We're back! And the Ugly Quilt is ugly.

Well nearly a month on (8 days later than planned due to the volcano), and we are back in England! Reunited with the kids!
Scott and the kids had to go to work and school the day after we flew back, so I got the house straight, and carried on with my Ugly Quilt...
I felt very noble cutting out all the squares, and finally using up all those bits of fabric that have been under the bed for so long. Here are some of the squares (mainly old curtains, Scott's shirts, upholstery fabric etc.). Sadly though, most of them ended up in the bin, because when I laid them all out, they looked really ugly, and the miraculous transformation I had hoped for did not occur!I narrowed down the colour palette, and started sewing squares together yesterday.
I was thinking I would back it with a fleece blanket that is lurking in the back of the airing cupboard, and add green quilting (using up some old green POLYESTER thread... how bad is that?! My quilting teacher would NOT be happy - she of the '100% cotton' variety!), and then green binding (it's the only fabric I have enough left of.) Truly a scrap quilt.
I thought it would be good to use in our new (2nd hand) playhouse that we just bought off some friends, which is in the garden, lying in about as many pieces as this quilt. (Trying to reconstruct it is a fun job for another day!) Our middle son, Tom saw the quilt after school, and wants it for himself now though.
It's not quite as bad as it could have been, but still pretty ugly!

Our holiday in America is now longer than planned thanks to a certain Volcano (which I have no hope of spelling correctly here). Our flight home was cancelled, and we are booked on one in another week and a half, if the ash has cleared!
We're staying with some of my Sister-in-law's family in up state New York at the moment, though my husband is eager to hire a car and carry on with the holiday!
I did visit a knitting shop this morning though, and bought a very lovely book...oh no.....another hobby coming on!!!!!!

Love it!!

Our holiday is going wonderfully, brilliantly well! We have squashed in a ridiculously lot of stuff so far! (Salt Lake City for our church conference, Arches, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and now I'm in an apartment right on Venice Beach, L.A!)

Anyway, as this is a craft blog, I wanted to show you my latest quilting buddy who I met today...

He was sitting in a quilt shop in the ghost town Calico, CA, when I came in, and we got talking and found out we have both just started quilting... ie. we speak the same language!! He showed me his first ever quilt that he is working on (in a pile just to the left of him, in the picture) It's actually his wife's shop, and he showed me her long arm quilting machine etc. Fun!!

Now I can tell my boys that quilting is cool - even cowboys do it! Calico Ghost Town:

(P.S. Yes, I have found time to visit Jo-Anns and Michaels!)