Quilting curse....

So much for saying it was going fine quilting the second heart quilt.... my machine started to act up again with the thread breaking and making a rough sound when sewing. After a lot of debating if there was something wrong with it with my dealer she finally decided to take it in and had a look at it! I got soooo frustrated she wasn't listening I cried in front of her in the end and only then did she say she would have a look at it! She had to send it away to be looked at by an authorized Janome repair center after she couldn't find what was wrong. When it came back 2 weeks ago and I was going to try it out at home the first thing that happened was that it said F2 error.... And no way was it going to quilt, it took 5 stitches or so before it went F2 error again in which case the only thing to do is to turn it off and on again. I just packed it up and went straight back with it saying I do not want to look at it until they have fixed what ever they messed up trying to fix it in the first place!!

2  weeks going and haven't heard anything from her about it yet. I am very disappointed with the machine, Janome Horizon 7700 and my dealer. I am thinking I want a new machine or my money back if it doesn't get resolved soon.

I at least managed to get the binding on and finished the first bargello heart quilt. So one down and the other one just have to wait until I get a working sewing machine.

Lists

I have several lists going on in my head at the moment. You know things needing attention or just wish lists for the house, garden, me, you name it. I just have to decide which list needs most attention and get on with it really.... sigh

It is slow progress at the moment in the quilting department. I am cursing at the last heart quilt not wanting to be quilted as I like it to be. The seam ripper has been in ample use and I have had a break from it because it was getting just too frustrating. But during the weekend I have finally picked it up and am finishing the last borders on it. Thankfully my client is very VERY understanding....

I've had a birthday in October and was given the most excellent birthday present! A quilting frame in which I can use my sewing machine! We saw the frame being demonstrated at the Birmingham Quilt Festival and I was in love. But I never thought I would get it as a present. I was more in the line thinking I'd save up and we make an order next time we went to the Quilt Festival! So now my sewing room is in a bit of disarray while I am trying to fit the new frame in and all my other necessities. I think I have found a solution to how to have it arranged but now all the fabric and other stuff has to be fitted into lesser space so that means refolding fabric and going through all the other stuff and see if it all is needed. But that is sort of fun, if you have the time to do it... which I wont have in a couple of days time when I am temping for Veronica full time again for 2 weeks. Got so tired last time I did it I barely managed to stay awake for the evening news! But it was more fun then my normal routine at work so am glad to get to do it.

Little Miss-Fix-it has left the building!

Yes, so if you have any trouble or problems and need a shoulder to cry on don't come my way to get them fixed and leave me to clean up the mess.
I have had enough!
I don't mind to help out if I can, but at the moment I have had my fill and am sick to the bone of solving everybody else's problems while no one seems to wonder or think that I might need a break or a friendly ear for my troubles. So look elsewhere for someone who cares!

Services will probably resume, but not for the foreseeable future anyway!

Festival of Quilts in pictures

Here are just a few of all the pictures I took from the festival of Quilts in Birmingham.

 This was elected Best in Show and I so do agree!

Think what you can do with this technique when using it in a dress....

This one was just amazing! And it had such a nice fall around the skirt..

Birmingham Festival of Quilts

Ok... I think I have found heaven!

I have never been to such a place as this Festival of Quilts, there is just sooo much to take in and to see and to buy there aren't enough hours it is open! We were there waiting outside for it to open but still we hardly managed to see everything before it closed, so thank the gods we have another day tomorrow!

I've already bought so much fabric but have my eyes set on more and I have seen a kit for a queen size quilt, but I've never sewn from a kit before so don't know if i would like it. But it is oh so tempting to buy it because both me and Jamie absolutely love it! It incorporates some applique which I have never done before but it looks a simple enough design, just some leaves scattered around the border. Talking about poor Jamie, he has been very well behaved and put up with a lot of carrying and standing waiting for me when I got into looking for fabric. Bless him he will have to do it all again tomorrow!

Lets see, there is still the whole quilt exhibition to see tomorrow and to take pictures of and then there are the second round of going around looking for more fabric and notions and maybe a new ruler and maybe a few books or patterns to be bought. I have seen a quilting frame I would like to buy to my machine, makes it a whole lot easier to free motion quilt and you don't need to invest in a longarm, even if that might be something I do in the future. There were a few other new crafts that I would like to try but I think it will have to wait for another time, just cant start another one plus all the other ones I am doing already!

I will post pictures later when we have access to Jamies parents computer with the little slot for the memory card.

Finally done the first one!

After all the trouble with the sewing machine and a lack of time for the spring frenzy in the garden I have finally managed to finish the first bargello heart quilt! And here it is all quilted, just got to put the binding on which I have all the material at home so that will go quickly.

 Very nice swirly pattern. A very fun one to do as well.

So now on to the next one!

Garden so far

Here at last are some pictures how the garden looks like this year. It is a lovely day so I am off out when I've posted theses

My flower arrangement at the door this year. I went very pink!

The new borders we did last year are bulking out very nicely

The new border by the street, putting peat blocks in place as to keep the soil from falling on to the lawn we are going to sow

We extended the veggie patch this year a bit and rounded it off, makes it easier for Jamie to cut the grass

A view from our deck

I just love this white peony! And the daisys I managed to sow from seed last year are really thriving. They got too tall though!

Rain rain rain

Sigh, when it rains it pours it seems. But maybe there will be a break in the weather today. It is looking promising outside now when the really dark clouds has rolled past and the sun is trying to get out. But I am not really complaining about all the rain we've had. It has been really good for the garden and all veg is now looking really healthy not to mention my spuds! They now look fully grown in height!

I am off to take my mum to a garden center, well me as well..... Jamie is working today so got to amuse myself somehow don't I? Well we also need a few more peat blocks for the new border we are doing at the front.

Veggies,veggies,veggies!

Yes, the garden is up and running. Spuds in the ground together with carrots, beetroot, dill, parsley, sugar snap peas, onions, leeks, runner beans, wax beans, broad beans sown inside so the fecking birds wont eat them all, squash plants on the go inside as well since it is a bit too chilly for them yet to go out.

New perennials have been planted in the new border by the hedge towards the street. All other borders weeded and I've already seen some things I want to move because they are getting crowded out and a shrub that needs replanting somewhere else since it doesn't like its current spot. Other then that all the new roses we planted last year seem to be coming along, not a single death yet this year but then the last winter we had wasn't all that harsh like the year before.

Have to measure for a trellis of some kind backing up to our new decking so I can plant my new clematis. Also got to decide what to do with the wild section. I like it being wild and rough but not when it gets over run by dandelions and that other pesky weed. We did cut back on it last year when I decided that the cats would lose their litter box, it was really smelling awful around the bushes, so I changed it around and added more lawn going in around the bushes. I am now thinking I might do the same on the other half and just keep a smaller part of it as a flower bed and pack as much ground covering plants in there as I can.

Generally all our plants are bulking out nicely and covering the ground so there hopefully wont be too much weeding for me to do. Since my hands seem to be deteriorating in strength quite considerably since last year I have to think of ways to make the garden easier to manage. But I don't want to resort to just having shrubs and lawn. Just have to crack on and get the borders separated from the ever creeping lawn with something nice like paving stones or a wooden plank or something similar so I don't need to do so much trimming of the verge, which I usually do by hand.

Sewing is put a bit on the back burner on nice days like today but I can happily report that the sewing machine from hell now is from heaven again and it is working out quite nicely. Got at least half of the first heart quilt free hand quilted and the thread doesn't snap every 5 cm any more, just the odd time when I am going too quickly over a thick layer of seams....

In between lots of cursing and swearing.....

Yes its been one of those kinds of days. I was going to press on and quilt as much as I could on the first heart quilt today when I had plenty of time and felt inspired but I don't know what had happened to my machine but all of a sudden the thread kept on breaking, hopping stitches like anything and snapping when I was free motion quilting. I changed the needle, changed the foot, adjusted the pressure of the foot, adjusted the tension, threaded the machine a thousand times. Almost threw something through the window of sheer frustration when nothing seemed to make any difference to the problem. Jamie tried to help but he backed off when I started growling at him, poor soul.

Then after almost giving up and calming down over a late dinner I had an epiphany! Last Tuesday at the course Marina changed the bobbin holder since the old one often got dislodged and at one time got pierced by the needle and jammed crocked when I was sewing and got slightly damaged and uneven. She also changed a metal clamp to a thicker version to keep the bobbin holder better in place. It seems the Horizon has some 'issues' with the bobbin holder moving out of place when sewing. Anyway I kept the old bobbin holder and now put it back. And see it works again! There were a few thread snags but not every 2 inches like it was before! I have to ask Marina what this is all about because it shouldn't behave like this! Also I noticed the thread snagging when I had the front cover closed but not so often when I have it open to try to see when and how it snags.

Sigh a very frustrating end to the day after a perfectly alright morning. Weird thing is that it sews perfectly when straight stitching and piecing. So that is what I ended the evening with and sewed a few more blocks to my scrappy cathedral stars quilt, pattern is from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville. And here is a photo of my progress.

:o)

Been a while

Life just got busy and didn't have time to write about what has been happening around here. Not that much has happened.  I've been plodding on with the blocks for the lilac heart and can now see the end of them all. I only need to make 15 more! Then it is a matter of sewing it together and then quilting it. But that feels like it will be more fun then doing the blocks has been lately. Last night at my quilting course I started a quilt just for ME, well us really since I am making it to be used when lounging in the sofa . Just a nice blanket size quilt. Will post a sneak peek later.

Weekend done and dusted!

I don't enjoy working weekends but its a must since I work part time in a supermarket. If I didn't the pay would be really really crap.

I haven't done much sewing at all, have had a headache and feeling generally tired and off since Friday . So after getting back from work and had something to eat all I could manage was to slump in front of the telly with a nice warm blanket.

It has been very cold here for a couple of days, night time temps being around -25 -27 degrees makes our house go cold inside. It has been much improved since Jamie did some extra insulation work down in the basement, the floor is not as cold as it was before but it still goes cold inside when the weather turns for the lower temperatures because our heating system can't cope with the extreme cold it being an air to air heating system. Don't ask what sort of system it is all I know is that if we ever move or build a new house we are not having this system again! It is total crap for Swedish climate but still all the new houses going up have this system as standard. No wonder people are complaining about their heating bills being horrendous when they need to put extra heaters on when it gets cold in winter.

We have been thinking again about maybe building our own house and looked a bit at what plots there are available. We would want to move out a bit in the country and get a bit more land as well. Jamie would like some woodland so we could be self sufficient with wood for heating, I'd like plenty of room for a wild garden and for growing vegetables plus a studio for all my crafts, oh that would be lovely. If we ever do build it would definitely be an eco house of some sort maybe even a passive house which uses very little energy for heating since it is so well insulated. Lots of things to think about of course and we still have to find the plot of our dreams. We will have fun looking though and if it pops up it does or maybe we will find a dream house in the country with all the requirements. But we best win the lotto first....!

Testing....

This is what is taking up a bit of my time....

Bits and bobs... and fabric!

This weekend has been very busy and had a slight change of plan due to the weather that rolled in on Thursday night. But it all went very well anyway since we could get to the sewing festival on Saturday instead of on Friday. But it was a bit of a disappointment. That festival seems to be getting smaller and smaller each year. My favourite fabric person wasn't even there this year with her stall. But there was someone else instead and she had a sale on! This is what I got from her

The top line I could easily use as is to a quilt I have in mind with lots of different stars. The bottom line I am thinking of making a table runner for spring. Even though looking out the window it doesn't look like spring will be here any time soon. I woke up to -19 and it is snowing....

Friday was spent indoors after shovelling all the snow that had drifted and sewing more blocks to the bargello heart quilt. At the moment I have 48 more blocks to do before I can start thinking about borders and quilting and binding. It is so slow going at the moment though, I need a second project on the side so I can alternate when it gets too boring doing the same block over and over again. That is why I finished the center bit of the Wedding quilt. I think it is safe to show on here so here goes.

Today at the course I am going to pick what borders I am going to finish it off with and then it is on to quilting it....

The more it snows!

We had plenty of snow dumped on us yesterday and this morning. Plus it got really REALLY windy so everything got blown around and drifted.

Had to dig out the car this morning

But the good thing is that I had time to do some sewing and after all hair pulling yesterday about getting the measurements right for the center borders around the bargello heart today was the big day of doing the first row. And it all fit! No pulling or cursing, it just slipped in place, so now it is just to go ahead and finish it off to the right size. Wohooo!

Here it is on my design floor looking all yummie!

I got a secret....

Yes I have started the wedding quilt but don't know if its safe to show a picture on here... I don't think our friends know about my blog and I haven't mentioned I blog lately but you never know! It will be bad enough if they find out they are getting a quilt so better hold off with posting pics just for a bit longer.

But I thought I'd share a few pictures of my sewing room. I know at least one follower who would like to see how it looks like in there....
But be warned, it is a bit messy, not as bad as it has been though, I made a bit of an effort to clean it up before I took the pictures, not much mind you, just a bit

In this one you can maybe spot my very small stash peeking out of the left cupboard shelf. I don't have much more quilting fabric then that. I have loads of other fabric stuffed in a closet in the guest room but that is mainly material for curtains and pillows and other ideas I have for the house.

This is my little sewing table with a view to our garden below.

These are two bigger tables that can be put together and they have adjustable legs so you can lower or raise them depending on what you are doing. At the moment I'm cutting the material for the blocks I need to make for the second heart quilt. Also my two scrap bins are getting filled up so soon I have to find something I can use them up in. I have a pretty good idea of making maverick stars out of them for a quilt but haven't had the time yet to sort through the boxes. At the moment everything is mixed pretty well. But I do think that the one box has a lid on it because it contains bigger pieces of fabric that I sorted out once before. And the one closest to the camera holds all the offcuts and end pieces that were just a bit too small to use.

Hopefully I will have a bit of time this weekend for some sewing. I am planning on doing a bit on both the wedding quilt as get some more blocks done for the heart quilt.

I got some post!

This is what I got from the sale at Quilters Haven

And then these, I just love the colourful stripe one, will definitely be doing something with that one in for spring!

Is it raining?!?

Oh, that was not what I was expecting to see when I woke up this morning. Usually it is supposed to be snow you know..... Well I don't mind as long as it doesn't turn really cold tonight and turn everything into ice. I got to get to my quilting course that is starting up again tonight! Am looking forward to that quite a lot you see :)

Marina asked me what I wanted to do for the course and I said I wanted to learn how to make cathedral window blocks since I cant seem to work out how to do them from what I am finding on here in the internet or from my books. I always learn better when someone shows me how to do it. I also want to make a start on the wedding quilt choosing colours and pattern. I just love standing there in front of the wall of colourful fabric and ponder what I am going to use this time. My favourite part of quilting I think.

I was wondering, what is a design wall made out of? I've heard you use flannel but also fleece. Is there a preference to which one holds the blocks better?

I will go for my walk in the rain and the slippery ice now and then get busy sewing more of those heart quilt blocks now when everything is going all right.

Lets go Quilt!

Finally got the size right for the second block. So now there will be a production line in my sewing room churning out these blocks so I can finish the second heart quilt and get busy quilting the two. And then I can go on to my next project which is the Wedding quilt.... I think I've decided on the pattern, I will see next Tuesday what I decide on after the quilting course. You never know I might get some other idea from the people there or Marina will show us something she has been working on to tempt us.

So, here are the infamous blocks. Laid out as I will sew them together.

And here is another picture, bit of closeup.

I do love this quilt and the colours. More then the other one I made. Both have their charm but this one I could easily keep for myself....

AArrgghhh!

No its not going well, but I might have found a solution to my troubles to get the 2 blocks the same size so I actually can sew them together! Remind me not to do this again!

In a bit of a pickle...

I am stuck.

I got one border left to put on the first heart quilt but I am going to leave it for a while since it has been troubling me a bit. I thought I'd make a start on the second heart but that's the problem. I know which patterns to use but, and this is a big but, what size and what colours to use? I have done 3 colour ways in various sizes and none sing to me when I lay them out next to the heart.... They just look limp and not connected to the centre heart at all. It doesn't even help when I lay out the borders I am going to have around the heart, which really REALLY look nice.

So, I love the second heart to bits and the borders I am going to sew around really really enhance it even further so what is wrong with the stupid blocks!? I am going to go sulk now and stare at it for a while and see if I have an epiphany.

Progress

I've done a bit more quilting to the gigantic spread. I like how it turned out. More fun too to make a pattern, so this is how it looks on the back where the quilting shows better.

Don't try this at home!

Yes this is me, With a cold and all, freehand quilting the gigantic bedspread I promised to make for Rosie and Fredrik ages and ages ago. I really didn't have any excuses left now for not finishing it for them and considering I am going to make them one for their wedding (which they don't know) I GOT to finish this one off! I thought the simplest of patterns would be a great start, so I doodled all over the green and blue in the middle section, swearing as I was going because the weight of the quilt is hard to handle when you want nice curvy doodles! But I got my grippy gloves on and the extra quilting table mounted on the sewing machine so it wasn't too bad. Got very achy arms now though from pushing and pulling the quilt around.

This is what the doodles look like. I haven't decided yet if I am keeping the hand quilted circles that are in the middle of the sunflowers.

Sniff......

Can't believe I have a cold yet again....Everything takes longer to do because of the lack of energy. I got all the material to finish off the first heart quilt but cant even find it in me to cut out the stripes. Lots of tea and keeping warm so I at least can go to work but not much else is happening here at the moment.

We had some very happy news the other day. Our friends Rosie and Fredrik are getting married this year! They have a lot to plan and look forward to and by the sound of it it will be a BIG family wedding. Now as soon as I heard the news I knew I wanted to make them a quilt but don't know what kind of pattern to use yet. Will ponder a bit and look around for inspiration, any suggestions are very welcome, the only thing I do know is that Rosie likes colour just as much as I do so it will be a real labour of love to make a quilt for them.

I think I'll go upstairs and stare at the heart quilt for a while to see if I can muster ANY energy to get it finished so I can go on to the next one.

Busy bean!

This is what has kept me busy, apart from work that is. But I must admit its been a bugger to me! I couldn't get it together as I had seen it in my head so I pondered a few days and tried various options of finishing it which meant me making  use of the ripper quite a bit when what I tried didn't look right. I did a bit of other quilting to take my mind off it, which didn't help,  until I had a brainwave in the middle of the night and actually woke up knowing exactly how I would finish it off! So here it is, as it is at the moment

It needs a small grey border and then a finishing wider black border before quilting but I didn't have enough fabric at home so will get that tomorrow before work so I can finish it this weekend and have it ready for quilting later on. Then it is on to the next heart......