Into the Groove

Well, I couldn't call it Back to School again.

Yes, schools are back here in Scotland and my classes resumed last week. It seemed for a moment there that Summer was over but the weather picked up again and we enjoyed a pretty good weekend. I am sorry if your Bank Holiday today was not blessed with sunshine.

So I am running four classes this year, two in Week 1 and two in Week 2 - everyone is following one main project, The Modern Sampler. Basically there are four different blocks although a couple will have variations - and then the quilt will be layered up in 3 main sections and joined using Quilt As You Go techniques.

One of the things I love about teaching a project is seeing the variety of fabric and colours that are chosen. All these different choices come together to make very different quilts. I finished making the one in the above picture in January this year and recently decided (as always!!) that I might as well make another, along with my classes. I find demonstration is the best form of tuition, and everyone loves it if I mess up like on Wednesday when I didn't notice my wee mechanical machine was still set to zig zag and I had my 1/4" foot on - oops!!
So I have chosen a very different palette to the one above. I pulled a fat 1/8th bundle of Cuzco by Kate Spain, from my stash and decided to go for a b & w spotty background, very different for me.

Just before classes started back I asked my students if they would like to make some blocks for Nicky's Siblings Together drive. Here is what turned up on the first week, also in the post and to my door...........

and a few more,

Thank you ladies, you are all brilliant!!

A Kaffe Treat

Shared by a friend who is in Aberdeen at the moment and caught the exhibition.Enjoy.

Kaffe Fassett: 50 Years in Colour from Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums on Vimeo.

136 Days Until Christmas

A fresh month always means new Bee blocks to be done. This month the Queen Bee in our Bee a Brit Stingy Bee is Nicky and she has thrown us a curved ball. She plans a Winter quilt and has asked for blocks of a Scandinavian feel - we can choose or design the blocks ourselves and we have a choice of sizes. She favours red, cream and aqua and from what I have seen so far, this is shaping up to be a glorious quilt.
I have enjoyed raking about looking for blocks and have made a couple of FP trees which will finish at 3" and a 9" block inspired by knitting patterns.  I have more up my sleeve..........

Nicky obviously has the bit between her teeth this month. She is already involved with Siblings Together and has decided to make an early start on quilts for this great cause, that will be needed next summer! She has come up with a really simple block that has a great look when multiplied in a quilt. I made this one very quickly because as many of you know I underwent an organisational epiphany last month so have a box of 2.5" strips just waiting for such a project. Maybe you have some Jelly Roll strips lying about?

Nicky is hoping for each block to be kept to a colour family with the diagonal steps in white, and running in either direction to allow flexibility in block layout. Nicky knocked up this whole top last week..........

If anyone is interested in helping Nicky, I have a quick handout here for making the block.

I also made good progress on my Advent Calendar, just waiting for a fabric delivery to finish, and I finished off the second Tree Skirt. So again, nearly everything I have been doing this week is related to Christmas, or Winter!! As I look out of the window at the moment, I could be forgiven for thinking it is already Winter.

And I bought my first Christmas pressies today! I blame my daughter who is a Christmas Day baby and always encourages me into early shopping...................

Late Call for July

Better late than never with my review of July. Some project finishes, some progressed and some ignored, that'll be a normal month then.

I got my Bee a Brit Stingy blocks done early on in the month for Charlotte. Then there was a birthday pouch and a workshop Tree Skirt. And with leftovers from the skirt backing, I made the Nested Churn Dash, yet to be made into a finished item.

I made good progress on one of my FAL Q3 projects which is a double bed sized quilt. I have pieced it in three sections so that I can QAYG it, took a lovely pic of it in the garden when it was dry & then discovered that not only did my camera not have its memory card in, it doesn't have an internal memory. Every day a school day!! Since finishing the piecing I have made a start on quilting one of the thirds.............lots more to do though.

I spent some really enjoyable hours making  remaking my tote bag for the Stitch Gathering. Last year we were all sent printed patches to embellish as we wished and Jo made them into a quilt that is going to be raffled at this year's SG. This year we were sent a printed calico bag. I forgot to take a pic until I had started my makeover that included unpicking all seams and cutting away the printed circle in the centre. That was a wee bit scary.

I then faced the hole, porthole style and laid it over a 4 patch I had prepared earlier. Then it was layering up, quilting, firming up the handles a bit and then putting it ll back together.

I really love how it turned out and hope my partner will love it too.

Lastly, and so far not shared here, is a Mini quilt I made for a friend who celebrated a 0 birthday yesterday. This particular friend introduced me to quilting way back about 1998 so I really hope she likes this little offering which is a bit different for both of us - from granny to granny.

The four little granny blocks were all different sizes, I brought them up to an equal size with white solid and added the border in Bella (?) .

This was my first attempt at matchstick quilting, good fun on a small piece like this. Granny came in at about 17" square.

          

And so that was July - not too shabby considering the amount of time I have spent in front of the TV becoming an armchair expert in several sports. Glasgow has done itself proud putting on the Commonwealth Games, so well done to everyone involved.

I think I may just have enough time to link to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day over at Lily's Quilts.