I think i might have.......

...... discovered a new stitch!!!!

Now, it might take me a while to get around to telling you about that as I need to procrastinate a little.
Actually, my family will tell you that procrastinate should be my middle name instead of Susan.
Well, in fact, it shouldn't even be Susan!  I was named for my maternal Grandmother Sue.  When reading through papers a few years ago we found her birth certificate and her name was actually
Sue -Ann.  I like that better, a bit quirky methinks and I like quirky.  I might have to change it.

Thinking about it, it runs in the family - forgetting your name - my Uncle, the aforementioned Sue's son was called Harry.  One day at work someone was calling for Henry Dawson, quite often and persistently, and he didn't realise it was himself till a workmate told him!! Hehe.  What a family, I so belong to them. :-)

That so very neatly leads me onto my next subject.  Siblings Together who tirelessly work to help separated siblings to spend quality time together. If you don't know of this amazing charity please click the link and read about them, it is such a worthwhile cause and I have only the greatest admiration for the people concerned with it.

Apologies for some of the photos they are photos of photos so not very clear at all, Hopefully, you get the idea from them anyway. 

I love my family

Errm...sugar!! It won't turn round.  Sadly no Jess and Simon in this photo.                    

and have so many happy memories of times spent with my sister

I know black and white. Showing my age, but you all know I'm ancient anyway. That's me on the left!

and I know that Correne feels the same about Oliver.

 

Hehe, couldn't resist it. Don't they look cute?

 

Yikes, nearly got me in there too!!           

And Jess and Mackinlay love each other as siblings too. She adores him and he cries if she leaves the room.  :-)                                                                                                                                       

 

It's difficult to keep him still for even a minute, most of my photos of him are blurred!

So when Lynne told us about the opportunity to make a quilt for a child at one of the Siblings Together camps we were so pleased to get involved. As Correne has been so unwell this year, it fell to me to do the honours and I am so pleased to tell you that I managed to make a complete quilt, even do the quilting. This was a massive step forward for me from last year as I had only managed to make a quilt top last year and it took me weeks to recover.                                                                             

So the quilting on the machine was a real challenge, to say the least.  I decided to do straight line quilting in the ditch.  Keep it simple. No chance for errors.  And so on. Such a dumb idea!!! What was I thinking?!!! I can't even walk in a straight line! How did I think I would be able to sew in a straight line the whole length of a quilt??  Don't ask me, I have no idea. Cue me having a hissy fit. Mumbling and muttering, walking out the room, I may have even slammed a few doors, raiding the chocolate stash, feeling guilty that I'd raided the chocolate stash.  Don't worry it wasn't till I'd eaten it that I felt guilty- I'm not that dumb!! And so on and so forth.....

So, trying to pull myself together, I sat down with a glass of wine and a cigarette - wait no I don't drink or smoke,  I sat down with a cup of hot water and had a loooong think. And that was when I realised that I'd discovered a new stitch. (I told you it would take a while to get there!!!) It's called 'meandering in the ditch stitch' or 'meandering in and out of the ditch stitch'. Depending on what seems to fit at the time of stitching!! Now I'm feeling a little less .... what shall I say.....ok.... yes......grumpy.......(nods heads vigorously)........that's the word......Grumpy. Here it is then, I'm tempted to say our but I really shouldn't lump Correne with any of the responsibility of it's creation.  After all she only offered much needed support and the compliments that come with the rose tinted specs of a daughter! But...............it is from Nellie's Niceties. 

Before quilting - spot the upside down block!              

                              The closest I'll ever get to a roll up!                                

 Don't look too closely at it please, just admire the fabric.

Well, I know it's not perfect by any means, the quilting is .... well, it holds the layers together shall we say and one of the blocks is the wrong way up.  But the fabric is bright and fun, Fairytale friends by American Jane with Kona orange, yellow and blue - colours that are right out of my comfort zone.  But it is made and sent with much love and hopes for a bright future for the young recipient.  And hopefully, the young person who receives it will have a generous heart and love it anyway for the spirit in which it is given. :-)


And just to remind you that I do get it really right some times, although Hadley may beg to differ if she's reading this and sees the colours! In my defence, Correne gave me the layer cake and it is by Sweetwater who do design great fabric lines. :-))  I wanted to make a quilt for her to take into hospital. You know, in place of a hug from me but it's been sooo hot and I don't cope in the heat, so it turned into a pillow.  Which is probably as well, Correne hates the heat too and hospitals aren't the coolest of climates to be in.

 

The back.

The front. Much more like it.

Pure by Sweetwater. Hand quilted in blue, brown and caramel perle. Straight lines and never once falling into the ditch. Sorted. And resulting in a happy me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

So folks, that's it for now.  Thank you so much for visiting and spending time with me.  I really appreciate it.  Hopefully, next time we can tell you about our secret projects, cause I'm bursting to tell you about mine!!!!!

Take good care of yourselves.  Happy sewing. Xxx

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Larking Around

I'm joining in with Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival after a friendly poke from Susan. If you're visiting our blog from the Festival for the first time then I hope you'll find something you like here enough to stop by again :) If you're a regular visitor you will already have seen some of the progress of the quilt I'm entering in the Throw Quilt Category. I'll quickly recap for you. I started this quilt in November 2011 but only finished it yesterday (hangs head in shame). I was so excited when I got the full fat quarter set of Lark by Amy Butler that I started cutting into it pretty much straight away. I had a thing for equilateral triangles at the time so it was a no-brainer that I would use them in this quilt which I named Larking Around.

For one reason or another I shelved it, after only constructing 2 rows of triangles, until July 2012 when I added 4 more rows of triangles. Then life got busy and it made it's way back into my rather large WIP box. Finally, last weekend I rescued it from the box and got the top finished and basted to the backing! When Susan told me that Blogger's Quilt Festival started today I cussed quite a bit (nothing new!) but was determined to get it finished so I could join in. So now for the details. I used Kona black solid for the background fabric and strips cut from fat quarters of Lark for the triangles and the border, then backed with one of the black and white prints from Lark. I pieced and machine quilted an echo around the central hexagon panel and the strippy border with Aurifil. 

I hand quilted the diamond shapes in between the hexagons with a vivid yellow perle cotton that doesn't show up very well in photos but looks gorgeous against the black in real life. 

I bound with a nice black and white print from Cocoon.

And that's it, after almost 2 years of procrastinating, a finished lap/throw quilt.

I love it! I hope you've enjoyed looking at it too :) 

The finished quilt is approx. 43" by 49" so the perfect size for keeping my legs warm while sewing in front of the telly. Right there I sound about 80 and I'm really not ;) Don't forget to check out all the other lovely quilts! Thanks for stopping by, catch you soon x