furoshiki discovery

Wow, another lovely finding for me with my late night surfing
I was looking for a nice lunchbox ( poor choice in UK) and came across wonderful bento ranges, and accompanying furoshiki wraps
great!, can absorb any little leaks and also be your napkin,  I love them...
made my first tonight from a lovely fat quarter I was given at Christmas

note the dusty unread NLP book.....

now tie and knot 2 opposite ends

and then tuck in fabric and knot the other ends

a little bundle ready to go, hey

Heart mad

finished a heart garland with my daughter yesterday
took most of the day; but still preferable to her slouching in front of TV all day whilst I moan! She's 13 in January and she's read the book on how to be a teen.  I myself subscribe to 
 ' Over Anxious Mother ' magazine as read by Marge on the Simpsons


lots of arguing, but it was lovely to do something with her


she stuck to stuffing and me to sewing in the end

tonight just made an extra heart for my sister Katharine who we  are looking forwards to seeing tomorrow; something very nice about a stuffed decoration, just want to reach out and squidge it!

christmas quilt done at last

Phew!
This quilt was beginning to take over my flat
I have beaten it into submission and  bound it tonight

wholecloth flannel quilt

Just took delivery of some lovely flannels from fabric.com that I had planned to make some small cuddly quilts for the winter.
This quilt is simply made from two 2 yard pieces of  flannel with warm and natural batting
The design is michael miller play dot sea, I'm into pale blues and browns at the moment.
Backing is a snowflake print  cream flannel.The flannel, although lovely and soft, is easily damaged ( as I found when removing my microtacks) so I bordered with a normal cotton overlaid with a silver print for a bit more strength.

Christmas mats 1+2

Used all my kate spain flurry scraps now
quilted the left hand one with loose vermicelli pattern. On the right I used close quilting with some embroidery stitches on my machine I haven't used before (  most of them ! ) I love the feel of close quilting ; these little mats are a fun way of trying out new techniques and stitches , and having something useful at the end.
I think they will go to mum  to use for her flower vases.

Hope all your christmas projects are going well?

guy fawkes competition

Just won 3 lovely quilting books for  the school of stitched textiles  guy fawkes  challenge

hurray!


Also had a lovely meal at jamie oliver's new italian restaurant in bluewater; best ever olives, tapenade and music bread.......chicken liver tortellini in sage and butter........cherry, salted caramel and strawberry cream ice creams with honey comb topping........all a bargain as 50% off as it was a training evening, and they did well.

christmas quilt number 2

This one is for me
getting the borders on now to make it large enough for  bed
found some volcanic looking red blender in my stash
reckon another 2 inch patterned border, then some more red blender should do it
better leave it alone now as its late and there's a baby sleeping next door....better not  let the Pfaff pound on into the night!