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