Summery sewing

Way back in November 2010 I saw this fabulous quilt by Megan and promised myself I'd make one. Well you know how it is, new things appear on the horizon and I'm easily distracted ;) So yesterday I dragged out my layer cake of Central Park by Kate Spain and consulted Megan's triple squared tutorial, then I got busy with the rotary cutter.

A whole lot of squares and rectangles!

 I need to make 64 blocks for the quilt I'm making so I'm going to busy for a while! At least I've worked out how to chain piece them now though :) Here are the first 4.

I love this fabric range; the colours are so summery. I'll take some more pics when I've got some more blocks of four ready to assemble :) It's been really good to find a layer cake pattern that caught my fancy. I have a whole stack of layer cakes and never really know what to do with them. Have any of you got any tips for using up layer cakes that don't involve cutting them into charm squares?
Catch you soon x

uggghhh

It's too hot!!! I'm sorry folks but me plus heat equals misery. I shall be glad when this heat wave passes. All moaning aside, I have managed to finish the Mama Said Sew flowers quilt top :) I'm exceptionally pleased with how it turned out!

 In a moment of madness I decided to hand quilt it. "It's only small so that shouldn't be too much hassle"...enter heat-wave....too hot for quilt on lap. Boo! This may take longer than I had intended.

I'm hoping for cooler weather very soon, sorry to anyone who loves the heat ;) Hope you've all had good weekends. Catch you soon x

Oops

I'm so tired after a busy weekend that I nearly forgot to do the draw for the scrap giveaway! I used Mr Random Number Generator to find the winner from the 9 Brits that commented. 

The winner is Sarah! I'll get the scraps in the post to you when  you send me your mailing address :) 

I'll leave you with a photo of the reason for my tiredness; my ageing rock-chick tendencies. Guns n' Roses, they were excellent so well worth the exhaustion!

Catch you soon x

Mama said...

share. That's right folks, I said share! Today I cut into my precious bundle of Mama Said Sew and in a fit of madness generosity I decided I'd share some of it with a lucky reader!

First, I'll give you a peek of my latest project for me ;) It reminds me of Mary Quant flowers. It's such fabulous fabric I don't think it would be possible to make a duff project with it. This will take some time to sew together, what with all those curves!!

 So, after I used my new Go! drunkard's path die to cut my latest project I was left with some rather tasty scraps. Well come on, you didn't think I was going to be more generous than scraps did you?! There are 24 prints in this pile, or at least I think it's 24 I can't be bothered to count now, sorry. 

I'm going to be mean and say that the scrap giveaway is only open to Brit readers, sorry international peeps. To be in with a chance to win these scraps leave me a comment telling me which new fabric line you can't wait to get your hands on! I'll use Mr Random Number Generator to choose a winner on Monday afternoon. Catch you soon x

FLiPS

Today was the deadline for International posting in the Fab Little Pincushion Swap (FLiPS) so I had to pull my finger out and get my offering finished, packed and posted! I've been rather distracted since I joined the swap with all the nonsense that goes with trying to move house so it was a bit of a last minute hurrah. I'm hoping my partner won't be too despondent when they receive their package from me.  I'll show you a few peeks of detail.

Machine embroidery on the herringbone

Hand-Stitchy detail on the back.

 The pincushion turned out to be far less wow than I'd hoped so I stitched up a last minute Zakka style pouch to go with it. Don't get me wrong, I think the pincushion is cute, it's just not as fabulous as some of the other creations in the group. Take a look and you'll see what I mean!!

Pincushion with last minute Zakka pouch

I've seen the Zakka pouch everywhere in blogland so figured it couldn't be that hard to make. Thankfully the pouch was as easy as everybody said it would be to make and it houses a few treats for the recipient which I'm leaving to your imagination so the recipient gets a surprise ;)

In other news the Peak Hour strip quilt reached it's secret destination yesterday! Justine had a gorgeous baby boy a short while ago and I wanted to send a little something for him. Here's a cute photo that Justine uploaded for me to see him with his quilt in action. Serious cuteness! Catch you soon x

This weekend

The postie heralded a fabulous start to the weekend with this gorgeous Fat Eighth Stack of Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater!!! I'm ridiculously excited to have got my hands on this before the general release later this summer. Thanks to Jane of Want it, Need it, Quilt for super speedy despatch from Australia. I already have 2 plans in mind for this yummy line and as soon as I finish my commitments for the Siblings Together initiative I will be making something for me with it :) 

What's not to love about Mama Said Sew?

I finished up my last quilt for Siblings Together this afternoon! Woot! True to form it was too sunny outside to get a decent picture after weeks of being too wet to get a decent picture.

At least you can see the quilting.

I headed indoors to get a shot but that's not great either, sorry. I'm hoping that when we move Lynne will be my new quilt stylist and photographer...

Teen boy quilt finished size 50" by 70"

 I used some of my stash of Summersville to bind this one and backed it with the trusty text fabric from Ikea. I managed to forget to photograph the back but you've seen the print before on numerous occasions.

 Here's my final stack of quilts washed and ready for labelling before I send them off. I'll be adding the quilt Mum made to this pile as soon as I finish quilting it. Unfortunately Mum's still not up to manhandling fabric through the sewing machine so I said I'd finish it off for her. I'll show you pics of that next time. I've basted it ready for quilting :)

The leaning tower of quilts

 Hope you've all had a good weekend. Catch you soon x

M.E. Awareness week

It's that time of year again folks. M.E Awareness week is upon us. As regular readers know our lovely daughter, Jess, suffers with severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/M.E. Last year Jess wrote an article here on our blog but this year she has a blog of her own that she has just started writing so there's a post over there. If you have the time or the inclination to head over there to read it and leave a comment I'm sure Jess would be really chuffed and I for one will be delighted. It's a very frank article from Jess' perspective and tissues may be in order.

ME/CFS is a little understood but potentially devastating illness. Symptoms can include: prolonged  unremitting exhaustion, muscle pain, joint pain, severe headaches, cognitive problems and  many more. Some people with ME may be able to manage school or work with  difficulty while others can be left bedridden for years. AYME is a lifeline to  children and young people with this devastating illness, providing vital support, information and services. Please consider going here so you can repost this information and spread the word, or  to AYME's website to read and learn a little more for the future.

I'll be back soon with the usual sewing news :) Catch you soon x