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...