Is it a stork? No, it's a flamingo.

My neighbours have just had their first baby, a beautiful girl called Evie. After the excitement of the hexagon elephant for my friend's yet to be born baby boy, I decided the imminent new arrival (as Evie was when I hatched the plan) was the perfect reason to create a pink version, and what better pink animal than a flamingo.

After the saga of the patchwork borders with the elephant I actually sat and drew this one out and did calculations and everything. And it paid off, so it was worth the headache!

I love the bright pink sketch skinny border round the centre, it really frames the appliqué. The quilting of the centre piece caused more head scratching. I'd originally wanted to do FMQ pebbles, but my skills are just not up to it, so I went with overlapping circles, which ended up looking like bubbles.

I joined the ranks of the IKEA number fabric fans for the backing, which gives a good contrast to the colours on the front.

And this evening, I rolled it up, tied it with a pink ribbon and delivered it to it's new owner. She didn't cry, so I'm taking that as that she liked it - at 16 days old, you can't really hope for a better verdict than that!

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Have yourself a merry Cherry Christmas

My new boss is a Christmas freak. No kidding, she's obsessed. I did not know this in the interview - it might have changed things.....
I have now managed to add fuel to that fire, at the same time as selling my first quilt - how exciting is that!
My Cherry Christmas quilt that I started last year and couldn't finish because of a poorly sick Janome is now finished, quilted (although not without great fabric-creeping suffering) bound, rolled up and tied with a big red ribbon, and delivered.

And she couldn't be happier! I took it in on Monday after my week off and every time I turned round (she sits behind me) she was cuddling it! It is now apparently already in use on the sofa, and an order has been placed for a table runner, 6 placemats and coasters.....


All I have to do now is make another one for me.....

Quilt stats:

• Size - 58" x 58" roughly
• Fabric - Cherry Christmas by Aneela Hoey with Kona White backing and binding
• Pieced and quilted with Aurifil 50wt, quilting at around 1/4" - 1/2" apart

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

Remember this?

Well since you last saw it, I've got a bit more done....

Yet another one I'm giving away and wish I wasn't!
Quilt stats:

• Size - 63" x 75"
  
• Pattern: my own design
  
• Fabric: all Kona solids except some Oakshott in the sky and Art Gallery Fabrics Square Elements to bind
  
• Pieced and quilted using various Aurifil threads.

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Well, hello September....

I can't believe it's September already! With one thing and another August was a busy month sewing wise, with wedding outfits, finishing projects and starting new ones. So here goes....
A family wedding mid-month prompted a flurry of stitching with a new frock, two new purses (1 for each outfit I had to choose between), and a tie for the other half made from my hoarded Birds and the Bees by Tula Pink.

Then there was the wall hanging I'm mid-way through for one of my sisters. She wanted a beach scene, so I drew on the improv teachings from Lu Summers at the Fat Quarterly Retreat and made this up, using Kona solids and all pieced with Aurifil 50wt - my new favourite thread now I know how to stop my machine rejecting it!

While I'm waiting on spray baste for that one, and deciding on a backing, I got going on the quilt for another sister (yep, we're never ending!) this time made from Melody Miller's various Ruby Star collections. I've been wrestling with the best way to display her fantastic designs with the huge motifs and eventually decided on super-size hexes. Photos of this on Instagram lead to my most exciting quilt related experience when Melody herself commented how much she loved it!

And last but not least is Fairground Attraction, my mini quilt made from the Triangle City EPP block I started with Katy Jones at FQR, in Mirror dots, and posted today on the Aurifil Facebook page and tweeted by Alex Veronelli himself! What a weekend! Thanks to Kelly at Jeliquilts for letting me know it was up there along with her fabulous Rainbow quilt.

Last but not least, I currently have a giveaway running in conjunction with The VIllage Haberdashery, so just click here for more details.

Linking up with Lynne over on Lily's Quilts for the Fresh Sewing Day. And by the way, according to Aurifil, this month is National Sewing Month, so let's do it proud!

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All sewed out!

All the components are now made, just need to sew them all together, add the borders and quilt and bind. I have till October half term to finish it....

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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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The 5th Covet

Last week, over on Lynne's blog, there was a write-up of a new quilting programme specially for i-pad called Quiltography. I was intrigued and went ahead a bought a copy. Not sure quite how long it's going to take me to photograph, measure, and name every piece of fabric in my relatively small (yes, beloved partner, I did say small!) stash in order to get the most out of it, but there was one feature I couldn't wait to try.

I saw a photo on Mark Lipinski's Facebook page and immediately thought it would make an amazing quilt. Quiltography offers a fab feature where you import a photo and it converts it into a pixelated-style quilt pattern, along with the number of pieces you need in each colour! 

For the life of me I can't work out how to load the photo of the quilt pattern, but take my word for it, it'll be great. There's even piecing diagrams for each block and then a layout diagram too, so hopefully fool-proof..... we'll see.

Anyway, you're hopefully reading this and wondering a) if I own the programme, what am I coveting, and b) what's this got to do with Annie's wonderful shop that this week's covets are celebrating?

So, here we go.... as well as all the wonderful patterned fabrics, Annie has an enviable collection of Kona solids - just what I need to do the design justice. So I need a Kona colour card with new insert so I can match that up with the colour suggestion in the pattern and try and make the quilt look as stunning as I think it could.

A little pouchy distraction

At the moment, it can't be said that life is good.  For lots of reasons I can't go into, life is stressful, sad and exhausting, and I'm waiting for someone to turn on that light, 'cos right now, my tunnel seems awfully dark.

Anyway, in my effort to escape things for a while I decided to make a start on seasonal sewing and make some pouches I'm hoping will make appropriate Christmas gifts.

I wanted to see how the same pattern would look made in different ways as there are a number of possible recipients for these, and so I made a few different ones.  There's a lot of pressure from the title of the pattern 'Perfect Zip Bags' - my efforts were definitely better named 'Not So Perfect Zip Bags'!

First I did a patchwork version with Melody Miller, some Kona solids and some magic beans.  It was my first attempt at a lined zipped pouch, but I followed the pattern pretty carefully, and was really pleased with the outcome.  I interfaced both exterior and lining fabrics and added the interlining the pattern suggested.  The only thing I struggled with was the gusset on the exterior fabric, which the pattern said to do after sewing up the lining.  There also seemed to be a LOT of lining when it's turned in. 

Anyway, one of the possible recipients has passed judgement on this and it seems it might not be the worst present she could find under the tree....

So, next I made one in just one fabric - I've had this Stone Garden in the stash for a while - it was one of the first things I bought from The Village Haberdashery, back in February.  So far I haven't had the right pattern for it, but it seemed to be just perfect for this pouch.

I lined this one with a light olive green solid and it's pretty much the same on both sides.  This time, I cut the lining slightly smaller than the pattern said, added fusible fleece to the exterior fabric only, and no other interfacing or interlining, and I sewed the gussets in the exterior before I stitched up the lining, which was much, much easier.  I really quite like this one - there seems more room inside it.

Lastly, I wanted to have a bit of fun.  I'd been playing around with some Innocent Crush scraps, but I just couldn't get the right combo together for the wonky log cabin idea I'd had.  Then overnight I had an idea for recycling a pair of torn jeans, using a piece of the back with a pocket for one side and if possible actually just cut round the button and fly to make the front.  I cut it out, and then realised the front wouldn't work - there were just too many layers to sew through to join the waistband to the zipper and lining. 

Since I first saw Charlotte's AMH Love wall hanging the phrase that always springs to mind when I see Innocent Crush is 'rock and roll', and so denim seemed a good accompaniment.  So, I combined the two ideas, still using the pocket piece for the back of the pouch and cutting one of the legs into 3" strips to border an AMH charm.  I interfaced the denim, as they were stretchy jeans and as I was sewing the pieces were getting all out of shape.  Once interfaced, though they worked fine.  I lined it with Kona charcoal, and used a dark grey zip, keeping the grungy look.

So, that's my weekend's work.  This evening I'm going to be clearing up the sewing room and rehousing the items that were on the shelf that fell off the wall yesterday morning.  As if I don't have enough to worry about, I now have whacking great holes in the plaster of the sewing room!

Ah well, as they say, 'it never rains but it pours', and 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'.  I'm not feeling so strong right now, but hopefully soon....

Sitting in the morning sun...

I decided to make the most of the dappled morning sunshine to take a couple of snaps of the baby quilt that I finished last night.  We've been having such lovely early weather lately, although it's sadly usually clouded over by lunch!

Anyway, here it is, backed with yellow magic beans from FairyTale Friends by American Jane, and bound with a scrappy Kona solids mix, in I've no idea what official colours!

Linked up with Canoe Ridge Creations Sew Modern Monday, because although I blogged it today, I did finish it last night, honest guv!