Fa la la la la la la la la

That's obviously Deck the Halls! Once upon a time before patch-working I was crazily addicted to cross-stitch and embroidery. Yesterday I got the urge to cross-stich so I quickly drafted a plan for a basic garland and stitched it up in no time.

I used a gorgeous check from Loominous by Anna Maria Horner as the background and perle thread for the stitching. I have to admit I love the simple effect. Because I'm feeling rather generous I've put the chart on Payhip as a free download so anyone can have a go if they fancy it.

I'm currently stitching up an embroidered version using bullion knots and other bulky stitches to get a bit of texture. I'm also waiting on some ridiculously tiny embroidery hoops to arrive and I intend to fill them with mini embroideries to put on the Christmas tree so expect to see more free downloads in the near future.

 Catch you soon x

This little piggy stayed home...

Please excuse the radio silence, I've been very busy stitching and pattern writing and ran out of steam to blog. I'm here for a flying to visit to show a couple of little things I've made for the very lovely Katy Jones. I'm sure most of you will know that Katy is heading off to Quilt Market to launch her first fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics. I had the great privilege of working with some of Katy's knit strike offs but I will admit to perspiring more than is appropriate for a lady while cutting out a little girl's dress. I had only sewn with knit fabric once so I was taking a bit of a chance volunteering to make something with Katy's precious strike offs but fortune favours the brave ;) I used this lovely pattern for the dress, stripped down to its most basic form due to the joyous no-fray properties of knit fabric. The end result is rather cute.

The knit has a beautiful drape and I would recommend it to anyone! I just wish I could get away with wearing this colour...I am contemplating it in the skirt of a dress  because I just love the print! Here's a closer look at the detail of the print...yummy, I tell you!

Then, last weekend, I thought it would be nice to do an embroidery for Katy using the Priory Square artwork. There were a fair few hours worth of stitching involved but I had a fantastic cheering squad over on Instagram!

This slightly crumpled piece has been turned into something truly beautiful by Katy! I'm so thrilled to have played a tiny part in the making of Katy's booth. I can't wait to see pictures of the finished booth next week! More importantly though, I can't wait to get my hands on the the fabric, I definitely need yardage of this line!  Catch you soon x

Retreat run down part 2 - the classes

Here's the second installment of my trip to Fat Quarterly Retreat. In fairness it seems a bit daft to call it retreat as it was anything but relaxing! Don't get me wrong, it was fabulous, but totally exhausting. I could happily sleep for a week or two. Anyway, back to the run down.
Day one - First up - Hand quilting with Jen Kingwell. I was so excited about the prospect of meeting Jen as she is one of my biggest quilting idols! Unfortunately I missed over an hour of this class due to transport delays and was so hot and bothered by the time arrived that I didn't actually get to do much hand quilting. Fortunately for me I was lucky enough to have another class with Jen on the Saturday so a major tantrum was unnecessary ;) No photos to show for this class.
Second class - Embroidery with Jo Avery  - it was fantastic to finally meet Jo! We have known each other online for many years thanks to Flickr in the good old days when it was actually a thriving community. Jo was very patient and encouraging which was particularly helpful as our class was fairly high maintenance ;) This is as much as I managed to sew in class...

I predict this being finished some time in the next decade :)
Day 2 First class - Screen Printing with Karen Lewis - I was ridiculously excited about meeting Karen as we have been in constant email contact since a Flickr swap in 2010. Karen is even more fabulous in real life! Despite Karen's best efforts I am not a natural screen-printer, I'm blaming it on the early morning and vertigo. While the rest of my class mates churned out numerous perfect pieces I managed 2 semi-decent prints and gave it up as a bad job. Check out this post on Karen's blog to see what the other members of the group created :)

I do have Karen's awesome new book so I'm not saying never again...

Second class - Green Tea and Sweet Beans with Jen Kingwell - Jen is an amazing teacher! Her down-to-earth style is right up my street. It was an absolute privilege to witness a master at work. Jen was very generous with her expertise and we were all rapt.

I didn't get a great deal accomplished in class as I was too busy ogling Jen's quilts! Here's my sad effort...

...I do love it. I've promised myself I'll finish this quilt before I turn 60 ;) Here's Jen's original!

It's impossible to convey just how beautiful this is in real life but I did take a few close-ups to try and give you a better idea :)

Check out the tiny hand quilting stitches!

I was even lucky enough to see the Gypsy Wife quilt! Let me just tell you that it is so much more awesome in real life. The colours are far softer than they appear on the pattern cover. Kerry and I had a good fabric-porn session ogling all those yummy fabrics!

After all that excitement I was pretty much done in so I gave the Sunday classes a miss. The weekend was truly inspirational and I can't wait to have the energy to get creative again! I'm sure there are plenty of other things I should be telling you here but frankly I've run out steam. I am going to leave you with a giveaway! I've decided to share these lovely freebies with someone who didn't attend retreat.

For a chance to win these lovely goodies just leave the comment NOT AT RETREAT. I will draw a winner by random number generator if there are lots of you (or out of a hat if there a handful of you) on Saturday 26th July around 12 midday (BST). Catch you soon x

PG

The following post contains an image with offensive language, so if you're easily offended you might want to skip past this first picture. I received this awesome package from the very lovely Sarah as winnings from a recent giveaway. There was also a pack of fudge but obviously that is long gone! Sarah and I share a very sweary sense of humour so these goodies were right up my street :) I almost choked when I saw that coaster. The hoop is perfection! From one Crafty F$$ker to another, thank you very much Sarah :) This hoop will be joining my wall of delights in the sewing room :)

So that this isn't the shortest post ever written, I can finally show the name tag that I made for my partner in the Fat Quarterly Retreat name tag swap. Dianne received it a little while ago so I'm safe to show you now :) Front..

...and Liberty back.

Here's a slightly closer shot of the hand stitching. I'm no expert but I had fun using a couple of different stitches :) 

This scorching heat is making it rather difficult to be productive but Jess and I have been sewing clothes in the last couple of days. I promise to show them here when the heat gives us a bit of respite for a fashion show ;) Stay safe in the heat. Catch you soon x

Hoop, hoop, hoop

I was giggling to myself as I wrote that title. It reminds me of a very funny sketch from Horrible Histories (if the link doesn't work it was about Egyptian hieroglyphics). It has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm showing you today though so I'd better get on with it :) I'm also slightly distracted by Wimbledon so this will be a short post. I've made up some scrappy hoops for the Fat Quarterly Retreat Sample Swap.

 I love making scrappy hoops, it's a fab way to use up some pretty scraps. I added some embroidery in the centre to commemorate Fat Quarterly Retreat 2013. The back of the hoops are very simple but contain my fancy labels from Karen. I'm hoping that whoever receives these at Retreat will be happy with them. Unfortunately I won't get to see their reactions for myself as I won't be going. I'm feeling way too uncomfortable to be gallivanting off to London for the weekend, much to my despair. I'll be keeping everything crossed that I'm able to go next year! 

Oooo, Murray has just won the match! Result :) Hope you all have a good weekend. Catch you soon x