future of blogs...

 here's a thing...

do blogs have a future?

or have the likes of IG taken over?

i am a huge fan of IG and use it daily...several times a day...and as a consequence i feel that maybe we get all we need from sites like that. 

a quick fix of visual information. 

and when we blog we are repeating what we have posted there. or is that just me getting lazy? or am i over using and over posting on places like IG leaving nothing fresh for my blog?

take this quilt for example. those that follow me on IG have seen all these pics. so do you want to see them again here?

i have to admit that i do like my blogs to have pictures...pretty pictures and i think this is why IG works for me. i can see what people are up to and interact with them in real time.

IG generally gives me all i need and i think there are plenty of others like me about as it seems visitor numbers on blogs have dropped off as have comment postings.

what do you think? i'd love to know. do you still read blogs as avidly as you once did? or do other sites do it for you?

the (less than) 24 hr quilt

 ok so it's not the largest quilt in the world but it was done from start to finish in less than 24 hours.

i'm impressed and quite frankly you should be too.

 a charm pack of the new heather ross briar rose landed on my doorstep yesterday. i'd seen a few glimpses of this and to be honest wasn't bowled over by it, thinking it was a bit bright and busy for my taste.

 i take it all back.

yes it is bright and busy but it is heather ross and i should have known better.

it is just gorgeous and the collection all works so beautifully together.

 because i didn't want to dilute the designs i decided to go for a simple patchwork using all the charms together and just a touch of kona solids - more because i needed a few extra charms and just to break it up a teeny bit.

i backed it with a fab Paul Smith pink
crosshatch that works really well pulling it all together. for the binding i chose a green candy stripe - just enough of something interesting without clashing with all the delicious fabrics.

i fmq'ed it with a random swirly pattern and if you don't look too closely at the varying stitch lengths i'm actually quite impressed in how that's come out.

i am sure there will be plenty of intricately designed quilts with briar rose in the coming months (swoons and wonky stars would work really well) but i'm generally a big fan of simple designs letting the fabrics do the talking and this range is definitely one of those times.

i also anticipate lots of beautiful summer clothing for little girls and am feeling a little sad i have no little girls to sew for. would it be wrong to start a collection for the potential grandchildren? my eldest is almost 16 after all...

on that note i'd better get this out of the house quickly...it's available right here.

half term round up

half term is never easy...

juggling the kids...

squeezing in work...

and not forgetting this half term the daily visits to see dad who is in week 5 of being in hospital.

it really hasn't been the best of weeks, but looking back on it, despite all that, it has been pretty full and productive.

clockwise from top left the week included...

1. completing day 1 of training for the 24 hour walk i'll be doing in may...

2. printing the new designs...

3. finishing my honey loop cowl...

4. finally sending off bee blocks and siggies...

5. packaging up the new lampshade kits...

6. customary half term venture into town to meet dad for lunch...

7. starting (and almost finishing, Liz) a long over due custom order.

8. oakshott lampshade sample

not a bad week all said and done.

Happy New Year...

 So how was your holidays?

Did you get your WIPs finished?

Any new projects started?

 Suffice it to say I was far too distracted by external influences to finish any of my WIPs. 

Suffice it to say I was even too distracted by external influences to make the 2 new projects that I was planning.

This external influence was so strong it even pulled me away from my recent pile of Glimma which I absolutely adore.

If like me you haven't been looking after your family adequately this holidays and creeping off to sew you will probably know what I am talking about.

The project taking over IG, the Scrappy Trip Along is the most addictive quilting I have seen.

Seeing Rita's, Brenda's, Katy's was enough to make me drop everything and get blocking. Thank goodness our New Year's guests cancelled their 3 day trip. It's one thing to ignore your family but quite another to ignore your guests. That would just be rude.

It is such a great anything goes piecing quilt.

I haven't managed to do as much as I would like - apparently I'm not neglecting them as much as I could - but am probably half way through this one that is earmarked for Ruby. And in typically me mode I'm already thinking about all the combinations I want to do next - navy/grey/mushroom for Sam, red/white for Noah not to mention the wedding quilt option, friends moving house option. 

This is definitely going to be featuring heavily in 2013 both here and I'm pretty sure a lot of blogland too.

If you haven't jumped aboard yet go check out the Flickr Group Brenda set up and see all the great quilts taking shape.

I may not be starting the New Year getting my WIPs under control, but I am starting it with excitement and that's no bad thing. Is it?

Happy 2013 to one and all and wishing you many exciting quilting times xx

Sew not on the To Do List

I've been so busy of late that I haven't had much time to just sit and 'play' in my studio. (Apart from the latest cards of course)

As we all know, just because we are busy it doesn't mean our minds stop going off on a creative tangent. I decided to take a few bits with my whilst sitting watching Ruby's swimming lesson yesterday and came up with these little brooches. I'm quite pleased with them. Perfect on bags etc.




I've also been reading alot about patchworking recently and been keen to have a go. I pulled out these fabrics last night (some of my new linens and a gorgeous greeny Amy Butler number) and got started.

The colours have come out a bit sludgy here (not helped by photographing on the carpet) but I love the freshness of them, which hopefully will be apparent when they are finally finished.


I haven't quite decide what it is going to be. Maybe a tote. Maybe a cushion. Maybe a pot holder. But it's fun getting started and having a go.


Hope you have also managed a bit of creative time away from the humdrum of what you should really be doing.