September already!

I can't believe that it's September already.  There's been so much happening that time just flies, including a few days of feeling grotty to slow me down.  

As I wrote in my last post I now have a lovely Brinkley loom to work on, and I have quite a few ideas for things I want to weave.  

I've also been getting on with the patchwork quilt wedding gift for my cousin.  It is now taking shape nicely.  I've sewn all the blocks into columns, and I'm adding a border to make it a bit bigger.  I'm also contemplating adding some strips between the columns to make it wider.  This is how it's shaping up at the moment:

I spread it out on my bed to give me an idea of how it looks, as I don't have the luxury of a quilt wall.  I'm trying to work out how to make a DIY quilt wall for designing with completed blocks.  It would certainly make getting  the blocks into the best arrangement much easier.  I'm also working on a quilt design with Japanese print fabrics from a workshop I did at The Quilter's Cupboard in Langley Moor, County Durham, last weekend.  It's quite complex for a beginner like me, with prairie points forming a border around a frame!  In order to get some help I've put my name down for an NCFE level one patchwork class at the local adult learning centre - fingers crossed that the class has enough students to go ahead.  If not, the tutor for the workshop is available at the shop for assistance every Wednesday.  I don't have pictures of my progress on that one, but I did manage to complete two rows.

I'm now waiting for the fusible batting (wadding) to arrive.  I want to try a "quilt as you go" technique by a quilter called Candy Glendening.  The tutorial can be found via her blog - http://www.candiedfabrics.com - and I need to decide on the backing before I can start quilting it.  I'm torn between a plain black backing and an improvisational pieced crazy quilt backing.  Craftsy have a great class called "Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design" with a tutor called Jacquie Gering.  I watched the whole thing in one sitting, and got lots of ideas from it.

College will be starting in a couple of weeks, so I'm excited about what new skills I'll learn there.  September also includes my 50th birthday, so I'm looking forward to a great month.