So sorry its been such a long time since I last visited this Blog. It has been rather busy here. The serger quilt is nearing completion. I am currently doing some free machine embroidery on all the sashing to enable it to lie satisfactorily.

Progress is steady.

I'm knitting and planning some sewing too. A blouse and a shirt, with a skirt and a pair of trousers are amongst the projects I have in mind. I really could do with getting rid of some rather shabby pieces in my wardrobe..........

Another project is the monthly journal quilt for the Contemporary Quilt group of the Quilter's Guild.

I call this series "A year in the life of a village - Moulton 2011." It sounds rather presumptuous, but the idea is just to show elements of the village where I live as the seasons change.

Each quilt is just ten inches square. The first one shows the sign at the side of the road, as drivers approach the village. The house stands very close to the sign. The crows are the emblem of Moulton and will be shown in each journal quilt. It is called "Welcome to the village - February."

The second quilt, entitled "Spring is coming - March." It shows the metal spire of the local church, with nests in the local trees. The snowdrops and daffodils are some of my favourite signs of Spring.

Part of the challenge of these quilts is that the first four quilts should show a circle. The next four should have text in some form, with the final four quilts having buttons somewhere on the surface. I decided that I would use all these elements is all the quilts I make in this series.

Both of these quilts have a painted background with appliqued items, photographs printed onto fabric ( I used Jacquard's Cotton sheets made for inkjet printing), and free machine embroidery.

Work in progress

Work has finally started on a quilt I planned to do in January! This is being made using my overlocker (serger), rather than piecing it using my sewing machine as usual.

The idea for this came about as a result of a serge-a-long organised by the Serger group on My Sewing Circle.

All of the blocks are being made from fabric out of my over-sized stash. I am not using wadding simply because the backing is fleece, again from stash. Some blocks will have the yellow as a backing, the rest will have a chocolate brown. This last piece of fleece had been intended for mum's quilt, but proved to be too dark. It is hiding away in the top photograph.

Other projects under way at present are the February Journal Quilt for the Contemporary Quilt group, the next section of the Stitching Sisters Sampler for Norma, and a bag I need to get around to rebuilding. Yes, I am woefully behindhand with some projects. I get sidetracked easily...................

I completed the first of the bags some time ago, but forgot to post about it here. This is what it now looks like:

As is usual for me, all four sides are different:

One of the ladies in my local library really loved it when she saw it.

I had had to completely take the bag to pieces since the only good fabric left was that used to make the handles and also the lining I had made to prolong the life of my bag. The sides now have wadding as a backing to stiffen them a little so that the bag can stand up.

I'm not sure exactly what my next bag will look like. It is a pile of fabric pieces and a box of buttons, ribbon and iron-on motifs at present.