Back to blogging

Was it really October 2015 when I last blogged?  The difference 19 months can make...
The reason I stopped blogging was because I wasn't doing nearly as much sewing and quilting.  The reason I wasn't doing as much sewing and quilting was because I was pregnant and I now have a lovely baby.

I did manage to do some sewing during my pregnancy and I am doing the odd bit of sewing now and then, but now that baby is in more of a routine I am finally getting a little time to myself on an evening and can get my beloved sewing machine out on a more regular basis.  Hurrah!

I can't possibly mention the many different things I have worked on and finished between my last blog post and now, but I will tell you about a big quilt I am currently working on.

I got a request from a family member to make a huge baby quilt for a friend having boy triplets.  The triplets' mum had seen other quilts I had made and was desperate to own one and use it as a backdrop to the many future photos of the triplets.

I am calling this quilt The Power of Three because I have based much of it around the concept of three.  I have pieced three different shapes in the three primary colours.  I have shadow-quilted these shapes three times.  I have quilted numbers 1, 2 and 3 as well as the letters G, H and J, which are the boys' initials.  The rainbow border also has three colour coordinated three shadow-quilted lines.

I like this quilt because it has all been made from stash fabrics.  I am further on with it than these photos suggest.  I have put a black binding on it to make the rainbow border stand out.  The backing fabric is a fun Space fabric which I think is vibrant enough to match the primary colours on the front.

Here's hoping you come back and see the finished item.

Poppy's Rainbow Quilt: A finished quilt

This quilt feels like an achievement.  I imagined it on Sunday evening and by Tuesday evening it was finished, and everything (fabrics, wadding, backing, binding) came from my stash.  I didn't have to purchase anything extra.  Somehow (rather insanely) this makes me think that this quilt was free to make.  Who am I kidding?

Anyway, this quilt is following in the footsteps of my other rainbow quilt and other quilts made predominantly with 2½" squares.  But I added some 4" strips to make this quilt a bit different and also to reduce the amount of cutting and piecing I would have to do.

Pink has made an appearance in my rainbow again.  I think most girls will appreciate this addition.  I opted for a low volume backing with light grey flowers and mint green leaves.  I found a grey binding which I think makes the colours on the front really stand out.  The observant will have noticed that some of my new fabrics from the Festival of Quilts have made it into this quilt.  This one quilt now justifies all those purchases!

As this quilt is for a little girl called Poppy I included a couple of Liberty prints with Poppies on them.  You can see a couple of them in the photo below:

I opted for some straight line quilting again.  I quilted tramlines along all the width seams.  I changed the colour to match the rainbow them.  I can boast lots of Aurifil threads to make this possible.

Quilt Stats:

Finished dimensions: 41" x 52"
Number of 2½" squares: 140
Number of 4" strips: 7
Approximately 100 different fabrics included (Many thanks to my friend, Amy, who donated 50 or so squares from her stash.)

Thank you for visiting!

Scrappy Snowballs and Squares: A quilt in progress 2

The piecing of my current quilt is finished!  I cannot express how relieved I am to tell you that.  This quilt is turning into a mammoth project where my ambition has been running ahead of me and I have only just managed to catch up.  This quilt was originally going to be for a single bed for one of my nieces, but as I enjoyed working with so many different fabrics I decided to make it much bigger and to keep it for me and the husband.  Worry not - my niece'll get another quilt at a later date.

I have used so many different fabrics in this and it has been great to raid my stash.  Some of the first fabrics I ever purchased have been included, as well as some of my all time favourites, a handful of Liberty prints and donations from my sewing friends.  It's such a hotchpotch of colours, styles and images but I think it works.  I am getting much better at using up my stash and mixing it all up.

The low volume snowballs are a revelation.  Initially I had thought these would just be plain white but I am glad I mixed it up because it makes the quilt more interesting and a lot less predictable.

The quilt is made from 1388 2½" squares.  I must be crazy!  There are also 196 half square triangles.  That means there are 1584 pieces that I have sewn together.  And, just to confirm my craziness I am now wondering whether to add a chequerboard border to frame the quilt.  I need to think about that and see if I can face more cutting and piecing.  If not, the quilt top is already plenty big enough and will look amazing on our bed.

Have a lovely weekend!

Scrappy Snowballs and Squares: A quilt in progress 1

This week I am working on another scrappy quilt and I have chosen to work with my current favourite sized square again - 2½".  This quilt will alternate between patchwork blocks and snowball blocks.  It's a very simple design but I hope it will have visual impact as I have picked out some of my brightest and boldest fabrics from stash.

There are some pastel shades in amongst these blocks but by and large the fabrics I've picked out are bright in colour and bold in pattern.  Many of the fabrics also have white backgrounds or patterns.  I have also included lots of fabrics with black backgrounds, which is not common for me, but I think they complement the bright fabrics.  Some of these fabrics have also come from friends, who have seen what I am making and donated a suitable fabric.  This is the joy of the 2½" square - other quilters will gladly share some of their stash with you!

I have not been exacting in how these fabrics are sewn together.  I have done lots of chain-piecing and hoped for the best!  This has made it quicker to sew together and also more "random" in composition, which I think works well in this scrappy quilt.

The snowball blocks are not yet made.  I have cut many of the low volume fabrics, but there are still many more to cut.  I decided against having a pure white contrast.  Instead I have used different cream and lightly patterned fabrics as well as white fabric.  Hopefully this will make the quilt more interesting and less predictable.

I have made a start on piecing the half square triangles for the snowball corners, but there remains still more to do.

Thank you for visiting!

When in doubt...

make a zippy pouch!

I'm starting to think I must have been a marsupial in a previous life.  All of these have been gifts and the recipients have loved them because they have all been made with them in mind.

Be warned - there are lots of photos to follow!

First up, a bag for a friend who is moving to Japan.  I got to use my Drunkard's Path die for this project to create the Japanese flag.

The other side is a mixture of Japanese and British.  Last year at the Festival of Quilts I bought this sushi and tempura fabric on a whim.  It turns out it would come in very useful.  All the other fabrics are redolent of Britain (weather, food, icons etc.)  My friend loved receiving this!

 Next up we have a leaving gift for someone who loves his cats.  I have made a created patchwork images of his cats as I did for my craft room.

The ginger boy has a black growth on his mouth, which I wanted to capture.  My friend sussed this straight away (phew!)  The black and white cat is like their girl cat as well with her white splodges and white chin.  He was thrilled with this, though I suspect I enjoyed making this project even more!

More purple and more cats in these next two pouches.

It's just so nice to put together random fabrics and to have a project very quickly.  Simple patchwork and straight quilted lines are always going to be popular with me.

Thanks for visiting!

Scrappy Dresden Plate Scrappy Quilt: A finished quilt

School's out for summer!  This means I am going to get loads of sewing and quilting done and I'm hoping to do regular blog posts.

The Dresden Plate Scrappy Quilt is finally finished.  I've really enjoyed this quilt but it has taken a lot more time than I had anticipated.  As a result I decided not to put any small Dresdens on the quilt because I just needed a finish under my belt.

I love the scraps I pulled together for this quilt.  There's a really fresh feel about it and I think it could be for a boy or a girl.  I make a disproportionate number of girls' quilts, probably because my stash has many more girly fabrics.  It's nice to have worked with a different colour palette.

The backing and binding, as well as the centre circles, are Dimples by Makower UK.  I used the pink version on my Rainbow Scrappy Quilt and it's already a firm favourite of mine.  I love the lighter version on the backing next to the darker version of the binding.

Quilt Stats:

Finished dimensions: 41" x 50"
Number of Dresden Plate Petals: 80
Approximately 40 different fabrics included

Here's hoping you are having some happy holiday time! 

Happy Half Term

I'm off work this week for half term and I am enjoying every minute of it.  Half term means three things to me: lie ins, catching up with friends, plenty of sewing.  All three make me a happier person.

The mad patchwork quilt with lots of small squares is getting close to completion.  I have used 546 squares in total and there are very many different fabrics included.  Somehow I think it works.

I have loved pulling so many different fabrics from stash and putting them together in this crazy way.  I think these sorts of quilts are such a good way to use up bits of fabric, but are also rich for the recipient because you can play games with them; I spy, pairs, same but different, how many?  I now know who will end up with this quilt and I am sure they would use the quilt in that way and not only to keep their little one warm.

For the quilting I am doing tram tracks to create a lovely chequered look on the back.  This is going to take a while to quilt, and some bits are better than others because of my piecing.  But overall it seems to be alright and I know all that quilting will give it a lovely texture.

I raided my stash for the backing and found this fabric I bought at the NEC last August.  It's a lovely fabric by Creative Thursday.  There is a lot of white on the front so I am glad this has plenty of white but also has a saturated green background for contrast.

I now just have to choose the binding and the quilt will be soon finished.  I am sure I can see a Friday Finish coming on.

Happy stitching!

Oops!...I did it again!

Another blog post and another couple of zipped pouches.  I just cannot help myself at the moment.  I just love making these quick and cute gifts for people.  And as people love to receive them, I'm sure I will be making more in the future.

First up we have eight year old Clara's rainbow pencil case.  I loved picking the rainbow colours for this pencil case and I am pleased with my choice of zip which matches the interior perfectly.

In return Clara made me a gorgeous thank you card and a rainbow loom band bracelet.  I was thrilled!  She'll definitely be receiving more stitch gifts in the future!

Next up we have Elena's Russian pencil case.  Elena is a Russian work colleague, who's had a tough week.  I was stitching this last night at about eleven o'clock because I was desperate to complete it.  She was really pleased with it this morning and it was nice to see her smile.

The interior is a fabric I purchased at the weekend.  It was bad of me to buy it when I am meant to be stash-busting, but I just had to buy two fat quarters (one in the white, one in the blue) of these Holly Hobbie fabrics.  I think I can already justify these purchases as I've already used them in two projects and have made a big dent into them both.

It's been a while since I worked on a quilt.  This week I decided that had to change and that I would work on a crazy quilt which uses lots of different fabrics.  Some of these fabrics I've had for a while, some are recent purchases.  I'm not being precious about what I use and how they are put together.  The aim is just to get a quilt made using lots of different fabrics and to see how it looks at the end!

My stash has plenty of "critter" fabrics and I am pleased to have included many of them here.  All the squares are 2½" and I've been working hard to get good piecing.  The piece is 21 squares across, but I haven't decided upon the final length yet.

It has been great to use up plenty of scraps in this quilt.  I always feel virtuous doing that.  I have a nice backing fabric in stash and enough wadding, so this does feel like a stash-busting project.  So many novelty fabrics make it a great quilt for playing "I spy".  I don't know who will receive this quilt in the end but I am certainly having fun stitching it together.

Have a lovely stitching weekend!

Small blog with a big project

I'm linking today to Lily's Quilts' Small Blog Meet.  It's a chance for me to visit other blogs and hopefully some other bloggers will come over here and meet me.

It's funny that I am linking to the small blog meet when today I am showing off a big project.  I have finally pieced my scrappy squares and it feels like such a relief!  This quilt was conceived to sew up some stash and scraps.  Initially I was going to make 16 scrappy squares and add sashing, but then I realised I would have to buy the sashing and that would not make a dent in my stash and that felt counter-productive.  In the end I decided to make 49 scrappy squares and pieced them together to make a large quilt and to use up plenty of fabric.

The quilt top is big and will eventually be in our front room to snuggle up under.  The piecing is not perfect but it's perfect enough for our house.  I love the colours and I am so pleased to have used some old scraps along with favourite fabrics.  There are so many novelty fabrics included, because they make up a lot of my stash, but many of them have direct links to the favourite things of myself and my husband (elephants, cats, gardening, chickens, citrus).  There are 1225 squares in total and I think I have used in excess of 70 different fabrics.

I now have to quilt it.  I'm not sure what I'll end up doing for that.  I have the backing fabric ready; it's been in stash for some time but I think I am going to have a week off from this quilt.  I have some other projects I want to work on first, and they will help me to come back to this one with renewed energy.  All those small squares have fatigued me!

Hopefully any new visitors will see pop back and see the finished quilt.

Happy New Year!

I know that I am behind all the other bloggers out there in wishing people a Happy New Year, but as the year is still less than a week old I think I can get away with it.

To mark the new year I have a brand sparkling new logo for the blog, which I've been keeping secret for a month or so.  I thought a new year appearance would be nice.  I have a ladybird in the logo because they are special and important to me.  In Germany ladybirds represent luck, prosperity and success and we could all do with a bit of that in our lives.  I hope you approve of the new logo.

I have a short list of goals for the year, but I am not being overambitious so as not to feel deflated by December.  Here we go...

1.  I want to reduce my stash and get some of the lovely quilts in mind out into the real world.  I have started to follow a blog Project Leasa who is running Sew My Stash 2015 on her blog and on Instagram.  I want to join with her and other participants on ideas on how to get down the stash and to use up as much fabric as possible.

I need to add here, this does not mean I am going to stop buying fabric, but I am going to be more cautious and choosy about what I buy.  I already know of two fabric ranges I want to purchase this year, (the Liberty Alice in Wonderland range and Lighthearted by Kokka) but I am not going to go overboard and make impulse purchases because I have so many lovely fabrics which I need to fall back in love with.  (What a disclaimer!)

2.  I joined Instagram last year but couldn't get on with it.  I am determined to change this as I know that it is really useful for connecting with others and seeing what is happening in the sewing and quilting world.  My aim is to post a photo each day, and more times than not it needs to be sewing related.  I'm @stitchandpieces if you are interested in following me.

3.  As I am going to post a photo each day, I need to do some sewing each day.  This might be something small, but it should be achievable.

4.  I want to be tidier and better organised.  Over Christmas my craft room has moved from a box room at the front of the house to a big room at the back.  (It's great and I am so lucky!)  My husband has painted it, put lots of shelves and storage in there and I have promised him that I will keep all the craft stuff in there and keep on top of the mess.  I am not naturally tidy, but I am coming to accept that being tidy will make my life easier and reduce the number of times I say "have you seen...?" and "do you know where... is?"  When the craft room is completely finished (i.e. when Ikea gets the shelves back in stock that I want) I will post a photo and compare my progress over the year.

5.  I need to learn how to sew curves.  Until I can do this I will feel like an amateur.  I had a go a few months ago, but it wasn't a success.  I really want to make a Drunkard's Path quilt this year.

I think all of these things are manageable and will also be very satisfying.

In the meantime I have already been working on reducing the stash.  I am making a quilt for our house, using my husband's favourite colours.  He loves autumnal colours, which is he also calls "earthy".  Brown is not a colour I am fond of, but it goes well with these other colours and we have a brown leather sofa, so it is acceptable.  I'm just piecing lots of 2½" squares together and then going to add some sashing to make this a nice big quilt.  

Some of these fabrics are the last bits I have of them and some are brand new fabrics I've never touched before, but which have been feeling a little neglected,  What I like about this quilt is that it will have an "I spy" element about it because, like many of my fabrics, it has novelty images and not just pattern.  There are also elements about it which really mean something to us.  My favourite fruit, for instance, is an orange.  We have chickens and they have also made it on to here.  There are strawberries, which we grow each year and Ezzie loves elephants.  There are also cats to be find and we love all things feline.  I have found a little ladybird fabric today which is also going to feature.

I am sure 2015 is going to keep me busy.  Thanks for visiting.

Sunday Stash #3 and a quilt in progress

This is just a quick post to keep you up to date with the different projects I am currently working on.

First of all, here is a sneak preview of the fabrics I am using in a future baby quilt tutorial that will be published online.  I cannot contain my excitement!  The patterns and colours are dreamy and I will get to work with fabrics from one of my favourite ranges, Far Far Away by Heather Ross.  In the words of Forrest Gump "that's all I have to say about that" (for now.)

Yesterday I was incredibly industrious.  I cut 99 5" squares, pieced them to make a quilt top and then basted this, meaning today I am ready to quilt and bind.  I wanted to make another quilt from stash and scrap fabrics, and was determined it would be for a boy, because I am aware that I seem to make baby girl quilts more often.  There is a imbalance in my stash in favour of girly fabrics, so it was difficult to put these fabrics together.  I felt I was scraping the barrel at times, but it is looking alright in the end.  There are lots of transport related fabrics here, and I think the pirate fabric matches this as well because of the connection to ships (tenuous, I know!)

I'm just going to quilt some simple tramlines and then this will be a quick project.  Today should be a satisfying Sunday.

Thank you for popping by.

Log cabin quilt: A finished quilt

I have worked like a demon to finish a quilt in three days and I am so pleased with the result.  These are not colours I usually work with; I think yellow can be tricky and yet I am in love with the yellows here and their interaction with the pink and green.  I think there is a really vibrant look to this quilt.

Log cabin is a favourite quilt pattern of mine, but I especially like it when you are not too strict about the dark and light effect.  I like to abandon the traditional to make the pattern more modern.  I'm glad that I put the different cats from Hello Petal by Aneela Hoey in the centre of each block.  I think it makes everything join together somehow.

This week I had a trip to Ikea and bought some fabric, Britten Nummer, which I have seen backing other quilts, but I am happy to join that bandwagon; it's modern and distinctive, as well as a really good price.  I think handwritten text on fabric works really well on the back because the cats on the front also have their names handwritten.  (I may have bought a few metres of this, so I have to use it up.)

I've loved working with these fabrics and am pleased with the overall result, but I am also happy to see this quilt go.  It is going on my Etsy store and is available for sale here.  Let's hope someone likes the colours and cats and makes a purchase.

Thank you for visiting.

Stash diving

I may have been sewing for only two years, but in that time I have amassed a fairly substantial fabric stash.  Even though I sew most days the stash keeps growing and growing and I keep needing more boxes and storage solutions.  Admittedly, it's a nice dilemma to have, but at the moment I seem to be developing a different relationship with my stash and I want to reduce it and enjoy working with all the beautiful fabrics I own.

My recent scrap quilt used scraps throughout, and I thought it was successful both as a quilt but also for getting the ball rolling at reducing the stash.  But now I'm looking at fat quarters and wanting to start on them as well.  Today I've started a log cabin quilt using these lovely fabrics.

The two white fabrics have been used in my Cathedral Windows quilt, but everything else is new and has been waiting for its day in the sun.  I've only made two blocks so far, but I love the way they have turned out and I know that it won't be long until they are a complete quilt to show on here.

It's quite a big deal for me to rely on stash for a project, but it is also quite liberating.  These fabrics are all nice on their own, but put them into a quilt and that's when they really get to shine.  I sometimes need to remind myself that I will get to enjoy the fabrics most when they are cut up and then pieced together.  Fabric is great but it's what you do with it that makes it cool.  Stash diving is a revelation.