Frambooske.quilty.things

12 Christmas tree mug rugs, made with love. The tutorial I based my little trees on can be found here .

I've enjoyed making this block!  Loving the colours and the 3D effect. Even though that meant I had to make two extra blocks as I'd orientated the diamonds the wrong way, ruining any 3D illusion!! I considered ignoring it, walked away from it and made the two extra ones the next day... Live and learn :)  The red, flowery fabric in the background will go on the back of the quilt. I wanted my white/grey fabric to sew my tumbling blocks onto, but didn't have enough material.  I ended up choosing this one instead. It works ok I think.  This is the 'finished' (kind of) result, the picture isn't orientated the right way, the darkest side of the cubes will by at the top in the finished quilt. I've got one more block to make:   (drum-roll...) the Tangled Star...

The design choices with Drunkard's path are nearly endless!  In the end I kept it really simple, it hardly looks like a Drunkard's path! There happen to be 17 different fabrics in this quilt.  They are all in this block :)!

Block three, my Card trick block, is all finished. Well, not quite 'all finished', I'm ignoring the little matter of ironing, squaring, sashing and quilting.  None of them have had that fabulous, finishing off treatment yet.  For now my mind is drawn to block four.  I'm enjoying this Grandmother's fan!  It's so different from the last three blocks.  This time I'm re-using the orange batik again, the yellow spotty fabric I've had around for long time too.  The two fabrics for the blades are new and just gorgeous, I love a bit of Scandi! I can't wait to get sewing! Now another important part of the quilt came together last week.  I finally made my mind up and chose the fabric for the sashing and backing, woop!!  I'll show you a picture next time.  There was a lot of going back and forward with rolls of lovely, tempting fabrics, spreading out the blocks and taking pictures.  Lots of cups of tea and biscuits too.  I lost so...

I've started on my third block and wow there are lots of pieces in this!  I've pinned it all together so you can see what it looks like so far and to stop me sewing the wrong squares together :).  The cutting out took quite long compared with the Churn Dash (block 2), but it's totally worth it for the 3D effect! This one is called 'Card Trick'.  I'm reusing my orange batik and love the contrast with the (new, oops ) blue batik.  The background fabric picks up the orange and blue.  I'm a sucker for trying to pick out and repeat colours, it just feels more 'whole' that way to me. And... I'm so proud, I remembered to be a bit more careful with the patterned fabric.  Fingers crossed there shouldn't be any issues with the pattern this time as the background pieces don't 'touch' each other. So guess what I'm busy doing this weekend? Finishing my homework ten, twenty minutes at a time!  If you haven't done any quil...

I've joined a new class and must say I loooooove hand quilting !  I never thought I'd say that.  It's just so much more sociable than machine sewing.  I can sit in the lounge or outside in the sunshine, no loud noise or keeping little fingers away from buttons and cables. These are the first two blocks from the nine block sampler I'm making.  Each block will be a different design. Block one.  I was tempted by a Japanese print and a batik.  I'm happy with how the red and orange from the print are picked up by the other squares. Block two - Churn Dash .  Being a bit more careful with the pennies here and recycling some fabrics I already had.  The colours looked best this way round, but next time I'd be more careful about how the print joins. Still, pretty please with this :)

Happy Easter! A quick post as we still haven't got broadband back. We had a super family day. Eggs were hunted and found, the sun was shining, we had a lovely walk through the woods, a belly bursting Easter lunch with family and... here's proof that the scarf is all finished! Yay :).

Lingering Winter, we've all had enough of you. You have overstayed your welcome, you have been an unwelcome guest for a while. You are not taking the hints or even pretending to be going. You like it here and are oblivious of the growing annoyance your hosts are feeling. Your skies still grey, the wind still whirling over the hills and through the streets, chilling every bone it meets and the world around us still colourless and quiet. You like your stone-cold days and wintery ways. With your freezing temperatures you are keeping Spring paralysed and the world around us strangely transparent. I have almost forgotten what the sun feels like, don't let it be too much longer ~ please. I'll be wear this scarf for Easter, all it needs is a border and the ends sewing in.

Just a quick update from my mobile phone.  We lost the internet in our house on Thursday... It is so strange without it, you really don't realise how much you rely on it until it stops working.  I've wanted to look up a recipe, order left handed toddler scissors, check prices for a new internet connection (ha).  Thank god for my smart phone keeping the internet addiction sweet with a little drip feed! The good news is that the internet has moved out together with my lovely husband.  Well, he's kind of moved out :).  He has moved his work from our garage into his own office.  Things are still a bit up in the air, but what a milestone! Once everything is out I get to reorganise the garage - yay.  For the last three years there hasn't been a welly boot, gardening glove or outdoor toy in it. *rubbing hands* I can't wait !! One other change is that I now get to walk home from work. 2 miles, or just over 3 km.  No big deal right.  Shame that ha...

A few weeks ago I popped in to the lovely haberdashery where I take my sewing classes (off and on - and soon on again, more about that later!).  A happy place where I get to chat and mostly drink cups of tea.  Walking through the aisles bursting with crafting treasures my eyes were drawn to the most vibrant, multicoloured wool - pink, blue, purple, green...  Resistance melted away fast... I'd been thinking about learning how to crochet granny squares and had seen a pattern in Mollie Makes (Feb'13 edition) using this kind of wool (thought the picture in the magazine showed pastel colours).  I made a quick estimation and worked out I'd need quite a few skeins - maybe 10-15?  I had no idea really. Then, luckily for me - saving me an embarrassing moment / dented bank account - I enquired about the price of one of these gorgeous, sweets-coloured, woolly gems.  £3.5 per skein.  Ouch.  Right now there's no way I can justif...

 Where have those three years gone?  You've grown and changed so much.  *muah*

It has been a very grey and damp Sunday here.  You could almost see the water drops in the air, leaving everything outside wet and clammy.  Even my pictures have turned out a little solemn.  The colours look muted, but that's what you get for taking pictures on a dull day. It doesn't matter though.  The roast chicken, potatoes and veggies are in the oven.  A chocolate bread and butter pudding is waiting to go in.  My little boy is sat on the sofa, snuggled under a blanket. I think there might be a glass of wine this evening.

Here's a glimpse of what I'm working on at the moment.  Hoping to have finished it by the end of next week! P.S.  I really love that little Kingfisher.