Placemats

I have finished the placemats finally, here one out of the set of 4 that I done

I am rather pleased with them so at least now I can change my placemats that I have on my table & not have to pull out bought ones

I was very wary on how to quilt them in the end I did a stitch in the ditch so nothing fancy the block is 7 inch finished block which as I said before is Aunt Eliza's Star

Shh Don't Tell I got more Fabric

The 40 Novelty FQs

Below is the Thimbleberries fabric

Well it a little like Christmas here when I got back from shopping the mail man had left me two packages of fabric that I got on Sunday, & it arrived today Thursday so very quick from the USA. I got my favourite fabrics Thimbleberries the package was 10 yards of 1 yard cuts this works out including postage under £4 a yard. I also got 40 novelty FQs okay some are not as nice as others but each one is really what someone's taste is so they will get used in projects or if I send out FQs as a swap or something else this is why I also get them again a really good buy as I think they come out at around £0.75p each with postage again. I am also waiting on from the UK the Thimbleberries book by Lynnette Jensen "In Celebration of Quilting" I ordered it from Amazon but on their New & Used section so it works out around £8 cheaper with postage than if I ordered it from Amazon & it is still coming from the UK so looking forward to that arriving Now with the packaging being left for when we got back from shopping, DH did say what the package so I just said FQs so he went off to do what he was doing he not said much yet, have to get it put away before he does lol

A New Give-Away

There is a fantistic Give-away at Simple This That and The Other I love the Table Top & Runner you can see in the photo This is not my work but what is on the ladies blog I am sitting here drooling over it lol

There are such wonderful blogs around & the work that the people produce it so nice, I know you are not suppose to be envious of people but I am well not quite envious but in awe that there are so many talented ladies & men out there & hope that I will get somewhere half as close with my work.

Just to show what I am saying I was working on the placemats & as you may know I am still very much a novice well I thought I should shorten the stitch size for my quilting which is stitch in the ditch well I did one & was on the 2nd it was a bit hard going compared to how it normally does so thought it may be the bobbin or the thread, well the needle broke & so turned the machine off changed it turn the machine back on & started to sew I then after a little bit realised I hadn't changed the stitch size down as it went to it set on but it was going so much easier so I learnt that I didn't need to go down in stitch size & finished the 2nd one & the following 2 nearly as quick as it took to do the one & half of the first two now I know I am a bit thick & boy did it show feel like a kid who needs to go back & learn lol

Friendship Awards

I was so pleased & surprised I was awarded this Friendship Award by Micki who I have got to know & now we are also Diet Friends, so now I will be passing on awards not all the winners have blogs.

The idea for this Micki got from GoldenAngelsworks you can read about it at the site if you click on the name also if you want to know more about the people I have given awards to,

Thanks again Micki for giving me my Award & letting me know & give out awards to people I feel that has help & or changed my life in some way

My first one must got to Lynnette who I got to know after buying some squares from her off ebay she has since got a online fabric shop, if it wasn't for her encouragement I may never got in to quilting you have a lot to answer for lol

Next will be Jan as she invited me to her quilting group & I now go there & am learning more & hope to continue, also for all the work she does for the soldier's quilts.

Then there is Ros i am getting to know here as the days & weeks are passing.

Khris is next it was a swap on her blog that got Jan & me to meet as we don't live too far from each other

Now the next person is Barbara she is the listmom on a dishcloth group I belong to & have done for many years since December 2000 she has been a good friend.

The last person but not least is someone I consider a sort of cousin, & that is Lesley, my Nan's sister married one of her ancestors so we sort of cousins by marriage, we have got to know each other since finding the link between the families & I am so happy about that

So Proud

I am so proud of my husband Greg he has made this greenhouse from stratch, we had ordered one but when it arrived there was parts missing 2 weeks on still no parts so we told them they can have it back.

He was a welder & said I can make one at least the wind won't blow it down lol so he ordered the metal & welded up each section of the frame then bolted it together he said just in case he has to dismantle it lol

Then we ordered some twin poly sheets these are what is used for conservatories but not as thick it only 6mm but being twin it will be hotter than just single glass or perpexs

It has taken him a while to do it & he been in a lot of pain while doing it but I am so proud of him as I think it looks great, the photos are one is a close up of it & the other is from our front gate down the side of the bungalow you can see our entrance on the side & the wall with a road on the other side we don't really have a back garden so this was the best place to put it as it gets a lot of sun it approx 7ft by 4ft this is another reason he built it because most greenhouses are 6 by 6 min one may be 6 by 4 but then it goes up by 2 at a time.

VQM Fabric I Got & A Question for You All

I have received in the mail this morning some fabric that I purchased from Ebay it is 12 half yard cuts (24 fat quarters) Virginia Quilt Museum Reproduction prints from Quilting Treasures as you can see from the photo very nice fabric & I got it as a nice bargain.

Do any of you who buy FQs find that you get stuck as to what to use them for, when I first started to buy fabric I did get a lot of FQs thinking that I would have a good & varied range of fabrics but of course I found that while I did have that I didn't have enough of the same ones to do large projects.

So what do you all do with your FQs use them in just very small projects or one off blocks or just a couple of blocks, may be if they are in the same range just different colours you use them by doing different coloured blocks to go in to a quilt or a larger project I would be very interested in hearing your views on how you use your FQs & even your stash plus how you decide on a project.

I am finally starting on some placemats that I have been wanting to do for myself, it has taken I don't know how long to come up with a block that will be nice in them I had looked at some ready done patterns but nothing jumped out at me so in the end I have picked out a block Aunt Eliza's Star to go in to my placemats & I have designed it on the EQ6 you will be seeing the results when they are finished as I am now off to start cutting all the pieces for these & no I can't use FQs as I need a little over a quarter of a yard of the smallest amount seeing I am doing 4 placemats I had hoped I could use some of those FQs lol

Blocks I did at my Quilting Group

Today was my Quilting Group day I had the templates for cutting the fabric to take with me so off I went this morning to the group.

The first one I had to do after getting the assemble instructions was to sew it the block was Martha Washington Star this one is the two fabric block (Orange & Brown) I didn't mind doing this okay practice makes perfect well that never going to happen no matter how long I practice lol

This afternoon's one well that is the 4 fabric one (2 Greens & 2 Pinks) & is called Stars over Tennessee Well I do like the block very much as long as I don't have to do it if I had been at home I would have thrown it in to the bin lol

When I came home & showed DH & said about it he said well you have to practice it more lol

The day was very enjoyable as usual & I am learning a lot so I don't mind if I am doing blocks or something else it all helps me learn how to do what I don't know & believe me I know very little lol

If you go to Jans Musings from around Sunday onwards you may get to see some of the blocks that some of the other members did

Received Lovely Surprises

Well today is my birthday & I received in the mail this beautiful postcard from my friend Janet of Jans Musing Thank you so much Jan, it fact it has drawn a lot of attention so my postman said he had said that everyone in the sorting office was commenting on it & how nice it was & how they not seen one like this before so you were talked about at the post office lol

My DH Greg came in with a cup of tea this morning I was still in bed then when I was up he had said that he had done me a fresh fruit salad with yoghurt, I don't eat much breakfast so he did this & it was lovely.

While writing this the parcelman just pulled up & I had a package & inside I had this lovely Teddy from well I always say a sort of cousin as one of her ancestors married one of mine so my friend/cousin Lesley has sent me this teddy so I am doing well for my birthday Greg had given me money which I put to getting my Brother Sewing Machine the other month so I can take it to my quilting group each month & I will be going tomorrow so will be able to thank Jan in person as well

I am waiting on my eldest son Karl to come with my youngest Grandson Benjamin also my other son Stuart may be coming so will get to see some of the children my other child is my daughter Donna wouldn't be that surprised if she makes it as well

Scarves & St Swithin's Day

Well I haven't posted much as had my DBIL here last week this is the one who had been in hospital & came out the week before.

I have been knitting a couple of scarves which will be for Christmas Gifts well do need to make a early start in fact if you look back on my earlier in the year posts you see that I started a gift stash I am doing little gifts that for the most part will be for Christmas but if I need a gift during the year I don't have to rush to get something done so that my tip do gifts in what ever crafts you do or a mix of them & then you are not stress over last minute gifts also you can build a stash for Christmas as we all do it we say Oh it soon be Christmas it come upon us so quickly as if they changed it we all know it on 25th December yet we all get caught out every year lol

Today is St Swithin's Day where it is said that if it rains today (15th) it will rain for 40 days & nights here is what I found on this old wives tale (Folklore)

St. Swithin's Day is 15 July, a day on which people watch the weather for tradition says that whatever the weather is like on St. Swithin's Day, it will continue so for the next forty days.
There is a weather-rhyme is well known throughout the British Isles since Elizabethan times. copied from projectbritain.com
'St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St. Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.'
dost = doesthou = itnae mair = no more.
Who was St. Swithin?
St. Swithin (or more properly, Swithun) was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester. He was born in the kingdom of Wessex and educated in its capital, Winchester. He was famous for charitable gifts and building churches.
Why do people watch the weather on St. Swithin's day?
A legend says that as the Bishop lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, where he would be trodden on and rained on. For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral on 15 July 971. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm either during the ceremony or on its anniversary.
This led to the old wives' tale (folklore) that if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather. copied from projectbritain.com
However, according to the Met Office, this old wives' tale is nothing other than a myth. It has been put to the test on 55 occasions*, when it has been wet on St Swithin's Day and 40 days of rain did not follow

So if this is true I guess we will be in for some bad weather, listening to our forecast we will be having showers some very heavy & winds for the next week or so not looking good for the children start of their Summer School Break as most places the children break up on Friday lets hope that we will have a nice summer rather than some we have had in the past which has been wet & colder than the expected weather for summer.

Irish Muses Blog Give-Away

Micki of Irish Muses Is having a Great Give-away to celebrate her 1st Anniversary of Blogging, the give away is on a Irish Theme so do go over & have a look & of course enter.
Micki is an American who now lives with her wonderful husband Joe who is Irish in Ireland she is a lovely lady & i am sure you will find that also so do go over to see her blog once visited you will keep going back also enter her Give-away

More GIve-Aways Site

Hi All, Here is More site that you can pop over to for a give-away & even follow I do find that once I visit these Blogs I tend to then follow them as they are great & this one is by a Man that is something you don't see very often so do go & look at his blog it is I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts & I hope he don't mind me saying not a bad looking guy (hope DH don't read this lol)

This is another Give-Away so do pop over to this one Sew Fun Quilts You can see it another great site

Quilts Finished

I have managed to finish the 2 quilts I had been working on the tops were done but now all finished ready to be given to my 2 Great Nieces I wanted to wait to I finished both as they are sisters didn't want one waiting you know what kids are like lol

The top Quilt I call Stepping out it has Victorian Shoes/boots & scent bottles & bags with a 4 patch also the other one is a Thimbleberries fabric quilt I used for the blocks FQs but for the 2nd colour, borders & sashing I used yardage that I have.

We have had some very hot weather in the last few days today it been raining so it is cooler outside but still hot inside & having to get the ironing board out to do some pressing on the last quilt didn't help, well not unless I have sweated some pounds off then I would really be happy lol
I am hoping to start on some small project items rather than larger ones such as quilts, do any of you find that you may need something but you are the last on the list, I could do with doing some placemats & have needed them for a while I do have bought glass ones but want some quilted one yet I still haven't got around to doing them so may be I will now lol
Well for all those who are celebrating Independence Day Happy 4th July I still think us Brits should get it as a holiday as well I mean you did get Independence's from us lol if your not celebrating it hope everyone still has a good week-end

New Month

Well it the 1st of July today less than half way to Christmas, most of us don't start thinking of Christmas until at least the summer is over & some until the shops start to plug it or if your really bad not until it upon us lol

Well I have started a scarf it nothing fancy I am letting the yarn do it for me it a soft yarn called Cuddles I have two different colours so will be doing 2 scarves one in each colour one is a Dusty Rose & the one I have started is a sort of Purple these are for presents, I have done 2 other scarves if you look way back in my earlier post in January I did one in a different yarn yes I had started to think about Christmas way back then lol

I had a bit of a problem with my eye the other day I think I had scratched it when either it was itchy or something went in it & I had started to rub it for the rest of that day & evening it played up it seems okay now but I hadn't done any sewing as I found the computer looking at it makes it water so sewing seeing the needle going up & down don't help so left sewing alone.

Our TV went wrong the other day, we had the quote & it being done & will be back this evening after 6 but since that has gone wrong we had to fetch the little TV in from the bedroom well we have saterlite which we have in our sitting room but also the signal goes to the bedroom well that for some reason has started to act up also the signal via the aerial not sure what happening we given up trying to sort it out this morning will try later may have to wait to the TV is back so we can have that up & running first.

As i said it is the 1st of July I thought I would share a Angel of the month with you so the picture is of the July Guardian Angel may you take her with you as you go on your way so have a great month everyone