Trusty Tablemats

My first quilting lesson took place on the first of December 2012.  As it was the beginning of advent I decided to make a Christmas table runner.  I still have it somewhere but I won't be using this Christmas or any other Christmas because it is hideous - awful fabrics, terrible piecing, poor quilting.  It was good practice and a great introduction to patchwork and quilting and my table ware obsession was born.

It's a bit of a joke in my local patchwork shop that if I see a new fabric and ask "what could I make with it?" the lovely Saturday girl, Emily, suggests "tablemats!"  I have tablemats for the different seasons of the year and have no doubt that at some point I will increase this to twelve sets, one for each month of the year.  Tablemats are just a great way of adding colour and interest into your life and are quilts on a mini scale so easy to put together.  I also think they make a great gift and the ones I have made this week are going to Marion for her seventieth birthday.

Marion helps my husband at the allotment shop.  She is a great gardener and a lovely person.  She is always cheerful and optimistic.  She likes a laugh and enjoys life.  I think these fabrics are perfect for her because they have the gardening theme and have a bright, happy look which reminds me of Marion.  Like me, she enjoys her crafts so I think Marion will appreciate and enjoy using these.

I decided to do some simple tramline quilting.  The thread is by YSL and called Havana Market.  I like it because it contains all the different colours of the flowers in the middle of this mat.   The binding I finished by hand, but I want to learn how to make binding by machine to speed up the finishing.  I am really pleased with these mats and I am also pleased that they are finished long before the birthday bash.  For once I am not up against it, trying to meet a deadline.

Later today I have a friend coming around to sew with me.  I am looking forward to that.  I will be working on a simple baby quilt which I began cutting last night.  This quilt is being made from random fabrics in my stash and uses simple squares and rectangles.  If I press on, I should be able to get this finished reading for a Finish It Up Friday with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Thank you for visiting.

Sunday Stash #1

I have had a wonderful weekend where I have been able to buy a little fabric, learn new sewing skills at a class and work on some projects with friends.  I have felt incredibly productive because I have made good progress on a beautiful cathedral windows quilt and in between all of this I have also been able to pick plenty of fruit at the allotment in preparation for jam making tomorrow.  I am now off work for the summer so I am hoping to work on lots of projects and to make the most of the time ahead of me.

Yesterday I was at my "block a month" class at a local fabric shop, Patchwork Garden.  I had a great time and learned how to do mini mock cathedral windows.  I will show them later in the week.  I had vowed not to spend lots of money on fabric as my big fabric splurge is to come when I go to The Festival of Quilts but there were some amazing new fabrics I could not resist.  I don't feel too guilty because they fit some of my other fabrics and intended projects.

First up these are these fabrics by Timeless Treasures and are called Mini Series How does your garden grow?  I think they are amazing.  My husband loves gardening and I bought them anticipating they would be made into something cute for him.  However, next week I am going to a seventieth birthday vintage tea party and the birthday girl is one of our allotment friends, Marion, so now I am going to make her something with these fabrics instead.  She will love them and they really match her happy personality.  At this stage I am thinking a table runner and matching table mats.  Table mats are always a favourite project of mine and they make a great gift.

There was clearly a delivery of Timeless Treasures fabric at the shop this week because my other stash additions are from there as well.  I am so pleased with these fabrics because I bought them with the intention of putting them with my beloved Wee Wander fabrics and they match the sunrise and sunset palettes which the range has.  The raindrops are just perfect and the pink spot, called Dream, is a great addition to any stash.  I think these are wonderfully versatile fabrics and could go in so many of my projects.

This fabric doesn't belong to any current project, unlike my other purchase this weekend.  But it is a great addition and has my name written all over it.  I love fabrics with animals, especially cutesy, stylised ones such as these snails.  My friend, Amy, and myself are called the "Critter Girls" at the fabric shop because we love animal fabrics.  (We assume our nick name is used affectionately!)  I love these snails because they have the happy expression of satisfaction that comes from eating someone's lettuce.  I won't be adding these to Marion's garden fabrics because gardeners don't tend to like smiling snails.  I, on the other hand, can overlook the destruction of snails when they are portrayed so sweetly on fabric.

Didn't I do well with my purchases this weekend?  These fabrics won't be in stash for long.