Larking around and Cool Britannia

Today I put into motion a bit of sewing for me again, I know I should be slaving away at the Christmas Makes list but I'm always so easily distracted! Since receiving the very beautiful Lark by Amy Butler I have been mulling over ideas for using it. Here's one of them that I've very unimaginatively named 'Larking Around'. I've been meaning to make something with equilateral triangles for ages, this will be a quilt eventually :) Excuse the extremely hideous floral ironing-board.

After establishing that I could accurately piece the triangles I thought I'd better get to work on crossing something else off the Christmas makes list. I've done my take on Lynne's Double Fat Jack, Cool Britannia; this will be another man gift. Loving all that Echino :) I'm not sure yet whether it will be a monster cushion or a wall-hanging. Hubby tells me that it's far too cool for the intended recipient but I'm not for turning ;-)

Catch you soon x

A manly cushion

Today I set about crossing off an item from my Christmas makes list. I'm pleased to say I achieved my goal by whipping up a "manly cushion". I bought these 'Modern Grace' fabrics from Kaelin (the plaid scottie) when she was a having a destash and thought they'd be good for a 'man present'. Men are so difficult to make for but I hope that the use of these masculine colours will pass muster.

The back is a bit busier than I intended but I think it should still be ok.

I'm delighted to be crossing a man present off the list, only another 4 men to make for!! Catch you soon x

Wouldn't you know it?

I finished the Echo framed quilt in enough time to get some photos in decent light!!

I have to admit I love it! It feels very modern and funky to me. Here are some close-ups of the details. I bound with a print from Innocent Crush.

Backed with a house print from Ikea.

Straight-line quilted with a mustard/gold thread.

Then, wouldn't you know it...claimed by the teenager!! Darn, I felt certain this would be far too colourful for her tastes but apparently not. It now resides in her pit room!

I also finished the tree skirts today! Woohoo! This rather dodgy picture shows the tree skirt for my Savvy Seasons Swap partner.

I bound it with green and white twill ribbon which was marginally easier than with bias-binding. I cheated by sewing it on by machine. The binding is far from perfect but I hope my partner will appreciate how flipping difficult it was and forgive my inadequacy in that area ;)

Then for contrast, here's my finished tree skirt. I love how Carol's pattern translates so beautifully regardless of the fabrics used!

Tomorrow I'd better crack on with some of the items from the Christmas makes list! Catch you soon x

Echo

After seeing Echo by Lotta Jansdotter in various online locations I had to get some for myself! I found that Raystitch do a charm pack of the range which was a bonus :) The prints are fabulous and I didn't want to cut them up any further so decided they were crying out for some solid colour frames. Hooray for hubby and my birthday stack of solids!

I dug out 8 co-ordinating solids and set to making frames. They went together really quickly and the top was soon finished!

Needless to say by the time I got the top finished the light had gone! Here's a shot of it anyway to give you an idea of where I'm going.

I've actually finished it now apart from the hand-stitching of the binding so I'm hoping for decent light tomorrow so I can get some better pictures. Lotta Jansdotter, your designs rock! Catch you soon x

Brit Quilt Swap received

The postlady delivered my Brit Quilt Swap today! Woohoo! I wasted no time in opening it and it is already in use :) My partner was the very talented Judith (needles and lemons) who I sent to in the last round! Check out all these details...

text prints, melody miller, innocent crush, linen....the list goes on. So much yummy fabric in one place! It's so lovely to finally have a crosses cushion all of my own. I have made so many but have never kept one!

Judith also sent this organiser pouch with the cushion.

look at those tiny crosses...

and this little detail is just perfect for the Brit Quilt Swap, a miniature British Passport. That is just too cool!!

I just love it all and it's in use already :) Thank you Judith for making such a perfect cushion, just for me!

Note to my partner: Your parcel will be on its way to you this afternoon is on it's way :) Catch you soon x

A bag...of course

After reading your comments I did the only sensible thing I could do with the Snowman in his Winter Woolies and turned him into a bag :) I think his new owner will love swinging this around!

Today I bit the bullet and wrote my Christmas makes list! It's nowhere near as scary as I thought it might be, so that's cool. I was so relaxed afterwards that I thought I'd try out one my new purse frames. I drafted a purse shape, which I referred to as the cottage loaf, and hoped for the best. The purse itself came together extremely quickly but the hand-sewing to the frame was not so quick. Next time I get purse frames I will be looking for the glue-in type as me and hand-sewing equals stress! I love this Echino print and think it will make a quirky present for someone.

I lined it with this fabulous purple Echino linen. Yum! I have 2 more purse frames in different sizes so I think tomorrow I will be experimenting with them, right after I post my Brit Quilt Swap out to my partner.

Catch you soon x

Snowy day

I've been playing at paper piecing again today :) I used Kerry's fabulous Winter Woolies pattern as the basis for this little snowman. He's far from perfect but I think his new owner will be forgiving of that, given that she is not quite 2.

A few little French knots for coal and some back-stitch twigs and there he is. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with him yet but I'm thinking either a little bag or a wall hanging. Do you have any other ideas for a not quite 2 year old? All ideas gratefully received :)

Catch you soon x

Santa's little helper

I'm ridiculously excited to show you what I made with the bundle of lovelies I showed you yesterday! Thanks to those brave enough to hazard a guess :) While bunting would have been cute, I have to say I think this little apron is cuter!

I bound the bottom of the apron with the green striped twill and edged the bib with the ric-rac. I made the tie a halterneck for a more universal fit. The last full apron I made was a bit snug around the rather ample bosom and I didn't want to risk my partner having the same issue :)

There's a cute and completely impractical little pocket but I figured this apron is all about the image and not the practicality :)

And just because I'm daft and this apron makes me think of Santa's little helpers...

I think I look slightly stern in this one but the one where I smiled would have scared the children ;) I'm fairly hopeful that my partner will like this, if not I'll keep it! Catch you soon x

In need of a change

As much as I am loving the Christmas tree skirts, the binding is driving me mad! Scallop-edged binding is nuts! This little beauty for my Savvy Seasons Swap partner is patiently waiting for me to quilt it and that may happen tomorrow.

Today, however, in search of sanity I turned to this little pile of goodies. They are also for the Savvy Seasons Swap. Their transformation is almost complete but I wonder if you can guess what these will become?

Catch you soon x

Relentless

Today our post-person narrowly avoided a premature death, for waking me before 9am, by delivering me 2 packages of yummy fabrics! The first package contained these yummy hand screen printed fabrics from Karen (Blueberry Park). I really love Karen's style as you may have seen here and here. The package also contained two handmade notebooks in the same designs which are fabulous and excellent value! I'm not on commission I just think Karen's work is beautiful and think you should check it out if you haven't already :)

The second package came all the way from the USA and contained LARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm beyond delighted to have this in my possession!! Amy Butler's done it again,a fabulous range of fabrics and I think there are more winners in this little lot than in the Soul Blossoms collection. When Christmas sewing commitments are out the way I will be playing with these!

Once I'd finished stroking my new fabrics and recovered from my early wake-up I got on with the Christmas tree skirt for my Savvy Seasons swap partner. I was a bit reticent about making another one so soon after making my own but my partner is worth it and actually the process hasn't been anywhere near as relentless as I thought it would be. The general consensus was for a more scrappy feel than my own Countdown to Christmas skirt. I dug through my scraps and found that in general they are quite bright and not very Christmassy. Let's just say I was beginning to panic about whether my partner would wish they'd kept their mouth shut about scrappy.

I made up the first tree to see if I felt any more confident about the scrappiness and the answer was no, still not confident.

Oh well, never mind I'll battle on and see how it goes.... Finally this evening I am much happier with the scrappiness! The reds have really pulled the whole thing together for me and I'm confident that my partner will like it too. This hideous photo shows progress to date.

I'm hoping for a delivery tomorrow that will enable me to finish this and my own skirt and then I will be a happy crafter :) Catch you soon x

Tree skirt progress

I've plodded away at the Christmas tree skirt all week and it's now ready for quilting :) Carol's pattern is super easy to follow! Even though I have cheated by using bigger strips of fabric than shown in the pattern I think it is still effective, if slightly less scrappy.

The Countdown to christmas fabric is so fresh and funky, I just love it! Here's a close-up of one of the trees so you can get an idea if you haven't seen the fabric before :)

I used 2 of the red and white prints from Sherbet Pips to add some extra interest in the curved sections of the tree, and to preserve some of the remaining red charms from the Countdown to Christmas range for another project :) Now all that remains is to quilt and bind! Bind!! Yikes, nearly 6 metres of binding and most of it curved....I suggest you put in ear plugs to drown out my cursing ;) Catch you soon x

Bragging

First things first....look what I got!! Woohoo! All the way from Australia Aneela Hoey's new line A walk in the woods. Mum and I were beyond excited to be able to have these goodies in our hands so early....hooray for Twitter :) Don't expect to see anything made with these for a while as I'm just going to enjoy looking at them and stroking them for now ;)

I got on and finished the cushion for my Brit Quilt partner today and here I go bragging again...I love it! I umm-ed and ahh-ed over the best course of action to show off the paper piecing and finally decided a neutral frame with simple quilting would do the trick.

I used a variegated blue thread from Aurifil that Lynne sent me a few weeks ago :) Yay! It's great, quite a thick thread that I'm guessing is more suitable for hand sewing but it worked a treat in my machine even if I did end up with fluff everywhere afterwards. I echo quilted the hexagon several times and left it at that.

The label is nothing fancy but I decided to leave it visible on the back of the cushion rather than hide it on the inside.

So with the Brit Quilt cushion completed I gave myself leave to do a little sewing for home. Carol sent me a fabulous Christmas Tree Skirt pattern, with 'me in fabric', so what better project to bring some fabric-y cheer to our home during the festive period. I'm using Sweetwater's Countdown to Christmas and I've got a feeling this will be well loved for many years! Thanks Carol.

Catch you soon :) xx

Still here

It's been a while but I'm back. Last week it was my birthday and dear hubby gave me this fabulous stack of goodness!! Typically the colours are much better in person or if you want to see a better photo this is the place to go :) It is so lovely to have all these yummy solids at hand so I can just grab one when I feel an injection of solid colour is required :)

There has been quite a bit of sewing activity around here but I'm not able to show you just yet...soon though :)

I've joined another swap which I could probably have done without, as I'm planning on a handmade Christmas again this year, but I couldn't resist the Savvy Seasons Swap after the first round was such fun!! Partners have just been allocated and I'm beyond excited to be making for my partner :) I've just had a few new craft books and this one in particular is perfect for both me and my partner. There are so many lovely projects in this book...if you need some inspiration or just enjoy pretty craft books I recommend this one strongly! This evening I have been channelling the Scandinavian vibe and in particular, bunting. The huge wad of perle threads I bought a while back after reading Jan's blog will be in action and I know my partner will approve :)

I'll try to be more talkative this week :) Catch you soon x