Finished it Friday

Well this is a life finish, not a sewing finish. I said goodbye to my school, my colleagues, the kids - with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face. I'm sad to leave, and excited to move on too. I guess all endings are also beginnings.

One souvenir coming with me is a quilt! We had about 10 of these, made years ago by students, hanging in the school hall. Sadly they are all going to be taken down, so I picked a favourite to rescue. I don't know who made each square, but they are done in fabric crayon, hand quilted by the kids- its really lovely.

 This is a favourite block:

And this was what I found on the back- who knew all these lovely prints were hiding there all these years?!

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I also gave the retirement quilt to its recipient- she loved it, and it was so admired by another dear friend, I went home that evening and finished up the courthouse steps panel into a mini quilt for her. 

So now it is finally my summer holiday. Can't wait to get a bit of real sewing done in the next few weeks- hooray! 

 
 

 

The End is Nigh

Ah, summer! Here in sunny London it has been really hot, nothing like a traditional British summer at all. I am finally winding down to the end of term at school, and trying to tidy and pack up as I am leaving to go to a new job after the summer holidays. As I had so many scraps left over from the retirement mini quilt I made, I carried on and made a pincushion (pattern inspired by Amanda Jean's mini nine patch tutorial).

This is for my colleague who does needlepoint and worked on the mini quilt with me - I hope she loves it!

Then I made a couple of coasters for some lovely colleagues who always had time for coffee and a chat, no matter how busy we were.

And then I just made a kind of courthouse steps panel with scraps for fun, I might make it into a cushion cover for the staff room!

I really must stop now, I have a lot of junk to clear out here in my classroom! I'm linking to Needle and Thread Thursday at myquiltinfatuation, and Finish it up Friday at crazymomquilts. Finally, thanks to those who gave advice on how to fix the no-reply blogger thing - I think I've sorted it out now!

Two Finishes in One Week

What a week! I have been blitzing the sewing, well, blitzing for me anyway. First finish is the Steps Quilt which I finished quilting and binding this week.

I love the binding, some red hearts I found in Ditto Fabrics in Brighton. So satisfying to make a whole roll of the stuff, but less so when I realised that I was about 4 inches short once I had nearly finished sewing it on - a bit of hasty cutting and finger pressing later and I was good to go!

More gratuitous quilt shots...

And then my other finish was the mini quilt retirement gift. Backed with the Ikea numbers print - appropriate for a school teacher I thought! With a closeup of the fabric from the country dancing skirts. Can't wait to give it to her now!

A Retirement Gift

A dear colleague is retiring at the end of this term of school, so I wanted to make her something special. She has worked at the school for over 25 years, and when I found a whole bunch of scraps in the art room it gave me an idea. The fabrics used to be in a set of country dancing costumes (if you are not British or younger than 30 you won't know what I'm talking about! - kids at English schools used to be taught traditional dances in school a bit like square dances) so she should recognise them.

I asked another colleague who is a cross stitcher to make the centre panel, with her name and dates and the school. And I'm turning it into a mini wall quilt. I have a few more weeks to finish it, but the top is done now.


I have a lot of fabric left over, so now I'm thinking about making a big cushion for another long time colleague who's going, and maybe pin cushions for the short termers going elsewhere!

I'm linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday at  My Quilt Infatuation!

Steps quilt top completed

So this top is finished! I've even basted and begun the quilting. Not long to go until its a true finish.

I'm liking how its starting to look, even a tiny bit of quilting makes such a difference. It's quite a magical transformation!

And since its Friday, a little treat at the end of a busy week.

I love hexagons!

Who knew hexagons were so easy and fun? 

 And the endless possibilities of colour and pattern are, well, endless! I picked up a plastic hexagon from the shape box at school one day, found a scrap of fabric, needle and thread and I was away.

  Not sure what I'm going to do with my hexi flowers yet, but inspiration will strike. Each one is so pretty in its own right.

The only thing is I've found I haven't used my hand stitching muscles in a long time, been getting a sore arm and tingly fingers. 
 

In other news, my step quilt is basted and I've started quilting in the white zigzags, quite dense stippling, and I think I'll do a single wavy meandering trail through the middle of each coloured zig zag, just to anchor the layers together. Photos to follow.

Step blocks finished

I've finished the blocks for my steps quilt- hooray! The fabric is House and Home by Benartex, it was a Christmas present from my lovely sister.  I still have to join them and make them into a quilt but it's a big step completed. I'm really pleased that it's starting to take shape!