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!

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

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.

Shirty Quilt Fabrics

My "shirty quilt fabrics" stash is growing slowly and I thought I'd just give you a look at the shirts I've bought so far from charity shops. The other day when I went into town our local Save the Children shop had a sign on the window which said, "Fill a bag for £1.00"". I didn't need a second bidding! While there I got another two shirts, so here's what I've got so far......



There's actually quite a lot of fabric there as most of the shirts are quite big and two of them have long sleeves.I was thinking of a cunning plan though! I could wait until dear hubby goes out somewhere, then I would cut the sleeves off his shirts, hem them and say they were short sleeved all the time and he must be experiencing senior moments!! But I wouldn't do that. He'd just get shirty with me!!

Off now to work on my "snowball" quilt which seems to be taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r!!!
Catch up with you soon. Pop by again or click the follow button and stay up to date. Please leave a comment to let me know you've passed this way.