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