I have been sorting out my scraps today and I was wondering what others do with scraps. I have been ironing the bigger pieces and folding neatly and sorting into colors. Anything that is smaller I have been cutting into 1 1/2" or 2" or 2 1/2" or 3" squares. Am I the only one who does this or do you do something similar? I would love to hear what you do. Happy sorting.

 

This is an English Paper pieced Hexagon shaped quilt that I did for my DIL Mel. She loves stars. She is a star herself. I am pleased that she was so happy to receive it.

What a Year so far

Why is it that when we have a couple of big events in the first half of the year that the whole of the year just seems to fly by way too quick? In febuary this year our middle son was married and then in June our "baby" son turned 21. We are so happy to see middle son take the plunge and see him so happy. It does make me a bit sad to see my baby turn 21, it also makes me feel a bit (dare I say it) "old" urhhh.

Our Grandson with his new Stepmum. I love this photo.

I have also been busy with quilts this year. Many, many quilts have been sent to the longarm quilters and when I say many, I mean many. I didn't actually realize how many quilt tops I had ready to be quilted and it was a shock when I pulled them out earlier this year so I decided I needed to have them finished off, so hopefully I will have many a quilt to show you in the very near future. Happy quilting from Cheryl

What a Year it has been

I have been a little bit slack on posting anything on here this year as it has been a year for us. My Dear Husband was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and around the time when hubby was going into hospital for his surgery my Mum took sick and as I was her main carer I was trying to get her some help to make her better before hubby went into hospital instead of getting better she got worse, My poor Mum now has dementia and paranoia and she turned on me and started to make false accusations so it has been a very stressful few months.

After having the prostate surgery my hubby was not well and eventually ended up back in hospital and going through surgery again and is feeling a lot better and is very lucky that he doesn't have to have Radiotherapy and Kemo. It was an aggressive cancer which was not expected when he was diagnosed but it looks like they got it all, but of course he has to make regular visits back to the specialist.

Mum and I have reconciled and she has gone into a Low Level Care Nursing Home (she refers to it as a retirement village so whatever keeps her happy (haha). She has only been in there a week today so I am still in the middle of cleaning out her unit as well as having to deal with a bung shoulder which is causing a lot of pain. I tell you it never rains but pours around here.

Even with all the dramas going on around her I have actually managed to finish off a few UFO's which I am really happy about and I hope that in the near future I will post the finished pieces on here soon.

I will be back, please don't give up on me yet.

New Blocks

I have made 2 new blocks for "Quilted Diamonds 1" which are in the Blue and Cream color scheme and one new block for "Quilted Diamonds 2" which is in the Pink colors. I have also made my first block for the "Nearly Insane" quilt which was, I have to admit, very easy. I wish I could count on them all being that easy but I have decided it might be wise to go with foundation piecing for these or at least the harder ones, as I think it would be more accurate and a better finish.

Oh and I nearly forgot poor old "Dear Jane", I did another block for it as well, not very happy with the finished product of this block so I think I shall end up doing it again. Meanwhile I don't think it hurts for others to see mistakes it might help someone do a better job than I did.

Doing housework today but while taking a bit of a break to have lunch I thought I would pop in and update what I have been doing this past week.

Oh my, I am so forgetful today, I also have a picture of the teddy quilt that I have finally finished after taking me about 12 months maybe a bit more. I have hand appliqued and hand quilted this for my youngest sons girlfriend. Jess turned 18 in August of this year, I asked her to postpone it for a month but she wouldn't be in that for some reason but if she had I would have only been one month late with it instead of two. Not to worry, better late than never. She has it now and I think she likes it.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything else, if so I will pop in after housework and fill you in.

Happy Sewing all.

QD 1 and 2, DJ and NI

In case your wondering what that all means, it means I have started to make "Quilted Diamonds" books 1 and 2, "Dear Jane" and "Nearly Insane" which I think might be very close to the truth.
I am doing all of these as hand piecing projects so they are not going to be quick finished projects by any means.

I find that when working with such small pieces it it a lot easier to do these by hand but of course the preparation all takes time. I trace the block onto freezer paper, then I number all the shapes on the freezer paper as well as the original pattern so that they correspond, then I cut all the tiny little shapes out so that I then have my templates. On the original pattern I will use coloring pencils to just lightly shade in the colored fabrics I am going to use and where. This is important I feel as it helps to keep track of where to place those pieces of your block.

OK after cutting out all the shapes, pile shapes of same size and shape together and then remembering a 1/4" seam allowance needs to be added on measure the width of the shape add a 1/2" onto that (this will be the seam allowance) then cut a strip of fabric out that will be long enough to place same sized shapes onto. Lay a shape onto fabric then place a 1/2" ruler beside it then lay another shape. Iron the shapes onto the fabric with a very hot iron but NO STEAM. It helps to pre-wash fabric, the freezer paper will stick better.

Using 100% cotton, do a running stitch to hold all those small pieces together. Hand stitching makes it easier to fit odd shaped pieces in place. Use top quality fabric's and threads because if your going to put all this work into a quilt you want it to last a long time, hopefully longer than you will. It's always nice to leave a little bit of yourself behind.

Happy Hand Sewing, enjoy the process.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

Hello all, I know it's been a long time since I have posted anything on my blog but I have had health issues to deal with and haven't been up to the task of putting words into print but I'm here now so look out.

In October, 2009 I start the journey of making "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" and I am extremely happy to say that my journey came to an end in September, 2010. I have enjoyed making this quilt so much that it has made me realize that I love making sampler quilts. So I guess it has sent me down a different pathway with my quilting.

With my illness that I referred to in the beginning, I have trouble with remembering, concentration and along with that I have Chronic Fatigue so I need to have something that is going to challenge my brain and that is exactly what sampler quilts do for me. The way I look at it is that every time I start a new block it's like starting a new quilt because it is not repetitive. If i have to make the same block over and over I become very tired and bored and needless to say it just gets put to the side and then you have another WIP. I call it a WIP and not a UFO because I do go back to these projects every now and then and work on them a bit more, it just takes me a long time. I'm sure you can all identify with that.

Anyway I'm off on another journey now or may I should say a few journey's. I have just start with Dear Jane, Dear Hannah, Quilted Diamonds 1 and 2 and maybe also Nearly Insane (which I think I am anyway) no you don't have to agree with me just support me.

I have posted a picture of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, please leave me any comments on it, whether it be good or bad because that's how we all learn with the honest truth.

I hope you all have a great day, and take care all.