Just realised I haven't uploaded the pics for the last two weeks of the Quilt Along.  I have been making my blocks.  I'm as regular as clockwork with that and I've remembered to upload them to the flickr site but I've been distracted and forgotten to upload them here.  Anyway better late than never here are the pics.

Actually it's not one block it's two.  She sent me these blocks and aren't they beautiful.  The one in the more traditonal colours will be part of the Block Swap Adventure Quilt I plan to make.  The one in the red, white and blue fabric is so beautiful, the photo does not do it justice.  I am still deciding exactly what to do with it but at the moment the favourite plan is to hand quilt it, turn it into a cushion cover and display it on the sofa where I will be able to see it every day.

I had an email from Carol to say she had received her block safely and that she liked it.  I'm always pleased when people confirm that they like what they receive as I worry that maybe I've managed to chose colours a person hates or a pattern they dislike. When someone comes back to me and says "just what I wanted" I always feel relieved that I got it right.


I used my Accuquilt Go! to cut out all the pieces for this block.  I treated myself to this lovely toy last year and because it makes precision cutting so easy I have made so many more quilt tops this year than I would if cutting out with a rotary cutter and ruler.  The actual quilting of the quilts hasn't kept up with the making of the tops.  I keep dropping hints about getting a long arm quilting machine but while they remain the price of a small car I don't see one in my future.


I thought I would have a go at writing  the instructions for making this block so lots of photos were taken at every step of making it,and a ream of notes written explaining how it goes together.  All I have to do now is translate those notes from gibberish into English and I will have my very first tutorial ready to go.

At last the sun is shining and I am making the most of it by lunching with a friend. Tracey and I have known each other for over 20 years. She was one of the first people I got to know when I moved to Devon and we have spent the whole of that time working for the same employer. When offered the chance to leave last year we both thought the opportunity was to good to miss and so agreed terms and gave up our jobs. We lunch regularly in order to keep in touch with each other and catch up with all the news and gossip. Leaving seems to have suited both of us as we are happier and healthier than we have been in years while nobody we know still working for our old employer seems to have a good word to say for them. I’m so glad I took the plunge, definitely the right decision for me.

Lunch was at The Phoenix in Exeter and as it was such a lovely day we sat outside. It is one of my favourite places to people watch as it isn’t overlooked itself but provides a lovely view of people passing by. The food is tasty, the wine more than acceptable and everything a reasonable price for lunchtime. So to summarise good food, good wine and good company on a beautiful day. Who could want for anything more?

Got a flyer in the post the other day announcing the opening of a new HobbyCraft store in Newton Abbot.  Until now the closest store has been the one in Bristol and even I haven't been able to justify the  hour and a half drive each way very often.  So today armed with the 25% discount voucher that came attached to the flyer and a credit card that hasn't seen much use since I retired I went shopping.  And I had such fun, the place was packed but everybody was in a good mood.  There was lots of stuff to look at, lots of staff members willing to spend time answering queries and lots of goodies to buy.  including lovely, lovely books.  Craft books are so expensive normally but with such a good discount I indulged just a little bit.  I see a good few evenings coming up being spent reading up on some new crafts a getting new ideas for old crafts.  Lots of inspiration already and I've only skimmed through the books so far.  Also got those little bits and pieces that arealways needed but never thought about until they run out so several packets of sewing machine needles and flower headed pins have been bought.  And I added to my collection of pens just because I liked the look of what I saw.

It's probably a good thing this store isn't any closer to home and I can't go there just on a whim otherwise I'd have to look for a job to earn enough to pay for everything I wanted but it is nice to be able to indulge sometimes.

My partner for this month is Carol from Idaho.  She mentioned she liked purple fabrics.  After looking through my stash I found this selection.  Now I just have to decide on a block to make and then whittle down the fabrics to those needed.

The final choice was these three.  All have purple in them but it gave me a selection of dark, medium and light to play around with in the block.

Here's a sneak peek at the finished block.  I hope Carol likes it.  I'll put up a pic of the whole block once she has received it.

I'm not sure why but this week's blocks I found difficult to put togeter correctly.  Every block has seams that have required me to rip open and restitch as blocks were in the wrong place within the row or the whole row was in the wrong order.  Although the block itself is a simple one it has fast become my least favourite as it has proved so easy to get wrong.

My first block from the Block Swap Adventure group turned up the other day.  Isn't it pretty!  I've requested the same pattern for all my blocks so that I can make a throw or a bed quilt out of them and the pattern will hold them together even though each one will have different fabric.  I'm trying to decide whether or not to add a border and quilt as you go with these blocks.  It would mean less work when I have several of the blocks and would let me practise the technique without pressure as I would only have to do a block a month.  If I can find some suitable fabric for a border and for binding I think

In many ways this is the easiest block to put together that there has been so far, or at least it should have been.  There are at least a dozen ways to sew this block incorrectly and i think I found them all.  Once I managed to get the triangles pointed in the right direction and the sequence of  squares and half square triangles correct the blocks looked great.  then I started sewing the rows together and managed to get the sequence wrong and a row upside down.  Lots of practise in using a seam ripper this week.  Still managed to get there in the end and I do like the way they look.

The July list is out and I know who I will be sending my parcel to and who I'll be receiving a parcel from.
My parcel will go to Mel who blogs here  and the parcel I'll receive will come from Libby who blogs here.

As usual I'm excited  to be involved and can't wait  to start shopping for Mel.  This is the first parcel I'm sending to Europe so it's even more of an adventure than usual.