It's finished

At last, it's finished, complete with sleeve and labels even packaging! Needed bit of help with the sleeve as I'd done a facing not a bound edge. The lady who organises the exhibition was very patient and helpful.

The sleeve. Thanks to the organiser and her help I'd even got some

wood in the garage the correct size which helped getting the sleeve right.

I spent 3 days whittling over one line of stitching trying to do the sleeve.

I didn't want to have any creases in the piece so I had to come up with

a way of dealing with it. It's a bit Heath Robinson but it works.

It's tied together with wide strips of soft calico so as not to leave any marks

on the quilt.I've got to buy some wheelie bin liners, they'll be big enough

to accommodate the lot without having any bits hanging out.

Got to try and keep on the good side of the team

who will be handling it at the exhibition, don't want to upset them.

They have enough to so as it is.

Just got to deliver to the venue next week and as long as we don't have six foot of snow, I don't envisage any problems. I could enter this into other shows, I think. I rooted out the info about the FOQ and was wondering, could I? I could, if I pulled my finger out and got cracking.We'll see.

'Congratulations' to Miriam, twice - job and module. I'm very pleased for you, on both counts.

Got to do some tidying up and chores now, just so I can make a mess again. Hope you remembered to change the clocks last night.

Bye.

Lambs at Calke

It's that time of year again, yes, lambing time. Went to calke this morning for look at the lambs. They have their own tent to keep them safe. The lambs are born outside in the field, then brought into individual pens as soon as possible for about 24 hours and finally they are put into the marquee. They are a delight, jumping around and playing with each other. As with all babies they do sleep alot.

This one (below) is less than 24 hours old, cute or what!

Looking for mischief......
Some tired mums and some inquisitive and cheeky babies. The lambs have a fascination for the troughs, some even like to sleep in them.
Portland sheep give brown lambs.

And now to stitch.....

Bye.

Joining in the pieces

Took the plunge and joined the pieces together. On reflection I don't think this would have worked if I'd pieced it first. It's because of the difference in shrinkage in two areas of quilting. The pebbles shrank about 2 inches and the leaves about an inch. Imagine the wrinkles if I'd pieced first. I was worried about the bulk in the seams. I pressed them with a dry iron and parchment paper, then trimmed them and stitched them down with loose stitches.

I covered the seams with a piece of fabric cut on the straight grain - the seams are slightly off the bias, so still stretchy. The seam binding should not only cover the ugliness but add abit of strength and support. It was tough hand stitching through the 'pebbles'as the was lots of layers of machine stitching to get through.
Not a bad job when it was done. Now for the edges - need to make some decisions!
Bye....

New toy, sneak preview

Just a little play with my new toy, daren' get too engrossed or my main piece of the moment won't get finished. I like it loads and can't wait to get to grips with it.

A fish tail. Finally got the fish onto the pebbles. I ended up using black bin liner for the eyes stitched on with some white rayon thread. Just got to piece it and finish it off by the weekend. I think it's going to be okay though you always think you could have done a better job. I should have pieced the fabric before I started quilting. too late now. I'll try it that way on the next piece, won't be fish though.

Can't show you the whole thing for a couple of weeks, then if you can't get to Trentham you can see it here. I'll try to get some more pics, better colours and hanging at the show.

Bye

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

Didn't know snow was on the cards for today so what a surprise I got this morning at 5.30 when I got up. It was eerily quiet outside. By about 9am it was all gone and we had bright sunny spells during the day, cold though!

What a lovely surprise !

All the dogs together, they'll do anything for food.
Hope you've had a good day.

Hyacinths and Lambs

Beautiful and fragrant hyacinths om my kitchen window sill. The perfume hits you when you come into the room after the door has been closed for some time.

I believe these are the first lambs born at Calke Abbey this year. The two lambs on the left are a few minutes older than the lamb on the right, still being licked. None were there when I drove past the flock when I arrived at Calke. They were born about 3.45 this afternoon. All the ewes are looking abit fed up, not long to go now.
Baa Baa!

Flowers and dog washing!

More nice flowers, not actually given to me but I am looking after them!

This is what happens when you go on long walks and you're not very tall.

You end up with a mucky under carriage!
He doesn't like any of this but he also doesn't like dirty feet!

Fish

This post is for Miriam.

Good to see you today, Miriam.

Look forward to the next time.

Daffs, squirrel, quilting, new toy!

Aren't daffodils lovely, a really smiley flower.

If you look closely you can see a squirrel in the tree. He was trying to get to the nuts, but couldn't.
More quilting, need to add the veins on the leaves next. The thread kept breaking. I was using a variagated thread on top and a different plain thread underneath, something I've done for years without a problem. Eventually I changed the thread underneath and realised that it was slightly thicker that the top thread. All is well now and the leaves grew rapidly.
My new toy arrived this week. Have tested it and it works. Just got to get to grips and do some real work with it.
Bye.

Mothers Day

Made this card for my Mum for mothers day.

Had to email it to her because I'm full of a

nasty cold and I don't want to share my germs

so we won't be seeing any parents tomorrow.

I shall see my Mum later in the week when I'm

better.

It's a multi-purpose card. Take off the textiles

from the front of the card, remove the double-sided

tape and it becomes a bookmark. She won't know

that until she gets it. Recycle the card.

I might use this as a new header for this blog.

When this is published it looks yuk, sorry!