I'm back!

It feels like I've been gone a long time, seasons have changed from Summer through to Autumn and now we're heading into Winter.

So what have I been up to during my time away? Mainly moving house, returning to work full time and generally not having that much time to sew!

We moved into our new house just 3 weeks ago and I've only just managed to get all of my bits and pieces needed for sewing out of the boxes and into some sort of order. My first bit of stitchery happened last weekend but I don't have any pictures as they were simple shepherd costumes for the Infant Christmas play. This weekend I have 3 alien costumes to make - don't ask me what aliens have to do with Christmas, I just sew what's needed.

In my time away I've been keeping up with blogs and was so pleased to see this:

My dress that I made for the 'Dress a girl' campaign that Louise at http://sewscrumptious.blogspot.com/ organised a while back. At the time I made just one dress but I wish I had made more. Just seeing this little girl wearing it made my day. I promise I will make more in the future!!

I have also been managing to buy fabric.......quite a bit of it really. I have plans for some more quilts for my girls and a few baby quilts that will be gifts for friends who are expecting next year but I have to get those aliens done for now.

Back soon! (I promise)

On hold for a while

Looks like there won't be a lot of sewing happening for a while as I've just started to pack up boxes ready for the house move in a few weeks time. Today I as I packed my stash away I had a hankering to sew something quick. I fought the urge as in all honesty time wasn't on my side. As I lovingly stroked and carefully packed the fabric into boxes my mind wandered onto what I could make for use in the new house. It's a much newer style house to our current one and we will have to change our usual style of decoration - we're thinking Centerparcs new style lodges, just as well I have something in the stash which just might work. Sewing to be resumed at some point in the future but for now, on hold.

Wonky blocks - complete!

I've done it, a second quilt completed within a week, OK I know I've had it sat around for a while but the basting, quilting and binding was all done once the Ginger Blossom quilt was finished.

I've managed to take this picture but as you can probably tell, the weather is dull and there are quite a few rain clouds in the sky hence the indoor shot. I'll take more tomorrow as this one doesn't quite do the quilt justice.

Digby loves it - so much for keeping it hidden until her birthday next month. The scrappy binding and random straight line diagonal quilting looks fab - something I'm sure to use again in the future.

Ginger Blossom completed!

I finally got round to finishing the Ginger Blossom quilt last week but then the weather decided to turn to being totally rubbish and I couldn't get a half decent picture of it. Today is lovely and sunny and bright, perfect photograph taking conditions, so here it is.

I'm about 90% happy with it to be honest, the backing isn't perfect due to the basting. I use safety pins but I think I might try some of that fancy basting spray. I've some how managed to get a few puckers on the back when I quilted it, nothing major but it still makes me feel a little bit sad. I haven't washed and dried the quilt yet but I'm hoping a little bit of shrinkage might disguise it. This time round I've used Hobbs hierloom batting which should crinkle up nicely.

For the past couple of days I've been working on the wonky blocks quilt for Digby - all quilting now done, lots of random straight (and a few not so straight) lines done all over in a mix of purple and pink thread. It makes a good contrast and seems to be working well with the mix of colours in the blocks. Just the binding to attach and another quilt will be done!

My next project might involve breaking open my Sherbet Pips jelly roll - If I'm brave enough!

Catching up

The school summer holidays are here - at last! Though to be very honest this academic year seems to have flown by. Now that I have a bit more time on my hands it I'm taking the chance to catch up on a few things.

First of all I've managed to finally finish the Ginger Blossom quilt top and on Monday I pieced the remaining 4 blocks onto the backing fabric. I've gone with a solid in an olive green colour. I was dithering between green and pink but I think my friend is more of a green girl overall. You can just see the backing peeking out from behind the quilt top. My plan is to get this beauty basted over the next few days and hopefully quilted.

I've also been messing around with a few scraps to make these wonky stars. I've seen them around on various blogs and thought I'd give them a go. I used the following tutorial which was really simple and easy to follow, I think I may have found something that I'm going to use again and again and probably again too. http://thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com/2009/02/wonky-star-tutorial.html

There has also been rather a lot of stash building too. Some more Max and Whiskers half yards - I now have enough to make a small quilt for a new baby boy if I need to at some point.

And finally here are my yard set of From Little Things - truely a bargain (I think they were $5 each!). No plans for these yet but isn't that always the way, I'm sure they will be used or probably just stroked ;o)

No sewing for me today - Digby has a friend around and a spot of catching up on household chores for me inbetween searching the main house buying/selling websites trying to find our next pad. The tidying up of the sewing room must have worked as we've now sold - eeekkk!

Ginger Blossom continues

Sorry but no photo as the camera has mysteriously disappeared - along with the husband and two small people...

With a quiet (and still tidy) house I've finally managed to get the Ginger Blossom blocks squared up and sewn together. I even tidied up after myself as well.

I made the quilt top 5x4 blocks rather than the 6x4 that I originally intended. I've decided to keep the remaining four blocks for the backing, once I've decided on a solid to use with them.

My school summer holidays start in 10 days time which will hopefully mean lots of time to sew and quilt and get both WIPs done and dusted in time for the end of summer. I'm also looking forward to doing a few smaller projects whilst the smalls are occupied by nursery and kids clubs and playdates.

I'm off to find the camera so I can post a picture of the quilt top and a little more stash that somehow ended up coming through my letterbox earlier this week!

Before and after

Spot the difference!

It's amazing what an impending visit from the Estate Agent can make you do.

Absolutely no sewing has been done this week. I've been far more focussed on getting the house clean and tidy and ready to be put up for sale. This room was by far the worse in the house. It's the spare room, come sewing room, come dumping ground if I'm being honest. It was a tip!

I've managed to stash my stash of fabrics into some of the already crowded drawers including the ginger blossom blocks. If I dare to do any sewing next week I'll have to tidy up straight away - no going back to the before picture!

Sunday stash and de-stashing

A spot of fabric gazing a couple of weeks ago led to a bit of fabric shopping and then a bit more. 6 yards of 'From little things' by Sarah Fielke bought from the USA. I liked these so much when they arrived that I went back and bought another 5 yards!

The Ginger Blossom quilt is on hold at the moment, although all 24 blocks are made. I've been roped into helping with the costumes for my school's end of year production and so instead of spending lots of time handling lovely quilting fabric I've been spending a far bit of time altering and tailoring mens suits to fit 11 year olds! Not an easy task I can tell you. A fair bit of swearing took place the other day when I was handed a size 42 jacket and told to make it fit 'this child'. Anyway I'm looking forward to squaring up the blocks and working on a layout for the quilt as soon as I possibly can.

*The de-stashing which has taken place in our house this weekend does not involve any quilting fabrics but has resulted in 9 bags of textiles for recycling via Digby's school this week!

Ginger blossom continues.....

Just a quick check in - so far I've made 17 out of the 24 blocks (photo to follow). But guess who found them all and decided to have an afternoon nap on them! Grrrrrrrr stupid cat.

I initially lay out the 17 blocks last night and realised that it's gonna be a big quilt. Hopefully I should be able to get the rest made over the weekend and possibly sew them all together.

I'm waiting for some more Ginger Blossom fabric to arrive - mainly for the binding but I think it may need a bit more pink in certain blocks. I searched the internet last week (Thursday) and found a UK seller, thinking I would have the fabric over the weekend or Monday at the latest. It still isn't here. BUT some fabric I bought last Wednesday from the US arrived on Tuesday!!

Ginger blossom part deux

I've been a bit of a busy bee over the past couple of days and I'm making good progress on the Ginger Blossom quilt top.

Yesterday I managed to sort out all 216 squares and then set about putting them into groups of 9, trying to mix them so that I had 5 of one colour and 4 of the other. I'm liking the way that the pink and green seem to work well, especially because they all seem so different when you look at them as stand alone pieces, and probably because I wouldn't have thought about using these 2 colours together.

A little later and with a little help from a little helper aka a 2 year old (not so much of a help but a hinderance!) I started to piece my blocks together. This is the first one. So much for my 5/4 rule, this seems to have a lot more pink in it. I blame the 2 year old. ;o)

This quilt should come together quite quickly now that I have sewn rows of 3 together and pressed them all, ready to be made into blocks. Up to now I've made 8 blocks out of the 24 that I intend to make.

I really hope that my friend likes this too as it appears to have an admirer in feline form - stay off the blocks Stella!

Ginger blossom part 1

Since yesterday I have been doing a bit of this:

Some scribbling on a piece of paper and a bit of measuring. Or planning a quilt rather than winging it and making it up as I go along, which is normally what happens here!

I've decided to keep it simple. A quilt made with 5" squares of fabric, random placing of prints, bit of scrappy binding and maybe some diagonal quilting.

So once I had worked out the maths - I started with 18 fqs - I could then begin the cutting. I figured out that each fq would give me 12 5" squares with a bit left over for the scrappy binding. Off I set to work armed with my rotary cutter, which needs a new blade I found out! About an hour or so later I had 216 squares.

After cutting them all out I can now see the benefit of charm packs!

Here is the pile of squares waiting to be transformed into blocks of 9, which will then be stitched together to make the full quilt top, well that's the plan anyway.

Ginger for a ginger

I've been sitting on this little pile of stash for a while, not literally! But I did buy it about 18 months ago, infact it was my first fat quarter bundle purchase. Since then it has been sitting in the sewing room winking at me.

I did use a couple of fq's to make a knitting needle case when I joined a knitting club (that's another story) but since then the rest of the bundle hasn't had any plans, until today.

The bundle is called 'Ginger Blossom' and it is by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller. The name gave me the idea.

A long time ago, 19 years ago to be precise, another ginger walked into my life. On my first day at University I met my bestest best mate in the whole wide world. And yep, you've guessed it, she has ginger hair (though strawberry blond as she likes to call it!)

We both studied the exact same combination of subjects for our 4 years teacher training degree, been on holiday together several times and we have shared LOTS of laughs and other experiences together.

Since then she has moved to New Zealand and we don't see each other as much as we used to, in fact I haven't seen her for 2 and a half years. Despite this we immediately connect as if it were just yesterday, whether it be on the phone, via Facebook or email.

So this quilt is for her. My friend. The Ginger Wh*re (A university nickname which she never really lived up to!)

Sherbet Pips

As I promised, here it is, my small stash of Sherbet Pips.

I know that most of blog-land has been going on about this collection for what seems like an eternity but I was waiting, patiently I add, before getting my purse out and jumping on the bandwagon.

First came the jelly roll from a seller on Ebay, then after a quick look through all of the prints I decided on the other prints that I wanted to get my mitts on. Looking at the range of colours that the prints were available in I slowly started to chuck half yards into my shopping basket, only to realise that I would need to take out a small loan to purchase said fabric. So I had to whittle it down a little to an amount of fabric, and money more importantly, that I could afford. This little stash is what I ended up with. I love the little dog but I have to say that my favourite is the scarf print.

As you can see I tried to pick and choose from across the entire collection both in terms of prints and background colours. This is going to be used in a quilt for my youngest daughter, Stingo, for when she moves into her 'Big Girl Bedroom' probably sometime later in the year - I have a while to carry on looking at and stroking the stash before I have to chop it up.

The prints were from Sew Fresh Fabrics via Etsy and the solid grey from Seamstar.

Some sewing at last!

Hmmmm, it's been a while since I did any sewing but an unscheduled day off work due to general unwellness has it's perks as I've managed to whip up a quilt back for the wonky blocks quilt I started ages ago. Here it is:

I've used the larger pieces of scraps that I had left over (due to my schoolgirl error in making the blocks too wonky) to make the same size blocks as the front. I'm planning on quilting this with straight lines but all over the place, no repeating, up, down, left, right, diagonal, hey whatever I like. I figure that as it is a wonky quilt so why not go mad! Hopefully I'll get it finished before September* as I want to give it to Digby for her 7th birthday, I think she has probably forgotten that I've started it so it should be a surprise.

*Obviously I want to get it done before then, but this is my ultimate deadline!

A little bit more sewing this afternoon too - Hubby is off on a stag do at the weekend and wanted a pink cloak. I'm not asking why or what for, I just did it.

I've got something to show you!

Before I went off on my jolly holidays I posted about waiting for some Sherbet Pips to arrive, which they did; the day before I flew off. I'll post a picture of my little spree once I have some decent light and have re-charged my camera - we somehow managed to take approximately 350 pictures of various things whilst out of the country. Some good, lots bad, I'm sure you know how it goes! But for now, here's one of the better ones.

Apologies...

....for the lack of posts recently. I'm in the middle of report writing at school, training for a 10km run at the weekend and failing to get organised for a family holiday in 10 days time! (Major trauma involving a trip to the passport office today - oh dear)

However I do seem to have managed to buy some more fabric. Ooops!

Some Max and Whiskers by Basic Grey for Moda - a charm pack and a couple of yards to match.

A Sherbet pips Jelly roll - OMG I was so excited to recieve this one in the post. I'm still waiting on some half yards from the USA. I intend to make a quilt like this for Stingo when she moves into her big girl bedroom. Notice that I say I intend.....I just need to find some time.

So in the meantime as my stash grows my bank balance dwindles. I suppose it's no coincidence.

Celebrations!

A double celebration is happening here. Yep, we're joining the celebrations for Kate and Will's big day tomorrow but more importantly I'm celebrating being a winner!

I buy quite a few pieces of fabric from Courtney at Seamstar and just recently I've started to upload to the Seamstar handmade group on Flickr. If you've made something from fabric bought from Courtney she wants to see it, plus she gives you a little incentive too, a chance to win 1m of fabric. Each month she picks a winner - this month it was little old me! :o)

I uploaded my It's a Hoot baby quilt pics and my prize arrived today. I chose some Saffron Craig Little Bird. I just love that little bird sitting there - can you spot him?

Not sure what I will make with the 2 half yards, I'm pretty sure something will spring to mind soon. What I do know is I'll keep sewing and hopefully I may win again! Woo Hoo!!

Stash stroking

Well the great tidy up continued and I am happy to announce that my sewing room does look a whole lot better, it had to as it really couldn't have looked any worse....curse that mess fairy! ;o)

During the tidying process I managed to get some of my stash under control. I'm quite new to quilting so I don't have a mega stash - though that is my dream - but I have bought quite a few pieces just recently.

If you have eagle eyes and are good at spotting you'll be able to see some Amy Butler Love FQs, some Tufted Tweets half yards, some Tina Givens Opal owl and some more Momo It's a hoot - after the success of the baby quilt for my friend I just had to get some of my own. Then I bought a tiny bit more. And a bit more. You get the picture.

A couple of friends popped round last week and we got talking about general sewing and quilting and fabrics so I took them upstairs and showed them the stash. Even though they don't sew they did stand back and admire - on a strictly hands off basis.

Afterwards we got talking about where I buy fabrics from and general costs. I had a bit of a moan to be honest. It seems to me that fabric bought in the UK can at times be silly money compared to buying the same from the US. I have purchased from the US on a couple of occasions but then faced the sting of customs - it seems really unfair to have to pay an additional £12 just because the fabric came to $33! Grrrrrrrr. Just wondering how other bloggers and crafty folk get around this - do you accept the sting of customs or the sting of UK prices? Answers on a postcard please.....

Easter Sunday Sorting

Look at the state of my sewing room......yep I should be well and truely ashamed of myself for letting it get this way.....but I'm not, well maybe just a little bit. I haven't been in there for much sewing this week but I did pop in there the other day and was a bit surprised to have been visited by the 'mess fairy'. I'm sure my house isn't the only house to have a 'mess fairy' but she normally visits the children's bedrooms, playroom and sometimes the living room. Imagine my horror to find that she had been in the sewing room too!

So earlier on I set to a spot of sorting and tidying. My growing pile of stash was soon neatly piled and I even managed to tie most of it up into bundles/collections. I love my stash, I often just visit the sewing room just to stroke the stash. Perhaps I should get out more.....

I'm hoping that the kids can be occupied with chocolate eggs and a good film later today so I can get back up there, not for stash stroking but to finish the great tidy. Wish me luck!

WIP Wednesday

Today I have been working on a pillowcase dress for a little girl, not one of my own but one I don't know, one who lives far away, one who needs a dress. Louise is co-ordinating an appeal from bloggers everywhere to get sewing and make a simple pillowcase dress for little girls living in poverty around the world. This is part of the bigger 'Dressing a girl around the world' appeal. As a mum of 2 girls who love a pretty dress this was a no-brainer for me, I just had to do it. My own girls are very lucky to have a wardrobe full of nice clothes, most of them bought and a couple of handmade items. Looking in my growing stash of fabric it was clear that I didn't have any large enough pieces of suitable fabric for a dress and so this morning I headed down to my local fabric shop. Immediately I was drawn to this mint fabric with cupcakes on - what little girl doesn't like cupcakes? Once home I got to work. The dress is almost complete - just the binding needs adding. Unfortunately I'm out of purple thread until I can nip back to the shop tomorrow. I'm hoping to have it completed and in the post to Louise on Friday. Pop over there and see my dress and others too - Louise has promised to blog about each one she receives. While your there, why not take a look at the instructions too and find some time to make a dress to make a little girl smile.

It's a hoot baby quilt - complete!

Despite not being able to sew since last Wednesday I am pleased to say that the baby quilt is complete. Having been forced home from the allotment this morning because of rain I took the time to finish this little beauty off. Most of the piecing was done early last week and I'm glad I took the time to read up on making my own binding this time round as I love the way it all goes together.

Since working with this line of fabric I have since bought a charm pack and I am looking at buying some of the eggs print too, just to have in my stash, just in case I ever need it or just in case any more of my friends decide to have a baby who will need a quilt of their very own.

My friend is VERY happy with it - though she is still to see it in the flesh! I am too, and even more so as I seem to be getting better at mitred corners! :o)

WIP Wednesday

Here is my latest WIP, a baby quilt for my friend. I've been working on this since Sunday when I initially sorted the charm pack on the dining room table. Since then the top has been pieced, a scrappy piece added to the backing fabric and strips cut ready to be made into binding. The quilt is now sitting on my machine, already half quilted! I normally don't work so quickly, not that I can't but sewing sometimes has to take a back seat to normal family life and working almost full time.

The fabrics were chosen by my friend. She told me that she had bought some squares for a 'patchwork blanket' and then asked me if I could turn them into a quilt. When I found out that she had bought Moda's 'It's a hoot by Momo' I was so excited as I've been wanting to get my hands on some for ages now.

Together we headed for Seamstar to buy the co-ordinating prints and solid for the backing. I must say that Courtney offers a truely great service with a wide range of stock for all your quilting/sewing needs (No, I haven't been paid to say that - it's my honest opinion!).

Hopefully the quilt will be finished in the next couple of days. I'm making my own binding this time round, a first for me, so I'm off to read some more tutorials before I do.

On a roll.....

The wonky blocks Playdate quilt top that I started last weekend is complete AND I've just started to make a baby quilt for my friend who is due next month. Yes I am on a roll - thanks to the school Easter holidays, which are no where near Easter this year, but that is a completely different story!

Despite me cutting the blocks far tooooo wonky to begin with the quilt top is looking good, well I think so anyway and so does Digby. I had a massive amount of fabric 'scraps' because of my mistake so I have decided to put these to good use on a pieced back. Some sewing earlier on this afternoon and this is almost done too. I hope I haven't peaked too soon!

At last!

Here is the proof that I did manage to complete the Dr Seuss quilt, as if you ever doubted me ;o)

Big blocks with smaller pieces from the panel at the bottom. This layout certainly looks a whole lot better than the first time I did it. A quick rearrangement of the panel pieces and making the quilt a block wider seems to have worked wonders for it, and also for my sanity - I really, truely did not like what I had done and was beginning to doubt my own creativity.

Backed in a plain bright yellow cotton purchased from my local fabric shop and some similar coloured binding. I quilted in straight-ish lines across the whole width of the quilt either side of the seams. The wadding is slightly thicker than I was anticipating - again bought from the local shop - not sure that I will be using it again to be honest but it does give the quilt quite a nice feel.

But the main thing is that it is being used and is fit for purpose as the top photo shows.

Wonky blocks

Wow, more than a week gone since my last post! I had all the best intentions of blogging before now but they went well and truely out of the window. Infact last week is somewhat of a blur.

But I can say that the Cat in the Hat quilt is finished and Stingo is a very happy little girl now that she has her 'garlic' (??? - I really don't understand why she says this instead of blanket, two year olds, huh!) Still no photos as it seems to be permanently attached to her bed, which it is a perfect size for despite me not measuring anything or having a plan to work from. Beginners luck you might say.

Some more time for sewing at the weekend meant that I could start another quilt for the eldest. I bought some Patty Young 'Playdate' last year and have been hiding it in my stash unsure of what to do with it. Then a small splurge on some more FQs in the same range last month and a stumble upon this and hey presto - wonky blocks!

To be honest I made a schoolboy (or girl) error and made my blocks far too wonky so instead of them being 16.5 x 16.5 I could only manage 12 x 12 blocks. Lots of scraps which are big enough to piece together will make for an interesting back. I'm using Kona solids in crocus for the sashing and backing. Digby is pretty excited at the prospect of this quilt, at least it should tie in with the colour scheme of her bedroom this time.

Changing the subject slightly, Justine is having a giveaway. Check it out. I so want to win this one!

Saturday sewing

I've had a couple of hours or so up in the sewing room trying to sort out the Dr Seuss quilt top that I started last weekend and at last I'm happy with it. So much so that it is almost fully pinned ready to start quilting. I can't wait to get my mitts on the quilting kit which came with my new toy, especially the walking foot, sad I know but not to me! The Janome has loads of stiches so I also need to choose which one I want to use and have a practice to see how the quilting comes out.

Justine is having a giveaway this weekend to celebrate 100 posts. 100 seems to be so far away for me at the moment - this is only my 10th! Check out her blog to be counted in the goodie-fest.

Stash building

After reading various blogs it seems to me that there are a lot of people on a self induced fabric diet out there at the moment, obviously borne from new year's resolutions. I know that there is some research out there that states that people usually abandon all promises by mid January, February if they're truely hardcore.

I for one am not on a fabric diet of any kind, in fact it is one of my resolutions to build my stash this year. So much so, that when my eldest spotted a pink parcel arriving with the postie the other day she said 'Not more material!'. It seems that she doesn't quite have the same enthusiasm for fabric as I do.

These half yards were bought from here. They are by Jessica Levitt for Windham fabrics and they were on sale for a mere £2.50 per half yard. Bargain. Enough said.

A spot of Saturday sewing last weekend and one Cat in the Hat quilt top is complete - no photos as yet because if I'm being brutally honest I'm not 100% pleased with it. I need to re-evaluate it and make some minor improvements. The youngest loves it though, but she is only 2 and wants her Cat.Hat 'garlic' (blanket). So back to the sewing machine.

Cat. Hat.

Cat. Hat. as my youngest likes to call it, but to the rest of us Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat! It's one of our favourite books and since spending a wet week in Wales in a caravan in October, it's THE all time fave family film. Sad I know, but we can quote most of the lines. If one of us says the immortal line 'It's a what???' the reply is always 'A cupcakenator!' (And that's just the adults)

So when this line of fabric came out I knew that I had to get my mitts on some. I've had it for a couple of weeks and have spent most days stroking and looking at it, wondering what to do with it and generally trying to keep my children away from it!

I bought 8 FQ's, one yard and a panel from here.

I've pretty much decided to keep it simple so that my girls can see all of the prints in detail, rather than chopping them up too much. Apart from that I don't have a real plan, hopefully some sewing time this weekend should change that. I've spent a bit of time mooching around blogs and flickr looking at what others have done too, probably spent far too much time on 'research', yet again.

Step. Away. From. The. Computer!

Play time

I'd like to say that my absence from here is due to me having lots of time to play with my new toy, but unfortunately it isn't, just down to normal family and working life. I did manage to steal an hour or 2 to grasp the basics of the Janome, under close supervision of Digby who kept on requesting which stitch to try next. I must admit I think I am a little bit in love with it already and I haven't even managed to break open the wrapping on the quilters kit yet!

Since buying this beauty I have been banished, well when I say banished, what I actually mean is my sewing machines, cutting mat, general sewing bits and pieces and a small mountain of fabric.
For the past 6 months or so I've been sewing away happily in the comfort of our bedroom but the husband has requested that I move it all back into the spare room aka 'The sewing room'. Hardly banishment but I will miss the great light and the space our bedroom offers for general stitchery and machine fun. Wish me luck in organising my controlled chaos over the next few days.

A new toy :o)

After months of umming and ahhing I've gone and bought myself a new toy. My old machine is perfectly capable of doing the basics but it doesn't have a drop feed, walking foot, embroidery foot. It really is that basic. Plus it was given to me - over 5 years ago now. So I really deserved a new toy. Honest.

I ventured out to my local sewing machine shop yesterday with a budget in mind on the pretense that I was only looking. Which I did. It was today that I actually spent the money ;o)

Finally after hours and hours and hours of internet 'research' and being told to step away from the computer this morning by my husband, my mind was made up. It's a Janome DXL 603 - with the quilters pack. Now I have that all important drop feed, walking foot, embroidery foot and many, many more things besides - I just need some time to play with it!

A rug for my mug

I've seen loads of these little mug rugs around blogland recently but haven't had the inclination (or time) to make one - until yesterday. It only took me around an hour or so - with a little bit of 'help' from a smallish child.

Digby helped by choosing some scraps for the bunting from my scrappy bag. Her only wish was for the bright yellow binding that I had lurking in the bottom of my sewing box. A piece of leftover white and a bit of batting later, along with a touch of hand quilting, and it was finished - just in time to put the kettle on.

Inspiration was from here. It gave me an opportunity to try to perfect perfectly mitred corners and binding sewing. I'm not going to show either of those off on here though - lets just say I need more practice!

Tweet Tweet Complete!

Yay! I managed to finish the Tweet Tweet quilt yesterday. My finger certainly appreciated that final stitch in the binding - I still cannot get my head around how long it took to hand sew.

I'm really pleased how it has come together as I had no real plan in mind. I 'winged' it, made it up as I went along, learning lessons along the way too.

The finished quilt measures approx 82 x 58 - plenty big enough for a single (twin) bed and perhaps a double at a push to be used as a throw/runner. I'm still unsure where this is going to end up - Digby did have a pink room when I started, now it's yellow with lots of other brights. In the meantime it is on the sofa with a small sicky child snuggled under it.

Ow and how much time!

Ow - my finger hurts from hand sewing the binding on to the Tweet Tweet quilt. This is the first time I've hand sewn the binding on, last time with the Pat Bravo quilt I managed to do it on my machine, but this time round it wasn't playing properly so I reverted to good old fashioned techniques.

A couple of hours in and I can't believe how long it is actually taking - surely there must be a quicker and easier way out there!

Saying that I'm at home with a sicky child and nothing better to do so onwards I go. Hopefully the quilt will be finished later today with pics to follow.

Owwwww! ;o)

Tweeting

Ages ago - well last August really - I fell for Moda's Tweet Tweet range by Keiki. Determind to make a quilt for Digby (eldest daughter) I started off by purchasing a charm pack. We waited patiently for said charm pack to arrive and then carefully (me) and not so carefully (her) set about picking out our favourite prints.

I added 6 half yards to the charm pack and began to piece a central panel during the first week of the school summer hols.

Then due to a big bout of illness by Stingo (youngest daughter) the quilt was put on hold. Digby continued to pester but then forgot all about having a new quilt.

Several months have passed, illnesses banished, bedrooms re-decorated and the Tweet Tweet quilt still remained just a charm pack strip pieced. That is until this weekend!!!

That determination I had back in August 2010 re-appeared and 'Hey Presto' what do you know but I finally finished the quilt top yesterday. A spot of straight line (actually no where near straight if I'm honest) quilting today and it is almost complete, just need to hand sew the binding.

Patricia Bravo Quilt

For the past couple of weeks I've been working on this simple brick wall quilt using Patricia Bravo fabrics from the 'Dreaming in French' range. I started out not really knowing what I would do with the fabric (except use them for something for ME!) but settled on a very straight forward design as I'm fairly new to this quilt making malarkey.

I settled down and consulted many, many blogs in the hope that I too could produce a stunning piece of patchwork. In fact I think I spent far too long 'researching' and probably not enough time practising new skills that need polishing.

Don't look too closely as I'm sure you'll see that my stitching is a bit wobbly, the corners are not perfectly mitred and to be honest I don't think it'll win any quilt making prizes. BUT I made it for me and I love it!*

* And so does the cat, he's asleep on it right now.