Shopping

Not much to see here - I'm working on the binding for Granny Helen's baby mat still.  Nearly finished, though, so just a label to sew and attach.

I can show you what I bought when I went shopping at the weekend.

I had a Cotton Patch gift voucher burning a hole in my pocket, and without a specific project in mind, I planned to look at charm packs, or fat quarters which would fit in with some of my existing fabrics.

I found this pack of twenty 10" squares in yellow/green which I think will be perfect.

I also bought some thread to quilt the Festive Mystery - a variegated cream (at Sue's excellent suggestion) for the back, and a zinging metallic Christmas red/green/gold for the front, which I fell in love with.  It will either be utterly perfect, or an absolute disaster and FAR TOO MUCH.

I look forward to seeing which it will be!

Pieced Back

You know, I'm not 100% happy with the William Morris style print fabric that I'm going with for the backing of the Festive Mystery quilt.  It's got too many orangy/tan bits in to fit in with the gold/green/red Christmassy theme of the top.

But life is a compromise, and although what I have is not ideal, it doesn't actually jar - and it's what's there at the time.

So.  I've put the squares into strips, ready & pressed, I've just got to join them all together then get sandwiching.

I'm looking forward to a trip out at the weekend in search of variegated quilting thread.  I have a birthday token kindly sent from big sister Helen to spend at the Cotton Patch on the other side of the city burning a hole in my pocket, and maybe I could treat myself to a little something as well as the thread...

I have to think about the thread - I've fallen into the trap of a beautiful but overly dominant thread before, so I might have to shelve the idea of a lovely Christmassy red/green, but I'm sure the right one will jump out at me.

Well, fairly sure - those with long memories will recall that it took three goes to get it right for last year's Scatty Stars quiltalong, but there you go....

Festive Mystery - Backing

I made my decision on the backing fabric for the Festive Mystery.  It was between a William Morris style dark print, and white, and - despite overwhelming opinion (thank you all) to the contrary - I decided on the white.  The dark was just too gloomy to compliment the bright Christmas design.

Then I laid out the fabric, and realised that I hadn't quite enough. Bum.

However, I'm in good company, QuiltSue didn't have quite enough backing for her quilt either, and what did she do?  She banged on about not being able to do a pieced backing made a wonderful job of piecing a backing, cleverly incorporating the fabrics from the front design. Utterly brilliant!

Being in such good company cheered me up no end, and I had a lightbulb moment - I thought I'd use half-and-half white and patterned fabrics in a checkerboard design.

I did some sums and now have a whole heap of 8¾" squares ready to press & piece.

Thank you, Sue, wouldn't have thought of it without you!

Christmas Quiltalong - November pt2

My trip around all five of the town's charity shops yielded nothing in the way of inspirational backing fabric for me to use for QuiltSue's a Festive Mystery quilt, so I am stuck with what I've got if I want to press on with this one.

Domino helped audition the pieces of fabric and we've decided that it will either be a darker William Morris style print, or a plain white.  I'm erring towards the white.  The colour balance on these photos is really poor, but you get the gist.

I also need to decide on what to use as quilting thread.  There is only one local shop which sells thread - and even there, there is very little choice.  Hmm.

Whilst I'm sorting that little connundrum out, I think I'll go and do some more on the binding for Granny Helen's baby mat.

Christmas Quiltalong - Nov pt1

Are we all in a Christmassy mood?  I do hope so, because today is the penultimate Christmas Quiltalong with our host QuiltSue at the helm.  Get yourself something festive to work on for the day, sign up to Mr Linky and start humming those Christmas tunes.

The wrapping paper and cards are all in the shops now and the Christmas adverts are on the TV (despite it not even being remembrance Sunday yet), so it's easy to get into the Christmas spirit.

It's lunchtime here in the UK and I've had a busy morning sewing (hang the housework) and have finished putting together the Festive Mystery Quilt which Sue has kindly devised for us. It looks lovely, and all I have to do is find some suitable backing fabric and I can get sandwiching and decide on how to quilt it.

Brilliant!

Oh.

I bet you've spotted already that I've made a bit of a boob on the border.

Out with Percy Unpicker.  Oh well, the day wouldn't be complete without seeing him at some point, I suppose!

It's the Second Saturday tomorrow...

... and that means it is the Christmas Quiltalong day - hurrah!

I'll be finishing attaching borders on the Festive Mystery Quilt - it has a home to go to now, so I need to get a move on to finish it.

Then I'm about half way through hand sewing the binding on to Granny Helen's baby mat, so that's taking shape. Have a little peek...

And as QuiltSue is hosting, so we are in for a really great party!  Whoop, whoop!

I'm Back!

Thank you for all for sharing your special Christmas decoration tales which we talked about when I hosted the Christmas Quiltalong in September (if you can remember that far back!).

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them all.  QuiltSue has the most 'lateral thinking' favourite Christmas decoration, being Christmas trees in all shapes and sizes; Mrs P has the most poignant tale, and Lynn's cat-stocking tale is the most unexpected by a country mile - you can see them all in the comments here.

It hasn't actually taken me six weeks to read them, but I have been comatose in the sunshine on my jolly hols, and since getting back, life's been a bit of a whirl.  I'm sorry that I missed Elizabeth's hosting last month - you all look to have had a fabulous time, and next Saturday I'll be trying to catch up making progress on my quilt. 

Actually, I have done some sewing, but as it's for the baby mat for big sister (now Granny) Helen to give to her new brand new step-grandson, you don't get to see it yet.  Just a tiny peek.

I have nearly finished it - just the binding to hand sew & the label...