Joyful World SAL and a little quilting

I finished August in the Joyful World SAL this week. This one was special to me as it reminded me of my father's last dog. He was a great canine friend. I was pleased with how my lazy daisy stitches came out. Usually they never lie as I would like.

August, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle Vintage Mocha
Threads: Suggested DMC threads

I've made progress on quilting my hexagon quilt.

Design: Josette, found in Magic Patch hors serie, no.91,
'15 quilts miniatures'
Fabric, Moda charm pack  'Icicle kisses'

Since it is just the inner and outer edge of the centre rosette that is being quilted, it is not obvious in the above photo what I have done. So here are a couple of close-ups. I'm finding it hard to produce even stitches.  I've read in Kathleen Tracy's latest Sentimental Quilter blog post about Tiger Tape. This is supposed to help you learn to space your stitches evenly. I'm tempted to give it a try but I suppose what I really need to do is just practise and be patient.

A short update

I'm pleased to say that I achieved my goal from last week, that is, to get my hexagon quilt to the 'sandwich' stage.

Here it is! The dark red fabric with the deep cream pattern is the backing fabric and will also be the binding.

I want to start quilting the rosettes ... now. Maybe I'll take it on holiday with me next week. We are self-catering, so there is a chance that I might be able to do something in the evenings? That's probably wishful thinking.

Design: Josette found in Magic Patch hors serie, no. 91,

'15 quilts miniatures'

Fabric: Moda charm pack 'Icicle Kisses'

I've started stitching "The Perambulating Poinsettia" that I won in Christine's of The Alchymyst's Study give-away. I plan to finish it by the end of the month so that it can continue its travels via a give-away here. I took lots of photos but I found it very hard to capture the true colours of my fabric and thread. This is the best I could manage.

Little House Needleworks - Potted Poinsettia
Fabric: 28ct Cashel Flax linen
Threads: Atalie - Les 4 Saisons, Carmen and Desert

Happy May Day

In our local town, there is a flower show held every May day. Since I am not always here when it is held, I made sure to be there today. The sun was shining and though there was a cold breeze blowing, there was a good turnout of people. For a change, in addition to an update on my hexagon quilt, I thought I would share some of the photos I took at the flower market. I hasten to add that I am not the gardener in our household. I enjoy looking at flowers but everything else to do with them I leave to my husband.

First up is one of the stalls selling lily of the valley (muguet). These are traditionally sold on the 1st of May here as symbols of springtime and good luck.

Lily of the valley

A selection of the plants available to buy as well as some metal garden ornaments.

A selection of hens, birds, wind chimes and other garden ornaments

Finally, the latest progress on my miniature hexagon quilt. I'm almost halfway through stitching the rows together (the bottom left section). I hope to finish this part of the project and add the batting and backing by next weekend. After that I will be putting it aside for a while as I have two wedding samplers (both in the same design) and a house warming gift to stitch before the end of the July. I have stitched both the designs for these before so I know it is achievable within my timeframe.

Design: Josette found in Magic Patch hors serie, no. 91,

'15 quilts miniatures'

Fabric: Moda charm pack 'Icicle Kisses'

My latest toy and miniature quilt update

I love visiting family but it is nice to get home and back to your own bed. It also means that I can pick up on my stitching and quilting. Even though I take a small project with me when I'm away from home, I find that I rarely have time to take it out and do any work on it. I know that this will happen but I take something anyway as I like to know that I have something with me, in case I have some free time.

For ages, I wanted some way of being able to look at my charts when stitching rather than having to keep lifting them up and down from the cushion beside me. I read that some stitchers found a music stand helpful so when I saw one for sale in a charity shop, I bought it to try it out.
I'm so glad I did. It is easy to read my chart without having to put my stitching down. I wish I had got one sooner. I like that it doesn't take up much space and I am able to adjust the angle of the lectern that holds the chart.

My music stand for holding charts and diagrams

This photo of my miniature hexagon quilt is a little out of date as I have now started to stitch the rows together. I'm looking forward to getting to the quilting stage. There are errors in that each hexagon is not exactly the same size but I have learnt lessons from this project that will be helpful in future projects. It is very soothing stitching this by hand.

Design: Josette found in Magic Patch hors serie, no. 91,

'15 quilts miniatures'

Fabric: Moda charm pack 'Icicle Kisses'

Some more stitching and patchwork

Rather oddly, life has been both quiet and busy at the same time over the past couple of weeks. Nevertheless I made some time for stitching.

I've finished the stitching on February's Joyful World SAL.

February, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle vintage mocha
Threads: suggested DMC threads

March's Joyful World design is close to being finished. All being well that means that April's design could be stitched before the month of March is over.

March, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle vintage mocha
Threads: suggested DMC threads

During the past week, I went back to working on my mini hexagon quilt and discovered what I had suspected. Not all my hexagons are perfect so I'm doing some minor adjustments to make edges fit as I stitch. At least with hand stitching, I feel I have more control over how the hexagons stitch together.

Design: Josette found in Magic Patch hors serie, no. 91,
'15 quilts miniatures'
Fabric: Moda charm pack 'Icicle Kisses'

A Mado Patchwork blog post (in French) on the finished quilt can be found here.