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

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...

Tri - Quilt finished and ready to be sold!!!

Sooooooooo here she is, my latest creation, I finished her a few days go, but life seems to be speeding by and I can't keep up!!! But I finally bought some binding (actually it was given to me by a lovely lady from the Brighton Sewing Machine Centre because it wasn't quite what I wanted) and sewed it on and here it is...perfect for a cot, or play mat for someone...

Made from 100% cotton, 52x65 cms, machine washable, can be personalised with names and dates...

£25.00 send me an email or leave me a comment if you are interested. 

Much going on...rubbish me for not posting!!!

Paperchains for my birthday, just to pretty not to share...they were a kinda expensive purchase, considering they are just paper, but...they are sooo pretty, and it made 10m of paperchains, so they should look pretty on Sunday!!!

Some of the beautiful fabric I got brought back by my Mum from the states has made it on a cushion cover...It is soooo beautiful to chop up the big flowers into a small quilt seemed like sacrilege so I cut the flower out and then hand appliquéd it on...I tried various machine techniques but none seemed effective enough or worth risking a beautiful flower for.

The fabric was from Quilthome.com and designed by Anna Maria Horner from her Garden Party Range.
I just used blanket stitch and some lovely Rayon embroidery thread, I think I might secure it a but further with some more detailing in the middle as it is such a large piece of fabric, it is moving a bit...but you get the idea...
p.s. doesn't it go well with the origami cranes above it? :-)

And finally, I finished a quilt I made at least a year ago, it just needed a bit more quilting and then needed a binding. I did buy some a while ago, but annoyingly guessed about 20cms too short...so I bought some more and actually measured it this time!!! funnily enough it worked this time!!!

I have used this quilt as a practice of pretty much everything, it was the 1st quilt I machined pieced, machine quilted using stitch in the ditch and fully machine binded. LOTS of lessons learnt but it still turned out well enough for me to proudly put it on the back of the sofa!!!
Soooo that's pretty much all of the crafting that has been going on in the last week, I will endeavour to be better and post more regularly!!!

New Quilt...Early Days...

I have been working on a new quilt whilst feeling under the weather, and whilst the weather has been GLORIOUS, a very annoying combo!!! Anyway, it is the most complicated pattern I have ventured into so far, and whilst this colour selection and piecing together has worked ok, I think I can do better, so maybe when I am not sick I will have another try and see what I can create!!!

I found this pattern on-line and although I had to do some of my own working out, it seems to have come out quite well and I am pretty happy with it. Although I think if I work harder at my seams, I think I may have more success with the edges matching up!!!

Let me know what you think, I am going to do another colour selection tomorrow I think, hopefully that will come out better...ohhhh to have a bigger fabric stash!!! (one day!!!)

Secret Quilt Project Now Unveiled!!!

Now I started this quilt, before I had even bought my new sewing machine, but wanted to wait until my sewing machine was here and in use before starting this quilt. The new machine made it sooooo much easier to quilt, the pieces were much easier to sew together and the quilting over the top was also really quick and simple!!!

All the pieces laid out!!!

I was totally marvelled by the amazing-ness of my new sewing machine and how well the pieces match up!!!

The final quilt, with binding sewn on!!!

Quilt detail!!!

All wrapped up and ready to give.

The baby is due in the next few weeks and so hopefully I will get a few shots of the little one all snuggled up!!!