Finished, at long, long last.

Ok, so that title is a touch overly dramatic - I only started this one in the Christmas holiday. I finished the top and didn't have enough fabric for the back, so it got left.....then I decided to 'make do and mend' on the back, but couldn't bring myself to put it all together. But now. It is done.  Time for the Granny Squares Quilt Along?

The back..must pick the lint off it.

A pile of quilts! So satisfying.

But first, this...

Blogs are a great place to find inspiration for the next big project, but they are also full of temptation! After finishing a quilt at the weekend and deciding to take part in the Granny Squares Quilt - along in March, I mooched round some blogs to see what amazing things other people were doing. (You know, the kind of things that make you feel like an eight year old with no hope of ever being that good!) Anyway, I came across a blog called A Little Bit Biased (clever) and a very pretty stash busting free tutorial. My first instinct was - wow, that's  incredibly pretty, and totally off my skill radar - but then I looked at her instructions and wondered.....

Block #1

#2 - you get the picture.

 The scrap jar stars, as she called them, would look amazing in a quilt for the garden hammock in summer, thought I. And, I mused, I have a massive box of scrap pieces that I haven't touched in ages - all sorts of small pieces of bright coloured fabric that I felt wouldn't be suitable for just one project. As soon as I thought that, I was hooked, totally. (I'm sew weak!) I cut one block to see how it went, just to play and go through the instructions. They are really good - if I was to buy a quilt pattern, I'd have confidence in Amber's patterns because they're so, so clear and user friendly. (For user friendly read idiot sewer friendly.) I'm hooked. Like a fish. It's a good job I'm not at work this week and next, because yesterday I sewed 6 blocks (in between half term activities and the bare minimum of cleaning.)

Lizzie the Quilter must have had the same idea, but she finished hers in lightspeed - I'm aiming for 'before the hammock has to be packed away again.' I just love the finished look for this quilt, it's so pretty for a stash buster. And it's what I'll be doing up to the first of March.

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.