Naughts and crosses

This week has passed by in a cloud of germs that were not conducive to anything more productive than sleeping. I have a pile of deadline sewing that is screaming at me from the sewing room but that door will remain firmly shut for a little while longer. Despite having nothing recent to show you I can share some sewing that I did a lot earlier this year :)
When Denyse Schmidt released her Ansonia collection I couldn't wait to get busy with it. I played around with TouchDraw and came up with a simple but effective design to show it off - Granny Crosses. I used the pinks and blues from Ansonia along with black yarn dyed Essex linen as the background fabric and I love the way it looks. It just screams snuggly at me :)

The pattern for the quilt and cushion is available in Issue 3 of Quilt Now so I can't show the construction but it is a very simple, single block used in rotation which seems to be my trademark these days.

Issue 3 looks like this and you'll find lots of other lovely projects between the pages. The cover quilt is by the lovely Lynne!

Of course my Block of the Month is in there too. This month readers get the first hint of how the Medallion quilt will go together. It's been lovely to see some people sewing along with me - particularly Sarah and Yvonne :)

There's also the free project tutorial for this month's BOM, Wall Art, which is live on the Quilt Now website.

I've run out of steam, so for now I'm back to resting up ready to attack the sewing room tomorrow. I hope you're lurgy-free wherever you are. Catch you soon x

Whooping!

It's that time of the month again, where I get to be all excitable over the release of Quilt Now's next issue! The magazine is due to hit UK stores next week but you can get a sneaky preview of this month's Block of the Month, as my free project tutorial is now live on the Quilt Now website.

Catch you soon x

Quilt Now

I know I've mentioned Quilt Now magazine before but I don't think I actually showed you what I'd been secret sewing for it. This is the fantastic first issue, packed with gorgeous projects that you're going to want to sew!

As I've said before my contribution is a monthly quilt along. It's a skill-builder and will result in a rather fabulous medallion quilt (even if I do say so myself). Here's the first month's block- Curves and foundation piecing!

For those readers that like the block but don't fancy the quilt along I've designed a companion project for each month. This month it's a summery tote bag. The pattern for the tote is live on the Quilt Now website.

I've been so excited to see blocks appearing in the wild already! Our lovely friend Sarah has already shown her fab block to the world! I'm encouraging people to use the #quiltnowbom on Instagram so I can find them all :) I really can't wait to see the different versions of my blocks as time goes on.

Anyway, the point of this post, other than shameless self-promotion is that I have a spare copy of the magazine to give away!

The first issue comes with a full size template sheet, a strawberry pincushion project pack and a very detailed guide to quilting for those who may be new to it.

If you fancy the chance to win this copy of the first issue of Quilt Now just leave a comment - ME PLEASE and I'll include you in the draw. If there are more than a handful of you I'll use random number generator to decide the winner, otherwise it will be names out of a hat. The giveaway will close on Sunday 27th July at 11pm(BST). Please make sure I have a way of contacting you if you are the winner. Catch you soon x

Whoops

Well I didn't fall off the face of the planet but I do appear to have been rather lax in my blogging again. February went by in a blur and there was very little sewing going on. During that time our gorgeous Jess turned 16! I seriously can't believe how quickly life seems to be flying by. When I finally managed to venture into my sewing room the passage of time was demonstrated to me by the number of unopened white packages from the USA. The Fat Quarter Shop BOM that started in June last year has been dropping through my letterbox as regular as clockwork. How hard could it be to make one block a month? Well, in my initial excitement I got 2 blocks done on time...

June 2012 FQS BOM

July 2012 FQS BOM

and since then...not so much...Here are the packages from August up to February.

FQS BOM pile of shame

I've managed to make up 2 blocks from the pile of shame.

August FQS BOM

September 2012 FQS BOM

 I've still a way to go to catch up but I don't feel quite so bad about myself now that I've got 4 blocks made ;) Thankfully I haven't fallen behind in my HipBee commitments! This rather lovely flying geese block is for February's Queen bee, Di. Obviously I mean the fabric and the pattern are lovely and not my execution of it ;) Di trusted us with her precious stash of Ruby by Bonnie and Camille. It's going to be one pretty quilt!

Today I sneaked back into the sewing room to start a secret project which I should be able to show you next week. I think it's safe to say it'll be fab...Oakshotts + Shelburne Falls + Pillow Pop = win!!

Catch you soon x