Abigail the starfish

This is my first attempt at putting a video clip on my blog, so hope it works! I made my granddaughter a star fish costume for her "under the sea" show. After the video I sewed sequins etc.. all over the back.

Mini IAM 26th April 2011

Today being an extra days holiday for the schools, it was decided to have another mini IAM day at my house. I collected Abigail (7yrs) early in the morning and then Jenny and granddaughter Olivia arrived plus Penny.

The start of the class was ribbon weaving in 5 bright colours of ribbon, stuck to heat-n-Bond and cut to basket shape. Next an assortment of artificial flowers, sequins, Tintzl glitter were added, and the whole thing covered in netting. Finally the whole thing was random machined, and three of us turned them into pictures and Penny made hers into a bag. Mine is still to be finished!

With a little spare time at the end the girls designed labels for the back on the computer and printed them on fabric.

A very enjoyable day was had by all.

Abigail's butterfly quilt

Husbands arms were not wide enough for the quilt photo! but I have managed to get all the borders on and if I can find someone to long arm quilt it, and it's not too expensive I will get the top put together and add a binding. Then the 3D butterflies will be added randomly [ I have 7 of them made so far].

If longarm quilting is too expensive it will take me some time to get it quilted, as it is not one of my favorite things with large quilts. This one measure 66 x 83 inches.

BBQ sauce

Tonight I am off to a recipe swap at Church, where everyone brings their favorite recipe and we can all try a sample of the made up item. I am definitely not known for my cooking, too many other crafts I would sooner be doing! BUT one of the family favorites is my BBQ sauce, so thought I'd share the recipe with you all.

BBQ sauce

Mix together in a large pan over medium heat:
1 bottle Soy Sauce
1 bottle Worcester Sauce [ keep back a couple of tablespoons ]
1 jar Honey
2 jars Red seedless jam
2 bottles tomato ketchup
Juice of a lemon

Next mix with the remaining Worcester sauce:
2 tbs of dry mustard and 2tbs cornflour into a smooth paste
Add this slowly to the pan and bring to the boil
Leave to cool, then freeze or use.
Wonderful with spare ribs, beefburgers or hot dogs!

A new piece of Bobbin Lace

Having attended a lace day at Bozeat on Saturday, where I spent my time winding about 40 pairs of bobbins, I have now started a new piece of lace, just a small picture of a pansy.

Cat woman junior

Abigail is staying with us for a couple of days during her Easter holiday.

For a ballet exam she needs a cat costume, so arrived with the main part and we have made ears and paws for her.

Dosn't she look cute.

Bag Day at Bedford

Spent today with a very nice group of ladies at Bedford on a workshop. Some were making a quilt-as-you-go quilt, one was working on her very first quilt, and what a wonderful job she did too.

Four or five of us had a lesson from Tiny in making a bag with fancy insets. My bag front and back are pictured.

Thanks Sue for a lovely day.

Sun Bonnet Sue

My Sun Bonnet Sue BOM blocks are all finished and joined together, using the quilt as you go method.

The next border will be red to match the sashing but then I cannot decide what to do !! There are meant to be further borders with applique on but as I have used red and black I just do not think it will work.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Final idea is just to put on one red border and edge it with the black and use it as a wall hanging.

IAM Thursday 7th April

As usual a group of eight of us met at my house for a meeting. Usually these meetings are just informal, but it was decided to hold a workshop, and we made purses and notebook covers.. lots of them !

Handy tool holder

For just over £5 I managed to buy this really handy tool holder for my workroom from Ikea. I like it so much I'm hoping to go back for another. The buckets were 50p each and the hooks £1 for 6 !

I think the rod that holds them was about £2.

LDS Temple

On a nice sunny day last month Chris and I visited the grounds of the LDS Temple south of London.

It is a wonderful building and the large grounds were so peaceful and nice to walk around.

At the visitors centre we were told the story of the building and the grounds. A nice day out.

Design Wall April 4th

My design wall this week has a number of 3D machine embroidered butterflies on it. Plus it still has the Easter bunnies.. that I need to make into bags for the Easter eggs!

UFO #1 March 2011

Having failed with the February UFO challenge, the wholecloth quilt.. which I never thought I would complete, but at least I got it started, I have worked on and completed three other UFO's from my challenge list.

Judy Laquidara from Patchwork Times put out the challenge at the start of the year, and March was #1 which is the green and peach quilt on the left. I machine embroidered the little girls and then quilted the whole thing with my embroidery machine. The Farmhouse quilt and red, white and blue quilt have yet to be chosen, so I will be a little ahead those months.

April challenge is #4, my stars of the USA quilt.. I have quite a lot of work to do on that but hope to get at least the blocks completed and the top put together.

Norfolk holiday

We are just back from a weeks holiday in Norfolk, where Chris managed two long walks along the Coastal Path. These are pictures from our little cottage we rented.

A visit to Sandringham park was nice, but we were too early for the house and main gardens to be open.