Mouthy Stiches 2

So I’ve gone and committed myself to another swap. I really need to stop doing this as I’ve got enough sewing projects as it is to get on with. But Mouthy Stitches was so fun last time, and I was still on a high from the fun of Brit Quilt Swap 3, so here I am again swapping.

It’ll be interesting to see if my partner makes anything of the multi-coloured Daleks!

I’ve started stalking my partner and I’ve got a good idea of what to make. It involves buying a pattern so I can’t get cracking until pay day next week. I also need to get some grey fabric – some linen and quilting cotton. Oh and maybe some Christmas fabric…

In other news we’ve just got a kitten! Her name is Arya and she’s a Russian Blue. She is just so so cute and little and adorable. She’s already started walking over my keyboard, and I’m sure as soon as I get my next quilt finished she’ll get involved in the photos. As she’s a kitten she’s taking up a lot of my time so I’m playing more than I’m sewing right now. Totally worth it, but my sewing is going to slow down for awhile.

Wednesday WIP

A baby quilt

I started cutting this quilt yesterday and now it is done! That was fast! Ok so it is a teeny baby quilt but still I feel that I’m allowed to be impressed.

I picked up these gorgeous little french fabric squares from the Festival of Quilts with a baby quilt in mind, and the pezza prints seemed to work well with them. I didn’t want a complicated design as I didn’t want to detract from the knight’s tale (ooh maybe that can be the name of the quilt? Chaucer’s too long gone to mind). I originally had a little boy in mind for the quilt (well the first boy to come along as there are a few babies on their way but I don’t know the genders of any of them) but then I realised that there wasn’t anything to say the knight was a boyit could be Brienne from the Song of Ice and Fire books, or Aveline from Dragon Age 2, so it really depends on how traditional vs how geeky the receiving parents are.

The back is some Echino I have had lying around for a couple of years. I’m glad I finally found a home for it.

The quilting is two lines together and one line spaced apart going down, then one line crossing it every third of a block…if that makes sense.

Sorry the pictures suck-I didn’t have the patience to wait for the sun to come back!

A UFO no more!

It’s done! My solid HST quilt has been sitting around for almost a year. All the seams messed with my shoulder (it’s still bad, must get round to physio!) so I just didn’t feel motivated to finish it off. Well I’m glad I did because I really like it!

I’m calling it The Beast because of my shoulder. Yes I am a wuss.

In other quilt news I’ve finished my Brit Quilt Swap 3 mini quilt! I’ve also made a couple of extras and I’m planning on picking up some chocolate for my partner. I hope they like it! That’ll be in the post next weekend.

Festival of Quilts

I haven’t had a chance to get much crafting done lately as my sewing room gets sweltering in the summer it turns out. Following my trip to the NEC on Saturday I think that is going to change. I shopped so hard and was inspired so much. So what did I buy? A mountain load of fabric, thats what!

So I have a load of Pezza prints, some Tula Pink fat quarters, some Parson Gray half yards, a bit of Amy Butler, a Momo scissors print, some cute little squares of a little boy being a knight with French text on them, a city scene, Melody Miller records, Echino, and a pretty grey print I can’t remember the name of.

Now to start planning what to make! I already have a baby quilt in mind for the French fabric, and Melody Miller has been reserved for a me quilt, and I would love a steampunk quilt from the Parson Gray, so that means the rest are free to mingle with my stash. Of course before any of that can happen I am now forcing myself to finish 2 quilts before I can start another. There are too many UFOs in my life.

Quilt tops everywhere!

I managed to finish the star sampler quilt top in record time! 12 stars all sashed and ready for a backing. I still have some blocks left from my failed attempt at the Summer Sampler from last year so I think they might find their way on to the back…one less ufo haunting me!

From left to right the stars are 1) friendship star 2) Parisian Star from Modern Blocks 3) ribbon star 4) Stargazing from Modern Blocks 5) ribbon star 6) starflower 7) star of Virginia 8) Megan’s Star from Modern Blocks 9) you are here 10) another star 11) Three Wishes from Modern Blocks 12) Two Colors Star

I used a layer cake of Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille, with some still left over, and 2 meters of solid white.

Because I was naughty and started this new project, I also had to get cracking with an older one, so I finished my postage stamp quilt top.

It’s shockingly pink! It’s definitely a baby quilt, but none of my expecting friends are fans of pink for girls blue for boys, so I’ll have to hold on to it for awhile.

I best get back to my Brit Quilt Swap mini quilt now. Luckily I’ve still got over a month to get that finished.

Star Sampler go!

I couldn’t cope with my Vintage Modern layer cake sitting there in one piece much longer so I got cracking with the star sampler I’ve been meaning to make for so long. So far I’m using the instructions from Fresh Lemon Quilts, but as we don’t have a printer right now I need to go shopping for tutorials elsewhere for more stars.

I also finished the blocks for The 99 bee.

Which reminds me, I can probably get some stars from the Modern Blocks book.

So maybe that’s enough sewing for now. My head hurts and I still haven’t had lunch.

Brit Quilt swap update

Looks like I got stuck right in with the swap. I’m home for a few minutes and once over my fabric joy I get straight into cutting up some of my new pieces for the swap.

I’m not usually a fan of text fabric but this stuff is adorable. It tells you how to sew a pillowcase. How cute is that!

The drunkards path so far has been really straight forward to put together but I don’t want to jinx it too much as I still have to sew the circles together. It has been great though to face the curved edge and live to tell the tale. Last time I did the Brit Quilt swap I put my first dresden together, this time it’s another first. I do love how swaps force me to try new things and develop my skills.

The postal gods have been kind

I returned from Cornwall today to find these all waiting for me

First is an Amy Butler Soul Blossoms Jelly Roll that I won (!!!!!) from Tikki Patchwork. How exciting is that! I wasn’t expecting it at all so it made me extremely giddy.

Then there’s some random fabrics I picked up from Pink Chalk Fabrics. Some is for the Brit Quilt Swap and some is just for my stash.

Thirdly there’s a Vintage Modern layer cake by Bonnie and Camille. I’m thinking of doing a star sampler with this bad boy. I’ve got a couple of metres of white solid that would work really well.

Finally I’ve got some drunkard path templates from the Cotton Patch. Again, for the Brit Quilt Swap initially, but it looks like such a fun pattern to play with that I’ll definitely be making some for myself too.

So now I just have a lot of sewing to get on with. While watching Buffy. All this postal joy has put me in the mood for some good old fashioned Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

Swap Progress

No photos today sorry. My planning has mostly been in my head as I’m on holiday in Cornwall.

I’ve decided to go for a drunkards path pattern with linen as the background along with some grey and text fabric to give it a scrappy look, then the circles will be rainbow coloured. Not sure how to arrange it yet, but that’ll come eventually.

In non-swap news I’ve ordered a layer cake of Vintage Moden by Bonnie and Camille. I’ve not done anything red and aqua before so I’ll see what I can make of it.

I best get back to joining my 22 month old niece in her quilt den so she can sing to me about her nose!