall at one of our local agricultural shows this year and we're all pitching in to make something to help raise money.
The pin cushions all have one thing on one side eg. a sheep, with perhaps a dog or a flower or tree on the other side.
Hope you like these little ones!!



And then I decided I needed brighter fabric for a change so I created this humorous little cushion.


That's the front and back.
I hope to get many more finished before the show so we can raise as much money as possible. Every little helps.
I've found a lovely kiddies apron pattern which I may try out tomorrow if me and hubby don't go into town.
Thanks for dropping by again. Feel free to comment or give me more quick ideas for fund raising items. I would truly appreciate that.
Bye for now.

It's Been a While

Yes, it's been a while!! It feels like ages and it's definitely been too long, but I've had several months of bad health and still don't feel good a lot of the time. But it's nothing that can't be fixed and I'm awaiting surgery which will make a huge difference.
Here's a peek at how the Dresden Plate is coming along, although I've got more done than this photo shows.....


I've enjoyed every minute of this one and can't wait to get it layered and quilted up.
I've also almost finished the Snowball Quilt top. I'll try to put photos on tomorrow.
Needless to say I have other projects going on at the same time. I will let you see the very first beginnings of a purple Broken Star quilt I hope to hand make. It will literally be the fabrics you will see and I think you'll really like them.
There's so much more to share but for tonight, that's it folks because I'm off to bed to have a good sleep and make an early start on my quilting.
Take care and speak soon!!

My First Attempt at Variable Star Block

Hi again.
I've been busy these last couple of days trying to master the Variable Star block. For some this will be a block you could do with your eyes shut, but for me it was a great learning experience. It also MADE me use the sewing machine!
So here they are........







And now I'm off for a nice cup of tea and a couple of Digestive biscuits!! That's my reward!!! LOL