What Katie Did

Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible

Off to visit my parents and then on to Norfolk to see John. I'll be back at Easter or thereabouts. I'll leave you with this picture of Nancy in her new jacket, which fits very nicely!

Have you ever seen a Birthday Cake like This One?

Lee made this for Anne's birthday. It is was a 'Friends and Lovers' cake. The slices had to be Big to avoid collapse, this is the gap left by one piece.

then the sumptuous light sponge and heavenly mix of fruit and cream was shared with your loved one. I think there should be a law that insists that all cakes should be eaten like this.
Thanks for a nice birthday tea party Anne - with pass the parcel - so obviously NOT fixed and margaritas ... do you really need a link to Wikipedia for that?

I spent the morning with some left over bits of quilt and my copy of the Crafter's Companion and made this for Anne's Birthday

Instead of machine sewing the sections for the needles as instructed, I quilted all the layers together with embroidery silk

I'm pleased with the way it turned out - it is Tania's contribution to the book, which made it even nicer to make! Great instructions!

And today, Martha is coming home, there is cake to make and the treehouse to get ready!

Friday, and the start of my HOLIDAY!

Two weeks off work now - wonderful feeling! This arrived in the post this morning
The left is for my Norfolk Nittin and will be a present for my friend who may just read here, so shhhhhhhhhhh!
The other is possibly for me, but I have very many knitting projects on the go, so I should finish a few of those first.
I finished this last night.

I'm not very good at button holes, so this one won't button up, like quite a lot of my other cardigans. I need to visit Nancy soon!
The quilt has taken up residence on the dining table and I am quilting it in a random way, as is my wont.

Not sure what I'm doing with this, but I'm having fun. I think I might be breaking all the rules as I am making it up as I go along. Next week, I get to find out how to do it properly when I visit Mum. I often do things the wrong way round.
It's a lovely day, and we have new neighbours! Here is a peek over the fence .......

Slide! Swing! Looks like we're in for some Action!
Happy Birthday to Anne today!

The view from my office window

So while I can see a bit of sky (which is an improvement on the windowless world I had last year) you can see why I prefer to be looking out of my window at home. Today, though it is cold, the sun is streaming through it, onto the table where I am experimenting with quilting this crazy colourful mixture of madness that I have spent the last few weeks piecing. (This is my Mum's box of embroidery threads)

Here is what I decided to do with the edges

and the view from my bedroom window where I am sitting now.....

Mum

Happy Mother's Day

Have a happy day Mum, I know you don't need a special day for me to send you a Huge Hug, but its never a bad idea to have an extra bit of love from me!

Here is a look at the Mat Meeting I went to yesterday at Clara Vale. We had a day like this about a year ago this one was lovely too. I am making another 9 square mat, designing this one myself. Its not as much fun as the last one I made with all of you!

Alison is a very accomplished matter!

fast too!

Hazel cut strips from a sheet and crotched this foot which will then be set into a mat with the other foot to be a bathroom mat. (She makes great cake too)

Pauline works in a very organic way - this will be a floor rug for her new house. This is the back of the rug, 'proggy' is worked from the back, hooky from the front - its not very technical! This rug is going to be amazing, Pauline has a magical way with colour and shape.

Lucy's flower is going to look sensational

Sue has appeared on this blog before, she was playing the fool that time too.

The suitcase I got last week was the perfect transport for a selection of jumble sale scraps for my work. Good for swaps too.

Liz left before I had the chance to photograph her frame - and Lynn is seen here on the right starting work on her mat

We had a fun time!

Today it is sunny, windy, cold and just now it was snowing! I have about twenty things I should do, but I suspect I will have difficulty keeping out of the shed for long!

Happy Day to Everyone, but mostly to my Mum.

A break with routine

It does you good to have a change every now and then and although the prospect of a day long meeting scheduled for later today doesn't fill me with joy, the day off it gave me yesterday did!
I am so used to being at work on Mondays that it felt a bit like being on holiday rather than different use of time. I had a good long time with this

I wanted something to back it with, so for a bit of a break from sewing I went to look at the charity shops in Hexham. The good people of Hexham donate their old books, clothes and junk to

• Oxfam
• Oxfam Books
• Save the Children
• RELATE
• Scope
• Cancer Research
• RSPCA
• The Hospice Shop
• Age Concern
• I'm sure to have forgotten one - help me out here Martha

and then we buy them all back again, its the best form of recycling.

This case was 50p in the Hospice shop. I remember seeing one of these cases with a wonderful wool blanket covering, so while I thought I'd do that, it was actually more useful for carrying the fabric I got from Oxfam, RELATE and Age Concern

Two kids duvet covers for making bags, a very yummy bit of pink fabric that used to be a rather hideous dress and some very smart looking sheets to consider for backing this quilt.
That is a strange card game called 'Plaza' - just liked the look of the cards - 50p.
So I will go to work with a lighter heart today because despite missing knitting today (gasp!) I had a really lovely day yesterday!

At last, I have found my camera!

I misplaced my camera on Sunday and it only came to light last night. So there are no pictures of this quilt top as it went together.

I began by looking at the pictures of Anna Williams quilts. same old link I'm afraid, can't find anything else about her.
I have been reading what I can about how she arrives at this style. Here is a small quilt I found on a blog I have never visited before - so nice to have a new read.

From 'Whats THAT Gonna be?'

This is a feature about Anna Williams in a Rowan Quilt Book with some of my old shirt fabric randomly sewn together.
Here are some of my first attempts at madly sewing colours together. This is just a practice piece about two foot by one.

Then I had a thought to make something BIG so I cut and sewed and ironed and cut and sewed......every spare minute for the last week. There is still plenty to do. I am enjoying it so much. Its all about not having to make the edges meet and encouraging clashes and wonky lines. I LOVE it.
 
Now I am thinking about the backing and how to quilt it. I have been reading here with great interest. Jude quilts and assembles pieces in an extraordinary way, all very inspirational.

What a steep learning curve I am on! At the end of March I get to spend some time with my Mum and Dad then I can sit at the feet of another Master Quilter!

Just one more before I go out to the shed and do some more sewing!

Thank you for reading all this time. I appreciate you all and enjoy your comments, your blogs, your emails and your support.