What would you like for your birthday?

Husband:"What would you like for your birthday."
Frederica:"Ooh I saw some lovely fat quarter bundles..."
H:"More Fabric? Do you need more fabric? I thought this was the year to use up your stash."
F:"I thought 2013 might be more the year of One in One out?"

H:"Ahem may I draw your attention to these fabrics."

F:"Oh those. They don't count darling. After all my mother bought them for a monochrome quilt for her. And most of the black and whites were used up in monochrome mark1, so that is fine."


H: "What about the green fat quarters?"

 F:"One in one out. I used up the fat quarters for Easter placemats, so these are fine."

F:"And well these coordinate with the green ones."

H:"Yes, but what about that stack over there?"

F:"They are quilt backs for quilts I need to quilt; and in one case finish."

H:"So which quilt is the scooters for."

F:"The disappearing nine patch."
H:"Disappearing what?"
F:"Technically I might not have started that one yet..."

Husband decided to walk away at that stage muttering something about hopeless and lost cause

Hope that means I'll be allowed the FQ bundle.

Scrappy trip along again

I did warn you. There would be more pictures of the Scrappy trip along quilt. It has grown a bit.
Daughter 1 is really pleased with it. Daughter 2 thinks it lacks structure and pattern. Well best not make a scrappy trip along for her then.

Work in Progress Scrappy trip along

 I am startting to love this quilt. I wasn't sure at first but three rows in I have to say I like it a lot.

 The small black dog came to inspect, I think she approves. By the way the weather here has improved but I have chronically cold feet hence the charming socks.

Still have to quilt two other quilts. I am a little bit peculiar in that I like to have one quilt top finished before starting another. I know I don't always do this (Monochrome quilt is a good example of this) but on the whole I like to finish one thing before starting another. I therefore apologise in advance for the fact that my blog will be dominated by this quilt for a little while to come.

I am linking to WIP wednesday over at Freshly pieced.

A little post before the weekend

I have now done 12 scrap trip along blocks. Having an Accuquilt strip cutter makes easy work of this. I am not sure I would like to do this all with a rotary cutter. I am liking it more. Not in Love yet but it's growing on me.

Talking of accuquilts; does anybody else find the life of the cutting mats a little disappointing? Or do I just over use my accuquilt? Any thoughts on this are welcome.

To pick up the girls, walk the small black dog while avoiding male dogs (it seems that she is most alluring - dog owner will know what I mean :-) ) and then weekend. Hurrah.

Work in progress and a finish

 A while ago I bought this lovely fabric a while ago from M is for Make. Then they had a sale, so I bought another fat quarter. Now call me silly but never checked if they were cut straight. I came to use my fat quarters and found both were wonky. Not just a little bit on the second one. If you want to have complete houses you need to cut two whole rows off. Not impressed.

 Anyway too late to send them back now. I will have to make the best of it. I made myself a notebook cover. Green tulips for the soil and blue for the sky.

 I have been sucked into the scrap trip along thing. Not sure I love it yet but that maybe because of my choice of dark accent fabric. It's almost used up, so I will continue with another colour later.

Must figure out how to join the Flickr group.

I am linking this post to WIP Wednesday over at freshly pieced.

Intermission

 We have been away to visit the in-laws. We went to the Netherlands.

 These are some pictures I took at Madurodam. The daughters thought it was great.

 My parents took me to Madurodam when I was 5 years old. I was decidedly underwhelmed. There do seem to have been improvements in the last 33 years. There were lots of hands on things they could do. Before (33 years ago) it was just the Netherlands built to scale.

The birds were a little bit over friendly for my liking but I don't like the flappy wing thing they do. 

We also went to a cheese maker. They had pretend cows to milk. Probably better than letting the daughters have a go at milking real cows. The cow would need to be extra patient. 

Here is daughter 1 pretending to be a milk maid. They had a great time.

The normal schedule will be resumed shortly. They are back at school today and I am through two lots of laundry, so tomorrow I hope to find my trusted Pfaff.

Work in Progress Wednesday.

 Possibly not the best title for this blog post as I will not be showing any unfinished work. I made another jewellery roll. This time without design flaws.

I have a victim recipient in mind for this one. Hope she will like it.

The daughters are on Easter hols at the moment. So less time for me to play with my beloved Pfaff. However I have just introduced them to Battleships. It's great how a pencil each and two pieces of squared paper can keep them busy. 

Daughter's friend has asked for a notebook for her birthday.  

 No problem said I. We had a look round WHSmith and after nearly collapsing in shock at the price of a fabric covered notebook, I have decided to fashion one myself.

 Daughter 1 & 2 thought this was great. Daughter 2 chose these Bunnies for herself. It was just a little bit short, so little pagodas were added.

 The other daughter chose cows. Of course if dd2 has added detail then daughter 1 needs it too, therefore gingham.

 We weren't sure if friend would like either of those but she does like roses and green and blue.

 I hope she will like this fabric. I have had it in my stash for a while. It's left over from a skirt my mother made for herself. Possibly from Liberty (in the 1980's) but could also be John Lewis. She used to go to three shops when in London, JL, Liberty and House of Fraser. It will be from one of those.

Works in progress are: the Goth Quilt - needs quilting
Blues and greens quilt - needs quilting.