A Finish and a new idea.

I managed 2 hours in the garden, weeding, planting beans and tying in the climbing peas. Then the heavens opened and I was forced indoors. 
Those *&>@** peas had been happily climbing up their canes, then the wind on Wednesday night sent them scurrying into a scrum. There were stems and tendrils tangled together, it was like a scene from a very naughty movie (not that I have watched one, but I can imagine)
I made sure to tie the beans to their supports, one session bent double with handfuls of string and wrestling with bloody minded plants is enough.
Of course there was housework to be done, I did clear the kitchen and clean all the tops down. Then on my way through the dining/craft room I succumbed to the siren call of the Janome.

And TAH DAH.

The chair throw for A is finished.

The reason for such a turn of speed is in the binding. I trimmed the back to an inch wider all round than the top and pressed it in half then folded that it over to the front and stitched it down. Straight line in the ditch quilting was also a fast option.

I recently saw a new to me Quilt as you Go tutorial, the writer was saying that you should make all the blocks, sewing the pieces directly on to the fleece squares, then trim them to size, sew together and press the seams open.

Then she recommended cleaning the bobbin race.

I could not believe what I was reading, after sewing through a whole quilt worth of fleece there would have been a ton of fluff in the race.
I clean mine at every bobbin change, I use a cotton bud (new one each time then a fine brush and then a scrap of soft cloth.

On my last change yesterday I snapped this.

I also brush the bobbin holder and the underside of the top cover plate. To quilt a complete top and then sew the squares together with the wadding exposed you would get much more fluff. multiply that by 4 bobbins and I would not expect there to be room for the bobbin to move.

Off the soap box and back to sewing.

I have a few quilty patterns whirling round my head, but reading an old post on pieceful a few days ago I saw a new block. I did not give it any undo attention but my subconscious mind obviously grabbed it and held on tight.

I cleared away the detritus from my sewing session and pulled a charm, 4 candy squares and a fat quarter. There were some strips of Kona Snow already cut so I made this. The outer strips are from the fabric that I had for sashing the chair throw.

A 14 1/2" block, I see these as a quilt joined with a narrow strip in a ditsy pattern. It appealed so much that I just might have put an order in to Lady Sew and Sew. From the clearance section of course.

Oh dear, it may be a quilty Christmas again this year.

Then to cap it all I did a catch up read on some blogs last night and Red Pepper Quilts had a glorious postage stamp quilt but with rectangles rather than squares. A light bulb flashed in my brain and I dug out the bricks that I bought last year in Newcastle Emlyn, then I looked at my box of charms that have been put away to be cut down. Then I remembered some fabric that I have on order and Oh Dear, another quilt is on the way.

There will be no sewing today, I have a new tumble drier coming. I bought one a while ago and it was one of hundreds, if not thousands that had been fitted with a faulty part. There was a high risk of it bursting into flames and we were advised not to use it unattended, and a repair program was put in place. 

However for some reason, probably the enormous task, I was given the option of A, waiting till they got round to me for the repair.

B, paying a small sum for a new vented drier or C, paying a slightly larger sum for a new condenser drier.

After consideration, and a fair bit of price comparison, I plumped for option C. I used the drier constantly for 4 months over the winter and it got quite a bit of use during the "summer". So a new one had great appeal.

This gives me greater flexibility as to where the creature will live, my present one is in the bathroom. I may well move the small chest freezer from the utility and stick the drier in there. right next to the washing machine. The first thing that I will do though is check to see if there is enough headroom to stack it on the washing machine.

Now I am off to get Ben out of bed and ready for his walk.

         TTFN                                                            Pam