TGIFF: Finally a Friday Finish!

Welcome to Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday!  I'm Ruth and here on my blog there are lots of WIP's and not so many finishes, so it's probably not surprising that this is my first time hosting TGIFF. I am very excited to share a finish and celebrate all of yours at the link up below!  Thanks to Fiona for giving me the opportunity to host the party today!

For some reason, as soon as I have pieced a quilt top, it gets done in my head, for at least a little while.  Very rarely, do I go from finished quilt top to finished quilt.  I made this sampler quilt top last year, for a class I was giving the Cork branch of the Irish Patchwork Society, and only now, almost a year later, is it finished!

I'm entering it into an upcoming exhibition called Fun, with the Modern Quilters Ireland group, due for submission on the 27th, so not only is it finished but it's finished early.  Double celebrations!

I must admit, it took a tad longer that I expected to quilt it.  About 4 days doing wiggly daisies, loops, 8's, E's and O's and Lori Kennedy inspired rows of houses!

 What I really like about getting this one finished is, it has spurred me on to getting another one done!

These are some of the same blocks just with a different colour treatment and I am pondering how to quilt them.  I don't want to do the same again so maybe an all over something or other?  Any ideas?

But for the moment it's celebration time and time to bask in the glow of Friday Finishes!

Now it is your turn to link up so we can all celebrate your finishes this week.   Please share the fun and click on the links to visit your fellow linkers and leave a comment - it will be very much appreciated!   Add a link or the button to your post so that your readers can join us in the Friday Fun too.

The Not A Finish Friday Post!

It may seem quiet around here but there has been lots going on in the background.  I've been working hard on so many things my head is starting to spin! So here's a quick recap!

I've been designing a little bit again and working on a block for a North, South, East and West project due on the 30th. I have a love/hate relationship with paper piecing.  I love the intricacy you can get and the sharp points but I always find a stage in the process where it's like there is no end in sight and I just have to grit my teeth and just get on with it!

 I really struggle getting the pieces to match up perfectly and then there's the paper ripping out bit...  Yes there are Twix wrappers in there.  Eating chocolate helps make the pieces line up! 

But at then end, there is a block you couldn't have made any other way!  I still have the middle to do yet but am relieved to have the biggest bit of the block done finally!  These are hand dyed fabrics I've had since a workshop three years ago on a gradient fabric by Vanessa Christenson.  The yellow seems a bit overwhelming in this amount but at least it will attract attention if it gets picked for exhibition!  This is the bottom of the quilt.  There is another block yet to be made!

I have also discovered that I have a love/hate relationship with EQ7.
 

It just doesn't suit my way of designing.   I appreciate that it's main strength is in blocks and layouts but I like a blank canvas and like to crop and copy and paste and play with scale.  I found trying to make the paper piecing template for this block so frustrating - no idea why it can't snap to things the way I want the lines to - probably me doing something wrong!   In the end I had to print it and re-mark the colours and hope it worked.  Thankfully it did, mostly!

I've also been working on finishing 2 quilts for the Modern Quilter's Ireland 2nd Exhibition, called Fun and am so glad its a long weekend to get time to get closer to getting them done.  I hope to have at least 1 to share next Friday as I am subbing in for Fiona on TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday) so come back next week to see all the link ups!

Crazy hearts by Claire Lynch

In the background, I have been working on tons of things for the Irish Patchwork Society and getting ready to teach the Eastern Branch my Ticker Tape Pictorial Quilts and the Rainbow Rose quilts in Dublin in 2 weeks time.  Very excited about it!

Especially as I got my Rainbow Rose quilt back from Tomomi  and can't stop looking at it. 

Please pop over to Slaney Handcraft to see the amazing quilting she has done, my words cannot do it justice and it is really worth reading Tomomi's thoughts on the quilting.  I cannot wait to share lots of photos when I get it blocked and bound but for the moment here's a close up of my favourite bit  - our puppy, Maggie, is quilted into it!

Speaking of the dogs we have had a rough month of it!  Charly swelled up after her evening walk with an allergic reaction (we think to a bite) and emergency phone call #1 to vet.  Thankfully with anti-histamines (mine from the cupboard) she recovered very quickly.

Wilbur ate a box of firelighters containing Kerosene and emergency phone call #2 to the vet!  I had to work from home last Friday to monitor him and get activated charcoal into him (10 times the amount of what he had eaten).  He was not a happy camper (frowny face above) and all I could smell for days was firelighters!  Still both are grand now and Maggie has her play pals back!  The vet must think we are the worst owners ever!

Feels like as soon as April is over, I'm going to take May off and enjoy the exhibitions and catch up with the new blogger blog hop, that is going on at Quilting Jet Girl, She Can Quilt and Cooking up Quilts!