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

Siblings Together Linky Party at Lily's Quilts

As part of the 100 quilts for kids blog hop Lynne asked those of us who contributed quilts to Siblings Together to write a post about why we joined in. So here's mine.

Regular readers will have seen all these quilts many times before but for those of you who haven't I've put links underneath the photos so you can see the stories of the individual quilts.

 Pips, It's a Hoot Half Time x2, Grey, Cape Ann and Dr Seuss

I was delighted to be a part the Siblings Together Quilts initiative for a few reasons. First and foremost the chance to contribute to a sense of worth and belonging in the life of a child/young person has been a privilege. Growing up in a loving family it is very easy to take for granted the love that we share and the things that we possess that have been gifted to us. When I read about Siblings Together it actually hurt. I have a younger brother who I adore, so to imagine my life without his presence as we grew up(rocky as it might have been, we're not perfect!) just doesn't bear thinking about. It was my good fortune to have been born into the family that I was and I know that I speak for Yvonne too when I say that I believe in sharing that blessing with other people wherever possible. The absolute bonus of this initiative has been that we could do something we love, playing with fabric, to benefit other people, win-win in my book!! The majority of quilts that Yvonne and I make are gifts for loved ones or people in need of cheering up so this project fitted perfectly. I'm delighted that it has been so well supported and have no doubts that I will be making more quilts for Siblings Together in the years to come. 
I'm very grateful to Wendy and Claire at Patch Fabrics for their generosity in donating fabrics to enable me to contribute as many quilts as I did this time round. I know a great many of the readers of our blog have given generously of their fabric and quilts which makes me smile but if you haven't yet maybe you've got a little quilt lurking somewhere in a cupboard that could put a smile on the face of child this year...
Catch you soon x

Hand sewn

So far this week I have mostly been (in best Fast Show voice) hand sewing. I've attached the Siblings Together labels to 6 quilts so I can now ship them off to Delma at Siblings Together!

Labels ready to go

I've grouped all the quilt photos together because I felt like it :) That's Pips, It's a Hoot Half Time x2, Grey, Cape Ann and Dr Seuss ready to roll tomorrow.

6 Quilts

This next photo is a little peek at a hand sewing project I attempted with minimal success using Flock by Thomas Knauer. The full project is revealed in the Fat Quarterly Community Retreat Special Issue. I was delighted to discover that my Designer challenge project would be featured in this issue and I feel a bit better about not having been there in person now.

After my less than spectacular first attempt I am determined to complete a Spring Carnival cushion so I'm having another go with some of my all-time favourite Amy Butler Love fabric. I think I might have got the hang of it enough this time to complete the job, whoop!  

Hand sewing is definitely growing on me :) Catch you soon x

This weekend

The postie heralded a fabulous start to the weekend with this gorgeous Fat Eighth Stack of Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater!!! I'm ridiculously excited to have got my hands on this before the general release later this summer. Thanks to Jane of Want it, Need it, Quilt for super speedy despatch from Australia. I already have 2 plans in mind for this yummy line and as soon as I finish my commitments for the Siblings Together initiative I will be making something for me with it :) 

What's not to love about Mama Said Sew?

I finished up my last quilt for Siblings Together this afternoon! Woot! True to form it was too sunny outside to get a decent picture after weeks of being too wet to get a decent picture.

At least you can see the quilting.

I headed indoors to get a shot but that's not great either, sorry. I'm hoping that when we move Lynne will be my new quilt stylist and photographer...

Teen boy quilt finished size 50" by 70"

 I used some of my stash of Summersville to bind this one and backed it with the trusty text fabric from Ikea. I managed to forget to photograph the back but you've seen the print before on numerous occasions.

 Here's my final stack of quilts washed and ready for labelling before I send them off. I'll be adding the quilt Mum made to this pile as soon as I finish quilting it. Unfortunately Mum's still not up to manhandling fabric through the sewing machine so I said I'd finish it off for her. I'll show you pics of that next time. I've basted it ready for quilting :)

The leaning tower of quilts

 Hope you've all had a good weekend. Catch you soon x

Grey

Today I dug out the fabrics Claire from Patch Fabrics sent me to make a teen boy quilt for Siblings Together. 

 I've gone for my usual strip piecing technique for maximum speed of construction.

 I do love a quick but effective block :)

 I'm interspersing the multi-blocks with a larger block of print so the quilt isn't too busy.  The blocks are 16" by 13" finished so they're good and chunky. Hopefully that will make it acceptable for a teen boy :)

I've got plenty more blocks to make but this wasn't a bad start for day one. It also seems I need to ask for it to rain more often as the skies stayed nice and blue today ;) Catch you soon x

Two little dicky birds...

...well not quite but look at the pictures and you'll get my drift.

 Two co-ordinating Freebird quilts for Siblings Together ready for duty :)

The quilts are essentially the same, I've just used a different section of the Half Time Quilt for each one so there is a little bit of difference between them but you'd have to put them side by side to know :) So that's 4 quilts down now, one more to go then I can quilt the one that Mum has made too. Hoping to get them all ready to roll before the end of the month! Catch you soon x

Freebird

First things first, I want to thank you all for the lovely supportive comments you left in response to yesterday's post! You put a big smile on my otherwise frowning face ;-) I've seen the full issue of Fat Quarterly 9 now and it's a real stunner! In other news, I've almost finished the first of the Freebird quilts for Siblings Together. Every time I say Freebird I can't help chuckling to myself like the ageing rock chick that I am :) I used the Half Time Quilt pattern, as I mentioned previously, and the result is fairly cheerful even if I say so myself.

Front of Freebird quilt

 All that remains to be done is the binding. The Ikea fabric that Wendy sent is just perfect for the backing, check out those funky birds.

Rear of Freebird quilt

I've already got the blocks for the second Freebird quilt ready to roll so it should be another quick finish...fingers crossed! Hubby and I are venturing north on Friday for a day of house-hunting so that might slow my sewing progress slightly but it will hopefully be worth it! Catch you soon x

Piles

I thought I'd better put in an appearance this weekend to prove I've not dropped off the face of the planet. It's been fairly hectic around here as we're contemplating a big house move but I have managed to sneak in a bit of sewing time. A couple of weeks ago I received this package from Wendy to make a quilt  for Siblings Together! 

Freebird jelly roll and Ikea bird fabric plus treats for me from Wendy!

Wendy included 4 metres of backing fabric so I figured I'd throw in a solid jelly roll so that I can make 2 quilts from the Freebird jelly roll.

I'm using the Half Time Quilt pattern for these quilts as it's quick and I obviously know how to make the blocks in my sleep ;-)  This time around I'm reversing the placement of print and solids so it will be more child friendly with less white.

Piles

 I've lost track of how many blocks I'd made at this point but there were lots!

More piles

 I'm really happy to find that my instructions are accurate for the fabric requirements as I had enough strips to complete the final block, phew!

Yet more piles

 Now for the tedious trimming of 144 blocks.

Piles of trimmings

I'm hoping to get cracking on the construction this week if I don't have to hide them away so they don't show up in the Estate Agents photos. For some reason unbeknownst to me it appears that not everyone loves fabric!! Go figure! Hope you've all had a good weekend. Catch you soon x