i'm a ginger monkey

english paper piecing

2012-01-29T09:16:00.000Z

Have you ever wanted to give english paper piecing a try?

Not sure how to make a start?

Confused by the papers and the hand sewing?

Do you like this quilt?

Or maybe you'd like to progress from hexagons and onto something with more shapes?

Want to come to mine and spend a day learning the basics?
Including;

cutting and basting shapes
fussy cutting
using templates
sewing shapes together
progressing to how to plan a quilt or larger project

Let me know!

I'm going to have a fun and informal workshop at mine (near Junction 38 of the M1 in West Yorkshire, not far from Wakefield, Huddersfield, and Leeds) on Sunday February 19th. It will be a day's workshop, from 10-3pm with lunch included as well as tea, coffee and biccies.
The price is £35 for the day, with templates, papers, fabric (you get to rummage through my scrap box and pick your own) and everything else you need to make a start included in the price. You just need to bring yourself.
Places are very limited - email me for more details - katyejones at hotmail dot com

[flan-l]

2012-01-26T13:50:00.000Z

a soft, slightly napped fabric of wool or wool and another fiber, used for trousers, jackets, shirts, etc.
a soft, warm, light fabric of cotton or cotton and another fiber, thickly napped on one side and used for sleepwear, undergarments, sheets, etc
flannels; an outer garment, especially trousers, made of flannel, woolen undergarments.
British - A washcloth. Informal - nonsense; humbug; empty talk. Informal - flattery; insincere or overdone praise.

(thank you dictionary.com for the definition)

It's also the husbeast's favourite word (mine is knickers, Miss G's is beverage. Ginger isn't bothered about favourite words yet), and so it seemed fitting his quilt should be made of flannel.

I labelled it too - with Ginger's way of saying I love you back in the days when he was tiny. Husbeast and I sign off our text messages to each other with it still. We're quite soppy really.

Although it's supposed to be the husbeast's quilt, I actually have been using it, because I get colder than he does (being whippet like and quite pathetic). He doesn't seem to mind, probably because he wudges me.

deets;
78" x 62"
Pattern loosely based on turning twenty, but measurements of pieces guessed because I couldn't for the life of me find the pattern in my studio.
Fabrics used - Anna Maria Horner flannels from LouLouthi and Folksy, backed with pieces from Innocent Crush and bound in voile.
Long arm quilted in a loose honeycomb pattern by Chris.

added incentives

2012-01-25T05:00:00.001Z

Have you joined the swoon-along group on flickr? Are you making progress with your swoon quilt? Only just heard about it and want in? Come on over - it's a whole heap of fun (I promise - there are discussions on how to quilt, tips for making your blocks, even a thread on dogs and quilts. We're a chatty lot.)

An incentive for joining in with the fun are the giveaway threads.

Hey? What?

Oh yes peeps - giveaways.

This week we have a Fat Quartershop sponsored giveaway (thank you Kimberly)

A fat quarter bundle of Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott for Moda. I love this line, it's so fun and fresh and there are so many great prints. If you want to have a chance to win you need to be an active member of the swoon along group. Come on over and join in with us! You can enter the giveaway (and the flickr group) if you pop over to here. Don't leave an entry on my blog - you won't be entered!

The giveaway is open until this coming Sunday (January 29th) - but remember YOU MUST BE A MEMBER OF THE SWOON ALONG (And don't enter here - go to the group!)

AND we hit 600 members! Isn't that crazy? So in order to celebrate I figured an extra giveaway was in order.

Camille had already offered up a bundle of her brand new, not yet out, Vintage Modern range of fabric and a couple of patterns to one lucky person. So we've got that going on as well! Yay! Speaking of Camille's pattens - have you seen the new ones? To DIE FOR. Seriously. Go check out the quilts made from them on her blog. I'm making hopscotch next - no y-seams, I love it!

Thank you for all your fantastic comments on my quandary. I think I'm going to keep going, and audition different sashing colours, and maybe cornerstones. The more I look at the blocks the more I love it. But you can bet I'll be back with another quandary when it comes to sashing!!!

stop or not

2012-01-24T05:00:00.004Z

I'm having a little bit of a quandary. Do I stop at four blocks, sash and add a slightly wider border than is in the pattern and start on making a more true to the pattern version of swoon using Anna Maria Horner fabrics? Or do I carry on and make this scraptastical quilt with it's full 9 blocks as intended? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the scrappiness but will it be too much as 9 blocks? Or am I just being impatient to start on pillows for my bed?
Here's a really rough mosaic of 9 blocks. Except it's the same block repeated 9 times, because I couldn't be bothered to take more photos.

Actually, when I look at it like that I really like it. I might have just answered my own question.

Or have I?

Input welcome. You can even say you think my blocks are the ugliest things you've ever seen and I should burn them. I may disagree with you and call you a fool, but honesty (as long as it's not like super mean honesty, you know, don't be nasty to me, I'm sensitive, but I can handle kind honesty...constructive criticism...CONSTRUCTIVE though, ok?, this isn't a chance for you to say 'oh yes, your blocks are ugly and so are you and you should shut the heck up lady because you make me sick'. Please don't say anything like that.)

californian cherries

2012-01-22T10:41:00.000Z

I joined in with the made in cherry quilt along over on Chelsea's blog. Mainly because I loved the pattern from the moment I saw it at quilt market this fall, and also because Sarah Fielke designed it, and I love her to bits. The original pattern is for an 80" square quilt, but Chelsea has resized it so you can make a 90" or a 60" if you fancied making something bigger or smaller. I'm going smaller, there are already way too many big quilts in this house. For the 60" size you need 8 fat quarters of fabric. Oh, how very handy that I'd just picked a summery selection of 8 fat quarters for a Fat Quarterly bundle in Lola Pink Fabrics' store. In fact, I'd picked the bundle just before I saw the quilt along, and I knew that they'd be perfect for this project. The girls at Lola Pink mailed them over to me and I started cutting. Then I started piecing. The quilt so far took me half a day. So it's great for a nice easy weekend project. It comes together so beautifully, and so easily. Just squares and a few triangles for the edges of the star points. Now I'll cut my background (I'm using a white klona cotton from Alice's shop) and hopefully by the end of the day this baby will be ready for quilting (myself- it's only small, I can handle this size without crying too much).

Oh look - it's ready for quilting!!! That was fast. Actually it was fast - this came together so easily. I know I said that already, but it really does.

I'm re-naming my quilt Californian Cherries - the zingy colours remind me of the sunny skies in California. Sipping a cocktail by the roof pool in some ultra hip hotel in LA. I did that once. But actually I had iced tea, not a cocktail, because I'm really not very rock n roll.

You can get your own Fat Quarterly 'Californian Cherries' bundle from here from next week (I'll let you know when it's in the shop) I think the girls are going to kit it too so you can make your own Made in Cherry quilt like this one, if you wanted to of course, I'm not even going to pretend you should make one just because I did, but you should make one because it's so fun to put together and so easy (did I mention that already?) and just so lovely!

the scraptastical swoon

2012-01-20T05:00:00.001Z

The swoon along is going amazingly well. So many blocks popping up in flickr. I randomly picked out nine from the group pool to make a mosaic. There were so many to choose from, this mosaic took me forever. In the end I just had to click randomly and stop oohing and aahing over all the amazing work. So many different fabric combos, so many wonderful blocks. I love them all so much - it's amazing that one block can look so different. (click on the mosaic and it'll take you to the credits for the pics).

My own quilt is coming along really nicely, I'm so pleased with how it looks so far. I said I'd be back with one block this week. Well, they're pretty addictive once you start, so I made two. Oops. I also said this was my Friday project, well, I've been doing a bit a day. Just sewing a few more half square triangles, or flying geese. It's fun to do mindless chain piecing. It really is (I think so anyway). My blocks are scrappy. It actually makes my head hurt planning out where the scraps need to go so I don't end up with too many of one fabric leftover for block nine. I've decided I'd quite like to try the regular blocks too, so I might make a couple of pillows for my bed. That's if I don't go crazy making this quilt first.

You can still come and join us over in the flickr group and make your own swoon quilt. You can get the pattern either from Fat Quartershop or direct from Camille's shop. It's a download, so you can get it super fast. The group is almost at 500 members now (can you believe it? I can't!) and there's loads of helpful hints and advice going on. There's no real end date, there's no real start date - just head over and join in if you want to make a swoon quilt and do it at your own pace. I'd love to have you.
Maybe you're daunted by the size of the quilt? It is 80 inches square, so it's a pretty big undertaking quilting wise (I think I'll send mine out, although I'd like to think I'd quilt it myself, in all honesty I know I'm not patient enough. It's my birthday in March so I'm asking everyone in my family for quilting money!) Just a single block framed makes a perfect baby quilt, like this one in the pic below (by Emedoodle). I think I'd like to make a few of these. You could even make them double sided, a block on each side. One side in darks (night time) and one bright (day time). My imagination is running away with me now, possibly. But I think it'd make such a cute baby shower gift all tied up in a big bow (yes, one of my friends is pregnant and I am doing that whole 'what can I make her' thing all the time!).

What have I learned this week from making my blocks? Concentration is required. The beauty of this kind of piecing is you have to think about it. It's not tricky but it's precise and all those pieces fit in a certain way like a jigsaw. I've read and re-read the instructions a million times over. My points are a little squiffy, I could have trimmed down my sections better and made them fit, I could have used more pins and not tried to rush a little. My next block I'll try and be better. I've never managed to make perfect flying geese but for the first time ever I've come pretty darn close with these, and it's an amazing feeling. Like a personal mountain. Half square triangles I can do all day - I love them, they're my favourite type of block unit, all the trimming down and the magical way 2 squares make 4 triangles (yes, I'm easily pleased). Geese have never been fun. Maybe once all my blocks are trimmed and sashed I'll think differently, but I think I'm going to have most of them fully intact - with pointy points. First Time Ever.

tie me up - a tutorial

2012-01-18T05:00:00.002Z

I promised this a while ago, sorry it took me so long!

You can download a PDF to save and print with full instructions on how to make this quilt by clicking here.

As always - tutorials are for personal use only, please don't reproduce or sell copies of the tute - it's a freebie, play nicely.

Any questions or problems let me know!!!

In other news - Jane has a really fun challenge happening right now on her blog. Head on over to find out some more about Dress Up Your Roll, it's fun - I promise!!!

resolved to sew 2012

2012-01-17T10:13:00.000Z

Ali over at Very Berry Handmade has a fabbo competition going on this week and next with a whole heap of fantastic prizes. Blog about your 2012 sewing resolutions and link back to her blog for a chance to win.

My resolutions are as follows;

Learn to say no. No swaps for a while, less committing to things I can't spend the time or enough energy on and that if I don't think immediately 'YES YES YES' and can't live without doing then I should decline, politely. It hasn't gone overly well so far, I've already made commitments to some things that I probably should have declined. But I'll make a start after this month. Then I'll say no, or at least try (I'm not very good at it).

Finish things. I have too many started projects that wouldn't take me all that long to finish. They're not doing anyone any good half sewn up in my studio, and even if the top itself isn't something I necessarily want to use myself it'll be good to have some charity or gift quilts lying around (especially when the above resolution fails and I commit to something else I have no time to do!!!) I'm aiming for at least one finish a month. Think I can do it? We'll see - I have started a set in my flickr stream to keep track of my 2012 finishes.

Believe in myself more. I'm no expert quilter, I'm not award winning - I accept that and I'm happy with it. I wish I had a little more faith in myself and didn't doubt myself so much so often. I'll try and work on that a bit. Not to the point where I think I'm all that, because that's just as bad as thinking you're not. It'd be so nice to be able to take a compliment without thinking to myself 'but this, that and the other are wrong with that quilt, I should point that out, or mention I didn't quilt it, or say that something ANYTHING is wrong with it'.

Spend more time with my sewing friends, we rarely sew - it's not about that, it's about hanging out and having a laugh and talking about stupid things. If it weren't for this lot I'd go mad. And as for the point above, I could never think I was all that with them on hand, they'd drag me back down to my rightful place quick as a flash.

Use up some of the fabrics in my stash that I've been hoarding, the precious stuff. It's not precious. It's fabric. Use it woman. Use it NOW. I do intend to make a constellation quilt (that grey star one a couple of pics up) using Anna Maria Horner Bohemian, because having that sitting around unused is just awful. It upsets me just thinking about it, it could be a quilt, it could be loved and used every day. Instead it sits on a shelf.

Learn something new. How to knit a pair of socks - or the honey cowl (beautifully modelled by baby Max if you click on that link) , or actually manage to do this dress I've got sitting around in bits. I'm scared of new things that are out of my comfort zone. I hope to conquer that a little this year. I'm also going to spring quilt market in may and to sewing summit in october - wouldn't it be great to have a dress I made to wear there?

So that's my 2012 resolutions. I don't think they're too bad. Achievable? Probably. Let's see how I get on with that!

Of all the glorious prizes on offer I think I'd like to win this bundle from Backstitch. I've been very close to buying it for a little while, but resisted. So fingers crossed, knock on wood and all that!

&stitches - a winner

2012-01-17T07:50:00.000Z

The winner is number 23, Martina. I'll pass your details on to Nicole, Martina and you should hear from her soon! Congratulations!
Thank you to everybody that entered and for your excitement in the e-zine. Remember, you can go and buy your own copy from the &stitches website. It's well worth a read!

starting as I mean to go on...

2012-01-16T10:39:00.000Z

2012 is my year of productivity. Yeh right. She says that every year. I want to get WIPs finished rather than sat around doing nothing. Whether that's so I can use the quilts or give them away as gifts, I'm sick of seeing half finished stuff cluttering up my studio. This quilt was started last year, and then left as just a few blocks as I got distracted (as usual). My best friend asked me to make a quilt for a friend of hers who was expecting a baby. The only stipulation was that she's not a fan of colour. Yikes. That's not my kind of deal at all. I am not a neutrals person, you only have to walk into my house to know I'm a fan of jewel tones and bold prints. I remembered these blocks and thought I could finish this up and it should be perfect. There's a little touch of colour amongst all the neutrals.
Before you think it's the not yet released Summersville - it's not, it's Lu's screenprinted fabrics from her etsy shop.

I used this as wadding. It's a fusible on both sides bamboo blend batting. It was quite tricky to find, in the end I got it from here, it arrived really fast considering it came from the US and via Amazon.
So, what did I think of fusi-boo?

For small quilts like this one, and pillows, etc it's great. You have to layer the quilt sandwich and then set the fusible stuff with a steam iron. My ironing board is a pretty decent size, and for this size quilt it worked ok but for something bigger I think it'd be tricky, if not impossible to get a flat result all over without bubbles or puckers. It worked best when I worked from the centre out, like the instructions say to do, and then when I'd fused it from the front, flipping the quilt over and doing the same on the back. Smoothing out from the centre to the edges as I went. I also popped a safety pin in each corner, just to hold the edges a little better.
Once basted the quilt was stiff. Rather like the effect with basting spray, so quilting on a regular domestic machine with the edges rolled up wasn't a problem for this size, but on a larger quilt that stiffness might be problematic. Time was against me, I had an evening to get the quilt finished with quilting and binding, so I quilted in organic lines spaced approximately 2" apart. I'd have liked to have it more densely quilted, but any more and I'd have been sat up all night binding!
The batting smelled a little bit funny, not unpleasant, but not lovely either. I guess that was the glue because once I washed it the smell was gone. After washing, the quilt was wrinkled up just perfectly (all the photos are after washing), and was a lovely drape. The weight is similar to a warm and natural cotton batting - nice and light (which is my preferred weight, I don't like a lot of loft).

I added a little label (thank you again Julie for your tutorial and for making these for me because you know I'm a dork. Love you heaps xxx) that was framed with some leftover strips, and bound with kona snow (I added one tiny square of summersville to break it up).

The baby (girl) was born this weekend. I hope she gets many years of use out of the quilt. I always feel a little nervous making quilts for people I don't really know, but fingers crossed it gets used to death and not just shoved in a closet!

Quilt deets -
finished size 48" x 48"
fabrics used - a variety of neutral kona cottons by Robert Kaufman, Summersville screenprint fabrics by Lucie Summers

mark your diary

2012-01-15T06:34:00.000Z

Tomorrow (January 16th) Ali from VeryBerryHandmade has a huge giveaway starting with prizes from some of the best UK fabric stores.
The giveaway is called Resolved To Sew 2012. Just thought I'd let you know!

The &stitches giveaway is going on still, until tomorrow also - click here to get to that if you haven't entered already!

&stitches - a giveaway!

2012-01-13T04:44:00.001Z

&stitches is a brand spanking new e-zine dedicated to handwork - embroidery, applique and the like. The first issue came out this week, and last night I spent a really enjoyable hour or so with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits (cookies to my US friends) and wished I could embroider as beautifully as Nicole and Carina, the talent behind &stitches. I can't, but that doesn't mean I won't get out my floss and give it a go. There's a pattern by Nicole in Issue 1 that I'd particularly love to have a go at - some stitched text that would make a great hoop for my studio wall.

Inside the issue you will find original patterns for both embroidery and applique, including this trio of fishy friends by Corinne of September House...

...plus there are book reviews, interviews and really interesting features.

I bet you want to have a peek, don't you? Well, you can go and buy a copy for yourself by visiting the website here.

Or you can take your chances and enter my giveaway! You could (of course) go buy a copy for yourself, enter my giveaway as well, and send your prize copy to a friend. That would be a really lovely thing to do, plus it would win you extra friend points, which could be used later in case of an emergency.

Whatever way you do it - enter the giveaway! One person picked by the lovely Mr Random.Org will win their very own digital copy of &stitches issue 1. I'll leave the giveaway open until Monday evening (Jan 16th) UK time and announce the lucky winner on Tuesday morning.

You can get extra entries as follows;

1 entry - comment on this post
a second entry - follow @stitchygeeks on twitter (come back and leave a second comment here to let me know)
a third entry - follow the &stitches blog (come back and leave an additional comment here to let me know)

Good luck peeps!!!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!

a button?

2012-01-12T07:40:00.002Z

Thanks to Sarah who is much cleverer than I am. I am forever grateful.

Here's a button for your blogs - just copy and paste that HTML coding there into your own blog and like magic a photo will appear!!!

In other news of the day and possibly perfectly timed for anyone wanting to go shopping for swoon along fabric, Mandy over at Simply Solids has a sale on - many Moda fabrics are half price!

Today my friend Justine is coming round to play. I have just finished the last block for Scrap Vomit Part Deux (I'll assemble the rows and piece a back over the weekend - yay!) and the leftovers squares (there are a heck of a lot) are going to be used in Brenda's Bust Yo Scraps quilt along. I'm only making a baby quilt size for that though, I intend to make a few baby quilts this year and have them on hand for baby shower, christening or 1st birthday gifts.

swooning along

2012-01-11T13:19:00.000Z

I made a button (of sorts - I know it's clunky, but I am no tech wizard). Click on the pic and you can download it from flickr and use it in your sidebar.

Tami made a button too. Again, click on it and download from flickr. Make sure you link back to the flickr group so people can find out where the fun is happening!

(note - tech wizards - if you can make a button that involves HTML shizzle and the like then please do and pop it in the group discussion. I am certainly not against a more spectacular button being produced, you know, that might be a subtle hint, or a plea for help)

Yesterday I started cutting my fabrics...

I have skinny quarter yards and a few half yards of habitat by Jay McCarroll. I completely messed up my first block's cutting by hoping for the best and not paying attention to how I could squeeze enough of the pieces out of the fabric, so (instead of a more organised look) I'm going scraptastic and cutting all my pieces now, then arranging different fabrics as I go along. I'm hoping it works, but I love the scrappy look of this block so I kind of know what I want to achieve...

Can you believe we have over 300 members already! Isn't that crazy?! I had hoped for around 40. I thought if I can play with 40 peeps then I'll be so stoked. 300 swooners!!! Wow. That is one heck of a lot of swoon action, and already there are blocks flooding in to the pool. I'm so crazily excited to see everyone's fabric choices and blocks as we go along. It's not too late to join in - like I said before, this is not a strict quilt a long, go at your own pace, use the group to help out with any questions you have and end up with a quilt when you end up with a quilt. I will be charting my progress week by week and also post some of the issues I have (if any - ok...I've already had one, I didn't concentrate on my cutting!) and hints to help you along the way.

So, first tip of the quilt along;
Cutting - before you cut your FQs measure them, if they're on the smallish or wonky side you might struggle to get all your pieces cut out. They need to be true 18 x 22" FQs.

I'll be back next week with my first block, but keep an eye on the flickr pool and discussions and don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it!

Oh - and look, Camille blogged about us! She's as excited as we are and keeps checking in on the group to see what we're up to!

shall we swoon?

2012-01-07T10:09:00.001Z

New Year. New Quilt. I have bought this pattern twice (don't ask why - it makes no sense) and I am darned if it's not going to get used.

So, if I make a swoon quilt, will you make a swoon quilt? A kind of quilt along, but not necessarily a strict 'we shall be doing X,Y,Z on these dates, woe betide you if you fall behind'.

(if you click on any of the pics below it takes you tho the flickr photo. I recommend you click, then you can see lots of other pics of those quilt. They're all so lovely)

(twinfibers)

I can no longer resist the charms of swoon.

(FussyCut)

It has beaten me.

(MrsMcPorkchop)

You know you want to too.

(BlueRidgeGirl)

Come on.

(JaceyCraft)

Go get yourself the pattern from here (it's a downloadable - yay - instant gratification!) and let's start to have a little think about what fabrics we're going to use. I think Habitat and a moda cross weave in natural. The fabrics Angela used for her bow tie quilt that I love so much.

(RunAmok)

The swoon kit using Camille's ruby fabrics is on sale right now at Fat Quartershop. Oooh - is that an omen?

Want to know what you need?

Fabric requirements -
18 FQs
4 1/4 yards background fabric
3/4 yard binding
5 yards backing fabric

The quilt finishes up at a pretty useful on any bed 80" square. I am told that each block takes around 2 hours to make, so is a block a week an achievable number? I think so. If you play I bet I can get some nice prizes for giveaways and contests along the way. Ooooh. Shiny prizes.

I set up a flickr group for those of you that want to join in. Please do. I don't want to be alone. (We need a button, I'll work on that...)

look into my crystal ball

2012-01-06T14:24:00.001Z

Kristen over at sew, mama, sew! asked me if I'd like to share my predictions for 2012. Um, yeh. Duh. Silly question.

You can check out what my crystal ball predicts and take a look back over 2011 and the highlights for me in the quilty world by clicking over to here. What are your predictions for 2012? And what stands out from 2011 for you?

pssst - also, in case you liked that giant star quilt I made the other day and fancied making something kinda similar but even more amazing...there's a quilt along happening from next week over here at Pins and Bobbins. Oops. I might have to join in. I was really peed off when Sarah didn't just give me her quilt at market. I mean, I helped her unpin it from her booth. I folded it up. It should have been mine. She calls herself a friend. I don't know. *sigh*

You can make this.....oooooh.....pretty, right? Plus there are 3 sizes, a 60" lap quilt, 80" mama quilt and a 90" papa quilt. Awwww. A family of patchwork stars.

last top of the year (or first of the new year?)

2012-01-02T08:00:00.003Z

I made a quilt a bit like this from 10" layer cake squares and added borders and stuff a year or so ago (but never took a pic because I didn't like the fabrics). Jeni made a big one, using vintage sheets cut into FQs and I was sucked into making one of my own using her wonderful tutorial. Oh I LOVE it. It was so simple, it took a day. And by cutting the half square triangles like this - from 16 FQs you end up with enough for 2 quilts, so that's even better. I am making one for a friend and one for me. Yay yay yay.
The fabrics are all Anna Maria Horner velveteens (both LouLouThi and Innocent Crush). They're a bit weird to sew. You need to make sure you have a generous seam allowance, and I also serged the seams of each row. I think on quilt 2 I'll serge all the seams (I say serge, but I mean zigzag stitch them). It frays a heap. A bit like flannels. And it's heavy, and bulky so I don't think it'd work well with anything using small bits. Never the less, it hasn't put me off using them again, because the handle is so lovely and they feel really decadent. Like I should be lying in bed with a bottle of champagne and a huge box of chocolates.
This quilt finishes up about 68" square. I think the second one (which will be for me) I'll add a border or 2 to make it extra big and to use up some of the extra bits of velveteen I have leftover. Maybe. I might not. It does look really pretty as is, I think.

I bought the fabrics from here at Fabricpalooza (on sale, still!) and here at Mira and Westie. The background is (my forever favourite) Timeless Treasures Screen in charcoal from Fat Quarter shop.

2011 - off you shoo!

2011-12-31T17:15:00.000Z

I think this year has been the biggest of my entire life. It's been the busiest year in regards to work, that's for sure. Although 2010 was the first year I had a job since getting pregnant with Grace in 1998 (yikes!) 2011 was the year that things started to really pick up with both Fat Quarterly and for myself as an individual. I got asked to submit to a couple of books (which aren't out yet, so I can't share projects from them - boo hiss), had a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew (which makes me so giddy inside, because that blog was probably one of the first sewing blogs I ever read and one I refer to all the time) and started to really feel I knew where my life was going, like this was how it was going to be, that I actually can say I make quilts rather than I'm a mum that hoards fabrics.

I made a heap of quilts. Way more than I thought I'd made.

I also started stuff and didn't finish it. Or I ignored stuff that I'd started before this year that could be finished really fast if I could be bothered. I get distracted easily. (Actually a couple of those pics are just ready to be quilted - the giant star in the first pic, and the flannel quilt).

I hung out with the best set of people, my sewing group (that rarely does sewing) Lynne, Brioni, Mandy, and Justine. We have such a bloody good laugh together. I feel truly blessed to have this lot as my real life friends. Next year I will get to hang out with them more - that's my goal.

Oh - and the biggest thing? That....

That still hasn't quite sunk in. Not sure when it will. Maybe when I get a real copy in my little paws. Til then I do go look at it on Amazon most days. Saddo.

2011 was amazing, if 2012 is as good I might burst.

Happy New Year to you all - I wish you heaps of happiness and good health and all your dreams to come true. xxxx

resistance is futile

2011-12-29T16:58:00.000Z

I'm a sucker for scrap quilts. I think all my favourite quilts are scrappy in nature. And I have a scrap bin that is out of control, despite making this and being so close to finishing a second.

I've set myself a challenge, I will finish the quilt tops below by the end of January and as a reward to myself I'll join in with Brenda on her Bust Yo Scraps Quilt Along.

All the bits are ready for sewing in order to finish this one....

And I am only about 8 blocks away from getting this finished too....

So my reward is this pretty little ditty. Why don't you join in too? Go on, do it do it do it! Brenda says there'll be giveaways. Ooooh. I love giveaways.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T20:00:00.000Z

Thank you for your comments, or for your visits and non-comments (I like those lurking types just as much as the commenting types!) over the past year. Thank you to those that come back again and again. Thank you for the advice when I've needed it, for the support and the follows and for being there.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, however you may spend it. I shall be in the kitchen making sausage sandwiches for everyone in the morning (and endless cups of tea), with Snoop attached to my leg trying to steal a bit of sausage.

Until then, as is the tradition in our house on Christmas eve, we all get to open a gift from under the tree, the kids get new jammies, we watch a movie (this year it's Elf) and we chill out.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours x

Brrr!

2011-12-23T07:00:00.000Z

Laurie sent me some of her next line of fabrics with Kaufman (not out til next June - how long is that to wait? SOOOO long!) to have a play with and I got so excited after I saw them in the flesh (as it were) that I thought I'd share a sneaky peek with you.

I'm not a huge fan of Christmas fabrics. I kinda don't like Christmas fabrics much at all. There, I said it. I'm sorry Christmas fabric lovers.
But these I would totally buy and I'd do it without even realising I'd bought Christmas fabrics, because there's not a Santa or Reindeer or Holly sprig to be seen.
There's a dotty stripe - how awesome will that be for bindings?
There's a snowflakey doily that isn't snowflake-like at all when you take it away from the Polar Bear and will be so beautiful as a focal point in a block.
In fact, the Polar Bear himself has no hint of Christmas, he's carrying a flower. He could be on a trip to Hawaii for all you know. It might be July for him. He might be sick to the stomach of you assuming it's Winter where he lives. In fact, do you know what? He's never even been to the arctic. His grandmother left on a steam cruiser for New Hampshire back in the 20's and they moved to Florida in the early 80's when this cute guy was just a cub. And you know what else? They all just LOVE the sunshine state because the weather is so great and the sunshine keeps them so pure white. Not like the dirty polar bears you see at the zoo with their yellow-white fur. Those aren't like this bear and his family. Oh no. Heck, they wouldn't even cross paths with those kinds of dirty bear. This bear has class. He takes his mama bear a flower every week, just because he loves her. He's holding it in his paw. Go to Laurie's blog and you can see him better. Isn't he a handsome guy?

So, yeah, I got sidetracked there a little bit with my bear story. Where was I? Ok, yes, the colours are great - Christmassy enough for Christmas and that time of year but they won't look out of place in the park for a picnic in the middle of Summer. Red and aqua and green and white. Yum yum yum.

I'm going to be making something with these. Then I might just have a little treat for you guys too. But you have to wait a couple of months. Sorry about that. C'mon people it's Christmas - I'm busy with the family and stuff. They get all grumpy if I sew all the time.

hey - that's not a quilt!

2011-12-22T19:10:00.000Z

Well, here's a change from the normal routine, but I thought you might like a recipe for a side dish that is simple and always totally impresses people. Plus, you can serve it as a the vegetarian option if you use a cheese other than parmesan (which contains rennet so it isn't vegetarian...although whether your veggie guests eat parmesan or not depends on how 'true' to the cause they are. Some do. Just check first, ok?)

Leek and butterbean bake with parmesan cream. (serves 4 as a side dish)
You will need 3 leeks, washed really well and sliced into circles about 3/4 inch thick.
A clove of garlic, crushed
A knob of butter and a glug of olive oil, melted together in a heavy based frying pan or skillet that has a lid (mixing the butter with oil helps prevent the leeks burning and tasting nasty)
A small pot of double cream (heavy cream in the US, I think? The kind you would pour on your pie - thick but still runny.)
A 400g can of butterbeans (or a half cup of dried butterbeans, soaked overnight)
Handful of finely grated parmesan (or another sharp, hard cheese)

Sweat the leeks and garlic in the skillet, covered, and on a low heat until soft. Around 10 or 15 minutes. Totally don't rush this bit, because you'll burn the leeks and then they taste really awful. You want them soft, but not browned in any way. Stir frequently and if the oil/butter is bubbling too much turn the heat right down.

Add the butterbeans and the cream. You want enough cream to make a sauce, but not so much that the mixture is swimming. Heat through gently, but do not boil.
Transfer to an oven proof dish and sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Pop in the oven on a medium to high heat until the cheese has browned and the cream bubbles.

And that's it.

last minute comfort sewing

2011-12-21T08:25:00.000Z

I have no real need for new pillowcases. Although, if we're going to be talking about what I have no real need for I should include quilts and most definitely fabric in that list too, but I'll skip over those and pretend I didn't even mention it.
It's cold. I get incredibly grumpy around Christmas, not because I don't like it (because I LOVE it), but because of a few things. Firstly the pressure. I feel I have to out perform myself. I need to make delicious food and create feasts for everyone (that involves dealing with allergies, people that don't like certain foods, people that drink, people that don't, people that love spices, people that hate spices, people that are incredibly fussy and hard to please). I want everyone to have the perfect gift. With the perfect gift, I have now accepted that it probably involves shop bought and not made by me although I do try and sneak a couple of hand made things in. Just to keep me happy. I loathe shopping (other than internet shopping). Add in crowds and wannabe popstars hanging out on every corner crooning (murdering) Christmas songs with those mini amps and a hat open for change (or record deals) and the inevitable rain (this is England) and I'm cranky as hell.
What would make me happy? Something soft to sleep on. Thank you Ashley for your fool proof (I have proven it) tutorial. Thank you Karen for your $5 a yard flannel. Thank you Husbeast for being genuinely pleased about our new, completely non-matching, softer than soft, flannel pillowcases.
And breath.

crazy in love.....

2011-12-20T14:02:00.000Z

It's no secret I have a complete crush on Jennifer Paganelli. So when she mentioned she was sending me a little gift I got crazy excited. When I saw it was a bundle of Crazy Love (her next line for Free Spirit) I was crazy, crazy excited.
I've got all these FQs pressed and I'm getting ready to sew, hopefully I can make a start over the crazy Christmas period when I need to regain my sanity. An hour here and there, surely that's ok?

Crazy Love ships next Spring. If you like Sis Boom, you will LOVE this. It feels a little like all the best bits of every previous collection have come together for a party and this is what that party looks like. I wish I could go to parties that looked this fun. Why don't I ever get invited out to fun parties? Maybe I should hold my own, with my Crazy Love bundle and we could drink mimosas and eat those tiny, tiny crackers with fancy stuff on served to us by handsome waiting staff.
Hey purple Crazy Love FQ, shall we sing on the karaoke? I'm Mariah - you can be Luther Vandross.

A winner and some piped pillows!

2011-12-17T11:00:00.000Z

SOOOO MANY COMMENTS! I couldn't believe it! Thank you to everyone that entered and welcome to my new followers and readers. *waves* I'm super stoked to have you here!

Without any delay, let's find the winner, shall we?........

it's...... Kelly. I'll email you today to have a chat about what kind of fabric you like and get on with making you your purse!

In other non giveaway winning news...have you been checking out the 12 days of Ruby Star over on the Fat Quarterly blog? Each day a new tutorial. I made these piped pillows....

I like piping. It looks cleverer than it is. Possibly like me. Although I don't look all that clever actually. Anyway, you should check it out. There are loads of fun ideas on using Melody's awesome fabrics (although you don't need to use Ruby Star anything, obviously, you could use what you want)

Merry Christmas to me

2011-12-15T11:12:00.001Z

After making this quilt top and this pillow I got myself all in a frenzy for flannel and the apparent need for flannel pillowcases on my bed. Whilst looking online for yardage I came across this shop and her crazy $5 a yard sale.

These arrived today....

(Karen even slipped in a copy of Quilt Sampler magazine with a feature on her gorgeous store!)

I may have accidentally bought a stack of Anna Maria Horner velveteens on sale too...

Sensory overload. I wish you could reach in and touch them. Just play along with me and do it - stroke the pretties. Nice, huh? Put your face up to them. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, doesn't that feel good?

Merry Christmas, Katy. You've worked so very hard all year long, you keep such an exceptionally tidy home, and always make wonderful 3 course meals for your family. You never get any treats, you truly deserve this. (I'm sorry - can I hear you lot coughing and spluttering? What exactly do you mean by that, hmm? *hides the toast she was planning on feeding the family tonight and kicks the mess under the carpet*)

Because you know how I always feel better if I've made you buy stuff, have you been checking out the daily deal on Fat Quarter Shop this week? Every day a new deal that is just for that one 24 hour period. I'm not ashamed to say it's the first thing I check when I wake up. Addicted? Me? Pah.... I got an awesome deal this week - 9 yards of Bonnie and Camille Ruby dot for $48. (I realise 9 yards is quite a lot but I'm entirely positive it will prove incredibly useful - I don't even need to half convince myself.)

Oh - and because I'm sure someone will ask - the beeswax in the little pot in the pic there is from here. I'm waiting for a couple of mugs for Christmas presents too. One for this bird. I should chase them up, she'll sulk if she doesn't get something to open on Christmas day.

sew mama sew giveaway day

2011-12-12T14:24:00.002Z

I almost forgot about sew mama sew giveaway day! Phew - luckily I'm not too late.
So - here's the good stuff....

One winner will win a custom made framed purse, like the ones in the pic up there but in your choice of fabric (from a selection, of whatever I have in my stash - I'm pretty sure I'll have something to keep any single person happy...I'm a little bit of a fabric whore, it has been said). They're nice and roomy and can fit all sorts in. I have my make up in mine, and even the brushes fit. Deceptively spacious little things, those purses.

The giveaway is open until this Friday (Dec 16th) 5pm PST (which is about midnight or 1am the next day or something for those of us living in the UK), so let's say until Saturday morning when I wake up, yes?

I told you there'd be another giveaway soon. Bet you didn't think it'd be this soon, did you? (No, neither did I).

QUICK EDIT - open to anyone and everyone, where ever you may be!

Look - here's me busy making purses.....

and the winners are....

2011-12-12T09:46:00.000Z

Winner number 1 is UpstateLisa!!! You get first pick of the 2 bundles, Lisa!

And number 2 is......

Hadley!

I'll be in touch with both of you today and get your addresses (and your choice of the 2 bundles, Lisa).

Congratulations to the winners and I'm really sorry I couldn't send a package out to everyone. We'll have another little giveaway verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry soon though, ok?

one jelly roll quilt class

2011-12-11T09:00:00.001Z

I'm heading back down to Lowestoft after the Christmas manic stuff is over and done with (Saturday February 11th) to teach a beginners quilt class where you can make a simple lap quilt from one jelly roll in a day.

Well, not the whole quilt (I don't expect miracles in a one day class), but the quilt top. The quilting and finishing bit you can do at home with nice clear instructions I shall leave you with (or maybe back at Patch with Claire in a second class?)

All you need is a single jelly roll and a sewing machine.

If you're not a beginner quilter you can still come, it means you get to concentrate less and chat more. Also, I'm going to drive from Ipswich (from my parents) so if you live in Ipswich and want to hitch a ride with me, just shout. (M - let me know if you're still up for that!)

Full details will be on the Patch website soon, but if you have any questions or are interested, give them a call on 01502 588778 or email claire@patchfabrics.co.uk. Claire and her team are super helpful.

Quilt deets -
lap/baby size quilt - 48" x 54"
made with one jelly roll (I used dogwood trail by Moda)

Hexy MF

2011-12-09T11:50:00.002Z

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am with this quilt. I loved it from the moment I started making hexagons, but now it's quilted (by rock star quilter and total genius, Angela Walters) and bound, washed and in use I can't help but smile every time I look at it.

This thing is HEAVY. I had to send it to Angela in 2 packages - one for the quilt top and one for the backing to keep it at any kind of reasonable cost (it was still a fortune to mail). Fortunately I picked it up from her in person at Quilt Market and carried it home in my suitcase otherwise I dread to think how much shipping would have cost with all that quilting.

Angela, in her usual mind blowing way, has totally exceeded all of my expectations. Each flower is quilted differently. The borders are densely quilted with feathery swirls and down one side she quilted Hexy MF in fancy, scrolled letters.

I honestly cannot recommend her enough for out of this world quilting. If you have a quilt top that is special and you want to have that wow factor added to it, send it to her. I want to make something nice and simple for her too, so all you see is the awesome quilting. That's my mission for the new year. Maybe I'll make another constellation quilt. All that negative space quilted by Angela would be unreal.

I tried to fiddle about with the exposure in this pic so you can get a better look at the quilting - hexy MF is down the left hand side in this pic. Can you see it?

Thank you Angela - you're amazing and constantly amaze me.

If you're braver than me and enjoy quilting, instead of being very, very afraid of it, Angela has written a book that is available for pre-order here. It's bound to be amazing.

EDITED TO INCLUDE QUILT DEETS:
(I couldn't find a tape measure earlier!)
finished size - 69" x 82"
all fabrics for hexagons are Anna Maria Horner from Good Folks, Bohemian and little folks (voiles). Centres of flowers are either Anna Maria Horner little folks dobby dot or an orange shot cotton (that I'm not really certain where it came from or what it is)
I used hexagons that were 1 1/2" for all of the main flowers and then a mix of 1 1/2" and 1" for the border flowers.
When I get some time free I'll do a tutorial for the whole thing. I will. It's on my list of things to do.

EDITED AGAIN:
in case you're wondering, Hexy MF is named after this (by my all time favouritist musical genius). You probably thought it was, and you were completely right. I did sing to it when I was sewing it.

roll up, roll up - get your tickets!

2011-12-08T16:05:00.001Z

"Do you enjoy sewing? Do you like hanging out with like minded people? Yes? Then the Fat Quarterly Sewing Retreat is for you!

We have planned a fun filled weekend of silly games, sewing challenges, tutorial workshops and more! Come and meet the Fat Quarterly team in their entirety (yes we will ALL be there!) and make lots of new friends in the quilting community.

Bring along your WIPs, or start something new! Take part in some of the tutorial workshops or hang with friends! The choice is yours! We can’t wait to meet you all".

Where:
Baden Powell House
When:
Saturday 2 June, 9am to 11pm
and
Sunday 3 June, 9am to 5pm

I have to admit, I am giddy as heck about this. Firstly, it's the first time John will have been to England (and I am so excited about forcing him to try marmite and stuff), it'll be very first time we're all together at the same time (seriously - we have never been together in one place at the same time), I get to hang out with people that love the same things as me for a whole weekend without feeling like a dork, and I'll make new friends as well as meeting old friends that have lived in my computer for some time. I don't know which part excites me more.
Please come and be dorky with me!

(you'll find the giveaway post if you click here til Monday 12th)

fun with Melody

2011-12-07T14:17:00.000Z

Melody Miller is going to be huge. Mark my words. Not huge in physical size (because she's not huge at all, and is actually perfectly formed. I will admit to having a bit of a crush on her, she's quite magical), but she will be huge in the design sense, her work is perfect for so many different things. I want a Melody Miller tea set, dinner plates, bed linen, curtains, stationary, luggage, and furniture (just in case any licensing types are lurking - not that they would be, but you never know).

Over on the Fat Quarterly blog we've organised a designer challenge, similar to the one we did recently with Daisy Janie fabrics. I'm having immense fun playing with some Ruby Star Spring and Ruby Star Shining. I'm not allowed to show much off yet, not until the challenges and tutorials that go with them are revealed later this month...but I thought I'd give you a little sneaky peek of what I'm up to. Tonight I'm going to sit in front of the TV with some cosmo threads and stitch stitch stitch.

(The Robert Kaufman FQ bundles giveaway is still going on over on this post in case you haven't entered already!)

call me Santa

2011-12-05T06:00:00.001Z

It's nearly Christmas, so it is surely time I had a little giveaway to celebrate.

The 2 bundles of delicious fabric above are up for grabs - two winners, a bundle each.

The first winner picked out gets to choose first between Print and Pattern's (real life name Marie Perkins) Happy Home or Robin Zingone's Stockholm. Both collections are from Robert Kaufman Fabrics and are due for release early 2012, so it really is a super duper Christmas present!

Rules are as follows and involve multiple chances (I don't normally do this, but it's Christmas and I want to give you all extra chances).

1 - leave a comment
2 - leave a second comment if you follow me
3 - leave a third comment if you have blogged/tweeted about the giveaway

Please please please make sure you have a contact email linked to your profile or leave it in the comment - if I you're a no-reply blogger and I can't contact you then you miss out. Boo hiss.

Giveaway is open for a full week from today (December 5th to 12th)

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED!

Good luck and Merry (early) Christmas!

I also wanted to mention about the stocking drive that Lyanna organised and I made a couple of stockings for. I was in a rush to get them mailed in time for the deadline and didn't get a good pic. Typically. Here they are though in a pic from my phone.

The original plan was for 50 stockings. She ended up with 219!!! Isn't that amazing? Man, I love this community and it's caring, sharing nature.

toasty

2011-12-03T07:00:00.040Z

It took me a while to be convinced, but I've finally succumbed to the flannel quilt. Seeing the Loulouthi flannels at quilt market tipped me over the edge and when Kate at M is for Make got some into the shop I bought a little. Before splurging on every single Anna Maria Horner flannel print I could find in Pink Castle Fabrics and then whipping this up in one evening and a morning (a day?). Super fast. Got to love those kind of quilts.
The pattern is kind of a turning twenty but I have lost the book I had and I'm damned if I can remember the exact cutting instructions, so I figured it out in my usual high tech quilt diagram way, with a pencil and a piece of paper and what I got works just great.

The skinny 2.5" strip I'm not using as a border, though. I used those to make that pillow below. It'll be a whole snuggly festival of coziness when this is all finished. Sadly not in time for Christmas though, because Long Armed Chris is too busy so I'm not even going to ask (in case she chases me out of her studio with a broom and banishes me forever).

So, with the leftover bits and bobs that should have been the border, I threw this bed size pillow together. By bed size, I mean the kind that you sleep on - not the kind you throw decoratively onto your bed and then spend a half hour removing before you go to sleep. It's 18 x 28" and the pom-pom trim was a bitch to sew but worth it. That stuff is stretchy and this particular trim wasn't behaving. We got there eventually though. Thankfully. Because I've bought enough pom-pom trim to adorn every pillow I make from now until eternity.

I've got flannel pillowcases on the brain now, though, and stocked up with a few yards from Karen's shop because she was having a $5/yard sale. How convenient was that when I was hunting for flannel? Incredibly convenient - I believe that's called fate. Or the Gods smiling on me, or something. I'm not sure if the sale is still on, but there's all sorts of good stuff in that shop and a sale section TO DIE FOR. Treat yourself, it's almost Christmas (I will use any excuse).

Also - I have to show you this amazing quilt that Emily made from my scrap vomit tutorial (scroll down when you've clicked on that link a little to get to the tutorial). Don't you just love it? Click on over to read her blog post and check out the photos of the quilting. It's out of this world. I did the happy dance when she told me about it. Oh, happy days. It was a pure warm and fuzzy moment.

My scrap vomit (part deux) quilt needs to be given some time and attention. It's sat in my pile of WIPS looking so very sad and neglected. Maybe I can get my game on this holiday and start the new year with a fresh quilt top? I'm pretty sure I resolve to make every New Year the year I bust those WIPs. Funny how that never really happens. I think Emily has kicked my butt into gear though, I need to get my scraptastic baby finished.

Christmas in the bag

2011-12-01T08:00:00.001Z

One of the fabrics I picked up at sample spree this quilt market was meet the gang by Marisa Anne of Creative Thursday for Andover fabrics. (Kathy at Pink Chalk has it for sale here and so does the intrepid thread). I'd seen it on paper at spring market in Salt Lake City and met Marisa there too. She's a wonderfully inspiring person - so incredibly talented as an illustrator (her etsy shop sells some wonderful prints, cards and also fabric). She has a kind of calmness about her that just makes you warm to her right away, she was like an oasis of calm in the manic surroundings of quilt market. And now Marisa is a fabric designer as well.

I knew I wanted to make some gift bags for small gifts this Christmas, but to be quite frank, I'm not a huge fan of Christmas fabric. Meet the Gang is PERFECT - it's wintery, can be for a girl or a boy, and because it's not Christmas fabric you could use these bags all year round for all sorts.

I made the 3 in the photo above using a pattern in John's brand new book, Pretty in Patchwork : Holidays, that is now available as an e-book from Zinio (will be available in print form next summer). I bought the book on Tuesday morning just before I took Ginge to school and had made those 3 bags by 11am! Click on over to check out more of the projects on John's blog. There are 32 projects in total that range from simple quick projects like these bags to some stunning quilts, and fun tree ornaments and gift ideas. It's a wonderful book, and I'm not just saying that because he's my friend. I mean it - I bought the book, it wasn't given to me, he hasn't asked me to review it, this is my honest opinion and I stand by it. I think if you love the holidays (all of them, not just Christmas) and patchwork, then it's a book you'll refer to year after year.

The 2 bags in the picture below I made using Jeni's tutorial on her blog. Another lovely easy to read tutorial and so quick to make. I love drawstring bags - I don't really need a tutorial to make them, but sometimes it's better to take all of the thinking away and just follow someone else's instructions. Jeni's instructions are incredibly good - and her bags are a nice size too with squared off bottoms to make for easy standing up.

I can't wait to get our christmas decorations up now, pin name labels to the bags and stuff them full of treats for some special people. I've used up all my meet the gang fabric, so I'm going to have to rummage around for something else that will look as cute under the tree. It's going to be a tough act to beat, though, I think.

ENABLER ALERT -
The girls over at Lola Pink Fabrics have a fun holiday sale going on this week - spend $25 and get 10% off, or spend $50 and get 20% off.
PLUS shipping in the US is now no more than $5 ever AND automatically save 10% when you buy a 3 or more yard cut of any fabric (bundles are priced with the 10% discount already added).

a Grinchy Christmas

2011-11-29T07:51:00.000Z

My ginger boy's favourite story is the Grinch. It never fails to delight, and he pretty much recites it as we read it at bed time. It's also one of the few books I am happy to re-read again and again and again. Something about that furry green Grinch and his dog Max makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
So, when Lola Pink Fabrics got Grinch fabrics in I had to have some.
The quilt top came together super fast, I had intended to make a lap quilt (but Ginge had other ideas, hence the strip of off-white along the bottom, making it big enough to use on Ginger's bed).
Long armed Chris quilted it with red snowflakes, to add to that Christmassy feeling and now we're all set for the big holiday.

Someone is very happy.

Speaking of the Grinch - have you seen this tutorial for an advent calendar? Isn't it cool?

Quilt deets -
twin/large lap size - 68" x 76"
fabrics used;
how the grinch stole christmas by Robert Kaufman
kona snow
pattern loosely based on turning twenty (but without the book, because I couldn't find it in my house, so I guessed measurements)

we interrupt today's broadcast for this important announcement...

2011-11-28T14:23:00.000Z

There's a huge pre-cuts sale going on right now at Mandy's shop - just in time for stocking up on gifts for those beloved quilters in your life (like me, for example)
Jelly rolls and layer cakes only £20
Charm packs only £6

Today's regular post is back here.

happy monday mail

2011-11-28T11:35:00.000Z

You might remember I mentioned in my Quilt Market round up that I was really excited by this new fabric company called Dear Stella? Well, I was even more excited when the friendly UPS man came with a big box full of every single piece from the Fall collections. I've got plans for a couple of the stacks already (which I won't be able to show in much detail, but I'll give sneak peeks as I go along). The greys in palladium are so silvery perfect. The yellow is not too yellow, it's soft and golden and kind of almost wheat coloured. That's my favourite, for sure. Although I have to admit, seeing them all again up close I'm struggling to find a single print that I'm not so keen on.
Anyway - Fat Quarter shop have all of these bundles in stock right now, as well as yardage and it's cyber monday so if you enter monday11 as a coupon code at checkout you get 25% off. Whoo! (coupon valid thru Thursday Dec 1st).

stock up!!!!

2011-11-25T00:01:00.010Z

Martingale books are having a crazy Black Friday sale. Head to the website here and stock up for the holidays! I'll take this one please, if you want to buy me one too.

save the date....

2011-11-24T11:48:00.000Z

Like sewing? Want to meet friends? Want to hang out with like minded folks? Learn something new? Yes?

More details coming very soon! Keep your eye on the Fat Quarterly blog and mention to Santa you've got a great idea for what you'd like this Christmas!

Oh! Thank Cuteness!

2011-11-22T08:00:00.001Z

Yeh, so I'm not in the US and we don't do Thanksgiving over in the motherland (that's Great Britain to those that didn't figure it out already) but the folks over at GenQ had a fun idea for this holiday and I had to join in. I actually found myself saying the other day 'oh, you really shouldn't put your Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving is over' to which the person I was talking to looked really perplexed, I'm sure it won't be long before we join in - maybe I'll cook a chicken or something this Thursday...I'm not sure I can do turkey twice in a month with Christmas coming up so fast (I really, really don't like turkey).

These little creatures are what I am most thankful for. They're the reason I do what I do. Without them I'd be working some two-bit crap job I hate. I thank the childerbeasts for being born and giving me a reason to stay home, which has led to me quilting and for doing stuff I never thought I'd be able to do.

(this pic is 3 years old - but the cuteness of them playing together melts my cold, hard heart)

And for the furry babies, thank you for testing my quilts and ensuring they are always suitably covered in pet hair. Maybe I'm not so thankful for those particular traits, especially when I have to wash gift quilts a couple of times to be sure they're fluff free.

But in all seriousness, I am so very thankful that these kids can brighten up any day by a simple look. Especially the girly one. She has the ability to make me crumble into fits of giggles with the slightest of eyebrow raises. (The one on the left may as well be mine, she isn't, but she's like my other daughter, and I am as thankful for her as I am the other 'real' kids).

Who are your thank cuteness candidates? This week is dedicated to cuteness over on the Generation Q blog. Go check it out!!!!

Also - in other not connected news. Kirsty (who is friends with my friend, Lu, so she must be nice) is having a giveaway of the newPip Lincolne book. Go over and enter (UK peeps only I think...probably Europe too. You know how these publishing things work, right?

tie me up

2011-11-21T11:42:00.000Z

An early Christmas present done and dusted.

This quilt is going to my mother in law's best friend, who already has a lap quilt I made for her but has been pestering me for a bed size quilt for the past year.
The top was so easy to come together, I'm just finishing up a tutorial and I'll let you know when it's done. It'll take a weekend to put the top together, that's it. Nice and easy peasy.
It was totally inspired by Angela's bow tie, but I wanted something a touch bigger to fit a queen size bed.

Deets -
Finished quilt - queen size/double bed - 82" x 94"
Fabrics used;
Peacock lane by Violet Craft for Michael Miller
Just Dandy by Josephine Kimberling for Robert Kaufman
smirk grey dot by Kyla May for Timeless Treasures

task of the day

2011-11-18T08:52:00.000Z

Today will be spent quilting this little lap quilt, a shop sample for Patch Fabrics. It's made with a Dogwood trail jelly roll (Claire sells the fabric in the shop). It's quite a twee floral group of fabrics, but what makes it especially lovely is that Moda is donating all it's proceeds from the sale of Dogwood fabrics to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. Suddenly it's less twee and just incredibly sweetly scented, isn't it?

Anyhoo - after Christmas is out of the way I'll be teaching a class on this quilt, which is super beginner friendly and a perfect first quilt for anyone that has never tried patchwork before, or a nice no-brainer for those that actually just fancy coming along to chat and chin-wag for the day. I'll keep you posted on the date when I know for sure.

What are you up to today, or this weekend? Anything fun?

and the winners are....

2011-11-16T18:01:00.000Z

So, this is how it works....the first out the hat gets first picks, then number 2 chooses, then number 3 and number 4 gets what is left (which sounds like number 4 gets an old shoe, but it's really much nicer than that)

number one pulled out the random number generator is number 81 who is - Gretchen

number 2 is number 190 who is -scissors and thread

number 3 is number 140 who is - sewcreateit/Jane

number 4 is number 21 who is - two hip hippos

thank you to everyone that entered - I'm sure I'll do another giveaway soon, it is almost Christmas after all.

can you hear it?

2011-11-15T14:03:00.000Z

It's coming. That season, the one with the baby in a stable or the lighting of candles - that time of year that we all think about what to give each other and panic about spending too much, or not giving ourselves enough time to make gifts for those we care about.

In case you missed it last year, or you bought it and then promptly forgot about it (anyone else do that? I do - I've bought so many patterns that I forget about...I'm a bit of a bimbo, it's true) here's a little reminder of the Fat Quarterly Holiday special from last year, and a glimpse at some of the projects.You can get it still, it's available here and for a teeny tiny $5 (which is about the price of a coffee but lasts a heck of a lot longer) it is the hands down winner of the most useful issue ever (I made that up, but it's darn useful, it really is). It's packed full of patterns and a round up and review of online tutorials.

show and tell

2011-11-13T09:00:00.004Z

this....

is a variation of this...

from this issue of Fat Quarterly....

using this bundle of fabrics and this for the background and was quilted by this good friend of mine. I picked it up in Houston when I went for Quilt Market and slept under it on the flight home. It's so soft and light and I absolutely love how different it looks to the original.

Quilt deets;
'Zombie Constellation'
(aka Monica+ Katy = Badass)
Fabrics - happy mochi yum yum, by Monica Solorio Snow and sketch screen in Aqua fromTimeless Treasures.
Quilted by Tia Curtis
Finished size - 66 x 76"

sale sale sale sale sale!

2011-11-12T09:36:00.000Z

Mandy over at Simply Solids has a sale on!

For 11 days from the 11th November there'll be 11% off every order of £11 or more.

I'm told she just got a delivery of Echo in and will be listing that over the weekend - so now's the time to snaffle some of that up if you like it (I do)

Fat Quarterly issue 7

2011-11-11T09:22:00.005Z

Well, we're back to normal now the quilt market posts are all over (the giveaway is open until the 16th though - head to here to enter), it's about time I got back to showing you what I've been up to lately.

There's been a whole lot of secretive sewing going on in Monkey Towers,what with the big holiday coming up (yes, that's Christmas) as well as things for projects further down the line. A couple of recent projects that I can show, are these.
I've got 2 patterns in the new issue of Fat Quarterly (out on the 15th of this month) which is using the theme of Colour Combinations this time round.

First up is this dresden plate pillow that was inspired by a jug that sits in my kitchen, and matches nothing in my house, if I'm honest, I just love it. It was a christmas gift from my best friend from high school a few years back and it's sat next to my sink in the kitchen ever since.

here it is with the jug that inspired it...

I used fabrics from Peacock Lane by Violet Craft (MichaelMiller) and Just Dandy by Josephine Kimberling (Robert Kaufman). You can pick up both lines from M is for Make.The aqua fabric in the centre of the dresden plate is my forever favourite sketch screen by timeless treasures, in aqua. I am currently ridiculously obsessed with those fabrics, they're just interesting enough to add a bit of texture to an otherwise flat solid. Fat Quarter shop have a great range of them.

Secondly, and just about as different to the first project as you can get, is this little baby quilt, that I've named Paint Box.

It wasn't actually inspired by a paintbox, but instead a bowl of smarties Ginger was eating (I know that the US smarties are different to UK ones, so I didn't want a name that was confusing - hence Paint Box).

See the resemblance? Yeh, ok, it's lacking in circles, so a paintbox would be a better inspiration, but it was the bright colours of the smarties that inspired me. I used a mix of kona and klona solids for this one, and a word of warning, despite pre-washing all the fabrics on a hot wash with colour catchers, and then washing the finished quilt on a cool wash with more colour catchers, one of the klona's bled the tiniest bit. It's not really noticeable unless you look up close, but it did bleed. That's the first time it's happened in a long time, and does remind me why I don't often use white as a background colour. (since it completely dried and I hung it in the sun for a bit it's really hardly noticeable at all now)

Issue 7 of Fat Quarterly is out on the 15th! Hope you like it!

quilt market recap - the finale

2011-11-09T08:10:00.001Z

Here we are at the end of the road. In case you missed any of the recap posts I've listed them below for you click through to quickly.

quilt market - getting there

schoolhouse sessions

the booths - 1

the booths - 2

the booths - 3

the booths - 4

the booths - 5

Lucie and I weren't leaving Houston until Monday evening, so we helped Sarah pull down her booth before we set off. Pull down is manic - everyone is so eager to get out and get out fast. It's also really sad, because once market is over and we all go home I know I won't get to see so many of the people I've spent the year looking forward to seeing. It felt a bit weird driving home from the airport on my own.

Market is mostly amazing because of this lot...

and this big guy. He's like my big brother - quiet, dependable, always there when I need him. I'm like his scrappy little sister - don't mess with my big brother, I'll fly at you like an angry chihuahua. He left a day earlier than the rest of us. It felt a bit flat after that, like something was missing (it was).

I rarely go out when I'm home, I'm so not a big party girl. Give me a pot of tea and a night in front of the TV with the husbeast and childerbeasts and I'm a happy girl. Quilt Market is the one time of the year (two times? I guess....) that I'll go out and stay out late and be in bed way beyond my bedtime. Although some of the best times from this trip were when my two roomies and I woke up way too early and sat chatting for a couple of hours in bed. The first night of the show opening (Friday for Spring, Saturday for Fall) is the busiest. We had invites to 5 parties that were all at around the same time. There's a lot of running between venues to show your face before you get a chance to sit and chill out somewhere.

For those of you that asked how you get to Quilt Market, well, it's a trade show so isn't open to the general public. I get in on a Fat Quarterly media pass, so I don't do the 'regular' entry forms. You need to present credentials which is basically business cards and the like. Honestly, there are always plenty of people that go that technically shouldn't so if you really want to go, you'll find a way. I guess that's the best advice I can give.

Should we talk about free stuff?

Let's....

There are a few prizes, which I'll split into 4 different bundles, so there'll be 4 prizewinners.

A FQ stack of (not out yet) Stockholm by Robin Zingone for Kaufman.

6 mini charm packs of new fabrics by Moda and Robert Kaufman

2 patterns from Thomas Knauer, a pattern from Patty Young, a summersville needlebook, drinks coasters from DryGoods Design, a little pocket pal sewing kit from Lotta Jansdotter, a pin cushion stitchery kit from Lynette Anderson all popped into a Moda Bake shop tote that I pinched from Lu and contained the snacks Moda give their designers (to keep them from passing out on the booths).

Sewing for boys - the fabulous book by Shelly and Karen published by Wiley books

Leave a comment for your chance to win - spread the word!!!! (or don't if you want a better chance of winning!)

The smallprint -
the giveaway will stay open for a full week from today (until Wednesday 16th November)
Leave a comment on THIS POST for a chance to enter. Please make sure you leave a contact email either in your profile or in the comment itself, if I can't contact you I'll disqualify you (sorry). One entry per person.
First name picked by random number generator has the first choice of prizes, second name picked gets 2nd choice, and so on.
I can't be responsible for prizes that go missing in the post, and depending on the cost I'll try and send packages by registered mail just in case.

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED!!!

quilt market - the booths (part five)

2011-11-08T09:34:00.001Z

Here we at the final day of the booths. This post is all of the other booths that caught my eye, and the rest of the stuff I think you should keep your eyes peeled for. Can I also just say, I'm so glad you're not bored - I don't usually blog as regularly as this because I tend to think you'll have better things to do than to come here every day. I have better things to do than come here every day. I'd bore myself rigid if I had to listen to me drone on all the time. Luckily I've learned to tune out of my own droning.
Anyhoo - enough about me, let's get back to the good stuff.....

Such as Dear Stella.
'Who???' I hear you cry
Well, let me tell you...
At Spring Market in Salt Lake City John and I got accosted in the Timeless Treasures booth by a pretty dark haired girl who exclaimed 'oh! I've been looking for you!' and dragged us off to look at something new and exciting she was working on. That new and exciting thing was Dear Stella, and it was right at the top of my list of things I wanted to check out this Fall because what I had seen on paper in Salt Lake City was beautiful.

I have to say, in fabric form it's just as lovely as I remembered.

These below (Palladium) were my absolute favourites, but in all honesty, I was smitten by it all. The nautical themed collection, Anchors Away, would make such great dresses for summer.

Right by Dear Stella was the Timeless Treasures booth, and this collection of boy robots caught my eye in particular. Mechanical Genius is inspired by Mo's 12 yr old son. Read all it on her blog here. I love this line and how it is young enough for tiny boy babies but grown up enough for techy-dads too. You can see much better pics of the fabrics if you click through to Mo's blog too.

Pillow and Maxfield are a couple of crazy ladies. Last Fall I'd spent quite a bit of time laughing with them on their booth. This year they had a kind of boothlet, which reminded me of a changing room or something. Not quite as fancy, but the fabrics are just as fantastic. Imagine fussy cutting those big floral centres. Yum.

CHECK OUT THOSE SCISSORS!!!!

Sorry for shouting, but how cute is that print? It's Anna Griffin. I confess, I don't take any notice of the Anna Griffin booths usually, I'm not a huge fan. Not that it's not pretty stuff, it just doesn't grab me, and I have never bought a single piece of her fabric. This may change my shopping habits.

Blend is an offshoot of Anna's, a new and separate division with fabrics by other designers. There were some really nice lines. I particularly liked this one, walnut hill farm which reminded me of something Kokka might produce. (English peeps - we'll be getting Blend in the UK, Anbo are the distributors).

Not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, but something I love personally are Marcia Derse's fabrics. I adore the colours and the prints and the textured look they have, and I hope that because Malka Dubrawsky is bringing the hand dyed look to Moda, Marcia's fabrics might start to get picked up by the same people. If you don't know her fabrics, seek them out. Cathy has a few in her store.

I don't go totally ga-ga for Riley Blake, although I do know lots of people do. Fox trails is cute though. Really cute. What I do really like from Riley Blake are the blenders.

Loads and loads of new lines coming from these guys in the next few months.

That's it - we've come to the end of the booths. Tomorrow I'll give you a little behind the scenes sort of thing and answer the remaining questions folks had. Oh, and tell you about the giveaway. Of course.

quilt market - the booths (part four)

2011-11-07T16:06:00.000Z

So, we've done schoolhouse, moda, organics (including Kaufman) and free spirit. Where next?

Let's take a trip to Japan and check out what's going on over there.

The kokka/Seven Islands booth was packed with treats.

Echino....

Echino made into the cutest dresses (I would so wear those dresses, if they only fitted me)...

Prints Charming. I'm a bit annoyed that I didn't see this at sample spree because now I'm certain it was there and I missed it, and I really like it. It's for sale now, and you can get some from here (along with echino) which is what I'm going to have to do, I think.

I have no idea what this is, but it's cute, right?

In my top 5 favourite things of Market - Melody Miller with Ruby Star Shining. This should be shipping pretty soon. Keep your eyes on the Fat Quarterly blog over the Holiday period, there'll be some fun ideas on how to use this fabric. I think people tend to love it, but are afraid how they can make the most of it and might be put off buying any, especially as any Japanese import is a little pricier than regular quilting fabrics. Never fear, we'll see you right - you'll be overstocked with ideas soon!
If you're also a little wary of how these heavier weight canvas type fabrics work in quilting, don't worry. I used echino for one of the quilts (this is the first sneak peek of that quilt I've ever shown) in our book and it worked so well. It's heavier but I had absolutely no problems at all. I probably wouldn't advise you use very small pieces, that's all.

The Yuwa booth always looks like this. It's a hot mess, like they got off the plane and just threw the contents of their suitcases into the booth, but it's YUWA and so it's got all sorts of treasures hiding in it. Yoshiko Jinzenji, for example. If anyone ever sees that anywhere for sale, let me know, please. I have some of her first fabric collection from a few years ago and I'm too chicken to cut into it.

Cinderberry Stitches/Natalie Lymer, for Lecien is a cute woodland inspired fabric depicting little elves and fairies. Sound too sweet? It's less sugary than the colours and description suggest - it's actually incredibly pretty and really beautifully designed. I would mix in a few polka dots to make a fun girly quilt (in fact the dots and stripes from the next booth would work a treat)

Sarah Fielke, also for Lecien, with St Ives. Bubble gum colours, bold, funky prints. Perfect co-ordinating stripes and dots that are stash essentials (and perfect for Natalie's fabrics above!) Sarah was also promoting her latest book, just released in the US, which is another must have.

I'm making this quilt at the moment....

So that's it for today, but I'll be back again tomorrow with the last of the booths!!!

I hope you're not too bored already, and I haven't overloaded you with information. We're getting closer to the prizes, giveaway soon!!!!

quilt market - the booths (part three)

2011-11-06T08:00:00.001Z

Last Fall market the Free Spirit/Westminster aisle was huge. This time it seemed smaller, more narrow maybe. The booths were most definitely not as elaborate as before but one thing you can rely on with the Free Spirit folks, they do great booths even if they're not as elaborate as previous markets.

This was a communal type of bit, near the reps and sales folks. Isn't that couch to die for? And the pillows? I often think Free Spirit fabrics work really well together across designers, even if they don't look like they should. This has cemented that belief.

Jenean Morrison won a ribbon for creativity. If my memory serves me right, she won a booth award for the past 2 markets as well. I love Jenean's fabrics. I love how she puts her booths together. Maybe it's because she's not a quilter that she sees things with a different eye. Power Pop is due to start shipping this month. (In case you haven't got any of her previous line yet, silent cinema is on sale at Fat Quartershop)

The floor. Genius.

You may not know about NYC based Mark Cesarik. You should, he's eye candy. But a newly wed (dammit). His wife, Cara is stunning (and really clever too. If I didn't like her so much I'd seriously hate her) and to top it off, the pair of them are ridiculously fun. Morning tides is out already and is a great collection of prints that work well for both men and women. Strong, graphic designs and bold colours. Did I already mention he's pretty hot? Yeah, I might have done.

Eagerly awaited is another guy designer. David Butler. Him with the familiar surname and husband to uber designer, Amy. He's a graphic designer, drummer in a rock band, photographer and now fabric designer to boot. (In response to Maria's question - this is what you want, lady, it is amazing and perfect for your brother. Also - Marg M - the decor weight is great, perfect for that chair you're thinking of covering). His booth was only small, but really nicely done with huge hi-watt amps as a back drop (a nod to his musical ability). I loved how this was clearly a line designed with men in mind, but that he had women's clothes displayed too.
Finally a fabric collection that is truly masculine but, as you can see, will also make fantastic women's clothing. It'll ship February 2012. Seriously, this is going to be huge. The greys are fabulous, the olive greens spot on. I'm a big fan of colour but I'll be stocking up on this collection and plenty of it too so I can hoard it away.

Just fabulous.

Right next door to David's booth was his missus (of course). Lark is already in stores now and if you haven't bought any yet, you should. The colours are amazing, the prints are beautiful and it's my favourite Amy Butler collection ever. Which reminds me, I need to get stocked up.

My favourite ever designer and winner of the most awe inspiring lady award (yeh, I invented that award) is Anna Maria Horner. This lady knows what she is doing. Everything she touches turns to gold, her vision is incredible and her work total perfection. She's such a pro. On Friday she had to rush off to the eye doctor, missing her second schoolhouse session, and was on strong anti-biotics all weekend but was there in the booth soldiering on despite being in pain and not being able to see.

Ribbons, bias bindings in 2 widths, velveteens (will be coming soon) flannels (out now), tapestry kits (yes - TAPESTRY KITS!) and sewing boxes that I would like to have stacked all over my house.

I love it all. I need it all.

Finally, what you've all been waiting for (in particular Meg, Leila, Hadley and Nicke). Flea Market Fancy.
There was no booth, no fabric, nothing to touch. The fabrics were still on paper. Denyse was there though, she came to the Fabric 2.0 party on Friday night and (I am so going to tell this to my grandchildren) she walked over from across the room (after waving - at me, I did check behind me first before I waved back) and said hello and she knew my name and asked how Fat Quarterly was doing. Yes. I did freak. I freaked so much and then I completely annoyed Lu and Tacha by going on about it all night.

FMF2 is out in March next year. That's a little later than was originally thought, and includes some new twists to the old prints as well as 8 old favourites. Start saving you pennies. It'll be an expensive Spring.

quilt market - the booths (part two)

2011-11-05T09:00:00.001Z

Thank you so much for all your great comments on my posts so far. I'm hoping it feels a little like you were there with me, because I'd have totally loved it if we could have gotten a big ol' bus and I'd carried a flag around and you could have followed me on my tour of market.

So, we had day one of booths, we've been to a party or 3 (of which I got zero photos because it's hard work taking pictures, socialising and drinking beer. Ok? I apologise. I am a drunken lush).

Here we are at day two of the booths and we're going to take a step into the world of organics. I'm not kidding you when I say that these are the future. Market leaders are Cloud 9. They were pretty fledgling last Fall and back then, although I loved the designs, I still felt organics were niche and likely to be more appealing to a smaller group of people. Since then Michelle and her business partner, Gina, have brought out great value, lower price point collections that don't skimp on quality or design. I truly believe that when they made this decision it was a turning point for the organic market. The big guns sat up and thought they'd better get a piece of the pie.

I have a set of Miscellany fabrics that are waiting to be turned into a floor pillow (I just need to quilt it) and they're beautiful to work with. You wouldn't realise they were 'different' in any way. The quality is exceptional, the handle is just as beautiful as any of the mainstream manufacturers, if not better, and they wash and dry with no problems. I tested out a couple of pieces and made comparisons - they held up just the same as fabrics with chemical dyes. And Miscellany has a LOT of black in it. (The comparison photos and everything will come when I've finished my pillow).

Another independent organics gal is Jan of Daisy Janie. Jan's newest line, Tilly, is a departure from her usual graphic style and is softer, more feminine but equally as modern. I think it's her best yet and is likely to appeal to a huge range of people from young, modern loving quilters, to more traditionalist types. There aren't that many fabrics that both my mum and I would agree on liking, but Tilly is one of them. She is also incredibly knowledgeable about the organic certificate. I mentioned this previously in my recap of schoolhouse sessions, but if you want to learn more about why you should choose organics, head over to her website and read up on it. It's very interesting. What I especially love about these ladies is that they are doing it themselves. They're not big businesses, they're truly independent, as is husband and wife team Jayson and Cynthia from Birch (whose booth I didn't get a picture of - HOW?!) Birch have developed a range of basics for release January 2012 that include dots not unlike the ever popular kei honeycomb dots. I can see those being a huge hit.

And then there's the big guns. Robert Kaufman have a heap of organic lines coming out. There's also a fantastic range of organic kona solids. Designers in the Kaufman group that will be manufactured as organic include Betz White, Laurie Wisbrun and Anne Kelle.

Japanese house of all things awesome, Kokka, have even got in on the game. You can read about their small but gorgeous collection on True Up (thanks Kim for picking up on those - I completely missed them!).

This time last year, hand on heart, I didn't think we'd be seeing much of a growth in the organics market, but I was wrong. The cloud 9 booth was also the busiest booth I saw, it was packed and there was almost always someone sat down with at least one of the ladies. Last year I know they did ok, but this year I'm pretty sure they did brilliantly.

Next year.....who knows, but I will bet any money on there being an even greater presence of organic fabrics and maybe even Moda will release the odd line or two? I wouldn't be surprised.

Tomorrow - even more booths! (Including free spirit...so you know what that means, don't you? Flea Market Fancy....ooooh!)

quilt market - the booths (part one)

2011-11-04T09:13:00.001Z

you ready for sensory overload?

Let's go....

Where to start? Quilt Market felt smaller this time, but there was still stuff I completely missed and I still can't figure out how I missed booths by Valori Wells and Jane Sassaman. No clue how that happened. They must have been close together on an aisle that I never walked down. Quilt Market is huge, and so easily distracting, you can easily miss stuff and kick yourself later. I didn't take nearly as many photos as I'd have liked, but I'm still splitting the posts up and spreading them over a few days, because when I came to write this post I realised there were waaaaaay too many photos to just put in one post.

So today we've got the Moda booth

The moda booth is always one I find I'm hanging out in most of all. It helps that I have my friends there and that one of best friends was there for the first time this year.
Lucie Summers' debut at Moda excites me no end, she's seriously one of my actual real life best friends. I love her so much and seeing her boothlet at market made me swell up with pride, I'm tearing up right now thinking about it. Damn soppy cow that I am. Watch this space for her, and if you like what she does go and pester your local quilt shop and ask them to stock Summersville. Do the same with all of the fabrics you like the look of, pester and I mean really pester. If you don't ask you don't get. Don't rely on your LQS to stock fabrics you like - you need to push for them. You also can't rely on the local fabric reps to show your LQS owners everything that comes out, quite often a rep will show what they think the LQS wants and the seriously good stuff can get forgotten. I'm really wanting Ellen's fabrics to be a huge hit too - because the scale on these is fantastic. There wasn't any of this at sample spree, and I'm sad about that but as soon as I get some (I've begged) I'll show and share. Physically share and visually. That's a promise, I have a plan, I'll talk about that when I get my hands on the fabrics though. Same with Lu's fabrics. I think we'll have some fun. You'll have some fun. All of us. But more on that later...

Moda had a heap of good stuff.

Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket (I didn't get any at spree either, and now I'm annoyed with myself)...

California Girl by Fig Tree was a fresher blend of colours than usual. Slightly brighter, incredibly pretty....

Jenn Ski's line, ten little things, looks like it's going to be a huge hit if pre-sales are anything to go by. I'm not as keen on this, it's not my favourite but I can see how it'll appeal, it's a really strong line for boys and the co-ordinates would work well for a man too...

Rouenneries Deux from french General. I love French General. Love love love *sigh* did I mention I love this line? I'm so happy it's been re-printed, with a little twist...

Malka Dubrawsky's first line, a stitch in color - looks really good, I'm tempted to say as good as her hand printed fabrics especially as it's priced more agreeably to the pocket...

Aneela's new line, a walk in the woods, doesn't fail to delight. It's my favourite of hers so far. Foxes, mushrooms, some lovely co-ordinates too. She's returned to the soft palette of sherbet pips, which is always a winner in my book.

Kate Spain - always a sure fire winner, her new line is called good fortune. Isn't that quilt cool? (by the way - over on the Fat Quarterly blog there's a giveaway of 5 small 2.5" charm packs of terrain right now)...

The sweet, sweet, sweetwater gals (well, only one gal here in the pic, very busy on her iPad)...

Obviously Moda had heaps more stuff, this is just a drop in the ocean and my picks. I also heard that they're going to produce extra wide backing fabrics in polka dots. I'm going to take part credit for that idea - I emailed Lissa a while back and asked a simple 'why don't you make cool backings, like polka dots?' I don't know about you but I am not a huge fan of pieced quilt backs (or rather, I'm not a fan of piecing backs - I'm all done when I've finished with the front, I can't be doing with making a second quilt top, I'm ~~a little bit~~ a lot lazy where backs are concerned. I also like to see the quilting on a single piece of fabric. It makes me smile), and I have a tendency to make pretty big quilts, usually they're twin bed sized or larger. I often end up buying 8 or 9 yards of backing fabric, and still need to piece a centre seam. Or I buy bed sheets, but they're not always big enough so I have to piece bits on to them. Polka dotty backing fabrics will make my life so much closer to perfect. Seriously, I'm not even lying when I say this. It will actually make my life closer to perfect. When Lissa told me I wanted to squeeze her til she burst.

Finally...to answer the questions posted by Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle and Archie the Wonder Dog - consider Aneela well hugged and also informed of your fanship. That girl will get a fat head soon if she's not careful.

And for Chelsea....here I am hanging with Tula (I stalked her well for you, you'd have been proud of me).

Are we ready to move on? Tomorrow we have more booth goodness. I don't even think I'll have finished after that.
Keep watching, there's a giveaway coming. I'm not above bribes to keep you visiting.

quilt market - schoolhouse sessions

2011-11-03T10:40:00.001Z

The schoolhouse sessions at Market are generally something I really look forward to. This is when you learn a quick burst about the new products designers are putting out and how to utilise them. Schoolhouse is aimed at shop-owners and is intended as a way of helping shop-owners sell more of the individual products that designers make.
Anna Maria Horner's schoolhouse is always excellent. She knows her product inside out and how to make the most of what she sells.
Coming soon from her are a series of incredibly high quality woven ribbons by Renaissance and bias bindings (pictures of these to come in the next post - the bindings are available on her website already), LouLouthi in flannels and velveteens (the quilt below is flannel) and incredibly charming sewing boxes that are perfect for stuffing full of treats for me for Christmas (thanks in advance, people). She is also producing some more free downloadable patterns to go alongside the new collection of trims and needlework products that will be available on her site soon.

Lecien have really stepped up their game in the past couple of years with regards to a website that actually works and designers that are cohesive as a group.

One of the latest 'lecien sisters' is Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches. Her line,Woodland is a bright and cheery collection featuring fairies and elves. I believe this quilt will be the free downloadable pattern on the lecien site. (It is - I checked)

Sarah Fielke is modelling a bag made from another new designer to the lecien stable, Emanuelle Carre and her collection la petite mercerie is a sewing themed group of fabrics. Very subtle in colouring and delicate prints. A very cool free quilt pattern is available here.

Rosalie Quinlan wasn't able to come to Quilt Market this time round (she's currently undergoing chemotherapy - consider that when you see this quilt by her. Clearly she's a fighter. I'm rooting for you Rosalie, get better really really soon). Her new line, Folk Heart is sugary sweet. Another fantastic line from her and the lecien stable. A day in dresden is her free downloadable quilt pattern, again, available here.

I'm a little biased, counting Sarah as one of my friends, but St Ives is my favourite new line from lecien. Sarah's quilt pattern is also one of my favourites from the whole of market. She had made this in all 3 colourways of St Ives. I kept changing my mind over which was my favourite. I think I'm settled on the red. For now at least.

that purple is a close contender though...

Next up is Lynette Anderson. Again, there is a free quilt pattern on the lecien site for download. Not this quilt, but one involving lots of applique. Gorgeous.
I'm not usually drawn to these muted shades, but I love what Lynette does. She is a master at very small scale prints and muted colours that don't look brown and dingey. This collection is called secret garden.

The busiest schoolhouse I attended wasn't one of the big hitters like Amy Butler or Anna Maria Horner but brand new guy Thomas Knauer. Andover have been pushing pretty hard with his fabrics. There have been full page ads in a lot of magazines and Thomas is hot on internet promotion. It works. If he wasn't so very proactive on twitter and blogs he probably wouldn't have as many people in his schoolhouse. It also helps that he has a background in academia and is used to talking in lecture style situations. He thrives in those kinds of situations, and as a result his 15 minute schoolhouse was packed full of information and visual stimulants.
New designers take note - push yourself, promote yourself, get others involved in making stuff from your fabrics and shout from the rooftops. It does work. Pear tree is pre-selling really well. Thomas was also previewing his next line, flock, and he's currently working on line number 4 (I think).

Betz White is well known for her felted and knitted work but this market saw her step into the fabric design world with an organic range called Stitch, for Robert Kaufman. There's a free downloadable quilt pattern with a clever play on a zig zag. Betz's booth was really fun (pics coming in the next post) and so very well thought out.

Lotta Jansdotter's name was causing some difficulty with folks on how to pronounce it. I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Yans-dott-a (Jan's daughter basically, if my Scandi knowledge is correct).
I was pretty excited about her schoolhouse but kind of disappointed. Not with the fabrics, those are beautiful and my big prediction for the next year is that we'll be seeing a heck of a lot more of these kinds of print that are single colour prints on natural backgrounds, like Lucie's for example (best thing at market - hands down winner). Lotta's schoolhouse focused on a studio/workshop/store/space she is opening in New York. Whilst it sounded like a wonderful space I was concerned as to how a space like that could make money without the pull of a 'celebrity' such as her. Craft utopia is what we all want to be part of, but in reality sitting around and creating doesn't pay the bills. Still, those fabrics are great and you can buy them already in the UK. Go shop here.

Sarah Fielke's schoolhouse was great (yeh, the biased friend again). Sarah talked about her new book, Quilting from Little Things, (it's been out for a while in the UK and Aus but only just released for the US market) and how to use it for workshops. The book itself is fantastic for any quilter, new or old, beginner or advanced. Split into 10 sections describing a different technique there is a small dolly quilt and a large (mostly very large) quilt for each section. The premise is that you can try out a new technique by making the dolly quilt and if you like it move onto the big quilt after. Nice idea, right? She's a clever sausage. Here she's describing step down piecing which is one of the techniques in the book. The little dolly and the big quilt are both patterns in the book itself. There was an audible gasp from the audience when that green and blue quilt was held up.

Jan got the worst spot of the day. Last thing, right before the Fabric 2.0 party was about to start. She had some technical difficulties which would have probably put most people off. I'd have given up and probably ended up crying my heart out in the nearest bathroom. Not Jan, she's such a pro. Her schoolhouse was a fascinating insight into the GOTS certificate and all about organic fabrics. I really wish she had been earlier in the day and reached a larger audience because I honestly think people would have learned something truly useful. Not that her schoolhouse was empty, but it should have been packed with standing room only. Jan's fabrics are organic. She is passionate about organics, they are not just a passing trend in her household. Her new collection, Tilly is shipping soon!

So that was schoolhouse. Tomorrow I'll show you the booths.

quilt market - getting there

2011-11-02T23:48:00.000Z

Before we got here.....

we did lots of messing about and giggling and chatting (non-stop for 10 hours)

(Why does Lucie like she's been hitting the bottle and is drunk as a skunk? She was only drinking tea.)

...and actually, we did plenty of sewing

Aneela, Lu and I arrived Thursday evening and went out for dinner almost right away (quick bag drop and right back out again). It was raining. Raining in Houston. Go figure.

Dinner involved fajitas, beer, and (despite being dead on our feet) chatting and laughing with some really awesome people. You know what is great about Quilt Market (other than the fabric)? Hanging with your friends. It's unreal. If I were more organised I'd actually take pictures of night-time activities. I don't have one single picture to prove I even went out at night. I swear I did.

I'll be back with a re-cap of schoolhouse tomorrow (pictures are already up in my flickr stream but I'll tell you more about it all then).

Oh, and I worked through the list and I'll fill y'all in on answers to your questions as we go along. Ok? Get ready - the next few days are going to be packed full of stuff. Sit still, don't fidget and make notes. There's a giveaway coming, if you all behave. And I'm talking to you, missy in the back - stop chewing gum and passing notes to hot Jeff in the second row.

the mile high craft club

2011-10-27T14:30:00.006+01:00

Founding members - Aneela, Lucie and me

This year's inaugural session will involve some English paper piecing

cross stitchery Anna Maria Horner style

and a lesson in crochet from Miss Aneela (once she refreshes herself with the hook)

If only we could do this on a more regular basis. It'd be the best. Ever.

I shall try my hardest to blog from market (I had a bit of a nightmare with it last time). I shall most definitely be tweeting. And I promise a stack of goodies for a giveaway or 3 when I get home. I've also printed out the list of things you want me to look out for whilst I'm there, so I'm all set.

If you're going to be there, and you spot me (you'll know it's me - I wear glasses that look like the 3D ones from the movie theatre and I have arms that look like I've been doodling with some sharpies) please say hello. Just grab me. Grab me and say hi. Promise?

a place for everything....

2011-10-25T09:40:00.002+01:00

...and everything in it's place.

Who said that? (answer at the bottom of the post)

Well, my friend Pat Sloan is one of those people. She has so much going on in her life that she has to be super organised or she'd quite simply forget what the heck she was supposed to be doing next. We were chatting via email and she mentioned quilt album to me as a way for her to keep tabs on each and every project she makes (believe me she makes A LOT). Like most bloggers I rely on Flickr to be my online quilt journal as such. I have sets in Flickr and I record progress and dates of starting and finishing quilts. It's worked ok for me, but it's not the most organised way to work and what would happen if one day my flickr account was just closed, and deleted (it's happened to people, after getting reported for having links to shops etc in their Flickr stream). That kind of scare mongering is enough to make me have palpitations.

Quilt album is the answer. Or at least it's an answer and a pretty good one too.

It's really easy to use (believe me) and everything is stored in it's own little file within the album. And therefore it's safely kept in one place on your computer (obviously with all things on computers you should back up to an external hard-drive every now and then...that's just common sense, ok?)
This is a screenshot of one of my projects (click on the pic and it'll go large).

Just pop over here and take a little video tour. Like what you see? Here's a $5 off coupon that Pat hooked me up with. Just enter the code AEH-UW when you check out. Simples. I know the website is kinda clunky looking, and not really as modern as you might like...but ignore that (I checked it out first off and thought, 'like heck I'd use that, Pat, there's all sorts of bad graphics going on') but you know what? It's really cool and really useful and I am hooked on it! And it's only $25 with the coupon code.

and the answer to who said the quote at the top? It was Mrs Beeton. Did you know that already? Well, you do now.

on a purse tip...

2011-10-24T12:17:00.000+01:00

...not a ragga tip

6 easy peasy purses down. I have a couple more to make but I've got no more purse frames (more on the way).

I love this pattern, it's fast, it's easy and it's fun. All round win. (you can buy a copy from here)

Go, make some yourself. Stuff them with treats and that's a go-to gift sorted. No need to thank me, I'm just nice like that.

a postcard from Houston...

2011-10-20T20:55:00.000+01:00

So, one week today I fly out to Houston for quilt market. I'm thinking it might be nice to hand the reins over to you guys and be an intrepid reporter for you. What would you like to find out about? What do you want to see? Any new lines you're crazy about finding info on? Any designers you want me to ask a specific question to?

Comment away and I'll make a list.

Oh, and before Lynne tells me to do something really stupid like streak through the convention centre. No. I shan't. I draw the line at that. Well...probably.

the fabric closet swells

2011-10-18T10:35:00.000+01:00

The most recent addition to my stash is the Cherry Chip colourway of Violet Craft's Peacock Lane for Michael Miller fabrics. I fell a ~~bit~~ lot in love with Peacock Lane the moment I saw it at Spring Market this year. It is cute enough to please girly girls, but not so cute that it makes your teeth ache. It's definitely one of my top 3 favourite collections of the year. Great mix of prints from very small to large focal prints, the colours are crisp and bright without being over-bright. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes fabrics can be a bit too digitally printed looking and the colours are slightly off. Not these. Just look at how happy that display is......

I'd already used the Rainbow Sorbet colourway in a quilt top that's currently at the quilter's so when I spotted Fat Quarter shop offering one of their 50% off deals on twitter last week I couldn't ignore those reds and pinks and browns any longer. It is actually worth joining twitter just to get news of offers from Fat Quarter shop.

I think I know what I want to use this stack for - teaming it with some of the pinks from Just Dandy (like in the top pic). The 2 collections are perfect for each other. It'll have to wait a while though, I've got a heap of other stuff to get finished and Christmas to worry about before I make a start on anything new (she says, quite unconvincingly).

some hand holding required

2011-10-13T11:22:00.001+01:00

(please ignore the coffee stain on the quilt there. I am a terrible housewife, it would appear)

I am really not sure if this is pure madness and doomed for failure but after some pushing and cajoling from Dan (basically all he has to do is say jump and I say how high. My crush on him is somewhat epic) I have decided to embark on a new adventure. That adventure is a dress made by me using Liberty print tana lawn.

I was wondering if anyone would like to join me on the adventure? You don't need to make a dress, you don't need to be a beginner (in fact the more experience that comes along for the ride the better, I could use some help here).

Apparently the dress pattern I have picked is actually very beginner friendly. I'd like to say simple, but as this is my first 'real' dressmaking journey, I don't think it's likely to be simple...but I'm hoping for as few headaches along the way as possible.

Alice has the Miz Mozelle dress pattern in stock now. You will also need around 3 metres/yards of a lightweight fabric or a cotton knit/jersey (depending on your size) plus some other bits and bobs (interfacing and stuff). I've chosen a liberty print tana lawn that I got from Sew Box (they sell Liberty jersey/knit fabric too - and it's not crazy money either).

Florence has made both a toile and real dress using this pattern. Both versions make my heart skip a beat a little. As she is well practised in the art of Miz Mozelle (and dress making in general) I am hoping for some help along the way. Sneakily I've sent her a parcel today that she thinks is just a gift and my honest generous spirit....it is, in actual fact, a thinly veiled bribe that I will remind her of when I am pestering her later on.

So, who is in? You could make something really nice and simple like the bee skirt I made a little while ago. Or push yourself way out of the comfort zone and make something like a dress. Let's not set a firm time frame, just work through a pattern and have a little virtual sewing retreat together.

I'll give you a couple of weeks to think about it. I'm not planning on starting until I get back from Houston.

(Also - if you are already super clever, know the basics of dressmaking, live relatively near to me and wouldn't mind me coming and visiting for the day and helping me understand what this whole pattern lark is....shoot me an email katyejones at hotmail dot com)

EDITED TO ADD - US peeps, you can get the Miz Mozelle dress pattern from here. UK/Europe from here.
I don't have a serger, so any serging bits I'll use my zigzag stitch or buttonhole, which I am pretty sure will do the job just fine. Of course, if you use a knit then there's no real need to serge anyway because it doesn't fray like cotton...I'm just a bit scared of sewing knits because of the stretchiness.
I plan to make a start when I get home from Houston in the beginning of November.

smiling face

2011-10-11T10:34:00.000+01:00

I got so crazy excited about these when I went to Spring Market. I totally wanted to eat Anna Maria up for thinking of them. Truth be told, I want to eat her up most days of the week. Pre-printed cross stitch fabric that is pretty enough to use without any additional stitchery, but simple enough for an idiot stitcher (that'd be me) to make it look awesomely pretty. The pom pom trim was lurking on my table when this package arrived. It was clearly fate because now I need pom pom trimmed stitchery pillows for my bed.
Mine came from sew mama sew. It took me a while to realise that Kristen had slipped a couple of extra bits in with my package that I hadn't ordered. I was looking at my receipt, looking at the stack, looking back at the receipt and looking back at the stack before I figured it out. See - I told you I was an idiot. (Thank you Kristen - you're a superstar).

On rare occasions I have a clever idea. Such as these Moo cards, with instructions on how to care for a quilty gift. Punch a hole in one corner, slip a little strip of waste fabric trimming through the hole, pin onto a quilt. Et voila - no phone calls from confused mother in law's on how to wash that quilt you gave her (or whoever else you've made a quilty gift for).
I'd like to think one day I'll be organised to actually have quilt labels printed onto fabric and stitch care instructions onto the quilts themselves. That involves me being computer savvy. Which I am not. Julie has a great tutorial here for spoonflower ready fabric labels (and if anyone wants to use that tutorial and make me some labels you know I'd love you forever, right?) So for now, the Moo cards will do me just fine. You can get some too - go here.

charity stocking drive

2011-10-09T16:03:00.000+01:00

Have you seen this?

Lyanna works with foster kids which has to be one of the world's most rewarding jobs. The agency she works for is organising a drive to get at least 50 handmade Christmas stockings this year, one for each of the kids they represent.
50. That's totally do-able, right?
It is with your help.
Each Tuesday until the end of November she'll be linking to a free stocking tutorial and to give you the a further nudge towards helping out there are heaps of prizes to be won along the way.

All she asks is that the stockings reach her before December 1st.

Go sign up, join the flickr group here and find out all about the drive by visiting either the jolly jabber or Lyanna's blog.

I'm in - are you?

out now...

2011-10-07T18:10:00.000+01:00

The Fall inspired special issue of Fat Quarterly is out now. Check out the projects and have a flick through some sample pages here. Included in this issue is the cutest Halloween cross stitch pattern by Amanda and Ashleigh of the frosted pumpkin stitchery, and this awesome quilt from Heather of Olive and Ollie. It's well worth the $5, even if I do say so myself. (If you're a subscriber already you can just log-in to the site as normal and download your copy there).

shameful behaviour

2011-10-06T09:44:00.000+01:00

I've been too embarrassed to write this post.

I first mentioned this quilt back in March 2010. Some blocks were made by May 2010. I last mentioned progress in December 2010.
Since I promised to make a quilt for my friend Trash for her big birthday a lot has happened (I started Fat Quarterly, I wrote a book, I ~~had a baby~~ got a puppy...those kinds of things). The poor quilt got pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. It was ignored. I used excuse after excuse to avoid finishing it off. I'm not entirely sure why, because it was so simple and so fast to come together and now it's all finished I really like how it turned out.
The 'eclectic' mix of fabrics (Trash had asked friends and family to send her fabrics for her birthday to be turned into this quilt) certainly had something to do with it. I fussy cut a few photo-real dog faces out especially. I wanted Trash to be spooked by the slightly demonic looking German Shepherd or pug. It was the least I could do, she has waited over a year and a half.

Last week I finally finished it up and mailed it off to her. It feels good to have come good on a promise.

Even if it was a long time coming. (sorry Trash xxx)

Quilt deets - Finished size (twin) - 67"X85"
fabrics are a mix. Including a LOT of novelties and Kaffe Fasset.
Solid is kona coal.
Backed with Anne Kelle's urban zoologie monkeys (ginger monkeys!!!)
Bound with smirk dot

a spruce up

2011-10-04T20:22:00.000+01:00

So I had a little spruce up and jigged up the blog. I say 'I' but I didn't at all. It was this lady. She's super nice. Super helpful and super fast. And although it's vulgar to talk about the dollar dollar bill, y'all, she's really reasonably priced (I'm not going to say cheap - because to me that gives you the impression of polyester lace and thigh high boots and I'm really sure she doesn't have that look going on).

I need to get my 'about me' page sorted, but I'm not too good at the whole 'this is me' thing. I usually rely on John to do it for me. Don't you think it's hard to write a bio without sounding like a complete P.I.T.A? I'll work on it. Give me some time....

And because no post is much to look at without a picture...here's a sneak at what I'm working on. Blade after blade after blade. A girl can get sick of sewing these things (I'm kidding, I could sew dresden plates all day every day. Which is good, because that's all I'm doing right now).

the year of the pillow

2011-10-03T12:43:00.002+01:00

I've been busy with pillows lately. Which is good, because I've got a whole stack of pillow forms crammed in my closet to turn into gifts for this Christmas. I bought 8 just last week. Two of which are huge.

I've been using up heaps of scraps for dresden plates. This one has a border using the zig zag print from Betz White's new fabric line, Stitch, with Robert Kaufman (which is out soon). I blame Chawne for making me think of Cosby sweaters. I can't knit, so a knitted look border will have to do.

Expect to see a lot of pillows over the next couple of months. I apologise in advance.

~~A little heads up - I'm having some tech shizzle done on my blog this evening EST, so the site will be down for a few hours. Hopefully only a couple though. And then I'll be back and running.~~
Tech shizzle all done. What do you think? Tara did it. She's great, I totally recommend her for pain free blog makeovers.

Fall inspired

2011-10-02T15:38:00.000+01:00

Last year Fat Quarterly did a special issue that was Holiday themed (think Christmas, mainly). It was without a shadow of a doubt the most popular issue we've made so far. (If you don't have one, you can still get it - just click here for details). This year we decided on a different theme, the theme of Fall.
My project is a simple clutch pouch made from scraps of fabric (Miscellany by Cloud 9). It's big enough to use as a pencil case, make up bag for in your handbag, or on the go sewing supplies (guess what I use mine for?)
I plan on making a heap of them to fill with little gifts this Christmas. I think the kids' teachers would love getting them filled with fun stuff the children have chosen themselves (maybe not Miss G's male teacher).

Fat Quarterly Fall Inspired special issue is out October 7th. From the Fat Quarterly website.

revisiting an old friend

2011-09-28T13:03:00.000+01:00

Back in August 2010 I introduced you to Backstitch, an online fabric store based in the UK that was just in it's earliest of early days.

Alice was a busy lady - she had a brand new baby and a brand new business.

Shall we go back and see what she's up to these days?

Yes, let's....

So, a year on and what has changed in the Backstitch store?

There are still sewing patterns for all abilities, but the range has grown (rather like Alice's baby - who is now a toddler!) In stock (amongst others) are patterns for childrenswear by my mate Shelly (otherwise known as Patterns by Figgys), absolutely amazing (and I'm told really quite beginner friendly) patterns by (new to me) Jamie Christina (I can't begin to tell you how much I want this dress in this fabric), the blogging sewist's favourite Oliver and S (I've never heard a bad word about these patterns - people really do rave about them and how awesome they are).

The bundles have grown too. The cocktails are still present. Which makes me super happy (a bundle of fabric named after a cocktail - what could be better?) and the range of fabrics has grown too. Alice's style seems to be bright and cheerful. Actually, it seems like she went shopping and picked fabrics especially for me. Which is incredibly nice of her. Just look at the fantastic range of yummy fabrics.

Last year she had a small selection of Klona cottons, a slightly heavier weight cotton in a variety of plain colours. This year she has the full range in stock. That's over 40 different colours. She's even made swatch cards with a snippet of each colour for easy matching. Klona white is my go-to pure white solid. I prefer it to other solid whites if I need a full on bright white. It's great. I actually really love klona cottons in general. They're priced well, they are really nice to work with and you can finger press them and the pressed fold stays put. Perfect for a slightly lazy patchwork presser like me.

Just check out this quilt by Judith, made with a klona hurricane bundle. Amazing, right?

I used klona white for the background on this quilt. It worked beautifully with the light and silky liberty tana lawns.

So there you go. A little over a year on and Alice is doing great. Go and check her out, she's really helpful and ever such a nice person. You can also keep up to date on what's going on in the Backstitch world by following the blog.

can I sign that for you?

2011-09-26T22:11:00.000+01:00

What in the heck is THIS?

Someone's been photoshopping, I presume...

Wait....no....there's a listing on Amazon for it.

It must be real.

And you have NO idea how hard it was to keep my mouth shut. No idea at all. I've almost let it slip a few times, or secretly snuck pictures out of what's coming but then I knew I'd get told off by the others and instead I've buttoned it.

But I don't have to any more, because alongside my really, really, REALLY good friends I've written a book.

A Fat Quarterly book on quilting! You can read all about it here.

planning and plotting (or what Katy did next)

2011-09-25T09:00:00.000+01:00

Now the Hexy MF is getting quilted I've been missing hand sewing. I've been busy with some dresden plates for pillows and stuff but it's not the same as good old fashioned English Paper Piecing.

So, I've been plotting what to do next and I quite fancy some full on fussy cutting mixed with a variety of paper templates. I've had a pattern drafted for a while but not settled on perfect fabrics...until now.

Silent Cinema by Jenean Morrison is PERFECT for fussy cutting - all those medallions and clever little details. I can't promise this will be a quick project (after all, the Hexy MF took well over a year) but with the nights drawing in and more time being spent sat on the sofa watching TV (as well as the flights to and from Houston next month) I should be able to make a really good start on this project. If I could just decide which colourway to start with.

By the way - in case anyone is interested, once I get the Hexy MF back I thought I'd write up a pattern for it, and pop it amongst my other tutorials, so you can make your own. I need it with me though, because I have no idea how big anything is, or how many hexes I made...so it'll be a little while before that happens, but it will come. Promise.

In the meantime - I'm off to cut out some template plastic and start fussy cutting some big ol' hexes.

it took too long...

2011-09-23T05:00:00.001+01:00

...for me to finally get around to quilting and finishing the Little Apples quilt top I started back in May. It's only small, and basting and quilting it took literally 2 hours tops.
Julie's pattern called for borders, and this was my stumbling point. I had intended to use the polka dots on the back as a border, but the more I looked at it the more I liked how the stars disappear off into the edges. I struggle with borders. Given the choice, for the most part, I won't use them. Some quilts need a border. Others don't. Most of the quilts I've made haven't had borders. I guess that tells you I'm not a huge fan (what about you? Borders? No borders?)

I said it when I first started this quilt, but just to say it again - this quilt pattern is awesome. So easy to read, so clear, so very worth buying. There's a list of all Julie's patterns and where to find them right here.

I had just about finished the binding last night when my husband said he'd like to take the quilt to his friend today for their new baby. Which meant I had to quickly stitch up a label for it. My embroidery skills leave a lot to be desired. Heck, it's the thought that counts, right?

Quilt deets -

Firecracker quilt pattern by Julie Herman/Jaybird quilts
approx 35 x 50" (I forgot to measure it, so I'm guessing by how it laid on my kitchen table)

Fabrics - Little Apples F8 stack (with leftovers) by Aneela Hoey for Moda (available here)
Essex linen by Robert Kaufman in white
Backing - I THINK it's a Michael Miller dot, but I've had it for the longest time so I'm not
certain. It's very much like this one but these Grinch dots would look cool too, I think.

interesting reading

2011-09-22T08:53:00.000+01:00

This post by the girls at Ink and Spindle has sparked a fair amount of discussion online. I particularly enjoyed reading Adrienne's post on her $600 baby quilt (and reading some of the comments left by the blog readers of both Ink and Spindle and Adrienne). It makes interesting reading and if you haven't taken the time to check out both posts, I wholly recommend you do.

I don't make quilts to sell.

Despite people (non-quilters, non-crafty) telling me I should.

All too often I give quilts away (all of the pics here are quilts I've made to give away).

Mostly to people I love enough to know they'll appreciate them, and the cost, time, and effort involved.

Someone asked about buying this quilt once. I gave a (low, in my opinion) value of $500 after discussion over coffee with some quilty friends (fortunately I happened to be sat in Starbucks in Salt lake City at the time for Spring Market, so I had plenty of friends to ask the opinions of), because that was what I would have been happy to receive in return, it covered my costs (just about) but not my time so much. I also felt like if I'd asked for more I'd have been valuing myself too high. In hindsight that's a little silly. I still don't really feel like a 'proper' quilter though, more like I'm playing at it and getting lucky. One day someone will realise and point me out. (Of course, a 'proper' quilter is impossible to define, I make up my own ridiculous hurdles in life, I'm like that.)

I didn't hear back (I wasn't surprised). I was kind of happy they didn't want it, because I really love that quilt.

Sometimes I make quilts for new babies and don't get much of a response from the parents. That really irks me. I could go to the Gap and buy a few onesies. I could buy you a rattly bear. I could spend literally a few bucks and have a gift boxed stack of stuff for you. But instead I make you a quilt, because it shows I care about you and want to welcome your child into the world with a hug. If I'd given you a cheque for $600, would you appreciate it more? Yeh, probably. But then I wouldn't be as true to myself. When my oldest was born my auntie made her a quilt. We still use it in the car for cold mornings. I should go get that quilt out and show you. Remind me. It's dated now, but it was the most useful and most beloved gift of all. That was well before I had even thought about quilting.She spent time, effort and a lot of energy in making that quilt for Grace. That makes it a priceless gift. So much nicer than a onesie. Or a cheque.

a juicy pair

2011-09-20T12:00:00.004+01:00

I said it before, but I'll say it again....I am LOVING these fabrics. I'm head over heels about them. Especially when I happened upon the perfect solid (ish) fabrics to pair up with them.

Curio Grunge by Basic Grey in Butternut and Asparagus for the tumbler pillow's border and binding and my current favourite solid alternative from Timeless Treasures shipyard organic. I can't remember if it's grey or...no...it is definitely grey. It just has a blue/denim look to it. (heads up - the whole organic screen collection from Timeless Treasures is on sale right now at Fat Quarter Shop. I'll leave some for you to buy, ok? I'm nice like that.)

I have another dresden plate ready to applique onto it's background and then some itty bitty scraps to make into a 4th pillow. You could say I'm obsessed.

Pear Tree by Thomas Knauer is coming soon - I'll let you know when it starts shipping to stores (should be November time - just in time for Christmas!) Both Lola Pink Fabrics and Fat Quarter Shop are going to stock the full line.

tutorials

2011-09-19T12:15:00.000+01:00

Just a little heads up - I've been fiddling about with my blog layout and added a page up there above the posts and below the blog header with a few tutorials.

There's this quilt....

this one....

tumbler pillows like these.... (including a template you can print out)

a christmassy wreath (it's not far you know, less than 100 days)

as well as a (photo heavy) binding tutorial you can download and print off and a very simple (but fun for the kids) felt notebook cover.

I'll add more to it as I go along, but it's nice to have it all in one place and easy to find, don't you think?

If you use any of the tutorials I'd love to see what you made (I'm nosy like that!)

the best job ever

2011-09-18T10:36:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I took a (quite long) drive down to Lowestoft to Claire's shop, Patch Fabrics, to teach 6 lovely ladies how to make a tumbler cushion.

My thinking was that in a full day's workshop everyone would hopefully end up with a finished quilted cushion and learn the absolute basics on how to make a quilt, from choosing fabrics, through cutting, piecing, basting, quilting and binding. Plus, I love cushions and I find them much more useful than a mini quilt or table runner.

Everyone was absolutely brilliant and went full throttle into their projects.

We started a teensy bit late, so ended up over running a little but everyone was desperate to finish up (except poor Elizabeth whose husband and daughter came to pick her up so she'll finish this beauty off at home with some guidance via email from me).

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did, because it was a really lovely way to spend the day.

Claire has even invited me back after Christmas to teach a class on jelly roll quilts. If anyone is interested in coming along, I'll post details closer to the time.

All that the ladies need to do now is spend an evening sat in front of the TV hand stitching the binding onto the back of their cushions and they're all done! And hopefully hooked on quilting, because, let's face it, it's addictive.

a tumbler in a pear tree

2011-09-16T13:13:00.000+01:00

One of the massive benefits of the quilting community I am part of is that when my friends get a fabric designing gig they send me some stuff to play with.
I 'met' Thomas before he had even made a quilt. He hadn't designed fabric. He was the new kid on the block. Then he did some playing about with designs and they were really good. So good that Andover picked him up and said' we'll print your stuff!' (or whatever they say when they take you on as a designer) At Spring Market this year his designs were on paper and we oohed and aahed over them.

I think quite often when it comes to printing, fabrics lose the initial wow of the digital colours. Pear tree isn't as bright as I thought it would be, which I actually prefer. It has a washed or faded feel to the colours, they're less digital or computer generated. They have a lovely softness to the tones that reminds me of being a kid and the faded flannel sheets we used to have on our bed at my Grandparent's house.
The fabric feels really nice too. These have been washed (by Thomas before he mailed them to me), so they've lost the starchy crisp feeling that new fabrics have and they've now got an almost vintage feel to them. The cotton is weighty, not thin at all, but not too thick either. It sews really beautifully, and cuts really nicely too (I tried with both scissors and a rotary cutter).

I'm taking this little tumbler pillow in progress down to Patch Fabrics with me to show the folks that are coming to my workshop tomorrow. I'm also making a couple of dresden plate pillows to go with the tumbler and I'll switch out my regular pillows on the trunk that I sit on to hand sew and have a little Pear Tree themed decor in my house. I'm really quite excited by it!

Pear tree by Thomas Knauer for Andover is coming to stores in November. You can check it out here.

busy start

2011-09-13T14:46:00.000+01:00

It's only Tuesday but I need to get right on the horse and ride it hard this week.

The summer slowed me down and my to-do list is looking pretty horrendous. So, all the jobs that I had on hand at home are getting nailed so I can spend the whole of next week locked in my studio and getting on with things that have waited since before the Summer break. Oops.

The little firecracker quilt I started making with Aneela's little apples fabric way back in May is now quilted and I have to sew the binding on to the back over the next night or so. There are a few babies due amongst our friends at the minute, so I think that will go to one of them. It's such a sweet line. (By the way - little apples is shipping now, you can find it here).

I also finished up the skirt using Melody's giant bee fabric. I ended up making mine a few inches shorter than the pattern. Yep. I'm slutty like that. This was my first ever time following a pattern and making something to wear. I once made some boxer shorts, but they weren't hugely successful and I completely made it up by cutting round an old pair.

I learned a few things...

read the pattern really well
measure yourself a few times
try the thing on to see how it fits at every possible stage (don't wait like me til the end and realise it was a couple of inches too big. That's a bit silly)
read the pattern again (because you'll have forgotten what you're supposed to do)
ignore your oldest child telling you it's the ugliest thing she's ever seen and wear it anyway
when someone asks if you made your skirt, be proud and say 'hell yes, I did. Now, am I cool, or WHAT?' and strut off (no-one has asked me yet, because I only finished it an hour ago)

I have to say, I'm pretty damn proud of that little skirt.

I also made something secret that I can't show you but you can so tell what it is by this sneaklet peeklet....

And, I packed up this little quilt to be raffled off at a fundraiser my twitter friend Kristy has organised on behalf of her daughter Kitty.

You can find out more about the fundraiser and why she wants to help out here. In fact, I urge you to go and read up on why she wants to raise money for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

All in all the week is starting with a gallop. I'm feeling tired out already.

10 years

2011-09-11T09:00:00.023+01:00

10 years ago. A whole decade has passed but the shock of the images and the effect it has on me is still as strong.
Nothing before or since has the same effect as that day. I still feel my eyes prickle and my throat tighten whenever I see a single image of the day the towers fell.

I was coming home from town, in a taxi with Grace when my husband called and told me to listen the news, that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre.
I got home and turned the TV on just as the first tower fell and sat watching the news in shocked silence for the rest of the day. We had been there less than 4 months previously. Grace had run around by the fountain (in the fountain too) at the World Trade Centre for a while and we rested our legs as we did the whole tourist thing in NYC.

Let's hope there is never another day like that day. And that we never forget those that lost their lives.

tie me up

2011-09-10T15:19:00.000+01:00

12" blocks - they come together so fast. Add on a border and you have a queen size quilt super pronto.

The deets...

Queen Size quilt
82" x 94"
fabrics used - peacock lane by Violet Craft for Michael Miller, Just Dandy by Josephine Kimberling for Robert Kaufman, Smirk grey Dot by Kyla May for Timeless Treasures.

Spot the spooky demon dog....

sanity restored

2011-09-06T09:00:00.000+01:00

Don't get me wrong - I love to spend time with my kids I just find myself struggling a little with my sanity by the time they are almost back to school after the summer break. Maybe if I had a 'real' job where I left the house in the morning and didn't return home 'til the evening a couple of days a week it wouldn't be quite such a struggle. Honestly, I feel guilty if I spend any time in the studio when they're off school. I guess the whole 'woman's place is in the home' mentality is fully stamped on my brain. I am a little bit 1950's housewife, I'll confess to that. When I had children, because I was fortunate enough to not have to work I didn't work. I chose to be a homemaker and mother and I took that role super seriously. I do take that role super seriously.
Today, though, is the second day back to school. I'm going to break my daytime sewing rules and hand stitch in peace and quiet (hand sewing is usually only reserved for evenings, in front of the TV, it's decadent to hand sew during the day).

And I'm going to fully devour the peace and quiet. (Yesterday I just had to spend the day recovering from the Summer, you understand, don't you? Plus clean my house and do the laundry that has been piling up for the past I don't know how many weeks).

sewing for boys

2011-09-04T18:32:00.001+01:00

Sewing for Boys is a new book published by Wiley and written by Shelly Figueroa and Karen LePage. I love these 2 girls - they met on flickr and live across the country from each other, but maintain a business. How cool is that? I met them both in Salt Lake City this Spring Market and they're the funniest pair ever, such cool ladies. You'd think to meet them that they lived in each other's houses all the time, they're so tight, so alike and funny together. It's no wonder they've written a book that flows as well as this one.

The book is jam packed (24 projects) of patterns especially for boys. Let's face it, there are books galore for little girls' clothes but the little boys' patterns are not so easy to find. Or they're a bit twee, or a bit too simplistic (reversible pants, appliqued tees - you know the kind of thing). Sewing for Boys is completely different - it's beautifully laid out with really clear illustrations, separate paper patterns and instructions that are easy to read and comprehend. Little things like where the right or wrong side of fabrics are discussed it's in bold capitals. Little things like that are invaluable to someone like me, because I am a skimmer and I don't read instructions very well.

The book is laid out in sections, with clothes for different seasons and has a great range of types of pattern, from simple pants for beginners, to a more complicated looking winter coat for the more advanced sewist. (My favourite is the hooded jacket - that is far too cool for school).

Plus a fantastic pattern for real PJs, ones with buttons and all the gorgeous details you would expect in a pair of classic 'grown up' PJs. They'd be amazing in some wintery flannel for christmas (do you put your children in brand new PJs for christmas eve? Is that just me?), and a flannel robe that is classed as a beginner level, so it must be simple. Yep, my understanding of clothes patterns is pretty much limited to zero - but the instructions look like it's not rocket science, and when I showed Brioni she said it looked simple too, in fact Brioni got really quite excited about the whole book and is planning on using it to make a heap of stuff for her little one.

The patterns go up to age 7, from baby size, so you could quite easily start as a true beginner with a newborn and become a total expert after a few patterns and still find use for the book for a good few years to come. One of my friends is pregnant right now and if she has a boy I'm buying her this book for her baby shower.

24 projects - that's a lot.

It's out now and you buy it from here (with free worldwide shipping). Or your favourite local bookstore, of course.

a first

2011-09-01T16:10:00.000+01:00

I've been envious of people that make their own clothes for the longest time. By rights I should be able to. My mother used to make my own clothes as a child, so I remember the whole paper pattern, chalking out the lines, her huge dressmaking shears with shiny blades and black handles, pinning and being measured a million times process but before I'd gotten old enough to really care about making clothes my Mum had gone back to work and I never asked her how to do it. She hasn't sewn anything in a long time. I don't think she'd remember how to really.

So when Melody brought out Ruby Star Spring and mentioned the possibility of a Bee Skirt, I was sold. I bought a metre of fabric from the Eternal Maker when I was at the festival of quilts and resisted the temptation to turn it into a pillow.

At 14.18 today Melody tweeted this link. In the hour and a half (almost) since then I've printed the pattern, taped it together, measured myself (and realised my waist has grown a little this summer. Hmm.) and cut out my pieces. Yikes. Now I'm a little bit scared to actually sew anything and I need to buy a zipper because the only ones I have are the clunky kind, not the invisible kind. But I've started, so I'm pretty pleased. I think it'll probably annoy me that my skirt won't be all evenly matched with the fabric repeat, but I figure I can most likely live with that when I'm swishing about in a skirt with 2 giant bees on (front and back. Oh yes.)

Thank you for all of your wonderful offers to help with Sarah's and my project for Amy. I'm wading through emails, I'll get back to you shortly if you had a question, I promise. The link for Dan's fundraising site is here if you could help at all. Thank you so much for everything - this community we are part of is amazing and giving, and both Sarah and I are overwhelmed with your kindness. If you'd still like to join in, details are here. Thank you xxx

so touched

2011-08-31T10:12:00.000+01:00

Thank you so much to everyone that has offered to help with the project for Amy. Sarah and I were chatting last night about how overwhelmed we are by the response. Overwhelmed in a good way. Amy is clearly as special to many people as she is to us. Thank you so much to everyone that has emailed. Sarah is wading through the responses and if you haven't heard back from her soon, you will shortly.

If you would like to help also - email Sarah Sarah@sarahfielke.com and she will send you the details of the very simple block we would like you to make and donate for our quilted hug to our dear, dear friend.

Quite a few people have also asked about monetary donations. After I received one email from someone yesterday I realised that the cost of any illness in the US, even with good healthcare plans, is crippling. If you would like to help in any small way there is a fund set up here. Every dollar counts and if enough is raised to fund the medical bills the rest will be set aside for a trust for Dan and Amy's daughter. Don't buy that extra FQ of fabric, or that coffee from starbucks today - donate it instead.

can you help?

2011-08-30T10:00:00.000+01:00

If you read Amy's blog you will have heard the terribly sad news that her husband has passed away after battling terminal cancer.
Amy is one of the best people in the world. She is wicked in her humour, even during times when most people would have curled up into a ball and refused to continue on. I can't express enough how much I love and respect and admire her. Both as a quilter and as a friend.
Sarah and I were talking about what we could do to help, short of getting on a plane and flying over (which isn't really practical, let's face it) and in lieu of a real hug we thought a quilted one would probably show her how important she is to us.

Would you help?

Email Sarah for more details - sarah@sarahfielke.com

confessional

2011-08-29T16:07:00.001+01:00

I'm going to be honest here. I'm not a perfectionist. I'm a corner cutter. Not all the time, some quilts I'll throw my whole heart and soul in to. I don't know if that makes me love them more. I'm more inclined to think it doesn't, that sometimes those super fast, corner cut, slightly shoddy quilts are the ones I'm less precious about and those are the ones I love more.

Cases in point....

This quilt. It should live on my bed, I spent a fortune on the quilting. I slaved over it until my eyes literally went funny and I couldn't see from hand stitching all the dresden plates onto the backgrounds. It lives in the closet. I use the excuse that it's my winter quilt, but it won't come out in the winter, because it's too good for using.
This quilt. Shoddy points, terrible quilting (I quilted it) - but covered in cat hair, tea stains, and it's used all the time. I love that quilt.
This quilt. I pieced it in a day, that included cutting all the fabrics. It's a permanent fixture on Ginger's bed. It gets dragged outside in the summer, it's been washed and dried a million times, it has pen on it, and cat snot, and only the Lord knows what else. It's a technically poor quilt, the appliqued rocket has bubbled, the zigzag stitching to fix it on was really badly done. The binding is kind of wonky and doesn't miter well at the corners. So what, right?

I'm hoping that with this one I'll break the cycle and use it til it falls to pieces. Despite taking me over a year to piece and being done 'properly', not by cutting corners.

So, here's my confession of the day - I was planning on making this quilt on Elizabeth's blog. But I wanted something small for Ginge to use on the couch, not for his bed. Or even to hang on the wall for Halloween. I started printing letters, and I realised I was going to have to piece tiny little squares to get a good patchwork effect in the size I wanted. Then I'd lose all the cool Halloween prints, I may as well use any old 'Halloween coloured' fabrics. So I thought, and I scratched my head and I realised I could cut corners, whip something up really fast and not piece any of the letters at all.

Ha.

So, again, it's not perfect. It's not going on show, none of my quilts are. They're for using. Even the ones I don't use because I actually made real effort with them and didn't just go bang at it for a week til it was done.

So, 'fess up - I'm a corner cutter - I don't give a rat's ass that my points aren't perfect, I won't unpick to get a sharper point (not usually anyway). I just love to cut and piece and have something finished.

What's your confession?

(fabrics above are Eerie Alley from Lola Pink fabrics and kona coal from Simply Solids)

lazy holiday weekend

2011-08-28T10:55:00.000+01:00

I actually forgot it was a holiday weekend here. Probably because all my days are currently blurring into one long day of handing money over to Miss G for whatever she happens to be doing that day, taking her places, picking her up, packing a bag for her, dropping her somewhere else, giving more money, shopping for more food...you get the picture? Almost over. One more week of the holidays and sanity will be restored, and I'll once again remember what the day is.

As Miss G will be absent for most of the weekend, and Ginge is easily pleased/entertains himself I've started cutting into some fabrics to make a quick bow tie quilt like Angela's. Except I'm still totally unable to cut my Habitat up and instead I'm using Just Dandy (it's on sale if you click that link to sew mama sew) and Peacock Lane along with a really cool dot by timeless treasures that I got from the Fat Quarter shop with a twitter special 50% off code. Those twitter specials are really good. I find it tough to resist a 50% off coupon. All the squares are cut, my little squares are marked and I'm ready to sew.

I made a realisation this week. Jennifer Paganelli is my go-to fabric when I have to make a gift quilt. This stack is my 4th gift quilt made from Sis Boom. This time I'm using a whole mix of stuff, including the new line, West Indies that I picked up from Lola Pink fabrics. I love them there. Janet always writes a little thank you note in the package and sends hugs to me and Snoop. That kind of personal service is second to none, you don't find that often, do you? The rest of them I picked up on sale from Pink Chalk. Kathy Mack is one of my Quilt Market highlights. I like to shop at places where the people are nice. It makes me happy to spend my money if I know the folks it's going to are super lovely. I think you'd have to go a long way to find someone as genuinely lovely as Kathy is. She has passion and always seems to be so on the ball with her fabric buying. At least, we have crazily similar taste so the fabrics she gets excited about at Market seem to be the same as me. In SLC this Spring we were both getting crazy excited that Kaari Meng is redoing Rouenneries for debut this fall. That is right at the top of my sample spree list. I'll punch people in the face to pick up a stack (ok, I won't but I will be all pointy elbows and I'll fight to get to the front of the line for it). I wouldn't elbow Kathy though. I'd let her take the last bundle, because I know it'd be going to a loving home.

Anyhoo....back to the lovely Jen. There's another person that you couldn't fault - soooo nice. I mean SOOO nice you think she might not really be so nice and at home she pulls the legs of spiders or pokes kittens with knitting needles. And everyone says the same thing 'isn't Jennifer lovely? She's such a great person'. So I am pretty sure she doesn't do the spider leg pulling thing. Her personality is as bright as her fabrics, and when she smiles you can see how genuine she is. No-one can fake a smile as warm as that.

I'm making a slightly bigger version of this quilt for my mother in law's best friend for Christmas. But I'm using that charm pack for the diamonds.

One day I'll actually make a quilt from Sis Boom for myself. Or my husband, because he LOVES everything Jen does. He's a bit girly, for a big guy. Maybe that's an idea for Christmas? His own Sis Boom quilt. Hmm.....

zombie constellation - top done!

2011-08-24T13:01:00.000+01:00

I love a quick quilt. I especially love a quick big quilt. I'm not really one for baby quilts or small lap quilts. In our house a lap quilt is at least 70 inches - the bigger the better. A quilt has to be able to cover me from neck to toe, with only my head can be poking out in order for me to stay warm and be comfy. In the winter I have multiple quilts on me, but in the summer just one. I get cold easily, there's not a lot of meat on my bones.

This quilt is approx 70 x 76". It's a little smaller than the original constellation because I've only added borders at 2 sides. That's because I made a booboo with one of my big star blocks and used a different sewing machine to piece it...there's a lesson for you (which I'm sure you know, as I do really but I kind of forgot, or decided it wouldn't matter). If you piece blocks, use the same machine for all of them. 1/4 inch feet vary ever so slightly from machine to machine. One block ended up a bit bigger than the others, so part of the points will get lost in the binding. C'est la vie. Who's going to care? No-one really. Not in the grand scheme of things, there are bigger and more important things to worry about in life than some star points sneaking off into the binding.

I've never taken one of those stained glass style photos before, of the quilt top from behind. Usually because my seams are such a state I wouldn't want to show anyone. Still, it looks so pretty I couldn't resist this time.

So, if you have an urge to make a pretty big but fast and nice and simple quilt, you could make one like this. I'd be so stoked if you did.

The pattern is available from here.

Fabrics are Happy Mochi Yum Yum by Monica and Organic Shipyard from Timeless Treasures. Both are available here and here.

12

2011-08-23T10:30:00.000+01:00

12 years ago today.

T-W-E-L-V-E

How'd that happen?

You were a funny looking baby...

Obsessed with dressing like a Princess....

You grew so fast and before we knew it, you'd started school

Then you moved to Juniors. We thought you were grown up then (but you were only 7)

You're beautiful.

In every way.

Inside and out.

Happy Birthday baby girl.

Have a wonderful day and thank you for making Daddy and me proud.

Although I could throttle you sometimes and you're unbelievably stubborn, you make me laugh 'til it hurts, you're kind, generous and treat everyone as you would hope to be treated yourself.

And you're all mine.

Love you Gracie,

Mummy xxxx

(but, really, can't you just show your teeth when you have your photo taken occasionally?)

zombies on the lawn

2011-08-22T14:43:00.000+01:00

Zombie constellation block number one has a new friend.

They're big girls. Plus sized, no doubt.

Pattern is this one from Issue 5 of Fat Quarterly (available here) but messed around with a bit.

Fabrics are Happy Mochi Yum Yum by the happiest of all zombies, Monica. And this weave type print.

More soon.....

Finally...

2011-08-19T13:33:00.000+01:00

The Hexy MF is all packed up and ready to ship off to Angela for her magic quilting touch. We'll be reunited at Quilt Market in Houston this October. And then Hexy MF can keep Lu and me cozy on the plane ride home. Clever thinking, eh? I might make it a tradition. Go to Quilt Market sans quilt, come home with quilt. I did it at Spring Market too with the Honey Child quilt that had been hanging in Jennifer's booth (and was then used by the little old lady on the plane next to me to sleep under. Sweet, huh?)

See more of the ridiculously long journey of hexagons in my flickr set here.

Time to start a new english paper pieced project, me thinks.

something new

2011-08-17T14:45:00.000+01:00

This fabric and this pattern (modified a little). It's going to rock, even if I do say so myself, which is a little braggy and the sort of thing that should result in a big slap from any one of you.

In other news - there's a glimmer of hope in my previously mentioned quest for modern Horn sewing cabinets...the lucky man that was pestered by me for 4 whole days is going to mention my (let's face it - genius) views at his next supplier meeting. Keep those fingers crossed that someone listens.

And in older news...don't forget we can hang out all day long and go home with a tumbler cushion like this if you go to Claire's site and book the workshop. I'll bring some sweets and I'll let you eat in class. Go on, come along, it'll be fun I PROMISE.

and the winner is....

2011-08-16T22:11:00.001+01:00

The winner of the Simply Solids jelly roll giveaway is Jednoiglec who said....

Festival of Quilts? You're so lucky to be there!
I like that in Europe we've got online shops - I love that there's a shop with great selection of Kona!

Congrats! Email me your address (katy at fatquarterly dot com) and I'll get your jelly roll in the mail to you.

FoQ off

2011-08-15T22:03:00.000+01:00

Phew. I'm back from doing actual real life, stood on my feet, smiling sweetly, dealing with the public work for a whole 4 days AND I'm still alive to tell the tale.
It wasn't all work at FoQ (the Festival of Quilts). We did a lot of messing about whilst demonstrating the delightful wares that Eternal Maker had for sale (Tacha's hat is my new design - don't copy it, I'm expecting a call from Karl Lagerfeld shortly to include it in Spring 2012's couture collection for Chanel)

NB - there'll be a skirt tute on whipstich using Melody's Bee fabric really, really soon, like next week or something. Melody told me that, so I'm telling you.

We hung out with Mandy and her husband most evenings at the pub (and they were just down the aisle so we could wave at them lots too)

Tacha and me also taught a class on English Paper Piecing that was really good fun AND the students liked us AND we didn't crash and burn (don't even mention the lecture I took last minute on Friday - that was not so successful. That was, in fact, a complete and utter disaster...but the ladies (that actually sat through to the end - yes, there were some early leavers. I don't blame them, I would have too if I could. I almost did) assured me they wouldn't hunt me down and lynch me. Although I am sleeping with a tyre iron under my pillow just in case).

Super B made a banner (that stuck to the wall the whole time with only spit and bent-to-death cheap pins from Leeds Market)

There were even some quilts...like this one that should have won muchos muchos prizes (and not because it was made by my friend. No, that is not the only reason, it just should have)

All in all it was a great few days. We had a fab booth, it was nice and big and lots of lovely people stopped by to say Hi (I'm waving at you - wave back). I spent quite a lot of time hassling the poor man from Horn cabinets into making me a red, high gloss sewing cabinet with no handles, just those fancy magnetic closures you get on kitchen cabinets and wire baskets instead of plastic ones. I also want metal casters, like on the bottom of hospital trolleys. I don't think he took much notice of me, despite being a genuinely good sport and putting up with my constant pestering (and really quite mean comments about his product) but if you see them make anything other than the 'wood effect' finishes in the coming years you have me to thank (yes, I'll take full credit, and the royalty cheque can be made payable to me too, thanks). Admit it - a high gloss sewing cabinet that looked more like this than this, that would be something, wouldn't it? I'd buy it. Actually, I've designed it, so I'll have a free one already, but I'd buy another, maybe an aqua one to go with my red one.

quiet concentration

2011-08-11T17:30:00.002+01:00

A little something I'm having a whole lot of fun with at the minute. Tiny scraps, buttons and hand stitches. See more soon....

Have you met Mandy?

2011-08-09T08:54:00.001+01:00

(Photo courtesy of Mandy Noble/Simply Solids)

Mandy is someone I call an actual real life friend. I met her through shopping for fabric (of course) and then I met her real life friend (Lynne) with my other real life friend Brioni and yet another real life friend, Justine (confused? Me too.) Now we try and get together at Lynne's house often enough to keep us sane and sew. Although in reality we don't end up sewing much and spend more time laughing and gossiping. I thought it'd be nice to have Mandy come over and say hello, because you might not have met her before and that'd be a shame. So here she is......(read through to the end...there may be treats...just saying)

Tell me a bit about Simply Solids, how did it come about?

Lynne and I were complaining about the lack of Kona solids in the UK and how we just couldn't get what we wanted and maybe should order it in in bulk ourselves. Then she kind of bet me to start a shop - so I did!!

How long have you sewn for?

My mum taught me to sew when I was little, but I never did a huge amount other than curtains till after the kids were born. In 1989 I went to a quilt exhibition of slave quilts in Atlanta, Georgia and swore that one day I would make my own quilt, it took a good 11 years before i started one and another 7 years before that was finished! 3 kids got in the way, but once they were past the baby stage I signed up for a block an month workshop and that was it - I was hooked.

(Photo courtesy of Lily's Quilts)

What would you say is your style of quilting/sewing?

When I started quilting I was into japanese Daiwabo fabrics so everything was very muted, but after joining flickr and discovering the blogging world I discovered new modern fabrics and fell in love. I love bright colours and simple designs and my quilts today reflect this.

(Photo courtesy of Mandy Noble/Simply Solids)

What is your favourite Kona colour combination?

My favourite colour combos change all the time, but at the moment I love peridot/hibiscus. I can gaze at the stock on my shelves for hours!

Explain a little about how Simply Solids works, describe your shop and what you sell.

My goal with Simply Solids is to have the complete range of Kona Cotton Solids combined with a few other ranges - Amy Butler Solids, Kaffe Fasset Shot Cottons and some plain Linens. I will always order in any colour a customer needs and am always open to suggestion for different ranges. I also stock Gutermann Cotton threads and wadding meaning that customers can get everything they need to complete a quilt. I stock Moda pre-cuts because I love them, the ranges are always changing and they offer such flexibility. I have only been going for a year so my stock and ranges will continue to grow and grow!

This year you'll be at the Festival of Quilts - where can we find you?

I will be at stand D49 with my husband helping out so please come and say hello. It is my first time selling at the festival of quilts and I am very nervous, so a few friendly faces would be great!

(Photo by me!)

For those of you that are coming to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, here's a voucher to download and print off for 10% off anything on Mandy's stand (D49, remember - just opposite-ish the Fat Quarterly stand which is D44!)

You can find Mandy's blog here and her wonderful UK based fabric store right here.

But that is not all. Oh no, that is not all. Mandy is also offering one of you lucky blog reader types a jelly roll of French General's Christmas line, Fa La La La French General.

Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. No other hoop jumping, just a comment.

Giveaway will stay open for the next week until I get home from the Festival of Quilts (so until Monday 15th August). Please make sure you have an email linked to your profile or leave a contact email in your comment. It makes things soooo much easier. And next time you need solids try Mandy out for size. She won't disappoint.

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED

from the fast to the sooooooo slow

2011-08-07T17:14:00.010+01:00

After my super fast quilt top in a day (actually, it was more like an afternoon and evening, if I'm honest) it's back to the incredibly slow and long winded Hexy MF. The end is in sight now, though. I've got all the hexagon flowers for the border basted on and I'm working my way through hand appliqueing them, and I've made a start on the leaves. I really do need to get a wriggle on if I'm going to get it finished in time for Angela to quilt it and bring it to Market in just under 12 weeks (yikes!).

I've ordered continuous yardage of an Innocent Crush print for the backing (although I can't remember which one I ordered), because it was on sale even though I really would have liked to use a velveteen or a voile for a purely luxurious and decadent quilt. The sensible side of me caved and said 'the top is voile, you can stroke that, just go for the cheaper option on the back'. I might regret that later, but I'm really needing to save some pennies right now and if I want fancy quilting from the Queen of Quilting herself I'll suck it up and be happy to get the darn thing finished.

The binding has been ready and waiting for ever (well, I did make 38 yards of it)....

a Merry Grinchmas

2011-08-05T14:16:00.000+01:00

Freaky weather we're having in these parts today. Look at that snow storm. I had to put my salopettes on especially to take that pic. Yeh, alright, it's just one of the cool effects from picnik.

The weather here has been pretty rubbish though, this week we've had thunderstorms, rain by the bucket full and even a little bit of hail. And today it's sunny. Go figure. Welcome to the Great British Summertime.

I've been busy sewing up the 12 fat quarters of Dr Seuss Grinch fabrics I got from Lola Pink Fabrics. I wanted to make something fun and fast, so I cut up each FQ into 4 pieces loosely based on the turning twenty pattern (I say loosely because I didn't have the book to hand and so I kind of guessed the sizes of the pieces) and made a pretty nice lap size quilt that was 48"x70". Then Ginger asked if it was for his bed, which it wasn't, it was for his lap, and so I added strip of kona snow to the bottom to make it twin sized. I like snow because it's white but not an extra clean white, and with the fat cat that wipes his eye snot over everything and the Ginger boy that is, well, a boy, so he's hardly clean most of the time it doesn't seem to show up dirt as much.

12 FQs and 2 yards of kona cotton....you have a quilt that's perfect for a bed in just one day. Do you know, I might make a few more of this kind of quilt to use up bits of bobs in my stash and have on hand for Christmas gifts and things. I do still want this pillowcase kit though too. I'm still hinting, family members.

(excuse that terrible picture - do you know how difficult it is taking photos of a quilt top on a bunk bed?)

Someone else seems to like it too....

Now I have to piece a backing and get it sent to long armed Chris. I'm thinking a contrasting red thread would look cool, maybe a snowflake design quilted all over, so the red snowflakes pop out on that bottom white strip. Although, once Ginger puts all his pillows and stuffed animals and other general gubbins on the bottom half of his bed you won't see that part of the quilt at all.

planning ahead...

2011-08-03T13:29:00.000+01:00

It'll be Halloween in a little over 12 weeks. I could sneeze and miss it if I'm not careful (yes, I realise that's unlikely). And then Christmas is just 144 days away. 144!!! That's NOTHING. If I don't start to prepare myself I'll surely miss that as well?

Ok, ok, neither is likely to happen, but I'd quite like to make both a Halloween and Christmas quilt this year. I feel guilty because for the 2nd time I'll be missing Halloween this year, as I'll be in Houston for Quilt Market. We always had a party, and it was always great fun, so I'm pretty guilted out that I'm not about and the party won't be happening for the 2nd year running. To try and make up for the fact I'm making Ginger a quilt. I had thought of free pieced letters like this kind of thing, but then I spotted Elizabeth's quilt and I'm scrapping the free pieced idea and going down this route instead. She's doing a quilt along too. I'm not sure what my quilt will actually say yet, the possibilities are endless. Fancy making a Halloween billboard quilt with me?

The Grinch fabrics I'm still thinking on. They'd be pretty cool fussy cut, so my first thought was a snowball (it's a good winter themed block as well). I'll add in some extra solids whatever I do.

I got all of these fabrics from Lola Pink fabrics, a great online (and bricks and mortar) shop with a really fun selection of fabrics. I'm so tempted by the pillowcase kits, they'd make really great gifts for the sewist that has everything (and if anyone is reading this from my family/friends take a hint - I REALLY LIKE THE PILLOWCASE KITS).

You can find your own eerie alley bundle here. And the Grinch bundles are here and here. Janet and Jennifer sorted me out the co-ordinating solids from their selection in store.