By Hand and a discount!

Hello all. I'm still suffering with the trapped nerve issue which is positively doing my head in! I'm awaiting MRI results which I hope will guide the people in the know to sort me out! Sewing machine time is seriously limited, I'm talking 5 minutes at the very most before I feel like crying, so there has been lots of hand-stitching and pattern writing going on to keep my equilibrium. First, I pattern tested a new design by Julianna which can be either Foundation Pieced or done with EPP. It goes together very quickly and is really quite fun to piece. You can find the free pattern here. Here's my version using some lovely Denyse Schmidt prints.

I also joined an Anna Maria Horner swap on Instagram before the pain got really bad so I've had to drum up a design that I can hand-piece so I don't have to drop out. This is one quarter of it; that is a lot of piecing! Thankfully the deadline is June so I should have plenty of time to finish this one :) Typically for me it's a riot of colour so I hope it won't scare my partner off too much!

I've just finished up the last blocks (all hand sewn) for the current Quilt Now BOM and am really looking forward to finishing the top off so I can send it away to Trudi to work her magic on it. You just know that it's going to be epic when Trudi is finished with it! I'm so glad I decided to piece this medallion as we went along rather than leaving it all to the end or I'd be in major hot-water right now!   I can't believe that Quilt Now has been around for almost a year now, bonkers. I'm really excited to be doing the next BOM for them too!!! Sorry for all the exclamation marks it's one of those days.
Finally, because we all know I need another project like a hole in the head, I've started up another Wafers EPP project, to give me a break from the epic piecing of the swap project, using a lovely selection of prints from Art Gallery Fabrics. I'm loving these earthy prints!

This leads nicely to the discount part of the title. I've just restocked our Etsy shop with some of our instant download patterns/templates (including this one) as it appears that Etsy will now be dealing with the VAT issue. To celebrate you can get 20% off everything in the Etsy shop this weekend only (10-12 April 2015) by entering INSTA20 at the checkout.
Hoping all is good in your world. Catch you soon x

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2014 - Octastring quilt

While the great and good of the quilting industry have been hustling at International Quilt Market I've been busy putting the finishing touches to this quilt with the sole intention of being able to share it in Amy's  Blogger's Quilt Festival. My Octastring quilt has been a long time in the making! Apologies to regular visitors for re-visiting familiar territory, I'll keep it brief ;) I designed the block in 2012, originally intending to use my Flea Market Fancy  and Hope Valley stash, but quickly ran out of steam for the project.

A year later I had a light-bulb moment, why not get the ladies of the HipBees to make the blocks for me?! By this time Denyse Schmidt had released yet more fabulous fabric ranges to plunder for this project. I threw in prints from Shelburne Falls and Florence to supplement the Hope Valley and Flea Market Fancy. I received 10 fabulous blocks and added 2 of my own to complete the lap-sized quilt top. I'm a sucker for a secondary pattern!

Then, as is usual for me the WIP got put to one side yet again. It sat like this on my design wall for way too long! The problem was mainly that I felt the top needed a border but I didn't want anything too big in case it detracted from the design.

Finally, last week, I added a 2 and a half inch solid border and cracked on with finishing the project! I pieced a simple backing for the quilt using some of the scrap remnants from the original block construction and some yardage of one of my favourite prints from the Flea Market Fancy reprint.

I did a very simple quilting treatment as there's so much going on in this quilt already with all those prints. I used a nice aqua blue Aurifil thread for some straight line machine quilting then echo quilted the octagons with chunky hand quilting and Perle 8 thread.

The finishing touch was the self-binding, slightly fiddly but well worth the faff.

I'm absolutely delighted with how the quilt has turned out and I'm so thankful to my fabulous bee mates for making it happen!
This quilt finished up at around  45" by 58", so perfect for keeping my lap warm in the evenings when watching tv. I can't resist leaving you with the finished quilt again :)

I'm linking this one up to the Original Design category of the Blogger's quilt festival. If you like it maybe you'd be able to see your way clear to voting for it or maybe even nominating it for a Viewer's choice award. Either way it's well worth visiting Amy's site to check out all the other awesome entries!

If you fancy making an Octastring project yourself, you'll find the Octastring block details on our website.
Thanks for visiting today, I hope you'll visit again. Catch you soon x

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

Light relief

I really fancied a bit of sewing for fun. Don't get me wrong I love sewing for work (who wouldn't?!) but every once in a while it's nice to sew something that I haven't had to design and write a pattern for. I'm honestly not that great at following patterns for patchwork because I do like to do my own thing but the wonders of Instagram inspired me to tackle this baby!

 The Modern Building Blocks pattern from Moda is a showcase for solids but we all know I wasn't going to stick to the "rules" ;) The day my pattern arrived from Jessie I had a rummage around in my ridiculously over-flowing stash cupboard, studiously avoiding all the solids, and made a start on Block 1. It's a huge block at around 36" square!

As a jump off point I've chosen navy blue, peach/coral/tangerine and mustard along with floral and animal prints. I'm sure I'll throw some more elements in for good measure as the top grows but for now I'm aiming for edgy feminine/gender neutral. I was determined to feature this awesome print from August by Sarah Watts of Cotton and Steel fame. It's a seriously cool print which I've probably just insulted by calling it cool.

The navy cross-hatch and orange Japanese spot/floral make me very smiley. I was also ridiculously happy to be able to throw in a Densyse Schmidt floral that I snagged from Amanda's Instagram destash! A little whimsy in the form of ducks by Tasha Noel and the striking peach/white/navy print from Arizona by April Rhodes round off this monster block :)

Excuse the world's worst photo of the finished block, I'm running out of space to display things without exposing secret sewing projects that I'd have to kill you if you saw at this stage ;)

 Buoyed by the success of this block I wasted no time in cranking out the next 2 to complete the first section of this monster quilt top! Again, please excuse the horrendous photos :) This one features, Anna Maria Horner in the centre, text print from Cherie by Frances Newcombe, crosshatch from Indelible by Katarina Roccella and navy and orange floral from Botanique by Joel Dewberry.

The next one features Anna Maria Horner fabrics from Dowry and Field Study alongside a grey print from Indelible by Katarina Roccella.

These 3 blocks complete one section of the quilt top. This dodgy photo belies the size of this section.

I've already started work on the next section, it's surprisingly addictive...

...this one includes an old favourite in the shape of Farmdale (the grey floral) and Hadley by Denyse Schmidt. I can't remember who the navy and white cross print is by so feel free to chime in if you know :) Right, now I need to crack on with some sewing for work. Catch you soon x

Wafers

As predicted I'm back with a finish! My Wafers cushion goes together in a flash and I'm just a little bit in love with it :) I pulled lots of my current favourite fabrics together for this autumnal piece. There's some Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt and Katarina Roccella alongside some other Art Gallery fabrics that came in a scrap pack I bought from Simply Solids. The deep orange solid that I used is a Kona FQ that came in my Fat Quarterly Retreat goodies bag.

I used a lovely rust coloured Aurifil thread to do my usual crazy-straight-line quilting.

Quite by accident I noticed that it produced nice little stars in the solid shapes, an added bonus :) After a little rummage in my fabric cupboard I found the perfect backing fabric from my favourite, Anna Maria Horner :) The colours are much richer in real life, for some reason unknown to me it's all washed out in the photos.

I've uploaded the PDF EPP templates for this project to our Payhip page. They're a bargain (even if I do say so myself) at £1. I've included a colouring sheet so you can see how the blocks fit together and practice your fabric combinations. I'm thrilled that it's already started to sell to some very keen ladies over on Instagram :)

Now I need to go and shackle myself to the sewing machine! Catch you soon x

Oops...

... I'm not sure where time flew to. There has been plenty of sewing going on but as usual not a lot I can share with you just yet but I did think it was about time I showed you the cushion I made for Kay with the mini-cartwheels.

I got busy with my usual crazy-straight-line quilting in a yellow variegated Aurifil thread. I love the texture it adds without detracting too much from the patchwork.

I used one of my favourite Pam Kitty Picnic prints for the back of the cushion.

Before sending it off to Kay I took a photo of it next to the full-size Cartwheels cushion. I love them both :)

I am extremely tempted to revisit the full-size Carthwheels block for a quilt! I may even have dug out a long hoarded stash of Punctuation with this in mind ;) In the meantime I've been working on another EPP design, Wafers. There will be a reveal of that very soon as it's currently awaiting quilting :)
I hope all is good with you. Catch you soon x

Blogiversary giveaway!

It's giveaway overload at the moment around here so apologies to anyone that hates giveaways! As promised on Wednesday we're back. To celebrate our 4th blogiversary we're giving away 3 prizes.

First name drawn will win these mini-cartwheels blocks turned into a cushion or mini-quilt depending on the winner's preference. I used the most awesome fabric line ever - Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, so the winner should feel very honoured that I'm prepared to part with it ;)

Second name drawn will win a scrap pack from Yvonne's stash! It will contain enough pieces to make a full size cartwheels project similar to the one below, but obviously not in these fabrics. (Backing fabric not included)
                            
Third name drawn will win a scrap pack from my stash! It too will contain enough pieces to make a full size cartwheels project similar to the one above but not necessarily in these colours. (Backing fabric not included).

So, to be in with a chance of winning you need to visit our website (if you haven't already) to obtain the code that we posted in the "New"section on Wednesday. Come back here and enter the code in the comments section along with your favourite colour scheme so that we have an idea what scraps might be of interest to you if you happen to win :)
That's it! No more hoops, just enter the code and colour scheme. If you don't enter the code I'll be deleting your entry so it's worth taking the time to find the code. 
This giveaway will close on Sunday 3rd August around 11pm (BST). The winners will be chosen by random number generator. Apologies in advance if I don't manage to reply to you all individually. Please leave a contact email if you are a no-reply blogger.
Catch you soon x

Prepping

Well it's been a very busy time in this neck of the woods. I've been secret sewing, blog updating and website building.I've added some new content over at www.nelliesniceties.com so if you haven't already visited it might be a good time to check it out. I'd love to know what you think of the facelift so far! I'm going to try migrating this blog over to the website in the next few days so apologies in advance for any disruption. If it doesn't work out I'll just leave it here and add new posts here and on the website; me and technology are not the greatest of friends.

In amongst all this business I remembered that I'd signed up for this year's Fat Quarterly Retreat Sample Swap. Given that retreat starts next Friday it really was about time for me to get cracking on making my samples! I've been procrastinating as I really didn't know what to make, then this afternoon I had a light-bulb moment when I decided to make reversible aprons :) I dug out some pretty fabrics and set to work. They go together really quickly and I'm a little bit delighted with them. This is the first one that I've finished, I've just got to add apron ties to 3 more tomorrow. Front...

and back...

There's another one in theses fabrics and then another 2 that are the grey version of this Flea Market fancy print with a Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow print. I'm hoping that they won't be too offensive for whoever is in my swap group. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get on with finishing the other 3 aprons after I've been to the hairdressers to tame my crazy hair for retreat. I'm not sharing a picture here of me until that mess is remedied! Catch you soon x

Cartwheels

I told you it wouldn't be long before I was back with a finish! The cartwheels went together really quickly and I'm delighted with the end result, a rather large 22" square cushion that is happily filling a spot on one of our sofas in the front room :)

I used a gorgeous print by Anna Maria Horner for the back along with a brown solid. Yes you read that right, BROWN.

I thought that I'd be done with this EPP design for the time being until it occurred to me that it would probably be nice in a smaller scale...you know how it goes...

...mini-cartwheels, can't go wrong with Katie Jump Rope! Catch you soon :) 

FAL -Hexiestars cushion

My day started with the return of my quilts from Quilt and Stitch Village, which also meant the judges comments! I was braver than I thought I would be taking a peek at them and thankfully they were better than I expected :) Here are the comments for the Brit Print Girls Medallion Quilt...

and the comments for the Never Forgotten improv quilt. I wondered how the judges would react to the improv quilt as it was a very traditional show, so I was delighted that they liked my "refreshingly different interpretation of the theme" :) Also delighted that there were no ticks in the "needs attention" box!

After such positive comments I will be brave enough to enter another quilt competition in the future :) This afternoon I managed to squeeze in some much needed sewing time and finished up my Hexiestars cushion! I'm so pleased to able to cross this one off my FAL list :)

It was really difficult to get a decent picture today as it was so grey outside but I was too impatient to take finished pictures, sorry. I didn't want to compete with the colours of the stars so used a grey variegated Aurifil thread to echo quilt the hexagons...

and create a wonky asterisk through the stars.

I'm thrilled with how it has turned out and I've been overwhelmed with the response to it over on Instagram :) Don't forget the templates are available here if you fancy having a go yourself! I'd love to see your version if you do, so please use #hexiestars over on Instagram or add a picture to our Flickr group :)

Catch you soon x

Hexiestars

After finishing my last hand sewing project I was keen to get cracking on another one :) So, I had an idea that I'd like some sort of star. A bit of fiddling around, on TouchDraw on the iPad, later I had this plan.

 With my new found love of gluebasting it wasn't long before I had it ready to sew together in fabric form.

I sew all the thin triangle pieces to the central hexie then fill in with the larger grey triangles. They are quick, fun and addictive :)

I've been showing my progress on Instagram and quite a few people had asked where I got the pattern from so I thought I'd share the templates here for anyone that might fancy a go at there own :) If you do have a go I'd love to see! #hexiestars

You'll find the EPP template pdf here

Catch you soon x

Commitment issues

I have no less than 5 projects on the go at the moment. I don't know why I'm being so fickle, maybe I'm just in a rush to try all the ideas that entered my head while I was out of action :) I've recently joined Instagram so apologies to those of you that follow me there as a lot of what I'm going to show now has been aired over there in the last week or so. [Yvonne's on there too but she might be a bit quiet as they've just moved house and have no broadband]
There's been quite a bit of progress on my kites, diamonds and stars EPP project. I've decided it will be a cushion so I've only got one more set of shapes to piece :)

The lovely ladies of the HipBees have been dutifully returning their October blocks to me (I showed you 2 here) and I've been whipping them up into finished blocks as soon as they pop through the door. So much for taking my time over this one ;) It's shaping up to be another contender for my all-time favourite quilt. You can see the individual blocks here. I'll do a nice post showing the individual blocks when I do the final reveal...whenever that might be.

There has been a trial run of Christmas tree decorations using crazy scrappy patchwork. This is definitely a work in progress as I can't decide what I want the finished hearts to look like. I've got another one ready to put together which I'm going to trim with mini-pompoms.

Today I've been having much fun with some gorgeous Laurie Wisbrun prints and bright solids but I can't show you much detail of this project yet. Here's a sneaky peek for now :)

Finally, I've been crocheting in the evenings whilst watching tv so there is wool all over the place in our living room :) I've only got dodgy phone camera pictures of progress with this project so I'll have to get some better pics of that before I share it here. I'll leave you with photos of the most awesome birthday cake in the whole world ever!

 My gorgeous and talented sister-in-law made this for my 38th birthday, complete with replica Sneaky Stars quilt!

I should have taken a pic of the inside because it had multicoloured layers. Jade has some seriously excellent cake making skills! Even more amazingly, this cake was wheat and gluten-free. I'm almost looking forward to next year's birthday for another cake ;)  Catch you soon x