A New Start for the New Year!

Look what dropped through my letter box this morning…..millefiori quilts!

This one had totally passed me by until I saw an amazingly beautiful completed quilt which planted a little seed in my mind that has been growing and growing.

‘Should I give it a go I asked myself?’

‘Yes, you should.’ was the answer!!

Might take me a while to get all the stuff together, but can’t wait to start pulling fabrics.

I also managed to finish the meditation cushion that I’ve been making for my friend.

I used these instructions, which I adapted to make it a little prettier and stronger as it would be slightly disruptive if it popped during her teaching!!

I ordered a bag of buckwheat to stuff it with and it was way bigger than expected so will be making more of these..one for myself next I think.

Would like to try and put a zip in next time maybe to allow for topping up, plus a handle.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Strip Bee – the big reveal

Back from a lovely weekend in London.

Peepo!!

You might remember that some time ago, in fact around a year ago I joined a strip bee. Six of us took turns in swapping quilts, each time adding a new strip to someone else’s quilt top.

For me it all kicked off with this strip and grew from there.

This weekend we all met up to return the completed quilt tops to their rightful owners!

It’s amazing how well all the quilt strips co-ordinate with each other. Everyone really considered the original maker and their tastes which has resulted in loads of fantastic quilt tops as you can see………..

The lovely host Jen’s quilt

Jen’s quilt top started off with the centre yellow and pink strip, it kind of reminded me of Fruit Salad sweets! It’s such a lovely bright combo and really reflects Jen’s sunny personality. I love the little economy blocks that Fran added at the bottom reflecting the bigger version throughout, it works really well.

Julie’s Quilt

Julie’s quilt is a massive contrast to Jen’s! She is a big fan of organic fabrics and I know I tried to include a fair number in there…unfortunately this meant I just *had* to buy some new fabrics, shame! Mine was the top strip and I think this was my favourite one to make, maybe because I got to make teeny tiny dividing lines, which for some bizarre reason I really enjoy.

Fran’s Quilt

I loved Fran’s starting strip, stars are always a hit with me and those llamas that Sarah added are just the cutest!

Sarah’s Quilt

Sarah’s quilt is such a pretty colour combination. I love the fabrics she chose for the snowball blocks and they are matched so perfectly throughout by everyone else. Jen’s mugs at the bottom are a really fun addition.

Maria’s Quilt

Maria’s quilt is really quirky and has a great theme starting from her houses and then carried along throughout the blocks. The birds of Julie’s at the top are just beautiful. It’s like a little street scene captured in a quilt…. a real story being told.

My Quilt

With me…..

Without me…..

Finally my quilt which is quite simply AMAZING, I can’t believe how well it has turned out. When I created my starter strip I really didn’t know what was expected, I now realise no one else was expecting my strip!! As soon as I saw a little peak of Sarah’s portholes I knew it was going to be fab and it definitely doesn’t disappoint!!

 The question is now…..how to quilt it?!

I Spy Baby Quilt – ALYoF May

This month has been spent making things for my soon to be niece.

I did think I might be late with these, but actually it’s the baby that’s late!!

She (not sure of the name yet) was due 2 weeks ago and with a little help will be here in the next couple of days.

Anyway when she does arrive she will have a nice pile of quilty goodies!

I made a couple of burp cloths and a light blanket using a stripy knit and some beautiful double gauze. These feel so soft and really comforting I kind of want to keep one for myself. My daughter will certainly be sad to see them go!!

I also finally plucked up the courage to try Ayumi’s fabric basket and found it was actually quite simple. Going to be making a bigger version of this for myself…something else for the list!

If you remember back to this post you will know that I was also starting an I Spy quilt and that I was undecided on what to do about the background.

Thank you very much for all your comments, I did spend a while considering them …no really I did. But then looking for fabrics and not really finding what I wanted the beautiful Lotta Jansdotter fabric caught my eye.

• First thing I thought was……pattern on pattern could be nice
• Then……………it’s dark so not going to get dirty
• And……….babies like the black and white, so it’s got to be good

That was it, it was in my basket and sold!!

I also went for Lotta on the back too as those little seedlings are just too cute to resist.

I was going to go for a grid pattern for quilting, but after finishing the vertical lines I kind of felt that more of those would look better and give a nicer texture to it so that’s what I did.

My quilting has definitely improved since my earlier attempts, it’s still quite wonky, but the stitches are more even and I wasn’t shouting at the sewing machine quite so much this time. My binding was also much neater which is the biggest cause of stress for me.

I’ve ended up liking this much more than I expected. It started off as a bunch of scraps but has become something so pretty. I hope the new baby enjoys snuggling in or on it.

Quilt Stats

Pattern:  Made up!

Size:  38″ x 42.5″

 Fabrics:

• Les Amis
• Indian Summer
• Out to Sea
• Wee Wander
• Sketch
• Briar Rose

Sashing and Backing Fabric: Sylvia- Lotta Jansdotter

Binding: Kona Solids – Cypress

Quilting: Machine quilted by me!

Linking up with ALYoF

It’s A Cinch Tote Bag!

So I finished this a while ago and put a pic on instagram, but am just catching up on the blog!

Way back when I won a quilty voucher for Pink Chalk Fabrics, it was a happy day!

I had been wanting to make myself a new bag for a while so I invested in some beautiful Lisa Congdon fabric. Then set about searching for something suitable.

The bag had to be:

• Big but not too big
• An over the shoulder style
• Zip up-able
• Able to frame the fabric
• And…a little bit of a challenge

I found this in the It’s A Cinch Tote from Uhandbag.

I must say that I definitely found it a challenge, mainly because I kept making stupid mistakes or didn’t have the right stuff.

May Goals – I Spy Baby Quilt

I’m getting on with my goals again. Or rather blogging about them, I have actually completed what I said I would I’ve just not written about it.

This month my goal is very simple:

• Make a floor mat/quilt for my sister’s baby which is due in 2 weeks – eek!

When deciding what to make I knew it had to by fairly simple (my sister likes simple), cute and colourful. No white!

She has been told it’s definitely, definitely a girl so I think I’m pretty safe picking these colours.

One thing I really love is a good novelty fabric. I can while away many an hour sat on my Bloom Bloom Pow spotting all the goings on in the little scenes.

Because of this an I-Spy stylee instantly came to mind as it’s perfect for showing off some cute pics.

I’m not sure whether to include the two fabrics above as, although super cute, I don’t know if I should limit the colour scheme a little.

What do you think?

Supposed to be on fabric fast, buuut I might have to buy some more novelties, just maybe!

Any suggestions for a background colour are also welcomed. I’ll probably just go for the usual fallback grey again, but we’ll see!!

 

Linking up with ALYoF

 and WIP Wednesday with Quokka Quilts

 

 

 

Quilty Bucket List!

There’s a great blog hop that’s just started.

Yes, you guessed it ‘Quilty Bucket List‘ over at The Tilted Quilt.

I LOVE lists, I am a list kind of person. It’s my way of trying to organise my very unorganised brain! I’m not sure how helpful it actually is as I tend to make a list, look at it once, forget where I’ve put it, things change, I revise list…and so on!!

I’m hoping this will help sort things out.

1. Improv Sampler Quilt

First on the list is an improv sampler…..like this beauty:

This pic led me to the hop as Heidi of Fabric Mutt is one of the first stops. I just LOVE it!

I’ve done the old City Sampler (no finished photos yet sorry!) so I’m looking for something more relaxed and a bit haphazard (in a good way)!!!

One year on……blogiversary and a giveaway!

HAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !!

Bit late…(no surprises there)….but last week was my blogiversary, yay!

One year on and I can’t believe what I’ve managed to cram into a year.

Here’s what kicked things off………..

This top and thoughts of more quilting led to my best purchase ever, my lovely Janome.

Janome enabled me to produce this baby…..

City Sampler – Ch… Ch… Ch… Ch… Charcoal!!

Well I finally came to a decision. Thanks for all your suggestions, it’s so helpful to hear what everyone out there thinks…especially if you agree with me..haha!!

I went with my intitial option…yes, you guessed it…charcoal!

I got some other Kona colours through including some Kale and Celestial, but they weren’t quite right and so tired of the brain strain I went with my gut.

Here’s a little sneak peak of the result:

City Sampler – A bit of background

As promised I’m back looking for some opinions. I managed to scrape together some possible fabrics to use as sashing/background. They are not looking the best – poor light and lack of ironing (there was no way that was going to happen!) but you get the idea.

No 1

Now ignore the pattern on the fabric…like I said I had to scrape together some examples as my stash is somewhat limited. So what I’m thinking here is Kona Cypress or Kale.

I really like this colour, but worried that some of my greens may get a bit lost.

WIP Wednesday – City Sampler 81 – 90

This needs no introduction by now, we all know what’s coming, yes it’s the city samplers…..

Block 81