made it!

I finished my two quilt challenge just in time. These quilts are for birthday boys and their birthday is tomorrow! Phew - there is nothing like a deadline to keep you motivated. The boys are identical twins and their mum has just started dressing them in different colours to make it easier for people to know who is who! As a lucky coincidence one boy has been given red/brown clothes and the other blue/green to wear. I didn't know this until after I had started making these quilts but it made it very easy deciding which quilt to give to which twin! Please excuse the poor photos - the weather was not cooperating today so i was unable to take any nice photos outdoors or even in natural light.

The only thing I am not happy with is the amount of crinkling on the quilts. I would have preferred them smoother. They looked a lot neater before they had their wash and tumble dry. I don't know why - maybe it is because smoother suits straight line quilting more. Never mind - it is a small niggle, otherwise I am very pleased. The fabrics are all child friendly without being too babyish - hopefully the boys will enjoy their quilts into toddlerhood and beyond!

Next challenge - spiderweb blocks and starting on a Christmas quilt for me and my boys to snuggle under this winter.

lovely stuff

I am having a really productive week spurred on by the fact that I have two quilts to finish by next week! They are a pair of cot sized quilts for twins. The first one is orange and brown and is being quilted at the moment:

The second is green and blue and here is the binding ready for folding and ironing:

I also made my block for the Euro Bee, but please excuse the terrible photo:

I am starting to feel like my sewing groove is coming back!

Quilt Festival

Amy at Park City Girl is hosting her Bloggers Festival of Quilts and this time I get to join in! Last time I had not even completed my first quilt and did not even have a blog - so much has changed since then! I don't have masses of quilts to choose from as I am still so knew to quilting, so I will tell you about my first quilt. It was made using a tutorial by Oh Fransson and was my first effort using a pattern, modern fabrics, binding and well everything really!

I loved the process of choosing my fabrics (the Amy Butler Belle is my favourite) and seeing my quilt slowly come together.

Surprisingly my favourite part was making and sewing the binding - I was expecting to dislike that bit but found it really relaxing.

So there you go - my first quilt! Have fun looking at all the amazing quilts at the festival.

rag quilt done

Well after much snipping I have finally got the rag quilt finished for a first birthday present. I am really pleased with how it has turned out but it was a lot of work - more than I was expecting! Cutting out all the squares (top, wadding and backing fabric) was a bit of a pain. Thanks must go to Katy - she sent me lots of wadding scraps a while ago which I was able to use in this quilt.

I am going to give it another wash and tumble dry just to fluff out the raggedy bits even more before going on to my next challenge - quilts for twin boys by the end of October - eek!

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progress

Well it has been a crazy hectic couple of weeks. After my last post bemoaning the fact that I had no time or space to get any sewing done the situation got even worse - the school I teach at had an OFSTED inspection. Well I say the school - it was actually just the department I teach in! OFSTED inspections only give you a few days warning before they drop in so I have been beyond busy as I am sure you can imagine. Everything went well and we got a great report so we are all very happy.
The relief at reaching the end of last week was immense and I have finally been able to have a nice relaxing weekend full of walks, conker hunting and sewing - yay!
This is my rag quilt in the making for a baby boy - his first birthday present in fact. My plan is to get it finished by Thursday so that I can sit and watch TV in the evening and do all the snipping. Have a good week everyone.

not much sewing but lots of growing!

Now I am back at work full time after my maternity leave I am finding it really difficult to get any sewing done. A lack of time, motivation (I am shattered come 7 pm when the boys are in bed) and space are all adding to the problem. I don't have anywhere just for me to sew - I have to make do with the kitchen table which of course needs clearing for meals. So whilst I am itching to get on with my list of projects nothing much is actually happening. I am hoping that as work settles down a bit more and I get used to it again I will find some space to get going once more. I have to get a quilt made for the middle of October for a first birthday, followed by two more for twins by November. Eeek! I really need to get in the zone again!

On a much more satisfying note, here is my haul from the allotment this morning - we are having a roast for dinner with all the trimmings. The red potatoes are Roosters and make the best roasties ever. Tea today will be yummy!

mini projects in progress

I have had very little time for sewing over the last few weeks. I have loads of quilts I would like to make but cannot seem to get started on them. Instead I decided to have a go making a couple of smaller things, so have been doing a couple of mini projects on and off in odd ten minutes here and there. My first will become a furoshiki once it is backed. I plan to use it for taking my lunch to work.

Secondly I have been experimenting with bleach painting again and plan to turn this into a chair cover.

The above photos were taken outside on a wet and windy evening in Warwickshire. Here are a couple of shots of the sky just as I was finishing - the colours are amazing!