NEED BUCKING UP METHINKS

Yet again I seem to have lapsed in my Blogging, I can only make the excuse that I have so busy sewing I haven't got round to it yet!!!! Poor excuse I know. Hope the following will redeem me in your eyes.

Where to start?

This is a little bag I made for Fiona's [PP Forum] daughter Isabella, she is such a good kind little girl she helped me find what size handles to do for little girls, so this is her gift for helping me out. Thank you Isabella, she requested 'Brownies' colours...

 close up...

 closer..

 my first ever beaded tassle...

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I had a sort through my Postcards and decided to send some to Jytte who, with her daughter is having a small Craft table at a Fair, so thought these may get sold, the money is going to Breast Cancer, I do hope she gets some pennies for them...

just in case the postcards didn't sell, I made some little bags for her - this is where Isabella came in you see...

 lots of them...

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Marian off PP Forum sent another Quilt to me for quilting, Yay... this one is for her

Grand daughter - Eden - this is the centre, the big flower is 3D with ties in the corners, most unusual, she requested there be Butterflies and Bees in the Quilting!!! Never done Bees beefore!!

but I gave it a go and in the cream border there are Butterflies and Bees the pink border has loopy hearts, the blue [it looks green] border has roses quilted in...

 can you see the B & B's?

 this is the back, I think you may see them here a bit clearer...

 or here...

 the centre was just vermicellied...

 here are the roses...

 the loopy hearts...

 the whole thing...

 and on my bed, very pretty.

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Off to the Post Office with lots of goodies...

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As you know I am in the FMQ Challenge, and for February it was 'Feathers' which as you know I love love love to do, but these were OPEN feathers. Oh my, did they cause me some grief, I was almost in tears over these babies. I don't like them but had a go, I still don't like them, no offence to the teacher but I like my feathers closed...

 second attempt...

Thought maybe they would work on a Postcard. but no, still don't like them. On the groups Facebook Page I got some very encouraging messages about these, so am going to give it one more go, to be continued... 

Remember January's??

I removed that fluffy border from them and feel they are much better for doing that...

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On the PP Forum, Katy is also setting Challenges for us, February was using Crayons - hmmmm!!  I got Rebecca to draw me a picture, she was watching The Lion King at the time, and quickly did this for me [about 30 seconds] I just did a bit of stitching on it and voila, job done...

March theme for the Journal is Miniature patchwork -good grief I thought, but do you know I am really enjoying doing this,this is what I have done so far, then I had a WHAT IF moment...if you look closely you can see a 5p coin on one of the trees triangles, plus the tape measure of course to prove they are small, well, small for me!!!!

to be continued...

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I DID IT MY WAY- - QUILTING THAT IS

Where does the time go these days? I cannot believe I have been so tardy with my Blog of late! OK, so I didn't win on the competition I entered the quilt in - see last post - but I was pleased with the votes I received, good thing I don't expect to win or I would be sobbing in my tea!!

So what have I been up to? Well I have tried - unsuccessfully yet again - to sell some of my quilts on Ebay. Hmm think I will forget about that completely, I thought I had priced them reasonably with free postage too, but all to no avail, so I have come to a decision, wasn't easy but feel I have to do something as we are being overtaken by all the quilts I make. My decision is that I will no longer start any new quilts for myself, I will finish all the UFO's I have in cupboards and various places, yes I do have a few laying around, this I feel will keep me busy for possibly the next year or two depending on just how many I discover lurking in their hideyholes....After that I will have to decide what I shall do in the future. As you understand this has been a difficult decision for me to make as I just love quilts so much, this is why we have an enormous amount of them in the house. So thank you once again Frank [Sinatra] for letting me say yet again, I did it my way.

On another tack.....

I have started doing quilting for others as you may or may not know, and just this week have finished two for a friend of mine - Marian - wemet on the PP Forum and have become great buddies. When I suggested I was going to have a go at quilting for others she got in touch with me and asked me to do TWO quilts for her. One being a Dinosaur Quilt, the other s Space Quilt. How unusual they sounded but I accepted the commission gladly and have completed both this week. I have to say the Space one is my favourite, I love it to bits, they were both a joy to Quilt as MArian is so good at her sewing. I also managed to finish another UFO for myself, oh dear, another blooming quilt for the pile....hahahaha.... anyway here are some pictures of MArian's quilts, she has given her permission for me to show them, this is before she has received them herself, I sent her pictures first though. I hope you enjoy them...

The DINOSAUR Quilt - Front...

 close up showing the fabric, how great is that...

 the back of the Dinosaur Quilt...

 close up of the back...

 Blocks were done Quilting in the Ditch,

in the border I stitched round some of the dinosaurs amongst the vermicelli quilting, Marian didn't want a lot of quilting on them as she wanted them to stay 'puffy'...

 back view of block quilting...

 can you see the dinosaur?

 The SPACE Quilt - front...

 the centre panel blocks...

 close up of borders...

 Back view of full quilt...

 close up of back showing quilting of the centre blocks,

once again not a lot of quilting done on them, to keep them 'puffy'...

 front view close up...

 can you see the stars and spaceships in the vermicelli quilting?

 and small stars linked together in the thin orange strip....

 I had to make sure all the spaceships were orbiting the same way...

I love this Space quilt, they were both a pleasure to Quilt but I have to admit the Space one does it for me. Thank you Marian for trusting me with them, I look forward to doing the next one for you.

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