Happy Christmas

                 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Feather in the Hedgerow

Enlarge the picture and look closely to see the beautiful patterns.

Welcome to Maria, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

A New Project

It is a while since I started a big project, so earlier this week I rummaged through my bag of beautiful Oakshott shot cottons and striped fabrics to start a new quilt.  The idea is that I will be working with gorgeous colours and using patterns I have already tried out on the free motion experiments I have been doing over the past few months.  This time I am using cotton wadding - for the experiments I used cheap and cheerful polyester - so the finished texture is softer.

These leaves and berries are no known plant, but it grows in great profusion in Fmqland. (Gosh, doesn't that read like England when the double vision sets in after mince pies and one brandy too many).  For the berries I have to thank Aeroflot, and the leaves are scaled down vine leaves.

It is such a great pleasure working with the vibrant colours, and also I have an excuse to try out lots of different variegated threads.  It is a bit of a shame the light is so bad at the moment so I can't get a better photo.

Linking up again to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and to Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday 

The Stash

This picture is a bit embarrassing.  The cupboard is overflowing and I can no longer shut the doors. There is enough pretty cotton poplin to make dresses for 36 toddlers, oddments and plain colours for 103 tea cosies, and plain colours and backing materials for an indeterminate acreage of quilts. Also I have a carrier bag full of my poshest colours, which I am now digging into for a new quilt.

Planning and organisation are not my strongest points, so I have decided to be bold and write down the list that has until now been stored between my ears.  Said and done is not my motto, but if I write something down, then I consider myself obliged to do what I have said I would do. The kick for this decisive action has come from Barbara at Cat Patches with the 2014 NewFO Challenge.  So here is my plan of action, nebulous as it is:-

1.  Use up some of the nursery print fat quarters for a cot quilt, and see if I can then churn out a        few more cot quilts and pram quilts.

2.  Devise a baby dress made from fat quarters.

3.  Make a quilted jacket.

4.  Do a small free motion quilted landscape.

5.  Make a dress for my daughter using her parcel tape alter ego.

6.  Start a wall hanging and make it good enough to enter into an exhibition the year after next.   This is something that has lived for so long in my head and reached such fantabulous proportions that I haven't even put pen to paper to sketch the plans, for fear that the reality will fall too far short of the fantasy.  It is time to get a grip.

Well that is six months taken care of, not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily consecutive. How is that for a get-out clause?  We shall see...

Doll Quilt for Lily from Sharyn in Australia

This pretty little quilt arrived in the post last week from Sharyn in Australia, my November partner on Doll Quilters' Monthly swap.  The theme was quilting with or for children, so I asked Sharyn to make a quilt that I could give to Lily.  Sharyn's timing was perfect.  It was Lily's birthday last Tuesday (she is now a very old lady of 11), the quilt arrived on Wednesday, and I was able to visit Lily and her family on Thursday.  There was a bit of excitement when Lily unwrapped her quilt.  It was beautifully wrapped in a piece of blue fabric, and came with a matching pin cushion.  These tumblers in a lively combination of colours will look lovely on Lily's bedroom wall. 

Later on the same day I was able to post the quilt Lily and I have made for Sharyn, but of course, that is all a big secret until it reaches Australia...

Thank you Sharyn for being a wonderful partner! 

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Wild Pansies

There was a great mass of tiny wild pansies at the edge of a field where I often walk.  They will be sure to pop up again next spring.  I love the one on the left with purple ears.

Free Motion Field Maple

Although most of the trees have now lost their leaves, there are still a few field maples giving a splash of yellow here and there.    I brought a leaf home so I could try capturing the shape in outline. After a dodgy start and getting a bad stitch because I had loaded the bobbin in the bobbin case the wrong way round, I managed to settle down to some serious treadling.

The leaf is strategically placed to cover the duff stitching.  I might get round to unpicking it, or I might leave it in as a reminder to keep my wits about me when putting the bobbin in.

Somehow I ended up making the leaves more or less actual size.  Really they needed to have been a bit smaller, so the gaps between the stems and stalks didn't look so empty.

The helicopters were a bit tricky because the wings stick out horizontally.  Perhaps I will leave them out next time, they felt like a bit more fuss than they were worth.

However, I enjoyed doing the leaves, even though they ended up looking a bit more like ornamental acers rather than the field maples in the hedgerows.

Tea cosy update  Carla has emailed me to say that the cosy has now safely arrived in Holland, and she has sent me a lovely photo taken at a free motion quilting class.   Thank you Carla!

This post is being linked to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday - lots more blogs for you to visit!