Little Gem # I

Are you having a good weekend? We have had quite a productive day today. DH , in particular, has made inroads into our appallingly neglected garden. He will be the first to admit that he is a good hatchet man but not so good at the more delicate tasks. Fortunately there wasn't much out there that he could damage so he's done a great job of clearing the overgrown beds and planting some oxeye daisies and sea holly (I think) that should have been planted out last year. No pictures yet until he's finished!

~

My day has involved shopping and a pile of ironing before I could tackle a couple of my must-get-it-done-this-month projects. 2 down 5 to go!

~

~

Earlier this week I started my first Little Gem using an idea Margaret Cooter had shown on her blog. I have been collecting chocolate wrappers, what a hardship! The chocolate wrappers were laid on a wadding and backing and covered with a layer of organza. I then machined rows of stitching to hold the foils in place, with a few mutterings as the foils moved about, and then machined again at right angles. The edge was finished with satin stitch.

~

~

Finally I punched some flowery shapes from a foil tray and painted them with alcohol inks and then stitched them to the quilt. Unfortunately I didn't notice that I had started to stitch them on with the quilt upside down (to my way of thinking) so I've had to adjust the design a little. As with anything shiny the camera doesn't give the total feel of the quilt but I'm pleased I've actually managed to make my first Little Gem. I just need to make a label now. I've still got loads of chocolate papers left so I'll probably make at least one more in this style. Hopefully I will make 2 or 3 more Little Gems before the deadline.

~

~

My other project which I completed today was this 4 block which is made up of orphan blocks. It is part of a project at our Academy Quilters group that I go to once a month. We had to select 4 x 9 square patches (or whatever was left!), add wadding and a uniform backing fabric and then quilt by machine (don't look too closely at my quilting!). Finally, today, I have joined the blocks using Sharon Pedersen's technique which was easier than it sounded on first hearing. I've tried to find a detailed post about this method on the 'net without success so far so if I do this again I will photograph the various stages. Someone else will have the job of combining all the blocks into the final quilt.

~

Tomorrow is a holiday in the UK and we are hoping to go to a street market at a local village. Typically, for a holiday weekend, rain is forecast so we'll probably get a bit damp! C'est la vie! Have a good week!