New Year update

I'm a failed blogger! Just lost all enthusiasm for posting, lots happening in my life, but nothing worth writing about, so I lapsed.

My motto for right now is "What's the worst that could happen?" and regarding blogging, nothing worse than spending a few minutes a week typing and loading photos on here....so no excuse for not blogging. I've also lapsed from doing much quilting and knitting, so to aid my motivation in that direction I've signed up for the latest Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, which I''ve been making good progress on.

Of course thinking about that particular WIP turns my mind to other WIPs  and UFOs. This is going to be my first blogging task of the New Year: to hunt out and list all unfinished projects...I could be gone some time!

Family hunting and a quilt shop.

Friday saw us all heading to Wiltshire to look for some of Michael's ancestors. They lived and died in Heytesbury and Knook, which turned out to be very small farming towns just outside Warminster. From entries in the visitors' book in Knook Church, the whole village is a single address. After meeting up with a friend for lunch, we had a flying trip to a lovely yarn shop where I treated myself to a ball of sock wool...can't get enough of these. I seem hooked on knitting socks, small enough to not get bored, but enough work to be a challenge.

On the way back home we stopped at midsomer quilting where I needed something suitable for the outer borders of a Japanese taupes quilt I'm making. Naturally the first bolt I selected was nearly £11...still got the champagne tastes on a beer buget! Eventually settled on the dark fabric on the right of this selection. The others just jumped into my basket. Not doing a lot for my stash busting am I?

Earlier this week, we decided that Hannah's bedroom needed to be redecorated. It's not been done since she was born, and she'd made a horrible mess of it. It's now looking pretty stunning in shades of pink, with white furniture. I'm making cushions for on her bed and after buying some fuschia pink with diamantes on, I thought we could dye some of our own (and stash bust a little at the same time!) She settled on Magenta with Mauve sploshes, and we tried adding salt crystals to the final fabric as it dried, to see the effect.

This is it as it's drying, before being washed. The Mauve has turned out more deep purple than we liked, but the salt had concentrated the dye into little specks of more intense colour. Just need to make it into a cushion cover now!

Show's Over Folks.....

After a lot of hard work by lots of people, we finally had the Plym Piecemakers' Show this weekend. Not sure of final figures, but I know we raised more than we could have hoped for. P and D were masterful on the sales table...nothing was priced, and people were asked to "make an offer"...while being reminded of the charity we were suppoorting. Fabulous tactics ;-)

After nearly 7 hours to set up and 6 on each day the show was open, I'm exhausted, but thrilled that it all seemed to go smoothly. Hopefully, everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, and will respond to suggestions of doing another in 2 years.

So for now, I'm having a couple of days off sewing, but thinking of the new pieces I can make...lots of inspiration from the 9 magazines I bought....It's OK, I donated about 30. I also treated the kitchen to a cafetiere cosy. Slightly too big for ours, but I can make one to fit....and it'll make a great gift along with a bag of good coffee and help me along in my mission to stash bust as well!

Next on the horizon is a trip to Torquay next Monday with my sister for a girly day out. We're planning to visit Sewing the Seeds and treat ourselves to afternoon tea. Possibly not so good for either stash busting or weight busting!

Show quilting

I can't believe that the Show is now only 2 weeks away. It's being held at Yealmpton Resource Centre, Stray Park, Yealmpton PL8 2HF, and anyone who happens to be in the area on Friday 30th or Saturday 31st July is more than welcome to come along an see us. We're open 10-4 on both days, entrance is £1, and once costs have been covered, we'll be making a donation to Devon Air Ambulance.

Entry forms were duly sent to all our members, with a return by date of 20th June...by which time, I was looking at having to sew 24/7 to make sure there would be something to exhibit. Luckily, more forms arrived and we've now got more than 100 entries. I'll be showing 4 quilts, a table runner and a cushion. Most of them have been featured on here, so here's a quick re-cap:

Japanese Glass

Chocolate Box

Chocolate Limes

Autumn Table Runner

Carp Cushion

I Spy Pirates

This last one is a work on progress for friends who are expecting their first baby in the New Year. They both do triathlons for the Pirate Ship of Fools triathlon team, so I'm planning to FMQ lots of I Spy charm Tacks in the quilt, but I have to draw a skull & cross bones to include as well.

As well as working on pieces for the Show, I've been sewing like a wild thing on other pieces. I've taken the plunge and am trying to sell some of my quilts...the machine really needs to pay for itself, and making curtains and soft furnishings for people isn't as stimulating as quilting!

I've added corner squares to a pack of Japanese charms I bought from Susan Briscoe a couple of years ago, and I'm planning to trim them to make snowball blocks, then assemble them into a 9x11 grid, add a couple of borders and quilt in a sashiko style.

I made a summery tessellated top last year (could be the year before...) and this weekend I've added the final border to it:

Someone's asked me for a quilt, so I'll offer it to her first once it's finished.

My Japanese taupes quilt also has a new home lined up for it. I just need to make another set of blocks using a second jelly roll, jumble them between the two sets, border, layer and quilt it. I'm thinking squares in a stone variegated thread. Lesson leanred from working on Japanese Glass: buy two reels of thread. I ran out with about 18" square left to quilt, at 2130 last Tuesday. Luckily, I was able to order another reel from Barnyarns.com, which came on Thursday, so no real break from working on it.

Ack, can't find photos of the other 3 pieces on either computer, and camera batteries are dead, so I'll have to update that bit later.

Been busy

So it seems that since the good news about the results, my quilting mojo has returned. I've been to 3 quilt shows in the last few weeks, and been so inspired, I'm using my EQ6 more than I've done for a long time, trying to get designs out of my head and onto the design wall.

By far the biggest of the shows was Malvern. Had to be at Tavistock for 7:30 to get the coach up, and eventually arrived back home close to 10pm. I really liked this show, more than Birmingham I think. It was closer for startes, and therfore less tiring to get to. The quilts were just as good as Birmingham, but fewer (whisper it) pretentious ones. More pieces that actually looked like a wall hanging or bed quilt, rather than pure art.



This was one of my favourites. The maker has fussy cut flowers and butterflies out of the fabric then appliqued them to the central section. Many of the butterflies looked like they'd been bonded to other fabric and were 3-D. I didn't buy a catalogue, so can't credit the maker here.

I bought fabric, but the best bit was I was given some money to spend on behalf of the group. I decided that no matter what I bought, someone would complain about it, so I might as well please myself! I settled on a Jelly Roll book, a couple of stencils, a whole pile of Fabrications magazines and a Patsy Thompson DVD.

Our own quilt show is around 8 weeks away, so I visited 2 local shows as well. Picked up some good ideas for next time, but possibly not enough time to do this time. One of the shows had a section of jelly roll quilts that they'd made in a sew-in. I like this idea a lot...maybe something to consider in winter.



On Tuesday I'm supposed to be leading the group in scrap quilt strategies. I've asked them to bring in their favourite scrappy techniques, and I've prepared some samples, as well as found some scrap books and I'll take a couple of quilts in to illustrate what I'm talking about. The other thing I want to do is drum up volunteers for the show, stewarding and refreshments, and tie down details of insurance and finalise a trader.

Great News!!

Can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I tend to hide myself away when I'm not up to being social, so the blogging goes into hibernation for a while. Anyway, the good news is at the moment, I'm officially cancer free.

Of the 56 lymph nodes removed, only 1 had cancer. My thyroglobulin which had been 10 then 12 is now 0.5. Because of the test sensitivity, this is basically 0. I've increased my thyroxine, and need to have more TFTs in July, then Tg in August and November.

Both the surgeon and physician seemed pleased with the results. After the last 2 years, I can't get over the feelings of relief. The photo is 2 months post op.

Thank you to everyone who's read my blog and posted supportive messages, and those who've read and not posted but shared postivie thoughts with me.

I know, I know!

Rather longer break from blogging than I intended. I've had my neck surgery, so haven't been up to either quilting or writing in the last few weeks. Some photos:



This is 11 days post op. I'm having my follow up from the surgeon next Tuesday. Positive thoughts only allowed, but I still have the occasional wibble. Because of the nerve positions, I've not got full movement in my shoulder, so quilting has been out of the question, as has hand sewing because I'm right handed and the "up and out" movement of pulling a thread through is too painful. So, I've been knitting instead.