Friends, Patterns and Post

Yesterday I had some friends round to sew. Carolyn had had a tidy up in her sewing room and come across Jan Patek kits she had bought a long time ago and had never made. They were all great patterns and yesterday she gave me the Coxcombs and Stars pattern and kit. She feels that she will never make it and that I would. How wonderful is that. There are 4 bags of beautiful fabrics in Jan Patek plaid cloth bags. Oh! I'd like to make it, now. Thank you Carolyn, very much.

Today in the Post I got the pattern I bought from Dawn . It is called Calico Paradise and along with it she also sent me a large piece of V & A fabric. Thank you soo much, I love the pattern and the fabric.

There was also another postal bag with threads I had ordered from Aurifil. I needed 4 more colours for my wool applique. This is called Aurifil Lana, it is wool thread on spools so I can buttonhole stitch my felted wool applique on my sewing machine or use it for hand sewing. It gives a wonderful finish because it doesn't 'bite' into the felted wool like ordinary thread does. I use 'Topstitch' machine needles that have a large eye and turn the top tension down. The first quilt I used it on was my Settler's Pride 2009 and I've been collecting them ever since.

My hand sewing has almost stopped with my 'Golfer's Elbow' but I've been sewing on the machine and also making leaves for my vine, so no photos of my projects today. I really need to get out and prune the roses but that's another job on hold for the moment.