busy

Always seem to be busy.

I have made little progress on my quilt.  Sigrid has been over so much time has been spent on the bags (now complete - need pics!) and she brought over a jellyroll which she sewed up into a single quilt top.  It was fun, about half way through the roll the strips stopped alternating so there was a fair bit of scrambling to get the quilt to look balanced, but we managed it!

As a result of this visit I decided I'd need to practice my chosen quilting stitch.  Free motion quilting!  I chose some nice chintzy cotton, sandwiched it over a layer of batting and set up the machine according to instructions. The biggest hurdle my brain had was getting over not having to turn the fabric to make curves!  My tension was also out a little between top and bottom which I did eventually sort as can be seen in the final pic, but over all I'm pretty happy!

Lisa was also over last Tuesday and was working on some knitting.  I really must get to grips with cable knit for some soapy ideas I've had! :)  Sigrid made it away with one of Lisa's dies and my cuttle bug as she is doing a hexagonal (honeycomb) quilt by hand! I'd never thought of doing anything so challenging, as I don't love hand sewing, but must admit now I've seen it done the appeal of it!

I have decided that this year my crafting has to take a more diverse and serious role and as a result we've signed up for another fair in February in the town centre on Sunday 12th, just in time for Valentines!  We don't do the Valentines thing here, as we're pragmatic and homely souls, but for those of you who do, the Guide Hall behind the Howgate Centre between 12noon and 3pm will be the place to find some handcrafted indiviual items. 

Also I've put up a facebook challenge. It's a pay it forward thing, so I've promised to send out a hand made item to the first five responders on the post within this year.  I believe there might be a space left, and I'm not bothered if you aren't crafty and can't pay it forward in that way, paying it forward in kindness of another sort is always acceptable! :) 

I'm also going to take part in the craftpimp pinterest challenge, as well as their journal challenge for January though the month is nearly over! :o 

Nicola (Mrs Dawber! Not going to tire of that any time soon, sorry Nic) had this beautiful piece of button art on her pinterest board and I fell for it too.  I decided to make a little boodwahhh pillow in a similar, more simple design and I'm pleased how it turned out though I totally mismanaged the size measurements and had to fill it by hand!

I'm going to do another couple I think in the correct size now I have my blanks and mebbe even squeeze out some bags for little girls in a similar vein! :) 

Must remember to make Dad a long hottie too!