Several of my runners and place mats were made a few years ago, when I first started quilting, before I had a blog. This was a kit called "Hot and Spicey" - the pattern was designed by Hilary Gooding. This was bought as a kit from the Lady Sew and Sew booth at the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, 2006 and uses a fabulous range of "Zanzibar" fabrics by Makower UK. The circles were fused into place using steam-a-seam-lite and then machine appliqued using a blanket stitch and a variegated YLI quilting thread. I then quilted curvy lines along the length and width of the runner. When I made the place mats, I quilted a circular spiral around the appliqued circles. I had been quilting for about a year when I made these, and they're still looking great! Oh and if any of you want to make one of the runners, the pattern is available as a free download from the Popular Patchwork website over here http://www.popularpatchwork.com/news/article/hot-and-spicy/5044
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I've had a very week, and haven't completed any new projects, but Mr F has been decorating and the last thing I want on my beautiful fabrics is splashes of paint!! Anyway, yesterday afternoon was spent re-arranging furniture and such like, and I've put a bright and cheerful runner on my table. This pattern is called "Summer Picnic" by Laurie Shifrin and is featured in the book "Skinny Quilts and Tablerunners". I made this runner a few years ago, with a selection of bright batiks - some of which were bought on a holiday in Devon. That's a great way of remembering a holiday - to buy fabrics and make a super project! It's been quilted very simply with a variegated YLI quilting thread, "stitch-in-the-ditch" around the blocks and some gentle wavy lines in the border.
Høstvarianter is completed - the tendrils have finally been stitched - and is now adorning my dining room table!! As you can see, it was crisp and frosty this morning... ...even the dog didn't want to go outside for her early morning ramble - although it was bitterly cold, the garden looked very pretty. I couldn't resist photographing these cobwebs today - fortunately there were no inhabitants!!
The pattern and fabric kit for this tablerunner was sent to me from Hanne, and is called "Høstvarianter" (Variations of Autumn) it is a pattern by AnnAKa and I started this yesterday. This will look great on my dining table once it's completed. I really enjoy walking in the woods with the dog this time of year, all that "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" malarky is good for the soul, although today it's pouring with rain and blowing a gale, so I'm tucked up indoors with a cuppa and Alan Rickman (well, a girl can always dream. I'll just make do with the DVD Love Actually followed by Sense and Sensibility - a double dose of Alan - perfect!!) and the dog curled up beside me :) ..... ...this is what my garden looked like a couple of days ago in the autumn sunshine - although it doesn't look like this now, most of the leaves have blown off!! I've been doing my domestic-goddess bit in the kitchen and have got some left-overs to use up for lunch the remains of a home-made quiche and will make some leek and potato soup too as I'll need plenty of energy ready for an afternoon on the sofa with Alan !!!
Here is my completed chicken runner "Vartegn" (Signs of Spring) - along with some other hens in my kitchen. The log cabin hen is actually a door stop which I made about 5 years ago. As you can see from the fresh eggs in the background, we have our very own happy hens in the garden, and a few weeks ago we had a new addition. We had a very broody hen, and decided to let her sit on a small clutch of eggs - and this is the result!! We weren't sure if the eggs we were given were fertile, and only 2 chicks hatched, and only one of those survived, and this little cutie was born on Eva's birthday!! ...here she is 10 weeks later - we have now put her into the hen run with our other "girls" and her mother is still extremely protective of her. This is the posh hen house where the happy hens live - they really are very spoilt!!
Happy Halloween - it’s that time of year to introduce you all to Winnie the Witch – this was a Button Angel pattern (not sure if it’s still available) that I bought from the Knitting and Stitching Show a couple of years ago - I used a cinnamon stick for the stalk of the pumpkin, and put some cloves in with the stuffing to make her smell nice. She was been doing a little tour of the kitchen and the garden – the tablerunner is an AnnAKa pattern, GladRetro, that I bought from Lappedilla and is just the right colours for Halloween. Winnie decided to have a little rest in the garden and found a comfy seat in the marrow patch (the long-suffering Mr F didn’t grow any pumpkins this year). And finally here she is sitting amongst the Rudbeckia.
My friend Eva, from Otta, Norway, (Hei hei Eva) sent me a pattern for my birthday "Vårtegn" (Signs of Spring - Norwegian of course!!) and a pack of fabric to make a tablerunner – and here is how I’ve been getting on with it. I’ve just got to sew on some buttons and embroider the chicken’s legs and it’ll take pride of place on my dining table!! Again, this was a pattern that I was able to make by just using the diagrams rather than the written instructions... ...and finally a picture of the very long-suffering Mr F who was making the most of the glorious autum sunshine in the garden this afternoon and was planting up the winter hanging baskets, with primulas and pansies and ivy, and has planted some miniature daffodil bulbs as well so they'll pop up in the spring and give a great splash of colour. unfortunately my talents in the garden consist of me sitting there with a glass of Chardonnay, enjoying the view :) and pointing out if he's missed a weed or two hehe!!
This morning I was a blogging virgin, now I'm addicted!! I've spent all afternoon adding pictures to my gallery, of quilts, cushions and tablerunners - and now I'm even going to try adding a picture to my blog - well here goes - this is a picture of a present that my very good friend Eva, from Norway, sent me for my birthday. She knows that I'm very fond of green fabrics, and this fabric and pattern will keep me busy for a few days - unless blogging gets in the way!!
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About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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