Blocks Wanted!

I've just made up a couple of Ohio star blocks, after reading on Marguerite's blog about her friend Lizzie who is making up a quilt for a friend of hers who is terminally ill. The post is {here} for anyone who would like to make a block, or has any spare blocks floating around which they would like to donate to the quilt. I think it's a lovely idea.

New Fabric!

The fabrics which I bought from Kerri at Sew Dearly Loved arrived today... hurrah!!
They are a slightly odd assortment - I have no plans whatsoever for them - just liked them!(And some more spots of course)
I've spent yesterday and today cutting out pieces for 2 quilts which I am overseeing the making of at a church activity. They are lap quilts for an old people's home, which we have been visiting. I am supposed to be using scraps & fabrics that have been donated, but am having a hard time making them look nice - I keep adding more of my own fabrics. Still not sure I will like them that much. I may or may not post pictures of them later!

Happy Birthday Nan!

It's Scott's Nan's birthday soon, and I made her this card. An unusual colour comination for me - don't think I've used it before.
The challange at Cute Card Thursday is to use fabric, so I used a wide fabric-finish (not shiny-finish) ribbon.

My Aviary Quilt making progress

I finished piecing my Aviary quilt this morning (can you tell that I have finally got round to having a play with photoshop too?!) This is what I started in France before my sewing machine needle broke. I loved the Aviary range of fabric when I first saw it, but could only get hold of a couple of packs of pre-cut triangles in this country, so I decided just to do this simple design. It is alternated with Kona Snow fabric. I'm quite pleased that all the points and corners matched up quite well. I did some careful pinning before sewing seams, and it all went together very easily. I am wondering now if I should put a border of Kona Snow round the outsides, before finishing it. I'm also not sure how I should quilt it. Any ideas? I have got hold of some of the pink fabric to make the binding with.

I also realised that I have never posted a picture of Lucy's quilt in full...

My one and only baby quilt

I just saw a picture of the baby quilt which I made earlier in the year... with it's owner, my niece Amy!

Quilting Ideas

I have just been updating my other blog, and looking at the pictures reminded me that while in France we visited Suscinio Chateau... Inside, one of the floors really caught my eye - I thought it would make a great pattern for a quilt! The floor is 13th or 14th century. Wonderful how well it has lasted.
Maybe something I shall be working on in the future, anyway.

Well we came (reluctantly) back from France a week ago, but have visited Nottingham and Yorkshire since then, so I have not had much time for crafting... I did have time for some internet fabric shopping though!!
Amongst quite a few other fabrics, I bought this selection - quite funny considering orange and purple are my least favourite colours!

Sewing in France

My daughter and I are in McDonalds in France - with internet access! Just a quick post... thought I would show you my little sewing corner in our living room over here.Something I have wanted to make for ages - bunting. Finally made some out here, and love how it turned out!

Lots of half-square triangles for my Aviary fabrics quilt. I got most of the quilt top sewn together, but then disaster... my sewing machine needle snapped! I don't have another with me and there are hardly any shops round here, never mind sewing shops!! So just been working on my hand sewn hexie quilt when I get jittery fingers now...

Off to Paris this week, then England at the weekend. This really feels like home here, and I'm not sure I want to get back! (Though I am craving that new needle...)

Bye for a bit!

I should just mention that I will be away in France now for 5 weeks - no internet access (or TV or phone for that matter!), so I won't be posting anything for a while. I'm going to take my sewing machine with me though!
A bientot!

Teachers' Presents

I wanted something we could make for the children's teachers and playgroup leaders, and that wouldn't be too expensive as we were doing 12, so bought these hardbacked note books, and decorated the fronts.

Not much quilting lately... just some mini hexies. I did go to a quilting group at a nearby village, though, for the first time this week. Lowered the average age somewhat, and had a good laugh with my new-found friends!

Grandma's Birthday

A card to my Grandma, to celebrate her 91st birthday!

And the challenge over at Caardvarks is to create a birthday card. For this one I used K&Co papers, and the Stampin' Up/Sizzix alphabet to cut a layer of chipboard and paper for each letter, to add some dimension.

A couple of cards

I needed a few cards this week...A lady from church recently gave me a really nice professional pen set that had belonged to her late husband, so I drew this with them and watercoloured pencilled it in, for her.

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.

Don't look, Katy!

My sister Katy liked the colours of the Wonky Squares quilt I made, so I've used the same fabrics to start a quilt (or wall hanging) for my niece Amy, who will be one year old soon.

I wanted to try out the technique where you sew on patches, leaving raw edges, then wash & dry it to soften up the edges. I just cut out patches at random, and layed them all out, then pinned them on ready to sew. I hope it works!

I got the idea from the 'Scruffily Quilt' shown here.