A Lovely Surprise!

Although I haven't been doing much in the way of sewing this week, I have not been idle!

For a start, I found a cutting plan for the star block which I want to use in the Christmas QAL challenge, and I have printed it out and put it with the fabrics ready for next month's QAL weekend.

And then - most unexpectedly - whilst in London for a girls' weekend away with big sister Helen we came across this quilting shop!  Hurrah!

Now I think that quilting shops of any size are sadly lacking in my part of the world - we have a small shop about 3 miles away, but apart from that, only one other of any size in the whole of the City of Birmingham - and that is on the other side of the City from me.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to just walk down a road and trip over this one!

I did a little light shopping and came away with a 'bargain bundle' - a mix of no less than a yard of coordinating offcuts for £8.  That compares to most fabrics here being in the range of £10-£12 per yard.

Lovely, that'll do me - I wonder what my bargain bundle will become...?

Christmas QAL - June - post 7 (final)

Once I persuaded Oli cat to shift his furry backside off the candle block layout that I've drawn up, I put all the pieces in a plastic bag safe for sewing together next month.

I thought I'd make a start on the cutting list for the star blocks too, but I soon ran out of steam.

This was partly because I was struggling as to the how much fabric to allow for the quarter square triangles; partly because I'm going to invert the two fabrics used for the stars so they are slightly different on each block, but mostly because I was scoffing far too much of the Chocolate Saltine Toffees that I made from Joanna's recipe that she posted yesterday.

So that's it from me for this month - nearly bedtime here, and the cats need rounding up for supper.  Hasn't our first Christmas QAL of 2013 been fun?

Using the whole weekend has worked really well for me, as there has been time to plan, and blog, and go round the world to chat to all the others; and this has fitted in with all the 'stuff' that needs doing!

A big thank you to QuiltSue for setting such a fiendish challenge!  I've had such fun visiting everyone, including new friends - and hasn't Joanna been a great hostess? The fabric giveaway is a lovely surprise too!  I've had a fabulous weekend, so thank you Joanna - and to you all - for making it so.

Christmas QAL - June - post 6

Well you lot are enough to lead a girl astray, I must say!

As the universal opinion is 'go for the fun cutting and piecing' rather than the more sensible 'get all the complicated cutting list sorted out for the other blocks too', I have gone with the flow.  All these quilters cannot be wrong.

Fortunately Oliver cat arrived after I'd put the rotary cutter safely away, and he was just in time to 'help' me check the fabrics against the cutting list.  That's if you count sitting on the block pattern 'helping'.

Oh - I've been baking too, and the Christmas Saltine Toffee is in the fridge setting - I may have to sneak a peak in a mo ...

Christmas QAL - June - post 5

Good morning everyone! How are we all on this Sunday QAL morning?  It's warm with sunny spells here, and I can tell you that as Lesley says, it is a great day for quilting!

Thank you for all your help on my HST conundrum last night - that's another query ticked off the list.

I'm in two minds today about how to proceed with my blocks -

• I can cut all the fabric for the candle block, then start to piece it, so I get the block put together (the fun option) 

OR

• I can sort out the cutting list for the two star blocks, which will involve more head scratching as I try to resize one of the blocks that we used on the Scatty Stars QAL quilt a couple of year's ago (the sensible option).

I'll wrestle with my conscience whilst nipping up the road to the shop - there are Ritz crackers to buy for baking...

Christmas QAL - June - post 4

OMG!

Joanna has posted a recipe for Chocolate Saltine Toffee - and it looks FABULOUS!

I love the idea of the salty/toffee/chocolate mix and now I've found the UK equivalent of saltine crackers (Ritz or Tuc, just to save you looking it up, girls), and if I nip into Aldi when I go for a paper in the morning, I'll get some in, and get baking!

I'm off now for the night - it's day two of our QAL weekend tomorrow, and for me, there's cutting to be done!

But I'll start the day with a cup of tea, and I'll come an visit all the blogs of our intrepid QALers.  If you're taking part in the Challenge, or just stitching along with us on another project, can you make sure you're signed in to Mr Linky on Joanna's QAL page?

Otherwise, how am I going to be able to nose around and see what you've all been up to...?

Christmas QAL - June - post 3

I think that Bilbo might have just saved me from going a bit crackers!!

I now know that drawing up the cutting list is a part of the quilt design process which is pretty damn tricky, involving lots of concentration and calculations regarding extra ¼" seam allowances.

Bilbo to the rescue, though, with her comment on my previous post saying, 'give us a shout if you need at hand at sorting out the cutting plan'.

Good - thank you.  I was doing quite well with regard to working out the piece sizes that I need to cut for the candle block in the middle of my runner, but then I realised that I have a couple of half square triangles in the design, and can I work out what the fabric sizes for these should be?

No I cannot.

If I was to tell you that the two HSTs in question are to be a finished size of 1½", can anyone tell me what size square of each of the two fabrics I should be cutting??  I should be able to work this out, but it's getting late, and - yes - that is a glass of red that you can see on the worktop.

Back to the thinking in the morning!

Christmas QAL - June - post 2

Ok, people - I've been mucking about with my fabrics and graph paper and a pencil, scratching my head about what to make for the QAL Challenge.

Have you all been across to Joanna's place to see what we're up to on the QAL weekend?  If not, get over to her QAL tab and sign up to Mr Linky; take up the Challenge, and get your thinking caps on!

The first thing that I came up with was the thought that QuiltSue should not be allowed to set such a bloody difficult task - I ask you, a Christmas themed quilt without using red or green? Surely it's not natural!

Then I started to get the seeds of an idea, and over a cup of coffee and a copy of the Telegraph, I doodled a little something out.  Then I turned my doodle into a sketch ... and then I put my sketch onto graph paper.





I did some sums to make sure my graph paper design didn't break the size requirements and I am now happy with what I have.

I've even picked my fabrics - so I have a definite non-red, non-green Christmas table runner design!  Oh yes!

The next trick, of course, is to translate the design into a cutting list; but that will be later - for now, I'm celebrating by running around the world to see what you lot are up to!