lost my quilting mojo

do you remember me??? I know I've been away for so long and have done so much but not much quilting as my quilting mojo disappeared. It seems like I either have a knitting mojo or a quilting mojo and the knitting mojo is here with a vengeance!!!
well since I last posted I have been to France to see my brother and had a fab few days, of course I bought some fabric as its so cheap over there and I made these placemats. I used the craftsy block of the month design for these to try something different. What do you think?

As you can see I integrated the matrix design from the quilt along with Leah day and I loved this design its so simple yet so effective. These just need binding now and have become a UFO so really need to get this done.

The other thing I have been really struggling to finish is the bed runner which is a christmas present for my friend. I am really struggling to be inspired by this and consequently get it finished!! maybe its because it's not for me!!! selfish quilting syndrome!!

As you can see I've managed to do a fair amount of quilting on this and have used it to try out new designs. I did the spiral design from this weeks quilt along with Leah and used some favourite stippling to crack this quilt out. I'm sort of disapointed with my quilting on this as I don't feel that I was up to scratch for me really. All I can think is that mojo has gone for a bit and I've not got the same ooomph for it and I don't know why!!! anyone else get this from time to time.

Anyway,, me and my mum also went to the knitting and stitching show for the first time in Harrogate. IT WAS FABBBB!!! if you have never been you got to go and try it. Both of my hobbies were catered for and I was spoilt for choice!! the amount of money I could have spent on fabric and wool, I would have needed to get a loan !! seriously it was massive. We got there at 10 am and already the car park was full and by dinner time you couldn't walk anywhere without struggling past people. I treated myself to quite a bit of wool as sometimes I prefer to feel the wool which you can't do online so I bought some Jamiesons of shetland spindrift for a beautiful brooklyn tweed pattern, some fantastic malabrigo sock yarn for a rock and purl jumper which I love. Also bought my mothers christmas pressie but I can't tell you what it is in case she reads this (hello mum!!!) and we both contributed to some interchangeable circular needles. I've also bought some malabrigo worsted yarn which is so snuggly soft for another brooklyn tweed pattern called bedford which I can't wait to cast on. I've also finished my perry cardigan which I knit in an english wool called lanark wool which is another brooklyn tweed pattern. what do you think?

See can't you tell my mojo has switched back to knitting!!!! well i suppose I've only got 2 hands haven't I!!!

well I will try to keep this updated more and I hope you've enjoyed reading my escapades.
toodles

Anniversary time!!

Hi well it was my third wedding anniversary on wednesday!!! 3 years!! Where did it go?? We've been together for 14 years but obviously he took his time to make sure I was the right one ha ha.
I think I may try to do a wholecloth for my 4th as I couldn't quilt when I got married so this may be a nice way to celebrate the anniversary! Mmmm ill have a think and see what designs I like! The trip to Oxford and Cambridge was for our anniversary so we had a take away and watched a film which was lovely.

Well I've not really done much quilting or knitting this week but I'm shortly going to start making the sashing for the bed runner I'm making so then it will be ready for either basting and quilting next week depending on how far I get today.

Here are a couple of pics of my homework from the free motion quilting project from last week, we did flowing lines and this really did look fab in the sashing of my quilt so this is definately one that is going to be used again.

I also tried some basic spirals to see if I could do this as previous attempts had been horrendous. This time was much better and I just felt more in control of what I was doing.

Again I loved this and think it looks so effective in the sashing.

I'm going to have to hurry up with the bed runner so I can practice some more, me and my mum are going to the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate in November  and they do quilting things too so I'm hoping to pick up some fabric so I can do some of the block of the month on craftsy and can then use these for quilting practice too.
I've been busy trawling Ravelry for patterns so that I have a shopping list of yarn to buy at the show and I've chosen a beautiful cardigan from Brooklyn tweed called Perry. If you've never seen any Brooklyn tweed patterns definitely take a lot. The yarn is not cheap but obviously you could substitute for cheaper.

Anyway, must get cracking on the bed runner!!!!!
Toodles

finished!!

Well I've finally finished my WIP. I've learnt so much on this quilt and feel that my FMQ has massively improved. I used a light brown binding to try to bring out the chocolate brown in the sashing where I did most of the intricate FMQ. Here it is finally finished and proudly sits on my bed.

 Here is a close up of the sashing with the FMQ.

I also finished my WIP knitting. It is a little garter knit vest made from alpaca wool and I adore it, it is so soft and cuddly.

So now onto my next WIP/ UFO. This is a little bed runner for my best friend for christmas and I started to cut the pieces a few week ago but got bored with it. I must say cutting isn't my favourite bit!!  It's made with bits I saved from my favourite fabrics and hopefully when done with look a bit vintage- that's the plan anyway!!

My computer won't let me turn the pic the right way so this is on its side ha ha the columns run down and it's going to have a copper coloured sashing all round it.

So again a pretty good productive Sunday and hopefully next week I'll cut and pieced the sashing and basted the quilt ready for my favourite part of FMQing!!! since I did the wholecloth I think I like those the best I find cutting and piecing drags a bit.

I had a look at sew cal gals blog and the October challenge and saw the wholecloth Terri did, it's absolutely beautiful. Black fabric with different coloured threads to make the wholecloth look like a stunning piece and it really makes the FMQ stitches pop right out at you. I really think I'd like to give this a go so I'll have to save some pennies for some more Isacord thread in different colours and some black fabric. can't wait to try it and if you've not seen it definitely take a look at sew cal gals blog for the picture.

Right am off to start making Sunday lunch and a big chocolate beer bread and butter pudding!!!! YUM YUM
toodles

Lots to tell!!!

Hi again,
well I've had a busy week. Me and my DH took a mini break and went to Oxford and Cambridge as I am ashamed to say I've never been to them. Well I've set that right now and we had a really good time. The weather was fantastic!! Given that we live in the north west near the Pennines we get a loooottttt of rain so it was like being abroad- wall to wall sunshine- made even better because my mum text me to say it was chucking it down at home  ha ha ha.

I did like Oxford but it is so busy and very touristy. We went to the Bodelian library (where a couple of scenes from Harry Potter are filmed) and saw lots of the lovely colleges and I really did feel like I was in an episode of morse (but obviously with a very northern accent!!!) Here is a pic of Oxford above this is the old Bodelian library.

Cambridge was my favourite, a lot quieter and relaxed and was more what I had expected. Again the architecture is amazing. We didn't go on a punt down the river but maybe next time. Here is a pic of Cambridge.

That's me walking ahead with my back to the camera as I hate having my picture taken ha ha. It is absolutely stunning and I would recommend it to everyone.

Obviously as ever knitter or quilter knows when on holiday Google the area and see if there are any wool or fabric shops well that's just what I did and found a lovely little fabric shop in Cambridge so while my DH stood around looking very bored I perused the shop and found this beautiful fabric and bought a lovely fat quarter of a red Christmas fabric for my mum :) she's making a Christmas quilt so it will go perfectly.

Before I went away I also ordered some more Isacord and as Leah Day had suggested that green and grey are good colours for many  projects. I bought some and I think they would go lovely with the fabric above so once again trust Leah for fab advice.

I also did my homework from the free motion quilt along before we went and I love the look of the pointy paisley but found myself having to travel stitch quite a lot but its worth really learning this one as it looks great.

Note to self though! After binding a quilt on the machine with a lovely decorative stitch remember to change the pattern back to straight!! I tried the pointy paisley and thought 'that's not straight at all what's going on??' I don't think I'll forget to put it back again :) I have only a few more sections of my quilt to finish now so am going to get cracking with the new design for this week and maybe throw in some more mctavishing and hopefully I'll finish the quilt by the end of the weekend if I'm lucky!!!

Hope I havn't bored you too much today but I wanted to share my lovely little break with you.
Toodles

UFO Sunday link up

Hi !!
Well today I finished my little wholecloth, completed the binding and put little hanging pockets in the back. I'm really chuffed with it and while I was admiring it in my kitchen I thought ooh that space above it would look great with a wholecloth hung there. Sooooo yep that's gonna be a new project for the new year! I bought Karen mctavish's elemental quilting book and am going to use some of her designs to do it!
I've also been working on my WIP quilt and am still using it to do the practice for the free motion quilting project. I also decided to try some mctavishing I think I've done an ok job but had to travel stitch quite a lot. Looks ok though.
I have a question if anyone can help! My mum is currently working on a little table centre piece quilt and she sent me a pic of it. It's the sort of hexagonal pic at the bottom. The question is we like it with the point bits of the square sticking out to make it look hexagonal BUT how would you bind this??? We've both only ever done normal binding with 4 corners so we are a bit dubious of how to do it! Any ideas would be great!!!
Toodles

Snake paisley

Hi this week on the free motion project we did snake paisley. I do like this but I found it harder than the previous designs. My other half thought it looked like leaves and I agree it does look autumnal but that could be the brown colours. I do see improvements in my skills now and find it easier than I used to so that's good. Here are some pics.
Toodles

Wholecloth

Hi again!
When following the free motion project I never tried the hearts and feathers wholecloth as I just wasn't good enough to do it. I couldn't travel stitch to save my life!!! Well thanks to Leah's fantastic tutoring I've now done it!! What do you think?
This wasn't a UFO but a WTD (want to do) so I hope you don't mind if I link this up but I'm actually quite chuffed with it!! I've gone off my line a couple of times but I'm not gonna be critical because on the whole I think I've done a good job!
Quite a productive Sunday I think but now time for some tv I think
Toodles

Lots of quilting!!

Hi !! I know I've not posted for a while but I've had no motivation to do any quilting this last few weeks:( I've sat at my machine a few times but have had no desire to do it! Very weird!! So rather than make a mess of my work I've had a break and then yesterday and today I'm back with a vengeance!!!
I decided to quilt the entire middle of my quilt with loopy line and hearts and the border is going to be segmented with my quilt along practice!!
So I've done bare branches, paisley, cucumber vine, lava paisley and tree roots!!!
I now know how much I've improved since following the quilt along as I had previously tried paisley and, well, to be blunt it looked nothing like but today it looked ok!! More practice needed but I'm well on my way!!!
I've not been linking up much as I don't have any UFO's but this quilt which is my WIP. So I took advice and am using the quilt to practice on as well. I like this idea as my quilts will then show the story of my learning and improvements!!
Here are a few pics and would love your feedback!!
Toodles

Team GB!!

Wow!!! How good have team GB done at the Olympics!!!! So so proud to be British it's untrue! Wonder what the closing ceremony will bring?? I missed a couple of days due to going on a camping holiday to north Wales. Absolutely hated camping and can honestly say I will never camp again!!! However colwyn bay is beautiful and Conwy is lovely too. Nice to be at the coast in the sunshine felt like I was abroad:)
Well again due to the Olympics I've not done much quilting! I've just managed to baste my current project while watching the men's relay ha ha
I've decided to try most designs on this quilt to try to get practice on a real quilt, started with loopy line and will incorporate others into it. This will mean I get a fully functional double bed quilt and loads of practice too!!!
I did manage to do the cucumber vine and I do really love this pattern but again my travel stitching let's me down!! Need more practice!!!!!!!
While watching the Olympics I have been knitting and wanted to share my felted bag with you. This is the first felting I have ever done and I was petrified it would come out of the washer tiny ha ha I'm very pleased with it.
I'm not gonna do any quilt painting so have got a week off from the free motion quilting project with Leah day. She is a lovely artist but painting is not something I'm really interested in but her work is fab.
Well must catch up with the housework i've neglected due to Olympic fever!!!!
Toodles x

It's the Olympics baby!!!

Well what can I say!!! I don't think I've ever felt so so so proud to be British!!! The opening ceremony was phenomenal and our athletes are doing fantastic! I don't think I've ever felt so emotional!! I love the gymnastics as I used to do this when I was younger and the swimming but Iove all the sports and love learning new ones!! 3rd in the medal table at the moment how fantastic!!!!!
Well needless to say I havnt done much quilting ha ha
It was also my birthday last Saturday so I've been quite busy!! Most of my pressies were quilting or knitting orientated so I was a very happy bunny!!! Of course I got a Leah day book!!!!!
I've just managed to do the tree roots tutorial and I must say I do find it difficult to stay on my line! But i'll not worry I'm sure I'll grasp it like Leah says practice practice practice!!!
I've been doing more knitting this week coz I can watch the Olympics at the same time!!! I finally finished the rowan caplet I've been working on since before Christmas and I'm really pleased with it!
Well must go now to watch more Olympics come on Jessica Ennis!!!!!
Let's go watch Olympics ha ha
Toodles x

Bare branches

On Leah days quilt along this week it was a tutorial on bare branches which involves travel stitching. This I have been scared of trying as I didn't feel I was good enough to do this succesfully.
The reason I follow Leah's project is because she gives me the confidence to try these things. So I tried it!!! Some of my travel stitching was very off but others were ok. I do believe the wonky quilt has improved my skills quite a lot and I think this was Leah's plan!!!! To help me to improve without me realising it!!! She's good!!!
My confidence has increased a lot and although I still have a long way to go I'm happy with the way I'm progressing.
Still need to work on those feathers though!!!!!!!
Toodles

Feathers!!!!!

I've had a few days off work so I headed straight to my machine and added a border to my quilt so this needs basting and quilting now. What to quilt though??? I don't want to stipple it all so as its blocks I thought should I do a different design in each block??? Mmmm I don't know! I want to keep practicing everything I've learnt so far !! I'll have a think. I saw some tiles made of swirls on sew cal gals blog so I may try these.
I've also wanted to try freeform feathers so I tried this today! It's as hard as I thought it would be so I guess it's practice practice practice!!!! Here are a few pics of the feathers.
Toodles x

Finished

The wonky quilt is finished!! I spent last weekend binding it and washed it. Then I realised that I didn't know how to hang it on the wall!! So I messaged Leah day on Facebook and as always she has the know how!! I sewed a hanging sleeve on the back and bought a dowel and voila!
I'm really happy with it and think it looks good on my bedroom wall. I think the only thing I may have done differently would be to use a darker thread for the fmq as I don't think it shows up as good as it could have done but I only had white. Never mind though I'm still happy with it.
I've not done the name tag on this weeks project simply because I'll never show a quilt so as I've had a pretty stressful couple weeks at work I've taken it easy! Am planning to do the bare branches though coz I've never tried travel stitching so I'll link that up next week!
Am planning to spend a bit of time in the garden this weekend coz we are in for some sun hopefully and as I live in one of the rainiest places in the uk I've got to 'make hay while the sun shines' :)
Here's a few pics of the finished quilt hope you like it !!
Toodles x

Update on wonky quilt

Hi there I've not had too much time on my hands this week but this morning I finished quilting my wonky quilt!!! I am so pleased with it and I'm planning to put it on my bedroom wall I love it that much. What do you think?



The only thing I did struggle with was keeping my scale the same. My stippling is very small in parts and moves to a bigger size and then my sharp stippling is quite big. I suppose practice will make this easier but if Leah day does read this my question is have you any tips for keeping the scale the same?
Here are some more shots of my quilting and any comments would be great!!!
I was pleased with myself for trying this project and it has certainly pushed me to try new things and just shut up and quilt!!! Ha ha
I also used the supreme slider on this one and it has really reduced my arm aching!!!!
Anyway must crack on with binding this quilt and then I'll lovingly adorn my wall with it .
Toodles x

Update on wonky quilt

I've been working hard on piecing my wonky quilt, marking it, basting it and quilting my zentangle type pattern on it!!! It's been hard work but I've done it, completed the echo quilting and am just starting some stippling now here's a pic of it


The white bits on the pins are my own version of the pinmoors Leah day uses. The only pinmoors I can find in the uk are so so expensive so I asked my husband to make me some!! A tube of silicone later and he made some long round tubes of silicone which he then cut up into little bits for me. I'll show you a close up of one

As you can see they are not all the same size but they do the job really well and cost about £1.50 for the tube of sillicone. That's my tip of the week ha ha !!

I've loved doing this wonky quilt so far as its taken me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to do things I probably wouldn't have attempted on my own! That's why I love following the freer motion project by Leah day. I feel that I have a teacher on hand who will help me if I get stuck! If you've not seen it def have a look.
Got to get on now and quilt or else I'll fall behind ha ha ha x
Toodles x