Chock a block

In preparation for my stay at Costa del NHS, and the following period of inactivity, I've been churning out blocks, Chock-a-block style. In the process of uploading photos I found one I hadn't shown you in July. This first one was for Tanya's July HipBee block. We were asked for trees...on reflection I'm not really sure how tree-like this is but Tanya was kind enough to humour me ;)

 Fiona sent some rather lovely Amy Butler for her August HipBee block and left us to get on with it.

Sarah kicked off the second round of HipBees by asking for 2 concentric box blocks.

  I think this is going to be a really striking quilt.

 Then I've been working on blocks for my Amish with a twist BOM quilt. There were many, many half square triangles!

I've still got 36 log cabins to make for August's BOM but they'll have to wait until I'm up and doing again because I was utterly determined to finish a hand-sewing project that I started last year in June! I'm ecstatic to be able to show you my completed Love Spring Carnival cushion :)

I'm ridiculously pleased with this cushion! Love by Amy Butler is my all time favourite fabric range. It was the first designer fabric line that I purchased in its entirety when I started patchworking seriously in 2010. Crazily the majority of my stash was used in projects that were gifted to other people so to finally have a substantial project in my possession is very exciting! I used an Amy Butler Rowan thread  in a green to quilt it.

I can't decide where it will live permanently so for now it's been auditioned in the family room...

 and the living room. It's fair to say that this cushion will be my friend whilst recovering from surgery. It's a mammoth 24" square, so perfect for propping me up in bed :)

Confession time: I've recently tracked down the majority of the Love range and bought myself a new stash :) I'd like to say I'm sorry for doing it but I'm not in the slightest!

So there you have it, I've got one more full day at home to finish binding a wedding quilt and cook a zillion meals for the freezer for post-op mealtimes. I go to the Costa del NHS on Wednesday and am expecting to be there for at least 3 days, possibly longer. Yvonne will no doubt keep you updated on progress at some point as I'm not expecting to be up to blogging or anything much else for a good few weeks. Positive thoughts, prayers and other good wishes will be very welcome for the op and recovery. See you on the other side x

Gypsy Girl quickie

I know a title like that is asking for trouble but I couldn't resist ;) I bought a Gypsy Girl layer cake from Jane and designed a quilt in TouchDraw in anticipation of its' arrival. It went together super speedily and here's the finished top on the line :) I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it but it will be heading in Mum's direction when it's done.

This line of fabric is just fabulous, shabby chic meets bright hues. I can see myself buying yardage of some of the prints when they're available. In other news, I've managed to do a bit more to my Love Spring Carnival project. It's slow going but I'm enjoying seeing it grow.

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