Hugo has my heart!

Who knew that cycling could be so compelling? Or was it the beautiful Yorkshire countryside bathed in sunshine? Move over Wimbledon- make way for the Tour de France.
I had a wonderful afternoon in front of the telly ignoring the sunshine outside. First the superb and very fast victory for Petra Kvitova all done and dusted in 54 minutes. She was unstoppable! Then fantastic coverage of the Tour on ITV4 through pretty Yorkshire villages and countryside. Makes you proud to be British. I loved the sport, the sights, the crazy commentary with very unsound historical facts and the finish with poor Mark Cavendish taking a tumble at the last moment.
All this gave me time to sit and finish the binding on Hugo's quilt so it is ready to take up to the Lakes next weekend when we visit.

So, some photos…..ta dah!!!!

The quilt was long arm quilted by Sue Phillips. I love the cloud design in variegated light green. It shows really well on the fabrics but does not dominate the design.

I blogged about this quilt here but just some quick details again.

Pattern: Key to my Heart, by sweet jane available on Etsy

Fabric: Road 15 by Sweetwater for Moda (jelly roll) with Kona Silver for the border and Ikea Britten Nummer for backing.

I cannot remember the name of the binding fabric. It is black with very small slightly uneven white dots.

I know that there is a convention to name quilts so what shall I call this? If you knew Hugo and saw his beautiful big brown eyes you would know why I call it "Hugo has my heart". He's more likely to call it roads or houses!

I dropped Vivi's quilt off last Thursday and practically begged Sue to see if she could find time to quilt it. I should know by Wednesday whether it will be ready so that both the grandchildren get their quilts. If it is ready I will be sewing binding all the way up North.

I'm linking up with Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I get a Whoop Whoop? She is having a fund raising giveaway in a really good cause. Please take a second to have a look.

Wonderful weekend

Flowers, sun and sewing. What's not to like? The garden was looking so pretty this morning that I took the time to take a few photos before a day of sewing. The Amelanchier is frothing with it's fleeting blossom but even when this has gone we can look forward to berries and stunning Autumn colour later in the year.

The rhododendron was flowering well and the air was full of buzzing from our honey bees in the pear tree.

This clematis is container grown. I just love it's simple, fragile shape.

It has been a sewing weekend too. I attended a "Jelly Rolls and Charm packs" class at Busy Bees in Newport yesterday. The guest teacher was Jackie Taylor of White Cottage Country Crafts
Jackie had brought a large selection of patterns and projects to cater for a variety of tastes.

I had chosen to make a quilt for my eldest grandson Sam. He is 9 now and so growing out of childish prints. I was looking for something to suit and thought that Hearty Good Wishes by Janet Clare for Moda fitted the bill perfectly.  Janet has designed seafaring prints with simple line drawing and a wonderful muted palette.

The pattern I chose to follow was Jelly Roll boxes; a simple but effective design. Once the introductions was over we were pouring over the patterns and organising fabrics. My pattern had the jelly roll strips paired in light/dark combinations and sewn along the length up to the fabric fold. The strips were then cut along the half strip into equilateral triangles. The strips were pulled apart, rematched to a different fabric and sewn again along the length. The half strip was cut into 4 triangles as before.

I think the photo below will illustrate the last paragraph better! These were the blocks I managed on Saturday

Jackie demonstrating.

 I spent all day today sewing from 10am until 5pm- madness! Still I managed to sew all the blocks so they are ready to make into the top during next week.

I plan to use the plain denim blue from the range as a border and the dark blue with sailing ships as a backing.

This week looks like being busy with the run up to Easter so I'll take a break from blogging until after the holiday.

I hope everyone takes the time to relax, enjoy being with family and friends, and eat lots of chocolate.


Catherine