Quilts Galore!!

 Another Tuesday and I am feeling very pleased with myself.  It IS going to be the year of the "home-made" and I am now getting on with lots of unfinished projects!
I am just showing off as for the past few months I have not had much to show and have been put to shame by the rest of the Tuesday Girls!

 Today Alison & Caroline were unable to be with us but we had a visitor - a fellow Guildford quilter, another Janet.
She has used her mother's old skirts, mohair & velvet, to make an interesting quilt - "Through the Garden Gate".  It will be decorated with buttons, to form strands of wisteria.

                                                   We have new neighbours who have a young daughter.  I have cleaned up one of my old dolls and made some bedding for the doll's cot.

It is birthday season in my family.  This is for my soon to be five god-daughter.  It is a piece of fabric I was given in the past, saved for a good purpose.

 A sample in the local quilt shop, Needle & Thread, in Horsell, inspired this one,  It is made out of a charm pack that I had sitting on its own with no label.  If anyone knows what the fabrics are, please let me know as we were not sure.  It is probably Moda & I have had it quite a while!

Janet has now sewn all her birdhouse blocks together.  We looked at various fabrics for the borders as Janet wanted some advice. I expect it will be finished by next week - watch the blog!!

Another Janet project.  Pandora's Box from the first jelly roll book from the Quilt Room.
The fabric is vintage trouble.
Love the colours, a homely quilt for those winter evenings.

I did a Jane Attwood class at Needle & Thread on Saturday & managed to produce these two miniature landscapes - Autumn & Spring.
I have enough fabric to do a summer & winter as well, so watch this space.
Obviously they need embellishment, which will be a good hand quilting project for the coming weeks.

Another project to finish.  I am quilting this London Quilt for my niece who is 14 tomorrow.
Her bedroom is London themed, so it will fit in quite nicely.  I have used "London Bricks" which are sized 8 1/2" x 4".

Chris was also quilting her London Quilt,  made with the same fabrics, but using the tiny turning twenty method.

My son's girlfriend is going to Moldova in June, after graduating from Bournemouth Uni.  She will be working with special needs children under five, in an orphanage.  The children need a quilt to sit on when they are out & about, so some of my Guildford quilting friends & the Tuesday girls donated 2 1/2" strips & we sewed them together for this quilt top.  I love the bright colours & hope it will be a success with the children in Moldova!


Here's to another week of finishing all those UFO's!!

Is Spring on it's way?

Such a beautiful day - made me wonder of Spring could be on it's way? I hope so!

I had to be home all day for the various workmen required to install a new cooker so the girls all came here. I hadn't thought about the lack of electricity so it was a sandwich lunch! Thankfully the electrician gave me chance to boil the kettle at regular intervals so we were still able to manage copious amount of tea!


 I have been sewing together 2 1/2" scrap strips as a leaders and enders project which is now in danger of becoming a project in it's own right! I think there will need to be some rearrangement of the blocks when all are sewn but you get an idea of how the finished quilt may look.




Amanda  was preparing the third block of her BOM project from Patchwork Cabin. The blocks are big and beautiful, fabulous colours. She spent today preparing all the components of a block and laid it out for us to see what it will be like when sewn. 



Caroline had a cross stitch project. We have all done cross stitch but I had to admire the neatness of Caroline's stitching - not sure my eyesight is up to the challenge these days. You can see in the picture how fine the work is...

Yesterday Caroline had been preparing a UFO for it's borders. We are hoping to meet later in the week to get a few quilt tops sandwiched and pinned in readiness for quilting

    This black and white top is Caroline's. I love the contrast between the fabrics

Janet has been a very busy bee and has almost completed 2 beautiful tops with fabric from a friend who is now too poorly to quilt. Both these quilts will be donated to Charity. Both feature flying geese and we discussed the possibility of a future class using 'geese'! The quilt to the right (Janet's design) has some beautiful quilting so today Janet was tying off and sewing in thread ends

This is an Open Gate pattern by Monique Dillard

 
The quilts above are both nearing completion. The smaller of the two was pieced by the aforementioned friend. The one on the right is Janet's. She has been very busy!

We missed Alison today who is helping her mother to move. We hope the move goes well

Two Today

A dull damp cold day in Surrey.  A quick trip to Horsell to pick up Amanda, as she had no transport today.  Alison, Caroline and Chris had other things to do today, so it would be just Amanda and I.

As usual we started off the a cup of tea and cake, today it was a Pineapple and Coconut Loaf, it was made using a Weight Watchers recipe from the book 35 years of Weight Watchers Favourite Recipes.

  Amanda was cutting blocks from the London range from Makower, these blocks are the size of the London bricks 8 1/2" x 4 1/2". 

I was making the backing and binding for a quilt using Lee's fabric. Since last week I have added another border.

Lunch was vegetable soup and fruit.

After lunch Amanda laid out the blocks that she had cut.

We also laid out the Birdhouse blocks to have another look on how to put them together.

Pineapple and Coconut Loaf

175g (6 oz) Self-Raising Four

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

50g (1 3/4 oz) Low Fat Spread ( I only butter)

50g (1 3/4 oz) Caster Sugar

225g (8 oz) Canned Pineapple Pieces in Natural Juices

2 Eggs Beaten

25g (1 oz) Desiccated Coconut

Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 2/150C/Fan Oven130C

Line a one pound loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Sieve the flour and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the low fat spread and rub in, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, Stir in the sugar,

Drain the pineapple and reserving one tablespoon of juice.

Add the eggs and the reserved pineapple juice into the flour mix to make a dropping consistency. ( I found I needed more than one tablespoon of the juice).

Fold in the pineapple and coconut.

Spoon the mixture in the loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until risen and firm to touch.

Leave for five minutes before turning our and cooling in a wire rack.  

I hope you enjoy the loaf .

All Girls Together Again!

 Another week has come around again!


Tuesday puppy has a friend!  INTRODUCING  Rupert, Chris's latest addition. A delightful & very well behaved working cocker spaniel whose owners were unable to cope.

 Not so sure Tuesday cat,  Archie, was that impressed!  He preferred the safety of the top of the
sofa where a staring contest ensued.

Not sure who gave in first but a rather interested Rupert gave his first bark & Archie made for the cat flap!!

 Tea & cake got underway.  We are all trying to be good, so small banana & choc chip muffins & tea bread without fat or flour, from Alison.

This week we had plenty of show & tell.  Alison has completed a lovely baby quilt in pinks.  Love the elephants. Backing fabric was purchased separately but goes perfectly.

 Also, Alison was finishing the binding on one of three "London" turning twenty quilts, using some new & very easy to use "Wonder Clips" by Clover.   Note the matching tin - just the right size for storing said clips!

 Janet was also finishing a binding on a quilt using fabric from a friend who is no longer able to quilt.

Chris has at last finished the borders for her block of the month from a few years ago.  She is not doing the appliqué but is going to have it custom quilted when all is put together.

Another binding, also using clips!!  Finishing off a quilt from last week, quilted by Yvette at Needle & Thread in Horsell.

Another small quilt using fabrics from the stash of Janet's friend.  Flying geese made using a new easy goose ruler.  Janet says it is easy to use and very accurate.

Another project for Janet.  This is a Thimbleberries block of the month done by Village Quilters pre 2007, called "Birdhouses".  This is only half but Janet is determined to make these existing blocks into a smaller quilt.

Caroline was laying out some of her blocks made with bali pops at a jelly roll/2.5" strip class at Needle & Thread.  She has many more strips so is looking at adding at least another row.






I have not done any sewing due to illness, today being no exception!!  Just tea, cakes & a lunch of pasta, salmon & prawns, with salad & fresh fruit - how healthy!!  Will have to get my skates on so I have something to show next week!!  Don't hold your breath!!!!