CHARM ABOUT YOU

It was bound to happen at some point. I completely forgot to photograph a quilt, therefore failing as a blogger. Thanks to the magic of screen grabs and YouTube though, I can at least show you the finished quilt (not quite in all its glory).

First let me share a pretty pincushion I made for Sewing Quarter. This is the Voodoo Feather Pincushion from the book Adventures in Paper Piecing by Sarah Elizabeth Sharp. I made it using fabric from a Tilda Bird Pond charm pack.

The book is excellent. It takes you through everything about foundation paper piecing, including how to make your own designs. The patterns are all fabulous, some of them with lots of small pieces but the results are totally worth it. I plan on making a pufferfish from the book for my daughter!

So the quilt (*sigh*) - I did manage to get one in progress shot as I was quilting it, so there's that!

This is probably one of the most traditional quilt blocks I've not made until now! That sentence is terrible, sorry. I love traditional quilt blocks but, quite honestly, flower baskets never really appealed to me. In this pattern though, on point with the lattice sashing, it looks more striking and modern. 

The design is from the book Kaffe Fasset's Quilts in America, which is full of stunning photographs and could really be a coffee table book. The pattern is fairly simple, I made a smaller version of the quilt (without the border, which I did cut out but only realised I hadn't sewn on as I was quilting it!)

Here you can almost see the whole quilt...

This week has been so crazy, I'm madly trying to finish some handmade gifts. I have successfully made three quilts this week (one for work, two for gifts) - I was hoping to finish another but it's not going to happen because I have other work to do and not enough time! I'm proud of myself for accomplishing that though. There's still lots to do before Christmas and since I'm working on Christmas Eve it's probably all going to be totally last minute. Good job I work well with deadlines!

I will leave you with a funny still of me and John.

I'm posting this on a day when everyone goes % sales and shopping mad. I've actually not bought anything today (except ice cream!) because I'm pretty sure this lovely lot will keep me busy, along with the rest of my fabric stash.

First are these pretty prints from Rose Garden Patchwork, a brilliant UK site to shop for Japanese prints and notions.

clockwise from top left: Pretty Cards in Lilac by Yuwa; Paper and Marguerite by Suzuko Koseki and Fashionable Cat - Sobakasu Kids, I was also kindly sent a bit of Fruit Love by Atsuko Matsuyoma with my order.

Next up is one metre of Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic in Sorbet from Sew Hot, which I ordered for a specific project... and now I don't remember what!! It is super pretty through, shot through with blue, pink and yellow metallic strands.

left to right: Medium Dots in Ginger, Maroon and Grey by Tilda

Back to more sewing stuff, today was a good post day! The latest Signs of the Sewdiac subscription box arrived, probably my favourite design so far - so pretty and hand sewing is my favourite thing! The notebook is gorgeous, with dot grid paper, another beautiful pin, sticker, card and a pen. Some starry bias binding too, which I know will be useful! 

I love it's face. The nice shade of pink and the gold accents. Also the sweet birds on the pot, totally reminds me of Bambi. Which is what I was calling it but then is it more Faline (the doe in Bambi)? It doesn't have to be a girl because it's pink does it. I like both names, I'm still undecided!!

It's all go preparing for a busy weekend. We've got the middles birthday, a print fair and a family get together. If you happen to be in Manchester this weekend, come and say hello - look for Prints of Cats.

I hope you have a great weekend what ever you are up to!

It's been sew sew sew at my house! These projects each have a lot of seams and used up a lot of thread. Completely worth it though because they turned out really nicely. 

My first project used the new Bird Pond collection in Blue and Teal by Tilda. I made two sizes of pineapple blocks for a 20" cushion front (which I did make into a cushion but I don't have a picture of the finish!). I chose to fussy cut the gorgeous Anemone print for the centre of the largest block and for the corner squares.

Surrounded by smaller blocks like this, it looks like ripples on a pond. The blocks were made using the Creative Grids Pineapple Trim Tool, both the larger (for the 10" centre block) and mini version (for the eight 5" blocks). It makes it so easy to create really accurate, straight seams for what is otherwise a fiddly block. Someone messaged the show to ask if you could foundation paper piece these blocks, of course you can and a quick google search showed up plenty of free patterns you can use. Personally I prefer using the tools, it really is so simple once you get in the swing of it - just be sure to follow the instructions! I have made errors myself though those blocks still turned out nicely, they just weren't pineapples! I also think this is a brilliant way to use up scraps and like that you can create so many different layouts playing with fabric placement. You can see my 'mistake' blocks and another version of the block I made during the demo, video at the end of this post.

My other project is a quilt top made using the fabulous Paris Star pattern by Lynne Goldsworthy. This is such a stunning design and Lynne's instructions are excellent as always. I really like those half stars and the way they disappear into the border. It's a fairly big quilt finishing at 70" but the piecing isn't complicated. 

Here is lovely Vicki (and her beautiful princess hair) with a ta da moment after director Tim did a great job of hanging the quilt top in the studio. Not as easy when it's a flimsy that's larger than the angled wall!

If you'd like to see the demos click below - the Pineapple cushion starts at 1:05:00 and the Paris Star starts at 3:04:00 - you could watch the whole show and see Becky Alexander Frost demo bag making!

It's a lovely folk design, with birds and lots of curves; circles, flowers and leaves. I used two layers of cream cotton over the Sigrid Plum print from the Tilda Cottage Collection. 

This meant the design only showed through the reverse appliqué areas that I cut away.  It also gave enough stability to the cushion that it didn't really need quilting. I was really pleased with the result!

I really enjoyed creating this quilt! I used a pretty bundle of the Tilda Harvest collection and the very clever Creative Grids Starburst ruler, designed by It's Sew Emma, to create this starry design for Sewing Quarter.

The blocks were simple to make and depending on how you cut the pieces there are lots of different angles and star variations to make. It's easy working from a collection of prints because they all go together so well and the Tilda colours really are beautiful! I wanted to showcase the prints and as I was laying out my design I thought it would be fun to show them off by using them as sashing between the blocks. 

Here are a few of the projects I have made so far:

It was fun doing a machine blanket stitch on the hearts and the ribbon worked so beautifully, simply top stitched on to the squares:

I am currently designing more quilts and projects to share on the show. If there are any techniques you would like to see me demonstrate please do let me know in the comments below and I will do my best!

I paired the rabbits with tiny ditsy flowers, the ranges have a really good mix of patterns so you can play with scale to nice effect - perfect for quilting!

Practical and useful things are so fun to make, so I just went for it with the next few items:

I made a Tiny Treasures Tray with my favourite print 'Libby', I layered two strips of sparkle vinyl and added cute Kam snaps for the tabs.

Then another make for my girls, adorable hair bows using the tutorial by She Can Quilt. Very quick, easy and a fun way to use up fabric scraps! I attached little alligator clips at the back and they stay put really well without being sewn down.