First Strip Quilt Top

Well the sewing has come to a staggering halt. I wrenched the muscles in my shoulder Christmas Eve morning and it's still playing me up. Lots of Deep Heat, warm baths and Ibuprofen but it's still not right.

So, I thought I'd share my strip quilt with you today. As soon as I saw these Anthology fabrics (High Society - Safari), I knew I had to have them. I dithered by a few days and missed out on one of the prints. Not to worry. Once they arrived, they certainly did not disappoint. I wanted to show off the designs in them, so decided a strip quilt would be the way to go. It's my first and I am chuffed, although feel I may have gone slightly too long. I think it should be okay, though. So, here is the quilt top:

I am not entirely sure how I will quilt and what I will do to the back yet. I bought half yards so there is  still plenty left - I think it will be a solid with some strips of this fabric pieced in - we'll see.................

In the meantime, I have a stack of Carolyn Gavin Wild Thyme from Fabricworm which is calling me and ideas are whizzing around my head

photo courtesy of Fabricworm

I've matched in a couple of solids and think I may just make Ashley's Unfurnished quilt



Of course, by tomorrow, I could totally have changed my mind! Here's hoping for a better shoulder so that I can at least start cutting

Merry Christmas!

Completed a few last minute things today including the fabulous parcels that are Reindeer food

One for each of our twins and one for each of my nephews - can't wait to see their faces when we do this - priceless!

I also realised late this afternoon (well into the evening, actually!) that a few of the twins' toys have very small parts which could easily get lost in the family commotion of Christmas at my sister's. So, I whipped up two zipper purses for them to store these bits in:

I am really pleased with how these turned out - my first attempt at free drawing around appliqued shapes & it's surprisingly easy!

So, I leave you with the Christmas card we sent out this year & wish you all a very Merry Christmas xxx

More Pot Holders

I wanted a photographic record of the pot holders I made for my sister's mother in law and was rather concerned that this would not happen if I waited until Saturday - with 5 kids running around, countless adults & lots & lots of paper it seems unlikely! So, I carefully unwrapped them to take a pic and here they are:

Pot Holders

I have seen these popping up on blogs all over the net this season & thought they would be a great idea for Christmas presents. As mentioned in the previous post, some have been made for my sister's mother in law. I showed them to mum & she said "you should make some for yourself" so I did!

And a picture showing the reverse with cute hanging tabs:

What I love about pot holders is how great they are for scrapbusting and also for trying out new techniques. The quilting pattern is new to me (have only hand quilted or stippled so far) as are the blocks used to make these pot holders. I've really wanted to try a string quilt for a while now but have been very nervous to try it. Scaling it down & trying on these has shown me that I can do it (I will make the white strips much smaller if I do make one though!)

I have a glut of off cuts of batting as I tend to buy the pre-cut packs of Warm & White/Warm & Natural. These have made a tiny dent in this glut - I used a layer of batting & a layer of Insulbright on each. I definitely intend making more - maybe a different colourway for each season - whaddya think?

This is nearly all of them now!

A few more projects I have been working on. First up is a little friendship pot from a tutorial on PS I Quilt. I used scraps left over from making my sister's quilt - this really is a fabulous "use your scraps" project.

It was made for Lou, whose house we went to end November for a day of scrapping. It was such a lovely day filled with laughter - I managed to get *most* of my Christmas cards made - think that was the most organised I've been in years!

This is the quilt I've made mum for Christmas - again from "There's a Square in There" by Kate Conklin. Very similar to mine, this has been made exclusively with Amy Butler fabrics - the white sashing is 100% cotton sheets from Asda

This is another coin quilt (from the Moda Bakeshop Tutorial) made using Moda "Blush" fabrics. I loved this line as a scrapbooking range & was thrilled when I heard that Moda would be releasing them as fabrics. Made for our neighbour's daughter who is 3 months older than our twins. Her mum admired the coin quilts I'd made for the twins so I knew this would be a great Christmas pressie

The reverse of the quilt (with our cat Phoebe getting in on the action!!)

And finally for today, the Christmas Tree skirt I made using a fabulous tutorial by Amanda Jean. It was made to be tied around the real tree we have every year. However, when we looked at dates, it would have been too early to get one this year so we ended up getting a false tree. I was disappointed at first but, to be fair, when it's all decorated as it is now, it looks fine. The only issue I have is that the hole I cut is way too big for the tinsy tiny "trunk" on a false tree. Ho hum

PS I also made some pot holders for my sister's mother in law who will be there this Christmas but wrapped them earlier today and had forgotten to take a photo. Will try on Christmas day

More quilts

I wanted to show off some more of the quilts I have made this year - both using Kate Conklin's "There's a Square in There" pattern, purchased from Seamstar (fantastic online fabric shop!)

The first is MY quilt. I was determined to make myself a quilt before going on to make for everyone else, which is what I tend to do. The fabrics are predominantly Amy Butler with some others (including gorgeous Monaluna 100% organic cotton from Birch Fabrics). The white is 100% cotton sheeting from John Lewis - they do Kingsize which is great for quilts this size (64" square) as it means you don't need to piece the backing (bonus!)

The second is the second quilt I created using this pattern and fabulous Pat Bravo Dreaming in French Honore bundle for Lianne for her birthday (last weekend). The quilting on this was created using a lime green pearle thread (brown on the other). It is more subtle but ties in nicely with the colours and is Lianne's (and my) favourite colour, after all!

I love this pattern (infact I have made one for mum for Christmas too!) The hand quilting is very very time consuming but so effective and the quilt is so so soft as a result - it's great!

Finally, because I loved Pat Bravo's Dreaming in French range so very much, I bought the Germain bundle too

So far, I have made a baby quilt for my sister and her husband for Christmas using a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. Her little girl is due in January and I am hoping that she loves this quilt as much as I do

This is the front:

And the back:

Inspiration for this back was taken from one of Ashley's quilt backs - her work is amazing

Time to start!

I have been asked before why I don't blog and the truth was, I wasn't sure I could keep up with it.


But, I want to keep a record of what I'm up to so am giving it a go!


Earlier this year (late Summer time) I finally caught the quilting bug. I have been sewing for a few years now - dolls etc but hadn't yet plucked up the courage to start such a large project. Once I'd started, however, I have found it very hard to stop!


Here are some of the quilts I've made to date:

Amelia's Coin Quilt (tutorial from Moda Bakeshop by http://www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/) :

Reverse of Amelia's coin quilt:The fabrics used for this are 2 x Moda charm packs. Pretty sure they are called Verna but I didn't keep the packaging (am desperately trying not to hoard as much as I used to - new me!). The backing is fabulous Tilda fabric. I am even more in love with the extra width you get from Tilda fabrics now that I realise I didn't have to piece the back. Purchased from my fabulous (if I say so myself!) shop here. I used the same fabric for the binding

This is James' quilt front - same tutorial - this is actually the first quilt I completed. Again it's using two Moda charm packs - this time Keiki Woodland. My first attempt at freemotion quilting too and boy was that hard work! I was trying to cut corners and used a cheap cotton (Moon cotton I think??) and the tension was out on the back. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get it to work. 4 hours and I'd completed less than a quarter of the quilting. After a lot of googling, I read somewhere (sorry - I forget where now) that the quality of thread is important and this can have an overall bearing on how your machine quilts. So, I went off to get me some Guttermann threads and after that it was a dream!

The reverse of James' quilt:

The backing for this quilt is Moda fabric purchased from Patchwork Chicks in Barrowford (along with the charm packs for Amelia's quilt) and the binding is Moda basics - brown with a tiny cream dot. I'm pretty sure that's not the formal name for it but, like most things, I've forgotten what it's actually called

I shall leave it at that for now - lots more to show but I must get on. Luckily no more snow overnight but the conditions out there are pretty nasty so Lianne is working from home today, leaving me time to try & do a little more sorting next door. Up to the attic I go!