giant hexies...stateside...

 my giant hexies quilt pattern has always been a big hit. i really love doing it and i really love that others do. 

it makes me smile to think of all those giant hexie quilts that must be out there...or maybe it's just the patterns...

i was about to start a blueberry park version when i had an custom order from a lovely lady in the US for me to make one for her. 

very exciting...my first commissioned quilt!

we chatted a little over Etsy and she sent me some images of colour schemes she liked and we settled on red and aqua.

 i have a lot of red and aqua in my stash so it was pretty easy finding enough fabrics to use...

and particularly since I had a couple of recent arrivals from  DS Quilts collection.

 i really really enjoyed making this quilt. it is very easy to piece - although i did it differently this time thanks to my new 'y' seam skillage acquisition.

 i have to admit though that i think my favourite part of this quilt is the back!

i started out wanting to use the pale spot at  the bottom but didn't have enough, so i pieced it with another DS Quilts fabric that the uber lovely Audrie recently sent me. i made a little panel between the two of the cut-offs and put it all together. i love it!

the photos all look a little washed out due to so much light out there today and even more bouncing off the snow we continuously seem to have this year. i'm not complaining mind. just saying.

i did make this in record time which i think made it even more enjoyable. i didn't have time to get bored of it. i was spurred on by the possibility of it cadging a lift to the US tomorrow when hubs goes on business.

i am ever so slightly concerned it will get brought straight back again or worse still, left in a hotel room somewhere.

so still only tuesday and the biggest thing of the week ticked off.

surely that must mean it will be a productive week...

...will let you know!

umbrella quilt...

 i ticked off a WIP from the list today...

after waiting for my stripes to dry (i had to print up my own binding fabric as i didn't have just the right thing in my stash) i set to sew yesterday and finished it off today.

i am so in love with this umbrella prints range and can't take my eyes off it.

a while ago i got sent some pieces from the elephants love water collection and instantly fell in love. it's no secret that umbrella prints are one of my favourite pair of clever designers and this range is a real winner. 

the red/blue combo is always a success and coupled with amy and carly's eye catching designs on beautiful organic cotton, elephants love water really is a must have range.

i wanted to do something relatively simple and let the bold designs do the talking. i paired the fabrics with some coordinating solids and backed it in a red solid for simplicity.

 more simplicity with some straight line quilting through the wonky windmills and we were done.

i really encourage you to try elephants love water if you haven't already. you won't be disappointed. check out a stockist near you here.

i've listed this baby quilt in my etsy store here. 

new skills...

 a few weeks ago i bought a new toy and after a shaky start of the wrong foot being sent i finally had a spare 5 minutes to try it out yesterday.

 me being me i jumped right on in. no trying it out on fabric to see how this would actually work.

oh no, not me, i just grabbed the nearest block hanging on my wall and set to try.

if it worked great, if it didn't, well, it wouldn't be the first time.

 i knew exactly the design i wanted to try.

i'd made this sashiko cushion a while ago. i just love the stitch and thought it would work quite well on the x+ block. i actually had this quilting design in mind for my scrappytripalong quilt and so i thought this would be a good place to try it out. see...not all blind thoughtless jumping in. there is occasionally method to my madness...occasionally.

ok so it may be a little wonky and uneven but for a first attempt, not bloody bad at all! it is actually easier than quilting with a regular foot where i seem to ruche up the back no matter how careful i am at basting.

i am really pleased with how this little block has turned out and now just a teensy bit excited to quilt the scrappytrip along.

new toys, new skills...even more sewing fun!

umbrellas and other quilt tops...

 is there any better sight than a pile of quilt tops?

 the only thing i can think of that is better is possibly a pile of completed quilts.

 january has seen me not only make 2 quilt tops from scratch but also finish off one from the WIP pile...big YAY!

 i jumped on the scrappy trip along bandwagon and made my first quilt top of the year.

 this was swiftly followed by making my Glimma quilt top...

and whilst the pressure of relative ease was still present business wise, i finished off my umbrella prints top.

i really love this top. 

the girls at umbrella prints are design geniuses and rank right up there with lotta jansdotter in my eyes (as does someone else who i'll tell you more about tomorrow).

i am hoping to tweak a little more time into my days to get these 3 quilted and bound before real work gets back to its crazy mayhem.

i'm not sure if i'll succeed but i think you will agree it's a damn good start to the year!

let normal service resume...temporarily...

So it's the first full week back into the routine and so far so good....if you don't count a few newby High School Girl tantrums...and that's just from me!

Actually, Ruby is doing brilliantly and coping amazingly with her dramatic change in life and with no old friends to hold hands with in an unfamiliar place.

I am having a very productive week (which is a good job as no sooner are we back to normal than the next 2 weeks are disrupted again for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) and even had time for a little creativity with the stunning Elephants Love Water fabrics from the fantastic Umbrella Prints gals.

I started the week off at full speed, inspired after the great Makers' Fair last weekend and promised myself if I got everything done on this week's To Do List I could start thinking of what I was going to do with the fabrics. To be honest I cheated a little...let's face it I have more work than my little head can cope with with all that is to come...made it realistic in terms of what really had to be done this week...and consequently decided today was Play Day!

Oh boy is this fun to play with! With my new found favourite block, it was Wonky Windmills all the way when I paired Elephants Love Water with some coordinating Kona solids and navy Quilter's Linen. 6 blocks later and I'm in love! Ideally I would love this to be bed sized, but I think it may have to be satisfied with being lap sized...unless it wants to stay on the never-ending "there's no way I have time to finish this" pile.

Some time during the holiday I started this and didn't manage to show you the end results. Justine has saved me the trouble as she is explaining all about it over here. Go check it out...it may be worth your while!

Talking of giveaways (inadvertently), in amongst the holiday mayhem I never closed and drew a winner for this giveaway. Consequently your luck is in if you still want to enter as I am going to draw the winner on Sunday.

I'll be back on Sunday with a winner and then bear with me over the next few weeks. What with the Jewish New Year holidays and getting stock ready I have a feeling I may not be around very much, but hopefully enough to say hi at least...

Have a great weekend and good luck in the various giveaways!

I think I have set myself a bit of a challenge.

This pattern and wool caught my eye when I was out buying card today... I know, I am so easily distracted.

Although to be fair, it wasn't actually that random. I was out getting more card for Noah's Bar Mitzvah invitations, so my mind was thinking "Bar Mitzvah..." and whilst in the BM zone, when I saw this pattern, it immediately jumped out at me to be the perfect solution to the cardi conundrum I had been having to wear with the dress I had bought for synagogue.

See, not quite so random...

apart from the fact that I'd already decided I was after a yellow cardi. Yes, I know, this wool isn't yellow. But it is oh so super soft extra fine marino wool that didn't come in yellow.

So not only do I now have wool for a cardi to knit up in less than 3 months time (that really can't be the case) but I have wool for a cardi that isn't yellow.

I guess I won't be accessorising in yellow after all...

I'm feeling virtuous today...I finished my taxes...whoop, whoop!!

I feel so self-satisfied that I've been being kind to myself for the rest of the day and doing a few things that I don't normally allow myself time for...

One such thing is creating an Etsy Treasury.

I love looking at treasuries - such a mine of undiscovered loveliness and I've found that making them is equally addictive.

It's a little like doing a Flickr mosaic...bringing all the things you've found and loved into one gorgeous space.

So here's today's collaboration of pieces that have been hanging out in my Etsy Favourites file of late dedicated to a rare calm mood I find myself in, thanks to a big item being crossed off the To Do List.

Click here for a closer look and for details of everyone included.

Apparently I also had time to change my blog header, but that could be more to do with the panic that picnik is about to go. How very dare it?? And how are we going to edit our photos without it?? Answers on a postcard please - or a blog comment will work too - seriously, I live on that website. I'm a little worried...

Not only are December and Christmas creeping upon us oh too quickly, we are just one sleep away from Chanukah. Chanukah fluctuates every year, as the Hebrew calendar is lunar. December 1st is the earliest it ever is and it throws me every time it is this early. We are all geared up commercially for Christmas and when Chanukah comes 24 days earlier, it's more than I can manage. We don't celebrate Christmas so you would think it wouldn't matter. But, it's there everywhere and also, obviously, my business is centred around Christmas.

So now I'm panicking. I did a big Amazon shop last night (thank goodness for Amazon) and

fortunately I got an early start with some of my handmade gifts, but I still have the Poppy Doll to do for Ruby.

All the family are coming over to us for candles, presents and dinner on Friday and whilst we normally only buy the children gifts at Chanukah, I wanted to give each of the ladies a gift - a gift FOR the ladies, but for the men to USE, obviously...

I've made each of them a pretty tea towel to match each of their kitchens. The pink one above is my Mum's. She has the prettiest palest pink kitchen.

This yellow one isn't actually for anyone, but how I could sew something and not do a yellow and grey version? It will however be in my Etsy shop, along with several others very shortly.

Can you guess who this one below is for?

I'm feeling a little more relaxed and prepared now that I have these made.

But no relaxing just yet...it's our wedding anniversary tomorrow too...and I haven't done a darn thing about that...

My pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap is finished...

...i sewed the strips of fabric together and then appliqued the hexies in place...

....a finishing touch of embroidery was added...

...and an envelope opening back using my favourite new striped linen and it was complete.

All that's left is to send it off to my secret partner and hope and pray that she feels the same way about it as I do.

I've been playing around with a new idea and it's almost ready to show.

Ever since Ruby got her little sewing machine for her birthday I've been hankering after playing around with Stitch I. It's that scalloped stitch you can see here.

I haven't been able to get it out of my head and I kept thinking of ways I could use it. Needless to say, it's all come together...

I've had a new product in mind to try out and today when I was experimenting with it, I suddenly remembered Stitch I and new at once how I could incorporate it.

It's almost ready for show and tell and you've probably got a pretty good idea what it is going to be...

Any guesses?

I've been rather caught up with this order this week...but, in a good way. It has completely taken over, but what better an excuse to be tied to my studio sewing all week. Honestly, there are times when I simply love my job (remind me of that in a few months when it's tax form time again...ugghhh).

My job includes sewing AND shopping. I needed a fair few ribbons for the pot holder hangers and, me being me, I wasn't satisfied with the ones already in my stash. If there's one thing I feel very strongly about, it's the little details that make or break a look. So if the handle didn't gel, then the whole piece was going to look all wrong. And just one ribbon wasn't right for all the different pot holders, so again, as you can see, several had to be purchased. I wouldn't want to give the impression that I cut corners with my work after all. So a quick stop of at Daisy Park and my shopping was complete.

I'm really pleased with how the whole "Sand & Sea" Collection is coming together and can't wait to see it all in situ at Harewood next week. I'm rather proud of this one.

(Thank you all so much for your help in locating the Denyse Schmidt fabric I was after...and a massive thank you to Kirsten and Ryan who have come up trumps and are sending some...I owe you!)

I had a very big order earlier this week from a beautiful local stately home. The items they have chosen are going to be part of a 'Made in Yorkshire' space in their gift shop. Because they are all going to be displayed together I wanted the whole look to be cohesive, rather than my usual eclectic mix and match approach. Thus the 'Sand and Sea' Collection was borne.

I'm really pleased with how it's coming together and am loving the challenge of making every piece work. However, I am having a bit of a crisis. I have decided that it is going to fail if I don't have this yellow and mushroom dot from Denyse Shmidt's out of print County Fair Collection. (Below is a larger sample of it in blue to get the bigger picture)

And therein lies the problem...it's out of print. And as you can see I don't have enough to make ANYTHING! Not even a flower to sew onto my Needle Cases.

So I am now resorted to begging. If any of you out there know of anywhere that just may have this in stock or have some in your stash that you would love to trade with me for something I may have that you are after and can spare a little, I will be eternally grateful and my collection will be (in my eyes, at least) complete.

In reality I know I am being just a little bit crazy and my very first Collection will stand up more than adequately without this beautiful, stunning, crisp, fresh, sunny, perfect piece of fabric...

2009...Already?

Not that I want time to run away with itself. I have so much to do at the moment that I want to put 2009 off for as long as possible. But my new diaries have just arrived and I am so excited about the colours that I just wait to see them in action.

I was hesitant to move away from my uniform of Aquas and Pinks. But I am SOOOO pleased that I did.

Taking my inspiration from the cat-walk (am I sounding like I know what I'm talking about?) I decided to be brave and have opted for Purple and Greens. They are just gorgeous.

And for those of you that are more traditional...you really can't go wrong with the classic Chocolate Brown.

They will all be available here asap, but until then just post me a little comment/email and I'll put one on one side for you. I've a feeling they are going to fly off the shelves.