showing off... family style

I've not been up to much sewing lately, partly due to needing the room as a guest room amongst other things.  So I've decided to use this post to show off about my big sister Carol and her amazing craftiness.  Carol is the complete opposite to me when it comes to most things - where I need to have read 125 different books on how to do something before I ever embark on it, she just dives in and fathoms it all out for herself.  This has resulted in her being a great knitter, crochet-er and sewer, leaving me panicking, in her wake, about knowing all the rules first.

Carol, Bethan and Hannah

Carol is also the mother of two of my nieces - Bethan and Hannah - both of who are completely gorgeous and amazingly well mannered and at university in Edinbugh and Aberdeen, respectively.  [I won't dwell on what they get up to there.... suffice to say, facebook can open the eyes of even wordly aunties ;-)].  They each got a handmade quilt from their mum for Christmas last year.  Here's Bethan's.....

with obligatory feet!

Now, Hannah has been a little slack in providing photos of her quilt so I'm hoping this will shame her into doing so!  My big sister is a genius and I am immensely proud of her.

Back to me(!) - we finally managed to get my sewing room straight yesterday so here's what's on Bertha at the moment...

I should finish in time for the next Skirts lunch!

Other than getting Jo's quilt done, I have a couple of bags to make and a new quilt for Laura to start.  I've got a side project on the go as well - not sure how it'll end up so I won't go into detail at the moment.  If it works out, I'll let you know.  Of course, I should really be working on my assignment which is due in at the end of the month but I figure I'm working it out in my head whilst sewing. How easy it is to convince yourself of things!

crazy crazy crazy quilt....

oops..got my big hair metal head on there for a moment!  Apologies to the easily offended :)  Blame it on my tumble down the stairs on Jan 2nd - I haven't been quite right since!

I've finally finished Jo's b-day quilt top - drum roll please....


crazy nine patch madness

 Apologies also for not showing Laughing Boy's legs in this photo - it's quite a big quilt top and I think he was not entirely 100% focussed on the job in hand (sport on TV at the time).  I'm really pleased to have finally finished this top and I am prepared enough to have the backing fabric - some Amy Butler Love I bought in the Saints & Pinners sale (always excellent and speedy service)

Just waiting for the wadding (really pleased that Mandy from Simply Solids is doing wadding by the metre now too) and then we'll be good to go.  Not sure how I'm gonna quilt this baby - I'm not brave enough to try free motion quilting on a present quilt just yet so I need to have a think.  Hand quilting may be the order of the day....  I'll get back to you on that :)

2011 baby yeah!

Happy new year to you all - I hope you had grand Hogmanay celebrations.  We opted for a night at home watching Avatar (average), eating ham cooked in coke with chilli mash, drinking some wine and a tarte tatin that finally came out of the oven at 11pm!  Handmade puff pastry though - now that's what I'm taking about!

So I was thoroughly spoilt over christmas - here are some of what I received....

hours of fun already and I still don't really know what I'm doing!

much love to ms roy

santa read my amazon wishlist!

I have another book to come apparently but Laughing Boy can't remember what he ordered.  I'm hoping for Elizabeth Hartman's book - icing on an already full cake.

I actually started Jo's belated birthday quilt over the holidays too.  Since I'm about 9 months late already, I used the crazy nine patch block from Oh, Fransson! but don't want to do the lattice design so am figuring out the lay out, starting with these two....

But I've got a third one that keeps popping into my head so I think I need to map out how that will look before making the final decision.

I've had a smashing Christmas break so far and one of the best things has been that I've fallen in love with cooking again.  My yorkshire puddings were a triumph and my first stab at red velvet fairy cakes a total thumbs up!  You can always tell when I've made dinner as the kitchen looks like downtown Beirut when I'm done - thank God for Laughing Boy! 

I have lots of plans for 2011, hopefully some of them will come to fruition.  One of my plans is to give up alcohol for January - managed it last year and after a pretty sodden couple of weeks my liver is thanking me already. I'd like to visit my friends and family more often too - I miss you guys! I want to tweak the blog as well so watch out for some changes.  I hope to join in with some bees and quilt-alongs too.  I'm excited about what I might make this year - eeek!