Category Archives: quilting

A day out with the quilts

Posted on by
Reply

Hello Dear Reader,

My annual trip to Exeter to the South West quilt show at West Point Arena. It’s really inspirational as well as somewhere to stock up on fat quarters for £1 each!

I’ll show you some quilts.

Beautiful Riley Blake fabrics, I love squares set on the diagonal, I must do this. I love the colours and paisley patterns.

I love the alternative to stitch in the ditch and a bit of FM.

Another must do for me, 1″ squares, not as hard as it looks but would take an age, loved the effect of shading.

Many, many traditional quilts this year with plenty of applique, not something I want to do but I could appreciate the hours of work.

More applique and a lot of quilting, I really must get a long arm quilting machine. As usual, I tried one out and marvelled at how easy it was to set up and use.

I am in awe of hand quilting, it has such a beautiful finish. I will never do this with my cacky hands!

Now this exhibitor really inspired me. Her quilts are her impression of arial photographs.

Me #hashtagging away!

Sometimes, the most simple quilts are really the most effective.

Over quilted for my taste but the artistry is beautiful.

I can usually work out how something was pieced but this baffled me totally. If anyone recognises the design and can send a link to a tutorial or pattern, then I would be greatly appreciative. I was though, very taken with the colour palette and will use this one day.

There were so many stunning quilts that I couldn’t upload photos of them all.

An amazing burst of inspiration and I look forward to next year’s quilt show.

A mass of thanks to the organisers and everyone who had their quilts on display. They were amazing!

Over to you, who likes to get a zap of creativity every now and then and go to an exhibition?

Quilt for a baby boy

Posted on by
Reply

Hello Dear Reader,

I made a baby quilt yesterday and sewed the binding on tonight for a bloggy baby. I mean a blogger’s baby.

I just used random fabric to make it a colourful as I could. Baby quilts are tough things and can become playmats, garden quilts and for sitting on in the car when they get older. They are not precious, nor valuable, nor does it matter if they get torn or dirty. What’s important is the little human wrapped up in it, sleeping under it, playing or it or dragging it behind them when they are playing.


He’s not born yet, but when he can see it, I hope he likes it.

Sarah……………………I hope you like it too xxxxxx

Love Froogs xxxxx

Before and After

Posted on by
26




Hello Dear Reader,

Firstly thanks to the very lovely lady who sent me a pile of sewing patterns. That’s really kind of you and they will come in use. My aim this year is to make something that fits me. ‘Dress making’ is pretty straight forward, fitting is another thing entirely.

I have three sewing projects on the go at the moment and I’ve lack the impetus to get them finished. I am determined not to start anything else until those three quilts are finished, quilted and bound. I needed to sort out my sewing space and get on with it.

I sorted fabric into colours and have gone through all my fabric to re familiarise myself with the ‘stock’. I have loads of fabric as the neighbour of a family member ‘retired’ from quilting due to ill health and I bought her entire fabric collection. I gave her a good price but I in turn got a lot of fabric for a good price to me too. We were both happy. Lots of it is vintage including yards upon yards of Rose and Hubble William Morris prints, some really lovely ‘ditsy’ florals from the 80’s and plenty of neutrals to blend in. I keep book marking quilt books and magazines with post it notes and there are so many quilt patterns that I just can’t wait to make. I like to add in recycled shirt fabric as it makes the whole quilt making process a lot more economical and it stays true to the ideal of making do and recycling fabric.



I have thoroughly cleaned the sewing machine, changed the blades in the rotary cutters, changed the sewing machine needle, cleaned and tidied the sewing room and have even cleaned the iron. I’m aiming to get all three quilts backed by half term so I then finish quilting all three by Easter. I’m going to have to be strict with myself as I have so many ideas in my head that I’d love to get started on. I also want to make some patchwork cushions but they are going to have to wait too!

Today has all been about getting the house clean and tidy, catching up on the laundry so it was lovely to have some time for me even if it was just getting ready to carry on with a hobby I love.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some photos of the quilts I’m ‘in the middle’ of.

Over to you, ‘fess up! Who else has a sewing room in a state? Who else has work in progress and then starts something new? I can’t be the only messy and over ambitious sewer who keeps starting something new before I’ve finished the last quilt. Or am I?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

The nights are drawing in

Posted on by
24

Hello Dear Reader,

Today has been the first cool day in what seems a very long time. We’ve had a quiet, local, domestics and feet up kind of day. We’re saving for lots of things, the wood stove and a holiday next year to mention just a few. So we’re prepared for next year, we needed to find a home boarder for our dogs as we don’t use kennels. As we haven’t been on holiday for two years, we’ve lost our usual home boarder as she is now booked for all of summer next year already. She’s looked after our dogs for years so it’s a shame she can’t fit them in and we needed to find some one else. We met the new dog minder today, her lovely dogs and all parties got along just fine. Our dog minder costs as much as our ferry costs and a sixth of our total holiday cost. They are part of our family and we budget for them and that included them having a ‘holiday’ too. We now know how much we have to save and it’s all part of the maths! To be clear, we’re not complaining and we’re the lucky ones who can afford a holiday at all.

I thought I would share our delicious dinner, it’s something you’ll love or hate. Stir fried Spam! Well, not actually Spam, which is a brand but a tin of chopped ham and pork.


To make this you will need - serves 2

1 cup of chopped mixed veg - I used frozen
1 tin of Spam or Chopped ham and pork
6 chopped mushrooms
1 teaspoon of each of the following: chopped ginger, chopped chilli and chopped garlic
1 bunch of chopped spring onions
50g of rice - cook as instructions
2 beaten eggs
2 tbs of oil.
Soy Sauce

1. Cook the rice - leave to cool
2. Fry the onions and mushrooms - five mins
3.Add the chilli, ginger and garlic - another two mins
4. Add the eggs and cook until scrambled - 1 min
5. Add the rice, cooked mixed veg and Spam/chopped ham and pork - 3 mins
6. Serve with a splash of soy sauce (optional)


Now, as the weather has cooled, it feels as if I really should finish the quilts (actually it’s quilts and to my shame, I’m still looking at designs to start another!) I am working on. I had all the requisite parts of the blocks to make the blocks shown below, of which I needed 224. This morning I had 80 finished blocks and with some determination and the help of catch up TV on the ipad, I got the rest of them finished! After this, the construction is easy!

The quilt I am making is Blue Ridge Beauty from Bonnie Hunter’s book Adventures with Leader and Enders. I love her really simple designs and how quick the quilts are to make…………well, they would be if I hadn’t taken a four month break from quilting but I’m back at the presser foot again!

It’s a really simple design and will go together really quickly now I’ve finished making all of the blocks.


I’ll be back tomorrow with the progress update. I’ve so much to do, from menu planning, a stock take, a budget forecast and adjustment, getting this month’s finances and saving in order and get ready for work next week. Last weekend was all about socialising and this weekend is all about the domestic arrangements.

Over to you Dear Reader, do any of you have any Spam memories? What about chopped ham and pork?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Amusing myself on my staycation

Posted on by
9

Hello Dear Reader,

A holiday to me is any day I don’t have to be in work. Therefore I’m on holiday. I don’t go anywhere, Dearly Beloved is at work when I’m ‘on holiday’ and I don’t intend go anywhere on my own. So, I’m home amusing myself.

The initial stages of making any quilt is to get ALL of the quilt blocks cut first. If you do a bit at a time, you might be tempted to not finish it and then you’ll have a UFO lurking where you would rather have a finished item.

Now everything is cut, I’m in the process of making 448 of the 3.5″ block below in various blues and neutrals. The half triangles above are in the process of being sewn. I take a ‘back’ break every now and then. Sewers will know what I mean.

I keep all the little blocks in separate baskets and keep a tally of them as I go. I’ve made a few mistakes cutting and will need to make some more but that’s quilting.


I also have 125 of these blocks to make. I love that moment where my blocks are ready to be sewn together. This quilt will start in the middle and I will work out. It will all be blues and neutrals and a geometric design. I love the maths of quilting!

My little blocks start in strips and I keep every off cut and then sew them together. These will all go into my scrappy quilt that I add to now and then to use up my bags of scraps as nothing gets wasted here. I’m aiming for another king size quilt out of my scraps.

I’m also aiming to have another go at dress making. I’ve learned a lot watching the Great British Sewing Bee about fitting. I’ve also learned a lot about handling different fabrics and matching the fabrics too. I learned how to centre the fabric so the pattern runs down the middle and matches on the shoulders and sleeves. I’ve recorded it all to watch again some time. I can understand patterns now and know more about grain, nap, cross grain and bias of fabric. I’m using patterns that a dear reader sent me but I bought fabric today. The blouse fabric was £2.50 a yard and 1.5 yards will make a blouse. The dress fabric was £3.75 a yard and will take just under 3 yards to make it. If I can master fitting then I will have clothes for a fraction of the cost of buying them. I’m also tall so I can lengthen patterns to fit me. (£3.75 for the blouse, I will use recycled buttons I’ve kept from shirts and a dress for under £15 including zip and interfacing.)


I’ve given myself a talking to and I’m not going to start the blouse (the hardest thing to make apparently so I’ll make that first!) until I have my quilt top made. I don’t have the space at home to lay a quilt out so that can wait until I can borrow some space.

It was great to have a chat with you. Now, what do you need to finish? What do you need to learn to do to save yourself money? Who else is tired of paying a fortune for clothes? Who else, like me, can make clothes but hasn’t mastered fitting? Has anyone else picked up some valuable information that they can turn into skills after watching the Great British sewing bee? I’d love to hear from you.

As so many of you read, keep up to date with me on Twitter queen_frugal, or follow by email or just follow the blog. Add me to your reading list and keep up to date with my daily blog and frequent tweets. xxx

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

p.s If you haven’t voted yet please click on the MADS finalist link top right and vote for me as best thrifty blog and best food blog. Thanks folks.

Unique Visitors per month 41,234 (March 2014 - Google Analytics)
Twitter Followers - 2006
Klout - 55
Page Rank 4/10

Starry, starry quilt

Posted on by
40

Hello Dear Reader,

I’ve got serious cabin fever! This is the time of year for hiking boots, fleece everything including knickers and getting out on the beaches, cliff paths and moors. None of them are accessible! The moors are nothing more than sponges full of water and the paths are calf deep sucking mud. The cliffs are unstable, likely to collapse and lots have been closed and the beaches are no go areas due to the high winds (80mph some days) and dangerous sea (60′ waves at worst).

Thank heavens for an absorbing hobby like quilting. I made the top of this in the Christmas holiday and have just got round to backing, quilting and binding the whole thing! I need to keep busy whilst I’m trapped indoors. As soon as the good weather returns, I will be off out walking again!

It’s for my brother who asked me to make a quilt for him.

You, Dear Reader, gave me the fabric for the backing of this and some of the top fabric too. There are often elements of your generosity woven through most of the quilts I make for us and others.

As ever, the quilting lines wobble where my achy hands can’t hold the quilt straight as I stitch in the ditch. Quilts are very forgiving and bear our mistakes without shouting about them.


I’m in the process of making a crumb quilt from all of even the tiniest amounts of fabric I have laid around. This is going to be another quilt for us and I’m making it for our 2014 holiday. We won’t need to buy any souvenirs, not that we ever do, but will have our quilt to remember our ‘us time’ away for a couple of weeks. It’s months away but I’m already excited!

I’m also excited about my next quilt project. I’m following a very traditional pattern. It’s made of 448 half-square triangle units measuring 3 7/8th and 448 Four patch units which also measure to 3 7/8th once they’ve been made. I think it will take me a week of evenings to cut the strips, squares and then triangles and another week to make the individual units and then another week to sew them together. It will be a phenomenal 97″ by 109″ when it’s finished and it will be another quilt made entirely from shirts and scrap fabric!

This week I’m going to back, quilt and bind a ‘bricks and stepping stones’ quilt, which is a gift for a young child and hopefully finish my crumb quilt. However………if the weather break, you won’t see me for dust!!!

Over to you Dear Reader. Who else is feeling trapped by the weather? Calling all Ozzies! Any break in your heat yet? Are any of you trapped indoors running the air con? How about America…………..has any of the snow cleared yet? Anyone on the south coast of the UK, or here in Cornwall………..how are you faring with the loss of sleep from night after night of roof rattling storms?

As ever, I love to hear from you.

Love Froogs xxxx

Disappearing nine patch with a twist.

Posted on by
24

Hello Dear Reader,

I’m in the middle of making a ‘crumb quilt’ from all the tiny bits of off cuts I have left. I’ve now used up all the tiny bits and now I’m using some of the 5″ squares I have. I started with a nine patch.

I cut that on the diagonal and then made the another cut on the other diagonal. I then stacked them one on top of the other and cut straight down the centre of the triangle (from the right angle to the centre of the hypotenuse)

This gave me eight triangles which I then turned into two blocks. Here it is before it was sewn together.

Here it is pressed and sewn together.

Here’s another block in the making -starting with the nine patch.

Here are the triangles piled up to cut into the final eight.

They form some really interesting patterns when put together. Here’s where you can see the ‘twist’.

Here’s what all the pieces look like before they are assembled. As I said, they make two blocks.


I ‘found’ this block by accident and now I’m trying to think up other blocks. I’m sure someone has already done that but this felt quite new to me.

The ‘crumb’ quilt is for Dearly Beloved………………I’m sure you won’t tell him as it’s a surprise.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx

Fat free tea loaf, chocolate muffins and another quilt

Posted on by
39

Hello Dear Reader,

Today has been a busy and sociable day and though lovely, it was good to get home. I didn’t bake today, I baked on Thursday night and took the goodies into work to share. Nothing cheers a work place more than a bit of cake!

I made fat free tea loaf

You will need

4 tea bags to make a very strong 300ml of tea
300g of mixed fruit
350g of SR flour
1 teaspoon of ground allspice
1 beaten egg.

Make the tea and soak the fruit until the tea is cold
Mix all of the rest of the ingredients together.
Bake as one large cake in a loaf tin for 1 hour at 180/gas 4
or individual muffin cases for 20 minutes.

The loaf is great thinly sliced and served with butter. It’s also great with a zesty lemon glaze. Take 50g of icing sugar and drop lemon juice into it until you have the consistency that you would like. It should drop off your spoon so you can drizzle it on top of the cakes.


Chocolate muffins

I used:

4 eggs
225g of butter or marg
225g of SR flour
225g of sugar
2 heaped tablespoons of cocoa
1/4 of a jar of chocolate spread

Mix all of the above together to a smooth batter and spoon into individual muffin cases. Bake at 180 for 20 minutes.

When cool, slice off the top of the cake and spread chocolate spread liberally and replace the ‘lid’. Dust with icing sugar.

As ever, I always let you see a close up. I didn’t eat any of these but every one enjoyed them, even when I told them that they were entirely made from supermarket basics from Sainsbury’s. As usual, even though I was given the ingredients, my opinions are my own. I’ve always used supermarket basics from one supermarket or another and firmly believe them to be good value and quality. I can now add Sainsbury’s the list of ‘great basics’. Not just for someone on a budget but for anyone!

Last night, my quilt was still being quilted.

Tonight, my Scrappy Mountain Majesties quilt is backed, quilted and edged. It’s going off to London with Paul my PT who’s joining the Metropolitan Police at the end of February. It’s my thank you for his skills in making me believe in my own strength and health. I’m never going to be physically lazy ever again and I’m never going back to a size 18 ever again! The quilt is a very small thank you for his professional support.


The quilt (except the wadding) is completely made of recycled fabric and is made from shirts. I now have two more quilts to back (both gifts for friends and family) and quilt and then I can complete my scrappy crumb quilt that’s going on holiday to France with us this summer. Now that’s worth being frugal for and watching the pennies to save up for!

Over to you Dear Reader, who else has a short term financial goal that they are being frugal to save up for? Who else has baked this weekend and what did you make? Who else has finished or is in the middle of a craft project?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Little things make me happy

Posted on by
23

Hello Dear Reader,

I’m back to work tomorrow and not a day too soon! I’ve enjoyed the time off but the weather has been dreadful. Storm after storm after storm. I’ve made three quilt tops this holiday and I will spend tonight working on the third as I sew the blocks together.

We had friends for lunch today and I won’t bore you with the Aldi Four Bird Roast we had (now reduced to £6.99 and fed six generously) or the usual Sunday lunch pictures. There were heaps or honey roast carrots and parsnips and braised red cabbage and of course Brussels Sprouts and roast potatoes. They were all very ordinary.

I had an opened jar of homemade mincemeat left over from Christmas and decided to make a Gluten free Mincemeat and apple crumble. The crumble is simply half the weight of butter (or substitute in my case) of flour. I rubbed the butter into the flour and added two heaped tablespoons of caster sugar.


I peeled, cored and sliced six Bramley apples and stirred the mincemeat through the apples. I baked this at 180 for 30 minutes and served it with custard. It was a hit!

It is a massive crumble but in tow with said friends were their lovely big sons who can eat for the Olympics and are a delight to feed. It’s always a joy to share the table with children who don’t fuss about food.



They are great friends who helped us in so many ways and it was lovely to be able to hand over a homemade quilt tonight as they left. Said friends are going to use it in their vintage caravan and take it away on holiday with them. I know it will get a lot of use.

This afternoon seems to have gone so quickly. Last days of holidays always pass in a blur. I have this jumper that has a collar and shirt bottom attached to it. I’ve always though it too fussy and decided to un-pick the ‘shirt’ to make it more usable.

The result is a simple slouch sweater, great for adding a layer on a cold evening.


Tonight, I’m going to assemble my Mountain Majesty quilt top and then work on my scrappy quilt where I just use up everything I have to make a completely random quilt top. Here’s one of my scrappy quilts that I made in the past, this one went to my dad. He loves it and I think everyone who has visited him ever has been shown it. He has it on his bed every day and mum has to wrangle it off him to put it in the wash.


It’s funny how the little things make life so wonderful. A lovely pudding made from leftovers, a jumper refashioned to get more use out of it, making and giving gifts to say thank you and making quilts from fragments of fabric so nothing gets wasted. The weather may have been dreadful but as far as breaks go, this one has been pretty good.

Over to you Dear Reader, what little things make you happy?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx

Bricks and Stepping Stones Quilt

Posted on by
17

Hello Dear Reader,

I’m a great fan of Bonnie Hunter’s quilting designs and love her generosity at providing so many of them free to use on her blog. You can find the design, measurements, how much fabric to use and how many blocks to make as well as how much edging you will need HERE to make this quilt.

It was so simple to cut. I cut 2″ strips and 3.5″ strips. It was so simple that I’ve made the top of this quilt, in a few hours here and there in four days! Backing it and quilting it is a different matter and will be done as soon as I can. I have a stack of quilts to make for people and I have made the tops of two of the four I need to do.

If you have any questions about how to make this quilt, just click on the link above to go to Bonnie’s website and it’s all there for you. I like to get an assembly line going and then I get a quilt made really quickly. Also, I don’t start to assemble a quilt until I’ve made all the blocks for the entire quilt. I find that I make sure I finish every job I start that way.

Here’s the finished top (on my son’s bed) I love the effect of the bricks and stepping stones. As ever, the quilt is a mixture of thrifted, gifted and the edging is some fabric I bought from a jumble sale. Lots of the fabric was bought really cheaply for as little as £1 an off cut at the quilting festival in Exeter last year. The stunning blue spotty fabric came from my local craft store.

The quilt is for a six year old girl so I purposefully made it as bright as possible.

Here’s a close up of some of the blocks.

Here’s a close up of the edging.

I thought I would share my thrifty quilting with you. I keep every fragment that can be sewn together and make ‘crumb’ quilts from them. These often become thank you presents or quick gifts for people. I make random blocks and then sew all the tiny bits together and keep adding them until I have a big enough quilt top to be usable. It then gets backed and quilted and rapidly finds a new home.


I don’t go back to work until Monday and hope to get a third quilt top made in that time. As for now, I’m off to get measuring and cutting!

Over to you Dear Reader. Who keeps tiny bits of something that other people might throw away? What do you make with them? Who’s a shampoo bottle rinser and squeezer of every last drop?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxx