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FQR Report

July 22, 2014 by Tsoniki 3 Comments

Hands down – my long weekend in London was amazingly fun! This will be pic heavy so I’ll probably break it up into a couple of posts.

I didn’t leave home until the late afternoon and even with the time difference (why is there an hour difference between France and the UK?!??), I arrived with plenty of time to get to the hotel before getting a good night’s rest before the hustle of the weekend. But since I rarely check the weather report I didn’t realize just how hot it was going to be! My hotel room was tiny and hot and there was just the smallest of breezes in the room – and by smallest I mean if I stood near the window I felt a touch of air. The lightest touch ever.

View from my window, I think I was on the top floor.

Friday morning I had breakfast and walked down the street to find something to do or see. I ran into a tourist shop and thought I fixed my phone so I had data but I never figured it out. At least they were able to tell me that Starbucks was across the street and a few doors down, so I used their wifi. I don’t obsessively love starbucks, but I do like a vanilla chai tea when I can have one.

I walked down to the V & A Museum, and admittedly I don’t know a lot about what is at a specific museum so this was a great stop for me. I walked the fashion exhibit (though I didn’t see the wedding dress exhibit) and took a few pictures. I passed the Museum of Natural History and the line was CRAZY long. I saw the fashion exhibit as well as a jewelry exhibit. I also stepped into the miniature portrait room, but my alarm went off for lunch so I had to get out of there and get ready for the afternoon.

Museum of Natural History

Hanging in the V&A

Clothing through the years

And so I grabbed lunch and my things for my first class and went to the Baden Powell House to register. I was greeted by Trash (who also made my nametag!) and registration was just a minute. We received amazing goody bags (pics to come!) and everyone was so happy and excited that the energy of it went to everyone. The main hall we were in was not very full and it was air conditioned which was such a nice break from the heat! My first class was Petals with Brioni and even if we took a mandatory break when the electricity blew, I finished as far as getting my petals down on the block!

Before ironing them in place, I played with the placement a few times until I got what I wanted.

I love this and I’m thinking I’ll make this a panel of a tote bag. The method of doing the petals is quick and easy and I’m thinking my granddaughter (my niece’s daughter) needs one! The class was good and Brioni was a fun teacher. Here is a quilt she made, I admit one of my favorite things about this is that she quilted around the petals to keep them down and of course that is the quilting too. Oh and on top is the hat of happiness!

Brioni’s quilt

Friday evening I went to dinner with new friends and had a bacon cheeseburger for the first time in ten months. It was delicious. I can’t remember everyone I was with for dinner, but I am thankful that all (I think all, at least most) of us have connected on instagram! I met people I have been friends with on instagram and also new friends. The modern quilt guilds had a lot of people at the retreat so it was nice to hear about their groups and activities.

After dinner we went back to the BP House and worked on quilt tops for the Siblings Together donation that was made. I’m not sure how many quilts were donated (it was A LOT – over 20), but at the end of the night there were a handful of quilt tops that needed to be finished so someone volunteered to take them home to finish. I am hopefully going to participate in a ST bee that makes quilts to donate.

That’s just a day! It was so fun, a few of us visited in the hotel after the sewing was over for the night and once again I slept in a hot hotel room. Next year I need an air conditioner or a fan or a few of us did talk about renting a place closeby. I loved the energy and how welcoming everyone was. It was a little scary to go by myself but I figured I would just meet people. I had no problem finding someone to have lunch with or visit with at any time.

Whew, I’ll be back shortly with the rest of the weekend!

W.I.P. Wednesday Three

November 16, 2011 by Tsoniki 3 Comments

Nothing like some motivation to get a lot of sewing done! Two of my classes ended (I still have one more this semester) and it seemed to open a huge block of time! Add to that my Dad came for a visit and so JW was interested in Grandpa so I was able to nab time here and there to sew and I really finished a lot over the past week and a half.

I posted about my postage stamp quilt a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been working on this since January! I started the quilt along when it was posted but one thing I did was made the mistake of buying yardage for my neutral. For some crazy reason, I thought it would be easier! Ha! After cutting it into strips, I took a break rather then getting started sewing. Once I finished the blocks, the top came together so quickly. This joins my quilt stack now, I don’t have any plans of when I can finish it and I have other projects I want to get done before the holiday season.

I am thinking of quilting in a diagonal, to go against the squares.

I also put together a quick and easy Halloween table runner. This was super simple, I used the fabrics from a previous W.I.P. post and they are all fat quarters. I cut varying widths on the 18″ side of the fat quarter. The one on the top is my original table runner, and the bottom is intended for the back. I wanted to use up the fabric and this way I can have a reversible table runner. I don’t have any plans to quilt it anytime soon, but when I do I want to use glow in the dark thread.

A little hand snuck in the picture! Table pictures are always terrible, so I’m sorry for that. I need to figure out a better way to take pictures, I live in Washington state where it rains a lot so I can’t do many outside pictures in the winter!

A late W.I.P. but it’s still Wednesday where I am! 🙂

First W.I.P. Wednesday

October 25, 2011 by Tsoniki 9 Comments

I am thrilled to join in my first W.I.P. Wednesday. I always have W.I.P.s (works in progress) and love looking at what others are working on. The majority of my W.I.P.s are quilts or table runners that I need to finish. Once I make a quilt top, I usually fold it and put it away. Since moving into this house (almost two months ago) I decided to have my completed tops in a separate space. For right now, that means a small pile on a short bookcase. This is a huge reminder to me that I need to get these quilted!

Two of these quilts are at the top of my priority list. They are for Operation Kid Comfort. I have the batting already and I am sure I have backing, I am striving to get them both done by next weekend.

Another W.I.P. I’d like to share is a postage stamp quilt. This is a quilt along that was published earlier this year over at P.S. I Quilt and I cut the fabric the same week that the quilt along started. And that’s where the similarities end. It was a lot of sewing strips, and then a lot of cutting, and I am still sewing my block together. I divided them into the two groups and just finished one group yesterday. I have a short stack of strips left to sew together, than I can move on to the construction of the quilt. I’ve enjoyed this and really love the fabrics I am using.

And of course since Halloween is right around the corner, here are two projects I’m working on.

I meant here is the fabric for two projects I need to make. Oops. The top fabrics are for a reversible wall hanging and the bottom is for a table runner. I am going to quilt them in glow in the dark thread. I also have fabric for a Halloween quilt, and I am making it a goal to have it done by next year.

I have the best intentions but just wasn’t able to get my Halloween projects done this year! I am going to work on them anyway, over the next couple of weeks and then quit. I don’t have too much sewing I need to do for the holidays so I won’t be behind like I am here.

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