Fat Quarterly - Cartwheels

What seems like forever ago I made a little hot-pad for Fat Quarterly e-zine using my Cartwheels EPP templates. Due to the whole Vat-Mess nonsense towards the end of last year the e-zine temporarily ceased trading but now, thankfully, it is back up and running on Payhip. You'll find my hot-pad and lots of other gorgeous paper piecing projects in Issue 20.

I used Katy's Priory Square fabric for my version and it now takes pride of place on our new kitchen island :)

Here are a couple of shots of the island while it's still nice and tidy. It's a Stenstorp from Ikea and it is a perfect match for our existing kitchen which did not come from Ikea, bonus!

I intend to put a vase of flowers on there eventually but the worktop is newly waxed so I don't want to spoil it yet.

Catch you soon x

The star within

Hello. Sorry it's been a while, life is getting in the way a lot! Between hospital appointments, physio, secret sewing and preparing for, then recovering from a rather hectic weekend visiting Download Festival last weekend, there hasn't been a lot of time or energy for blogging. I thought I'd pop by today to share a finished mini quilt top with you. I started this mini, for the Anna Maria Horner mini quilt swap on Instagram, way back in April and the deadline for posting is looming fast so I had to pull my finger out and finish the hand-piecing pronto! I've got a nice hole in my finger for my troubles but thankfully no blood has been shed ;) As usual I've pieced this using Aurifil thread for no irritating tangles.

I've called this EPP block "The Star Within" for what I hope are obvious reasons. Finishing up at 24" square this mini has taken more hours than I care to think about to piece by hand so I really hope that my partner will love it as much as I do. There are fabrics from three or four different collections by Anna Maria Horner in this one and I just love the riot of colour. It's going to be tough to part with this one when it's finished. I just need to decide how to quilt it then get it in the post by the end of the week...no pressure! Hoping all is good in your corner of the world. Catch you soon x

Let's go fly a kite - Mystery BOM month 5

This month's mystery block is a 6" EPP block that I've called Let's go fly a kite.

As you'd expect there's a cute secondary pattern when combined in multiples.

You'll find the info sheet, templates and colouring sheet on our website. The block goes together in a couple of hours and should be suitable for everyone from confident-beginners upwards. I should probably have ironed mine before taking a photo but that was too much like hard work ;)

I thought you might like to see my sampler progress so far, please excuse the masking tape.

If you decide to join in I'd love to see your versions and it would be great to be able to share some more of your work here along with our Flickr group and of course on Instagram #nelliesnicetiesmysterybom #letsgoflyakite. Tell your friends, the more the merrier :) 

Catch you soon x