Fonthill Bishop

Yesterday we went walking at a place called Fonthill Bishop about 30 miles away from where we are in Chippenham. It was a brilliantly sunny day and all the photos I took came out really clearly as there was such good light. It was really cold though, especially in the wind. Here's Mark just as we were setiing off for the walk.

The walk went round a really pretty lake which I think is part of an estate park. We also went right up onto a ridge overlooking the park, the wind was deafening up there, but coming down from the ridge we found a wonderful sun trap and sat and ate lunch it was so warm I could have curled up and fallen asleep there. I had to put this photo in as it made my laugh the sign says 'Warning mole control in operation', judging by all the mole hills in the background I don't think it's having much affect!

There were plenty of birds on the lake including lots of pretty ornamental ducks but I really liked these swans sitting like bookends opposite each other on a small island by the edge of the lake. It was a really lovely walk and I'd definately go back again, I think it would be a great place for a picnic in the summer.

Quilt in progress

After a few days of not feeling like creating much I've got myself remotivated and have put my Kansas Dugout blocks together. I think they look great, everyone did a really good job making these. I haven't figured out how exactly I'm going to finish this yet but I'm thinking probably a plain white border which I'll applique some heart to to fit in with the valentine prints.

Krazy Kitties Postcard

Here is the postcard that I've made for a beginners swap on the FiberArtPostcards group. I've called it Krazy Kitties. I used the first piece of microwave dyed fabric that I ever did for the background and some scraps of beautiful Laurel Burch cat fabric. I hand stamped some paw prints down the side, with a wonderful stamp that I received from Linda Poole in the FGM yule bottle swap. Finally I added some of the beautiful eyelash yarn that Carmen kindly sent me around the cats :) It's quite a simple design and was easy to put together but I'm happy with the result.

Mended Hearts

The wonderful FGM group are making a lovely fairy quilt covered in appliqued hearts. The quilt is being sent round to any member of the group who wants to join in. It's my turn at the moment so added my heart today and of course it had to get the Angelcat touch :)

Amanda's Kansas Dugout Blocks

I had Amanda's wonderful Kansas dugout blocks in the mail today. These are the final blocks from my January lottery win so now I need to get busy and put a quilt together :)

I'm really excited I think these blocks are gonna look fantastic once they are all joined up, everyone did a great job. I'm so lucky to have won.

Door Charm

Here's what I made today. After finishing up all 10 of my Trevor postcards I decided to have a go at making a door charm for another swap that is running on the FAT group. It's turned out better than I expected.

The challenge was to make a door charm which jingled, had a charm and had some element of fabric in it. I made a circle with some jewellery wire and tied some fabric scraps to it. I then made a felt heart which I stuffed slightly and added a few simple embroidered embellishments to. To the bottom of the heart I added some small cat bells for the jingle and a cute little silver cat bead as the charm (I had to add the Angelcat touch somewhere!). I tied the heart to the wire with some ribbon which I threaded with a couple of flower beads to add a bit of interest.

Reybridge in the rain

We are lucky enough to have some pretty villages and hamlets not too far from where we live so we went walking today. It was a pretty grey day and it turned out that there wasn't that much wildlife to see. We found these pretty snowdrops growing at the side of the road though.

Our destination today was a little village called Reybridge, near Lacock. There are a few pretty thatched cottages and the river Avon runs through the village. We see a heron on the river sometimes in the summer months but he wasn't around today, he was probably being sensible and hiding from the wind and rain :)

Meet Trevor!

Today I've been working on a postcard for the FiberArtTraders group. The theme is In the Garden with fairies and Gnomes.

This will be my design for the swap and I've called home Trevor the tree stump gnome :).

For the background I've used some fabric that I dyed in the microwave using green and beige dyes, this means that although I'll be making 10 Trevors altogether they will all be unique.

I hand stamped 'explore, imagine, dream' in the corner but this doesn't show too well in the photo. To finish him off I added a couple of beads to his antenna, some googly eyes (I hope they survive the post I've used strong glue!) and a few randomly placed seed beads on the background. I'm pretty pleased with the way he's turned out, just 9 more Trevors to make and I'm done, lol!

I've been RAW'd

I've been RAW'd what fun! Raw means Random Act of Wierdness, just one of the fun activites we have going on FGM :)

I happened to mention my loathing of feet on the list one day (believe me there is a whole grusome story behind it!) and lovely Alikat has sent me some fiber and beads (in a container shaped like a foot, yuk!) to help me along in my postcard making journey.
As you can see the container was wrapped in some cute Tinkerbell fabric. The Piglet card is just cute, cute, cute! How did you know that before my collection of cat related items took over I used to collect pigs?!! This RAW made my day!

More Ohio Stars

Here is what I've been working on for the last couple of evenings, cutting and sewing some more Ohio Stars. I really like this block!

I am hosting a swap on Quilt-Europe the theme is stars on blue so I've made these blocks :)

Ohio Stars

I've been working on some Ohio Stars for a block swap today. I am really pleased with the way they have turned out though I don't think the picture has come out very well.

If I had more time I'd be tempted to make a whole quilt out of these as I think they look really pretty.

I am hosting a star swap on a european forum so I think I'll make some more of these for that swap too as I really enjoyed putting them together today.

A room with a view

The view from the bedroom window isn't usually that remarkable but we had a rain shower on an otherwise sunny day and I managed to get this shot of a rainbow. It's not a very good quality photo but I think it captures the contrast of colours.

Thanks Carmen

I has so much mail this morning the postman had to knock on the door as it wouldn't fit in the box (he he!).

Carmen sent me a wonderful package to help me along the way in my postcard making journey. Carmen sent some sheets of firm flex to help make my cards a bit stiffer which will help them survive the trip through the post and some beautiful eyelash yarns, I've not seen these before they are gorgeous, can't wait to get started on some more postcards :)

More Kansas Dugout blocks in the Mail!

I received two wonderful packages in the mail this morning, crammed full of Kansas Dugout blocks from my January lottery win. These are from Mary and Sandra. I am so excited about this quilt I think it's going to look great.

As you can see Pip has taken a shine to Sandra's blocks :)

Pretty Kitty Winter Swap

I received some lovely blocks in the mail today from the winter pretty kitty swap, I'm sure you will agree they are all fabulous.

Can't wait to start work on the blocks for the spring swap:)

The blocks I made for the winter swap can be found in the January archives.

Mini Elemental Swap

I didn't get time to take a picture before I left for the weekend but here are the blocks that I received in the mini elemental swap.

Unfortunately not many people participated in the end but thanks Judy and Grey Mere for your lovely blocks. I haven't included the blocks that I made in this picture as you can see these in other entries on this blog.

February Goddess

I took plenty of sewing with me to do at Dad's this weekend but ended up spending most of the time visiting family and watching the winter olympics on TV so didn't end up doing too much.

I did manage to get my FGM February challenge complete though. This month's theme was love and the things that you love.

I have an idea to make a wall-hanging from these blocks and they are all going to be kind of free standing so thought I'd do a bit of experimenting with background shapes. I cut a heart out of some fabric that I dyed in the microwave (giggle) using 2 shades of pink and a touch of purple dye. I then hand stamped some kitties in red using a rubber stamp that I usually use for card making, you all know by now that I love my kitties :)

Of course I had to include my love of this great hobby I've found, quilting, so I used some quilting print fabric that I found in my stash to make the fairy wings. I decided that I should have some element in each of the blocks that will remain the same so I've used the same fabric to make the goddess body that I used in the January block.

A Beautiful Day

I've been away this weekend staying at Dad's.

On Friday we had a short ceremony at the cemetary in Stevenage where I grew up and most of my family still live, and Mum's ashes were buried. Although it was a cold day the sun came out and we had a lovely short service with a few family members and a couple of friends.

A yellow rose has been planted near Mum which will hopefully look really pretty later in the year.

Microwave mishap

Ok so my second attempt at microwave dyeing didn't go so well and I blew up the microwave!

The picture shows what is left of the fabric and the supposedly microwave proof container that I was using, ooops. Not sure what went wrong. I was trying to dye a piece for the FGM february challenge. The first piece came out too dark for what I wanted so thought I'd have another go and this is the result, definately not the pinks and purples that I was expecting, sigh!

First lottery blocks received

I just received my first lot of beautiful Kansas dugout blocks from my lottery win, from Susan and they are wonderful.

Susan also sent me a lovely siggie block and some beautiful cats so I'm feeling thoroughly spoilt, thanks for making my day.

Cosmic cats postcard

Made another postcard yesterday evening and it's definately my favourite yet.

I cut some colourful cats from a piece of Laurel Birch fabric and attached them to a black background with silver stars. I used random stitches in varigated thread all round the edge of the cats to look a bit like crazy fur. Added a few beads to the spotty cat and machine quilted around the shapes.

I also added a layer of card before I put on a calico backing to try and make the card a bit stiffer and slightly more stable for mailing.

The sampler

Here is a picture of the whole quilt. I'm really pleased to finally have it finished but at the same time I am gonna miss working on it as it's been with me for a long time.

All the blocks are 12" and they have been handquilted mainly in the ditch, it turned out to be bigger than I expected, double bed size. All the blocks have cat themed fabric or cat design appliques. As soon as I can I am going to create another blog which will have closer pictures of all the blocks and how I made them, whether I enjoyed the techniques etc :)

Fairy postcard finished

I had many wonderful suggestions on how to finish my second postcard.

I really liked the idea of adding a butterfly but couldn't find anything that was the right scale, but while raiding my stash to finish off my sampler quilt I found the perfect thing to add the Angelcat touch :) The photo still doesn't really pick up the stitching detail very well, but I'm definately happy with this card now.

My sampler quilt is finished!

Well I'm so pleased I finally managed to get my sampler quilt finished!

This has been a year in the making as I have been taking a class at my local college and have been taught the different techniques to make a block each week.

The only place big enough to lay it out is on the bed but I can't get far enough back to take a photo of the whole thing so for now here is Pip sat in one corner :) As soon as I laid it out on the bed he was there! I'll have to wait until Mark gets home from work before I can take a full size photo.

Secret Sister!

Im so excited in the mail today I received a lovely envelope packed with surprises frome Jone Lewis my FGM secret sister for January!

The swap was called 'The book by my bedside' Jone has been reading 'Watercolour fairies' by David Riche and Anna Franklin. Inside the beautiful angel card Jone told me all about the book and included a beautiful poem about friendship.

There was some beautiful sparkling dragonfly fabric and a gorgeous piece of mottled blue and purple fabric. There were beads and a lovely tiny cherub charm, some beautiful fabric flowers and a dragonfly and also 2 wonderful lace butterflies. I know I'll have fun thinking of ways to use all of these.

Thank you Jone you made my day :).

Hosting the February Lottery

Well as I won the lovely Kansas dugout blocks on the Mailblocks January lottery it becomes my turn to host the February lottery.

I've chosen a block called Antique tile to be made in white and colours of the creators choice although they must stick to pastel or mute tones. The pattern can be found here:

http://www.quilterscache.com

I've been busy making my blocks today and am pleased with the way they have turned out. I think whoever wins will be able to make a fantastic quilt from these.

Another Fairy postcard

Well I've finished my second attempt at a postcard. Maybe that should be almost finished as I really think there is something missing from this one.

I started off with a plain background as I couldn't really find anything in my stash that made this fairy stand out enough, but I think therein lies my mistake as it just looks too plain. I put some white beads on the daisies. I added some stitching in gold thread in a swirl pattern to the plain background but I think it needs something else. The only trouble is I don't know what. I tried some beads but they just stood out too much and the swirl pattern was lost.

Anyone have any ideas?

My first Fiber Postcard

Wow this year so far has been filled with quilting firsts for me long may it continue!

Well here is my first attempt at making a fiber postcard, it might not be very fancy and some improvements could definately be made to my satin stitching (maybe a new sewing machine is in order), but hey I'm pretty pleased.

I cut a whole piece of the navy moon fabric 6" x 4" and fused the fairy on top. (Thanks for sending me such great fabric Alicat!). I then cut a piece of medium interfacing and fused the two layers together.

I used some varigated thread to hand quilt up the lines between the moons, I don't think this shows too well in the picture. I used the same thread to add some sparkle to the fairy wings. I also added a few seed beads here and there to add a bit more interest to the background.

I finally cut a piece of 6" x 4" calico for the back, something which should be easy to write on with a fabric pen, fused this to the quilted front and satin stitched all the layers together with pink to pick up the colour of the fairy wings ....finished!

I've won!

I'm so excited I just found out that I am the winner of the January lottery for the Kansas Dugout block. I posted a picture of mine a couple of weeks back. This is gonna make a cute quilt.

The picture has nothing to do with my winning but I thought it would be a fun thing to post. Hector has a new favourite sleeping place on one of the shelves in amongst my craft things. I'm surprised he hasn't managed to knock anything off yet but give it time.....