Bloggers Quilt Festival!!!

I blogged about this festival last year and loved it, so thought I would again do a BQF post!!!

This is the quilt I made for my best friend's baby girl, who at the time hadn't been born. I gave it to her at the baby shower, so whilst they were pretty sure they were having a pink baby, we weren't 100%!!!

I chose a new design for this quilt, for some reason I like quilts with bright colours and plain white, I think it makes them look a bit more modern and fresh...I chose my favorite fabrics and cut square, then halved them on the diagonal, and then resewed with 1/2 a white sqaure. This IS time consuming, but I LOVE the effect once it is pieced. So simple but so bold!!! I was really pleased with the quilt top, how it came together, how the joins are pretty spot-on...the back took me AGES to choose for some reason I just couldn't settle on the right colour, but I love this choice, even now. I knew baby E's mummy wouldn't be a pinky-pinky mummy, and she isn't, so I am happy that it fits them and their style!!!

Here it is all bundled up and ready to be given (a little pink bow, well a girl has to have some pink hey?), and here is baby E herself...even her Thank You cards were printed with a photo of her on her quilt and when they moved house, everyone who came round commented on it apparently!!! :-D And so here she is, Baby E and her quilt...she is a delightful baby, who I do love, (perhaps a little too much!!!)...

New Quilt....New Design!

qSo another friend has had another baby. Which is wonderful...there are sooo many about...
So I rustled up another little quilt...for cot/buggy/play-mat...
I was inspired by this quilt from The Sometimes Crafter...It looked simple, yet effective...And it was...
It took me a while to plan it...and work out how many squares I needed...but I chose blue/green/yellow based fabrics plus a few white ones...I wanted to keep it light and modern...
I cut out 5 3x3" squares from each fabric, and then laid them out, then I sewed each row, then each row together, then ironed flat, quilted using a random wiggly pattern and then bound with white bias binding.

I sewed my friends baby's name and date of birth in the corner, using my walking foot...I do LOVE that little walking foot!!!
The backing fabric was one I got from America...Simple multicoloured dots. And there you go...A new quilt!!! :-D

New Quilt...

Howdy Crafty people...
so I have a new quilty project to post...actually I have made it before, but not like this, so I will show and you can see...

I made it for the sister of a friend from work who has just had a boy...I'm pretty pleased with it and so was my friend...It was nice to work more with one colour theme, then to have free range and go with anything...
what do you think? My biggest problem is going to be some orders which are coming up for babies, where they don't know what they are having...making Uni-sex quilts is gonna be tough I think...
Have a great May, Ruthiexxx

Recent baking/cooking/creating...

So I've been enjoying a bit of baking/cooking recently...and have been pretty pleased with the results...

Firstly from the Wonderful World of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (I got his latest recipe book for Christmas - River Cottage Everyday) and I made 2 dishes....

   1- Focaccia Bread - Hugh's recipe is simple but has a few ideas to adapt it, the 1st time I made it i just did rosemary and salt, but the 2nd time I roasted some red pepper and then when making the holes in the top I poked a few bits of the red pepper, basil and some crumbled up feta cheese...and this is the result...(I also substituted plain bread flour for wholemeal bread flour, I sieved out some of the bran and then sprinkled that on the top too)

   2 - Also from Hugh's book I make a frittata for a quick and easy light dinner for me and my 2 housemates...I put in smoked bacon, spinich and feta cheese ( as I LOATH goats cheese), it's very quick and easy...might make a few more every now and then, it's great for using up bits and bobs in the fridge...

And then, not from Hugh's book, but based on something I saw on BBC 2's Baking made Easy with Lorraine Pascale, Sun-dried Tomato Palmiers. 

They are Seriously easy to make and completely DELICIOUS...

I made mine by making a mix of sun-dried tomatos, roasted peppers and fresh basil that I blended with a hand blender. Next I unrolled a sheet of pre-made puff pastry, and spread onto it the tomato-y mix, then rolled up the pastry from both of the long sides of the sheet, so that it meets in the middle.

Then I put it in the fridge for about half an hour, so it firms up. Then using a VERY sharp knife cut 1/2 cm thick slices and placed then flat side up with lots of space around them, onto a baking sheet.

I then used an egg wash on the tops of each one and then baked it in the oven for about 10 mins...

Ta Da!!!! 

What do you think? have you had any culinary success of late? let me know!!!

The Unveiling...

So what do you need when you get new sofas? New cushions!!! Especially when it's your birthday...
So here they are, I made 2...for my lovely friend A...
Both are made from grey felt (very cheap), then buttons from my never ending stock of buttons and LARGE buttons I got from my local Fabric Land...

Using the excess after cutting enough for the cover I cut out circles, in 3 different sizes, then chopped them in half. Drew round a side plate in the middle of the front of the cushion, then started applying the petals. I pinned each one in place, around the circle, then ran the sewing machine around the bottoms to secure them, then I repeated the process, pinning (to hide the sewing from the previous layer), sewing, pinning, sewing etc...after about 3 rows I made a slight pleet in the petal to add some height...and then the very centre I rolled the petals and hand sewed them in place...This was VERY time consuming, but VERY effective...no wonder they fetch so much in the shops!!!

I also made a second cushion, using the same technique to make them, then drew round a heart stencil, and then sewed on about 75 buttons to fill in the heart....I do love the finished article, but wish there was a faster way to sew on buttons!!!
What do you think?

Sneak Peek!!!

Can't show you this fully as it is a gift and I haven't given it yet...but I LOVE IT!!! tempted to keep it, but hope it will be appreciated...

............. will unvail tomorrow hopefully!!!

Crazy Patchwork Cushion...

I made this scrap cushion cover the other day....

really easy to make using random scraps from the scrap box...basically I just iron, make sure I have a straight line, sew, iron, cut, sew...etc, etc, etc...it was pretty easy, I then made a back out of white cotton, envelope style and ta da...1 cushion done!!!
This one is already sold to my mates mum, gonna make a second one soon...
In other news, I bought an awesome new draw/storage thing the other day. My previous storage solution consist of cupboards in the kitchen which are FULL of fabric, and then boxes, tool boxes, and more boxes in the lounge in a horrible kinda messy thing which is awkard to get at, annoying to put stuff back into...
So IKEA to the rescue...I bought this Antonius storage system for around £30!!! It's brillient, although it was VERY noisy to put together!!! has a solid top so I can keep my sewing machine on the top and it looks like a proper bit of furniture so that it doesn't look too weird in the lounge!!!

Sorry about the rubbish photo (iphone in the dark!!!)
But yeah...sooo much better!!! what storage solutions have you employed? particularly if you live in a teeny-tiny place with no sewing/craft room? (I have serious craft room envy whenever I see someone with a sewing machine!!!) Will endeavour to post again soon...

Wow...it's February!!!

So time seems to be disappearing, literally before my eyes!!!
But I have been doing some fun little bits and bobs...
I made a cute paper garland as a surprise for my housemate's birthday the other day!!!
I made it using my awesome new circle cutter it's soooo GOOD!!! and a bargain...I got it in the USA when I was over at new year visiting my sister and Bro-in-law!!!
It's made by EK Success and is really easy to use. (see the link to buy or watch a video)

The 2 parts, the cutting circle and the seperate blade and holder...(the top also unscrews to hide the replacement blades!!!)

This is the blade and holder...you place it in a hole on the circle and then push down, the blade is then uncovered and it cuts a circle any size you want (up to 6") and it works great...you defiantly need a cutting mat cause it is super sharp and can go through about 8 layers of paper easily!!!

And this is the LOVELY J (my friends beautiful daughter) who needed a nap at my house and is under my 9x9 Quilt. Sooooo cute and cuddly...

Busy, busy busy this week with 2-3 quilting projects on the go, my aunt has asked me to make her a laptop case so once the baby wakes I will get onto that, and then I have 2 quilts on the go...I really should learnt to finish one before doing another...photos to come soon...

Christmas Gifts...

SOOOOOOOO...now Christmas is over, and I am now in the USA I can now share some of the photos of the things I made this Christmas as gifts...
I wanted something a bit more exciting then just a make-up bag to make as little extra's for my mum, granny, and 2 sisters, so I (rather stupidly perhaps) decided to make them aprons...So using a rather out-dated looking pattern from McCall's I set to work.

I wanted to make the top right hand apron, fairly simple and straight forward!!!

Now...I have never, done any pattern making, never been taught how, never been shown, it was never even mentioned at school...so except for the skirt I make in the summer, which to be honest, I barely needed the pattern for, I was rather daunted when I started reading this one. Once I had overcome the language barrier (words like nap, etc...using this Sewing Pattern Dictionary) I got to work...it really was straight forward...just follow the steps...and here is the finished article, all the way out in Portland Oregon, with my lovely sister Lizzie...

The only thing I changed was that the waste band was a bit wide, so I sewed it over so that it lay a bit flatter when worn. I loved making the pocket...they are really cute and look very impressive for relatively little sewing...I defiantly will be using gathers again!!! they are really easy and look really impressive if I do say so myself!!! here's another front on shot for the full effect...

Also for Christmas my Dad suggested I made my Step-Mum a make-up bag for her handbag...well, that seemed a little too easy and a bit of a small gift, so I decided that I would make her a big make-up bag for every day use and a smaller one for her handbag to match...I quilted a piece of lovely Heather Bailey fabric, using ALL my recently found free motion machine quilting techniques...

 Once my quilting was done, I followed this tutorial I have used before to create this type of bag, which holds it's shape and creates a good amount of space..perfect for make-up or pencil cases, when you want to be able to see in...

 The inside is just a random fabric I had in my stash, I thought the colours went quite well...

I attatched a ribbon to the end to make it easier to do up, and also to hang up if needed...

I've also made these cards ...

Using a bit of thread, Lots of Japanesse Making Tape and some hot glue and glitter...They were incredibly time consuming, and I wont be making them again, any time soon, but they went down a treat!!!

I knitted this scarf for a friend, this is it pre-finishing - he chose the colours and the wool, and think he did a good job, a dark grey, a purple with black running through it and a dark moss....lovely

And these stocking...I made 4 for my god children, all with their names embroidered on the top, 2 for some friends, and 1 for my friends little girl Esther...All received with lots of ooohhs and aaahhhs!!!

On my fire place before giving to the god-kids

On the god-kids fireplace, ready for Santa!!!

And I think that ends the Christmas crafts, oh except for chocolate truffles which were a big hit again... defiantly going to become a Christmas tradition. This year I made, chocolate orange ones, rolled in cocoa, then plain dark chocolate ones rolled in either chopped nuts, chocolate flakes or chocolate crispy balls!!! YUMMY!!! the only ingredients for the truffles are plain chocolate, cream and butter!!! about  million calories a bite, but it's Christmas so who cares!!!
And 1 more thing, I did make a new decoration for my sister and brother - in - laws tree, and did post it well ahead of Christmas,but it has yet to flippen arrive here in Portland, so much so I have beaten it out here....grrrr...on well they can have it for next year!!!
Happy New Year!!!