four-patch flip quilt
I got to work with a glorious fat quarter bundle of Anna Maria Horner's Sweet Dreams collection to make this quilt. And I'm not afraid to say I'm smitten with it! The blue colourway of the prints were paired with Spot On in Teal by Makower, which lets the prints sing and coordinates nicely. Spots are such a happy print, so cheery and pretty. They seem to have a retro vibe but play so well with modern prints too, anyone else think that?
making and choosing
Ready for another catch up! I've been sew busy, it seems round up posts are becoming habit. This space is where I record my makes, share progress and any tips I learn along the way... it's my makers diary if you will. And like a hand written diary it can be days between entries. It's enjoyable keeping up and documenting as much as I can and you get to find out a little more about the projects!
Most recently I finished a commission, I had made a personalised cushion for her elder brother so it was only right she have one too. It was really nice to do a little embroidery, simple back stitch with #8 WonderFil perle thread. Perle is great for embroidery on quilted items because it's nice and strong so will hold up with washing and the chunky look of the thread works nicely on prints.
The requested red and aqua combination works so well and I had fun choosing the fabrics. For the back I picked a seaside style red and white stripe, in nod to the one I made for her brother and embroidered it with her middle name. I'm pleased that the cushion has been happily received and hope they both use them for years to come!
⚞ DIY boho fabric hoop ⚟
Whimsical, calming and a cinch to create! I'm going to show you how to make a fun 'no sew' fabric wall hanging, using only an embroidery hoop and strips of fabric.
You will need:
An embroidery hoop
Strips of fabric in various lengths
Optional: nail polish / paint
For this project I used a 10cm" hoop, which makes for a cute mini decoration but you could use any size - the bigger the hoop, the more scraps you can bust! I recommend using narrow strips but if you were making a mahoosive one you might want to use wider strips to make it quickly.
1. Divide the fabric strips by length, so you have piles of long and short strips.
2. Take the long lengths of fabric and tie to the hoop using lark's head knots. Starting at the bottom of the hoop, take your longest strip and fold in half length ways. Feed the folded end through the hoop and pass the ends of the strip through the loop created by the fold, creating a knot. Pull to tighten.
3. Continue tying strips, pushing them close together until you've covered the lower portion of the hoop. I created a sort of gradient, using the longest strips at the very bottom and getting smaller as I worked up the curve of the hoop.
4. Once you've covered about 1/4 of the hoop with longer strips you can move on to the shorter strips. Feed one end of a short strip through the hoop and tie with an overhand knot / single knot. If your strips are long enough you could tie a double knot but since it's a decorative hanging I wasn't concerned about the knots coming undone.
5. Continue tying short strips, keeping all the knots on the same side (i.e. the front or back of the hoop). Trim the ends of the strips after knotting to keep them even. You can completely cover the hoop or leave a section uncovered as I have.
6. The hoop becomes double sided and can be hung either way, with the knots at the back or the front depending which look you prefer! As an optional extra, if you have left part of the hoop visible, you can paint it or decorate it. I used my current favourite nail polish colour as it complimented the fabric well. It has a nice washed look and a lovely sheen! You could use washi tape wrapped around the hoop too. It would be easy to personalise and write someones name or a message... so many options!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial - it would be a fun project to do with kids over the summer holidays or just for you to relax and enjoy a quick, simple make. It makes a very pretty, tactile hanging and I know I will be making more, there's a bag of fabric strings waiting!!
celebratory 💯 giveaway! 🌈 charms
*GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED*
󠅓I am ready to celebrate!
Recently I had a giveaway on instagram as part of the missing market event, while cutting fabric for the giveaway it seemed smart to double up. I know not everyone has an ig account and it's nice to spread the fabric love.
I am giving away 100+ charm squares of solid fabric - that's about 2 meters of fabric! A gorgeous array of rainbow colours in ready to sew 5" squares! Use them to make a quilt, separate them to use in a bunch of smaller projects, whatever you like!
And why am I celebrating you might ask?! Well my Nan (Grandmother) will turn 100 this week. She is the strongest, most incredible woman and has been my biggest supporter and best friend. When things got tough or I needed a break I used to go and stay with her, we would stay up late doing embroidery and chatting. I have learnt so much from her and know her stories inside out. At the beginning of the year she went to live in a care home so no more sleepovers but even being near her soothes my soul. I hope to take some pictures over the weekend so follow me on instagram if you'd like to see that card from the Queen! I just found out that the tradition of Royal messages for those extra special birthdays and wedding anniversaries began in 1917, a year before my Nan was born.
The winner is:
Congratulations Barbara!
☀ pineapple, honey bloom & sun spell quilts ☀
Three is the magic number! Here are 3 recent quilt finishes, quite different in style, and a little needle book for the cuteness. These were all made for Sewing Quarter, you can catch up with the shows on YouTube and if you keep reading you'll reach the clip I've included that shows how I bind (I'm making the needle case but I sew binding on quilts the same way!).
This quilt is my Mai Tai Pineapple quilt, so named because the bright colours reminded me of tropical cocktails as I was making it!
This quilt is my Mai Tai Pineapple quilt, so named because the bright colours reminded me of tropical cocktails as I was making it!
The Creative Grids Pineapple Trim Tool allowed me create blocks from strips and then accurately trim so each 'round' of the pineapple is perfect. I did make a couple of errors trimming a couple of the final rounds but after all that piecing I just made them work as best as I could. Overall I still love this quilt so much. The colours are fabulous, all Makower solids and the darker greens in the centres and outer corners of the blocks makes a nice contrast.
There is so much movement in the quilt, all those lines are quite mesmerising. This style of quilt as been on my 'to sew' list for a long time and I imagine I will make more in the future because the effect is so impressive.
It was tricky to come up with a quilting pattern that wouldn't compete with the pattern of the piecing and that wasn't overly time consuming. In the end I remembered someone mentioning that decorative stitches could be used in place of stitches to 'tie' the quilt. I kept it very simple and did a stitch in the centre of the squares and at the corners. If it was being used at my house I would have added in a few more! The overall effect is soft and the piecing keeps the stability of the front, while the back is slightly tufted.
curvy log cabin & bebé quilts
Log cabin blocks have to be one of the greatest classics. Not only are they beautiful in their most basic form but there is so much you can do with them when you play with fabric placement and layout. This quilt is made of wide and narrow strips to create "curves", I used the Creative Grids Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool to make 8" blocks. Honestly this makes it so easy and the result is perfectly precise blocks. A beautiful selection of Liberty prints and a variety of greens makes for a quilt with a gentle spring vibe.
While sewing the blocks I went for a completely random look, choosing fabric strips as I went. I love this scrappy style even when cutting from metres of fabric. It also makes sewing easier as I didn't have to concentrate on fabric placement, beyond whether it was a narrow or wide strip. I arranged the blocks into groups of four to make the illusion of six circles. After all that piecing, pressing and trimming I kept the quilting very simple, letting the pattern of the blocks remain the focus, by just stitching in the ditch.
Vintage Home BOM
Last year Jo Avery of myBearpaw invited me to join in with her Vintage Home BOM Quilt Along. Each month in Today's Quilter a new block is released and features items from around the home, with a bit of a vintage or retro twist. I chose May's block, with the theme of light and decided to make the candlestick block. This one spoke to me as my name, Lucy, comes from Latin origin and means "light" - I even have it tattooed on my wrist!
The blocks are machine sewn, a few have a small amount of foundation paper piecing but this one is made with regular machine piecing and a little bit of hand appliqué. I decided to challenge myself a bit by mixing different weights of fabric in the block. The background is the beautiful woven Illuminated Graph in Rust, Loominous by Anna Maria Horner and the candlestick holder is a Japanese geometric lines linen. This print is one of my favourites, I see it often because I used it for the basket that holds my everyday make up!
I like how these fabrics play together, both have a different vibe and yet the lines create a relationship. The orange toned rust colour of the background gives that warm glow you get from a candle too. For the flame itself I cut into my precious Liberty, the Farhad print is perfect and I thought the black grid on it looked good as a representation of the wick.
The hand appliqué was quick to do, just the flame and the circular candlestick holder. I didn't clip the outer part of the circle, as it's linen I didn't want it to fray too much and it was large enough that I didn't need to. I did clip the inner circle though and it behaved relatively well!
Clearly I love candles! This block was a joy to sew and it was nice to have some hand sewn elements included. Jo's patterns are so easy to follow and the other blocks in the BOM are all so sweet, the theme is charming! You can find the candlestick, along with a lampshade block in issue 36 of Today's Quilter.
shopping small
This is a haul post, full of fabric & sewing goodies (and shoes) from small independent shops/sellers - all of whom I know and love!! They are all places I've bought from before too so they may be familiar names if you're a regular round here. It's a testament to the quality and wonderfulness of the products. There's also a fun Stitch-Along announcement that I encourage you to join!
First this pile of beautiful panels from Karen Lewis Textiles, the May bundle from her fabric club. The stripy triangles design is so beautiful, with a beachy vibe, on lovely Kona colours. I seem to be collecting Karen's prints, they find their way into lots of my projects because they so good but I would still love to make something with just her fabric.
And other screen printed fabric added to my stash recently was from the second edition of The Bees by Lucy Engels - I got some in the first run and HAD to have these ones too. I adore them (bees!!!) and they are so brilliant for fussy cutting. The colours are also fabulous - I bought Shitake, Oyster and Mac and Cheese - Kona colours again! The Mac and Cheese is truly such a great yellow/orange.
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