Life moves on

Life moves on...
It is now 4 months since I have separated from my husband and I am slowly coming to terms with my new life. I have had so many people contact me and wish me well and offering me support, that I have been totally overwhelmed by it all. You never know how much people care for you until you are in a situation like this. I could not have coped without all the support I have had from my friends and family. I have a new routine now to my daily life, I do a lot more exercise than before and I love how I look in all my new clothes...yes, I have lost a LOT of weight and it has boosted my confidence no end. I took up yoga and actually manage to do stuff I never thought in a million years I would be able to do. I have signed up for a marathon walk for Breast Cancer and really look forward to doing that with some friends.
I have also found the perfect house for my needs. It is just the right size for me and have the most amazing basement studio room with light flooding in through huge big glass doors. I have made an offer on the property, my kids love the house, but there is a bit of a stumble block to securing it. Keep fingers crossed for me, I will update here if and when I have news.

Quilting again
Yes, after the first few days of forcing myself to quilt, through all the shaking and heart palpitations, I have made it. I am back to normal and have been quite prolific.

The first quilt I loaded was this little wallhanging which I call "Lady". I made it for my hairdressers called "Rapunzel" and they are hanging it up in their office. I am so happy that they like it.

"Lady"

I then loaded my next Radiance silk quilt. It has not yet got a name, I am still working on it. I originally designed it as a wholecloth, but when I pulled the fabric off the shelf, I just kept thinking about adding different colours with the olive green, so the appliqué was added and I am so happy with how it has turned out. It was lying on the floor one evening so my youngest daughter and I could look at it. I have been wondering which colour to add in the binding and thought that brown would be quite subtle. I asked my daughter who was busy reading at the time, she looked up and without a moments hesitation said 'brown' so brown it will be. I might still use the pattern for a wholecloth, but that will have to wait till I have finished a few more UFO's first.

 I currently have "The Happy Quilt" loaded on the machine and am some days quilting whole rows of blocks (14 in a row), and on other days just 1 block. There is no rush, I am just enjoying deciding how to quilt each block as I come to it, and with 14 rows, I will be working on it for some time yet. For now, I am just quilting using a cream colour thread, then, when I get to the end, I will start adding some coloured thread in.

The back

Working with silk
I now know why I have been putting off sewing with silk! I started this project about a month ago and is now a bit stuck as not all the diamonds are exactly the same size. The design I had in mind is therefor not going to work anymore, so I am putting them aside for the moment, whilst I await the lightbulb moment.

The Harvest 
I added a chocolate brown border on the still life but was not happy with how flat it looked, so got out a bit of paint and had a lovely evening of designing and painting the border design on. I am hoping to add even more depth once I start quilting it. This will be the next project to be quilted once I have finished The Happy Quilt.

My hexagon quilt
Still working on it when I have time in the evenings. I seem to be far more out and about these days though and often is just too tired by the time I get home to start thinking about sewing. But spending time with my friends is just so rewarding.  And this was never going to be quilt in a day or a month or even a year. But watch this space as I intend having it finished in time to have on show at the Festival of Quilts in 2018!

The pattern

Quilter's Guild "Moving on" exhibition at Knit and Stitch show at Olympia, London
The briefing for the exhibition was that you had to produce a quilt with the colour purple in.  Photos of your quilt had to be submitted for approval before it was accepted. I was so excited when my quilt was accepted and even more excited when my daughter said she would come with me to see it in the show on Mother's day. We arrived just before lunch and as she has not had any breakfast, we sat and had our lunch first and then it was a dash to get to the corner where the quilts were on display. What a wonderful surprise to see my quilt hanging just perfectly and even more exciting when so many people stopped to look at it and ask questions about it. Finally I can show some photos of "When purple is the favourite no more"

Oh, look at me, carefully colour co-ordinated with the quilts on the wall and the carpet. My glass frames are purple by the way

When purple is the favourite no more

World Quilt show
My quilt "The trouble with magenta, hot or not" have arrived back home after months of touring around the USA. Guess what came back with it? A rosette that I am incredibly proud of. I am already planning how I can display all my rosettes in my new studio.

Now this is what makes life exciting!