Blogger's Quilt Festival - Larking Around

I'm joining in with Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival after a friendly poke from Susan. If you're visiting our blog from the Festival for the first time then I hope you'll find something you like here enough to stop by again :) If you're a regular visitor you will already have seen some of the progress of the quilt I'm entering in the Throw Quilt Category. I'll quickly recap for you. I started this quilt in November 2011 but only finished it yesterday (hangs head in shame). I was so excited when I got the full fat quarter set of Lark by Amy Butler that I started cutting into it pretty much straight away. I had a thing for equilateral triangles at the time so it was a no-brainer that I would use them in this quilt which I named Larking Around.

For one reason or another I shelved it, after only constructing 2 rows of triangles, until July 2012 when I added 4 more rows of triangles. Then life got busy and it made it's way back into my rather large WIP box. Finally, last weekend I rescued it from the box and got the top finished and basted to the backing! When Susan told me that Blogger's Quilt Festival started today I cussed quite a bit (nothing new!) but was determined to get it finished so I could join in. So now for the details. I used Kona black solid for the background fabric and strips cut from fat quarters of Lark for the triangles and the border, then backed with one of the black and white prints from Lark. I pieced and machine quilted an echo around the central hexagon panel and the strippy border with Aurifil. 

I hand quilted the diamond shapes in between the hexagons with a vivid yellow perle cotton that doesn't show up very well in photos but looks gorgeous against the black in real life. 

I bound with a nice black and white print from Cocoon.

And that's it, after almost 2 years of procrastinating, a finished lap/throw quilt.

I love it! I hope you've enjoyed looking at it too :) 

The finished quilt is approx. 43" by 49" so the perfect size for keeping my legs warm while sewing in front of the telly. Right there I sound about 80 and I'm really not ;) Don't forget to check out all the other lovely quilts! Thanks for stopping by, catch you soon x

Baby boy quilt in progress

There's a new member of the Witchard clan thanks to hubby's middle brother and his wife so I've been playing with these rather scrummy Heather Ross prints. 

 As usual I had no set plan for the quilt so I've been cutting, sewing and hoping for the best :) I started with these wonky stars.

 Then I couldn't resist using this little bit of selvedge...

 and the guitar print is perfect for our musical relatives :)

I'm doing my usual trick of throwing in some co-ordinating solids and making it up as I go along. I'm pleased with how it's looking so far :)

I'm hoping to finish this off tomorrow. There might also be another finish to show you...Catch you soon x

Busy, busy, busy

The silence here on the blog belies the amount of activity that has been going on in the sewing room. I thought it was about time I pulled my finger out and showed you some of the things I've been working on. It would be really rude of me not to introduce you to Jinny the Janome first though ;) She's a real beauty!

There are a gazillion stitches and new fangled presser feet to get my head around but it will be a lot of fun experimenting. I suspect I wont actually use her to the full extent of her capacity but I'm likely to have a more consistent seam allowance and much less cussing when quilting ;)

I've already tested that theory on my Larking Around quilt. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I started this quilt in 2011!! It's well on the way to being finished now though :)

I did some very light machine quilting using Jinny and had to take a shot of all that extra space to the right of the needle just to show off ;) I've started hand quilting in perle thread and hope to have a finished quilt to show you by the end of the week.

 I've joined yet another bee over on flickr. Each month we will make 4 Japanese x and + blocks from our stash to be sent out in pairs to 2 other bee members.

 I'm hoping this month's queen bees will be happy with my choices!

I've done this month's block for the Simply Solids Bee too. This one was also from stash. There's lots of Oakshotts in this so I'm hoping the May queen will love it!

I just need to find time to do a block for Sarah in the HipBees and then my bee commitments are behind me for the month. If you could see the length of my sewing to-do list you'd be sweating just as much as me! Lots of deadlines approaching, it would be so lovely not to need as much sleep as I do to function. Speaking of which, it is M.E awareness week again. Our lovely Jess has written another fabulous post to mark the occasion this year, please do pop by and read it if you haven't already. Catch you soon xx

The week so far...

So the week started off like this...

...my fat arse crushed my 24" omnigrid ruler. At least the biggest piece was still long enough to be useful! It needed to be useful as I've signed up to this rather lovely Block of the Month. This is the first month of 6 and there were a staggering 13 blocks to make! Lots of strip piecing so super quick but heavily reliant on my ruler.

 Oh, and I almost forgot to mention flying geese...56 of them! It's a good job I'd had a bit of a break from them after the Marcelle Medallion.

This is going to be a monster 102" square quilt! Even though I have treated myself to a very indulgent new machine, to improve my mood when quilting anything bigger than a lap quilt, I still won't be quilting this sucker myself!! See how I snuck that in there ;) I'm expecting delivery of the new beast on Monday...literally cannot wait! Catch you soon x

Finished

I've finished a few projects this week. First up, I joined another bee, the Simply Solids: a modern Bee, and this is the first month I've had to make blocks for it. Patti asked for this winged square block, it was super quick to put together so I made 2.

 Then I got on and made this whirlygig for Karen's month in the HipBees.

So with my bee commitments out the way I got on and finished the Marcelle Medallion quilt! I think it is my most favourite quilt ever. I was all set to take some nice photos outside when the heaven's opened...grrr. Instead I just took some dodgy shots around the house.

On the sofa

 It's quite a big quilt, definitely a great size for snuggling under while scoffing chocolate :)

On the bannister

On the bed

 I machine quilted a few straight lines around the borders, enough to fix it in place and then set to it with some lime green perle thread.

 I bound it with a brush stroke print from Summersville and backed it with my go to favourite, Nummer, from Ikea.

 You can't beat a pretty folded quilt :)

I'm quite sad that this one is finished now, I think I might have to make another soon! Catch you soon x

Transformation

This weekend Hubby and I set about transforming my cluttered and uninspiring sewing space. These pictures don't really do justice to just how untidy the room was. Mission Impossible moves were required everyday to negotiate the clutter between the cutting station and the sewing machine, and once the ironing board was up....blue air!

Before

So on Saturday morning we ventured out to Ikea (Hubby's least favourite place) and by Saturday afternoon I was filling the new furniture with my sewing goodies. It's beyond awesome to have everything out of boxes so I can see it all! My sewing room is now a place I can't wait to get creative in :) It's not quite finished yet as Hubby has to make me one of these and sort out my 'design wall' but it's well on the way!

After

I'm going to show you some of my favourite bits here and put the rest of the photos I took over on Flickr if you fancy a nose around ;)

Cheap-as-chips, glass spice jars filled with ribbons and beads.

Embellishments

This wall makes me so happy! All those minis were made for me by other talented ladies and I'm so thrilled to have them up in my new space :)

Made by others with love for ME!!!

I'm also thrilled to have the treadle sewing machine out on display at last! The poor girl has been hiding away in her cabinet for well over a year just waiting to be released ;)

The old girl

Then I guess I should give you a peek inside my fabric cupboard :) I could probably set up shop, not that I'd be able to part with it! Close ups of the goodies are in the Flickr set. Top shelf is Moda precuts, 2nd shelf is solids and linens, 3rd shelf is mainly Freespirit - Tula Pink, Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Joel Dewberry, Ty Pennington... 4th shelf Denyse Schmidt, Anna Maria Horner flannel, Laurie Wisbrun, Heather Ross, Karen Lewis, Leanne Fanny, Lucie Summers, 5th shelf Quilt backings and random fabrics I can't remember and finally bottom shelf is Home decor weight fabrics and dressmaking fabrics.

There is also a large wicker ottoman stuffed full of home decor weight fabric and another ottoman full of offcuts of batting. Seriously, I have a real problem if I need an ottoman for scraps of batting! I also have 2 large plastic boxes which house my scraps and my WIPs. Let's just say the WIPs box is rather fuller than I would like ;) Now that the room is nearly organised I think I'd better get cracking into that stash! Thanks to Hubby for indulging me with a room all to myself and my fabric addiction, he's a star. Catch you soon x

Just popping in to say...

it is done! The Marcelle Medallion quilt top is all finished and waiting for me to fight with the batting and backing ;) I hope to get some better photos when the daylight returns but I was just so excited to show you what it looks like now. 

I totally underestimated the finished size, it practically fills the void in our upstairs landing. There's just about enough room to move around it when I'm sandwiching it. I absolutely love it as this stage :) I even think I like it enough to do some hand quilting! Catch you soon x