Keeping it Short

No chance!

I will be otherwise engaged for the next week so thought I might do an early May round up - it might be a lengthy one.

May has been most unseasonal here in my part of Scotland - usually it's a really pleasant month, warm & sunny with the promise of a summer to come. But we have had rain, wind, chilly temperatures and the need for heating even as June looms......boo!

The first Bank Holiday Monday saw me and pal Janet attending a workshop organised by our local Quilters' Guild. It was a Colouricious Day of block printing - you know I went along not really 100% focused on the day but left at the end, absolutely buzzing and fired up, wanting to take up block printing as a way of life - but that's me, obsessive as always!

Jamie Malden took our workshop and her enthusiasm was totally catching - I couldn't believe that after just a short intro, we got stuck right in, to printing our provided aprons. We learned different processes and went on to print three "free" pieces and then scarves, to round off a fab day.

I have posted in the past about the wonderful Great Scottish Tapestry - I saw it in Edinburgh for the first time, after queuing for an hour. I saw it in Paisley amidst crowds. And then it came to Ayr! How lucky were we...............oh I do hope the people of Ayr  supported it more than this picture suggests.

Meanwhile, despite the weather, I decided it might be time to plan a summer EPP project and thought I'd give Katy Jones' Triangle City a go. Here are my pieces in a "dry run". I am progressing slowly.

Not so with my Bee a Brit Stingy blocks, for May/June I have Catherine's row to make. She has requested Flying Geese, in any direction, block size etc but colours greens, yellows & b & w. My favourite colours to work with - yum.

 However, the last two months, I did flying geese for Lucy and foundation pieced all of it - all 12" x 48" and although I really like FP I was a bit scunnered at the

thought of more of it. So I hit EQ7 and came up with these...............

or

I gave Catherine the choice and she opted for the second one. My aim had been to design something where I could produce multiple geese from minimal cuts. Hmm, not so, as I was using lots of different fabrics and backgrounds. So I took it a step at a time and really enjoyed the process.

Laying out ............following my plan

A couple of blocks done........

half way ...............

all done........

and how the rows are playing together so far.................what do you think??

This photo is quite a feat for it's the first thing to go on my "design wall" this year - my sewing room has been otherwise deployed as a bedroom since January with family moving in pending a house move...............so the BIG MOVE has taken place, lodgers have moved out, oh, except this one,

He is definitely moving out tomorrow......................

And in the midst of all the moving, the curtain making, the curtain altering, the curtain hanging..............I saw this -

and this...........

and knew immediately that I wanted to have a go at it. For those of you who might possibly have missed the excitement, this quilt is My Small World by the wonderful Jen Kingwell. There is a Quilt a long going on over on Instagram but I just know I'll never keep up. However I will make this quilt, I love it, I love the style, the use of scraps, I could go on. What is not my style, is needle turn applique, lots of hand sewing, little teeny weeny bits.............but I am challenging myself to do it and think I might have gone over the edge when I dived in to make these half inch - yes, half inch, hexies.

Whatever next? I'll be cutting 1.5" squares next - oh yes, I already have..............

Yesterday, I did a wee EPP workshop and although numbers were low, enthusiasm was high and it was such a delight to encourage the ladies to a new technique. And here is some of what they did.

                                

And so, as May draws to a close, there is always time to play with in boxes, any cat, or toddler will tell you so.

Fingers crossed for a warm June.