fabric and flowers

Here are my latest purchases - they all arrived in the post together so I had a lovely 10 minutes opening my parcels and stroking my new fabric!

The plains are from a new online shop Simply Solids. Finally the UK has got somewhere to buy Kona solids from! I also splashed out on a swatch card - a bit pricey at £12 but so worth it. It will earn its keep as I will no longer be wasting money buying plain fabrics only to discover the colour is wrong when they arrive.

My patterned fabrics are from Saints and Pinners and Fabric Rehab - two UK stores always guaranteed to have lots of lovely things to choose from. All in all we are starting to do pretty well as far as shops go. Lily's quilts (another UK blogger) has compiled a list of UK online fabric shops on her blog that is well worth a look - she had a few on her list I had not come across before. Her blog is fab as well!

Finally I picked these flowers on my allotment at 6:30 this morning on an adventure and raspberry munching walk with my two boys (they are both early risers). Some sweet peas, a few sprigs of herbs and wild flowers from my asparagus bed (it really needs a good weed if there are flowers in it!!) Enjoy your weekend!

lucky me!

Well I was on a roll when the Sew Mama Sew giveaway was on, because I not only won this giveaway, but some more scrummy yummy fabric. Oh yes - it is indeed Heather Ross from Spoonflower! This was the giveaway from the very lovely tigglegiggles who is also the brains behind the 3x6 mini bee I am loving so much. Thank you so much Tiffany, much happiness and excitement was once more present in my house as I opened up my packet from the US! That fabric is in my 'stroke and admire' pile for a bit.

Onto my list. Well there is not really that much to report as work has had to take priority (boo) but I did manage to get fabric chosen and cut out for the birthday quilt I have to get done by the end of June. It is for a 3 year old girl, so will be pink and pretty but not too babyish. I still want to get the dogs and robots quilt finished soon but I have not had the space or time to get it pinned ready for quilting. This is my main task for the week. Well have a great week everyone and hopefully next time I post I will have a bit more progress to show you!

Happiness

What could be more exciting than coming home from work to find this waiting for me!

I was lucky enough to win a Sew Mama Sew Giveaway from this very kind blogger.

Not only did Judy send me the cute cat panel she had made, but lots and lots of wonderful scraps and snippets. Judy read on my blog that I am making my son an eye spy quilt so she sent me bits and bobs left over from making eye spy quilts for her grandchildren. How thoughtful and lovely is that? Quilty bloggers are just the best!

Thank you so much Judy - I am going to have lots of fun making things with these fabrics - they have gone to a very appreciative home! Judy is also planning a trip to the UK and I would love to meet her and show her some of my local area. What we don't have in fabric shops we can certainly make up for in castles, stately homes, car boot sales and craft centers! Oh, and cups of tea of course. Lots of tea :-)

spring raggedy

I wanted to make something small, fun and with a feel of spring about it. I think this little rag quilt fits the bill perfectly! As there was very little sewing in comparison to the amount of cutting out and snipping I had to do I was able to do odd bits here and there without having to set out my machine and iron. (This is complicated as it involves having a clear kitchen table and no children underfoot who would try and climb the ironing board!) The fabric is by Saffron Craig. I may have to get some more of this - I adore it and now it is all gone! I know I know, fabric is there to be used not just stuck on a shelf to be stroked but I don't like it when I use my last bit of something!

finishing off

I am really pleased to finally report a finish! The blocks sent to me by the First Quilting Bee ladies have been turned into this wonderful hanging for the upstairs landing. Isn't it brilliant? All the blocks are amazing and I have made some great new friends. I am so happy to have joined three quilting bees - I would love to join more but have to be realistic about the amount of time I have to spend sewing. I have to accept that at this point in my life, with a full time job, two young children, an allotment and the need to get at least eight hours sleep each night my sewing time is a lot less than I would like it to be :-)



I completed the next set of blocks for the same Bee - the lady they are for rerquested stars of all types, suspended in a white background. She sent over some lovely blue and green fabric for me to play with. I have discovered that I am not very good at following a pattern (the friendship star) and need lots more practice with accurate cutting out!



Finally I could not resist buying this amazingly cute donkey and wellie fabric from here. I have no idea what I am going to do with it - I just had to have it, you know how it is :-) Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

Giveaway Winners!

I have had a brilliant few days entering giveaways, checking out new blogs and reading all the comments on my giveaway - what fun! Of course that means that very little sewing got done round here - some sewing on my Christmas Quilt happened and I chose fabric based on a rainbow theme and posted it out for a new bee I have joined:


Anyway, onto the winners! Firstly the winner for the Arcadia Fabric:

Random.org spoke to me and said that cat is the winner!
Cat siad:
'This is very pretty, not something I have come across before. How happy giveaways are!'
Cat - please will you get in touch with your address so I can post your fabirc off to you. I cannot email you as I cannot see your blogger details! Thanks to everyone who entered and to all the other blog people out there who had a giveaway of their own.
Secondly I wanted to do a giveaway for all those kind people who have previously left a comment on my blog. I do appreciate every one. I wish I could send you all something! Anyway, Random spoke again and this time said Anna - otherwise known as Thimbleanna. Hers was one of the first blogs I started reading - it is a great mixture of sewing, cooking and general life. I love it! So thank you Anna for leaving me lovely comments and please get in touch with your details. As for what you have won, well it is a surprise but it will include something to eat, something to read and something I made!

euro bee stash

I could not resist showing you my growing stash of aqua, red and white fabric ready for my month of the Euro Bee.

My month is not until August, but I really want to get as wide a variety of fabrics as possible so have been slowly collecting bits as I have found them.

I think my biggest problem will be resisting the temptation to start using them before next summer!

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!

festival of quilts

I went to the festival of quilts today at the NEC. I am really lucky - I only live 15 mins away by car. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so no pictures of the amazing quilts on display - boo! There were of course endless shops full of all manner of goodies, droolworthy sewing machines, interesting gadgets and endless quilting books and patterns to enjoy. I found some new bits to add to my growing aqua and red stash:

and some Paula Prass cobblestones just because:

I have however come away from the show not exactly disappointed but a bit unfulfilled I suppose (sounds a bit melodramatic - I still had a really fun day!). I think it was because much of the fabric was very traditional (nothing wrong with that - it's just not always my thing) and lots of it was fabric and designers I could get easily online. There was very little in the way of new, rare or unusual. I did however find this UK designer and fell in love with her origami fabric. Isn't it great!

I am off with the family camping and LARPing. I have been busy making costume for my son over the last few days but ran out of time for photos. I will have to take some whilst we are away. Have a great weekend!

euro bee

Well these are my first ever squares for a quilting bee. I was invited by Hanies to join one based in Europe and jumped at the chance. There are twelve of us from Germany, the UK, Denmark and Portugal. It was a bit nerve wracking cutting into fabric belonging to someone else but once I got going I loved the challenge.

These blocks are made using Lizzy Dish fabric and are for Isa. My round is not until August next year which is fine by me. I would prefer to have the chance to make a few blocks first and get a feel for how much fabric to send out to people before I have to organise a round (and choose and idea for a quilt!) Our progress is being recorded on our Flickr group. I also decided to post a photo of the back of one of my squares..... I don't know any 'real life' quilters so have no idea what a good back should look like! I am guessing mine is messier than some and tidier than others! I am sure it will get neater with practice.

Finally, have a look at this new fabric line designed by Jessica over at Juicy Bits. It looks wonderful and I hope some of it ends up in the UK!

Prints Charming

I have finally done it. After weeks of stroking and admiring I cut into my stash of prints charming and started sewing. It is destined to be a little quilt for my baby niece. I may have a hard time giving it up however. I adore this fabric. What is it about Australia? Is there something in the water? There are the most amazing designers out there coming up with the most wonderful fabric. I have just come across Saffron Craig and I NEED some of her dandelion circles fabric to go with my Prints Charming baby paisley in taupe. Luckily I have found a shop in the UK that sells it so if money allows this month I will be getting some. I am off visiting family in Devon for a few days so am taking a quilt to finish off -there is just the hand sewn bit of the binding to go on my grey and lilac quilt. See you next week!

rainbows

I am easily distracted. My plan to work on my new purple and grey quilt went out the window and instead I have been having lots of fun playing with colour. I am part of this Flickr group and have been inspired by some of the wonderful ways people have been experimenting with changing fabric. Last night I had an idea to paint bleach onto fabric, so this morning I did just that! I am really happy with the results but would go for a thinner brush next time. I only had a chunky one belonging to my son to experiment with.



All I did was make up a water and bleach mixture and then paint it onto plain coloured cotton. If it did not change the colour enough I went over it again with neat bleach and left to develop for a while. Everything was then popped in the washing machine. I will be turning the results into a wall hanging of some description.



I also finished off this rag quilt for a 5th birthday present. Tomorrow I will be back on track with my purple/grey quilt, unless late night inspiration strikes again!

new

New fabric:


More new fabric:



New WIP:


So many possibilities!

kawaii quilt

This is my new wip. It is a pushchair/car seat quilt for my baby boy made using Japanese linens. The fabrics are very cute! I was lucky enough to discover this UK based Etsy store run by Stacy. She sells fabric in fat sixes which means I get to buy more designs for my money. Stacy is very helpful and her fabrics are wonderful! Here are a few of my favourites:

Mary Poppin boo pigs:


Russian dolls:


Coffee making mini bears:


Green Forest:



Little Red Riding Hood:


Alice in Wonderland:



My plan is to complete this quilt for the weekend before starting a grey and purple improv style one.

sometimes it's not just bills in the post!

An exciting packet arrived for me....



Look what I got! Lots and lots of lovely fabric thanks to r0ssie and her Flickr group, take charge, DISCHARGE! give it a try, OVERDYE!



There are some great pictures of peoples experiments and joining the group has opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Here was my bleach experiment:



To start things off she organised a fabric giveaway and I was lucky enough to win one of three wonderful fabric bundles. Isn't that a fabulous pile of pretty fabrics? r0ssie is so generous and I am very happy!



I really fancy trying overdying next with the two pieces of red fabric r0ssie sent. As for the rest, well that is going to be used in a quilt for a little girls birthday.