FNSI

First 4 pinwheels, a photo by Manda (Quilty Moments) on Flickr.

(all from Rachel's Pinwheel Sampler QAL)

These are the result of my FNSI last night. They don't look like they took hours do they!
I have also got all my HST's sorted and trimmed for the next 3 blocks they just need sewing together.
I remembered what I had learnt from my zigzag quilt and did not use the 7/8 calcs for my HST's. Instead I did them 4" and trimmed down after sewing together. It may take longer but my blocks are much more accurate :)

I'm really pleased with these so far, can't decide if my favourite is the top right hand side one or the bottom left. Which is your favourite?

Soon everyone else will be posting there progress... go have a look!

May's FNSI

It is that time again....




I may make it a days sew in tomorrow... or at least afternoon/night we shall see how time goes!

Introducing Tilly ....

(as named by my mum, who said she looked like a Tilly. I like the name so I'll go with it lol!)

So yep, this is Tilly. She is a cheery little birdie and is probably in need of a few friends :)

Anyways... I joined the Brit Quilt Swap over on Flickr. This is my first swap so I've no idea what I am doing and am completely terrified that I won't manage to pull it off, however only time will tell! I have a few ideas for my partner something along the lines of Tilly being one of my favourites. But I had to see if I could actually do this first, hence Tilly. I've been wanting to try something like this for a while so I guess the swap has already been good in making me try something new! I've loved Kellie's work for a while and I used Leah's tutorial for the quilting. I'm sure it doesn't look quite like hers. I can't decide whether mine looks ok or just a total mess?! I'm out tomorrow so I will post this on flickr and see if I get any comments from my partner.. if they don't like it I might have problems lol! Fingers crossed.

On a different note I took an applique class today. It's the first class I've taken (See a week of sewing firsts!) and I really enjoyed it. I've not finished the table runner we started but I may do eventually and then I will take pics.

I've been blog hopping all over looking through bloggers quilt festival creations. Which is great but it does mean I am totally behind on all my normal blog reading.. so sorry but I am hoping to catch up. Eventually.

Now if only I could get my phone fixed and then this week could be on its way to being a little bit productive! :)

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I saw the last bloggers quilt festival but this is the first time I've joined in!

This quilt isn't a new quilt but I still love it.

I made this for my niece who will be one on Monday!

This quilt wasn't really planned. I'd bought the fabrics when out shopping at my LQS with half an idea of what I wanted to do with them. Then they got chucked in a plastic box and forgotten about for a few months. At this point I'd changed my mind about my original plan for them and wasn't as keen on them as I had been when buying them. What was I going to do with all this fabric? It stayed in the box for a little longer. Then, almost a year ago on a Sunday night just before I went to bed we got a phone call from my sister. She was at the hospital going into labour. I couldn't go to sleep! I couldn't concentrate on reading I needed something to keep my hands and mind busy while waiting for news!

I pulled the pink fabrics out figuring that it I ruined them or made any mistakes it wouldn't really matter. Just before midnight my sister phoned to say she had had a little girl. (They had chosen not to find out the sex, but I really really wanted her to be a girl!)

The sewing had gone well. The HSTs weren't a total disaster so I decided to carry on. The more I did the more I liked the fabrics again.

Although my niece had already had a little quilt I decided this was destined for their little family. Something for all 3 of them to snuggle under and read books!

Close up these fabrics are really cute. My favourite is little pink birdie fabrics!

I really like that I've made something I really like out of fabrics I was only so so about!

And finally if you've managed to read all that well done (I do tend to waffle on sometimes!!)

Thanks for coming and looking at my quilt! Go all the other festival quilts!

Lily's Quilts QAL - Inner circle pieced!

Forgive the terrible pictures, dusk and camera phone (along with a complete lack of photographers ability!) is not a fantastic combination for getting good photos!

I know, I know I am way behind with this QAL (and I'm only doing one block!). The dresden leaves have been pieced for a while, but the next step, the curved piecing sounded sort of difficult. Having never done anything similar before I found it difficult to really visualise how it would work. So I did what any normal sane person would do.... procrastinated! (love that word :-)) I put it in a box and decided to finish my pillow instead. Which to be fair I had ignored for long enough!

I was pleased to find that although awkward piecing the inner circle was not impossible. I managed to get it done in a lot less time than I expected thanks to Lynne's fabulous instructions! There was a little unpicking required to get rid of a pucker, but I thought that only one was quite good going!

It doesn't quite lie flat, but I am hoping that the rest of the piecing and quilting will sort that out!

I am very glad I finally jumped in and got on with it!