Happy New Year!

I have been trying to get round to posting for the last few days but never seemed to get there. It is a funny time of year between Christmas and New Year, I have been socialising, watching movies, eating chocolate and drinking wine, pastimes I don't do of much of these days! If you need a funny movie to cheer you up in this post Christmas gloom I can recommend 'The Hangover'. I have done some sewing - more about that later.

The main purpose of this post is to wish a Happy New Year to everyone who visits this blog. Hello to Nia in Australia - I keep thinking about you in the sunshine as we freeze here in the uk! Hello to Mary - it was lovely to hear from you and I am so glad you keep checking up on me on my blog! Hello to all my fellow City & Guilds students - hope you had a good break from college work over the holidays - I know I did. And hello to everyone else reading this - I do appreciate your visits.

As for the snow - we did have a White Christmas - more of a cold icy one actually - no snow on Christmas day but quite a heavy burst on Christmas Eve. Probably only about 4 inches deep at any time but that is enough to cause quite a lot of disruption here in the uk! There is more snow forecast but it may not ever arrive. However the weather is extremely COLD which just makes you want to stay inside and QUILT!

So onto the sewing. At College in December we did loads of dyeing techniques, the results of which I will show soon. One of them was 'over dyeing' which I have been wanting to try for a while. I bought some striped fabric for £1 per yard to have a go with.
These are the results.


This is the original fabric - it is 100% cotton but it is a bit thinner than proper quilting cotton and has some open weave areas as part of the pattern which has made it quite challenging to sew with.

I have been wanting to work with stripes after seeing the quilt Kaffe Fassett did where he made striped fabric into squares. So when I was in America, Indiana to be precise, I bought this ruler which I have been using to cut the triangles to make the squares.

In case you were in doubt about how much cheaper quilting equipment is in America here is a photo of the receipt I found in the bag! It is actually for another ruler but you get the idea!

I have been playing with this striped fabric over the Christmas holidays and have learnt a lot about what works and what doesn't. I have nearly put together a small quilt top and am now working on another using all the reject blocks and leftovers. Photos to follow soon.

Snowed in! Dreaming of a white Christmas?

We live in Yorkshire, in the North of England and to be honest it hardly ever snows these days. We have had White Christmases in the past but probably 20+ years ago. If it does snow it is usually in February. We have been having very cold weather lately and today it is snowing heavily. To be honest we are not really set up for snow in this country - we only just made it back home after a trip to the supermarket. We do live on a hill but really my little Fiat Panda was not happy. So now I will spend the rest of the afternoon sewing, keeping warm and hoping that Jonathan is not working tonight as he left his wellies in the mud at Leeds Festival in August and the only shoes he has without holes are the Nike trainers I have bought him for Christmas which cost £70!

Anyway the main subject of this post is my new Christmas wallhanging which I made a few weeks ago from Cheryl Goss's design. She trades as Willowberry designs and this stitchery pattern was a freebie on her blog which you can find here.


It is only about 14 inches square but was very quick and enjoyable to stitch. She made hers into a bag but I decided a wallhanging was best for me.

Here are my snowy pictures - the top one was taken in a brief interlude and the bottom one was during the blizzard, which is still in full progress now as I write.
This is the view into my back garden.

And here is a close up of my wallhanging. I used some Debbie Mumm fabric for the squares and borders.

More Christmas Quilted Items.

I made two sets of coasters this year as hostess gifts.

I was quite pleased with the outcome - even though my SIL refused to let anyone use them as she said they were too nice to use. I am hoping that I will make more Christmas items next year as this is the first year for ages that I actually managed to make any.

Finally a family photo taken on Boxing Day of my MIL with 4 of her 5 grandchildren. My Boys are the two on the left!

Christmas!

Things have been busy here and today is the first day I have had chance to catch up with my blog reading and posting.
The first photo shows the dining room after its mega tidy! Usually this corner is piled high with fabric, quilts and works in progress. My main pressie can be seen on the top of the display cabinet - a wireless printer - DH has only just got it to work wirelessly as I am writing this. I am hoping that it will be very useful for my City & Guilds course. The tree, as every year, is decorated with my collection of TY teenie beanies. I was a big collector of these a few years ago!

This little cat tape measure is one of my favourite pressies!

And of course I got some new books!

I hope to improve my FMQ in 2009!

Saw this one at the FOQ in August - lovely folk art designs. I have just started to cut out a bag from a pattern in here using some Cath Kidston fabric and some recycled fabric.

And finally the book I have wanted for a while - still studying it but hope to do some practice blocks soon.

Hope Santa was good to you all!