The calico I ordered from ebay for the backing of the log cabin quilt turned out to be unsuitable when it arrived. Much too thick for hand quilting. I am just itching to start quilting this, and couldn't wait to order some more fabric or go to the shop, so I had a bit of a rummage and found a few bits of fabric that I thought would do the job. I cut them into 51/2 inch squares and am piecing them. It's a mistake, I know. I will regret it. But I reckon that if I'm going to spend all that time quilting it, I might as well quilt something that I really like, front AND back. And I do like a challenge! I've been thinking some echo quilting might be nice around the stars. And then quilt in the ditch around the gold border. My quilting friend Gay suggests some stars in the green border too, and I think that might be nice. When I get to that stage!!

Oh, and I put binding on my Chook wall hanging from Rachel's of Greenfield. Here it is, very badly quilted, and here is my hen Esmeralda. Isn't the resemblance between her and the large chook in the wallhanging just uncanny?

Many years ago, while staying in a house that belonged to a Norwegian lady, I noticed some very beautiful quilts she had, made of wool. At the time, I thought of them as 'blankets' rather than quilts - the only quilts I had seen up until that time were made in cotton with gaily coloured traditional blocks , or ones with tiny hexagons. These unusual woollen 'blankets' stuck in my mind; I even tried to make one when I was a student, on a borrowed machine and with remnants I found in the dress fabric shop. But it did not satisfy. ( It is, in fact my first UFO.)However on Friday I was in the local wool shop ( the quilt shop is too far to go just for thread) and there were some bolts on the bottom shelf that just caught my eye. Locally made (Peterhead Woollen Mill) and £1 a metre! Only 20 inches wide, but still I this was too great a bargain to miss! So I bought a half dozen metres. And I think I might have a go again at making one of those cosy woollen quilts... Or maybe a bag or two.

The red and green blocks of the log cabin quilt are all complete and assembled, and I appliqued the last star last night - the last time I appliqued anything was in primary school, 25years ago! This is my first machine-pieced top, and the first that I will definitely quilt, and the learning curve has been really quite steep.

And the pink quilt is nearly assembled. A couple of people commented on it (thank you!). The original idea was to make one for a little girl; hence the hearts and the pink and the texture. (candlewick that has been worn and loved has such a lovely texture - it can't be compared with new candlewick even after the new stuff has been washed a couple of times). I made a few of these quilts in the summer, but didn't like any of them enough to keep - or even to give to the little girl I had in mind, and so I listed them on ebay - and they sold. But someone emailed a couple of weeks ago and asked for some more to give as Christmas presents - I was so pleased she liked them enough to ask this, so I said I would make a couple for her. And I'm almost finished!

OK, OK, so I missed WIP Wednesday. Sorry. Not a good show for a newbie, is it? But it's mostly all been blogged anyway, so I don't feel quite as bad. Here's a pic of a couple of appliqed squares I made on Tuesday for the pink quilt.


I don't even like pink, so I think this will be the last quilt like this I make.




Yesterday just went west at an alarming rate - and we don't even keep thanksgiving here, so I don't have that excuse.... (Athough I have to say I am thinking of instigating it at our house. We could really use some celebrations at this time of year. It's getting darker and darker in the mornings and Christmas sometimes feels like a long way away). Anyway yesterday we went to Inverness to upgrade my mobile (I can't do it over the internet as I need to press the buttons to make sure it's tactile enough to be fun to use - nothing worse than pressing 'buttons' and then having to check that it's registered with the phone what you're trying to do). That makes two days I've gone to Inverness this week, and that is two too many for me! Anyway we came home with not a phone but a laptop, so the evening was spent setting that up and trying to remember passwords etc.

Important principle when making hearts for raggy applique - no two should ever be the same!



Oh, and thankyou to all the people who commented on Bella...I will give her a big hug... Here she is with Harvey. (I bet he'll get a big hug too...) They are Bernese Mountain Dogs (a bit like St Bernards, but black in colour and a lot less slobbery)

I thought I'd show one of my favouite photos. This is Bella, and she is my faithful and constant companion. And a big cuddlebunch. And a Dog of Independent Spirit. It's not a perfect photo, but it seems to show her character well, and it's just about my favouite photo of her (and believe me, there are a lot of them!). When this one was taken, she was sitting on the back seat of DH's car, just waiting for people to come along and give her a cuddle...she generally attracts such a lot of attention and really revels in this role. And she especially loves children - we have often found her getting hugs from children we don't know.

As for the sewing, there has not been a lot going on over the weekend. We have been making a start on tiling the hall floor ("on point" - as it happens) and there is a lot of tile cutting being done. And Little Sis has been up from Glasgow, returning the runaround which she borrowed after she wrote her own car off last month. It will be nice to take the dogs out to the beach again!

I made four of these blocks for the new quilt yesterday. It's going to be scrappy! The pattern says to place all the reds and greens at random, so that's pretty much what I'm doing. And hoping the overall effect will be nice to look at. I don't have much of an eye for colour, preferring colours that occur in the natural world around me. I suppose this makes me quite conservative in what I choose but now my eyes are opening a little, due to looking at quilting resources and blogs on the internet. (A big thank you to all who have quilting blogs!). I'm starting to think about the next project after this one.

Won't these be lovely colours for hand quilting in December?

To get to the computer I usually have to deal with this kind of very comfortable problem, sitting on my chair.

Oh. And the floor. It's still bare. Even barer, if it's possible, as I spent most of yesterday afternoon crawling around on it taking out staples!

Renovations!

Well, now I never have to vacuum that old carpet again! We found these beautiful old floorboards yesterday. They would look so nice sanded and varnished, but I don't know if I can cope with the mess that would make...and we've already picked out the tiles... although we could use them somewhere else in the house. The corridor has been refloored at some point with plywood so I guess that is definitely going to be tiled. My treadle usually sits in the little nook at the bottom of the stairs. She just fits there perfectly.

After ripping up the carpet we decided that was enough hard work and went out for lunch. To Harrods. The Harrods of the North, that is - the Falls of Shin visitors centre, an oasis of civilisation in the middle of nowhere, where you get good lattes and wholesome food. It was very Christmassy, with lights and music. And they were selling Christmas trees outside! The first ones I have seen for sale this year.

After that we headed even further into the wilderness and found Sutherland Game where we bought some venison to go in the freezer for Christmas. If we can restrain ourselves. . .Maybe we should try it out first?

Worked hard all day yesterday, and this is what I have to show! I hope the recipient likes the colours. I still have quite a lot of work to do on it, hand finishing and all important ragging. I will maybe get some of the work done today, although Dh is at home - he doesn't work on Wednesdays - and we usually find something to do together.

What with all the sewing yesterday, I didn't get a chance to even start cutting the log cabin strips. But that will keep!

Most of yesterday was spent playing with my tiny stash, working out what fabric to put in the raggy quilts for my customer (such a thrill, still, that someone likes my quilts enough to comission some). I settled on some lovely, almost duck-egg blue for one, and will use up some shabby pink floral stuff for the other. Unlike before, it was all washed and neatly ironed before I cut it. I am learning a little. And I have cut about half of the chenille I need, so preparation-wise I'm nearly there. I do hope the new featherweight will sew chenille.

After all that I didn't get around to cutting the fabric for the 'real' quilt - so I have that to look forward to today - if I am brave enough.


Here's Sookie 'helping' me organise the new fabric after it was ironed yesterday afternoon.


Cathi shared her "new" treadle and I immediately had to rush off and take a photo of mine to share. I love my treadle machine! It was a present to my grandmother from my grandfather who I never met, after they were married (the story goes that she was not pleased with this old machine, and wished she had the new one she had had to leave behind in Scotland). I have always loved it, ever since the time I was so small that all I could do was play with the pedal, and had no idea that that was what she made my clothes on (because, of course, she always put it away when we came to stay). I have made on it my wedding dress, all the curtains for the first house we lived in after we were married, and about half the curtains for this house - until I learned how to make raggy quilts, and lost interest in curtain-making!!!

And, while I'm thinking about old sewing machines, here is a little Kimball & Morton machine I picked up when I lived in Glasgow - they were made there about 1900. It is more temperamental, and sometimes I can't get it to work at all.

Here's most of the fabric for my new project. It's going to be a log cabin quilt. I am so excited, and will be using the featherweight to piece it so I have something to quilt as soon as possible! Been practicing hand quilting over the week end, so don't have much to show, but here are some other photos that might be of interest:

This is my small haul from the quilt shop. Dh took me on Saturday- how nice to be driven- it must be nearly 70 miles there and back and was a grey autumn trip.

To recompense, I went with him yesterday to Dunkeld ( a 3 hour drive from here) where he spent the morning making someone else's Discovery very muddy. I had reservations about going, and almost stayed home, but it turned out to be such a lot of fun, courtesy of Land Rover. Perthshire was so beautiful in the autumn sunshine. My only regret is forgetting to take my camera!

And here is the weekend progress on my latest Noah piece. Debbie Mumm's Noah fabric was, in a roundabout kind of way, the catalyst for me starting to quilt (that is a story for another day). I love the colours, and the boldness of the design. Of course the whole "two by two" part of the message has got lost, but I still love the line.

Great news! When I checked my email at bedtime I had a surprise email from someone I had sold a couple of quilts to in the summer. She loves them and wants to give some more as Christmas presents!

Photo is not good, but here is one of the raggy quilts she has:


I am so happy that someone likes my stuff! Now all I have to do is think up some more ideas...

She's here! She came yesterday. By 2pm I had given up on getting any mail yesterday, and went into town on some errands. I wandered in the library and went to the shop, and it was sunset by the time I got home. Checked the mailbox on the way into the house - there was the card! So I weighed it up (briefly), and made another 13mile round trip back into town and - here she is! !

She sews beautifully. Before dinner I made some little muslin bags for sprouting seeds in, out of left-over curtain stuff. Then I found an old pattern and made one of these:

Then it was 11.30pm and I have no idea what happened to the evening. Total endorphin haze!!

I decided to take part in an online 'swap' of sorts, that is doing the rounds amongst crafting bloggers at the moment. I had been resisting, mostly due to not being confident and being new to blogging. Then I noticed that one of my favourite bloggers, Cathi, was offering to make stuff and all of a sudden I wanted to take part. (I guess that's the world of blog....and I think I have been officially sucked in now!!!) As part of the deal, and to spread the love, as it were, I am offering five small handcrafted gifts to five people who email me..the first five who get in touch. Oh, and to qualify you need to offer to do the same on your own blog. Easy! So - any takers?

Time for some sewing...what a lovely thing it is to be able to sew quietly in front of the telly these long dark evenings!
This is one of my first quilt blocks, and of the nine made so far, the colours in this one make it my favouite. I started making these back in september, having recently re-read some of Laura Ingalls-Wilder's books. I found the Dove in the Window pattern on the Quilter's Cache, and then thought about all those 5inch squares that I had bought off ebay for no particular good reason...For a beginner, I think the block is OK. But it won't lie flat. Mil says why does it need to if you're going to put batting in it. But I'm not sure. I will give it a bit of a break, and then review my templates. Maybe they're not quite right.

Still waiting for my parcel to arrive!!!

They came, they played with the kittens, chased the hens, picked the last of the apples and raked up our fallen leaves, oogled at our bonfire and strained to stay awake for the fireworks, built sandcastles in the wind on the beach, and then they went. And the house was very quiet all the rest of yesterday.


This is not my doll, but one we found in the loft a few months ago, when we moved here. She was simply the best present a little girl could get, when I was small. Obviously loved very much, someone had put her away in the loft in a box of children's old things - because she might be useful one day...and forgot about her when they moved away. I rather suspect they have missed her by now - I don't know who they are or where they have gone - but Tiny Tears made a little girl very happy yesterday.

Here they are, the very last of the sunflowers which I picked in the sunshine this morning.


Yesterday I was seduced by ebay to purchase a secondhand featherweight. It's pretty much brand new, and wasn't expensive even though I couldn't wait and "bought it now". It's my first electric sewing machine. I'm so excited and I just can't wait for my parcel to arrive.


My sister and her family are coming for the weekend so I must prepare the house for a four and a two year-old -- remove the dog hair and dust and LOCK THE UPSTAIRS WINDOWS. And make a huge pot of hearty soup. Weather permitting, we will celebrate the 5th tomorrow.