Floral Fancies and friends

Here I am to show you my final contributions to Quilt Now Issue 13. First up, Floral Fancies, a really cute EPP design that can then be appliqued to a backing.

 I used Oakshott solids for my flowers ...

and vintage sheet scraps for my backing.

I used perle thread to hand quilt the centre of each flower...

and to stitch the self-binding in place.

My final contribution this month is my Diamonds Kites and Stars pattern which was included in the free EPP project booklet.

It's another EPP and applique combination which makes it a little more time consuming than straight forward EPP but I think it's worth the extra time. 

In other news, while I'm on the subject of EPP, I've added bonus 6" templates of Hexiestar Tamed to the Mystery BOM section of our website. 

I've been having fun playing with the 6" version and thought you might like to try them out too. Catch you soon x

Tropical Storm

I said I'd be back with more info on the projects I've contributed to Issue 13 of Quilt Now so, here I am with the next update. Tropical Storm is my take on the traditional "Storm at sea". I used all solids to showcase the impression of curves that the design yields. This is the quilt top before I sent it off to Trudi to work her magic on it.

Trudi quilted an all-over circular pattern which really tied in beautifully!

One of the best parts of contributing to a publication is seeing how the artistic professionals style my work. This is pretty much perfect in my opinion :) You can just about see the Cotton and Steel backing I used.

There was a bit of a hitch with the editing of the pattern for the magazine and the block construction diagrams are missing, so I'm including pictures here for anyone who might fancy having a go.

Block 1 construction diagrams

Block 2 construction diagrams

I'll be back soon with the other two projects I contributed. Catch you soon x

That's a wrap!

I have been counting down the days to finally be able to share with you my finished Quilt Now BOM quilt! Today by subscription copy (arrived ahead of it's Thursday UK release) and I had pretty much ripped the wrapper open before it hit the doormat. Issue 13 is Quilt Now's first birthday edition and it is crammed full of beauties this month. I've got a few projects in this issue so I'll tell you about those another day and dedicate today to the BOM.  Prepare for photo overload!

It has been a great pleasure to create the first Mystery BOM for Quilt Now magazine and I'm so honoured that Katy trusted me to deliver the goods on this one. Here's the finished quilt in the magazine. All of the fabrics used in this quilt are from Art Gallery Fabric collections and they play together beautifully.

It is very difficult to capture just how beautiful this quilt is in real life. It was also very difficult to fit the whole thing into the picture.

I sent the finished top away to my amazingly talented friend, Trudi, for quilting as there was no way I could do this one justice even if my shoulder/neck had been up to the challenge. The quilting just sent this quilt into another level of awesome, even if I do say so myself ;) Trudi custom quilted each block and just, WOWOWOW!

The central medallion

The Dresden Fans and solid border

The vines and flowers

The Bargello technique blocks and solid border

The Trapunto-effect bow

The Fast Flying geese blocks

The crazy patchwork hearts

The Dresden corners

The Prairie Points block

The Suffolk Puffs/Yo-yos

I somehow forgot to take pictures of the Reverse Applique flowers and the Gathered hexagons but they received equally awesome treatment.

The quilt is backed with the Steepening Awakening print from Priory Square by Katy Jones and bound with a multitude of scraps from the prints I'd used in the quilt and was pieced and quilted with Aurifil thread. I'm really looking forward to this one coming home to me but I think it might be a while yet as it might be paying a trip to the Festival of Quilts, so you could have the opportunity to see it in real life if you are in Birmingham in August.

I'm quite sad that this BOM is finished but I'm super excited to have started work on the next one, an all solids quilt...

Our lovely friend, Sarah, sewed along with me this year and has already finished her version of the quilt top. It's gorgeous so you should really pop over there to take a look!
I'll be back soon to share my other projects in this issue. Catch you soon x

Nellie's Knots - revisited

Slowly but surely I'm revisiting our old patterns and templates in an attempt to bring them up to date. First up on the make-over list was Nellie's Knots.

I've put together a step-by-step pictorial guide to go with the 6" templates. You can access it for free in our Payhip store and on our website.

I've assumed that users of the guide will have a basic knowledge of foundation piecing so it is light on words.

If you haven't checked the free templates out before maybe now is the time :) Enjoy!
Catch you soon x

Mystery BOM Month 6 - Fiesta block

This month's Nellie's Niceties Mystery BOM block is yet another EPP block. Sorry if EPP is not your thing but I'm in a hand piecing groove at the moment :) I've called this one Fiesta. It's a 6" block, slightly tricky but still fun.

As is typical for my designs there's a nice secondary pattern in multiples.

You'll find the free templates, info sheet and colouring sheet on our website. Here's proof that the block actually works in fabric ;) 

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 #fiestablock. Tell your friends, the more the merrier :) 

Catch you soon x