Pillow talk progress

Today has been grey and miserable so I grabbed some cheery fabrics and got chopping for the Pillow Talk Swap. I didn't really have a plan for what I was going to make as my partner's inspiration mosaic was very eclectic. I pulled out some Prince Charming by Tula Pink as I think it will fit in with my partner's decor...

and after much umm-ing and ahh-ing I came up with this, typical of me, rotating pattern. I'm hoping the quilting will make it sing, when I decide how to quilt it.

I often use straight-line quilting and very occasionally free-motion quilting. Am I missing a trick somewhere? What is your go-to quilting design? I'd love to know. Catch you soon x

Ha!

After a very tasty and extremely filling anniversary lunch I decided to throw caution to the wind and tackle the Blossom bag again. This time I won! Woohoo! It's finished.

The internal dividers should be stiffer but I run out of the heavy stiffener so I went without. Quite how I would have been able to sew them into the sides of the bag with the heavy stiffener I don't know. As it was I only had a slight struggle to get the needle to go through.

This bag will be destined for use as a seasonal gift (I still can't bring myself to use the C word yet!), recipient undecided.

I'm off now for a quiet evening in front of the telly with hubby. Catch you soon x

Grrr...

...I love you Amy Butler but this Blossom bag is killing me! I started this bag for September's Amy Butler's Style Stitches Sew Along with Bree but it's now October and it's still not finished!I've spent an inordinate amount of time on this bag, there's nothing wrong with the pattern, it's very definitely the maker! Firstly, I hate interfacing with a vengeance. I fell out with it when I was making The Cosmo bag and I still have not forgiven it. Now I also have a strong dislike for heavy stiffener! My unpicker has seen way too much action these past few days!!! Note to self: when the pattern tells you to pin the side panels in place on the curve, ignore it! Pinned side-panel needed unpicking 3 times and took the best part of 2 hours - unpinned side-panel took less than 5 minutes and was perfect first time....go figure!

I know what to do if I ever attempt this bag again but at the moment the likelihood of that happening is extremely slim!! I'm hoping to finish it up some time this week.

In other news, the second round of Brit Quilt Swap sign-ups are underway. I'm playing at swap mama again :) We're doing cushions this time round even though we are controversially calling it The Pillow Fight. Here's my inspiration mosaic.

I'm hoping for a more productive week once tomorrow is out the way. It's our wedding anniversary so hubby is home for the day and we're going to take the opportunity to pop out for lunch together :) Catch you soon x

Flying colours

Today was a big day in our household! I don't know if I've ever mentioned that we have been home educating Jess for the past year. We found the education system to be too inflexible for Jess' health issues so we took the decision to go it alone. Frankly, it was one of the best decisions we have ever made, I actually wish we'd done it sooner!! Today we had our first annual inspection visit from the Local Authority Specialist Teacher for Elective Home Education (now there's a mouthful!). I'm happy to report that we passed with flying colours so we're good to go for another year! Woohoo, go us! I never imagined that we'd find ourselves in this position but actually it is quite liberating. So, to celebrate today's success I thought I'd show you some finished goodies :) Here's the Authentic friends cushion all finished up and ready for Jess.

I backed this with a print from Ikea that I had already used to make a floor cushion for Jess.

Today was also momentous in the fact that I finished the behemoth that is The Half Time Quilt!! I have been totally dreading having to quilt this monster since finding out it wasn't good enough in the jelly roll competition. All I can say is thank goodness for fusible batting!!

I did my usual straight line quilting, well face it there was no way I was free-motion quilting this 6 foot square monster!

I used some leftover strips from the It's a Hoot jelly roll I used in the quilt for the binding. I absolutely love how it's finished up and will now be hoping that it survives it's first pass through the washing machine!

Catch you soon x

Apologies

I'm playing around with some new graphics so apologies if this page looks different every 2 seconds :)

Cooper's cushion

A little while ago I showed you this sneaky peek at some quilting with a promise of more when it arrived at it's new home. Today it arrived! So I can show more.

My delightful, bloggy friend Bree had a gorgeous little baby boy, Cooper, in August and I wanted to mark the occasion with a little gift. I remembered Bree commenting on this pooches and pickups project of mine and starting the hilarity that was 'road-kill cushion', so I thought it might be fun to make a cushion for Cooper using this fabric but this time with no road-kill ;-)

I did a little bit of piecing and embroidered Cooper on the bottom half. I have to say I think it looks really cute!

The back of the cushion is an envelope closure using a solid and the 'road-kill' print ;) In this project there is no sign of a heavy duty pick-up truck to run those puppies over, phew!

There you have it; Cooper's cushion. Catch you soon x

Please help if you can...

You may remember I mentioned a bloggy friend, on September 11th, who has lost a beloved member of her family. Well if you are willing and able, you have the chance to help this lovely family in their time of need. I've copied this post in its entirety from The Scrappy Appleyard blog. Thanks in advance to those of you that read on and follow up :) Here are some shots of blocks I made this afternoon if you need some inspiration.

The below is going to have a sash added to it to make it up to the right size.

Blocks Needed for Grieving Family
I've never been good at asking for help....
but I'm going to on this one.
I know the heart of quilters....
I am going to put together quilts for Tory, Chris' Mom
his two brothers and one for the
soldier who was his best friend
and who fought right alongside Chris...
and was
there...
when he took his last breath.
I'm going to do the quilts in a muted red, white and blue
theme.
And I thought 'Star' blocks would be so appropriate
in this situation.
I would so appreciate any of you who
would like to help me in this endeavor.
I need 8" blocks
(Finished Size of Block to be 8 1/2")
and when I say muted...
the best way to describe it...
is kind of like the Minnick and Simpson fabrics
that are always designed for Moda.
(They don't have to be Minnick and Simpson though!!)

We would be so grateful for any!

I would so appreciate it too,
if any of you would like to copy this post on your blog.
I'm hoping Tory will help me sew them all together
to help her in her grieving.
I'm also going to try to get a local group
together to help out as well,
when all of the blocks are received.
If at all possible we need the blocks by end of October.
You may send them to:
The Scrappy Appleyard
3218 Knobview Drive
Nashville, TN 37214
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
You all will never know how much your comments, prayers
and thoughts have helped us to get through this tragedy.
May God bless you all...

John'aLee