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

Tessellated madness

My hopes for a less stressful week were denied as it turns out that hubby managed to break a couple of ribs and bruise his lung during his motorbike spill last week. After much to-ing and fro-ing to Drs and the hospital he is now more comfortable and, all being well, on the road to recovery! My deadline sewing projects have been screaming at me from the cutting table but I've had to ignore them as I was too tired to concentrate and couldn't risk bodging them. I couldn't go all week without sewing though so I cracked on with my Tessellated Madness epp project. Yesterday I squared it up and quilted it with a zingy green Aurifil thread with my usual crazy straight lines.

Here's a close-up of the quilting:

Then it was a quick job to turn it into a cushion because I clearly don't have nearly enough of those ;)

I used the most awesome print by Anna Maria Horner for the backing fabric along with a flash of solid to conceal the zip!

For someone who has always detested hand sewing I have done plenty of it this past year! Just look at this little lot:

Spring Carnival, Diamonds, kites and stars, Hexiestars and Tessellated Madness

It's official I am that crazy patchwork lady! I absolutely love that riot of colour :) Now that I've finished this Tessellated Madness cushion I'm slightly miffed that you can't really see the tessellated design very clearly. So what does any sane person do in this instance?... they start another one of course! I pulled this fabric stack last night with the intention of piecing a more subtle version. There are some of my favourite vintage style prints here in the form of Dream On by Urban Chiks, Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, Lecien dots and the ever lovely Kei florals that I got from Polkadotteafabrics. Here's my progress so far:

I'm hoping that the tessellated design will be easier to spot now that I'm using prints consistently throughout the block instead of being scraptastic!

Edited to add: There will be a pre-cut paper pieces kit available for this design in September 2017. You can refer to this post for basic visual guidance if you get stuck. As usual if you make anything with these templates I'd love to see your version! Please use #tessellatedmadness on Instagram or add a picture to our flickr group. Alternatively feel free to email me a photo :) Catch you soon x

Yvonne's Round up of Finish Along 14 Q1 ....

.......... and Yvonne's FAL 14 Q2 List

Well I've totally missed the deadline for the 'linky' thing with this post, sorry Katy for being even later than Correne!! 
Even so, I'm going to list my results and then I'll let you know what my aims are for the Q2 list... it won't be long as I only had three items anyway.. so no need to fear getting bored!! :-)

Here goes:
You can see the original list and photos here ... I'm afraid I've deleted the original photos in a moment of tidyness.... once again sorry. (Honestly, I am blushing at how disorganised I am!!)

1. Tiny Hexie Cushion

I was so close to finishing this one.  The top is completed all I have to do is make up the back and stitch it together and bind it.  I guess it's a fail as it isn't completed. But I'm not too upset as I had totally underestimated how many of those 3/8" hexies had still to be made and stitched together.  So it will go onto the Q2 list for completion!

2. Fresh Modern Bee Blocks to be turned into a quilt

Now this one I hoped to be completed by the end of 2014.

I can't believe how far I have got with it!  I've got one block to complete, the green one in the top right, it's a bowl and I've got to add the flowers to it.  Apart from that it's just filling in strips to join it all together. I love it and really hope that it will be a quilt top by the end of Q2. So in my mind that's a success... you agree?

I used the book 'Gathered from the Garden' by Cindy Lammon as inspiration for this quilt, more specifically the quilt 'My Secret Garden' the last project in the book. 

 3. Petit Fleur fabric pieced and hand quilted

Woohoo!!

Completed!!! And blogged about here.  A success.... no kidding myself either!! :-) 

And I love it despite it's ... shall we say ..... quirks?

So there we go, thank you Katy for the incentive, I know that's two projects that would still be in the box if it hadn't been for the FAL.

Now for my Q2 list.  I'm still going to limit myself to projects I think I can achieve.     

1.     Finish the Tiny hexie cushion.

2.  Finish the Fresh Modern Bee Block Quilt Top.

3. Swoon Quilt Block.  Only one block made back in 2011 again!!   

I'd love to have the rest of the Swoon blocks made for the quilt designed by Camille. I hope to have it quilted and bound too by the end of this quarter.

4.  To replace the hand piecing of the hexie cushion that I've been doing in the evenings I plan to work on this little beauty.

Excuse the rubbish all around it!!  These little hexiestar  blocks that Correne designed are so addictive.  I love them and have added a few other blocks to them.  I knew exactly what fabrics I wanted to use as soon as I saw the hexiestar block.  Atsuko Matsuyama designs for Lecien.  I plan to have made a table topper or a lap quilt with these by the end of Q2.

That's it then, four objectives and I have to say I don't feel as trepidatious about them as I did about my list in the first quarter.  That's down to you kind readers for your support and encouragement. Thank you. :-)     

I'm off now to get Correne to do the linky thing for me.....again!!  I'll be back next week with something rather nice.....at least I think it is.  Hopefully.... you will too.  Thank you for dropping by and staying awhile.

Take good care of yourselves and happy sewing.  Xxx

   

Now I wasn't expecting that............

...........a first finish for the FAL 2014!!! And it's still only January!!!  I know amazing isn't it?

Now, I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that this post will only be short.  the reason for it is.. I've been playing nursemaid to Ralph this week as he is home from work with the 'lurgy'!  So, I'm more than usually tired and lightheaded and have developed a bit of a sore throat too.  I know... whinge whinge.  If you can't be cheerful... keep your mouth shut Yvonne.   I promise, now I've told you I won't mention it again. :-)

As I was saying, I've actually finished number 3 on my list for the finish along for 2014.  So, here it is as it was when I added it to my list.

This fabric is one of my favourite collections.  Petit Fleur by Lecien.  I made it up to this point back in 2011 I think and then put it to one side.. just could not decide what to do with it.  It was all hand pieced and hand quilted.  I thought maybe a jewellery roll... nope.  Maybe an Ipad case.... err nope.   A little bag?  Well, yes.... maybe.... except...  Basically I'd messed it up hadn't I?  I hadn't put in any interfacing when I put it all together, only batting.  So it was ... floppy... you know... it had no body to it.  Wasn't really baglike..  If that's even a word! 

Anyway, in the end I decided to just go ahead and make it into a bag, floppy or not!  enough of the procrastination! Just Do It!!!  I made two side gussets and stitched those in by machine, to make it more durable.  There was a little bit of the padded gusset left so I made a teeny tiny bag and attached it to a side panel. I cut out a couple of hearts and sewed them and padded them and attached them to ribbon and looped them around the handle to finish it off.  I'll call it a prototype I think!!  It's pretty and I'll keep my hexie projects in it when I'm working on them.  But there's a lot I'd change about the way it's made. I'm sure you're shouting at me... Well what do you expect when you just jump in without planning it out!!  And you're absolutely right!!  :-) 

I am going to have another go at making something similar.  And I'll think it through next time.  Because I'll know it's going to be a bag from the start.  :-) 

There's been lots going on here on the making front and not just curtains either, though I have made some for the guest bedroom and it's looking very nice in there.  If the lurgy doesn't win out I'll be back soon with pictures of the room and a peek at some of the other projects I've been working on.  I don't know if it's the moving house or having a proper sewing room or what but I've had lots of ideas buzzing round in my head and have started making some of them up. 

So there you go..  one tick on my list of finishes.  See how your encouragement helped me?  Thank you all for it, it does me no end of good. 


Take good care of yourselves and happy sewing.


Yvonne Xxx

FAL 2014 Q1 - Yvonne's list

..... sigh....  I know a 'nudge' when I see one and this post of Correne's, about Katy's  FAL for 2014, was more of a 'shove' than a 'nudge' !! 

Having said that I have watched other bloggers joining in with the Finish alongs that have been hosted over the last few years and found them inspiring.  It is such a good idea to share with like minded people your plans to finish projects and then look back to see what you have all, hopefully, achieved.  Or at least the steps toward finishing that you have taken.

So, after giving myself a good talking to..... and an agitated encouraging chat with Correne on the phone .... I've decided to join in too.  Please imagine a very scared face here.  It's not that I'm competitive.... much .... it's just that .... I ... prefer to waffle on in my own sweet (?) way.  So no one else can see when I don't achieve my objective!!!  All nonsense I know!!  But hey, what am I making a fuss about?  You're all lovely people and will only encourage me, so it's all good isn't it? :-)  Besides which, I've got a lot of very noisy UFO's and WIP's as this post  told you and they have become even more noisy since the move!!   

Without further ado, here's my list:

1. This is destined to be a cushion.  I've been plodding on with it in the evenings whilst watching tv and it's so close to being done. I told you about it in a previous post, masses of tiny hexies swapped with Helen for scraps of Liberty fabric. The really good thing is that it will be Helen's  finish too as she made all the tiny hexies in the first place!! I hope she's reading this and is impressed. :-)

2. I'm ashamed to say this was started in 2011 as my part of the Fresh Modern Bee 2 on Flickr. In my defence, I did become really ill before the end of the Bee's year and spent eighteen months or so on almost complete bed rest.  I still struggle and am generally very slow making anything but I would LOVE it to be a finished quilt by the end of 2014.

3. Honestly, this should be a quick finish, even for me, if I can just decide what I want to do with it!!!  Some of my favourite fabric ever I think, Lecien's Petit Fleur.

And that's it folks!  I know I know only three!!!!  And one is a long term one too.  But I'm hoping that I will get more confident each quarter...... perhaps?


Now then, I'm off to ask Correne how to do the linky thing with Katy's blog.  No doubt she'll get tired of explaining and do it for me..... At least I'm hoping she will!!!!

Thanks for dropping in.  Take good care of yourselves.

Happy Sewing Xxx