Mission Impossible?

I can't believe my last post was 16th February. I won't bore you with the tales of illness, injury, madness and mayhem that have plagued this house over the past month and a half. I'm just going to jump right in. I haven't done any sewing at home since I last posted and I'm going to try and make up for that this evening.

Here's a question... What's the fastest time you've ever made a quilt in?

Kim at The Fat Quarters has been collecting quilts for a charity all week.

Tiny Lives is a local charity, based in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, that raises funds for all sorts of things to help premature and special needs babies in the area. From research into new medical techniques to helping families with travel costs to and from the hospital, they provide an invaluable service in the North East area.

Kim has been trying to collect as many incubator sized quilts as possible for Tiny Lives and I really want to help out but, due to the aforementioned illness, injury, madness and mayhem, it just hasn't been possible until now.

Here comes the crunch. The deadline is tomorrow and it's now 9.45pm. The quilts only need to be 16" x 20" so I don't think I'm entirely insane. Maybe just a little.

I've pulled out every bright and fun piece of fabric I could find and I'm going to dive in. Wish me luck!

Mug rugs for a good cause

Next Friday is Children in Need night on the BBC. For those of you not based in the UK, Children in Need is a charity that helps children and young people in need all over the UK. Pretty self-explanatory really.

The mascot of the charity is a super cute bear called Pudsey who has one eye - awwwww. To raise money I have designed a mug rug with Pudsey on. Say hello....

The kits are available from The Fat Quarters. You can buy them online or pop in to the shop to pick one up and see what other fun is going on. They are £3.50 each, of which £1.75 goes straight to the charity.

Go on, it's for a very good cause.

Adventures in Long Arm Quilting

I've had my first two days working at The Fat Quarters, learning how to use the Gammill. Unfortunately I have a stinking cold and the machine is in the basement which is quite chilly but the excitement is enough to keep me going.

Here's my new workstation. The other slight drawback is that my head actually touches the ceiling when I stand upright but, again, every cloud... my thighs are getting toned with the slight squat I have to do!

Yesterday I loaded on some calico, learned how to use the controls and practised, practised, practised. I'm very pleased with my progress. Here's my first pass on the pantograph - it looks like it's been pixelated!

And here's my last pass - much smoother, not bad for a couple of hours work.

Today I loaded and quilted one of the shop samples (a little slowly because my head cold meant I had to take a lot of breaks). Tomorrow I'm quilting one of my mum's tops that's been sitting at the shop for over 2 years waiting to be quilted and, if that goes well, I'll be let loose on paying customers' quilts!

A plan... finally

Apologies for the long, wordy post. I promise I'll be back to normal for the next one.

When I was 10 I decided I wanted to be a structural engineer (this might seem young but I grew up with A LOT of Lego). This past year I was attempting my final year of an Engineering degree at Durham University but, unfortunately, I was unable to sit my final exams in May due to a recurring health problem. At the end of June I found out that I would not be able to resit my exams and so would have to leave without a complete degree.

Two days after I got this news, my partner of 9 years left me because he saw no future in our relationship without my degree. Having lost the two defining things in my life I have, probably understandably, been feeling a little adrift. To top it all off, the last two months of job hunting have resulted in many replies of either "I'm sorry you're not qualified to be an engineer" or "I'm sorry you're over qualified to be a receptionist/administrator/shop assistant/client services person/data inputter/call centre phone answerer".... Poop.

Kym and Lucy to the rescue! Kym is the owner of my LQS, The Fat Quarters, and Lucy is the owner of Woolaballoo, a local knitting and yarn shop. Woolaballoo used to be situated in Crawcrook, just along the road from where I live, and my sister and mother used to go there regularly on a Thursday evening for "Stitch and Bitch" (knitting and gossip) session.

Inside The Fat Quarters

The shop in Crawcrook closed down a year ago because the rent was too high but it is reopening right, slap bang, next door to The Fat Quarters in Blackhall Mill. Kym and Lucy have made me an offer I can't refuse; from next week I will be working 2 days a week in Woolaballoo, while Lucy is away doing trade shows, and 3 or 4 days in The Fat Quarters, learning and operating the Gammill long-arm quilt machine. How exciting is that!

Inside the new Woolablloo - click on the picture to go to Lucy's facebook page and see more pictures of the new shop

The best thing about the arrangement is that neither shop is open on a Monday so, after I save up some money, I may be able to squeeze in some modules and finish my degree via The Open University. The scariest thing is that I have never knitted in my life! I'm going along to "Stitch and Bitch" tonight with a ball of wool so hopefully I'll be a fast learner.

If you are around in the Newcastle/County Durham area this weekend, pop into Woolaballoo for the grand opening on Saturday. There's 10% off everything all day and if you bring a friend you'll be entered in a prize draw.

Backing choices

I'm pretty much unpacked now and everything that isn't is hidden in my room where no-one can see it so, therefore, doesn't count. While unpacking I pulled out my Verna quilt top. It's the first quilt I've made for myself and I think it's also the largest I've made at a whopping 7'8" x 6'4".

The only way I could take a picture of the whole thing is by hanging it from the curtain pole and doesn't it look beautiful with the light streaming through those lovely bright colours.

Here it is draped over the sofa so you can see what it really looks like. I can't find any Verna online to back it with, it all seems to be sold out. So I took a trip to The Fat Quarters to see if I could find anything to fall in love with. 

Tanya Whelan's new line, Darla, was on display just as I walked in the door and I fell straight in love with it. I really wanted to use this blue floral but it wasn't quite the right blue:

I do love it though so it may be making an appearance in  a later quilt. I went with a coordinating check in blue and lime which is an almost perfect colour match.

Time to get that bad boy layered up and quilted. I think I'm going to try pebble quilting in the cream boxes to contrast with the angular piecing. 

I've also been working on more jobs for my niece's 5th birthday tomorrow. Big sister wanted me to make some cupcakes  but I suggested cake pops á la Bakerella. Mine won't be anywhere near as fancy as hers (I adore her Mr Potato Head ones!) but they will be very pink and sparkly. 

Step 1: bake a cake - done! 

Step 2: crumble it up, mix it with icing and form it into cake balls - done but very messy!

They're chilling in the fridge overnight ready for their pink candy coating and sparkles sometime today. I hope they turn out OK otherwise I'll be baking a lot of cupcakes overnight!

Back to school

I moved back to Durham this weekend to get some work done before term starts next week. Being a university town means that it's eerily quiet around here out of term time but the peace does mean that you end up getting a lot done (the peace and the fact that the bar isn't open!).

I've redesigned my banner (do you like it?) and I've managed to make a start on the quilting of my bear paw quilt.

It's larger than I'm used to (86"x70") and it takes a lot of effort to get it through my little machine but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. 

I'm the only one in the flat so I've commandeered the kitchen for sewing purposes.

The positives are that I have more space, there's wifi, it's festively decorated with a mixture of Alice in Wonderland and Halloween bunting and the tea and biscuits are only a couple of steps away. On the downside, we live on the ground floor so I have the bored porter lurking outside my window giving me "helpful" advice.

Just before I came back I went to The Fat Quarters and they had 20% off everything! I picked up a jelly roll in Bella neutral colours and started wondering what this quilt would look like with plain paws and a patterned background. It was just too tempting so I bought the jelly roll and some coordinating fabric to have a go.

The fabric is from the Zippity Doo Dah range by Sandy Gervais. Two of the neutrals match the cream and tan confetti pieces perfectly so I can't wait to see how it comes together.

A distraction before I go entirely insane

I've been hand quilting this wedding quilt for so long I've completely forgotten what it's like to cut and piece!  I come in form work everyday, I plonk myself down in my little corner and I sew:

Look at that vain kitty.  Always doing her hair!

It's come to the point when I just can't face sitting in that seat a night longer so I signed up for my very first  block swap at the Missouri Star Quilt forum.  The theme is very loose but it has to be summery and it has to use floral fabrics.  I had a spare hour so I drove up to The Fat Quarters and bought some gorgeous Tilda fabrics.

I chose them because they aren't available in America so it'll be a nice treat for the other ladies (I hope).  Now if I can just finish the block I'm hand quilting I can start cutting!  (I feel like a surgeon who's been denied time in the OR).

Babies and bunnies

I've finally decided on a quilt for my step-sister's baby.  I fell in love with this pattern at The Fat Quarters when I feigned illness last week so I could go with mum instead of going to work.  Don't judge me until you've had to temp - it sucks!

How could anyone resist those bunnies?  They are so adorable and as gender neutral as I could find.  I opted for less pink in my fabric choices to try and make it a little less girly so I think it will work for either boy or girl.

Well back to the wedding quilt.... This little beauty will have to wait until I have the silk monster all layered up.

Christmas Show and Shopping Bargains

It was the Christmas craft show at the arena this weekend so I went along with my mum to spend too much money on things we didn't really need. It turns out in the end we both picked up some real bargains.

First stop was our friend Kim's stall showing off all her best products from her shop The Fat Quarters. She is a very talented woman with some absolutely gorgeous patterns and fabrics for sale in her shop.

That's her on the right with Debbie Johnson from Letters tied from blue. The cute aprons they're wearing are made using Debbie's new range of stamps and the stitcheries behind their heads are her designs too.

After a quick chat we left them to their selling and headed off for a tea and scone and some more bargain shopping. Mum bought some lovely bright red wool for knitting herself a jumper. 100% wool for £2 a ball definitely counts as a bargain. Then we found this stall that was selling fat quarters for £1 each or 12 for £10 so I went a bit crazy and bought 24. No idea what I'm going to use them for but I figure it's never too late to start a stash. I'm sure I'll find some projects to use them with soon.