SUPER-Silly Me!

So I decided to be smart,

but actually I was super-silly!

I decided to take a perfectly good

(if not excellent) Bonnie Hunter pattern

and super-size it....

To be fair to me, super-sizing meant that I could make 

'Jared Takes A Wife' 

with the 3.5 inch strips that I already had cut out

(for something else.)

And I would only need 12 blocks to make a large bed-size quilt....

However, the blocks are enormous!!

If you quilt, you probably have one of those nice long rulers...

those rulers measure 24 inches!!! 

I needed basting strips 3.5 inches wide

by 24.5 inches long!!!

Super-silly!!!

Anyhow, I made do and am quite happy with the final result.

Now an outer border and to quilt it....

Miss-Kalico didn't like me climbing over the fence

to take my photos

and almost made it over to see me....

... but only almost!

Getting 'On' With Things...

'On' the Longarm...

My Purple&Green Ocean blocks

being quilted with feathers...

Finally... a quilt and some of my threads...

 'on' the wall

I bought this quilt as an unfinished top

a few years back when I visited Birgit in Germany:

I brought it home and finished it

with hand quilting

and a 'Cheater's binding'

and it's finally been hung up.

Birgit, can you remember who made it???

An old 'printer's tray'

works well for those odd threads...

I see a design wall here, 

but I just need to convince DH!

And finally...

'on' the ironing board.

A new cover and a bigger board 

for ironing quilts and backings

Now to get 'on' with some housework!

Dancing the Night Away

I have several projects on the slow boil

and a quilt on the Longarm waiting for attention,

but I find myself so easily distracted 

by small and relatively quick projects 

using blocks and orphans in my stash.

I noticed Bonnie Hunter had a wonderful free pattern 

for Dancing Nine-patches.

In my 2 inch strip box, I had some orphan braid strips

given to me by a lovely fellow quilter.

(Thanks Chris!)

So....

I chopped the strips up into 8" blocks 

(that meant I could just get 16 blocks!

Well, 16 with a one joined.)

And set them using Bonnie's dancing block method:

Now for borders, when I'm not distracted again...

I did however, put borders on this one....

I think border inspiration came 

from the Criss Cross Applesauce pattern

(again Bonnie).

I really must try and crack on with some old UFOs now

and stop making new ones!!

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or is it? :)

Twice now I've tried to make

 a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte 

(Black Forest Cake), 

twice I have failed on presentation, 

(although taste seems ok...)

This was my second attempt.

I had watched a few videos on You-tube 

and some were more entertaining than others :)

There was one 'For Children' (i.e. no alcohol),

One which was a German comedy sketch where the interviewer got drunk,

and one by an American lady 

who showed how to make the batter as in my recipe.

So I tried again and this time it came out of the oven beautifully...

as it cooled, however, it went rather flat.

So yet again, my cake is only 2 layers high...

Never mind, if it tastes as good as my first attempt (below)

I am sure I will be forgiven! :)

Wordless Wednesday - New Bag for Going to Nursery!

School Holiday Sewing Slump

The title of this post doesn't sound great,

but school holidays generally, with 3 children,

mean that I get very little sewing (and housework) done.

And it's true!

the days are filled with kid stuff

and the occasional treat

which tends to be seriously hard work,

but hopefully full of memories...

like a tour of the Manchester United Stadium...

On the 'slumpy' sewing front...

I have managed to get borders 

on my purple Oceans quilt

and I have pieced a backing for this quilt too.

A purple one!

I have put together 3 new kids/baby quilts

as I am all out of baby quilts at the moment

Hopefully, there won't be another baby boom 

among friends too soon :)

While keeping my Mother company in the evenings

I have cut loads more Applesauce blocks

and there are now about 80-90 of them

in various stages...

Here are a few of the latest finished ones....

I've started keeping them in groups of ten 

and putting them away when done

so as not to lose them...

And I am hand appliqueing some felt on a bag

for Miss Kalico...

More to show on this when it's done...

Looking at all this, it may not look particularly 'slumpy',

but it certainly feels like it to me!

Two Finishes & The Village Show

Maybe the heading should read:

2 Finishes in time for the Village Show!

I quilted and bound my House Wall hanging!

I started

and finished a doll for Miss Kalico

from a pattern kindly given to me 

by Patti (Thank you Patti!)

I entered 6 items in the show

2 bags, 2 soft toys

and 2 in the needlework section

You can see 4 of my entries in the picture below:

And here is my house wall hanging at the show:

Here are my son's 'Rock cakes'

And here are our dust collectors trophies:

My eldest son won a trophy 

for the most points in the children's section

and I won a trophy 

for the most points in the Handicraft section.

But the best prize?

Being able to buy some of the 'exotic' 

and wild flowers displayed at the show!:

Now that the show is over,

I need to get back to quilting

and get something on the longarm

so I have been putting borders on my

Purple Oceans quilt.

Now to piece the backing!!

Scrappy Trips Around... The Farm

I didn't even realise it was August!

This Scrappy Trip top was quilted and bound

and finished in July!!

An old tractor on the farm

served as photo inspiration for the finished quilt...

You can find Bonnie Hunter's pattern

for your own Scrappy Trips quilt here:

 http://quiltville.blogspot.co.uk/2005/06/scrappy-trips-around-world.html

Happy Tripping...