THe good girl in me was ever so good and got a whole pile of blocks made for Debbe in the end. Well I made the technical bit and now have to do the applique. now ..... the thing is me and applique aren't really suited. I am PANTS at it ! never worked out why
tried doing paper mounted and understitched tried wonder under double sided blue peter fool proof super bondifiso I,ve ironed i;ve cried I 've sworn I've muttered and grumbled thrown them out the window and stomped off to the shop to get some mroe as I run out !

so please please what am i doing wrong ??

am I too keen ? DO I frighten the wonder under with my enthusiasm ? DO I send out bad vibes and make it al lcrinkle and shrivel ?... so this lot I am going to spend 15 mins doing calming breathing exercises maybe some simple meditation , and then I am slowly and maturely going to ...... .. Get my mate Denise to do it form e ! LOL .

Iam hopnig to get into my sewing room tonight however I have ap ile of special paperwork to deal with  and sadly it MUST be done.

I have a week off next week which should be lovely apaprt from a trip to the dentist ( boo hiss) and having to do all the chores for the week ~! hoefully hubby will bring something nice back from his jolly in Swtizerland .... well he;d better !

Peace Love and hotcross buns !  Love RAven XXX

you know you need ot get out more when you start planning yr blocks for next year. I wasl ooking at a quilt I did nearly 2 years ago and it had a lot of flying geese blocks in it ... so big some smaller so are small ones goslings or jsut ducks ?

At this point my mind goes off in a bout of "creative ethereal exploration"  and I come up with fantastical ideas that my common sense then later kicks into shape and says get real woman .

So part of me is thinking howabout when it is my block turn to go for lots and lots of flying geese/ducks and call it going quackers .. cos that would be about right for me.

I needo t shut up and get on with some real work !

QUACK QUACK  Raven XX

Today well last night I got my instructions for the block of the mnth to go to Debbie but re -reading I,m not sure of the size .... or am I being dumb. I've cut all my greens ... i have a lot of green but went and raided the batiks at a local store as I had a freebie so it cost me nothing. ( was that naughty )

I needo t set up and go sew but my brain isn't engaging.

I suspect that my head is in the wrong place today as I am worried about my 10yr old who came home yesterday with a significant "scratch" from anotehr girl at school on herface... not a small scratch quite a chunk taken from her cheek. I am livid.

If my daughter says NO! then what gives this kid the right to do something that causes my daughter harm anyway ?
The hick mom in me would go on up there with my shotgun and blast that critter into oblivion. Sadly I constrained by society, laws and reasonable expectations and must now await retribution via a higher power.  You may wonder why I am so.............. infuriated at this seemingly low grade incident however this has been an ongoing issue for nearly 12 mnoths .

Stuff gets stolen, goes missing , turns up magically when it was seemingly lost overthe edge of the planet ( flatearthers!) homework prep time is disrupted, food taken nasty comments made but sadly when the school decides to investigate the littel darling says "oh no I never meant that !"  wel lwhat did you mean ??

So I;ve been smart ..... and Dr Raven has to deal with it !

Right I,m off to sew .....wel lclean my machine and set a new needle and maybe just maybe then I can do some sewing .

Love and Peace XX Raven

 OK I,m not a picture person and some people might say I have a face for radio.... but I;ve never been one for photos.  so here you have possibly every acceptable photo taken of me in thel ast 8 years . I did for nearly 3 years a community bag sewing teaching project along with friends ot help reduce plastic bag usage. Sadly a bout of "Musical differences"  took us away from the main project  and we ran until Jan 2012 when funding ran out . Wem ade the press a fair amount as we made quite a difference to our little city .

 Quilt hangers ..... Some people make fancy sleeves some people have funny clips ... I have a pair of disembodied feet ! .

This quilt wasm ade as awedding gift  using a classic style ... never ever ever again . It looked lovely but caused me some headaches and heartaches.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my little poppet .  Bless her she was 4 when this was taken and she is such a sweet girl . Seeing as it;s nearly Easter I couldn't resist . I,m sure that as a now very sophisticated 10 yr old  she'll hate me for this. lol

Now once upon a time I took said small girl to London to see Swan Lake in the round at the Royal Albert Hall and had front seats in the box next to the Royal box ! I also took her for lunch at the Dorchester which was magnificent and a lot cheaper than a rotten pizza and limp salad for the same moeny .
The staff were totally lovely with her  and this is a quick pic of her with the doorman .
Always worht a trip if you are in the UK . She loved it .

NOw you might or might not know this face ... not mine .............................. sigh ................ the gentleman next to me is no other than Apollo Astronaut Charlie Duke  from APollo 16 . He came to Norwich in 2009 to do a speaking engagement for 1000 people via my husbands school and I orgainised all the  backgorund stuff inclding a dinner ofr Charlie at my house . It wash ard work lots of fun and the flowers were great .. I chose my own :) .

yup me again ata public sewing event we organised. full on cheese mode.


Right my eyes are boggling I have a sewing machine to pack and go to my sewing group.

Love Ya! Raven XXX

 QUILTING PART DEUX.

Please note that this was all 2011 production. "011 was a bumper year.  THe above blocks and following pics were of a quilt made ot order ( commission) the request was for contempory modern monochrome with just a hint of 2 selected colours. What a job! Eventually I selected
purple and lavender and lime and leaf . Filled with white in the sashing and fmq in the colour blocks . hard work but it looked great when completed.

 it was a slow slow slow project .

so.............. inbetween I did this little fella.  a disappearing 9 patch in riley blake
This was lovely so soft and snuggly that the baby's big sister nicked it so I had ot make anotehr . You';ll find that fuirther down the list.

see it kep on lurking even then .

and still it lurked.

ahhh something to take my mind off it .

This was a sweet one. I had jsut taken delivery of a lovely  pile of fabric from the man at $5 a yard ! and I had a piece of pomegranate gifted by the lovely ladies at http://thefabricloft.co.uk/ so I made this . OK it;s a simple set 9 square but it looked so lovely and fresh.
This lurked as a top in my WIP box as I couldn't let it go  but hen found a home at a fund raiser for Gt Ormund Street Hospital for Sick Children . It looked fabulous with a combo of hand and machine quilting and I hope it helped raise a lot of dosh, moola, wonga !

VERY PATRIOTIC !  a mini JR in Loudin blues .  This went to the baby unit at my local hospital .

SCRAP A RAMA disappearing 9 patch made with a piece from everyhting in my stash . A much loved and hugged quilt belonging now to a neighbours daughter. ALl 3 kids have quilts of varying designs .

ahhhh a leaving gift for a fellow podiatrist made with Sweetwater Sunkissed. I love their stuff . and I have labvels by Sweetwater    http://www.sweetwaterstreet.com/custom_labels.html

DIVINE> I have sneaked in a charm pack of Reunion to make into something for myself. Hence my love of this shop   http://thepiedpipershop.com/

I can haemorage money like the Greek ecomony in this shop ! Marvellous selction of new and modern fabrics and within 40 mins drive ! LOVE IT .

Half traingle quick quilt made a an XMas gift . FMQ in flowers vines and butterflies. Lovely

Mr Leo helping hold that darn thing down . Jsut as wel lthey love cats too.

Another disappearing 9 patch done in Riley blake to sister the quilt shown earlier . postage stamp setting in the outer rail sashing. Looked adorable . totally adorable .

Ohhhh yes anotehr wonky star ! hello xxxx

SCRAP BUSTER !!!!

This went as a heavily quilted pillow front or wall hanging to a great friend .

Scrap buster jelly roll mad quilt made by my good friend Denise and myself . LKove it love it love it . It;s the kiingfisher blue that help set it all off and so it is called the Kingfisher !

A block buster in pale blue. the blocks came from the same session but amazing how the sashing can make such a difference. I,m sad to say that Denise and I love sewing so much  that we make 25 + blocks in a 3 hour session providing we have cut the ammo first !

ahhh the remake of the orange lime and turquoise.  let ;s see how this one goes

there is a lot more somewhere but I can't find the pics so be grateful . Enjoy and live life loud !
Love Raven xxxxx

Ahhhaaa second day of posting on my blog ... it;s a bit like my web page !but the controls are different. sort of like driving away in a new car.

So here we go with info re me. OK so you can see the profile but i suspect you need ot see what I make and what I do . Well I'm goingto leave out my work pictures as only weirdos and pods like pics of feet  so I promise I will only post pics of quilts and sewing stuff.

Today is my day off ( hahahahahhahahaha who am I kidding!)  one laod of laundry done, the hens fed, beds made, lounge/familyroom tidied, and really I should be sewing. I have a meet up with a great friend Denise today and we swap wkills and make blocks for linus quilts which we give to local hospitals for kids etc. 

http://www.projectlinus.org/links.html

  here's the linky.  feel free to make some blocks or if you have orphans get together and make a quilt to go to this great charity.

Anyway, I also work with a couple of lovely ladies on BLOCKSWAP International

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/213554192067013/

  a none specific group where one person calls the colours and size but you make what you want and send it . The resulting quilt goes to a local person in need / charity/ special unit or whatever thatp erson decides . so sort of like a sewing bee but not ! It;s far too relaxed. Anyone can join and send blocks or make requests. We only ask that you don;t use the blocks for commercial purposes and any blocks you make you would be happy to use yourself.

so now we need some pics of my work . Wel lyou might be able to find them on my facebook page but here they are to save you time and effort.

Pinwheels doine with white for a little girl . was finally edged with Joel Dewberry in Aqua and a lemon yellow binding !

This is a mix of Joel Dewberry and Tilda  along witha couple of otehr favourites that live in the stock box /stash !  quilted in stipple in monofilament  and was lovely. It was made ot go with the quilt below which went to a friend of my daughters.

I adored this quilt . It;s a pandoras box jelly roll pattern but I cut from my stash allthe shades of jade and sapphire and so I think of it as Neptunes gift to Pandora.  totally devine. It was quilted in "boxes" random squares outlining different sized squares . Some handquilting and binding done by my motehr as she couldn't keep her hands off it either.

 ahhhh a selection of baby bibs made for my daughters school fayre ( what a shower that was) and some sent to a friend who is the lucky recipient of TWIN GIRLS !

 These bibs I adore with the fussy cut centres. BIzarrely people didn't go wild when they were going to have to buy them to support a local cancer charity but were preapred to take them and lie about making a "donation" a sad sad sad  day

 Hair bands also for my daughters school fayre. She now has a lot of lovely hair bands

 A quilted bag made with a demi jelly roll of Loudin spots and stuff. It carries a lot of quilt stuff including a superking sized quilt at present .

 ahhh the draw string bags ! Love these so quick and simple  I can't remember where I got  hte pattern from but when I hunt it down I will let you know . THey take about 20 mins to make ! Yup that easy

 Love this . Nuff said

 Right this one has quite a tale to tell.  It was made itinially as a gift for a friend of my daughter who asked for a quilt in Lime green turquoise and orange. BOy was that a shocker.... so I thought ok I'll m,ake it bright but calm it down so I mixed al ot of other colours in .

 Sadly when she saw it in raw state she wasn't struck by it so I said nothing and put it away . Then one day I sat down and quilted the blighter ..,. you have those days where you have to jsut kill off a few projects to make room for everything else and I feel these WIPS unloved etc block your energy ( ha listen to me spouting tripe!)  so I quilted it and I sat and put the binding on and anotehr friend of daughter saw it fell in love and now sleeps with it everyday .

 It;s nice to have a happy ending

 Ah      table mades made in shuffle style . THese arestill lounging in my WIP box waiting to be bound and labelled.

A Squodge cushion . Semi dresden plate but made with wild colours and pinned in the umbilicus! YOUCH !

 ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh free motion quilting.

This is a piece of fabric from the stained glass range that came out late lasdt year. Totally lush to look at and I thought ok I,m not bad a FMQ I,ll outline the dragon flies and flowers etc and see how it looks.
This made one totally gorgeous cushion , had my motehr in tears ( jealoussssss!) and was given by a young man to his grandmother as a thank you . THe thread used is Gutterman SUlky variagated. nice.

 Quilt made ofr daughters school raffle. blue is the blazer colour .
It went to a happy home

 a scrap attack . One mountainous stash had to be killed off so this is a true stash scrap attack

 a shirt quilt. This one has al ong story and a couple of nasty injuries along the way. Let me merely confirm that sewing through yr nail and finger with a machine B&*$*(% hurts !  This isl eaving soon . Thank god !

 ahha a quickie project for ear phones . I quilted hte fabric fiurst then cut the pattern as I hate shrinkage . anotehr 20 min project .

 WONKY STARS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them  I love them even more when they contain my Jenean Morrisson Picnic Parade in orange. Sadly very difficult to obtain . hence why it only comes out in speical projects !

 SAid range from Picnic Parade .... hello gorgeous ! xxxx

Selve edges .... you got to hate them or love them . I,m still undecided but I had a go . I know some lady made a ottally fabulous 1950;s style dress using selve edges  but I,m not that patient ,.

the design wanted by my friend JD when he and his partner get married as their wedding quilt. It;s causing me some headaches. It;s al ittle to regimented for my taste lacking in vibrancy but hey I'll get it to go right .

A Quilt made for my BF > jelly roll strips then cut on 45 degree angle and set in sashing. THat simple.
THerei s no pic of the quilting I did on it which was multiple sine waves as she palys violin . A lovely lovely item I have to say and she loves it too .

I have hundreds of otehr pics to find and upload so I'll go do that and you go and have a tylenol and a lie down and I'll see you later.

LOVE RAVEN XXX

Hiya! Get ready to have fun spotting my typos and errors.

Seeing as I am now a member of a proper sewing bee I thought come on RA Ven get yr act togehter and get blogging.

So here we are after enarly 2 hours of wrestling with various "service providers" !

I am Rachel and I am probably what I would call a keen amateur sewer. I struggle with zips .

I have sewn wedding dresses and christening gowns, household itens eg curtains and cushions ( USA read pillows) shopping bags , repaired morestuff than I can mention, car seat covers, theatre costumes, commercial covers for unusual items but I like quilting.

I am probably a Modern Quilter  but I do delve into trad  on occasion. Sometimes I lose my way and become flustered with all the ideas bouncing round in my head. Some days I lose myself trying to emmulate those designs and quilters Iadmire... then I sit back ............ think "hang on Lassie" and realise that 2 years ago I knew very little re most types of quilting and actually my work was in some ways happier , free-er , fresher, because I wasn't thinking too much and trying to be something I wasn't .

So the first lesson of this blog for me and a message I will hope you take to heart.

"ALWAYS ALWAYS be true to yourself. "

I have joined the  "STASH BEE" Hive number 3 ! Yes Drill Sargent!  This will be a great experience for me to join in with a group of ladies who I hope I can learn from and help make a variety of quilts .

http://stashbee.blogspot.com/

I am also learning how to "BLog" so lord help us all. Things might take a while as I am a shade short on time and prefer to quilt to typing.

So my little wing'ed friends of HIve 3   shall I buzz off and make like a buzybee? OK yeah stop the bad jokes.

Happy Sunday !

Raven  xx