Colour Pop

I had happy mail today. My subscription copy of Love Patchwork & Quilting issue 33 arrived and this month there is a little project by yours truly in it.

 I had the great pleasure of working with Lecien's new 1000 colours solids range. The colours are beautifully saturated and really pop against a white background. Here's the professional shot from inside the magazine.

It's a simple tumbling blocks design  but the placement of colours makes it look a bit more complicated.I used a variegated Aurifil thread to straight line quilt a star design over the pieced section of the wall hanging to add a bit of texture. This is what it looks like from the back of the wall hanging.

I do love seeing a project in print :) 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 

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

Nellstar

Time away from my sewing machine has meant more time playing with EPP. Let me introduce you to Nellstar. This eight pointed star is a delight to piece! I started and finished this 7" block using Recollection by Katarina Roccella in just a couple of hours.

I've started my second of four blocks because you know there's a secondary pattern in there, isn't there always?!

I did have to put it to one side yesterday for an urgent itch that needed scratching. A bundle of Elizabeth by Tula Pink arrived yesterday morning and I just couldn't wait to try this block out. I kept the central octagon as a whole for this 12" block, Elizabeth demanded to be the centre of attention.

I'm pretty much in love with both versions of the block. Just in case any of you fancy having a go at your own version of Nellstar I've uploaded a project set to our Payhip store. The set includes an advice sheet, templates for both sizes of the block and a colouring sheet for the bargain price of £2. If you search the hashtag #nellstar on Instagram you'll find lots of progress shots of the making of these blocks. As always I'd love to see your version of this block if you have a go.
Right, I'm off to watch the rest of Scandal. Catch you soon x

Rolling in clover

A new month starts today so that can mean only one thing, it's new Mystery BOM block time!

We're "Rolling in Clover" this month. This 6" English Paper Pieced design is a little tricky to piece in parts but well worth trying out.

As with most of my designs it tessellates to produce a secondary pattern.

You'll find the information sheet and templates on our website. I'm giving a little bit of guidance this month as it is a little tricky. You'll be printing the block off as whole then cutting your paper pieces from it this month.

As usual I glue basted all of my pieces.

By far the trickiest piece is the green one! For the best results when basting I clipped into the corners leaving only a few threads of fabric to catch when sewing.

When joining the shapes I started with the trickiest piece. (I use Aurifil thread to stitch as I find it doesn't tangle or snap!) I stitched from the tip of the triangle, right sides together with it's corresponding blue shape and continued in the order as shown below. 

I followed the same process to attach another of the green pieces to the opposite side of the blue shape as shown below.

Next step is to sew the second blue piece to the other side of the tricky green piece as shown below. Starting at the base of the blue shapes and working continuously around the green piece in the same manner as before.

Repeat these steps for the bottom half of the block, then join the two halves together. I started stitching from the centre of the block outwards to make sure that my centre points matched. Finally add the orange pieces to the corners of the block. I stitched the long edges together first then worked up both short sides from the base.

Leave the papers in while pressing if you intend to add further blocks, otherwise remove the papers and press well to remove any little lumps from the green bits. This block took me around an hour and half from start to finish in between cooking and watching the rugby.

I was delighted to see two Star Central projects added to our Flickr group for the first month! This first one is by Diane. I love that it's been turned into a project already!

Diane's photo from Flickr.

 The second one is by Wendy. Lots of yummy favourite fabrics in these!

Wendy's photo from Flickr.

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