A mish mash catch up

I have been seeing lots since July I just don't seem to have posted anything on the blog as I tend to use Instagram more as it is instant, I'm Salamanda001 if you are looking for me there. Much of my time has been taken up with English Paper Piecing projects as I like the portability of them and the ability to sit and listen to music, watch TV or chat whilst sewing. The other reason I have not blogged is that my camera is broken and I'm saving up to buy a new one so please excuse the iPhone photos. The large floor cushion was made for my niece's Christmas.

This was a mini quilt I made for the instagram swap which was inspired by a piece of stained glass window.

This quilt nearly broke me, it was a huge king size quilt

 I created a simple pattern for squares in squares alternating with cream, each block finished at 12.5 inches and I used Quilt as you go as I couldn't imagine getting it through my machine. The colour choice was what mum wanted, perhaps too much pink and cream for me. Hazel Hedgehog using Elizabeth Hartman's pattern was completed last month for my eldest daughter who needed more cushions for her uni flat.

However my latest obsession is La Passacglia quilt from Willyne Hammerstein's book "millefiori quilts". I hope to have a new camera soon and resume normal services.

 

Siblings Together Quilt

Siblings Together Quilt

This is a photo heavy post as I could not resist taking advantage of our beautiful location at Camusdarach Beach, Arisaig on the West Highland Coast of Scotland.

Camusdarach Beach, Arisaig, site of the photo shoot

This quilt has been a long time in the making. It began when Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet hosted a Row along back in 2012 and I decided from the beginning that this would be a quilt I made for a charity. It all went well for a while and then life got in the way and the Row along finished. This time last year I inexpertly pieced the rows together in anticipation of finishing the quilt. However various bits of life got in the way and it was only about a month ago after see all the quilts popping up for Siblings Together that I decided to get down to work. You can find out about the charity and the great work done by Lilysquilts by following this link for Siblings Together. When it came to finishing up the quilt I didn't have the information for the rows (as the row along was finished) so I decided to make mine up, three failed attempts - that I shared on Instagram - and I just went with patchwork squares. I used scraps to make the quilt.

On the rocks with the Island of Skye in the distance

My other problem was that the white I used for the background was finished and I had no idea what colour of white it was. After various fruitless searches I admitted defeat and decided to add the Riley Blake dots top and bottom and for the binding. The backing is a solid green teal and was bought for another partly finished quilt but it can wait.

Back of the quilt

Quilting this pushed my very limited skills. I first quilted horizontal lines along the white sashing and then the smaller rows. I decided to try quilting just inside the shapes to define them and add some interest to the back.

Closer view of the quilting and a huge sandcastle made by someone with a great deal of time on their hands

It took ages and was a real wrestling match between me, the machine and the quilt but it was so much easier on my new Janome and I used variegated aurifil thread which was fantastic. This is the first time I have sewn sitting down since the back operation and it went well. I've almost stopped all pain meds and have so much more mobility which is fantastic and something I couldn't even imagine 3 months ago.

We are currently on holiday at my favourite place, Camusdarach beach, Arisaig and there have been some wonderful sunny days and some very wet days which has not been a problem as I'm able to sew for as long as I want.  I have made progress with my English paper piecing and some of the stars are now cushions which I will post in a separate blog post.

At the dunes

There have been some spectacular sunsets, the photo below was taken at the White Sands of Morar.

Morar Bay

Thank you for dropping by and if you want to see some of my work in progress and photos of Jaspar the daft labrador you can find me on Instagram as Salamanda001.

Growing and Sewing

Chillis, peppers and aubergine

It's been a better week this week, or I'm more able to deal with stress, Lens Guy built my new Greenhouse for me and I've had fun moving my plants from the house to the greenhouse. It came with a complicated automatic window opening vent which caused much cussing and head scratching and trying to read poor written  instructions. Middle son came to the rescue and now it is on and works. I came home from work, on the hottest day so far, hitting 21degrees which is very warm for Scotland, and it was wide open and magically as it got colder it closed. Simple things give me pleasure! I find it incredibly soothing to potter about with plants and seeds and then hopefully eat the results,of my pottering.

You need to imagine a beautiful wooden bench in front of the Greenhouse to replace the plastic chairs once budget allows. I tried to take a better photo and it began to rain...

By this point Jaspar was looking at me as if I was very mad.

I have radishes, beet root, runner beans, sweet corn and peas sprouting and I have planted lots of lettuce,rocket, kale, garlic and spinach in the raised beds. In the greenhouse I have tomatoes, chillis, peppers, cornichons, aubergine, basil and coriander. When I asked Lens Guy what he would like me to grow he was against onions as he remembers them being too much work as a child but wanted lots of salad leaves and radishes. He is not convinced by the Curly Kale as he remembers feeding it to the sheep on the farm and the same with Turnips. For those that don't know, Lens Guy is my photographer husband, who grew up on a large farm in Dumfries and Galloway. He has mixed memories about living on a farm and used to entertain our children with stories of crashing the tractors (frequently) milking cows and herding sheep which surprised our city loving kids. A few years ago we were in the car with my in laws and our youngest daughter pointed to a hair bend turn on the road and loudly said, "That is where daddy crashed Nana's mini when he was taking Uncle Robin and Auntie Rachel to school." In the silence and shock that followed she realised that this had been a secret from Granny and Granpa.  We all have those.  My parents were very confused when they moved from our family home to find a collection of road cones, signs and other souvenirs collected by my irresponsible teenage self and younger brother. I had forgotten all about them, we probably blamed my youngest sister.

I have managed some sewing this week which always helps. I have completed two more Rose Stars.

and have been working on my Sibling's Together quilt. I began this a long time ago when Lori Holt held her Bee in A Bonnet sewalong. I joined this to try and improve my skills and push myself and decided that this would be a quilt made from scraps for Sibling's Together. When everything ground to a halt last year it lay abandoned in my cupboard, until I took it out briefly last summer to piece the rows I had together and then abandoned it again as the rows were different lengths and needed some fixing.
Another reason was that the  Row along had finished and the instructions were no longer available and I had no more of the white background material. I had no idea what it was and attempts to buy more now means I have 3 types of white material. (I have learned from this and now hold onto receipts with descriptions of material in case I need to order more). when I organised my scraps I cut a whole lot of 2 1/2" squares and triangles using my Sizzix. I decided scrappy rows of squares would work and added then top and bottom. On IG it was suggested I try another flying geese row. I had some grey crosshatch by Carloyn Frielander and after some very dodgy maths and various mistakes I found this site for calculating geese. I made a few geese, losing some points along the way and some triangles to my needle plate, auditioned them and have now decided it just looks wrong with grey. I will try totally scrappy geese or another row of squares but need to get a move on as deadlines are looming.

 This seems wrong

The geese seem to,grey as everything else has a white background

Perhaps leave and finish might be the best option.

I can then cross off another project of my WIP but it seems to be growing. I have to quilt my scrappy trip a long which is all basted but ignored as so big; make Lens Guy a quilt with solids and Tim Holt's Eclectic Elements; continue with mum's QAYG blocks; make something quilty for a friend's daughter heading to Uni in September that is gothic, quirky and probably Alexander Henry meets Harry Potter; make another EPP cushion for daughter as she loves the first one; learn to put in zips so I can make myself some bags; produce a baby quilt for a baby due in August; and on it goes but all fun and I'm not going to worry about deadlines.

A little bit of this and that

Trying something new by linking up to the wonderful Lilyquilt's small blogmeet <div align="center"><a href="http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk" title="Lily's Quilts"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEtRrrER0Ip1IHzcXqlecYdrblLtZPZK33ZlL1ylpUr1aAPVW2gDFNJKS7D9XHlgXz7gdL3pUNgNP9lqw_VIjlFVXdvJFLggr-2WKRWMeF7QiWGCIS5ZC-HKabbkWEX5lISgq_jbv8OMu/s150/SBMB.png" alt="Lily's Quilts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Last weekend was a holiday weekend and we headed up to to Camusdarach, Arisiag in the Scottish Highlands, our home from home with some good friends. The weather was beautiful but in true Scottish style you needed to find a sheltered part on the beach to enable the fleece to come off. There was a lot of dog walking, staring at the sunsets and I began a new English Paper Piecing Project called the Rose Star. I had seen examples of these on Instagram #englishpaperpiecing and just had to try. I searched the Internet and found a tutorial and introduction here on the http://selfsewn.blogspot.co.uk but the tutorial is here on her original site. I still had to figure out how to do this so I sketched on some paper and then tried to work out how to get all the pieces of paper I needed.

 This star ends up being 12inches from tip to tip if you start with a 2 inch hexagon, so I printed a sheet of 6 2" hexagons and got a ruler and measured out the shapes show in the tutorials above. It was a fiddle but it worked and then I photocopied my sheets. I have been working on one star at a time using fabric that began with Maureen Cracknell's blogger's bundle from Fat Quarter shop with additional pieces from my collection.
I had intended a QAYG herringbone quilt using Maureen's tutorial but when I was looking for suitable materials for my epp I grabbed this bundle as all my scraps were in the wicker basket which was inaccessible at that minute. I need to explain I have no patience and I was packing to go away at midnight on the Wednesday so I could travel up north straight from work on the Thursday to have maximum time away.

I think these stars and the bundle are going to become cushions/pillows and throws but like all my epp projects it is a wait and see game. It might become one huge quilt.

 After our wonderful weekend away the last week has been hellish with a combination of work stress, worries about family and the usual bits of life we all deal with. I spent every night filling in an application form for a different job and then decided it was the wrong time to apply for a job further away and with more responsibility and hit the withdraw button last night. Friday night we had a wonderful meal in a Russian restaurant called Cafe Cossachok where I had a series of vodka cocktails. In the current political climate I avoided the one called "Putin's Smile" as it seemed inappropriate but overall it was a good night.

Yesterday I enjoyed a fabulously warm sunny day in the gardening which is a constant surprise at the moment discovering what plants we have. We moved here at the end of August last year so missed seeing the garden at this time. I love these unusual poppies. Thanks for dropping by and I will be back on an irregular basis as if I promise to do this weekly or more frequently I know it won't happen as I realise I have limitations but I will try as often as I can. Otherwise you can find me on Instagram as Salamanda001

Cutting Scraps and a winner

The mini I am giving away.

We moved to this house last summer to be nearer to my mother who needed more support. We now live in a small village in the Scottish Trossachs about 45 mins from Glasgow but near to Stirling and some of the most beautiful walks and scenery. I was always a city girl and even 10 years ago I would have rolled my eyes in horror about living in the country, but life changes and we adapt. I love living here now and it suits Lensguy, my other half, who is a professional landscape photographer.

This is the view from behind our house.

We moved to a smaller house with a different layout and I had to give up my dedicated craft room (which I loved). I now share a space with my other half and son called the Annexe (office/den/craft room/guest space). This is basically a granny flat in what was once a garage. It has a small ensuite bedroom which is great for guests and a living/kitchen area which is used as LensGuy's office, my craft space and middle son's place to watch TV and films in peace away from us. We have still not really got to grips with this space and I tend to use the kitchen area to sew. I presently sew standing up following back surgery a few months ago and although I can no sit there is not really a space to do. Partly because the dining table is full of seedlings and plants waiting to be planted into the garden. Our son, aged 23, had moved out to go to Uni, but returned 20 months ago as he could not afford to live in rented accommodation. He is an outdoor education coach who teaches sailing and windsurfing in the summer and works part time in a further education college in their gym. He is one of many on a temporary part time contract and until he has a permanent full time contract he is stuck in the country with us when he would much rather be living in Glasgow.

A rainbow of scraps sorted and cut into squares, triangles and strips.

I keep trying to find a way to create a space that works but struggle with it as it has to work in so many ways. To help make it look less messy I spent the last two days colour coding my scraps and cutting them into squares, triangles and strings. I placed these in colour coded freezer bags inside a wicker basket which sits behind a couch with my very old sewing box on top. I will be working on more storage plans over the next while and will keep you posted.

I was given my wooden sewing box as a 21st present which was a while ago, some might even call it vintage.

Anyway the bit people really want to know is who won the mini? I used random org and out of 102 comments it was comment 64 by Julie Glotova in Croatia. I loved hearing about what crafts everyone does and where people come from - all over the world I discovered. Julie I have sent you an email asking for your address and once I have that I will post your parcel.

Here is a last photo of Jaspar who is waiting to go for a walk and is a little fed up that I am still sitting here typing on my iPad.

Art Journal circular textures (edit to fix photos)

I feel like I have been going round in ever decreasing circles as we try to work out the future. These pages began with gesso and whilst it was still wet I added some inky circles and then more acrylic white splodged on. I let it dry a while and then added more ink and paint and left it overnight. I stamped dylusion circles as a border and then a mix of Paper Artsy circular flower images.

I used a black Posca pen to journal about how I feel around the images and then doodled more circles using aqua markers.

I had taken and posted the original photos with my phone but the quality was really poor so I took photos again. Detail of textures.

I have been trying out patterns for mum's quilt and I like this idea but want to tweak it. It's from the Elizabeth Hartman Practical Guide to Patchwork.

Missing for a while

Blocks for Scrappy Trip finished and now it needs a border as not quite wide enough but I don't have enough material
for 6 more blocks, finished block size is 14 inches a 7 x 7 squares.

Yes I've been away and my explanation plus some suitably random photographs follows.
It's been ages since I last blogged and really it is just because work and family seem to have taken up all my time. For those of you who pop in from time to time the main reason has been mum. Following last year's falls, hip replacement, infection and removal of hip mum went back to hospital in the beginning of March  after 20 weeks with no hip. All was well for a week and then unfortunately she fell in hospital, as her care was not what it should have been, and fractured her femur in the same leg as hip replacement. And now... I don't really know apart from fact she will never walk properly without a zimmer and the next few months are crucial if she is ever to get home and be independent again. I am someone who likes to be in control of their life and it just ain't happening. We are currently trying to get our house ready for sale as whatever happens we need to be nearer than a hour's drive away as I am exhausted with work, hospital visits etc and then a long drive and several times have found myself on the motorway several junctions down from where I should be and not really sure how it happened and that is scary.

I have not had much time to sew or journal but have finished my trip along blocks and now creating a border and I have made some cushions. As I do not have enough material (or the money to buy more) I am thinking of a border along these lines...

The cushions are part of the tidying the house up project

 Envelope backs as not tried zips yet and needed to use walking foot to sew this heavy chenille material.

Luckily I have a wonderful sister who lives at the other end of the country and she came up this week to let me get away for a 5 day break. I brought no craft things and have slept and read and am now ready to go back to work and battle with hospitals etc. I have decided I need to find time to craft and blog as it allows me to escape into my own world.

Fingers crossed I will be back blogging and sewing and thank you to those people that emailed and asked if all was well. It could be a whole lot worse and I am sure life will resolve into new patterns.

What else happened?

In March Lens Guy and I went to Oxford for our oldest son's graduation and this is a very rare photo of us and in smart clothes too.

Doing the proud mother thing.

It was our youngest daughter's birthday this month and she has always complained that because I was working when she was growing up she never got homemade cakes unlike her older siblings who had me at home some of the time. Usual family guilt trip so I decided to make her a cake without any of the proper moulds. It tasted lovely but oldest sone said it looked rude. Can't imagine what he meant.

The houses in my Sibling's Together Quilt I am making through Bee in a Bonnet QAL but I am way behind.
Apologies for long and random posting but was trying to catch up on recent events.

Scrappy Trip Along, Slowly moving on

Six blocks done and I think this will be called the yellow diamond quilt.

Lots of strips cut at 19 inches and pinned by a safety pin in sets of 7. The fabric I am using is made up of my giveaway win from Maureen Cracknell's blog and the Intrepid Thread supplemented with additional colours from my stash. There is another giveaway on Maureen Cracknell's blog if you can get in there by Monday. Yellow is not a colour I would normally use but I love how bright and sunny this is as it slowly grows. 

Due to my inability to count as explained in previous post I am now making blocks with 7 strips at 19 inches. I have decided yellow will the long diagonal and there must also be a solid in each block but that is as planned as it gets.

I have added a darker green to the strips and at present in the set of 6 at the top it looks a little wonky but I hope as it is spread out around quilt, or perhaps grouped together it will work. 

I have finished another block but it was too dark and repetitive too photograph but I do love the infinite possibilities of this block.

In other news mum is still at home waiting hipless and waiting for the new hip and becoming more and more immobile and depressed. She was meant to have the op last week but it nows involves grafting bone onto the area that was cut out due to infection and this will be a long op and they are now worried about heart murmurs. More tests next week and fingers crossed she will have by end of February. I can't believe she first fell and broke this hip on 12 September, it's been a long hard slog for us all. Probably because I have been trying to convince myself that I can manage my demanding job, family life, looking after mum and having some time for me I have come grinding to a halt. I have spent last 8 days in bed with a severe infection and still can't manage more than 3 hours out of bed before exhaustion sets in again. Hopefully I am starting to improve and I really must try and get this work, life, carer, mum, wife balance more sorted.