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

Belated

I've been a bit late to share with you all the lovely goodies I received from the Fat Quarterly Retreat Sample Swap. I sent my hoops along with Kerry, as I couldn't make it myself, and then waited in anticipation of what I'd get back :) Well, I'm delighted with  my goodies! Even more exciting for me was that 2 of the goodies are from my bloggy/ HipBee pals :) I got this fab purse/key fob and beautiful brooch from Jan.

 This gorgeous cushion cover from Catherine

 and this lovely mini quilt from Francine.

Thank you ladies, I love everything! :)
In other news, rather frustratingly my operation date has moved back by a month. I'm not very happy about that as I'm so blooming uncomfortable but I guess it gives me a bit more time for sewing when the mood takes me. It also means that I might manage to pop along to the Festival of Quilts to see Justine. The Sneaky Stars pattern has gone off for formatting and should be ready for selling in kits at the show.

It's almost time for the big reveal on another secret sewing project of mine. I had the great privilege of working with this gorgeous Liberty Stile fabric for a Fat Quarterly project! Issue 14 will be available next week :) Yvonne was slightly excited to see a little mention of yours truly on the Liberty blog (read, ridiculously over-the-top mother excited!!!) I can't wait to share the finished project with you, it's rather lovely even if I say so myself ;)

Finally, we turned three on 23rd July! It's amazing how quickly time flies by. A huge thank you to all you lovely folk who have stuck with us over the years. Tradition would suggest that we do a little giveaway to mark the occasion so I'm going to think on it over night and post a little giveaway post tomorrow :) Catch you soon x

Hand sewn

So far this week I have mostly been (in best Fast Show voice) hand sewing. I've attached the Siblings Together labels to 6 quilts so I can now ship them off to Delma at Siblings Together!

Labels ready to go

I've grouped all the quilt photos together because I felt like it :) That's Pips, It's a Hoot Half Time x2, Grey, Cape Ann and Dr Seuss ready to roll tomorrow.

6 Quilts

This next photo is a little peek at a hand sewing project I attempted with minimal success using Flock by Thomas Knauer. The full project is revealed in the Fat Quarterly Community Retreat Special Issue. I was delighted to discover that my Designer challenge project would be featured in this issue and I feel a bit better about not having been there in person now.

After my less than spectacular first attempt I am determined to complete a Spring Carnival cushion so I'm having another go with some of my all-time favourite Amy Butler Love fabric. I think I might have got the hang of it enough this time to complete the job, whoop!  

Hand sewing is definitely growing on me :) Catch you soon x

Freebird

First things first, I want to thank you all for the lovely supportive comments you left in response to yesterday's post! You put a big smile on my otherwise frowning face ;-) I've seen the full issue of Fat Quarterly 9 now and it's a real stunner! In other news, I've almost finished the first of the Freebird quilts for Siblings Together. Every time I say Freebird I can't help chuckling to myself like the ageing rock chick that I am :) I used the Half Time Quilt pattern, as I mentioned previously, and the result is fairly cheerful even if I say so myself.

Front of Freebird quilt

 All that remains to be done is the binding. The Ikea fabric that Wendy sent is just perfect for the backing, check out those funky birds.

Rear of Freebird quilt

I've already got the blocks for the second Freebird quilt ready to roll so it should be another quick finish...fingers crossed! Hubby and I are venturing north on Friday for a day of house-hunting so that might slow my sewing progress slightly but it will hopefully be worth it! Catch you soon x

Just saying

I'm so excited to finally be able to blab to you all!! I've had the very great honour of playing with Tula Pink's soon to be released Nightshade. I can't even begin to tell you how over-the-top excited I have been and it's fair near killed me not being able to shout it from the roof-tops. Regular readers will probably know how much I love Tula Pink's style, so to get my mitts on this before the crowds has been epic!! Let me just tell you that it is as fabulous in real life as I hoped it would be from the pictures I'd seen online. Tula has an amazing gift for design and I just love searching her prints for all the hidden details.  

Nightshade by Tula Pink!!

So, you're probably wondering how I got so lucky and the answer is even more exciting for me! I have had the very great privilege of designing a quilt to appear in Fat Quarterly. I still can't quite believe it! Here's a little glimpse of the Not-so-deadly Nightshade quilt :)

Extreme close-up of my Not-so-deadly Nightshade quilt.

Those of you that already subscribe to Fat Quarterly will get to see it in its entirety. I think I'll be able to show the rest of you the finished quilt at some point. I'll love to hear what you think of it! There's also another little project of mine in Fat Quarterly but I'll gush about that one another day :)  So now I've blabbed I can go and chill out. Catch you soon x