Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....

Progress report.....

3 squashy beach huts

Terrible night-time photo of sea and fishing boat.

I think it's getting there.....

 

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Can you see what it is yet?

Earlier this year, two of my sisters came to stay and we got onto the subject of quilts. The one made for my step-mum's 60th has gone to my youngest sister now, and the two middle sisters requested one of their own. A's is to be made of Melody Miller - and that's causing me some problems, I can tell you!! The thought of giving so much precious Ruby Star away, especially as now there is to be no more....

Anyway, as usual, I digress.... C originally asked for her quilt to be an alphabet of animals, and quite possibly fuelled by the several sloe gins we'd all drunk by that point, we picked the most obscure creatures we could for each letter. Luckily, a few weeks later that plan was rationalised to be a wall hanging to hide a crack in the wall in their rented. She had also said one of her favourite things I'd made over the years was the beach huts wall hanging - remember this?

After some discussion, we narrowed it down to a beach scene as if seen through a window. We also both liked the paintings of the Welsh artist, Helen Elliott, and so I've settled on a cross between Helen's colourful, naive style, and the beach huts mini. There's a bit of inspiration from two mini quilts in the book 'We Love Color' too.

Today I trekked to The Village Haberdashery - normally a 45 minute journey, today it took me 2 hours and 20 mins, but I was determined to take advantage of Annie's Bank Holiday Sale! Horrendous traffic, and the seasonal flash floods couldn't stop me. I was extremely and unusually disciplined and stuck to only buying what I went for. I can't tell you how hard that was, as there are an even greater array of sumptuous, temptingly gorgeous new fabrics in at the moment - I sense a few covet posts might be on the way.

So, this evening, I've drawn out the design - 45" x 36" so not exactly a mini this time - and I've laid out the colours of what will be going where. Here's what it looks like so far.....

Wish me luck?!

 

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Update on progress

Ok, this is my first attempt with Blogsy, so let's hope it works....

Remember back in March I posted a list of things I wanted to do this year? And I promised monthly updates? Well, it's time for the first update, and as we're friends, hopefully you'll forgive the fact it's been a whole 5 months!

So, here we go with the list:

1) Cherry Christmas quilt - I've fixed the torn piece and unpicked the Himalyan quilting, and re done some of it, and unpicked sme more of it.... It still needs finishing but will be done for Christmas.

2) Melody Miller quilt - have been struggling with this and how best to do justice to the large designs, but this weekend I had a brainwave and I'm going to use mahoosive fussy cut hexagons.... So watch this space.

3) Macho quilt - Currently collecting denim.....

4) Welsh flag quilt - need to get cracking with this one - so am appealing for bags of red scraps and green scraps to swap for FQs so I can get started on this.

5) 3rd sister wants a wall hanging now - working on this one at the moment.

6) One of my work colleagues has commissioned me to make a quilt for her 4 year old son in blues and greens. I've got the fabrics for the top based on the Havana range and supplemented with lots of different Kona solids. - DONE!

Other things -boxy pouch for a friend's birthday which I adapted from an Annela Hoey tutorial - DONE!

Melody Miller Vintage flowers fabric messenger bag- this didn't happen but I did make a Melody Model Aeroplane and a Melody Super-Tote...oh and another full size Aeroplane shockingly NOT made from Melody...

There have also been lots of other things - some finished some still WIP:

HST quilt - this is still just a top, needs me to buy some batting so I can get it finished, but am saving it till the bedroom's been decorated.

Clothes - a new pleasure, as well as the Nani Iro Renfrew top, there's been a washi, schoolhouse shirt, Sorbetto top, and an a-line skirt.

Mini quilts - 'a Touch of Sparkle', which was for a work colleague's birthday, 'Home is where the Heart is' and 'Fairground Attraction' from Katy Jones' Triangle City pattern that I started at retreat and am currently finishing quilting.

So, all in all not a bad year so far.

 

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Another productive weekend...

I have had a busy few days, sewing wise. On Monday, I realised the birthday I've had since Christmas to make a quilt for was less than a week away! Cue some slightly panicked piecing, some less panicked unpicking, and some late nights - 1.45am in particular on Thursday.  I understand the birthday boy was so pleased with it he has insisted on taking it to bed with him tonight - cos you need a quilt in 30' heat!!

So having got that delivered on Saturday morning, I decided I would have a go at a full size Aeroplane bag to carry my sewing machine to Retreat.  I had some Glimma canvas - well, after coveting it back here, it would have been rude not to buy it when it came into stock - and having done some measuring, decided a normal size would be perfect.

It didn't start well. Janome had complained bitterly when I asked her to sew the headliner foam for the model aeroplane, and she was not pleased to see it return. No matter how much I tried to placate her with promises it was all for her, she spat her dummy and the headliner and canvas came to a knotty tangled end.  When I tried to unpick it, the canvas just disintegrated. Swear words were exchanged but then I had a brainwave. I had some lightweight HeatnBond and so I used that to fix the canvas to the headliner - perfect.  

Next came the base, and as I once again had no Peltex, I used headliner foam and an extra layer of duck cotton. I decided this time to cut the headliner slightly smaller and hold it in place by basting the canvas to the duck cotton..... Nope, fraying again got in the way, and so I stitched vertical lines about two inches apart, effectively quilting the base. Have to say, it might have been a 'fix', but it actually looks good - I like the extra texture.

Other than completely losing the plot with the pocket, and so ending up with the lining upside down,

and being so peeved I decided to forego the other zip pocket, the only other hiccup was the zip. Now, I spent 5 hours altogether making his bag, including cutting out, but about half of that time was spent wrestling with the zip, and I have to say, the blinking zip installation is the reason why I won't tackle another one. It is an absolute beezum - and believe me, those are not the words I used yesterday - and I can't believe there isn't a better way to do it.

Anyway, it's done now, and after an initial heart-stopping, 'it doesn't fit' moment, all is fine.

So then, having nothing else to do... (That is so not true I can't begin to tell you) I decided my life would not be complete without a skirt made from Ruby Star Sparkle telephones. Had I known then what I found out later, I might not have been so quick to use so much of my treasure, but hey, too late now. This is an a-line skirt, and I'm not convinced it isn't a little TOO a-line, so I might alter it yet.

Today was spent getting my stuff ready for Retreat, and then this evening I had a little play at some paper piecing. I don't find foundation paper piecing easy to say the least, so the first one took me nearly an hour! Luckily the second was much quicker.

All in all a busy, hot, weekend. I suspect there will be little sleep being got tonight too as it's so warm again

Hello!

So here we all are again, once more enveloped in the exciting lead up to the Fat Quarterly Retreat. I'm very happy that this year, I'll have a slight clue about what to expect - last year was so overwhelming to begin with, but this year, I won't be such a newbie, I will know people there..... And I will probably still be overwhelmed!

This is me....

It's quite likely I won't be looking quite that glamorous ( yes, for me that IS glamorous!!) especially not first thing in the morning. Last year I said all this although some things have changed since then - I no longer have my own business for a start. But I do have a lot more time for sewing! I've been happily making various bags and bits and pieces for the weekend - the super tote is definitely coming:

 I will be recycling the gorgeous name tag I had for last year's retreat.

So, I'm looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new ones. Do come and say hello.

June is busting out all over.....

Its been a long time since I linked up with the fresh sewing day over on Lily's Quilts,but here goes....

i might not have got as much done as some of the super-overachievers amongst us but for me this was quite a productive month. I also learned something very important - I get more done when I'm working alone!! Working in a group or with just one friend is fab, and it's great to have some one to chat to. But I do achieve more when it's just me.

So here's what I did this month:

 

That said, the sewing was lovely, but my favourite thing this month was the peony in the garden!

By Jove, she did it!

So, during the week, I got a bit carried away cutting out stuff to sew this weekend. We were due to have a sewing day in Saturday, but for various reasons - finances, builders, wedding quilts and puppies - it was postponed. So I decided I'd get stuck in and get all three items finished..... 

Just waiting for a hem

First was the Sorbetto - a free pattern from Coletter, available here. Because I was trying to make this from 1 metre of fabric, I chose to not have the pleat in the front. The saga with the missing 3cm was resolved with the suggestion of a contrast hem leading to the realisation that, at only 5' 2", I didn't actually need any addition - it turned out the perfect length.

Next came the Schoolhouse - I have already made the tunic length version and I loved that - found it very easy. However, for some reason this one didn't work anywhere near as well. Something went wrong with the top, and so it's a bit on the snug side! Also, I don't like the proportions as much as on the tunic.

That took care of yesterday, and today was the turn of the washi dress. Why, oh why did I take so long trying this?? It's was an absolute joy to put together, including some exciting shirring!

               

I've somehow managed to collect a rather large amount of this gorgeous pink records fabric, Melody Miller Ruby Star Vinyl, and so it seemed like the perfect way to use some of it instead of gazing adoringly at in on the shelf! It's a beautiful soft, fluid linen and it sewed up like a dream.

This was the final pressing before the grand trying on! I chose not to make a muslin, basically because I'm lazy! But also because I'm not good at repeating myself (as the Schoolhouse proved). Considering how hard I find it to find clothes that fit well in shops, it's remarkable how lucky I've been with those I've made, without having done too much fitting, if any.

And here's the finished article. It's fits beautifully, and I'm so pleased with it. I have some gorgeous Lnen Dots linen/cotton blend in Heather that I was gong to use for a dress length Schoolhouse fora wedding. However, after the problems I've had with this one and how much I love the washi, I'm considering a change of plan!