Today...

...I met some internet friends in person! The lovely Laura drove me to Lynne's house for a meeting of ladies known affectionately as the Kitchen Quilt Guild. I've watched their antics from afar for the past couple of years with much envy so to say I was excited today was an understatement. When we pulled up on the drive I was "bricking it" but put on my best I'm not scared face and went to meet the ladies. I needn't have worried they're a lovely bunch! Katy, Mandy, Justine, Trudi, Lynne and Laura all made me very welcome. There was some quilt flaunting....I tried to swipe this Chicopee Scrappy Tripalong from Katy but she wasn't having any of it!

Katy showing off her Chicopee quilt.

Excuse the terrible photo, I wanted to show you all the ladies but only managed to get this dodgy shot of Mandy and Trudi's hand. Lots of chatting and giggling...

Trudi's hand, Mandy and Lynne with Mandy's scrappy tripalong.

...and there was quite a lot of cake munching too.... sorry Justine, I caught you mid-munch with a brownie.

Justine and Laura packing up the leftovers. 

It was Katy's birthday at the weekend so we all handed over presents to keep her happy as she's so high maintenance ;-) Just so we're clear my tongue is firmly in my cheek here! There was much ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the pressies, you'll probably find some of them on the other ladies blogs. My offering was unsurprisingly a cushion which you saw the beginnings of here. I spent the weekend paper piecing 40 of these...

Shelburne Falls and Oakshotts.

 ...and turned them into this Candy Coated Diamonds cushion. The pattern is from Pillow Pop in case you're interested :)

 I backed the cushion with a baby cord that I'd got from Katy in a destash last year.

I have to admit to having a slight problem handing this one over as I love it! I tried all the tricks I know to make Katy hand it back; second hand tissue paper wrapping paper with bits of selotape(?) still attached and a hole in it for extra panache all presented in a dodgy baby pink gift bag a size too small for the present. It was all for nothing though, she still wanted the present, better luck next time ;) Anyway I'm shattered and rambling now but suffice to say it was a lovely day. Catch you soon x

Whoops

Well I didn't fall off the face of the planet but I do appear to have been rather lax in my blogging again. February went by in a blur and there was very little sewing going on. During that time our gorgeous Jess turned 16! I seriously can't believe how quickly life seems to be flying by. When I finally managed to venture into my sewing room the passage of time was demonstrated to me by the number of unopened white packages from the USA. The Fat Quarter Shop BOM that started in June last year has been dropping through my letterbox as regular as clockwork. How hard could it be to make one block a month? Well, in my initial excitement I got 2 blocks done on time...

June 2012 FQS BOM

July 2012 FQS BOM

and since then...not so much...Here are the packages from August up to February.

FQS BOM pile of shame

I've managed to make up 2 blocks from the pile of shame.

August FQS BOM

September 2012 FQS BOM

 I've still a way to go to catch up but I don't feel quite so bad about myself now that I've got 4 blocks made ;) Thankfully I haven't fallen behind in my HipBee commitments! This rather lovely flying geese block is for February's Queen bee, Di. Obviously I mean the fabric and the pattern are lovely and not my execution of it ;) Di trusted us with her precious stash of Ruby by Bonnie and Camille. It's going to be one pretty quilt!

Today I sneaked back into the sewing room to start a secret project which I should be able to show you next week. I think it's safe to say it'll be fab...Oakshotts + Shelburne Falls + Pillow Pop = win!!

Catch you soon x

Cooo-eeee....

...I'm home. Apologies for the unexpectedly lengthy absence. We're finally installed in our new home! We moved in the week before Christmas and we've almost finished unpacking boxes...you can't rush these things ;-)  The internet and telephone were reconnected on Tuesday so I thought it was about time I started chatting here again. I've missed you all! I'm lucky enough to have a sewing room all to myself now. I'm not entirely sure how I want it to be set up yet but it's currently functional so I'm happy. Yay for sewing! I've started off gently with blocks for 2 lovely ladies in the HipBees.

First up was a block for Catherine. Catherine has patiently waited since November for my offering so I was determined it would be the first thing I made when the sewing room was functional. Catherine had asked us all to make a lynnebobsquarepants in Power Pop. I'd seen all the blocks being added to the group by the other Hipbees and couldn't wait to get started on my own. Here it is, such happy colours!

 

Next up, Collette is January's queen bee and she requested Disappearing 9-patch blocks using Field Study. I hadn't seen Field Study in person so I was really looking forward to this one being a fan of Anna Maria-Horner. It didn't disappoint me! 2 super quick blocks ready for Collette in no time.   

With my obligations fulfilled I managed to do a little bit of sewing of my own. Way back in August I was queen Hipbee and asked my fellow bees to make me house blocks using Summersville. They totally outdid themselves!

1. hipBee August 2012 block, 2. House Block for Reene, 3. Untitled, 4. hip bee, August house, 5. Hipbees August block, 6. HipBees August block, 7. No 38 - all complete, 8. DSC_0087, 9. Hipbees Aug house block, 10. hipBees Block - August 2012, 11. Hipbees August Block for Reene12. Not available

There are 2 that wouldn't show up in the mosaic but you can see them all here. I'm going to have lots of fun turning these gorgeous blocks into a quilt just for me! I've made a start already...

I love a bit of improv piecing :) This is going to be one happy quilt, thanks ladies! Catch you soon x

Long time no speak.

Hello! Apologies for the lengthy absence, this house moving lark is very time consuming! My sewing room has been boxed for a few weeks now and I'm missing it desperately. Not long now..hopefully. I've got a few pretty pictures to show of other people's handiwork :) I received this awesome bag from Emily Levey in the Mouthy Stitches Swap. I absolutely love it! Emily's fabric choices and stitchery are amazing!!! There are more photos in the group pool, there is so much talent in this group, go take a peek.  This gorgeous tote will be used for carrying my hand sewing projects :)

 I've also received this gorgeous Foxy pouch from Ange at Heart of Charnwood. Ange very kindly undertook the role of Angel for my partner in the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap.  I love this paper pieced cutie.

 He was stuffed full of gorgeous scraps :) It's a shame to have to box these goodies up without playing with them but hopefully they won't be in storage for too long.

 We're hoping to be installed into our new home in the next week or two :) Keep your fingers crossed for us please.

It's going to be quiet around here for a while as we'll be without Broadband until the beginning of December. I'm hoping to get online to read blogs and keep up with what's going on but I'm not expecting to be able to comment and blog myself until we're up and running with broadband. Catch you soon x

Tote in a tree

Hello all, it's still a hive of boxes and bubble wrap in this neck of the woods so sewing has been taking a back seat. I have managed to make the tote for my partner in the Mouthy Stitches Swap though :) This was my initial fabric pull; grey linen, 2 grey klona solids,a pale brown klona and a print from Anthology.

When I decided on my design I realised the pale brown was just not going to cut it so I swapped it out for a darker brown. I drew these "trees" on bondaweb then fused them to the brown fabric, cut them out and set to work. I cut tiny little leaves from the green solids in the same way.

 I free motioned all the pieces in place then had the joyous task of burying all those threads!

Here's the finished article on an Autumnal cherry tree in the garden :) It was a super easy bag to make using this pattern. I'm hoping my partner will like it! Just got to make a key fob now and then I'm miraculously ready to send on time :)  

Hope all is good in your corner of the world. Catch you soon x

Firsts

In the course of packing  I came across a couple of things that I thought I would share with you. This is the first quilt I ever made! Excuse the dodgy photo, the weather is awful and there are boxes everywhere which are not conducive to good photos. I made this "beauty" about 7 or 8 years ago. I don't remember using a pattern so I think I must have made it up as I went along...sounds like me :) The prints are flower fairies in peach, maroon and pale blue...yep...shakes head... what was I thinking?!! On the strength of this quilt we had to redecorate Jess' pink bedroom to something more neutral. Hubby was not impressed having only decorated 6 months previously. The border fabric is also on the left hand side of the quilt it just doesn't show up as the quilt is mis-shapen. Lesson number one: quilting through all layers of quilt is essential for stability!

Here's a closer peak at the fabrics. Don't judge me for the wonky seams and p*ss poor hand-quilting :)

I topped the quilt with a panel of this fabric which I painstakingly hand-embellished in embroidery floss. 

I guess I shouldn't be so harsh on myself, it was after all my first ever quilt and Jess still loves it even if it does now live in a drawer. I think we can safely say that my taste has long since moved on. Which brings me to my next show and tell item. This is the first quilt I made from a pattern that I found on Moda Bakeshop about 3 years ago! It was this quilt that set me on my journey to Flickr and blogland. I can't begin to tell you how excited I was when I found that there was a whole new world of fresh, bright fabrics and modern takes on traditional designs! True to form I didn't choose a nice straight-forward pattern to ease myself in gently, nope straight in there with a Triple Irish Chain. I completed this section of the quilt about 3 years ago and it has been festering in a corner since then! I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with it so I just left it until inspiration struck me...

I used Hello Betty by Chloe's Closet for this quilt, as per the pattern, but pale pinks aren't really my thing. Mum loves them though so I finally had a reason to get on and finish this baby. I'm trading this quilt for a hard to find Hello Betty honey bun in the grey colourway :) I added a little pale pink perle hand-quilting to the four interior white sections just because I could.

You might just be able to make out the little swirls on the white on white background fabric. Whilst I would normally shrink away from using this kind of fabric now I actually love the way it looks in this setting. I bound with my favourite Minnick and Simpson stripe which I then edged with one of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine. 

 Here's the finished article.

A pieced back from some Pezzy Prints, left over background fabric and this cute tree print that I can't remember.

The end result is a perfect lap sized quilt, just right for snuggling under in this chilly weather. I'm hoping to deliver it to Mum this weekend when we head north to check out progress on our soon to be (fingers crossed) new house! Hope you're all staying safe and dry in this bizarre weather. Catch you soon x

Don't worry, bee happy!

It's a bit stressful round here at the moment. We've finally accepted an offer on our house......eeeek! As a welcome distraction from all the paperwork I set to work on the rather delicious Denyse Schmidt fabrics that arrived on my doormat this morning. October is Jan's month in the HipBee and she was good enough to send the fabrics to me early so I could get on with the block before I have to pack up my sewing room. I'm trying not to think too much about packing about up the sewing room and I'm reminding myself that I will have a lovely shiny new sewing room in the new house!

Anyway, back to Denyse Schmidt, I used this pattern to make this star block for Jan. I love it! I hope Jan does too :)  Denyse Schmidt rocks!

If it's quiet around here you'll know why. I'll pop in whenever I get chance between boxes :) Catch you soon x