A busy year

So I have been busy with work, children, allotments and life since I last posted. Here are some of the things I have been doing:

1. Making masses of bunting, throws for hay bales and other crafty bits for a dear friends wedding this summer. This took up most of my sewing time last winter and spring. The day was perfect - decent weather, good company and happiness all round. The reception was in a beautiful old barn. My quilts decorated the walls and friends brought flowers from their gardens and baked cakes to share. Other friends in a band provided the music and we all camped in the farmers field. A perfect time was had by all.

 

 

2. Making a picnic quilt - made from The Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric - perfect for a picnic blanket!

 

 

 

3. Entering my very first ever quilt competition. I decided that I wanted to challenge myself this year so took the plunge and entered the Festival of Quilts contemporary quilt category. Even though my quilt was nowhere near perfect and got slated by the judges I am still proud of myself for entering!

 



 

4. Completing a quilt made from Bee blocks collected in 2011. My inspiration was springtime in England and my finished quilt fits the description perfectly! I was made some stunning blocks by people from all over the world.

 

 

 

5. Making a few squares to contribute to a group over on flickr - Siblings Together

 

 

 

 

I now have to make two quilts between now and Christmas for my children. Eek! I better make the most of this afternoon then whilst my children are out. Bye for now xx



 



busy doing nothing

Well nothing blog related that is! I always knew I would be a sporadic and occasional blogger but only three posts this year? Oops! I am very busy with work, family and the allotment so sewing has come last place of late. Bee blocks are still being made, which will result in enough blocks to make at least two if not three quilts in the winter when outdoor demands are a lot less.

Here are a few blocks - all bee ones apart from the scrappy 2 inch square block. This is a very long term project to try and bring control to my stash and use up all those scraps!

Well I am not sure when I will be back - I might try to manage two posts in July but no promises :-)

Easter

Easter has been lovely - weather perfect, time to relax, family visited, allotment planted and of course some sewing done. All the above are bee blocks made using this tutorial. I am back at work tomorrow for just three days before a four day weekend. Hurrah for Kate and William getting married and giving us the day off! The bunting is going up tomorrow :-)

time flies

So it would appear that I haven't posted since just before Christmas! What can I say? Time goes way too fast. Apart from over the last two weeks when both my boys came down with chicken pox. Then it went a bit slower. Especially at night. Poor old Itchy and Scratchy, they had a rough time of it! Sewing has been limited - I think I burnt out after my crazy quiltathon just before Christmas. The quilts were well recieved by both the boys and are in use every day, which makes me feel very happy! Here is my only offering from the past month and a half - blocks for the 3x6 quilting bee:



Hopefully things will speed up a bit and I will have something else to show you soon!

Christmas finish

Phew! One down, one to go! Here is my finished eye spy quilt for youngest son. Twenty six different quilters contributed blocks to this quilt via the 3x6 bee. I love the fact that this quilt has had so many hands working on it. Not only does it make the quilt perfect in terms of wonderful block and fabric variety, but it represents everything great about online bees and quilters in general. I used lots of scraps for the binding and used a plain blue sheet for the backing. The second quilt for eldest son is also nearing completion - a good job too as there are only three sleeps until Christmas!

progress

Six blocks made for my hive peeps in the 3x6 mini bee:

Two more rows added to my ever growing eye spy quilt:

Yipeeee! I nearly have a quilt top! I am on a bit of a roll at the moment - I hope your sewing is going as well!

Shhhhh - top secret!

No sewing from me alas, but look at the pretties sent to me by my Bee peeps. These six fabulous blocks are to be added to the eye spy quilt I am making for my two year old, courtesy of the 3x6 mini bee:


These beauties are the start of the top secret star wars quilt I am making for my soon to be seven year old and are from the Euro Bee:

I am very excited about making these two quilts. The eye spy quilt isn't so top secret, but the eldest has no idea I am making him a star wars quilt - I will be doing some late night sewing when he is abed to get it completed for Christmas. Oops, sorry - I said the C word :-)

union jacks

Well after a couple of weeks of sewing I finally have completed my six blocks for the 3x6 mini bee over on Flickr. Sewing time has been squeezed in around hectic planting and weeding on the allotment. The first spring crops are starting to be harvested, with asparagus, pakchoi and salads now a regular on our table.

As the only Brit in my bee I decided to go with a Union Jack inspired block, using the colour choices my beehive peeps requested. They caused a great deal of head scratching, a bit of swearing and some taking out of wrong seams and re-sewing but I got there in the end!

Bee Blocks Galore!

I have just finished six blocks for the 3x6 mini bee I joined. The idea is that we are in 'beehives' of seven people, and we make the same block for everyone in the group. We were all able to specify particular colours, likes and dislikes but the block itself and the fabric used will be a surprise. I requested a mix of fabric and patterns as I would like to make an eye spy quilt for my little one. For my six blocks to send out I decided to try stripes. I am really happy with the results!

Requested: grey, pink, white



Requested: green and turquoise



Requested: red, white, aqua



Requested: a rainbow with critters!



Requested: blue, green, orange, white and yellow



Requested: a rainbow, no orange



I got these six blocks completed in four days and have loved seeing how the same design can look so different depending on the fabrics used. As well as sewing I have been counting my blessings over the past week. Haiti is a sharp reminder to give thanks for so many good things in my life and never to take it for granted.

If that wasn't enough sewing I also completed two blocks for another quilting bee I am in. I think I am going to give my sewing machine the day off tomorrow!