charm about you

Surround yourself with good people. Whenever possible I like to read / watch / listen to positive people. There is grounded, honest and real talk to be found, which I gain confidence and inspiration from. 

I've been following the Creative Women's League on instagram since it started. Kate is genuine and enthusiastic, and the network she's developed is so awesome. With two episodes a week, the Creative Women's League podcast is packed full of motivation and encouragement. I was thrilled (and also nervous) to be on this week's show.

We chat about some of my random life experiences, motherhood, how I got started quilting and how that led to being on telly, along with a few tangents! Plus I prove I can be a real geek.

click here to listen on iTunes / click here to listen on PodBean

Sharing some happy mail delights I've received recently. Grab a cuppa, I have a lot to show you! 

I'm working hard on secret makes so no finishes just yet but it always nice to nosy at people's recommendations and fabric stash additions. And just to be clear none of this is sponsored or affiliated, one item was a gift and the rest I bought myself.

I have been doing a lot of hand sewing; like the demo of the lovely Hexie Kisses pattern by Jen Kingwell (above), embroidery, working on my own epp and hand piecing projects. Combined with all the cold weather we've had over winter, my dry skin was really acting up. I have always had dry skin and sometimes it gets itchy and can even crack. I'm really careful about what I put on my skin, trying to avoid chemicals like SLS, because it's sensitive. 

Last year I did 100 days of silent sewing, it was a great exercise in mindfulness that allowed me to simply sew without all the distractions of day to day life. It was meditative and gave me some much needed space.

Starting tomorrow on instagram #the100dayproject kicks off again - you can find all you need to know about here by clicking here!

You chose a project to do for 100 days, pick a unique hashtag and then share each day. Hosted by @elleluna and @lindsayjeanthomson, they provide encouragement and motivation. What I loved about doing this project is there is no pressure, no expectations. It really is an exploration of creativity and the 'rules' are up to you.

Originally the plan was to use the same hashtag and redo my #100daysofsilentsewing (click to see what I did!). Then I thought some more and decided I have that down - I'm good at it and still enjoy it. So it may well be that some of my sewing will be silent this time. But that's not enough. I really want to have some intention with my sewing. It might be that I have a project to finish (ha! I do! loads!!), a pattern I intend to release (yes, a few!) or a skill I want to learn or hone. This year my project is going to be #100daysoffocusedsewingbylucy.

Again I am leaving it pretty open so that I can work on whatever I most want to give my attention to. My idea is to have a sense of purpose and a reason for sewing a particular project. The aim is for that purpose to provide me with focus. I'm hoping that by doing this daily the benefit will be more clarity and drive, perhaps more finished projects but also a focus on my own style, designs and skills. While having a reason to be working on a project might seem like an obvious thing, for me it often gets lost. Like I can't see the wood for the trees. Focusing on the bigger picture could be just what I need to stay motivated and to do the work.

You can follow along at #100daysoffocusedsewingbylucy I would appreciate some encouragement!

Are you joining in this year? Let me know what project what are doing or what you would like to do for 100 days...?

Hand piecing is my favourite way to piece and so encourage you to try hand sewing in the hopes that you'll enjoy it as much as me! For those of you that already love hand piecing you can also have fun choosing fabric for this quilt, creating interesting repeats and secondary patterns. There is a lot of scope for playing about with light/dark, prints/solids and the 'background' pieces to create very different almost 3D effects.

The Trenton Block mini quilt is made up of four blocks and is 19" square. Though it is of course possible to make more blocks and create quilts of any size. Wouldn't this pattern be amazing in a huge quilt?! I also think it would be perfect as part of a medallion quilt... mmm I'm now thinking about starting another!

To get the Trenton Block mini quilt 10 page PDF pattern - with extra bonus 8 page PDF guide to hand piecing - visit my shop, click here!

Psst! You get sent a 10% off code for all patterns when you sign up for my Sewing Desk newsletter.

I have been thinking about putting my patterns on Craftsy. Do you tend to browse and buy patterns from there?  Or for those of you that design quilt patterns would you recommend it? Let me know below...

I was lucky enough to get to play with some of the new Ludlow collection by Denyse Schmidt. Inspired by the mills and red brick buildings of New England, Ludlow is full of gorgeous geometrics and pretty florals. Denyse is one of my favourite designers and her colour ways are always stunning.

Using the blues and reds I revisited my Heart and Kisses quilt design, this time using appliqué circles and hearts. The large appliqué pieces means the quilt comes together quite quickly and also showcases the prints beautifully.

Set in a beautiful location just outside Oxford, I spent the past weekend at the Sewcial Retreat organised by Purple Stitches. It was completely fabulous! I got to spend time with quilty friends, as well as meeting lots of inspiring new people and they were all sewing gorgeous projects! I really enjoy seeing works in progress and there were recommendations for various sewing patterns, so more projects have been added to my 'to sew' list.

Trudi Wood and I were teaching at the retreat. I taught my new English Paper Pieced pattern - the Cube Row Quilt, which will be available to buy soon. I had really nice feedback from the group and I'm looking forward to seeing people create it!

There was a fabulous trunk show by Trudi, with so many of her gorgeous quilts, interesting stories and tales of lessons learnt!  

I got to play with some Tula Pink All Stars fabric this week and I adore the bee print! Wonky stars are a fun quick sew and it's nice to mix up the points, using different prints and solids. I made the bees the star of the show by fussy cutting them for the centre of the wonky star blocks.