Out and about with the quilt...

This morning the quilt will be going with me to the coffee morning for showing... Exciting stuff!

It has turned into what it was intended to be - - - - - - - - - A Story Quilt! Having fun!

This quilt has a life of it's own... it is telling a story!

Without me realising it - once I had completed these two designs, I lay the quilt out and looked at it... and then saw something that was totally unplanned... so there was only one thing to do... put two names on either side... this is the honest truth... had to be done!

Binding Times!

Gosh! I had a lovely time meeting Tommy at home with Roz and Lizzie, this morning - and much to our delight we were surrounded by an electric storm!

All of them with their lovely tan's were looking so healthy, happy and relaxed.  One would never believe that this chap had just got in from an epic journey, he looked so cool and together - amazing!

You know, I'm just thinking to myself... I don't half use a lot of exclamation marks! Must be due to all the excitement over the past few weeks and particularly the last few days...

Anyway, speaking of looking 'together' - the quilt has finally been bound and looks like and feels like a proper quilt now... I'm so pleased!  This means that the tasks lying ahead are tucking away loose thread ends - lots and lots of those... and then quilting the setting squares and setting triangles.  Having spent some time looking at the quilt - my instinct tells me, in order to keep the quilt uniform - I really need to continue with one form of quilting on this project. So, I have taken the decision to machine quilt the setting blocks.

Tommy, Lizzie, Roz and I sat at the kitchen table with cups of coffee whilst Tommy and Lizzie were having breaky (about 11.30 - catching up on much needed sleep...) and had a chat about what designs to use for the setting blocks... I think we have made a great decision and I have to say it was lovely that they all had some input - makes the quilt even more special!

And look what we were given by the Tippetts family - ever so kind! May I introduce you to my sweet new little friend Babs, who is presenting Paul with his favourite ingredients from Barbados...

Thanks to you all for your time!
Catherine x

PS: We're delighted with our gifts, thank you. Paul & Catherine

Beaten! Ok, so the Tippetts are back from Barbados and I'm still working on the quilt - who cares - Tommy's safe! ...And the quilt making continues... Welcome Home Tommy!

And he swam with Dolphins on the second day starting out!

Tommy swam with Dolphins on his second day at sea!

An interesting link about Dolphins in West Africa.

From start to finish... Wow!

Leaving La Gomera 21 January 2012

Arriving in Port St Charles, Barbados 12 April 2012

Sums it up!

Less haste - more speed! It's true!

I'm getting the hang of the machine quilting... biggest tip... go slow! Keep your hands steady and just ease the fabric through the machine and basically let the machine do the walking whilst you steer the fabric with your hands... so simple!  But still need to practice lots more to get to the point where I can pick up speed.  The quilting is much better now... you'll see the improvement as I keep working on the quilt... all part of the quilt's story!

Guinness Book of Records! Wow!  The funny thing is - now that I'm quilting more slowly, I keep seeing that orange triangle followed by the dots that Tommy and his little boat were making on our computer screens on the tracker view, powered by StratumFive, courtesy of NASA, during his epic journey... can't get it out of my mind!  It aint over for me yet!

That wind from the East hit me and sent me off course heading in a Westerly direction... had a struggle getting back on course... but I managed to do it! Phew!

The Party's Over! Big Sob and Sniffles! What we gonna do now?

Removing the rudder...

Ked Endeavour is coming home, too!

Tommy feels quite sad that his adventure with this little boat is over but obviously

 is not the only one as we are still receiving emails from people saying they miss logging on every morning to follow the tracker!

Yesterday it was confirmed that the crossing will be in the next Guinness Book of Records!

Love from us all

Chris Roz Sam Lizzie and Tommy

Even watching one...

Youtube post can make all the difference...

I can now honestly say that hand stitching is the easy and relaxing way to make a quilt.  Since starting this project and taking my first step to machine quilting I have developed a sense of utmost respect for machine quilters.  This has truly been challenging. 

In this pic you can see that I have marked my problem areas with red thread so that I can go back to them and sort them out.

And today, I have added another category to my ever expanding library... all about quilting...

Wavy border design...

Walking vs Darning...

Walking foot used for quilting...

good for straight lines... thus no longer using it for the wavy border...

Darning foot for darning and free motion embroidery & free motion quilting...

good for curves & free hand quilting...  made for the job... but takes practise...

From under the quilting table...

Hearing 'Purrrrrrrrrrr... 

                                        

No matter how much I try to call him...
he just ignores me and continues to purr..

Finally I've got his attention... come out of there...

Hello, did you say something...

It's not Tommy's... it's mine!

Paper templates... using a walking foot...