Frogs and turtles

I have been thinking of showing some of my finished projects as a break from all the WIP pictures I have been posting lately, and here is my first "show and tell". I was reading Su Bee's blog the other day, and noticed she had posted a picture of a frog quilt. I have made a quilt with frogs on it. My friend turned 30 last year, and a couple of months before her birthday she found an ad for the "Over by the pond" pattern by Erin Wilcox in a quilting magazine that was laying on my bathroom floor (yes, I read in the bathroom - mostly cartoons and quilting books and magazines... weird? I know!). She came out with the magazine in her hand, looking at me and just said: "You know I have a birthday coming up?". So I took the hint, ordered the pattern, and started stitching - this is how it turned out:



As you can see I have made quite a few alterations from the original lay out; it's landscape rather than portrait seeing as she wanted it on the wall over her aquarium, she is more into turtles than frogs so there is one more turtle and one less frog... She contributed to her own present with the wooden turtle buttons and the small black pearls used as turtle eyes. It was a lot of fun, but at times very frustrating to make (I'm not a huge fan of paper piecing and all the blocks are PP) and it only took a month after her birthday before it was finished *LOL*.

Not all that much to report...

Well, there has been some time since my last post. And I don’t have all that much to report. I’m still working on both my SBS – there are some new blocks, and the tally is now that I have made 75 and have 65 to go.

I’m also still working on my hour glass blocks. I have a selection laid out on the floor, sort of to see if I’m happy with the setting before I sew them together. I have decided to try a sort of medallion setting – we’ll see how that works out when I have the time to work some more on them…

Production of the last few days

There have been a few days since my last post on this blog over the last few days; although I have tried to make up for it with comments on other blogs. Just thought I’d show what I have been up to (which isn’t that much, seeing as it has been a busy week). Behold: three more blocks for my SBS!



In the picture I have also added the scissors holder I have made for my grandfather’s lady friend tonight - I'll have to find a button tomorrow. We are celebrating her birthday this Saturday, and this will make a nice addition to the orchid we are giving her. I hope she’ll be pleased.

I’m still trimming my hour glass blocks in between grading papers, trying to write my thesis, working on my SBS and everything else life brings. I promise I’ll post something soon…

Quilt for baby Theodore is done

Remember the vintagelooking baby quilt my BF started, that I posted a picture of in February? Well, this weekend I finished it, and this morning I sent it to my BF who lives in London for approval, before it is to be sent to baby Theodore - about two weeks old, living in Edinburgh.



I hope he and his parents will enjoy the quilt, made by one of mommy's friends, and mommy's friend's friend:o) And I hope my BF is happy with my quilting and feels comfortable giving it away. I don't know if the picture shows it, but it's hand quilted in a simple square pattern - a square within each square. I didn't want to do anything exctravagant, seeing as it is my BF's piecing that is the main issue.

About my hour glasses: I thank all of you who have given your opinion and made suggestions. I appreciate all the feedback I'm getting on this. I'm still thinking, although I sort of have a plan, but I think I will continue thinking while I trim the remaining blocks - there are still a lot to trim.

There have also been a bit of progress on my SBS this weekend: I have managed two more blocks - nearly half way!

First 50

Just checking in quickly to show you something a bit more interesting than my ironing board; the first ready and trimmed 50 of my hour glass blocks:



After they have been trimmed they are 4 1/4" square. And I counted while ironing - there are 303 of them, which means these pictures really isn't really representative of the final result. I have been playing a lot with the thought of how to set them, and I have far from made up my mind. Any ideas? I'd apreciate all suggestions, and all opinions on the alternatives posted here as well! I have a dark honney coloured fabric with some rust roses and a dark blue I have been thinking of incorporating as well - as some sort of borders. Well se...

Neglecting Bernie

Inspired by Patti I have been busy over the past few days piecing together triangles for some (about 300 I think) hour glass blocks. I felt I needed a project where I didn’t have to read a pattern every five minutes, so on Sunday I slashed a major part of my charm square collection and started piecing them together again randomly.

But then yesterday morning, Bernie (that’s my Bernina:o)) gave me a big startle. In the middle of the last half of triangles, all of a sudden she stopped feeding my fabric through. The dogteeth had stopped moving, and the needle was just going up and down in the same spot, creating a blob of thread. Now what? Opening her up, removing a couple of screws, it hit me: I can’t remember the last time I gave her a good clean and oiling. She is mad because I haven’t been paying attention to her needs! My friend, who has been doing whatever I tell her to do, and I have been neglecting her needs for a looong time! Shame on me! So last night, coming home after a seminar, I cleaned and oiled her, and starting her up tonight she purred like she did when she was new. Puh! And I have promised her to never neglect her like that again.

Anyway, I haven’t really anything to show you for what I have been doing these last days, so I’m just posting you a picture of my ironing board with the triangles I managed to stitch before Bernie got mad at me.

In the box is the triangle units I pieced this weekend, which is about half, and the long strand of pieces is what I managed Monday night. Befor supper today I stitched the rest. Next is to iron them, and then piece the hour glass blocks together. Let’s see how far I can get on that before it gets to late tonight...

Fabric Diet and PIGs

I went through my receipts for February last night: and boy have I bought a lot of fabric over the past four weeks (more than I have posted pictures of here - and there is more to come in the mail)! So I'm putting myself on the fabric diet for March! Let's see how this works out :o)

By the way: Does anyone know what PIG is short for? "Project in ..."?