Happy sewing.

Plenty action in this household over the past week and a half.  Our bedroom has been cleared - as much as we can really. Our bed is very heavy with a mattress that I can hardly lift to tuck the sheet around so it lives where it lives. But it's surroundings are due a freshen up - loud HOORAY!!! We picked up some  WALLPAPER in the sales, and himself has promised to paint the white bits and I have promised to wallpaper. I quite like it actually. I like to cut up the pieces and match up the patterns , are you laughing, I do indeed use my patchwork ruler and a rotary cutter that is now for paper, so it is a busman's holiday - maybe he got the short straw as ceilings and skirtings aren't much like newspapers...
Last week I completed block 3 and 4 of the civil war block of the week

I haven't photographed the 4th one yet, thought I had. I put a border of navy around my japanese blocks.

I kept holding other colours beside it, and in between the navy and the blocks but in the end I just put it on as is. I'm quite happy. The plan is to put a little something on the border once I have quilted it a bit. Maybe some japanese applique... where on earth it will go I don't know. Bit dark and large for a hanging and not big enough for the bed. I thought this might be though...

Although - I did think it would be a bit bigger. I'm using 2 Minnick 7 Simpson layer cakes that I have kept for a few years. I often have woken thinking about them. I love the colours so much. So it's becoming a Courthouse Steps quilt. So far I have got 30 blocks. I have cut 12 more centres, so that will give me 6x7. I have also kept back some strips to maybe get some flying geese for a border, but that's all pie-in-the-sky. We'll see. I like that about patchwork, the little path that can be unknown.

Little by little...

...I am getting closer to my machine again. In fact - I think it might be like going on holiday and coming home to your own bed. There's just something so nice about it and I'm get that vibe from the sewing machine. Thank heavens. I have had - in the past - a real January aversion to sewing. Fortunately not this year :-]
So I have been visiting blog land and found this Barbara Brackman Civil War Quilt Block-a-week. Every Saturday a new block appears. There will be 52 different blocks with a repeat of 4 to give 56 in total. I HOPE I can keep up and end up with lovely blocks at the end. The historical information on the blog is fascinating and makes the quilt even more "want-able", maybe I made that word up...

So far I have made NOs.1 and 2, No.3 is applique, and in keeping with the theme and feeling of the quilt, I will needle turn applique. No Bondaweb and machine buttonhole stitch here.
These are my favourite fabrics to use and there was a day when I would have been very snooty about anything different, but I do find I have mellowed over the years and am quite happy to go for a huge variety of brights, pastels, batiks... haven't quite got to the black and white path yet but who knows.

Last weeks Amy Butler £3 strips ended up giving me 16 blocks in the end. Well, that's absolutely fine, 4x4 is perfectly acceptable. So today sashed them with red.

I'm going to get some more Amy Butler or equivalent strong patterned blue for side borders, with lime-y green cornerstones, again sashed and bound in the red.

And lastly but by no means leastly - in fact - quite the opposite, my No2 D made pudding for her big sister on saturday (part of a guide badge), it was Chocolate Fondants. The kind of pudding that is cooked sponge on the outside but when you cut it gooey chocolate oozes out. It was delicious, esp. with caramel sauce and ice cream.

This week I have been ...

... walking on the beach

with Mr H and herself. The following day I had groin strain, due to the fact I have been a lazy so-and-so for the past few weeks and so running on the beach with the dog has done me both the world of good and no good at all! I can hardly find the power in my strained legs to lift them to cross. How embarrasing! So we did that, then the following day Mr H was off, and since next week my evening classes kick in I decided to make something really lovely for our tea as eating together will be back to aminimal event. Mr H is in editorial and is at work from midday to midnight, and when he has an evening off I am working... that's the way it is and occasionally the girls are upset by it but they are sort of used to it.

So what did I make...

Bouillabaisse! With a large glass of white and some homemade bread. It was so tasty, I can't tell you how nice it was. Best I've ever had - maybe, certainly I have eaten it by Loch Fyne and that was pretty good, and in France where it was indeed delicious. But my own was, well save blowing my own trumpet.. :-P Delicious.

Over the past few weeks I have not been in the sewing room much at all. Only to access the fridge that lives in there, or steal a bit of cake from the safety spot away from the dogs reach. So I made the effort to clear a little and switch on the machine.

My friends laughed at me when we were at The Festival of Quilts last summer, because one of my purchases was a bundle of irregular scrappy scraps... £3. Bargain I thought, one day when my room is very tidy I may take a few pictures - I have a LOT of fabric, I know people have big stashes, but I have bolts... bundles... rolls... so what was I doing buying someone else's scraps?? I know!!!

Anyway, I halved the strips and cut 10 1/2" squares of wadding and started laying/sewing the strips down, leaving raw edges. Once stitched I trimmed the squares to 10 1/4" - I got 18 squares for my £3. So I am quite chuffed. How long will it take me to join them all together with sashing... there's a question!

Finally finito...

Remember this bit of knitting well.... don't tell me there isn't a bag of UFO tucked down the side of your favourite spot in the house!! ?? Well today was the day I finished it.

HOO-RAY!! and it fits me. I didn't have a pattern per se, just a couple of pics. So I am very pleased with myself, final test will be when it has to be washed. On top of that, when I was looking back to see when I started it I thought it was Feb/Mar time, but it was only september, so that meant it didn't live by the chair long. Although :-/ if I'm honest, both sides were knitted up in a couple of days so really there is little excuse. See how the cuddle test goes when both Ds return from school. Bit of cashmere you see, and after Christmas I have a little extra packaging specially for cuddles.

Always a bit sad..

.. to put the decs away. Well not quite done at home yet. I find it slightly sad that so many people around my way put the decorations up soooo early then as soon as they've sobered up aft Hogmanay they are packing it all away. We wait unit twelfth night, not for huge religious reasons, it just seems right. AND it makes the house feel cold and empty.
Well, that would be true if I wasn't a clutter monster but you get my drift.
Anyway, thought I might show the quilt I made for my niece for Christmas, PATTERN HERE

and the cushion for her sister from Sew Pretty Homestyle

and.. here's my mothers quilt finished just before Christmas which she is very pleased with.

isn't it gorgeous!!!

(to add... on reading this back, I haven't made it clear that she made this herself)