This one reminds me of the beach. Or possibly a deck chair. Or something!

Starting with this....

Completed top.

 Well, this one has taken me a touch longer then I anticipated, mainly because I have increased my hours at work, and boy it's a stuggle to stay awake when I get home. I'm hoping it's that and not my age. Anyway, tired or not  I see it as extra fabric money, although I suspect my husband may see it differently!

I saw some of these fabrics on sale at Fabric Shack, which is where I buy the bulk of my fabric from and have done so for many years. I don't know why, but the colours made me think of the sea side -maybe it is deck chairs, or brightly coloured beach huts? Anyway, I didn't have a pattern in mind, but wanted to put them together, so  in a vague and undecided wayset out to give half square triangles a go.

(Clearly, I'm dedicated to the art of planning and organisation.)

Anyone else have space issues?!

I can see a pattern emerging here - because again, without clear destination in mind, I started making squares and then chickened out. So, with them piled up on my desk, I briefly played with a layout and them started assembling a top.

Apart from the colour combo my main desire was to add the rich red dot as a border and the red and ivory stripe as binding. Is it only me that gets giddy over fabric? 

Again I free motion quilted this one and although I'm only doing a free form stipple design rather then anything complex and precise, it seemed faster and easier this time and in my very humble opinion, looks quite spiffing! 

I've decided, now this one is under my metaphorical belt, to try and attempt something with a plan - a pattern, next. Rather then winging it.  So I think, probably, maybe - that I will do the Granny Square Quilt Along over at Old Red Barn co. 

Is anyone else doing a quilt along that they feel is worth a go?

The front!

The back. Thank you, glamorous assistant.

In winter, chickens dream of this.......

Is that a wood louse?!?

Yes, it is! (nom nom nom)

Did Violet just say she found a wood louse?

Gotta be one round here somewhere...

Did you know that chickens like to sunbathe?

It's bloody cold here today, minus two at four o'clock and falling fast after sunset. Being in a village on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, we are forecast prolonged and heavy snow from mid afternoon tomorrow. Whilst  a part of me would like to get out on the allotment tomorrow and do some digging, clean out the greenhouse and so on, another part of me sees it as an excellent excuse to stay in the warm and sew! So, tomorrow morning will go something like; Make bread, supermarket, make soup and possibly a cake (loads of eggs) and then in the afternoon I will retreat into the back room and faff with my new sewing machine. i need to make a new bag for work and something to transport my lunch more easily. I'm designing two table runners, and I have a quilt to pin so I can start quilting. What excitement,  I am easily pleased!

The poor chickens though! For my three girls, Tallulah, Ruby and Violet, this is their very first winter. Today was their first ever snow, and they were not happy campers! Not even a bowl of hot porridge would lure them out of the coup first thing. On a normal day they will amble round the garden, looking for insects and keeping the grass trim; often I'll be sewing and have the strangest sensation of being watched. Looking up, all three will be eyeing me through the patio doors, beaks moving in a demand for treats that luckily I can't hear through the glass. Today however, I let them out when I got home from work and they immediately hunkered down in their sand bath, sheltering together and sharing body heat. Even before the sun went down they'd taken themselves off to bed. I have been told by other chicken keepers that they are resilient and are excellent at preserving body heat, but tonight I couldn't help it. I tucked them up at sunset with a hot water bottle in the coup, and hopefully they will be cosy and dream of last summer, and the one to come.

Trial by Heirloom

Cutting accurately takes the loooongest time.

 I finished the green quilt top, but in true disorganised style, found that I didn't have quite as much dark blue cotton as I thought to complete the back. Sooo.......what to do while the cotton was on order?

Well, obvious really - start a new project. I'd bought the fabric mid last year to do Joel Dewberry's Heirloom quilt, but it had sat quietly in the cupboard waiting for me to feel confident enough to tackle it. Well, I can't say I felt more confident, but it certainly felt like the right time to Have A Go.

Top complete

At first, I felt a touch nervous of the specific cutting instruction, they certainly left no room for error, but I was amazed how quickly it came together after the cutting was done. I'm even wondering if I can use the pattern again as a stash buster - although I like the idea of learning new skills by trying different sizes and shapes.

Space is certainly an issue when pinning the layers together, I really don't know how people manage with massive double bed sized quilts! I think I possibly need to sweet talk a friend in to borrowing her floor in future. I'd decided in true in for a penny in for a pound fashion, that I'd use this quilt to have a go at free motion quilting. Which, I have to say, I had a go at on my old machine a few years ago and I was utterly useless at. The terror! In fact, I'm fairly sure I swore quite a bit, threw something, and vowed NEVER to try again. Glutton for punishment!

Anyway, I looked at some guides on a couple of blogs, Elizabeth Hartman and AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts have absolutely spot on guides.

The finished article

I am absolutely delighted with how it turned out - not perfect by any stretch but I learned so much about free motion quilting by just working through this whole quilt. I found it easier to just floor the peddle and move the quilt steadily, by the end my stitch length was even and I found it easier to move through the stipple pattern. You know, I'm actually quite excited about free motion quilting. Ah, I love being a geeky crafter!

What next?

The top, feral chickens, and other unlikely stories.

 The top is finished, huzzah, and I am not so secretly pleased with how it has turned out! For my second ever quilt, and with only a vague pattern in my head, there was so much I was expecting to go wrong. I was expecting wonky. I was expecting it not to line up. I took it very slowly, enjoyed each step and wasn't in any particular hurry to get to the finish line. Which was a good job really, because over the last few days I have been watched, chased, shouted at and occasionally, hunted. Every time I sat at my sewing machine, these two mucky miscreants would spy me through the patio doors, hop over the fence designed to keep them IN their run, and bolt for the patio doors. I put them back. They got out again. *Sigh* Violet, not pictured here, is in hard moult and has been huddling in the run with a faint air of embarrassment - she has a decidedly bald bum as we speak. I'm trying to decide if they're just hunting me down for food (likely) or are angling for a quilt for inside their chicken house (not so likely.)

Anyway, now for the back of the quilt - I have no idea how patterned or plain to make it, so will have to wing it again. Hopefully unaided by rampant chickens.

Talullah and Ruby, neck and neck.

Obviously, having thighs like a Russian shot putter has its advantages, even if you are a chicken.

New Year - 1st proper project.

 In truth, this quilt was started over Christmas, but has really only come to life in the last week. After my first project I'd looked around the internet and in some of my quilting books for inspiration, and this quilt is an amalgamation of a couple I'd seen. Firstly, I wanted to do a stash busting quilt, and by far I have more blues and greens then anything else. I'd seen these shaped blocks sewn on to muslin backing, but  since I didn't have a pattern and was making it up as I went along, and frankly because I'm lazy, I decided to just sew the strips and see what happened. Somewhere around block 46/7 I started to hear that little voice that seems to  originates from somewhere between my head and the sewing machine, that whispers - this is going to be rubbish! So, mildly panicked, I and my daughter set out the rough blocks on the living room floor and watched the pattern develop. I felt pleased with it - smug if truth be told - and I had to remind myself that soooo much can go wrong between here and the

finished article. Like getting it all to line up for starters - something I'm really not confident about! Hopefully when I get started on that part later today there will be more yay moments then wailing and gnashing of teeth. We'll see.....

New Year's to do list:

 For those that know me, it will come as no surprise to see that I am sewing feverishly again. I simply have to craft, for my sanity - and possibly that of my husband. Several years ago, I made bags at Christmas for the ladies in my life, very simple totes, little skill involved - but this kick started an obsessive bag making frenzy. Coming out of my ears type stuff. Frankly everyone I know was now sick of getting bags as gifts from me - and I wanted another challenge, something with more longevity, a craft that will go the distance. So, before Christmas, I decided to make a patchwork quilt, lap sized, for my children. Something they could snuggle under on the couch, I liked the thought of them being warm and comforted by it. I bought a  great pattern from Sweetjane on Etsy which I thought would be a good starting point, some Riley Blake fat quarters, and set to. What I found was that this is sewing, Jim, but a whole different set of skills to those I had developed while making bags. It was difficult, and I made mistakes!

The sections don't line up, the quilting is wonky and frankly a total pain to master on my machine - but I love a challenge! So, for 2012 this is my challenge myself to do list:
Learn to piece accurately.
Learn to quilt and free motion quilt on my little machine.
Make better quilts!

There are so many immensely talented quilters out there, looking at blogs and reading other peoples experiences has been exciting, and a great inspiration. And like crafters in general, it is a supportive community that I am looking forward to being part of. Let the journey begin!