I'm back!

I'm back from a lovely weekend in Paris but sick with some achey lurgy, which came on Saturday afternoon with wonderful timing. This will be a quick post as I need to go snuggle under a blanket but I wanted to link up my Drunkard's Path QAL quilt top, which I finished before I went away and the link up closes in a couple of hours. 

I used a charm pack of Kate Spain's Central Park and quickly learned that it didn't go far.

So after some Kona white solid I had ordered ages ago finally showed up last week, I added a white border and an outer scrappy border to make it a decent sized baby quilt.  The scrappy blocks are not Central Park but I tried to match up the colours in Central Park and patting myself on my back, I think I did okay. The scrappy blocks are Parisville, Loulouthi and Kumari Garden.

I have loved making the Drunkard's Path block - it looks difficult but it really isn't and is so versatile...

...if you don't believe here, click here to see all the amazing designs made from this simple block.  Thanks to Kate and Kristie for a great QAL and for introducing me to the drunkard's path! Thank you also to my PIFers, Dolores, Kate and Jenelle. More on Paris tomorrow.

W.i.P Wednesday

Well that was a slightly unscheduled blogging holiday.  We`re back from a few days at the in-laws where there was an abundance of favourite aunties and cool cousins and so I took full advantage of the childcare and read some books on my kindle! What a luxury that was.

The front path at the in-laws

So now we`re back and I feel quite out of the loop both in terms of sewing and blogging.  If I haven`t been to visit you for a few days I apologize and will try and catch up soon. Promise.

So before we left, I assembled my Drunk in Central Park baby quilt for Kate and Kristie`s QAL and here it is in the beautiful sun we have had today.

One of the things on my Winter Stitching List was to learn to piece curves and while I wouldn`t say it`s quite mastered, I`m pretty pleased with how these blocks came together.

Today I set to work on making a baby boy quilt for my cousin and his partner`s baby, which is due to arrive any minute.  Did I ever mention that I work much better under pressure?  I met Jacqui when she and Daniel visited Marrakech last year.  

While she had visited Marrakech umpteen times it was my cousin`s first visit.  They were here because Jacqui was doing a sponsored trek through the Sahara for Help for Heroes. As a reminder of our fun time together I knew I wanted to use 1001 Peeps but I have been dithering over how to use the fabric to its best.  In the end I went for an `Addition` quilt (well the baby will be a new `addition` to the family) and managed to get the strips pieced.

The pale blue fabric at the bottom of the shot is Terrain

I`m hoping to finish assembling it tomorrow before adding a narrow white border and an outer scrappy border (I love scrappy borders ever since the Across the Seas QAL) as I want the quilt to be a decent size and for the baby to be able to grew in to it.

It`s an anniversary edition of W.i.P Wednesday today as it`s a year since Lee at Freshly Pieced started this great weekly link up - congratulations and thanks Lee!  So why don`t you click on the button below and say `hi` and link up something you are working on?

A Drunk in Central Park

It`s been a chilly, windy and rainy day here today.  Zaki finished pre-school yesterday as next week it is Eid here (the biggest religious holiday of the year) and so we will be off to the in-laws for a few days.  Everything shuts down for 3 days and it`s difficult to get bread and vegetables for it seems like forever as everyone enjoys the holiday and takes a well earned break.

So today I got on with piecing my Drunkard`s Path (DP) blocks for the QAL.  Apart from a couple of initial blocks, I soon got the hang of the curved piecing and there was scope for trimming them down built into the dimensions.  I do like a block where you can trim it to size as however hard I try, my blocks are never exactly square.  Why is that? So I`m all caught up and while there`s still a little tinkering to do with the colour layout, I`m pretty much ready to sew them together.

I used a Central Park charm pack and even though this is going to be a baby quilt, it`s still pretty small and will need a border round it to pad it out a bit.  So 2 QALs caught up with.

When I was writing yesterday`s post I was surrounded by hungry people asking when supper was going to be ready so I was under pressure to get it done and completely forgot to show you what I received in The Scrappy Swap 2011.  My partner turned out to be Hannah who lives in Columbia, Missouri.  She sent me some gorgeous scraps, a lovely needle-case and some chocolate.  Win.  Win.  Win.

So thank you Hannah for a great package and to the lovely Kat who organized a fabulous and energetic swap.  It`s not quite over as my partner still hasn`t received her swap goodies.  I hope she doesn`t have to wait much longer!

I`m now off to work more on my second design for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap and I`ll show you that tomorrow. Have a great Friday.  Anyone in England doing fireworks this weekend?