Ups, Downs, And More Love

My sewing machine has been hot this week, but little to show, sad :-(  But this sun is ever shining this time in the form of another three doll quilts from the lovely Wendy who lives by the river.  Wendy doesn't blog so I am sharing for her anyway and linking them to Bernie's Wrap Up page.  Want to see them?

How cute is this?  Wendy added a border of lace which sets it off beautifully, definitely a girls quilt.

I love the scrappy border on this one, Wendy made it with leftover strips from her Gypsy Wife quilt, yes she has finished hers completely and no I haven't started making the back for mine yet!

Or maybe Liberty is your preference, what little girl wouldn't like this, and a lot of big girls too.
I know Wendy always reads my posts, even though she has never managed to leave a comment yet, she is definitely not techie, but if you would like to comment on them I know she will be thrilled to read them.

There has been so many quilters who have joined in it has been truly inspirational.  However, once the supply runs out there will still be a need for more so if you wanted to join in but cannot at this time don't think your chance is over, they will always be welcome.

I have been working on my Postcards From Sweden quilt and today is the first link up with Musings of a Menopausal Melon (Mmm Quilts) quilt along, so without further ado here is my progress.

No, I admit there isn't a lot, out of the 36 fabrics to be cut into the required number of triangles I cut seven, but it is a start and there is always next week to try and catch up a bit, hopefully.  Actually I cut another one which seems to have temporarily disappeared, at this stage every little helps!

I didn't have as much sewing time this week, Jack fell and was admitted to hospital.  He is ok, a scrape on his back which is sore, but it turned out to be a lucky fall as they found he has a chest infection and caught it early.  He is now home and getting on with his everyday life.  He plays the piano and organ beautifully, he has an electronic one.  He once played a piece of music he made up out of his head and linked the piano to his computer ( yes he is almost 91, amazing isn't he), he has a programme which printed out a musical score of what he played.  Unfortunately he couldn't play it again from the score, he said it was too difficult for him!   Jack also likes to spend time surfing with his iPad and has requested I get him a new mobile, an iPhone.  Not bad for almost 91 is it?

I did make,

a cross block for Ann as Queen Bee in Bee Inspired this week, you can find her tutorial on Ann's blog Brown Paws Quilting.  The cross was made using a base of calico stitch and flip and I raided my scrap bin and chose lots of my favourite fabrics.  It's a bit brighter than it looks here though with a white Bella solid background.

I want to link to One Monthly Goal this week, I linked in January then events overtook me and I didn't link at the end, even though I had hit my goal.  I didn't link beginning of February for the same reasons, and I hit the goal I would have made with Circles.  This month I HAVE to hit it.

It's my secret sewing quilt.  This is your biggest clue so far and as big as they will get!   I am way behind and now I have had to order thread.  I hope it come quickly I am stuck and starting to panic I can't show you any more than this, three more weeks to wait.

I can show you the new fabrics that came through the post though.

Kona solids for the second signature quilt the panel of which will be on the back.   The signature fabric is the silver one.   This is for my wonderful son Chris and his beautiful bride to be Sarah.   Sarah is very 'arty', she is a teacher (Deputy Head) who has a degree in fine art and is is interested in colour and the quilt design, so with a little guidance and much searching of Pinterest she has designed her own quilt as regard to size, blocks and colours.  I gave her my Kona colour chart and left her to it.  She is leaving the colour placement to me but I will consult her on it.  It is such a pleasure to work with her, I am so very happy with my sons choice of bride.  I have been asked to do the reading at the wedding too (silent scream), as this one is a civil ceremony as opposed to a religious one no mention of religion is allowed and as they want it to be a day of light and happiness I have chosen a humorous reading.  They know it is humorous but they don't know what it is, it will be a surprise hehe!  Hope they like it!

Want to see the view from my window today?

View from my bedroom window upstairs.

Look how it has drifted at the back door.

Nothing stops my girls though, they love it only the snow melts on to their fur and takes some shifting, only heat will get it off.

The back garden has drifts too, and as I write this it is coming down full force again.

The Beast from the East as the media is calling it.  We never get snow like this at this time of year, it is affecting the east side of Scotland and northern England as well as the south east and is expected to hit the south west tomorrow.  I woke up to a white out, we had several inches over yesterday and overnight with another four to six inches expected today and more tomorrow.   Schools are closed as are some roads.  People are being told not to travel if it is necessary and apparently there are abandoned cars on the roads with a fair few accidents already.   It's crazy, there was an earthquake on the west side this morning too, yes really, we do get them occasionally in the UK although thankfully they are relatively small, this one was measured 3.2 on the Richter Scale.
Thank goodness I went food shopping on Monday and I know Jack and my parents have plenty of food and people around them too as we live nearly twenty miles away.

The bad news?  I may not get to Higham Hall for my embroidery retreat on Friday, gutted I am.  It's not only that I can't go but as it is on the west of the country there is no chance it will be cancelled and I will loose my money, almost £250 and I didn't take out the insurance.  I'm nearly in tears at the thought.  As I don't work now I have to choose carefully what I spend my money on, we don't go on many holidays and my weekend retreat was carefully budgeted for, sad!  However, if it isn't as bad as expected and maybe clears up a little then my husband may be able to take my friend and I across in his 4x4 and her husband will collect us.  I have everything crossed, wish us luck in getting there.

This is what I will hopefully be working on.  This small project just needs to be finished and wings aded to the ladybird, it was supposed to be a spider but I don't like spiders.

I would really like to get this one finished I've been on with it for ages.  it would help if I worked on it at home but quilting always seems to take over.

Lastly I have chosen another UFO to work on, my target for the year was to finish three UFO's and not add to them.

My modern sampler blocks.  I don't know how many of these I will need as I haven't decided on the layout yet but as they are only six inches it will be a fair few.  I started this last year and it was meant as a longer term project I could take to my sewing group but as I am finding it heavy to carry the machine and all the equipment I need it came to a stop.  I need a new project to take but I don't know what, maybe appliqué, needle turn to keep up with my skills, I need a think in that one.

So that is all for today, maybe I will get some more triangles cut or sampler blocks made as I can't quilt my secret project, or maybe I will let my conscience dictate and catch up on the ironing.  One thing is sure, my husband who is working from home today will stop me fifty million times for tea, questions, and to show me some stupid video of Facebook of a cute animal.  Does your partner do that?

Until next time,
With smiles from
Kate x

Also linking with:
Midweek Makers
Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
What a Hoot Quilts hosting for TGIFF