Frangipane

Not technically a teapot or a quilt, but mmmm lovely! Frangipane tart, from Jamie Oliver's recipes on his '30 minute meals' programme on channel 4. Very tasty. Even if I forgot to blind bake the pastry so they pooofed up a little too much...

Beautiful colours

Unfortunate bag placement...

Also known as Phoebe's husband Mike's alternative name in Friends!

I found a group!

The Crafty Patchers meet just a couple of miles down the road from me, one Saturday a month (which tends to be workshops or charity things), Monday evenings once a month, and Wednesday mornings (which obviously I can't go to as I work). I'll be going to a Saturday charity meet in a couple of weeks, hopefully it'll be good. Everyone takes their own sewing machine, which might be a bit tricky seeing as at the moment I'm just borrowing the Boyfriend's mother's machine, and she keeps wanting it back. But, we'll see. The nice lady on the phone said they do have a spare couple of machines in the hall, so maybe on the first time I go I'll just borrow one of theirs.

I can't wait!

In the meantime, I'm checking out some lovely photos on flickr to get inspiration...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirnabucevic/5116918119/in/faves-sophiedouglas/ I love the cupcake detail.


A Tokyo subway quilt - looks brilliant

And some brilliant mushrooms! http://www.flickr.com/photos/erleperle/5107039979/in/faves-sophiedouglas/

Ungrouped!

I'd love to join a quilting group nearby, to hear others' experiences and maybe borrow some of their knowledge. I'm such a beginner and would love to know more about everything. Can I find a group nearby? No chance! There's a woman who sells fabric about 8 miles away, but she hasn't a clue about anything other than making money out of the hobby, and couldn't suggest any groups at all. I've tried google and facebook to no avail. I can't be the only person in these parts who enjoys quilting! If I lived in the USA there'd be a quilter on every corner. Yet another reason to emigrate....

Waiting for the machine...

I don't currently have my own sewing machine, but I'm borrowing my boyfriend's mother's, which is a brilliant machine. Only problem being, she keeps wanting it back, so I have to go days without doing any sewing. So frustrating when you've got a project on the go and can't get on with it!

At the moment I'm halfway through a quilt with teapot and cake material. It's going to be lovely, just for my own amusement. It'll be the first time I attempt binding, and I'll be doing straight line quilting too. But for now, it's just sitting, waiting....

I also have two cushion covers I want to complete, for a friend's moving in present. I could hand-sew them, but I want them to be just right. She moves in next week, but she'll just have to be patient - something I'm having trouble with!