Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013...

 it's that time of year again.

the time when Amy inspires us all by running the blogger's quilt festival and when i get to catch up on all the amazing quilting that has been going on around blogland.

i love taking part in the festival, not because i have any delusions of winning, but to be a part of it.

to be honest i wasn't really sure which quilt to enter and then i realised i was actually impeded by the fact that this year i have started many quilts and finished very few so it was  more a case of what i actually could enter.

i have decided to enter my elephants love water in the baby quilt category.

as soon as i saw this fabric at the beginning of the year i knew i had to quilt something out of it (i am having the same feeling about the talented duo's new collection).

it is one of those collections that speaks volumes by itself s doesn't really need too much complicated piecing to make it look good.

i decided to make a wonky windmill kinda block pairing the umbrella prints with coordinating kona solids. i backed it in a simple solid red, again less was more.

i didn't have the right fabric in my stash for the binding. nothing was singing to me when i held fabrics up against the quilt top so it was down to the cellar to print a stripe.

perfect!

it is a simple quilt. it is a small quilt but i absolutely loved working with the umbrella prints fabric and was delighted when a reader loved it so much that they wanted to buy it. i wasn't so pleased to part with it, so i guess i will just have to purchase some floating world and make a substitution.

thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out what else is going on at the festival. x

BM time...take 3...

 So it's that time again...the time where when i had wished for more than 3 children i am damn glad there aren't more.

it's bar mitzvah time...again! well actually it's bat mitzvah this time as it's ruby's turn, but full on entertaining our nearest and dearest for an entire weekend.

having done it twice before i haven't quite got the oomph to get going on the organising for a third time.

thankfully ruby being a girl means that this time she has loads of ideas and input of her own. 

that in itself can be double edged...having someone else to consult and negotiate with is just yet another hurdle to jump. still, she's very keen to be on board and it is definitely another pair of hands.

unfortunately my heart isn't quite in this one tho, partly for bad reasons (not having dad with us is playing on my mind) but partly for good (humungous work deadline 2 days after...and one that hopefully by then i will be able to spill the beans about...finally!)

putting all the colour schemes, party prop ideas, food consultations, invitations made, written and hand delivered to one side there is the big issue of dress shopping...

5 people, 3 outfits a piece, 4 for ruby "because it is my bat mitzvah"...as if we didn't know.

(ignore gonky pic...where's a decent photographer when you need on?)

in order to cut down on the wear and tear on my shoes searching for my attire i decided to make one of my dresses and after seeing made by rae's ruby dress it seemed both perfect and rather apt.

when i set out i wasn't sure what fabric it would work for me in but i grabbed what fabric i had in my stash that was big enough to give it a try. i wasn't going to waste precious special fabric if it wasn't going to be right.

after a few changes to the original pattern - the original one has gathers which i felt were a bit baby doll for me so i adapted these to box pleats - i decided that this was indeed a great dress for what i needed it for. next time i do need to use more fabric across the front so the pleat doesn't pull across my ample bazoomerage (yeh right - magnifying glass springs to mind).

the question then was which fabric was i going to make it in. originally i had in mind this nani iro but having received a sample, whilst i love it and will possibly use another time, it wasn't quite right for this event.

looking again i have decided on this beautiful voile below. 

i am actually really excited about having this and bullied kate into sending it pronto (if i could have persuaded her to drive up to leeds from brighton to bring it today believe me i would have). 

because i wasn't sure which one would work best with the voile i have ordered 3 of the brussels washers. i am hoping one will jump out at me when i see them in the flesh. does one of them jump out at you?

so end of october sees bat mitzvah weekend along with **** deadline so if you don't hear from me before i resurface again in november, you now know why!

patchy update...

apparently there was only one way to see how white ink on solids would look...go right ahead and try it...

and i'd say, from that same modest standpoint, rather darn lovely!

a few panels have been added to the shop with more colours coming just as soon as i get all those other things done...

well some of them anyway...

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. 

It's nearly New Year...

...and I tell you something, 2012 is going to see me so organised, disciplined, calm, resourceful...

remember, you heard it here first.

We've had a week of visiting, having visitors and awaiting for the next lot to arrive and all that that entails.

No doubt it's been pretty similar for you too and no doubt you have been a lot more organised about it than I have...like not getting distracted by making a new quilt when really you should be getting the house geared up for guests.

On the other hand, this long holiday is all about having a break and spending time on doing things you love, when let's face it the speed of the rest of the year takes over and there's not usually much time for enjoying a quiet bit of guiltless sewing.

So, guests are arriving tomorrow and what am I doing? Making a new quilt of course.

I've had it on my To Do List for yonks to make a large hexie quilt. At the start of every winter when we all fight over the solitary quilt in the living room, I have it in mind to make a cosy pile of them to grab and snuggle under. Obviously I have these thoughts when I don't actually have the time to action that plan.

At least now though I am getting one quilt closer to quilting nirvana...

I had a lovely afternoon in my studio today, having sent the others to Tesco (they don't know they are born, that lot) and spent time, new CDs blaring, piecing together the quilt top.

I'm just awaiting delivery of this scrumptious flannel for the back.

Then it's a question of binding.

Do I play safe, below, and go for a coordinating fine stripe?

Or add a bit of wow, above, and use a zing of luscious Lotta?

I think you know which one I'll be choosing...

I hope this out of routine week has been a good one for you and you have had time to guiltlessly do something you love.

New Year's Eve tomorrow and I hope 2012 brings health, happiness and more guiltless pleasures xx

One of the wonderful features of the sewing machine I am currently using is all the pretty stitches it has.

Whilst I could go crazy and incorporate most of these into projects, I am being very refrained (bet that made you laugh - me? refrained?) and just rolling with one at the moment.

I've up-dated a pouch I previously made, with the limited stitches I had on my old machine, with this circle design.

I just love the simplicity of the stitch. It has just enough detail to make it interesting, without being too fussy and over-powering.

I'm sure I won't be able to be refrained for that much longer and you'll get to see some of the other stitches this machine can produce, but in the meantime these are available here and here.

Declaring more from the holiday buying fabric stash...

Last night I made some Wash-bags with waterproof lining. The linings were delivery number 43 in the buying stakes, bought from Dreams Come True.

I'm waiting on delivery number 44 for some more linings for more designs I have planned...

They are available right here, here and here.

When in doubt...

when nothing else seems right...

when all else fails...

...sew.

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...