BQS is back!

If you don't already know, the Brit Quilt Swap is back for Round 3 - mini-quilts between 12" square and 24"square.  Hop on over to the flickr group if you're interested in joining in the mini-quilt swap fun.  Sign ups are open until 24th June.

I'm in (but having minor anxiety attacks over the complexity of the inspiration mosaics popping up over there).

Not all plain sailing

Finished up my wonky star cushion from class this week -

The design for the cushion is to have a positive side and a negative side which works really well for the fabrics I chose for this one.  I love the splash of turquoise among the charcoal and white, and the postmark stamp fabrics is really fun without being too childishly novelty.

I used a lovely turquoise thread to outline quilt the star - works a treat against the charcoal.

The real challenge for me in this class (aside from trying to achieve wonk with a brain that likes straight!) was inserting an invisible zip.

Now I know I've had a go at zips before - in cushions and in pouches, but if I'm honest it's all a bit hit and miss with me and the zip.  My efforts for the Mouthy Stitches Swap earlier this year were reasonably successful, but something seems to happen when I try to get the needle close to the zip teeth and keep running straight along the bulk of the fabric and wadding layers.

The insertion of this zip was not fun, entirely user error, of course, but not fun!  If you could see closer up you would see two or three lines of unpicked stitches on that charcoal Kona.  Other than that it looks okay from this distance now, but it really could have and should have been better.   The pattern instructions were great and the class demonstration made it all look so straightforward but, me and my zip foot have issues - we may need some therapy to work them through!  It almost feels like I should use the quilting foot to keep it all feeding nice and evenly through the machine, rather than the zip foot itself.  Hmmm, need to figure this one out ...

In the meantime, I do have a lovely finished cushion and I don't expect the invisible zip police to be inspecting often!



PS - If you're at all interested in the pattern for this cushion it is available on the Just Jude Etsy shop (and be assured the zip issues are all mine not the fault of the pattern).

My Saturday

Look who I met today!!!!

That's Di on the right and me on the left.

It's Di!

To say that it was lovely to meet Di today would not be telling you the truth.  If I'm being truly honest with you folks, I have to say that it was a PRIVILEGE to meet Di.  'Nice' and 'lovely' don't cut it as the adjectives in this scenario.  As Di was in Belfast for the weekend, she and Judith arranged for the three of us to meet for coffee this afternoon and it was the fastest 3 hour cup of coffee ever!  We met, we hugged, we chatted, shared and laughed and it was great!

And here's the three of us in the men's suit dept of House of Fraser (?!)

L-R: Me, Di and Judith

where Judith (politely) accosted a handsome young sales assistant and asked him to take this piccy, after the kind older gentleman we asked to take our photo at the coffee table actually managed to turn off our two cameras and one mobile phone instead of taking the pics!  (Bless him.) We thought we needed to find someone who might actually be a little more familiar with the technology for the second attempt!  

Don't we just look so pleased with ourselves?  (My hubby thinks it looks like we're kidnapping Di!  Hmm, maybe next time ...)

And you will not believe the loveliness that Di had as a wee gift for me.  Isn't this little coin pouch just so bright and happy? 

But wait 'til you see the back ...

I'm so thrilled!  It's my blog header on fabric.  Did you hear that?   MY BLOG HEADER ON FABRIC!!!  With a little help from Trudi, Di made this wee pouch so personal.  Isn't it great?  It's going to be shown off now to everybody I can possibly pin down.  I love it, love it, LOVE IT!  Thank you Di!  And thanks to Trudi for helping you out, too.

What a smashing Saturday afternoon!!

Bee Blessed - Responses

I realised recently that while we have been showing you Bee Blessed blocks and quilts on this blog and Judith's and also via the flickr group, it has been harder to share with you the response that our quilts evoke.

Sometimes our quilts are gifted through an organisation and we have no direct contact with the recipient.  While we don't get to hand over these quilts in person to their recipient, our contacts within the organisation have been delighted to receive and pass them on on our behalf.

Occasionally, we have the privilege of handing a quilt over to the intended recipient, and what a privilege it truly is.  Recently, one of the quilts was delivered to a lady who is struggling with chemo treatment.  She was thrilled with the quilt and so touched that we had thought of her and considered her during this difficult and frankly, pretty miserable time in her life.

Another of the quilts was gifted to a teenage young man recently diagnosed with ME.  His quilt was delivered via his mum and she was so affected by our gift and thoughtfulness that she cried.  The young man himself also sent us a lovely Thank You card to recognise our kindness.

There are other similar stories too and in most cases they involve tears (of recipients and their family members).  Yep, Bee Blessed makes people cry - doesn't sound quite right, does it?  But it feels right, folks.  When we see the reaction, and the thankfulness and the hearts that are touched and the tears that are brought to their eyes we know we are doing something right - we are sending little touches of blessing when it's needed, just as we had hoped to.

Thank you all for being a part of that - whether you are a Bee Blessed member through our blogging community, or with us in reality at our meetings, we could not do this without you.  Please know that what you do makes a big difference!

My new sign

The observant among you will have noticed that a few weeks ago I changed the design and colours on my blog.  It was high time for a freshen up and I'm enjoying the cool blue theme going on as a wee change.

My son has been playing with the Keep Calm logo app (don't know what it's really called) and we've been trying to think up a new slogan for the sidebar of the blog.  So between us here's what we've decided on -

Oh how true!  Thanks for your help, my beautiful boy!

Weekend Stitching Snippets

Been sneaking some moments to stitch over the weekend.

A block for Bee Blessed (instructions here) -

Trying to quilt and bind a Bee Blessed quilt which was beautifully pieced by Heather (almost finished but not quite) -

And, a UFO becomes a WIP - I finally picked up those Birdie Stitches blocks and gave them the sashing and borders they've been waiting for.

Terrible pic from my mobile phone 'cos the camera disappeared on a father/son camping trip.

To those of you who made it to the FQR (and survived) - I hope you had a great weekend and look forward to the many posts and stories that this week's blogs will no doubt bring.  It's been awfully quiet around here without you!  My reader's been practically empty all weekend!

Ju - Bee - lee

While our numbers were a little depleted at Bee Blessed today, our spirits were not.

I should have had lots of pics of us at work but instead when I got home I realised I'd only managed to take pics of our lovely Jubilee Tea which Ros and Barbara prepared for us.  Thank you, ladies, it was delicious!

I promise we did do some work today - lots of bunting was cut, a fabulous Amy Butler quilt is in progress, another quilt is being quilted and a couple of the new blocks are on the go as well.  Not bad for 7 of us!