the last finish of the year

My Butterfly's Ball quilt is finished!

I finished it about a month ago (it is probably the largest quilt I have ever made), but the light for taking pictures has been so bad, days have been very wet and grey.

"Such a Ball and such a Feast 

       No one can forget:

Oh, if both would last, and last,

One more hour, not finish yet!

Some are sleepy, some could madly 

       Dance away till dawn,

Lovely wings are folding sadly,

One small Ant was seen to yawn.

Now the great big Moon is sinking

         And goodbyes are said,

Darkness spreads, and some are thinking,

"Who will light us home to bed?"

Hand quilted using pearl cotton and large stitch,

my favourite method.

There was quite a long autumn in out part of the world, but in November we were hit by a very cold spell, which thankfully didn't last too long. 

The weather is back to being more autumnal, with lots and lots of rain and many local floods.

These are some pictures from our cold walk on Mendip Hills last month.

in the sun

 

and in the shade

When out and about this week we popped into Stourhead Gardens;

feeling the cold from the lake; sun is rather a rare sight at the moment.

 Wrong time of day for Christmas lights unfortunately, 

but I do prefer to be warm indoors when it gets dark.

There is always the pub to get warm in !

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2023

Friday

My Friday was quite busy; 

I spent the afternoon finishing Blooming Springtime quilt, stitching the binding on.

I started this quilt in February'22, so it took exactly a year to make.

I quilted it by hand, using my usual shadow quilting

 with pearl cotton and a large stitch (because I am an impatient quilter!)

My first finish this year!

I am so glad this is done; when I get near the end of a project, 

I am itching to concentrate on the next one!

Now of course it is the Butterfly's Ball -

so I spent my evening joining the others at Cheryll's for FNwF,

working on the first applique border.

This is where the fun begins!

"Dormice in the winter like to snooze,

Not Now! 

Look at her party shoes, and 

Oh, what lovely eyes!

Her husband married her because he thought her finest feature was their lustre and their size."

Thank you, Cheryll, for getting us organized again!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2023

the last finish of 2021

I had a very late night last night, but it is done, 

largest applique quilt I have made so far :

                                            "Barn Dance "

It was designed by Robyn Falloon,

published in 100th issue of Quiltmania magazine in 2014.

Measuring 1,80 x 1.80 m, just the right size for my bed; 

needless to say that I am very pleased with it.

I had enough of one of the fabrics used in the quilt for the binding.

I usually sew the binding to the front of the quilt and turn and stitch to the back, but this time I did the opposite, turning it to the front and securing it with chunky stitch using pearl cotton No8.

I can concentrate on Christmas now 😅😅, 

lets hope it will be "normal" one this year,

keeping fingers crossed.

pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2021

back in my sewing room!

At last I have reclaimed my space, which was a store room for a while;

 inevitably when we do any DIY in the house, it takes longer then planned 

(as does anything else these days - we are not young any more.......) 

The main object was to sort out our bedroom, which has not been touched since our last move, when we moved with furniture larger than this house could take.

Now, freshly repainted, including old dark wood chest of draws, it looks larger and bright. 

I could also move some of my quilts in at last.

My sewing room needed a good tidy up and in the process one always finds some forgotten projects in the corner.

This is  "Quilter's Patch" quilt, or was supposed to be. 

There was a point when I got fed up with it.

The instructions in the pattern are for piecing, where every block is made up of loads of small pieces, and that is where the problem was. 

As you know, I am an applique girl, but at the time I thought that I should get familiar with another method; and I got on with it - in fact there are 12 blocks here, all done.

So, what to do with it? It would make nice cushions, but who wants so many small cushions?

These blocks on their own would make a small quilt, but I think every time I would look at it, I would remember the defeat! 

The other possibility is to carry on and make the rest of the blocks in needleturn applique; I don't think mixing methods would be too bad, it would make the quilt more interesting - and it would give me something else to play with - yes, this idea is now developing in my head.

The reason I need something else to play with? I finished "Surrounded by Flowers" quilt!

I finished the binding last night, I chose a green fabric with small ladybirds, which is probably quite fitting.

I had to try to do a photoshoot outside today, because the light inside is really bad now, the artificial light just doesn't show off the right colours. 

Although it is quite warm and dry outside, it is very cloudy; 

we had some great sunny days last week, but not today....

So - this is my version of "Surrounded by Flowers". 

I say my version, because I changed the final border, 

so this is different from Janine Alers's original pattern.

I hand quilted it very simply with a large stitch in pearl cotton no16.

I leave you few pictures from our walk in Wells last week; again not very bright, not good for taking pictures, but dry day.

This is mainly area around the Cathedral  and the Bishop's Palace.

Our garden is looking rather sad now,

but still great colours outside my kitchen window!

finished,

my Broderie Perse wallhanging. 

In my last post I just started to play with some of my stash fabrics, but once I started I could not finish, 

I was enjoying it too much!

It is different from my usual applique; 

at first I could not find enough of the right pictures to cut out, but he who looks, finds 😀

And when the binding is being stitched on, 

you know you are nearly there!....

And here it is, hanging on our hall wall.

I like it, it feels quite 3 dimensional, it is very tactile, I can feel the shapes under my fingers.

                                ----------------------------------------------

  At last we are having some sunny days and a break from all that rain.

Autumn has arrived in our garden......

We have moved the bougainvillea to the front porch, 

so we can enjoy the show little longer.

 I am enjoying being in my sewing room; 

the news from outside are not so good again,

so keep safe out there!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2020