Bits & Bobs

I've been so busy taking up quilting that I've not made many cards for months. I saw a couple of things online that I fancied though, and bought my first stash this year... some of Hero Art's new stamps, and a couple of smaller 99p ones by Imaginisce. Also some of the new De Lovely papers by Cosmo Cricket, mini wooden alphabet stamp set, and a Hero Arts brochure. Fun!How could I resist this set?!

Desperately need cards, so went into mass production...

For my card, I watercolour painted some images stamped with Staz On ink, did some machine stitching (to go along with the challenge at Papertake Weekly), and used up some old Ikea notelets as my card blanks. (The challenge at Cute Card Thursday is to reuse, renew or recycle!)

And finally a bit of quilting. I did three more foundation pieced squares and put them together. I debated about how to lay them out, but went for a symmetrical pattern.

Foundation Piecing

I went to my quilting group today, and my friend Liz gave me a quick lesson on Foundation Piecing (sewing fabric onto a foundation of paper). I learnt loads and feel like it has now been de-mystified, and as soon as I got the kids into bed tonight I had a go at it. Three more like this will make up a 12x12'' block ready for a new sampler quilt I want to do! Lots of techniques I still want to have a go at.

Amy's Quilt Finished

I got my niece Amy's quilt finished last night. This quilt was my experiment with sewing on patches of fabric and leaving raw edges, then washing and drying it to leave soft frayed edges. I quite liked how it turned out, though I'm not sure I will do another one. I was surprised how much work this quilt seemed to take considering its size. I did do quite a lot of hand stitching on it though.And finally a picture of Mummy & Baby quilts! (My sister liked the colours used in my Wonky Squares quilt, so I based the little one on it. I thought the material lasted really well - I only bought a fat quarter of each of the patterned fabrics in total.)

Father's Day

The challenge at Wednesday Stamper is to show something or someome we Love. Can't think of anyone we love much more than our Fathers! And the challenge over at Caardvarks is to use embossing.

For this card I layered shiny metallic card with embossed card (using my new Cuttlebug 'Seeing Spots' embossing folder), and then attached two layers of acetate with brads. I sandwiched some rub-ons, and stamping in the middle of the acetate. (I hadn't planned on sandwiching them, but the rub-ons are so old, they didn't stick very well!)

Amy's Quilt

I got the top finished for my niece Amy's quilt today. I appliqued on her name and a kite (a hobby of her Dad's - he even managed to knock out one of my son's teeth with a kite once!), and chain stitched the string. Bit screwed up looking here - didn't get round to ironing it yet!(You can see the kite pattern a bit better on this one)Also today, the post lady brought me a new Sizzix die cutter - I have fancied doing a hand-sewn hexagon quilt since I saw a fantastic one at the quilt show last Saturday. The hexagons are quite small - 2'', so it will take me forever! (I let Harry choose the fabrics for the first 3 hexagons!)

I also got another block done for my 'Traditional Quilt'.

Starting a new quilt

Back from France now, and as well as working on my niece's quilt, I have started a new one. I saw a quite traditional design quilt in a magazine I bought in America (it's the one on the cover), and decided to give it a go, but with more modern fabrics. I've never followed a pattern before, but it's been OK. This may take me quite a long time though - there are so many little pieces of fabric per block - the smallest being 1''x 1''. I'll just do a square a week or so, on the side. The pattern calls for 30 8x8'' blocks. I decided that I'll add fabric covered buttons to the centre of each block when I've finished.Also today I went to my first ever quilting show - a display by a nearby village's quilting group. Some of the workmanship was wonderful! This quilt below was all painstakingly hand appliqued.

I put my name down on the waiting list to join the group.