Its that time of that month again....

Yep!!! its time to reveal our Mini Mania's...

This month it was foundation piecing chosen by Sew Happy and "boy oh boy" did we have some fun......well if you call it fun having to unpick almost as much as you sew.

The original pattern came from Charise and she even gave you a hint on how to sew it together. I have done quite a lot of foundation piecing, so thought it would be a piece of cake.....how wrong could I be!

I started as instructed by cutting up the pattern

this was the easy bit

I then started to sew but forgot to add the 1/4" seam allowance for joining to the next piece of pattern...... unpicking began!

This piece took hours and hours....I am kidding not, in fact I am surprised there is any pattern or fabric left

Grrrrrr!

Finally I managed to get the machine together.....Yeah!

Not quite together but it will fit

The rest should be a breeze ....... don't be fooled by what looks simple ..

this was probably the only bit that didn't have any reverse stitching to do

you still had to be careful with that little strip at the top

but finally I got it together

Phew!!!!

Now how to quilt.... I decided to quilt pebbles as I wanted to disguise all the seams.

What do you think?

To say this one was a challenge would be an understatement, but I am thrilled with the results and I love the banter between friends.

Onwards towards the next one.  Dee has an idea for  September, can't wait!

Busy, but fun week.

Goodness where do I start..... The week started with a trip out to tea for my friend A's birthday.  It was a special birthday (you know the ones with big ZERO's), so we all thought a bit of a treat was called for....and what a treat it turned out to be when one of A's old friends, who happened to be sitting close by saw the  celebration and ordered a bottle of bubbly for us....Thank you A's friend.

'A' is the one on the left

That same evening I was off to my Tuesday evening walk, and after a pretty miserable grey day the clouds cleared and gave us yet another beautiful sunset.

The sun was like a fire ball

You would never think to paint these colours

Because we were going to be on holiday in the middle of the summer we decided to not plant so many annuals or hanging baskets, but instead plant up Lily's. 

Just look at the size of these ones. 

Size of a plate

They smell beautiful as well

Thursday was a sewing day at our LQS so I took along a 'Debbie Shore' bag to make.  Believe it or not we did get some sewing done and I came home with this.....

It's just the right size for me

One of the ladies from the crochet group has a daughter that is going to be making up some special boxes for the neonatal unit at a local hospital.   As three of our grandchildren have had need for the neonatal units this is very close to my heart and I have decided to help.  One of the things they want are 'bonding squares' (its explained here), and it seems that tiny hats are also called for.  I think our crochet group would be willing to use up some of their scrap yarns on these tiny items.  

Tiny hats for tiny babes

Hope to make many more of these

Lastly, my friend went on holiday and brought me back a little gift and a stick of rock.  When was the last time you had rock???   I can't remember myself, but am looking forward to breaking into this one.

Thank you 'L'

Next week is the big reveal of the Mini Mania Challenge and I have to say this months 'challenge' was very challenging.

Another week gone!

Once again a Tuesday evening walk was on the cards as the weather was being kind to us.  As my friends are organising a group walk in September they are looking for pastures new, so East Farndon was the chosen village.  We were going to do a 'recce' of the walks around the village.  What a beautiful evening, and a lovely country walk.  We walked through fields of cows with their calves, and other fields with sheep, and some fields filled with crops. The walk along the footpath must have had about 10 stiles in about 3 km. so thinking of the September walkers we decided to walk back along a bridle path. We did do a little detour up to a ridge hoping to get some spectacular views, but the light was against us.  I couldn't get decent photos of the distant view, but did get a few of the lovely sunset.

just look at our long shadows

the beginning of sunset

The beginning of  Sunset

Motorised para-gliders were the noisiest thing around

More beautiful by the minute

At the back of our house is a Recreation Ground which on Friday evening was transformed into a bike race track.  We were able to watch from our bedroom, which wasn't such a bad place to be as the weather wasn't that warm outside and it had been raining throughout the day.  I can't believe how well organised it was, and how quickly they cleared everything away afterwards.  I am not sure if this will be a regular event, but it was a nice watch.

I don't suppose they mind that the sun wasn't shining

I am still working on this months Mini Mania Challenge which is from Charise Creates and it has been a challenge.  My quick unpick has been working its little socks off.  There are very few pieces that have not been sewn and unpicked, but I did manage this section first time "big grin".

this bit was another story

You wouldn't believe how long this took to get together

Last year at Yarndale (they now have a facebook page) my daughter bought some lovely yarn for some fingerless mitts, but time for knitting is just not a priority for  her at the moment, so they have been passed over to me.  I made the first pair, and as there seem to be quite a bit of yarn left decided to make a second pair.

The second pair are a bit smaller but they fit me, so fingers crossed they come my way

I did get to the 'Festival of Quilts', and there were some real works of art there, but my camera stayed in my pocket....goodness knows why, maybe its because I was Oowing! and Arrhing! too much.  I did a bit of shopping (as you do) so will look forward to playing with this little lot.

Happy sewing.

Quiet week

Things have been fairly quiet in our house this week, but I thought I would stop by and let you see what has been happening.

On Tuesday evening I went off with my friends for yet another walk in the Maidwell village area.  We have done this walk a few times, but always come across another new footpath and my adventurous friend wanting to see where it leads.  So this week we started off as normal on the footpath that leads from the village,  did a little diversion, and for a little while no one seemed to know were we were headed. Unfortunately Northamptonshire don't seem to mark their footpaths or access areas very clearly, but my friends have a great sense of direction and we finally found ourselves back on a track that we knew.  I am sure I have said it before, but I will say it again... the countryside is stunning!

The evening was not the clearest of evenings. but in the distance this purple field looked beautiful

Swathes of purple beyond the corn fields

 As the evening deepened the clouds cleared a little and we had another lovely sunset

Just a hint of pink

Just a minute later...bit more pink

then more of the sky lighting up

So beautiful

Finally the whole sky was a mass of colour

I also had an unexpected visit to the 'Festival of Quilts' at the NEC Birmingham. A friend was going and had a spare seat in her car, so I took the opportunity to go along.  The NEC is always a good day out, some wonderful quilts to impress you, some super fabrics to inspire you, and always new people to meet and chat to.  I didn't buy much, but loved the 'looking'.

I have finally managed to get my 'quilt as you go' quilt finished.  If you remember I had hand quilted a whole cloth and then added blocks around the edge to make it into a size that could be used.  The whole cloth had been marked out in blue, so I had to wait for some good weather so I could wash out the marking...... the day came when I thought I could get it dry so in the bath it went, and surprisingly it fitted into the washing machine for a spin, then on the line to dry.  I have added some 'yo yo's to the centre to bring in some of the colour from the blocks and love it.  For the summer months it will sit happily on my bed.

Unfortunately you can's see any of the true colours or the quilting

The  Mini Mania group this month took its pattern from here, with Felice giving her blessing.  The 'show and tell' was at the end of the month, and this was my addition to the group.

Started off with neat little piles

and spent happy hours hand sewing

then ended up with this little quilt

This month is 'foundation paper pieced' and I have to say its already given me a few headaches, but I am sure I will get there in the end.  If you want to join us, this is the pattern we are using Vintage sewing  created by .charise creates.  Good luck.

Hope you all have a great weekend.