So excited....

Seriously I am really excited about 3 things at the moment and they all involve fabric!!

1) Brit Quilt Swap 3 - I have received my partner details and I have began my stalking.....I already have a few ideas in mind but need to check out a few more things before I let you in on any of them.

2) I've just won a fabric giveaway - 5 African print FQs from here.  I have no idea what I will make with them yet but I'm looking forward to getting my mitts on them.  They remind me so much of some art work that I did at school (years ago) and a muliticultural arts education project with my school a few years back. 

But the best news this week is that our friends had a baby girl!  Yay!!  One girly baby quilt coming their way (even though said baby has appeared 4 weeks early weighing in at 4lbs 9oz and has caught me completely off guard in my best laid sewing plans).

This is what I've been up to the past couple of nights:

I've raided my stash and used up some of my Just wing it collection by Momo for Moda.  I love this fabric nearly as much as the It's a hoot range that came before it.  I had a couple of charm packs and a yard for the front and a pdf of a free Moda pattern, funnily enough called 2 charms plus 1 yard.  The back is more from the range and a few of the charms.  Really simple but just lovely and according to my eldest 'Beautiful!'.  I know that it will be treasured for many years to come.  I have a few days to get this one quilted before we go to see the new arrival.....so excited!

Brit Quilt Swap 3

I've gone and done something that I've never ever done before.......I've just signed up for the Brit Quilt swap.  I'm really excited but mega nervous too.  There are loads of talented people out there creating all kinds of wonderful things.  I've picked out some of my favourite things and created this mosaic (another first for me!)

My form has been filled in and so it all begins.  Another little project to keep me going.  If anyone (UK based) is interested in joining in on all the fun then head over to here and sign up.

Thanks!

Just to say a quick thanks to all of you who have taken the time to visit my blog.  I'm trying to figure out how to reply to individual comments (and failing at the moment!).

If you happen to know a quick and easy way then leave me a comment and I'll try to reply ;o)

Small blog meet - hello from me!

Hello, I presume that you've found your way here from Lily's quilts and the small blog meet so I best introduce myself.

My name is Kerry, I'm a 30 odd year old mum of 2 and a teacher who tries to remain sane by sewing and creating bits and pieces but mainly quilts.

I first sat in front of a sewing machine at school then did an A level in 'sewing' (Craft, design and practice) and have returned to it over the past couple of years.

I try to blog as much as I can but with a full time teaching post and a young family it can be a bit hit and miss, but bear with me as I always have a project or two on the go!

Thanks for popping by, hope to see you soon!

Kerry

Completed quilts

I've completed 2 of the 4 quilts I had on the go a couple of weeks ago.  The Siblings Together quilt was finished about a week ago and the Rainbow quilt was finished a couple of hours ago.  Why I decided to make a quilt for a christening the week before we went on holiday I don't know.  It was a bit of a rush job this morning to bind it in time for tomorrow's events!

Here are some pics taken inside as it is a horrible grey day here today and I doubt I'll have time to take more tomorrow.

The Rainbow quilt was made up of lots of different scraps bought from many different online shops and lots of leftovers from other projects.  Backed in a full piece of heart fabric from IKEA.  Simply quilted either side of the horizontal seams.  It measures 44 x 63 inches.

The Siblings Together quilt still has it's pins in!  It measures 48 x 72 inches.  Backed in a solid purple and more of the IKEA hearts.  I quilted either side of all the seams in a hot pink which really stands out against the solid (and just happens to show how un-straight some of my straight line quilting actually is!)

A quick wash for this over the weekend and in the post I will be popping it!  Hopefully it will make someone very happy.

Saturday and Sunday sewing

I've been a busy bee this weekend, mainly thanks to the girls being away at their Grandparents.  This has meant that I could get on with some un-interrupted sewing.

The Siblings Together quilt has been pieced and simply quilted.  I'm on a mission to finish hand sewing the binding on later this evening once the girls are back and tucked up in bed. The back is pieced with some solid purple and some heart print fabric that I got from IKEA a lifetime ago.  The idea was to use the IKEA fabric for a full back but unfortunately it wasn't wide enough and I didn't have enough purple either so I had to comprimise.  Pictures of the back to follow! 

The complete quilt has been made from bits and pieces from my stash - including the wadding.  I had loads of leftover pieces and some of that heat press batting together tape (such a catchy name!) and hey presto enough wadding to complete the quilt.

Pleased with my stash busting I went on to work on this:

It is going to be a rainbow quilt - or it will be when the postie brings me some lilac and yellow fabrics.  I have an abundance of certain coloured fabrics but was missing those colours.  Thanks to ebay this problem was soon sorted - just need them to arrive now so that I can get on.  We've been invited to a christening in a couple of weeks and this is going to be the pressie for the little one.

While I was busy cutting and sewing my scraps it seems that the mess fairy got busy too!

I know have 4 quilts on the go - a bit of a record for me.  As you can see the Delilah and Little Apples quilts are pieced I just need to get going on these again so that I can tick them off my list.  I seem to have reached the awkward phase inbetween piecing and quilting.  I'm hoping that they won't  be hanging there for much longer.

Siblings Together quilt progress

Well you can completely forget what I told you yesterday about what my quilt for Siblings Together was going to be like.  I had a plan then I went upstairs and the plan went completely out of the window!!!

Upon closer inspection of my stash I found some left over FQs of Patty Young's playdate range that I had used for a quilt for Digby last year.  I then found some solids that appeared to match and a whole lot of scraps leftover from the Wonky blocks quilt.  I didn't know what would happen but approx 2 hours later I ended up with 24 blocks made - some solid, some pattern, some very wonky and some simply pieced in a log cabin kind of stylie.

Each block measures just over 12"x12" and I am going with a 6x4 layout of said blocks.  Tonight I have been playing around with the final layout and I'm pretty sure that the finished quilt will look something like this.

I'm hoping to have this finished by the weekend and in the post early next week :o)