Mama said...

share. That's right folks, I said share! Today I cut into my precious bundle of Mama Said Sew and in a fit of madness generosity I decided I'd share some of it with a lucky reader!

First, I'll give you a peek of my latest project for me ;) It reminds me of Mary Quant flowers. It's such fabulous fabric I don't think it would be possible to make a duff project with it. This will take some time to sew together, what with all those curves!!

 So, after I used my new Go! drunkard's path die to cut my latest project I was left with some rather tasty scraps. Well come on, you didn't think I was going to be more generous than scraps did you?! There are 24 prints in this pile, or at least I think it's 24 I can't be bothered to count now, sorry. 

I'm going to be mean and say that the scrap giveaway is only open to Brit readers, sorry international peeps. To be in with a chance to win these scraps leave me a comment telling me which new fabric line you can't wait to get your hands on! I'll use Mr Random Number Generator to choose a winner on Monday afternoon. Catch you soon x

FLiPS

Today was the deadline for International posting in the Fab Little Pincushion Swap (FLiPS) so I had to pull my finger out and get my offering finished, packed and posted! I've been rather distracted since I joined the swap with all the nonsense that goes with trying to move house so it was a bit of a last minute hurrah. I'm hoping my partner won't be too despondent when they receive their package from me.  I'll show you a few peeks of detail.

Machine embroidery on the herringbone

Hand-Stitchy detail on the back.

 The pincushion turned out to be far less wow than I'd hoped so I stitched up a last minute Zakka style pouch to go with it. Don't get me wrong, I think the pincushion is cute, it's just not as fabulous as some of the other creations in the group. Take a look and you'll see what I mean!!

Pincushion with last minute Zakka pouch

I've seen the Zakka pouch everywhere in blogland so figured it couldn't be that hard to make. Thankfully the pouch was as easy as everybody said it would be to make and it houses a few treats for the recipient which I'm leaving to your imagination so the recipient gets a surprise ;)

In other news the Peak Hour strip quilt reached it's secret destination yesterday! Justine had a gorgeous baby boy a short while ago and I wanted to send a little something for him. Here's a cute photo that Justine uploaded for me to see him with his quilt in action. Serious cuteness! Catch you soon x

This weekend

The postie heralded a fabulous start to the weekend with this gorgeous Fat Eighth Stack of Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater!!! I'm ridiculously excited to have got my hands on this before the general release later this summer. Thanks to Jane of Want it, Need it, Quilt for super speedy despatch from Australia. I already have 2 plans in mind for this yummy line and as soon as I finish my commitments for the Siblings Together initiative I will be making something for me with it :) 

What's not to love about Mama Said Sew?

I finished up my last quilt for Siblings Together this afternoon! Woot! True to form it was too sunny outside to get a decent picture after weeks of being too wet to get a decent picture.

At least you can see the quilting.

I headed indoors to get a shot but that's not great either, sorry. I'm hoping that when we move Lynne will be my new quilt stylist and photographer...

Teen boy quilt finished size 50" by 70"

 I used some of my stash of Summersville to bind this one and backed it with the trusty text fabric from Ikea. I managed to forget to photograph the back but you've seen the print before on numerous occasions.

 Here's my final stack of quilts washed and ready for labelling before I send them off. I'll be adding the quilt Mum made to this pile as soon as I finish quilting it. Unfortunately Mum's still not up to manhandling fabric through the sewing machine so I said I'd finish it off for her. I'll show you pics of that next time. I've basted it ready for quilting :)

The leaning tower of quilts

 Hope you've all had a good weekend. Catch you soon x

M.E. Awareness week

It's that time of year again folks. M.E Awareness week is upon us. As regular readers know our lovely daughter, Jess, suffers with severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/M.E. Last year Jess wrote an article here on our blog but this year she has a blog of her own that she has just started writing so there's a post over there. If you have the time or the inclination to head over there to read it and leave a comment I'm sure Jess would be really chuffed and I for one will be delighted. It's a very frank article from Jess' perspective and tissues may be in order.

ME/CFS is a little understood but potentially devastating illness. Symptoms can include: prolonged  unremitting exhaustion, muscle pain, joint pain, severe headaches, cognitive problems and  many more. Some people with ME may be able to manage school or work with  difficulty while others can be left bedridden for years. AYME is a lifeline to  children and young people with this devastating illness, providing vital support, information and services. Please consider going here so you can repost this information and spread the word, or  to AYME's website to read and learn a little more for the future.

I'll be back soon with the usual sewing news :) Catch you soon x

Grey

Today I dug out the fabrics Claire from Patch Fabrics sent me to make a teen boy quilt for Siblings Together. 

 I've gone for my usual strip piecing technique for maximum speed of construction.

 I do love a quick but effective block :)

 I'm interspersing the multi-blocks with a larger block of print so the quilt isn't too busy.  The blocks are 16" by 13" finished so they're good and chunky. Hopefully that will make it acceptable for a teen boy :)

I've got plenty more blocks to make but this wasn't a bad start for day one. It also seems I need to ask for it to rain more often as the skies stayed nice and blue today ;) Catch you soon x

Two little boys

On Saturday I received a lovely fabric package from Julie at The Intrepid Thread. Amongst the goodies was this fabulous Peak Hour fabric. When I saw it on Julie's website I knew I had to get some as it would be perfect fabric fodder for some little boy quilts. The spots and print from this range are fabulous! I may need to get some more of the spots for binding :)

Julie also sent me some 5" strips of the range to play with and the fact that the fabric was pre-cut and ready to go got my creative juices flowing immediately. I mean seriously how cute is this?!!

 Thanks to the hideous bank holiday weather I have 2 new little boy quilts to show you. I managed to dodge the showers yesterday to get a shot of the first one on the washing line. It's about 40" square log-cabin. I used a fat quarter as the centre panel. I have to admit to loving this! I free-motion quilted with some variegated Aurifil thread. It's not my finest quilting but thankfully Mackinlay hasn't reached the age where he criticises things like that yet ;) 

 I backed with the leftover It's a Hoot yardage from his Dr Seuss quilt and a strip of the Peak Hour to make up the difference. It positively shines against the grotty sky.

 The second quilt I made is for another little boy who shall remain nameless at this point. I love how the basic strips of print look together. Sometimes less is definitely more!

 I quilted across the quilt in straight lines then did some free-motion vertical wavy lines. All in all another happy little quilt. This one finished up around 42" by 46" and is backed with the bottle caps print from Going Coastal.

Here's a close-up of the print for those of you who haven't seen it.

I don't think I've had this much productivity in one weekend in a long time. It's been great! It should rain more often ;) Catch you soon x

Happy, happy!

Today I turned the Tile block in to a rather lovely cushion :) LOVE!!

Happy cushion :) 

 I did some basic straight line quilting on the machine to fix everything in place, then added some hand stitching in a vivid red Perle 8.

Close-up of quilting

I used another of the Ruby Star Shining prints for the back of the cushion. I just love this range. Melody Miller seems incapable of designing a crap range which is great news for us :) I used 2 different coloured buttons for the closure which goes against the grain of my normal need for symmetry but I think it works here.

Obviously I need a new cushion like a hole in the head but what can I tell you? I just love cushions ;) Catch you soon x