A Stitch in Time

New Design for the New Year

2011-12-20T13:39:00.003Z

I was busy playing around in EQ7 and designed this quilt. Last week I went to my not so local quilt Shop Kaleidoscope and bought the fabrics for it.

Kaleidoscope now have a lovely new website which is worth a visit www.kalquilts.com

Once Christmas is over and I have my projects made and instructions all written and teaching samples made I can get to work making the quilt.

I also designed a 20 block sampler quilt which I hope to start teaching next September at the start of the new session.

I may tweak it just a little but I think it is almost there design wise.

Thanks for dropping by.

And the Winner Is

2011-12-17T07:42:00.002Z

Well it is the 17th December and time to name the winner.

First of all I would like to thank Michelle for all the hard work in organizing what has been for me a wonderful event. I would also like to thank all of you who took time to visit my blog and leave a comment. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments and have been working through visiting your blog, if you have one. I haven't managed them all but over the net few days I will be sure to visit.

And the winner of the giveaway, picked at random, is Bente from I Like to Quilt blog. Well done and I hope you enjoy the book. Apologies to those who missed out this time but drop by throughout the year as I will be posting a giveaway again.

A special thank you to those who have followed my blog, it was not a prerequisite for the giveaway but it is nice that you did.

Christmas Giveaway

2011-12-06T12:29:00.003Z

Welcome to the Blog Hop Party. Enjoy your visit and good luck.

I have another copy of The Devil's Puzzle to give away. Just leave a comment telling me what your favourite colour is and why to be in with a chance to win this wonderful book.

Good luck and thank you for dropping by.

Blog Hop giveaway coming soon

2011-12-02T10:50:00.000Z

Giveaway on this blog will be posted on 8 December. It should be fun.

New Design for Christmas

2011-10-08T15:32:00.000+01:00

I will be teaching this at Currie High School next term. I bought some new Christmas fabrics yesterday, I couldn't resist them, and hope to get started next week. I don't usually make Christmas quilts but I thought I would make one so I have one to decorate my home when the Xmas tree etc goes up.

I also want to make a tree skirt this year if I have the time. If you would like to make this quilt I have made the files available for download. You will find them on the left hand side of the blog under Xmas Quilt.

It was designed in EQ7 and the files are PDFs. Let me know if you make it and I would love to see a picture if you do make the quilt.

And the Winner Is....

2011-10-08T12:42:00.000+01:00

The winner of the book giveaway is Rlbates. Please email me your snail mail address and I will get the book in the post to you.

Book Giveaway

2011-10-01T07:45:00.000+01:00

Plume Books has very kindly given me a copy of Clare O'Donohue's latest A Someday Quilts Mystery called The Devil's Puzzle to give away. I have made a start on this lovely book and I am hooked already.

Clare is a new author to me but I am sure I will get hooked on her books as I have the ones written by Jennifer Chiaverini. As well as being a wonderful writer Clare is a quilter

A small town mystery add into the mix witches and quilting and this is an ideal read for this time of the year as the nights draw in. I know what I will be giving my quilting friends for Christmas this year.

To have a chance of winning a copy of The Devil's Puzzle just leave a comment on this post. Next Saturday, 8 October, I will get my husband Norman to draw a winner out of the hat.

Good luck.

Snail in a Storm

2011-09-26T10:40:00.002+01:00

A new quilt I designed in Electric Quilt 7. I am thinking of making it into a quillow. I think it will work. I tried it in 2 colours but I really think it works better with three.

It is a gorgeous day here today. Sun is shining which is just lovely.

Thank you for dropping by.

2011-09-24T16:16:00.001+01:00

Do you wonder where the time goes. These past few months I have been busy preparing for classes to start. Well they started last week. Wow. After my gap year I wondered if anyone would sign up. I needn't have worried both classes as full with a waiting list. sadly this means a few of my regular ladies missed the boat and haven't managed to register.

Admin at school handle all enrolments so it is out of my control. It is sad to not see them but we have new students who are also new to quilting which is very exciting.

I have been busy working on a hand applique, hand quilted cushion. A project that was relaxing and helped when things were getting a little hectic. It does take a while to get back in the groove but I think I have done that already. So much so I feel I haven't been away.

Here's the cushion:

and here is the picture I took for inspiration for colour choice.

Off to make the evening meal.

Busy Designing and Sewing

2011-08-07T16:44:00.000+01:00

I have been bust doing some designing. The following quilt is designed using Margaret Miller's Angleplay blocks in EQ7.

The next design was inspired by a Morrocan tile.

I layered and am ready to quilt my latest quilt. I must get it done soon.

Meet the Tutor evening at Currie High School is 31 August from 7-9 pm. I need to have all my class samples finished for then. Busy, busy, busy.

Some New Designs

2011-07-17T11:53:00.000+01:00

It has been a while since I uploaded EQ project files and so I have three projects for you. All are in EQ7 format.

Click on the image to download the project file. I will also put a link on the projects are the left hand side of this blog.

Enjoy.

2011-07-12T16:43:00.000+01:00

Still trying to work and type with this dreadful bandage. Still the pain has gone just waiting for it to heal.

This is the best picture I could get of the quilt top I finished a week or two ago. This will be a lovely technique to teach in September.

I decided on a dark background for the strip pieced tumbling blocks. The light was OK but I preferred the dark background. One strip has been stitched the rest are waiting to be stitched.

I was working on a 20th Anniversary quilt idea for thr Electric Quilt challenge but I am afraid I missed the deadline so I will post the project file in a day or two for anyone to download. It is a pieced quilt .... more later.

I also took part in the EQ red and white challenge and will upload that project file as well.

Birds at the feeder

2011-07-10T12:35:00.000+01:00

I took this photograph the other day of two goldfinch at the thistle seed feeder. They are beautiful birds. It was taken through the conserbatory window as they kept flying away when I opened the door to take pictures.

Back in the Studio

2011-07-10T12:20:00.000+01:00

My apologies for the rubbish image, I can do better, but I am working in the outdoor studio - my log cabin in the garden - and it's difficult to take pictures. If I move oo far away I get the whole log cabin in.

I am currently working on a new to me technique. 3D designs using strip piecing. Tmblin blocks is my first attempt and so far so good. I am currently deciding on whether to use a light or dark background, dark is winning at the moment.

I week ago I decided to get into the studio in earnest. Cut out and finished the top of another quilt. It was nearly time to stop to get the evening meal sorted but I thought I would cut the strips ready to start the next project. Fatal mistake as the rotary cutter jumped the ruler and cut the side off my index finger. It is still bandaged and I am struggling a little but needs must and I really have to get the samples ready for class starting in September.

Now all the jam is made, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, rhubard/ginger, lemon curd, blueberry - quite a selection, and the allotmen just needs a periodic weeding, maybe I can spend more time in here being creative.

Thanks for dropping by.

From EQ7 to Fabric

2011-04-12T17:15:00.000+01:00

I am back in the studio!   It has been a while but it's good to get back to the machine.

The allotment is coming along nicely. The hut is up. The water butts are installed with pipes from the hut which has collected lots of water (the two huge butts are full).   The paths are laid, just a little more gravel to build up some areas and that's finished.    Norman has planted his fruit bushes and asparagus.   The cauliflowers, cabbage and pac choi are growing nicely.   I planted garlic, onions and the herbs are in.   I also planted 9 varieties of potatoes and now I am waiting to plant some carrots and other more tender veg that have to wait a while in case we get frost which we did this morning.   Norman has erected his bean frames both "A" and wigwams and we have a selection of different beans planted.

I will post pictures later when I get them organised.

I designed the above quilt in EQ7 and I have some blocks already made. I will post pictures later of the work in progress.

I am going back to teaching in September and so am busy getting ideas together. I need a few new ideas as I don't have the 6 week break like I used to. I used to teach 10 weeks and have a six week break before teaching another 10 weeks. Now it is three lots of 7 weeks with one week in between which means I need to get everything done before class starts so I am going to be busy busy busy.   Fortunately I have loads of ideas which I can work on.    It's funny because before I had decided to go back, after a one year break, I couldn't come up with any ideas but once I had posted back the form saying I would start teaching again the ideas came flooding into my brain - thamk goodness.

I am also hoping to get back to the Latte quilt which hasn't moved on since I had the inner ear infection which left me dizzy and unable to concentrate for long.    Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon.

Watch this space.

A few more Piccies

2010-10-22T16:41:00.000+01:00

I thought I would post another few pictures I took last week:

I do l;ike taking these frame in frame pictures. This was at Inverue Gardens.

These three pictures were of the wrought iron gates at the gardens.

I took this with my new Olympus macro lens. I managed to get as close as I could to take this photograph. The pollen is clear to see on the bee as are the water droplets.

Return from holiday in Sutherland

2010-10-19T14:40:00.000+01:00

We have just returned from a wonderful week in Sutherland. We stayed at the lovely Kylesku hotel. The food was wonderful and the new owners and their team were very friendly.

We went walking and hill climbing and visited Inverewe gardens and other places in and around Kylesku.

Here are a few pictures from Inverewe Gardens:

Some texture:

We had such a wonderful time I think we may return in the Spring when the gardens and scenery will have a different look and the ferries will be running as I want to visit Stornoway and many of the Islands.

New from Old

2010-08-26T16:34:00.000+01:00

I have been playing around some more with EQ7. I took part in the September EQ Club Challenge where we were to design a quilt using the Ohio Star block. I can't show you what I did until it becomes available in September but it got me wondering what I could do with other blocks. I used the square in a square, snail's trail. for the following design.

If your click HERE you can download the EQ7 project file. The file is not backward compatible, i.e. it won't work with older versions of Electric Quilt.

Playing with EQ7 Kaleidoscope

2010-07-31T17:25:00.000+01:00

I have been playing some more with EQ7. The kaleidoscope option is brilliant. You can make any block you like into a kaleidoscope with the touch of a button. It's so simple you just get carried away - here are a few I did:

I have alternated the block I used to create the kaleidoscope block with the kaleidoscope block itself to let you see the difference.

Playing with EQ7

2010-07-29T15:43:00.000+01:00

I have been busy playing around with the new EQ7. I must say I am very impressed with it. I have been playing with Kaleidoscope Kreator however EQ7 has something similar which is very cool indeed.

Here is a little project I have been working on :

I shall put the project file under the projects on the blog for those of you with EQ7. Please note the EQ7 project files will not be backward compatible (you can't use them in EQ6).

Digital Photography - Lesson 8

2010-05-20T10:52:00.000+01:00

Lesson 8 was focal length. I wasn't sure if I could fulfill this lesson as I was poorly earlier that week. I think it's a middle ear infection as I was a little disorientated and sick on the Tuesday. I felt better as the week went on and managed to get to my hairdressing appointment on the Thursday.

When I was chatting with my hairdresser she mentioned a place I had visited before but hadn't been for a while - Beecraigs Park. It was a lovely day and I got some good photographs.

It was a nice walk and we plan visiting again.

Week 9 lesson is all about macro. Long time visitors of my blog will have seen my many macro shots. Unfortunately my SLR (like most without a macro lense) doesn't take good macro shots. I use my old Nikon Cookpix for macrop shots but I wasn't sure whether I could change camera for the class so I didn't participate this week. I say I didn't participate which isn't strictly true. I took some shots in the garden but didn't upload them for critique. Lesson 10 is all about file types and organising files but no photographs.

I bought a lot of tulips this year and they are all looking gorgeous., The colours are beautiful. This is the inside of one of them.

I have posted pictures of my lillies on the blog over the years this is them in their early stages - I love the water droplets.

I love these glass sweets - non fattening.    Well that's it for this Digital Photography class.    I am looking forward to building on what I have learned in the class, it was fun.

So what's next.   I still haven't managed to get back into the studio.   I have been out and bought some new fabric for a curtain for the front door (decorating is complete). It should arrive in about 3 weeks so I will have them to make.   I am still feeling a little dizzy so will wait until that passes before I start sewing.

I have signed up for another of Jessica's classes which starts in early June - it's all about composition.   I am looking forward to that.

We visited the Clyde Valley and bought lots of plants for the garden. I spent a good part of yesterday planting them out and still have more to plant out.

Thank you for dropping by.

Digital Photography - Apperture Priority

2010-05-06T16:10:00.000+01:00

Another week another Digital Photography lesson. This week was aperture priority. I was attempting to get the photographs in focus with the background out of focus (blurred).

I wanted to get out and about and take some landscapes to try some other depth of field images but I am afraid the decorating has kept me indoors (except getting into the garden to take these photos). We are all but finished the decorating - thank goodness. I have started getting things back to normal again.

Hopefully next week I can get back to my studio and get some sewing done - fingers crossed.

Digital Photography - Lesson 6

2010-05-03T12:22:00.000+01:00

Lesson 6 was all about "noise" or blur - shutter speed.   I took many pictures with different settings but when you look at them, as the one above, you see little difference between them it's only when you enlarge them in PSP or Photoshop that you see the noise.

The most difficult thing is staying still to take the photographs trying to avoid blur but I managed by sitting cross legged with my elbows resting on my knees.    This week (Lesson 7) we can use a tripod.

We are busy redecorating the hallway - upstairs and down - so we are extremely busy.   It is all coming together and I am resting here after painting all the upstair doors - first coat, second coat tomorrow.

I will be working on Lesson 7 later this week and will post the results when I have received feedback from my tutor.   She was happy with this week's images - yeah!

Thank you for dropping by.   Enjoy what is left of the holiday weekend.

Digital Photography - Lesson 5

2010-04-27T09:29:00.000+01:00

I have been busy working away on Lesson 5 of the photography course with Jessica. Lesson 5 focused (excluse the pun) on shutter speed and shutter priority. Having never before moved the dial on the camera from Auto this was a real eye opener for me. I have to say I haven't returned the camera to auto.

The assignment was to take 3 "frozen moments". This sounds easier than it was.

I spent a day at the Falls of Clyde. A 5 hour walk which was delightful. The above photograph was one of many I took that day. I had good feedback on this one and learned a lot about what I should have done! So many things to think about it's easy to forget but I guess the more I do the better I will become.

We saw nesting Peregrine Falcons which was fabulous. It was a lovely day weatherwise although one minute we had bright sunshine and the other it was overcast - great exercise on lighting a shot.

Although the swan was far away I used my 55-200 mm telephoto lens for this shot. This was taken at the Falls of Clyde much further up the river.

By the end of the week when the photographs were due to be uploaded to the group for critique I wasn't sure I had good enough photographs and so I went out and about around the Murieston trail in the hope of getting a good photograph. Just as I was about to head for home having not managed to photograph anything suitable for this lesson two ducks appeared on the river.

I really had to be very quiet and managed to get a couple of photographs that I could have used but this was the best. Two seconds later the ducks flow away and the moment was lost.

I am not sure about bonding with my camera just yet but whilst I was out and about during the week with my camera I certainly made a friend with this horse. It was very curious and literally posed for me to take photographs. I got a few but this is the best.

I didn't choose this as one of my photographs to upload for my class but I love it nevertheless.

I haven't had time to work on Lesson 6 yet. Well I did a little work but it's not very good. We are decorating the hall which is a big job as we have upstairs so the stair well is a bit tricky to do - and high - but we aare getting there with it. We still have a lot of work to do so photography will have to take a back seat for a while although hopefully I will manage to get some images for the next lesson.

I managed to get 2/3 of the 7th block of the Latte quilt stitched. This was a block that I was sure I wouldn't manage - the hooping looked too difficult. I managed it OK and when the decorating is finished - or maybe whilst we wait for the wallpaper to arrive - I will get the block completed.

More later.

Digital Photography - Lesson 4

2010-04-20T09:41:00.000+01:00

Lesson 4 on the Digital Photography class was bringing what we learned in the previous 3 lessons together.    We were to set up and photograph a still life.    Although this was very challenging I learned a lot.

Yesterday I spent the day at the Clyde Falls in New Lanark. I was trying to get some photographs of the Falls for Lesson 5.    The Peregrine Falcons are sitting on their eggs and we managed to see the mother sitting on her eggs.

The digital photography class is a wonderful class and I have already signed up for another of Jessica's classes - composition which runs immediately after this class finishes.   I think I will be taking more classes from Jessica she is such a wonderful tutor.

Digital Photography - Lessons 2 and 3

2010-04-08T14:20:00.004+01:00

Lesson Two was all about light. The sky photographs were taken in order to see how much colour there was in the sky. I took these on the same day at different places. One was taken outside my house and the other was taken when we visited the quilt shop in Jedburgh.

Although we have had some really bad weather the Saturday we visited a new to me quilt shop was a gorgeous day.

I bought new fabrics for my classes that start back in September. I already have the designs and colours planned I just needed the correct fabric. A visit to Kaleidoscope in Milgavie the week before meant I had some of the fabrics in the colours I wanted but I needed some more. I think I have all I need now.

The next two photographs were to show the difference in light. One was outside and the other was inside with incandescent light.

Lesson 3 taught us about metering. I have to say that my old camera a Nikon 501 which I used for a few years was never off Auto. I have always been afraid to move the settings in case I couldn't return things to normal. I should, of course, have read the manual as you can reset to factory settings very easily which means I can experiment without worrying too much. You would think I would have known better wouldn't you? We were to take 3 photos of two different subjects but I will just post one of each:

I received very good feedback from my tutor on this photograph of a rose. It was a flower from a beautiful bouquet I received from my Thursday afternoon students:

I am afraid this photograph doesn't do it justice but it is beautiful in real life. I am so lucky to have such wonderful and kind students.

This is the river that runs not far from my house. It was flowing quite freely on the day I took this photograph. The next day I went for my walk it was flowing much faster and was right up to the edge of the embankment - what a difference a day makes.

I am looking forward to Lesson 4. I must get back into the sewing studio and start using some of the new fabrics in the new projects.

I need to c atch up on my Latte quilt which I hope to do over this coming weekend. I will post pictures of my progress.

Thanks for dropping by.

Digital Photography

2010-03-25T09:46:00.003Z

I have just started an online Digital photography course. Week one was to use the camera just as it is with no enhancement in any software to take pictures in our garden.    These are the 5 photographs, we were allowed 5, that I submitted to Jessica, the tutor, for comment.

I have already learned so much from the course and am looking forward to the rest of the course. Details of the course I am taking HERE.

Now I just have to learn about the changes Blogger has made to the uploading of photographs.

Oh! it worked just fine when I published the post.

Last year I wanted to spend time learning something new or at least adding to what I already knew - the Latte Quilt project was that for me.    Progress is being made and I have learned so much about the new machine and software.

This year it seems it's digital photography. I didn't plan on doing this it just happened.   I was checking out Jessica's blog, as I usually do, I read over her workshops, as I usually do, only this time I decided to take one.    The time must be right.    This should be an interesting journey.

Turkey Red available as PDF

2010-03-22T17:19:00.001Z

I have made the Turkey Red quilt design available as a PDF for those who don't have Electric Quilt. Click HERE to view and download the file. I used to use Googlepages to make my tutorials etc available to readers of my blog but they have changes it to Google Sites and I am finding my way around it. I hope the link works for you.

Tote Completed

2010-03-04T10:21:00.004Z

I have finished making the tote. It has been great fun to make. I used Kaleidoscope Kreator for the four panels which I created from one of my own photographs. It's just like designing your own fabric - great fun.

Since I got my car it has been difficult for me to take my sewing machine to class. The boot isn't big enough to take my lovely fabric trolley! I have had to carry everything this past few weeks as I am teaching a get to know your sewing machine class. Norman saw this lovely trolley online and bought me one. The advantage of this is that it fold flat and can be re-assembled in a few seconds. The sewing machine doesn't fit in it, well the Bernina doesn't, but it sits nicely on top with all the cables and other stuff I have to take with me in the trolley itself.

I am off to pack the car as I am teaching class this afternoon.

The snow is still here although the roads and my drive have stayed clear.

Thank you for dropping by.

Progress with Latte Quilt and New Work

2010-02-26T13:05:00.004Z

I have completed Block 6 of the Latte Quilt. Actually I have made two of them. This is a lovely block . The flower hearts and baskets are stitched on water soluble and then appliqued to the background. This was a fun block to make.

I have been playing around with the Bernina circular tool on my new Bernina. This is the result. I am trying it on a bigger quilt but I need to practice a little more as it seems to be puckering a little too much for my liking. I have made some progress but I need to experiment a little bit more with stabilizer - I think that's the problem I am experiencing. Time will tell.

I am having a day catching up on email etc. I have a new laptop and still have some software to install. Things take a little longer than normal but change is always a little challenging! I swithered about getting a Mac thing time around as Norman loves his but I decided to stick with Windows - Windows 7 this time. What a difference from Vista which was so slow - well that's an understatement.

Thanks for dropping by.

Turkey Red

2010-01-29T11:36:00.002Z

I named one of my quilt designs Turkey Red and June asked about the source of the name.

Turkey red is a color named for the place, not the fowl. Turkey red was the name given to a red dye which had been developed from the root of the madder plant. The knowledge that madder was an effective red dye was not new. The Greeks, Libyans and Romans all used it as did the Moors. After its use was lost the Dutch rediscovered its cultivation in 1494 and for the next three hundred years were the world’s largest exporters. You can read more about Turkey Red here.

Tote Design

2010-01-27T09:49:00.004Z

I bought some lovely Japanese fabric together with a plain to match - I can't remember what project I had in mind for it now. I have decided to make a tote using the plain fabric and some of my kaleidoscope designs from Kaleidoscope Kreator. It will be a nice quick project to work on whilst my Late quilt embroidery is busy stitching.

I took the photograph I used last summer and it has worked out beautifully. It is designed in Electric Quilt by importing the images from KK3.

Two Colour Quilts

2010-01-23T10:30:00.004Z

Merry Go Round

Turkey Red

I have been playing with two colour quilts this time. I love the simplicity of the red and cream/white. If you have EQ6 just click on the images to download the project files. You can play around with as many colours as you like.

My husband bought me Jinny Beyer's new book for Christmas The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns. There are 4050 blocks in the book - and they are all in colour which is different from the other book of blocks I have Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman. I am working my way through it which is giving me the inspiration for many,many quilts.

I thought I was going to have to draft all of the blocks in EQ if I wanted to use them but I am finding that a few of them are available in Blockbase (the CD version of Barbara's book). Click the word Blockbase above to see the software which is available from Electric Quilt or Rio Designs for those of you in the UK.

Two-block Quilt

2010-01-22T14:00:00.003Z

I have been playing in EQ6 with two block quilt designs. Here is one of them. You can download the EQ6 project file by clicking on the image. Enjoy.

Kaleidoscope Kreator Quilt

2010-01-03T13:32:00.002Z

I have been busy playing around with EQ6 (Electric Quilt V6) and Kaleidoscope Kreator. Santa brought me the V3 upgrade for Christmas. I imported the images from KK to EQ and designed this quilt. I plan on playing some more and will post the results. You can get my EQ6 project file by clicking here.

Latte Blocks 3 and 4

2010-01-02T11:50:00.003Z

I have managed to get another four Latte Quilt blocks made. The photographs aren't great as I have them stacked on top of each other and you can see the shadow of the blocks underneath but I think you can see what I have been busy with.

I have to say I am learning so much from making this quilt and I am glad I started it. I now have eight blocks made (two of each of the four designs). I think it's time to decide which of the blocks I want to make another two of. Whilst some are quicker and a little easier to make and stitch I think I will make another two of the Parasole block that I made earlier. I really like that block and although it takes a little longer to stitch it will be worth it in the end. I could take the simpler/quicker option and make an easier block but I would regret it in the end.

We have had more snow today - I wonder when it will end, soon I hope.

Take care if you are out and about. Our roads haven't been gritted and the pavements are like sheets of ice - we have kept ours cleared as my back will testify. If only everyone did theirs then things would be much better especially for the elderly and young children but no they don't all clear their paths or their drives!

Someone decided it was a good idea to use our drive to turn around on New Years Eve and what a job we had getting the compacted snow from their wheel tracks away the following day - funny how they didn't think of clearing their own! Grrrrrrrrr!!!!

New Years Eve .......

2009-12-31T13:53:00.003Z

I thought I would share some photographs I took on Xmas Eve. We have had snow every day now for two weeks, a couple of inches or more each day. Keeping the drive clear has been a major task.

The novelty has worn off and I just want it to go now. As I sit here writing it has started again covering all the clearing I did this morning. The trouble now is finding a place to put all the snow we move from the drive and pavement!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year however you may be celebrating it.

Have a Lovely Christmas

2009-12-19T12:09:00.002Z

A very happy Christmas to all the visitors to my blog. Thank you to the people at Electric Quilt for the above animation which is available for download from their blog here.

New Work

2009-10-29T11:04:00.004Z

We have both beel full of cold for the past couple of weeks but I have managed to get some work done in the studio.

I finished off the two parasol blocks by adding little flowers around the centre and outside embroidered stitches and also 3D flowers on the parasols and centre design.

I have also completed two of the Royal Bluebell block, Block 2 in the design. I had some problems with some of the embroidered stitches but I bought a new foot 34C and all was well.

I am really enjoying working with the Bernina 730. I made this stocking. The Poinsettia design is lovely to stitch.
This redwork santa was a joy to stitch. The lace cuff was stitched using water soluble.

The above two snowmen stockings were appliqued in the hoop.
Just for fun a little fabric cupcake. I will be busy with my third block from the Latte quilt and will post pictures when they (I am making two) are finished.

Thank you for dropping by.

Beavering Away

2009-09-22T09:48:00.004+01:00

I have been busy working on some of my own work but also getting ready for the start of my classes at Currie High School. The taster sessions went well with the Monday session full to overflowing, what a buzz, and the Thursday class was quiet but I enjoyed it.

On the Monday one of my students mentioned she would like to make a Christmas table runner and so I made this one this week, I hope she likes it, it certainly went down well on Thursday and so I shall carry on and layer and quilt it.

I bought the Latte Quilt book more years ago than I care to admit. It was about the time I bought my Bernina 180 with Artista V1 software and I thought at the time it would be a good project to really get to know my machine and software. I read a lot of reports about there being errors in the book so being new to machine embroidery I thought I may be biting off more than I could chew and so left it for another day.

In the meantime I was busy with City & Guilds courses and the Judging course altogether 6 years of learning and of course all of my classes.

Earlier this year I bought a Bernina 730 and Artista V5 software. I was also looking for a new challenge. What better way to learn the new machine and software than to make the Latte Quilt. I already had the fabric and book and so this month I embarked on making the quilt.

This is the first block, the Parasol Block. I am working with a lovely lady called Serena who teaches the Latte Quilt online. The class will run for a year and I will post my progress.

I am going to make one more of these blocks this week as I await Lesson 2 at the beginning of October - I can't wait.

I have already learned so much about my new machine and the new software and am looking forward to learning so much more over the coming year.

EQ6 - A Twist on Tradition

2009-08-30T10:36:00.003+01:00

For September's EQ6 project I have been playing around with traditional blocks. I removed some lines and added some curves. Some work well some are not quite so good but it has been a lot of fun and I am sure I could come up with even more interesting blocks if I had more time.

I am offering the project file showing the blocks in their various stages of change to let EQ users see what I have been doing. You can download the project file from HERE. I hope you enjoy it and try to create some of your own designs from traditional or non traditional blocks for that matter.

Today I must go and get my packs ready for the two taster sessions that are being run at Currie High School in a fortnight.

Enjoy your day and thank you for dropping by.

Congratulations Mike Perham

2009-08-27T10:19:00.002+01:00

Huge congratulations to Mike Perham for becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single handedly - he's just 17 years old.

What an amazing 9 months it has been following young Mike on his personal challenge in Totallymoney.com. He is one very brave and talented young man. He stood up to every challenge he faced and he faced many.

Well done Mike.

Back from Birmingham

2009-08-26T14:26:00.004+01:00

I am back home again. Norman and I spent a week in Birmingham. I was judging at the Festival of Quilts - and survived! If you were to believe everything you are told about judging such a show you would be forgiven for wondering if you would survive unscathed. Well, yes you can. Before going I wondered if I should perhaps train as though I were undertaking the London marathon. Since I walk 6 miles most days I was sure that would be enough "training".

It was great to meet some of my fellow students from the Judging course again and other fellow judges. It was a busy day with so many quilts to judge. I did start a little slowly but was gently prompted by my "angel" and I soon caught up. After lunch we had more quilts to judge. It was interesting, enjoyable and a lot of fun.

We went off to Oxford for a couple of days and spent a day wandering around Birmingham.

As someone who loves Morse we visited some of the places where the series was filmed which took us to places we had never visited before. We had a drink in the Turf Tavern, it was small and cosy. We also visited some of the colleges.

The Botanical gardens were lovely. Thankfully the weather was gorgeous and we had a lovely time.

Now it's time to get back into the studio. Will post pictures of work in progress later.

Inspiration

2009-08-13T15:59:00.004+01:00

Yesterday we had a trip to Heatherslaw Mill. It is a lovely spot and it's so nice to see a working mill. We have been before but I wanted to buy some of their flour, it's lovely for bread making. This is the river whose energy powers the mill.

As you can see someone else has been inspired by the mill workings.

I thought this was a lovely plaque - I was surprised to see the thistle! Mind you I wasn't as surprised as I was later in the day when we visited Rosslyn Chapel (they filmed part of The Davinci Code there) to see carvings of corn. They started building the chapel in 1446. No photography was allowed and the outside is covered at the moment due to renovation but it was a lovely place.

The wheels of the water mill I could certainly see becoming a quilt.

Both visits provided much inspiration.

This is a block from a pattern called French Roses.

It's raw edge applique. I have made 4 blocks. I thought I might put purple sashing but it looks better without.
I am currently auditional for the borders and think I might stick with this. I need to layer and quilt it then give it a couple of washes to fray the edges of the flowers in order to get the full effect. I will post a picture once it has been washed and frayed.

I have another little project to try and will post pictures in the next day or two.

Quilt top finished

2009-08-11T15:45:00.003+01:00

I finished the quilt top today. It went together very well. I took some of yesterdays blocks apart as some of the points weren't quite right. I decided to change the design yet again. As I was putting it together I played around with the blocks and I liked the way they looked in this design.

I just need to give it a good press then layer and quilt it. I shall leave it for a little while as I decide show best to quilt it. I think a little free motion would work well. Hmmmm!

Now I must get to work on the "leaves" quilt and get some kits together for my taster sessions as Currie Community High School in September. I have plenty of time but it's good to get them organised well in advance.

What's on the Design Wall ......

2009-08-10T14:03:00.003+01:00

I have been working with half rectangle triangles for this past little while - in Electric Quilt - I thought I would try this pattern from Margaret Miller - she has a couple of books using half rectangle triangles (was going to use the three letter acronym HRT but thought better of it!)

The above pattern was a project on the Quilt Show. I really enjoyed working through it, although I added my own "twist", and now that I see how easily they go together using Margaret's templates I shall get busy working through my own designs once I have completed the piecing together of this quilt.

Chim Chiminey, Chim Chiminey .......

2009-08-09T13:49:00.003+01:00

Chim, Chim, Cher -roo (or something like that).

My vision is complete! I envisioned the bench area with a Chiminea and here it is. Of course we had to light it to get the full effect but it might have been better in the evening but I couldn't wait!

I am busy in the studio working on my class projects as September is looming ever closer.

There will be an open week for all the adult education classes that Currie Community High School, Edinburgh are offering. They start from 14-17th September. My Patchwork & Quilting taster sessions are Monday 14 September 2pm - 4pm and Thursday 17 September 2pm - 4pm. I will have a display of some of the work I teach in class and I will also be offering a short hands on class on how to make fabric postcards - I will bring everything you need to make a start on the front of the fabric postcards and you can easily finish them at home.

If you would like to drop in you will be made very welcome.

Term dates/times for the new session are as follows:

Term 1 - 21 September 2009 - 16 November 2009
Term 2 - 23 November 2009 - 25 January 2009
Term 3 - 1 February 2010 - 29 March 2010

There is a 4th term but I don't teach after April (I like having the summer to recharge my batteries and work on new ideas for the next term).

If you are interested in coming to one of my classes you can call 0131 449 5922 to enrol.

Autumn Leaves

2009-08-06T11:05:00.005+01:00

I have been busy designing in EQ6. I wanted to play with the import for tracing facility. Since I have used leaves extensively in my work since I did my City & Guilds Part 2 work I thought I would use them for this design.

I have been busy taking photographs of leaves and found some nice onces online to trace. I started a new applique block using the patchdraw option and opened the leaf image.

Using the freehand tool I roughly drew around the leaf as you can see from the above picture.

You can turn the image off/on to see how your applique leaf is going to look by clicking on the hide/show image for tracing on the edit object toolbar. This leaf clearly needed some additional work, which is very easy to do.

Using the shape tool, click on one of the lines you want to edit and a window will open with additional options. The one I use most is ADD. You can add new nodes which gives you much more scope to improve your design. You can try as many as you like and delete some if you don't want them. You can play around with the other options as well to enhance your applique design.

As you can see the leaf is much better although I think I could improve it but I shall leave it as it is for now.

By clicking on the colour tab you can recolour your design.

Here is the final design. I have used the custom set layout to design this quilt as I wanted the blocks to vary in size.

I am off to play some more with the design. If you would like to download the project file just click HERE.

Photography Today

2009-07-26T12:04:00.008+01:00

I have just spent a little while in the garden with my camera. It's nice just to snap away in the hope of getting at least one good image. The squirrel visits every day and I managed to get a couple of pictures before it disappeared.

The dove potters about the garden most days as well.

Ism't this little bird just cute? I took these with a long lens. I have fed the birds throughout the year, I normally stop in the Spring but we were asked to continue feeding them and so I have.

I spent a while laying some hexagonal paving slabs under the bench as the dampness from the grass would, I think, have reduced the life of the bench over time. Norman gave it three coats of a wax like paint to preserve it but I thought it best to give it a better base - I just knew I would do this - laying the grass was a bad idea I just thought it would look better but this is OK I think.

I ordered 15 strawberry plants for Norman which arrived on Thursday so we went and bought a nice pot for them. I suspect it's too late for strawbs this year but they last about 4 or 5 years so we can expect some nice strawbs next year. I did order them about a month ago but had to chase them up as they hadn't arrived.

My potatoes arrived this week as well. I am hoping to have some new potatoes at Christmas - that's the plan! Just this morning I received a lovely email from the potato merchant telling me how I should plant them. It was just as well as I had planned on leaving them aside to chit - apparently they don't need it and I can plant them now.
We have had some lovely courgettes this year, my first attempt at growing them but they seem to be easy to grow. As you can see we have plenty more to come.

I spent a lovely afternoon in the studio yesterday. I managed to get some backgrounds done using Markal paintsticks. I will poist some piccies later as I hope to get some more work done on them today.

The weather was lovely and we had a BBQ in the early evening. I tried some new to me sauce on the pork chops Reggae sauce, it was gorgeous. You can read about it HERE.

It's raining here so I might just play in the studio. Thanks for dropping by.

Kaleidoscope Quilt Finished

2009-07-22T13:56:00.004+01:00

I have quilted and bound my Kaleidoscope quilt. Now it's time to move on to another project.

EQ6 New Project for July

2009-07-19T15:00:00.004+01:00

This month I have been playing with one block but using different layouts. Just changing some of the colours can make a dramatic difference. Click on the image to download the project file for EQ6.

Back in the Studio

2009-07-18T10:55:00.005+01:00

As Norman and I sat in the garden having coffee the other day I said to him you know what would be nice in that border, a bench he said. How spooky is that? Anyway we discussed the idea and decided we would get a teak bench. We both searched the internet looking for inspiration and found what we thought would be a good bench to buy - cost somewhere around £350.

I needed to prepare the area, change it from being a border to and area where a bench could sit. We visited Dobies garden centre last week and we almost bought an arbour instead of a bench but once home in the cool light of day, and with so much in the garden already, I felt an arbour would be too much and a lot of work to keep looking good with all that wood - especially in our climate. Anyway we decided against it.

We went down to B&Q on Wednesday looking for compost and other bits and pieces never thinking we would pick up a bench there but we did. It's beautiful, teak and just the right size and on offer for just over £150. We packed our purchases and drove home so that Norman could put the trailer on the car (a Mazda Rx8 or MX5 just won't carry much) and we went back to get the bench.

After a bit of work removing and repositioning plants, laying some new turf and treating the bench it was in place in it's new home.

It's really nice and is in such a beautiful spot especially in the evening. Once I pack away the table and chairs and cover them it's sometimes too much of a hassle to uncover them if we decide to sit out with a glass of wine in the evening - now we can with no hassle - perhaps just taking the cover off as it will keep it looking good for longer especially after the amount of rain we have had these past few days - it looks like we will have more rain today.

Although we dropped into the garden centre last week the reason for the visit was so that I could get some fabric for a new project I am about to start. I love going to Kaleidoscope, they have such a wonderful selection of fabrics and the books they have has to be seen to be believed.

This is the fabric for my half square rectangle project.

This collection is for another leaf design I plan on doing using markal paint stick. I have other fabrics similar to these but I needed some additional ones.

I bought Jan Krentz Lone Star Quilts and Beyond book some years ago and have loved teaching from it. I had the privilege of meeting Jan when I attended the C&T Teachers Seminar in Moraga, California a few years back. She had just designed her first range of fabrics which I got a preview of. I couldn't resist this new one of Jan's when I saw it on Amazon.

I have a fascination with numbers and so when I saw this at Costco I just had to have it. It's such fun reading about numbers and their uses.

Patsy Thomson has a new DVD out (a double one). Those who have followed my blog will know I have worked through Patsy's other DVDs and loved doing so. I have watched the DVDs and once I have my class samples worked through my treat will be to work through these DVDs - I can't wait. I bought the software from Rio Designs, Lawrence is such a wonderful man and so very helpful and normally delivery is next day.

Norman was looking to buy me a new book at Kaleidoscope but with the collection of books I have it was hard to find something new so he bought me the Dear Hannah software I bought the book some years ago when it first appeared. It is written by Brenda Papadakis who wrote the Dear Jane book. I love having the software as I can resize the blocks and make some changes to personalize them.
Whilst browsing Rio Designs website I saw Amy Butler software and thought I would try it. It's something different for me but I thought the projects would be interesting. Unfortunately it's not for me but you live and learn.
The weather was dreadful yesterday and so I wasn't tempted into the garden so instead I went into the studio. I made this quilt top earlier this year and thought it was time it was finished. I added the border and plan on layering and quilting it over the next few days.

I wasn't sure what kind of border to add but I think what I have done works well.

Many thanks for dropping by.

A Splash of Colour and Texture

2009-07-11T10:12:00.009+01:00

I haven't had much time to sew these past few months but I have spent a while in the garden as the weather has been gorgeous this past little while. Sometimes things in life stop you in your tracks and you refocus which is what I have been doing. Just taking time to do the important things in life and the things I enjoy. One of my blogging friends died suddenly in April and it has come as such a shock - she was in her late 40s and left a little 7 year old daughter.

Earlier this year I planted some potatoes and other veggies. I tried them last year with some success so it was time to expand on that this year. With Norman's workshop and my studio in the garden - together with the conservatory - we have a small space left for flowers and little space for veggies. However, behind my studio there is a small sheltered unused space. The above picture is my wet studio (log cabin).

You would never believe that down this little path - and believe me it's little - you would find vegetables growing would you?
I bought two plastic green houses and started off some of my seeds in there in the Spring. Today they house tomato plants. One has plants I bought and the other are tomato plants I grew from seed. I understand they are difficult to grow from seed but as you can see I had some success - certainly enough for us. I think I will buy a taller green house for them next year as I think they are outgrowing their little home - I may do that next week actually and give these plants the benefit of some more space now that I know it works OK in this "secret garden".
I grew some potatoes, earlies, mid and late season which I had some success with. I have ordered some seed potatoes in the hope to be able to pick my own at Christmas time but rather than buy them from a garden centre I have sent to a seed potato merchant instead (I think I may have told you that before). Anyway in the bags, after having replaced the compost, I have replanted sweetcorn which is coming along nicely.
I have a couple of grow bags, one with beetroot and another with lettuce. We have eaten all the radish. They were gorgeous with much more flavour than shop bought ones.
Norman loves strawberries, I am allergic to them and so I have a pot of strawbs for him which are slowly coming along. I have ordered 15 plants so that he can at least have a nice bowl full rather than one or two at a time.
The courgettes are coming along nicely as you can see. I am going to use the flowers in a tempura as I understand they are delicious cooked. I must keep an eye on the courgettes so they don't get too big as they are better eaten small - about 4 inches I think they should be.
This is feverfew, I just love the daisy like flowers. I started a new herb pot with some lovely herbs. There is nothing like cooking and using home grown veg and herbs.
The garden is so colourful and with such a variety of flowers. The aquilega are gorgeous, so delicate and colourful.
The lillies are coming along nicely and give such a wonderful feast of colour, this is just a small section of the many I have growing next to the conservatory. They just pop their heads up over the window sill so we can enjoy them from inside and out.
I love petunias and they come in a variety of colour. This one is particularly lovely.
I have a few new plants this year and this is one of them
Norman's favourite flower fuschia. I bought four different varieties one of which is a hardy whose colours are gorgeous (may post a picture of that in another post).

This is a new plant to the garden. I bought three of them from Bakkers (mail order). It's called Brugmanisa and grows quite big so I am restricting their size by keeping them in pots. That's something else I did this year I bought lots of lovely new pots. Over the years I have bought many pots but they never last through the winter with the cold frosts. Last year I bought some glazed ones and they survived the winter so I bought more of them this year. They are lovely and add colour and height to the garden. Brugmansia are poisonous and are used for Shamanic intoxication however it can kill. I won't be eating these!

I am trying some outdoor coleus for colour and texture. They seem to be doing well.

The pots are a good way to soften the steps down from the conservatory and add a lot of colour. I have two large pots of lavender which give the conservatory a lovely scent and keeps the midgies at bay.
I have added some more texture with these cordyline - the tall dark spiky plant in the above picture. I couldn't resist these two little watering cans. They add a little fun and colour to the front of my studio.
Here's another cordyline, isn't the colour just beautiful?

This is a miniature chrysanthemum it's just adorable. I have it in yellow which adds a splash of brightness to the border.
Another new plant, two of them actually, added this year are hydrangeas. They are gorgeous but I think I will have to over winter them in the garage - hence the reason why they are in pots. I have had one growing in the front garden for about 5 years and each year it grows lovely leaves but no flowers. I have tried all sorts of feeds to no avail. It is situated where it should be just fine but nope - maybe next year it will bloom.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the fruits of my labour. The colour and texture are an inspiration. I have started a journal of the gardening I have done this year as a record to help me next year when I will try some different and exotic plants.

Isn't nature wonderful?

A song about Susan Boyle's Cat

2009-06-13T17:15:00.001+01:00

As a cat lover I just loved this:

June EQ Kaleidoscope Lesson

2009-06-06T07:40:00.002+01:00

Flowers in June

I don't know where the time went yesterday. I started playing with Andrea's June Kaleidoscope lesson and before I knew it, it was dinner time. Norman made dinner as he saw how engrossed I was using EQ - how lucky am I?

I haven't used the fussy cut tool since I bought EQ6 and even then I just spent a few minutes with it. Having worked through the June lesson I just couldn't stop playing with it. It's fantastic. The above design is one of many I have been playing with. If you would like a copy of the EQ6 project file just click on the design.

In the 30 years I have been using computers and various software both professional and those I have used for my hobbies I have never seen the level of support as that given by Electric Quilt. I have used every piece of quilting software but it's the support given by the wonderful people at EQ that make it, for me, the best. Nothing is too much for them. Since I bought EQ1 many years ago the support has just got better. I have no affilliation to EQ but as I was wokding with it again yesterday it struck me how lucky I was to have these lessons which help me, and my students, get the best out of this software.

As well as designing quilts, which is wonderful and gives me great ideas for projects I also use it for handouts for my students. If someone wants to try a new design idea I can just design it for them, if they don't have EQ or are new to it, and pass it on to them either as a project file or a print out. As a teacher it is a tool I would not be without. My thanks to all those at Electric Quilt who work so hard to bring us the wonderful lessons and ideas that help make working with EQ so good. It's very seldom you will see me endorse a product but I just felt I had to say publicly what I feel. Check out the Electric Quilt website which has recently had a makeover.

May Kaleidoscope Lesson in EQ6

2009-06-05T13:35:00.003+01:00

I'm back from a nice break. No fibre art at all just relaxing and enjoying life. Just what's needed sometimes.

I am catching up on the Kaleidoscope lessons by Andrea at Electric Quilt. May was all about colour. I love playing with colour and so this was fun. We started with 5 versions of four different blocks, created a completely new colour palette from scratch and then coloured the blocks. I didn't follow Andrea's instructions to the letter but rather just played with colour. The results are above and if you want to play then you can click on the image and download my project file for EQ6. Better still go to the Electric Quilt website and follow along with Andrea's fabulous lessons HERE.

Now I am off to do June's lesson.

April EQ6 Project File

2009-04-22T10:57:00.003+01:00

April Joy

The weather has been lovely this past couple of weeks and with no teaching commitments I have been busy enjoying doing things I never seen to have time to do when I am teaching.

The garden is looking good and almost all of the plants we bought have been planted out. The veggies are coming along nicely and it's fun tending to them.

I am playing with new half square rectangle designs and this is one of them. If you have EQ6 you can download it HERE.

We had our first BBQ the other day and it looks as though we will be able to eat out in the garden again today - I love cooking outside.

At the end of last week Norman and I emptied my wet studio (the log cabin) and gave it a good Spring clean. He said it was like the Tardis as he couldn't believe just how much stuff I managed to store in there. It's looking good and more importantly spider free! I didn't use it much over the winter so a couple of spiders had set up home in there, I am such a coward when it comes to spiders.

I have signed up for this round of Art2mail postcards, just over 20 which is more manageable than the 40+ from previous years, so I hope to get back into the studio and start playing again with some new ideas that have been formulating in my mind. A bit more art quilt related rather than the more traditional work that I have been busy with this past few months. It's lvoely to be able to to both and I enjoy them equally.

I will post some pictures when I get started on my postcards.

My Quilt Judging Certificate arrived a week or two ago - I didn't manage to get to Wales to receive it in person from the Quilters Guild of the British Isles as I had to add an extra week onto my classes because I missed a couple of days because of the snow earlier in the year. I have been asked to judge two quilt shows this year which is very exciting.

I am off to do some more gardening, the weather is gorgeous here today.

Thank you for dropping by.

6th Kaleidoscope Lesson

2009-03-25T11:50:00.004Z

I have been busy working on Andrea's Kaleidoscope Lesson 6. It was fun and if you have EQ and would like the project file CLICK HERE.

March EQ Project File

2009-03-24T10:13:00.004Z

I am playing around with half rectangle triangles for a future class project for my September classes. I am making one of my project files available for download. Here is the March Electric Quilt (EQ) project file. To download the project file just click on the image. To save searching for it later there is a link on the left hand side of this blog entitled
March 2009 under project files.

I am still busy working away on a few things and of course spending time with the machine embroidery which I am enjoying. I need to order some stabilizer as I have run out. I was advised about one to buy but I can't find it in the UK, I can't remember it's name at the moment, Floriani I think it might be called. I may need to order it from the US just to try it out. I have many stabilizers but this one is new to me.

I have just been out watering my little vegetable area. It's like a secret garden. There is a nice area behind my studio outside which is sheltered and warm where I am growing veggies. It's nicely tucked away and makes good use of what would be wasted space.
This is the potato kit I am using. It has three varieties and comes with three bags to grow them in you just add compost. I had planted two varieties of lettuce and planted some peas. I am going to try some carrots and peppers as well. It's just a lot of fun.

Time for a coffee. Thanks for dropping by.

3 D Patchwork and Evolon Journal

2009-03-21T15:48:00.003Z

I was looking through my studios for a journal because I wanted to record my adventures with my new sewing machine and software. I came across this journal that I made way back in 2007. I wrote an article for the second edition of Fibre and Stitch and this was one of the things I made for that article. I had forgotten all about it. It uses lots of different techniques. The cover is made from Evolon which has been painted, embossed and many other techniques as have the beads. The spine is made from Punchinella (sequin waste). I thoroughly enjoyed making it and will enjoy filling it with machine embroidery samples and my notes.
I have another two more weeks to teach my classes. We have had a busy term with lots of different techniques. I thought I would teach something a little different for the next couple of weeks three dimensional puzzle balls. I made this one this morning. I think the next one I make I will match the thread to the fabric. It is hand stitched and I thought I would use a grey thread but you can see it. It was fine before I filled it. This will certainly be something a little different for my students. I hope they enjoy it. I might have time to make another one using different shapes - we shall see.

Working away

2009-03-20T15:41:00.003Z

Wow! Life has been pretty hectic. The past few days have been gorgeous here which means I have spent a lot of time getting the garden tidy. It is looking good. We bought some new hanging baskets with lovely spring flowers which has added some colour to the front of the house. The daffodils at the back are almost in bloom, they are a bit in the shade so are taking a little longer to bloom. I have planted three types of potatoes, two different varieties of lettuce and tidied up my herb pots.

I have been busy learning my new Artista software and the new Bernina 730 machine. Of course this meant buying new thread - this is just a small selection of what I bought. Norman and I spent a lovely day in Edinburgh. He got some new music books - he's getting to grips with his new Yamaha keyboard and it sounds lovely, he plays so well.

I needed some new USB sticks so that I can transfer embroidery designs to the 730 - I can download straight from the laptop but since I have thousands of embroidery designs on there I thought it would be simpler to use USB sticks. Aren't they colourful. He gets them, as well as printer cartridges from 7dayshop. They are cheaper than anywhere else and delivery is usually next day.

This past week I have been teaching Stack 'n' Whack quilts in my classes. This was unplanned but one of my students wanted to know how to do it. Although I had two of Bethany Reynolds books I hadn't tried the technique. I had sufficient Jinny Beyer border fabric and so I made some blocks from that. It was a lot of fun. I think I may be hooked and want to try other shapes (I demonstrated a block using a 60 degree diamond cut in half to form a triangle) and so I popped into Kaleidoscope and bought a few metres of this lovely Japanese design fabric together with a plain for the background - I think this will look gorgeous together. I may teach this as a project fopr next term (September).

I am busy trying out colours and designs on the 730. As well as buying threads from David Drummond I also bought a mega hoop which can be used on the 730. The sewing machine and the new software means a huge learning curve for me. Every step I take I envounter yet another hurdle but I am getting there slowly and surely. The above design is one third of a design from the Latte Quilt book. This is just a practice piece as I haven't rehooped before. I have yet to decide on the colours for the finished quilt - purples, greens, reds or perhaps I will stick to the original latte colours, I am still unsure.

Kaleidoscope Challenge and new work

2009-02-28T14:35:00.003Z

Part 5 of the Kaleidoscope challenge by Andrea on the Electric Quilt website was poppies. Well mine are not poppies but they are supposed to be flowers. Although I used Andrea's technique I used different blocks and coloured them a little differently to give them a different shape. If you would like to see my EQ6 project file you can get it HERE.

One of my students brought in a quilt she had been working on called square dance. I had a template for what I thought was the same quilt but it was something else designed by Ami Simms and not the design I saw on Thursday. Everyone wanted to know how it was done so today I set about trying to replicate the design. I knew it used 6" squares and so I pieced some together. I brought this lovely fabric back home from my trip to the USA last year. Working with it brought back lovely memories of my time in Chicago and all the other places we visited. So much so we are planning another trip this year to the US but I am not sure where yet. We are checking flights at the moment. There's a quilt show in Long Beach California but I am not sure I want to go there - we shall see.

On the design wall today:

I added borders - it was just luck that I had enough white on white fabric for the borders! I drafted a little template and started cutting up my pieced quilt. I wasn't sure if the squares had to go in some kind of order so I just hoped for the best.

Here it is - it worked just fine - talk about flying by the seat of your pants! I am going to call this quilt "Sewing to Music" - one of the fabrics has a musical theme and another has sewing notions on it and as I always have music on in the studio as I work (except when calculating the maths - I need quiet for that) I thought that would be a good name. Suitable don't you think?

I shall leave it as it is, half finished, so that I can demonstrate how it's done next week in my two classes. There are some small squares left over after cutting that might be nice as a border but I won't know if it will look right until I get the quilt top finished. I can see I have put two dark fabrics together (which I was sure I had avoided) which gives a dark area on the quilt. Perhaps I need to think about the original layout a little more hmmm!

The rain has just stopped so I think I may go for my walk. It's good thinking time as well as good exercise.

Have a wonderful day and thank you for dropping by.

Quilt top Finished

2009-02-22T16:45:00.002Z

This is how the design wall is looking today. I haven't made any further progress with "Circumnavigation" life just keeps getting in the way. However, Mike Perham stopped in South Africa for a week or two to have some work carried out on his boat so I still have time to get the quilt finished before he completes his challenge.

I did however spend a little while in the studio this afternoon and managed to get this quilt top finished. It took a bit of time piecing it together but it's done now. I shall leave it on the design wall for a little while until I decide what to do about the border design. I have an idea already but shall have a little think before I rush in. It's always good to have a little thinking time.

As I look at this quilt I see things which I could have done better and so I may well make another one like this but a little different. It has certainly got my creative juices flowing which is not a bad thing.

Sewing is difficult at the moment as I almost sliced the top of my thumb off when I was cutting bread for the birds. It's still a little tender and I have to be careful not to catch it on anything otherwise I hit the roof :))

Thank you for dropping by.

Progress and a new design

2009-02-08T15:32:00.003Z

It was icy here again this morning and the snow hasn't gone although the roads have been gritted thank goodness.

The windows in the conservatory had fascinating icy designs on them before the heating came on and they were soon gone.

I have pieced together two quarters of the quilt on my design wall. It is going together relatively easily I have to say.

I completed Lesson 4 from Andrea on the Electric Quilt website. It was creating a foundation pieced block which I did from scratch. Here is the final quilt design. You can download the Electric Quilt Project file here.

I am off to pack my car for class tomorrow and then I am going to play with EQ6 again as I am trying to design a quilt using hexagons - not the easiest thing to do in EQ but I am getting there - slowly but surely.

Bridget Riley

2009-02-06T10:08:00.004Z

After reading the comment from Babs I was curious as to who Bridget Riley was. I googled her name and WOW! Here's a link to some images of Bridget Riley's work. I hadn't seen her work before but can now understand why Babs mentioned her. I have been drawn to work like Bridget's for many years, it keeps cropping up in my work. My very early City & Guilds work was very much based on designs like these.

Thank you Babs you have introduced me to an artist I wasn't aware of.

Here are some of my very early work :

None of these were easy to piece but I loved the challenge. My maths folder for C&G was full of these type of designs each one more challenging than the next.

I started piecing the work on my design wall. It seems to be going together very well, I have probably spoken too soon.

New Year Star

2009-02-05T11:43:00.003Z

I have been busy designing in Electric Quilt. One of my students was asking about a quilt design and I think I may have cracked it. Although it looks complicated it can be pieces using strip piecing - a bit like a Lone Star quilt. It's still snowing here. You would never have believed that I had cleared the drive this morning. I may try making the above quilt in miniature.

On the design wall...

2009-02-05T10:01:00.003Z

I am busy with this quilt. It is currently on the design wall and I have started piecing it together.It's snowing here again today. Having cleared the drive it has half an inch of snow on it already this morning and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon.

What a difference a day makes!

2009-02-02T11:19:00.002Z

Early yesterday morning I went out with my camera and took some photographs of a wonderful sky. It lasted for a little more than 5 minutes and I am so glad I didn't miss capturing it.

And this morning......

this is what the garden was like. It is still snowing and much deeper than earlier this morning. My "wet" studio looks lovely in the snow with it's outside lights on.

I am off to make a nice pot of lentil soup - just the thing for a day like this. Actually I have made lots of different soups over the past little while and they have all been gorgeous - at least my DH Norman thinks so!

Class has been cancelled today. Over the past 7 years of teaching at Currie High School this is only my third cancellation - twice this term! Hopefully the snow will have cleared by Thursday for the next class.

Kaleidoscope lesson

2009-01-31T14:56:00.003Z

I bought Andrea's Kaleidoscope collection for Electric Quilt and am busy following her tutorials.

This is the block we created. It's good to really understand how foundation pieced blocks are designed and created. Despite having used EQ for many years I still learn new things.

Here's the quilt I designed from the block. Roll on March for the next lesson!

February EQ6 Design for Download

2009-01-31T10:07:00.004Z

Here is my EQ6 freebie for February. Click on the image to download the project file. The freebies are listed and can be downloaded from the left hand side of my blog.

French Braid Table Runner

2009-01-26T10:25:00.005Z

I have been busy piecing a French Braid table runner to teach in class today. I used 8 fabrics for the table runner and will layer and quilt it later this week once my students see how it is pieced.

I am off to pack my things for class and make sure I have all the samples I need for today.

Trip Around the World

2009-01-19T16:27:00.003Z

One of my new students came into class last week with a book showing a Trip Around the World quilt that she wanted to make. I have to say the instructions were more than a little convoluted and I was sure there was an easier way to make it. I was thinking bargello.

I made a trip around the world quilt in 1999 although because I used signature squares I didn't strip piece that particular quilt.

Virtual Quilt Around the World (1999)

This quilt was made as part of a Millenium challenge where I swapped 3 1/2" squares and a signature square with quilters from around the world. This was made from the remaining squares from the first quilt I made and all the signature squares as I wanted to preserve the signatures this quilt is not used.

I haven't found clear instructions for this technique and so I have set about writing some myself.

In order to properly teach the technique I have a large quilt in various stages of completion. One quarter of the finished quilt is shown above. I used 4" squares from fabrics from my stash and since I am currently working on my own design of the Circumnavigation quilt I thought I would keep the same theme of Mike Perhams challenge and so I used blues and greens in this Trip Around the World quilt.
I wanted to show my students the completed quilt design without having to make a second large quilt and so, using the same selection of fabrics in the same layout as the larger quilt I set about making a miniature version. The squares in this quilt are 1" (one inch). I just have to put borders on it, quilt and bind it. I started these on Sunday afternoon, they are just so quick and easy to make. I have half the full sized quilt complete, a quarter with the strips joined and ready for cutting with the final quarter still in strips. It should make for a nice little extra project for my students this term.

Curcumnavigation Quilt is moving along nicely

2009-01-17T12:57:00.002Z

My quilt "Circumnavigation" is moving along nicely. My classes are in progress at the moment so my time in the studio to spend on my own work is limited. The above picture is what the finished quilt will look like. I designed it in Electric Quilt V6.

The fabric colours haven't photographed too well. They are in fact richer in real life than they appear in the above image. I hope to get started on the blocks this week.

Salt and Pepper

2009-01-09T12:55:00.002Z

I placed an order from Seasoned Pioneers for some sauces and herb and they arrived the next day - yesterday. I couldn't resist this salt. It's PINK.

It is hand mined from the Himalayan mountains and comes from ancient seas 250 million years old, imagine that! It not only looks gorgeous but it tastes lovely too.

I just love gadgets and have them everywhere from studio to kitchen. This is a tiny little marble pestle and mortar which is great for crushing just a few spices as they would get lost in the larger one. These peppercorns have a nice rich nutty flavour. I crushed them to put in my lamb which is in the oven already all timed and will be ready later today - now I can go off for my walk and then spend some time in the studio again this afternoon. I still haven't found the Thermore! Oh! well I need to get things ready for teaching class on Monday.

Free Motion Quilting - Pfaff Grand Quilter

2009-01-09T11:33:00.005Z

I found it quite difficult to manage the French Braid quilt on the Bernina. I know it will get easier with practice however when I was in Bristol a couple of years ago I saw a Pfaff Grand Quilter being demonstrated. When I came home I bought one.

I did have a practice with it when I got it home but it was quite different to stitch with compared to the other machines I have and so I thought I would get back to it when I had more FMQ experience. I have been so busy with other things, like the Judging course and my C&G course in Creative Computing, that I never did get back to the Grand Quilter. I was feeling happy enough with my progress on the Bernina and I thought it might be better if I spent time practicing on the Grand Quilter and so I set it up a couple of days ago. It took me ages to find the manual for it! Anyway I found it and was able to thread it.

As you can see the Grand Quilter has a nice large working area. The scary part is that it stitches at 1600 stitches per minute. That's what was frightening when I first tried it a while back. I have reduced the speed to it's minimum and it's still fast. The foot pedal is so light to the touch which does take a bit of getting used to.

Itr has a knee lift which means you can keep your hands free which is great. It also has a needle down setting and you can cut the threads with a touch of a button. It has every feature a quilter would want - that's why I was attracted to it. It's time to start using it:

I started with a simple stipple design just to get a feel for the machine. I need to go out and get some more wadding (batting) but wanted to play a little with the machine with the few pieces I had left.

Since I had been stitching feathers I had a go at stitching them with the Grand Quilter.

These are the ones I did. I am finding it really difficult to follow the previous stitching like. The free motion foot is quite big and I am going to check if there is an open toed foot for this machine. I even put on my reading glasses to see if they would help, they didn't. I have had these glasses for ages and keep putting off using them until I really really need them - at the moment I don't!

I am off to search for a pack of Thermore that I have but cannot find then I can get busy with more practice pieces and get to grips with this machine.

Whilst I was out on my walk yesterday I took a picture of the moon. The sky was so crisp and clear I thought this was a wonderful sight.

Here's a closeup:

Finished French Braid Quilt

2009-01-07T13:46:00.005Z

Well my best laid plans to machine quilt each day was interrupted by life just getting in the way as it does. It was in a good way though. This week I am spending getting my work ready for my classes which start back on Monday. The French Braid quilt needed to be layered and quilted but I have been putting that off as I was keen to free motion quilt it. That was one reason for all the practicing I have been doing. Although I am happy with FMQ I really needed to add to my repertoire. I still need to practice some more - lots more.

Whilst I was thinking about what to stitch on the quilt I got all the housework, washing, ironing done. It was good thinking time and yesterday I finally started the quilting.

Here it is being quilted. The easy option, apart from sending it off to Dianne in Lochearnhead to be quilted which is what I do with my larger quilts, would have been to quilt it using straight stitches or in the ditch. However I wanted to free motion quilt it and so I set about doing that yesterday. I had nothing to lose really and although it's not brilliant it is fine.

The other thing I tried which I haven't done before on a quilt this size is to baste it with 505 spray. Normally I either pin or thread baste and only use 505 for small quilts like my journal quilts. It was fine though and the quilt sandwich never moved which was what I feared.

This morning I squared it up and added the binding. One class sample finished!

A number of people have asked about the Nepal quilt design.
I have added it to my EQ projects on this blog. You can download EQ6 HERE and EQ5 HERE.

EQ6 Project for January

2009-01-02T17:15:00.003Z

"January Jewels"

Here is January's project files for Electric Quilt 6 (EQ6) users who visit my blog. You can click on the image to download the PJ6 project file. If you use EQ5 email me and I will send you the project in that version. The project files will also appear on the left hand side of my blog to save you having to search back.

Enjoy!

FMQ Day 7 - More feathers and a "heart"

2009-01-02T13:08:00.004Z

This is a feather I stitched yesterday, I echoed inside as Patsy suggested. I wasn't too happy with it but I had little time to do any more.

I wanted to try some curvy feathers today and so I spent a little time drawing them out on paper to get the designs in my mind's eye. They were beginning to look good and so off I went to the sewing machine!
I thought I would let you see my set up. I have my little pile of quilt sandwiches. A pencil and a flexi curve ruler for drawing the "spine" of the feather. I love using these flexi curves and have a really nice long one which is great for borders. I have a couple of pairs of quilty gloves. One pair, which I cannot find, are made from a knitted fabric and I find them a little too stretchy. I bought these ones a little while ago, a couple of years in fact, when I attended a quilt teaching seminar in Bristol and found them on the Cotton Patch stand. They are cotton with little white dots on the palms/fingers and they fit nice and snuggly. I do like wearing these gloves. I will look out for the gloves DebH recommended.

I have a perspex extension table for the Bernina which helps a lot.

So of I went to the sewing machine having drawn my question mark curve. Oh! my oh! my I completely missed the curve! Not a good start to the day. (I show you each and every one of my samples I don't only show the best!!!) I was hoping to have another try at embellishing a feather but sadly this one wouldn't look good even if I had embellished it.

Undeterred I marked and stitched another one. Thank goodness, this one was better. I have embellished this one as per Patsy's idea. I rather like this one. I watched the DVD which included a feather heart and so I thought since this feather looked quite good I would have a go.

Oh! dear. Feel feel to laugh out loud - I did! I should have watched the DVD before I started, and perhaps I should have tried some pencil drawing but no I dived right in. I didn't even know where to go at the beginning but what the heck I thought I might as well finish it not expecting too much but the experience would be good. It's not so bad really is it? I will get better.

I am off to have some lunch and then I shall watch the DVD again and see how these feathered hearts are done. I will post my efforts tomorrow.

Thanks for dropping by.

FMQ Day 6 Feathers, feathers, feathers

2008-12-31T15:31:00.003Z

I have been dreaming about free motion quilting feathers! I have been wondering why my feathers don't look right. I decided I would draw out some feather designs on paper. The first ones I did were just like the ones I had been stitching not very good. I kept at it until I was happy with some that I had drawn. By doing this I had a better idea of not only where I was going wrong, I knew that already, but what I needed to do to rectify it. Would it work in thread?

Here are todays practice pieces. I feel as though they are getting better.

Whether it shows in the images I am not sure but even compared with yesterdays samples I can see an improvement but perhaps it's just wishful thinking.
I certainly felt confident enough to try a really curved design. You can see the concave part of the curve has long skinny plumes - not good- but for a first and only attempt it's not too bad is it? At lease my plumes are beginning to be more curvaceous and less skinny and jaggedy. I still find it difficult to hug the previous plume, I wonder if an open toed embroidery foot would help? I think it might. I also raised the pressure on the presser foot which helped.

I even felt that one feather was good enough to embellish. This idea is from Patsy's Free Motion Fun With Feathers DVD Volume 1. She calls this section Splay Embellish Feathers. Of course the colours could be better but it's a practice piece and I am delighted with it. If you look closely you will see I found it difficult to retrace my stitching line. A little more practice will sort that out though.

My thanks to Deb for her very helpful comment. I may try that suggestion on one of my feathers and see how it works for me.

Thank you to everyone who visits my blog and takes the time to comment. I appreciate your help, advice and support. I hope in some way you will be inspired to try some of things I have posted on my blog and that my tutorials are useful to you. I am certainly inspired by the blogs I visit and appreciate the work and ideas people share.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful, prosperous and happy New Year.

See you all in 2009.

FMQ Day 5

2008-12-30T13:19:00.003Z

Today I started with feathers. I thought I would try the contemporary ones that Patsy teaches as the traditional ones are more uniform in design and I thought it might be better to start with contemporary ones!

I don't know about contemporary but my attempts are certainly different.

I am not sure if I am getting better with these or not but I shall keep practicing.

I must try and stop working myself into a corner. As you can see I really need to practice, practice, practice.

I changed DVDs and started working on Vines and Leaves. I love leaves. In fact I chose leaves for my City & Guilds research project and have interpreted them in every medium available. Free motion quilting them - well that's something else.
This was meant to be leaves with curlicues - more work on this one needed methinks.

I only had one quilt sandwich left so I popped in Patsy new DVD and tried this design.

I am off to make up some more quilt sandwiches as my time is limited tomorrow but if I have them ready and available I can practice when time permits.

I changed thread today to a Metler poly sheen.

Thanks for dropping by.

Circumnavigation started and FMQ Day 4

2008-12-29T16:11:00.002Z

I finished the Mariner's Compass which forms the centre of "Circumnagivation". I have fought with the centre for ages (read hours). I am leaving it for now and moving on for the moment. I may remake it. I have tried every trick known to quilters but it just won't do what I want. It appears to have a mind of its own. Now if you can take your eye off that centre rubbish bit for just a second - what do you think of the colours? (I did change the colours from the original image - just slightly).

Having fought with that block I was reluctant to start free motion quilting. However since I am ever the optimist I knew I would be disappointed with myself tomorrow had I not followed through with my quest to do at least a little free motion quilting every day I am home. So here are today's samples:

I have been asked about the Bernina Stitch Regulator. Well as I said earlier on my blog I set it aside for the moment (it's back in its box!) I haven't really given it much of a chance but since I have done a little free motion quilting before (I just need to get more practice and increase my stitch repertoire) I am afraid I found it a little strange to use. Having mastered getting my hands and the foot pedal in sync without the BSR I really wasn't in the mood to get to grips with moving the fabric to get the speed - I hope that makes sense. So for the samples you have seen on my blog they are all done without the stitch regulator - it's just little ole me and my Bernina 180. Most of the quilting I did in the past was done on the Pfaff so the Bernina is taking a bit of getting used to. I can see progress already so that's a good thing.

This was meant to be a candlelight design. I started off well and somehow it seems to have turned into leaves rather than candlelight. Nevertheless I like it.
As I was stitching this design I was thinking feathers. As you know my aim is to stitch beautiful feathers - you have to have a goal don't you? I enjoyed stitching this design.

So having stitched the previous design I changed DVDs and stitched my first feather! The darker blue line you see through the centre, or spine, of the feather, is chalk o liner where I marked the spine before I started stitching. The plumes of the feather is not marked - as you can probably guess since it's not perfect but I will get better.

I thought I would show you the reverse of the sample jut to let you see them from both sides - I am not hiding any nests of thread under there!!

I am using a Robinson-Anton rayon thread in the needle and bobbin fill in the bobbin.

It's so much fun having Patsy right here with me in my studio, not literally you understand but it feels like she's here. I even found myself answering her today!

Quilting Day 3

2008-12-28T17:46:00.004Z

Having managed to get all my housework done yesterday I was able to spend the day in my studio today. I have been busy free motion quilting and working through Patsy Thomson's DVDs.

I have tried this design before with some success but I am more comfortable with it having seen how Patsy does it. I am sure I will get better in time.

I just love these leaves - this was my first attempt at this leaf design. I haven't watched Patsy do this one I just did it from the printed page I downloaded as I just had to try it. I may move on to the leaf DVD later this week, time permitting.

This was a simpler design.

I was trying the oval shape this time and making them in various sizes - could do better on this one methinks.

I am still using the Bernina 180 for these. I brought out the Pfaff to piece the Mariners Compass for Circumnagivation and I have to say I was tempted to free motion quilt on it BUT I didn't it would have been so easy to do but I want to persevere with the Bernina.

When I bought the 180 I only really used it with the embroidery module and the Pfaff was the work horse. Now I have the 730e I want to use the 180 more.

The Pfaff is excellent for everything (I may be a little biased since I love it) especially piecing as it has a built in walking foot.

Mike Perham said in his blog yesterday that the auto pilot etc are now fixed and he was planning to be on his way today. I thought I would make a start on Circumnagivation today. I have all the sections of the compass pieced and just have to join them all together. I may manage to get that done tomorrow and will post a picture of my progress (it's looking good).

Now I must go and make dinner.

Quilting Day 2

2008-12-27T16:38:00.003Z

Since it has been a while since I did any serious free motion quilting I thought I would work each day to expand my repertoire of stitch designs. I have set aside the BSR for the moment and have been working with the Bernina 180. I really need to work on getting my stitches uniform in size. That will come with practice. I am fine with the designs I have been using but these new ones are a challenge but I think I am progressing.

I bought some Free motion quilting DVDs from Rio Designs earlier this year and Norman bought me the latest one for Christmas so I plan on working my way through these. They are very good - Patsy Thomson DVDs. I play them on my laptop. She has the designs on the DVDs available for free download on her blog. My aim aim is to stitch beautiful feathers just as Patsy does although I think that will be a while away.

I hope to layer and quilt my French braids quilt tomorrow. Once that's done and I have it bound I can then make a start on Circumnavigation. Life has been a little too busy to make a start on that but hopefully in the next little while I can make headway with it.

First attempts with the Bernina Stitch Regulator

2008-12-26T12:12:00.004Z

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I thought I would have a play with my new machine today, particularly the Bernina Stitch Regulator. I am finding it quite a challenge to get used to. The first sample you see was done without the BSR during a class I was teaching just before the Christmas break. It was just a quick demonstration of the different stitches.

The following sample is my second attempt with the BSR. I wanted to use the same fabric, my hand dye, as I used before in order to compare the two.

As I said it's taking a bit of getting used to as I keep wanting to control the speed with the foot pedal. I am going to have to experiment a while yet before I can really assess whether I like it or not. I just wanted to record my first faltering steps with my new toy. Hopefully by the end of the week there will be some progress, I am practicing what I teach - 20 minutes practice each day, I should see some progress. Fingers crossed.

Quilts for Nepal

2008-12-17T14:20:00.004Z

I just wanted to share a story with you. I was teaching at the local quilt shop a while ago and one of my students, Claire Wenham, had just returned from a trip to Nepal. Whilst there she saw a school for deaf children which was poorly resourced. She wanted to do something to help the children and after discussing a few ideas decided to make a quilt to auction to raise money to send to the school. I offered to design a quilt in Electric Quilt. It had to be simple as we were going to ask people of various skills to donate blocks. I designed a quilt using half square triangles in blue and white fabric.

The ladies from the classes at the LQS, ladies from my other classes at the Community High School and others all donated enough blocks to make two double bed sized quilts. In class we arranged the blocks and set about stitching them together. A friend, Diane from Lochearnhead, kindly quilted them on her longarm machine for a nominal fee (one was quilted for free). Claire bound them and the quilts were raffled. £2,700 was raised for the Nepal children's school so they now have decent sleeping accommodation, a bathroom and better cooking facilities - all funded by two quilts designed using Electric Quilt with blocks donated by very generous quilters.

Introducing..........

2008-12-17T13:23:00.005Z

...... my new sewing machine. It arrived yesterday morning which meant I had all day to get it set up and install the new software. It has many features my Bernina 180 has but many more that are new. The software that came with it is so much better than my current Artista V1 software! It's a sewing computer with a windows platform. I am still finding my way around it. I haven't tried the Bernina Stitch Regulator yet - that's next.

We finally got our Xmas tree up and decorated. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas ..... that song has been going round in my head and is beginning to get on my nerves. We ordered our turkey etc, pressies are wrapped so I think I am all organised.

Thank you so much for dropping by my blog and for all your support over this past year. Hopefully now that my courses are finished I will have more time to be creative this coming year and can share more of my work with you.

I have had many visitors via the EQ blog. Thank you for dropping by. This coming year I plan on providing EQ6 project files for download - you will find them on the left hand side of my blog. I am hoping this will become a regular feature much like the one I used to have on my website which has been neglected since I started my blog.

I am off to play some more with my new toy.

Blog Award

2008-12-14T15:50:00.004Z

I was delighted to receive the above award from Nathalie, thank you so much Nathalie. Now I have to nominate 5 blogs to receive this award. I always find this difficult as there are so many wonderful blogs I love to read and I have given awards to so many over the past little while but keeping with the spirit of blog awards here are my 5 nominations:

1. Sandy at Focus on Fibre
2. Nola at Inch by Inch Textiles
3. Jenny in Australia
4. Lise in Norway
5. Elma of Quilting by the Loch

Today I am busy tidying up my studio (not the log cabin outside that's fine). Norman bought me a new sewing machine and it's due to arrive on Tuesday, fingers crossed, and I am clearing space for it. I really need a new sewing machine you understand but he has been on at me to get a new for .. .. well a while now .... and I gave in. I also need to get my class samples all reorganised for the new term starting and want to get that done now before the Christmas festivities start and of course I want to spend as much time as I can learning the new machine and software. It's very exciting.

New Quilt - Progress

2008-12-09T11:25:00.002Z

I have finalised my new quilt design in EQ6. I am calling it Circumnavigation. I was inspired to design this quilt after reading about 16 year old Mike Perham's round the world challenge. He is in the Canary Islands for repairs to the auto pilot but hopefully he will be on his way really soon.

"Circumnavigation"

Yesterday Norman and I had a trip out to Kaleidoscope Quilt shop in Mingavie and I bought the fabrics for the quilt. Now I can make a start. It will be a long time in the making but I will show my progress as I go along. It's a 50" x 50" wall hanging.

Now that my classes have finished until early January I am getting my Christmas shopping done and getting organised for Christmas.

It was a lovely day yesterday but today it is terribly cold and the roads outside my home is frozen. It's a good day to stay home in the warm and catch up on my favourite blogs and perhaps work on the quilt.

Snowflakes

2008-12-02T17:35:00.003Z

I bought Andrea's new Kaleidoscope software for Electric Quilt. She has a couple of tutorials on the EQ website and I worked through one. Quite appropriate since we have snow here today brrrrrr! She has designed some really gorgeous blocks and it's been fun working through her Let it Snow tutorial.

I hope you are keeping warm.

EQ6 Quilt Project

2008-11-29T11:31:00.003Z

Butterflies with a Twist

I love butterflies and twisted log cabin blocks and so I have combined the two in this new quilt design. Coupled with my favourite purple/green combination it makes for a rather lovely quilt don't you think?

If you have Electric Quilt 6 you can download the project file HERE.

I have decided to make the last quilt design I posted the other day. Now I just have to choose the correct fabric/colours for it. A trip to Kaleidoscope next week I think.

One of my students brought me a pheasant on Thursday, she is so kind. I am thinking of doing something a little different with it since I bought some lovely herbs/spices online from Seasoned Pioneers. I tried some of them with the tagine the other day and the aromas were fabulous - the taste was divine too - Ras-en Hanout was the mixed spice I used and the mixture from seasoned pioneers was lovely, I particularly liked the rosebuds in it.

It's very cold here today, my fingers were frozen when I went out to fill the bird feeders. I think I will stay home and play. I am off for a hot chocolate and home made blueberry muffin.

Thank you for dropping by.

Progressing a Design

2008-11-27T10:56:00.002Z

I just can't leave this quilt alone at the moment. I think I am getting closer to what I want though. This is quite different from the other two and I think it's better than the others.

New Quilt Ideas

2008-11-26T17:00:00.003Z

I have been following 16 year old Mike Perham's World Challenge. I thought I would design and make a quilt in recognition of Mike's journey around the world.

I have used the |Mariner's compass as the centre of this medallion quilt. The curved log cabin represent the sails of Mike's boat. The above design is my second attempt and at the moment this is the one I think I will make.

This was my first attempt and although the colours are similar the design is different. I added roses in the corners of this one.

The colours in both quilts represent the sea, sky, sun and colours from Mike's boat. I am really inspired by Mike's challenge. You can visit his website HERE and follow his blog as he circumnavigates the world.

Xmas Quilt Design

2008-11-25T10:23:00.005Z

I have been busy designing quilts in Electric Quilt 6 (eq6) and would like to share a Christmas design with those of you who have Electric Quilt 6. If you would like to have the project file you can download it here.

I bought some new add-on software for EQ which has of course meant spending time designing more quilts. I am working on a few that I might be tempted to make - we shall see.

One of my students wants to make a quilt based on a kaleidoscope block and I have been playing around with the bock and different colourways and have come up with what I think works well.

I am not sure about the touch of redm what do you think?

Digital Cyanotypes using PSP

2008-11-12T11:38:00.002Z

I have been busy playing with Paint Shop Pro again. I love cyanotypes but don't always have the chemicals or pre treated fabrics around when I want to make them.

You can recreate cyanotypes digitally. I use Paint Shop Pro - since I did my City & Guilds course using this software I am more familiar with it than Photoshop which I sometimes use. The picture above is my original, and .....

here is the result. I have written a tutorial which you can find at the left hand side of this blog. I am off to play some more.

Cooking using a Tagine

2008-11-09T09:57:00.004Z

One of the things I love to do is cook. Just like my other hobbies I love to experiment. We were out the other day having a look around the newly opened phase 3 of the local shopping mall and I spotted this tagine in the Le Creuset store. The base is cast iron and therefore works fine on my induction hob.

I tried it for the first time yesterday with chicken in a fennel and apricot sauce.

The taste was gorgeous. Norman loved it so I will be making more but with different recipes.

Speaking of recipes I found this little book on Amazon. It has some lovely recipes in it which I am keen to try.

This is the inside cover. What a wonderful, colourful design.

Sheer Heaven

2008-11-01T16:01:00.003Z

I have been busy with the journal from my holiday in the USA earlier this year. Having played around with PSP for a while I thought I would try putting the journal together. I had intended making a new journal from scratch. However while I was on holiday I kept a daily journal as we were visiting so many places and I was sure I would forget about some of them over time.

I bought a lovely journal when I was in Chicago and I really wanted to add photographs to it rather than start a new one. I could have printed the photographs and put them in the book but you know how that makes the journal so fat.

Some months ago I read about Sheer Heaven and ordered some. Today was the first chance I had to try it out.
I prepared my image and printed it onto the Sheer Heaven. You then cut it to the size you want, spray it with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water (surgical spirit in the UK), lay it on your receiving surface (fabric, paper etc) and burnish it. The above photograph is the image ready to be burnished. This was my first attempt and the image was almost perfect.

I tried again with other photographs, colour this time, and look at the wonderful image. This is the image transferred to my book. I have left a sheet of card underneath the page until the surgical spirit/water solution dries completely.

Here is another one. You don't lose any detail at all. It's fabulous.

Now for something different ............

Since it was Halloween yesterday I couldn't resist buying a pumpkin. I roasted it with some garlic/salt/pepper. Whilst it was roasting (about 30 minutes) I made a base for soup with some ham ribs which I boiled for 30 minutes. I sweated some onions and yellow bell pepper with nutmeg and crushed chillies. I then put the whole lot together in a pan and simmered for 20 milutes. Blended it when it cooled.

....... and we had a lovely bowl of soup for lunch. Gorgeous colour isn't it? It tasted fabulous too with a little kick.

Creating a Sketch in Paint Shop Pro

2008-11-01T10:45:00.003Z

I have had a few enquiries about how I created the sketches. I have included a tutorial how I did these sketches - you can find it on the left hand side of this blog under tutorials.

Let me know how you get on with it. Perhaps you can post your results on your blog and share them with others.

If you don't have Paint Shop Pro you can download a free trial - just Google PSP Free Trial.

A touch of Amish

2008-10-31T11:37:00.002Z

I forgot how addictive playing with images was. I am having a lot of fun with these. This photograph of an Amish carriage was taken in Middlebury, Indiana. I was careful to make sure that there were no Amish people around as they don't like having their photographs taken and I well understand that neither would I.

I had a play around with it in PSP. I had thought of buying a sketch filter for PSP but found that you can make pencil or charcoal sketches without it.

I wil play around with more photographs and then perhaps combine one or two to make a collage and then print them on fabric - I am planning on using Evolon and Lutradur to print them onto together with cotton. I just need to get a good collection first to get an idea how the journal will look.

Chicago Bubble

2008-10-30T17:27:00.002Z

I love this effect. I used the artistic- bubbles filter in Paint Shop Pro with a few tweaks.

This is the original image I took on holiday.

Chicago Journal (Cont'd)

2008-10-30T11:58:00.002Z

I have been busy playing with more images.

This is a picture of a piece of art we saw in Chicago as part of Art in the Park. This is made from old parts of car exhausts etc.

This is a picture of the reflections of buildings in the windows. I love taking photographs like this.Here they are playing in Paint Shop Pro. It's a good way to play with the program and learn how to add filters and different effects.

I am off to teach class today. Thanks for dropping by.