Quilting frustrations

You may remember that making progress on this quilt was my new year target which I mentioned here. Well I have made a little bit of progress but this quilt is driving me NUTS! I know - it's a bit pathetic to get annoyed about a hobby that is supposed to be pleasurable ...but .....

I've finished piecing the top. I was a bit limited for size as I wanted it for a king size double but I had to limit the amount of fabric to keep the cost within reasonable parameters. It's 11 x 8 8.5 inch squares which makes it 94 ish by 68 inches. This is fine as it is the full width of the bed but comes just below the pillows. I now need to quilt it but I am not sure it will go through the throat of my machine which isn't huge. I've re-watched my Craftsy class (Quilting Big Quilts on a Small Machine) and worked out that if I want to grid quilt it then splitting the wadding into three is a bit of a non-starter. What to do?

I think I am going to make the sandwich and try and get it through my machine. If this doesn't work I will hand quilt it - which I don't mind doing but it means it won't get finished for a lot longer.

It's been trouble from the start! I started it a long time ago when I was really a beginner and quite a lot of it has been unpicked and put back together. I am determined to see it through though. I've had trouble tracking down enough of the backing fabric I've chosen - Philip Jacobs Picotte Poppies in ochre but an email has just come through from Glorious Color to say they have 6 yards. It seems that everything I try with this quilt is unstraighforward ( not a word - I know).

Hey ho! I really hope it is worth it in the end!

S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G - We're shopping

I heard this Pet Shop Boys song the other day when I was sewing and it got me thinking! I normally really hate shopping, for clothes especially. Christmas shopping has lost all its magic for me as well. When I do have to go into a department store, especially this time of year, I find the huge displays of stuff to buy (that I don't need) almost overwhelming. I don't want to be snobby about this - I really used to love going round the shops and choosing all my Christmas presents, but I think I've done it too many times and the novelty has worn off. It most certainly has lost its attraction for me.

But fabric ...... well shopping for fabric is a completely different matter. I LOVE shopping for fabric. Maybe it's because I don't have to worry about whether it suits me, or because I can buy just a little bit for not very much money, but for me shopping for fabric has some of the old magic that shopping for clothes or presents used to have when I was younger.

I found this list of quilt shops on the blog needles and lemons which I really liked. I thought I might try and make a list of shops I like in the Midlands soon. I've worked out that I use shops for quite different purposes - so I have those that I might make a special effort to go to which have a huge range, but I also like some of the small local ones where choice is limited but reflects what the shop owner likes. I do usually try and buy something wherever I go, however small, because I think it must be tough running a real live fabric shop when the internet is so all encompassing . If we don't use the little shops we will certainly lose them.

This weekend my husband and I treated ourselves to a trip on a vintage steam train  from Tamworth to York and back for our Christmas present.

It was a lovely ride, and when we got to York we headed for the shops. Not for us the busy Christmas streets or the queue for Betty's - no, I nipped into a fabric shop and he went to a model  railway shop. The Viking Loom was a really lovely craft and haberdashery shop - small but full of carefully chosen fabrics. For just a little more than £20 I brought home six fat quarters as a memento of our day in York that one day will find their way into a quilt and remind me of that trip. Now that's my idea of shopping!