Catching up - again!

Gosh it's a long time since I last blogged! I have been a busy girl though, I have been making lace and started on a new quilt.
This is just the middle, I have since finished the top and now just have to decide how to quilt, then mark it up  and then to sandwich it etc.
I have lain this top on another quilt that was on the bed and you can see the pattern of my Jacobs ladder quilt through the star quilt! silly me......

The lace has been on the go for several years and I am nearly at the end of it, just a couple of inches more to do.  It is a table cloth edging and I have to find a good piece of linen for the middle.  I have done quite a bit since I took this photo and just have three fans, five small diamond spiders and some ground to do  - you can see a large diamond - that has been done - so just what is below it needs to be made.

Holiday to Cornwall in May

During May this year we took a holiday in Bude in Cornwall.  The weather was kind to us and we were able to do quite a lot of sight seeing.
One of our favourite places is Boscastle and we had a lovely day there, warm enough not to need our coats and no raincoats either!

A few years ago they had a terrible flood that devastated the village, washing away a lot of the houses and many cars and caravans that were parked in the car park further up the hill.


                                                                                   Since then  a lot of rebuilding has taken place and the pub at the bottom of the hill has had to have a lot of work done on it.  This building is the National Trust information area and they tell the story of the flood and the rebuilding of Boscastle, 
 some of the buildings were many centuries old and one in particular was almost destroyed and was rebuilt using the stone from the old building and is now a lovely little cafe. Other buildings were  wshed away altogether!

 We discovered these RHS gardens about 15miles from where we were staying, Rosemore is in a sheltered vally with wooded sides, and is the most amazing new garden with lots to interest everyone. Lots of formal 'room' gardens as well as large well manicured lawns and specimen trees and a lake , lots of shade and seating for a hot days viewing!  If we go back to this area I will certainly visit it again.

This is part of the beach at Bude - it is very large and the sea goes out a long way leaving pools for the little ones to play in - this day was very hot and as you can see those that were on the beach at lunchtime put up shelters for some shade. A very safe beach for small children to play and explore, but just round the headland there is a sea water bathing pool for those who want to swim when the tide is out.

Some finished UFO's

 Before I took on the whole cloth quilt that my friend Margaret had startd I had started a couple of quilts - one to hand applique and quilt and one to do by machine.  The red/pink one here was started as an alternative design for my daughter Sarah - she chose the pink quilt show you before - the one with all the applique flowers round the borders!

 This is the quilt I started for myself and I have done the centre and corners and all the little circles in applique an the rest was machined.  This quilt was had quilted as I have to have something to do when I am at group meetings and when I 'watch' tv.  It was from an Australian
magazine and was on the front cover - I had never made the clamshell pattern before and was just going to make that but I got carried away! The quilt was originally in lavender and yellows and as it was going to my quilt I made it colours I like .


This corner shows some of the quilting before I had finished the quilt and given it a wash to get rid of the blue marking lines.

Someone challenged me to make a quilt top using only the scraps from my other quilts! So here we have a Pandora's box quilt made from the left over binding strips of other quilts! I always use two and a half inch bindings  so this was quick and easy to make.  A jelly roll would make it too........

These cushions are from a kit I bought at Festival of Quilts last year from 'The Bramble Patch' and finished in April.

I also bought this bag pattern from The Bramble Patch - but the year before and finally made this in April too.  So quite a month for finishing things.

                                                                       

Postcard displayer!

While the Nation celebrated the Queens Jubilee with a long holiday, I went (with some very special friends) to a Quilting Retreat held by a lovely couple Kate and David Ranson, called Come to Quilt is the name of their business and it is in the heart of the country near Taunton Somerset. This lovely couple looked after us superbly! the meals were to die for..and Kate allowed us to 'do our own thing' but also gave us a project to do 'if we wanted to'.  I didn't manage to finish mine at the time and told Kate that I would post a picture of it when I did (after my trip to Canada for three week which followed ).
So Kate here is my 'Post card display hanging'? I have added some of the postcards I have had sent to me over the years and the one I did 'in class', I know that a couple of them are Christmas ones but theyfitted the pockets well.

A work shop with Ferret

I was fortunate to be able to take a work shop with Ferrett, I vowed I would finish the work and to prove that I have here are some pictures of it.  I have used a piece of space dyed Batik and many different threads to fill the spaces made by the star pattern, some are metalics and some are rayon and some are valdani varigated threads.  I really enjoyed 'playing' wit this piece.  Thanks Ferrett for giving me 'permission' to play.  This work was finished sometime in January 2011.

Margaret's Quilt

In the spring last year a dear friend died, she was a quilter like me and she had a quilt on 'the go' when she passed.  This quilt was a commission for another friend who wanted it as a  Wedding pressie for her Grandson and his new Bride - she would give it to them when they came home from Afghanistan at Christmas.  I volunteered to finish this hand quilted whole cloth quilt.  Margaret had started in the center (as you do) and had done two of the motifs. I had the quilt by June and quilting every day for about 3 hours a day I finished the quilt  at the begining of December. 

Begining again!

I showed you the beggining of this challenge quilt last year - here it is finished - well almost - I have added double circles of brown applique to the corners of the quilt to try and balance it out a bit .  Better get it out of the cupboard and take another photo of it I suppose.  Each of the borders were dictated to us by the Thameside Quilt group,  one border every two months.First the width of the border then what style of patchwork then a 'special' requirement.  The last border was to be 13" wide with curves and the special requirement was lof cabin! they are in the corners..........

I have promised friends that I will restart this blog, they keep coming to look (they say!) and I haven't put anything in it! So here we go:- to start with there will be just a record of the quilts I have made since I last posted and then maybe more about me and the family and what we get up to!
Ok I've made a start - more tomorrow I hope!