What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #143

My desk really is in a sorry state this week, or should that be me without my desk. We are attempting to decorate the lounge and have been doing the oh so boring absolutely essential (apparently) prep work today.

My husband spotted a sanding sponge, while we were wandering the aisles in B&Q and thought it would be a new toy to play with very handy. He had to try it out as soon as we got back (before we had dust sheeted of course) and the result was this.

My once chocolate brown leather sofa is now magnolia speckled. Lovely. Ah well I’m sure it will all be worth it in the end. The wall behind my desk may even be a new colour next week. You never know.

If you want to see some desks where craftiness actually happens then try here. I’ll be back tomorrow with my Month in Numbers, if I haven’t been gagged with Frogtape and shut in the understairs cupboard in the meantime.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Quilts Part 4

Some of my favourite books for patchwork and quilting this week. The links take you to Amazon, where all have the ‘Look Inside’ option, which is a great way to get a flavour of the book.

The Quilter’s Bible by Linda Clements. Probably the most useful book I’ve read on the subject of quilting. Great for beginners.

Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott

The Gentle Art of Quilt-Making by Jane Brocket

Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke

Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts by Kaffe Fassett. In fact any of his books are inspirational and I have borrowed most of them from the library at some point.

Now onto another little thing that has been bugging me lately. Word Verification! I’ve never really minded it in the past, but in the last couple of weeks it has become almost impossible to decipher. It asks you to prove you’re not a robot, but I think you need to be one to reproduce the characters.

A few blogs that I visit regularly, seem to have added WV recently, when I’m sure they didn’t have it before. On a couple of occasions I have failed to leave a comment, because it keeps telling me that I’ve incorrectly guessed the letters. There are instructions here on how to remove it, but only if you want to of course.

I don’t intend to turn FTILTF into a platform for my ranting. Promise. Hope to see you next time.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #142

Thankyou for all the well wishes for my poorly boy last week. He is all better now and back to school, along with his sister. The house always seems so quiet, the first few days after a holiday, without them. I’m left at home with the mess!

You can see the remains of my second breakfast, eaten at my desk while I had another look at how the quilt blocks go together.

The book is by Pam and Nicky Lintott and there are some wonderful quilts in it. I decided to start with this fairly straightforward design, which I think will work just as well with the bright colours I have. All the strips have been cut now. I just need to sort the remainder into pairs for the four patch blocks, so there is a good contrast.

I’m off to tackle some of that mess, before I settle down with a coffee and visit some interesting and inspirational desks.

PS If any of you WOYWWers are interested in finding out whether your work has been ‘pinned’ to the boards on Pinterest, there are simple instructions in Friday’s post on how to do it.

A Month of Sunrays ~ But Not What I Thought

When I saw that Julie had a new theme for the month on her blog, I must admit to being a little surprised at the subject. You see, to me the word ‘sunray’ didn’t immediately conjure up rays of sunshine, but something quite different.

Now I know that Julie has used her (not inconsiderable) powers of persuasion, to get her readers into various shades of purple, in the past. But narrow knife edge pleats, of the sort I remember gracing the pages of the Damart catalogues, that dropped through my Gran’s letter box periodically, when I was a child. Really?

It got me wondering if there was a more modern take on the sunray pleated skirt.  My search was rewarded with this gem of a dress and in the perfect colour too.

Dress by Rukshani Gunaratne photographed by Mariah Jelena

I intended to post this yesterday, but it took me a while to discover the designer of the dress and I didn’t want to use the photograph without crediting them. I’ll be back tomorrow with my desk as usual and the beginnings of my quilt blocks.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Quilts Part 3

Before I post my list of five today, I just want to talk about something else for a minute. Sian linked to this article about using Pinterest, in a way which credits the originator of any given photo, idea or project. Like her, I think this is very important.

I use other people’s photos every week on FTILTF. I never pretend that they are my own and I always credit the person responsible for the picture and project by linking directly to the specific post on their blog.

I wondered if anyone had pinned any of these photos from my blog, rather than following the project link. It’s easy enough to find out. Just copy and paste your own blog url into the highlighted area.

http://pinterest.com/source/your blog url here/

I discovered that several photos had been pinned directly from my blog that were not mine, which leaves me with a dilemma. So today I am going to post a list of links without pictures, while I consider the best thing to do in future.

1. Build a Fabric Stash at Cluck Cluck Sew
2. Fabric Folding at In Color Order
3. Color Basics at Oh Fransson!
4. Supplies You {may} Need at Old Red Barn Co.
5. Calculating Quilt Measurements at Crazy Mom Quilts

It seems strange to write a blog post and not add any photos, but it’s well worth clicking through to the various blogs. The link to the Old Red Barn Co is the first of a series, that takes you right through the quilting process, very useful for a beginner.

I’m about to get in my car and head for Shropshire to see an old friend. I’m not a big fan of driving and my sense of direction is not the best, but I hope to be back here on Monday, with a post for Julie’s Month of Sunrays. Have a great weekend.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #141

Just a quickie from me this week, as it’s half term and I still have a poorly boy here.

It’s a beautiful sunny morning and my wall looks pink in this shot, but I can assure you I’ve not been decorating since last week. My desk (and laptop) tends to get taken over by my lovely girl during holidays, because she likes to be where the rest of the family are, while she creates on her graphics tablet.

My quilting book arrived on Monday, so I’ve been able to make a start on cutting the strips. It’s a fairly simple design, made up of four patch blocks with a row of strips around them. I’ll post a picture as soon as I have a block sewn together.

Head on over to Julia’s place to see hundreds more desks from around the world.

Hope the sun is shining where you are.

She’s Got Heart…

 

It’s half term here and our plans are on hold at the moment, while my poorly boy languishes on the sofa wrapped in a variety of quilts and fleeces.

Meanwhile my lovely girl has been busying herself with creations on her graphics tablet (she was very excited when I asked to put this latest one on my blog) and I’ve been cutting up fabric. More on that tomorrow.

Five {+5} Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Patchwork and Quilting Part 2

So I was all ready to go with the second part of my quilting themed FTILTF, when I realised it was the 10th today. I changed tack slightly and as well as sharing five favourite block tutorials, I’ve added quilts made using those particular blocks.

Making it 10 Things on the Tenth

A Starflower Block…..

…..made up into this wonderful rainbow star quilt.

An Hourglass Block…..

…..made up into a fabulous red and aqua colour combination.

A {Genius Method} Log Cabin Block…..

…..made into this simple, yet effective log cabin quilt.

A Half Square Triangle Block…..

…..made up into a HST quilt in lovely warm colours.

A Pinwheel Block…..

…..made up into this beautiful summery pinwheel quilt.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #140

The short answer is, “Not much!” Well not much in the way of actual projects anyway. My desk is just not big enough when I am sewing and I have to resort to the kitchen table and my big cutting mat on the lounge floor.

I’ve been brave and unfurled that lovely jelly roll. It was looking a bit dishevelled, which is why I got it for £15, rather than the usual price, which would be almost double that.

All the strips have been ironed and I’m in the process of trimming off the frayed edges, ready to cut the pieces for my quilt top. I’ve decided on a pattern now, but it’s in a book I borrowed from the library and somebody has requested it. How dare they?! I’ve ordered my own copy now and I can crack on as soon as it arrives.

The desks are multiplying each week and I just can’t get round them all any more. I have a core of regulars that I visit each week and I also try to get to a few extra desks, which I pick at random. So if I haven’t visited you for a while, I’ll be turning up again before long. Go and say hello over at Julia’s, if you fancy sharing yours.

Storytelling Sunday 2 ~ Precious Gems

In 1985 my 17 year old self walked down a side street in the ‘pink city’ of Jaipur. She bought four tiny garnet cabochons with thoughts of turning them into earrings.

A little over 10 years later, her husband to be walked down a side street in Taunton and found a jeweller who would turn one of them into a simple engagement ring.

Now I’m not usually one for sickly sweet sentiment, but how could I possibly resist a sheet of scrapbook paper with a Cure lyric printed on it.

For stories with many more words than mine, head over to Sian’s place.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Patchwork and Quilting

I have so many links to patterns and tutorials, that one Friday Five was not going to cut it. Instead the whole of February’s FTILTF posts will be on this theme. Let’s start with a few of my favourite quilting blogs.

One of the first blogs on the subject I found was Oh, Fransson! There are some great patterns for blocks, as well as quilt tops and smaller projects. All the instructions for this gorgeous Sparkle Punch quilt are available on the blog.

I discovered Cluck Cluck Sew more recently and there are some lovely colourful quilts on there, many made for her own children.

Lots of loveliness at Old Red Barn Co. where they host regular Quilt-a-longs.

Crazy Mom Quilts was another early find. The instructions for this simple log cabin block, which has been made into a beautiful baby quilt, can be found there.

The Modern Quilt Guild doesn’t have a lot of tutorials, but there are so many pictures of beautiful quilts by talented makers, that you can’t fail to be inspired.

I hope you find something to inspire you. Next week I’ll be sharing some tutorials that I think are helpful if you are just starting out with patchwork/quilting.

I’m off to iron the strips in my jelly roll now, so that I can make a start on my own quilt top. The only time I willingly get the ironing board out!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #139

In complete contrast to last week, we have glorious sunshine here this morning and that’s guaranteed to put a smile on my face, even though it’s bitterly cold outside.

I bought my first ‘jelly roll’ last week. It consists of 40 strips, each 2.5” wide, cut across the width of the fabric. There are lots of different designs and colours within the roll, but they are all from the same collection. Gorgeous aren’t they?

It’s a great way of getting a wide variety of co-ordinating fabric for a quilt top, without have to buy lots of half yard/metre pieces.

It’s been a long time since I did any patchwork and I thought this would be a great way to dip my toe back in the water. Care to join me? I’m going to be sharing all my favourite quilting blogs, books, tutorials etc each Friday throughout February.

Now I’m off for a good look around the crafty desks of the world. I have a feeling there may be even more than usual this week, since Julia’s fame is spreading!