Foxglove Showcase

Blimey, it's dusty in here, and just look at those cobwebs.....

It's been about 18 months since I last blogged. So it was going to take something pretty special to get me back to it. And here it is. 'Foxglove', the beautiful second collection of Aneela Hoey for Cloud 9 Fabrics, and today it's my turn for the 'Foxglove Showcase'.

With 12 organic quilting cottons to choose from, I wanted a pattern that would show them off to their best advantage, and this Dresden plate pattern was just the thing. (Kelly's pattern reminded me of a smaller version of Aneela's Bloom quilt pattern, which I knew Kelly had made a beautiful version of a few years ago.)  

I picked some Kona solids from my stash, and was lucky enough to find five that matched perfectly.  

Aneela's designs just cry out to be fussy cut, so it was only right I picked one of the gorgeous ginger foxes to grace the centre circle.

Choosing the neutral backing was easy, but deciding on the quilting proved more difficult. I eventually settled on close echo quilting, and I love the texture this gives, along with the different effects that show up in angled light.

I choose two of the directional prints for the back, the navy foxes and the navy foxgloves, and then bound the cushion using the orange stem dots, possibly my favourite from the whole collection.

'Foxglove' is available in stores now, so make sure you get your orders in. Check back on Aneela's blog tomorrow and see who's next on the 'Foxglove Showcase'.

Those stats we all love:

Fabrics: 

FQ bundle of 'Foxglove' by Aneela Hoey

'Crosshatch' by Carolyn Friedlander

Various Kona solids, I'm afraid I don't know the exact colours

Pattern:

'Stacked' by Jeliquilts.

Oh happy day......

It's been a somewhat exciting weekend, this one. After my day in the shop on Saturday, and a lovely Chinese meal out with the other half that night for his birthday, yesterday a few of my LMQG friends met up for a sewing day.

The lovely hostess

Nat is lucky enough to have a dedicated sewing space, so five of us happily sat around sewing and chatting, and eating lunch, and generally having a good time!  There was plenty of space for some cutting out, machine sewing, hand stitching of binding, and in my case, unpicking some dodgy quilting!

We had a lovely lunch provided by the gorgeous Kelly who was working on an Aeroplane bag - and very stunning it looked too, in the fabulously glittery latest Melody Miller range.  The weight of the fabric makes it perfect for bags and such like, and I can't wait to a) see Kelly's finished bag, and b) attempt one of my own.





isn't it gorgeous?

Kelly and her cleavage!

Check out that top-stitching

Of course, it wouldn't be Kelly without some tom-foolery, and she couldn't resist demonstrating other possible uses for the amply sized smaller bag - here she models the latest in over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders..... what more can I say! As you can tell, it wasn't a terribly serious day.

I'm quietly confident my little Janome would happily fit into this smaller bag, so I have some Melody Miller of my own that Charlotte very generously gave me for my birthday, and so I will be putting that to good use - watch this space.




binding away

Amanda was happily handsewing the binding onto her stunning diamond ring quilt, which looked lovely made from the Pearl bracelets range. She also had a play with Kelly's 11.5" inches, and we all spent a large part of the day planning what we could sell in order to justify the purchasing of new machines - needless to say there is no limit to the deviousness of female quilters when it come to inveigling a new machine into the house!
  

checking the fit

Amy was having a foray into dressmaking with her Schoolhouse tunic. it will be so summery once she's finished.

 

All in all, we had a wonderful day, and the next one is already in the calendar, when we plan to all attempt The Weekender together... apparently we have homework to do in preparation for that one!

Oh, and I just realised this is my 100th post!  Perhaps I ought to have a little giveaway...

A little charm goes a long way....

Yesterday I was in need of distraction thanks to some unnecessary and unwarranted stress following my pre-op assessment at the hospital.  So I had a bit of a tidy up in the sewing room.  I always find that so soothing, although it never stays tidy long - I'm such a messy worker!

Anyway, amongst the piles of fabric to be sorted and returned to their rightful places was a Sew Stitchy charm pack.  This is Aneela Hoey's new line, and I was lucky enough to have been given some bits of the fabric for my birthday from which I fashioned a sewing kit and so I thought what better use for the charm pack than a sewing machine cover.

My Janome has a very utilitarian white plastic cover, and I thought a pretty colourful quilted number would be just the ticket.

I took the easy route, I admit, and made a very simple patchwork design out of 28 of the squares - choosing which 28 was the hardest part!

(As you can see from the pictures, I have another soothing evening ahead of me as I clean up yet again...)

The colours of this line work so well together, and as the designs are all pretty much multi-directional, anything goes.

I used simple white twill ribbon for the ties, as I love it when the fabric comes tied up in bundles with that ribbon, and it seemed to be a good extension of the Stitchy theme. 

However, once I'd whipped up the front, I got a bit stuck with the lining.  Should I go Aneela a-go-go and line it with girl on a tree swing, or use some fantastic Tula Pink fabric I recently found skulking away in a rather odd fabric shop, or go totally bland and line it with Moda white.....  I pondered this for several minutes while staring into space.... then I drank a coffee and ate almost a whole packet of fig rolls....  then I had a mini-row with the hospital (possibly not a good move, am now hoping I won't end up with anaesthetist's equivalent of waitresses spitting in your food... I'm kidding!  We don't do that.... really, we don't) then I went back to staring..... and then I realised what I was staring at....  

Now, admit it, who doesn't do the biggest amount of sewing at Christmas? All those last minute gifts, and seasonal decorations?  So what could be a better lining than a Cherry Christmas scrappy affair?  My little spaniel helped me pick the fabric and sort the layout - she kind of lay on bits of it which meant no more changes to that bit!  I had to add a white border too as the scraps I had didn't quite match the Sew Stitchy front.

I quilted it all really simply, using the Sew Stitchy side, I quilted in the ditch around the charm squares and then did a further two lines either side of that row.  I like the way it shows through on the scrappy side too. 

And it might well be true that a bad workman blames his tools, but let me tell you when a bad workwoman gets the right tools, all kinds of miracles are possible.  Look at this beautiful unpuckered quilting,all thanks to my lovely friend Kelly and the walking foot she very generously gave me on Sunday.

And I think that turquoise hexy fabric is my favourite from the whole line.  oh, with the exception of the panel... You have heard about the panel, haven't you?