Sibling's Together Quilt #1

This Easter has given me time to indulge in more sewing.  I've been working on the 'secret project' - now affectionately nicknamed 'The Beast' - there's still a fair bit of work to do on it, but I'm making progress. 










A couple of months ago I'd set my mum the challenge of finding me some cotton shirts to cut up and use for The Beast and, true to form, a few days later she rang me to say that there was a big pile waiting for me that she'd already washed and dried for me - amazing!  After cutting out what I needed I was left with a pile of scrappy shirt leftovers and, as I really hate throwing anything away, I decided to see how many 2.5" pieces I could cut.   I think I'm at my most creative when my resources are limited - sit me in front of a huge selection of fabrics and I'll deliberate forever about what to make and how to do it, but given the challenge of trying to make something with limited resources I'll just get on with it. 







While I was cutting, I thought these might make a good quilt for a teenage boy for the Siblings Together Quilt project - I'm guessing there may not be as many quilts for this group being donated as boys of that age are quite hard to make for, right?  Or maybe it's just me as I'm only used to making girly things.  Anyway, I ended up with enough fabric to make these simple log cabin blocks, each with a lime green centre square which I thought would add some contrast.  I used a plain white cotton for the background, and managed to cut enough of the green fabric to bind the edges of the quilt with. 

At 52" x 62" this is a smallish lap quilt, but it's big enough to snuggle under.  I found a piece of white, blue and red striped fabric for the backing, and quilted it simply with triple diagonal lines.  Quilting is my downfall - I'm pretty bad at it, so I try to keep it as simple as possible.  The backing fabric (picked not just because of it's colour but because it's really soft and smooth) turned out to be a total nightmare to quilt and, as I don't have a walking foot for the sewing machine, we fell out.  Big time.  We've since made up - me promising never to go anywhere near it with a sewing machine again and it promising just to concentrate on being soft and snuggly. 


I'm pleased with the way this quilt turned out and I really hope it helps give some comfort to the child who receives it.



Once the purple scraps arrive I'll get started on another quilt.  I think I'll be making a granny squares lap quilt with it for a teenage girl. 

Spring is in the air!

Spring has arrived!  I even got chance to sit in the garden last weekend for an hour or so to do some hand sewing!  I was finishing off the baby quilt for one of my lovely friends whose baby is due in a couple of months.  I won't post a full picture of the quilt in case she looks, but you can have a sneak preview!  I'm loving these colours together, and I've quilted it with a thin batting, so it's really light but still snuggly.

Brenda at Just A Bit Frayed has now opened the linky party for the Bust Yo! Scraps quilt-a-long, so that everyone who took part can upload a photo of their finished quilts.  I used this photo that cee pea took for me as, although I know it doesn't show the quilt up close and personal, it's a pretty special photo to me.




I also had a sort through my fabric last week and managed to find enough to make another couple of pillowcase dresses for the Dress a Girl Around The World project.  These dresses are so quick and easy to make, and knowing that they're going to children who really need, and will love wearing, them makes it even more enjoyable.   I sent all four dresses off to Louise at Sew Scrumptious; she does an amazing job collecting these dresses and making sure they get to where they need to be.





Talking of amazing........I read this post on Lilly's Quilts blog a couple of days ago and instantly knew I'd like to be involved.  Siblings together is a charity which provides opportunities for contact between siblings who have been separated by care.  This organisation arranges camps where separated siblings between 7 and 17 years old get to spend quality time together.  Lynne's idea is to get enough quilts donated so that each child leaving camp this summer will take their own home with them, with a label on it which their sibling(s) have written a special message on for them.  Pretty awesome right!  This Flickr group has been set up for everyone to share ideas and support, and I am truly amazed at the generosity of fellow quilters!  I know that I can find enough time to make a quilt, but don't currently have enough fabric - cue lovely people!  Some people are offering fabric to those people who need it (like the lovely Bessiemae who is sending me some fab purple scraps to use), others are organising group projects so that people can make as many blocks as they can and they will turn them all into quilts, and others are donating quilts that they have already, or are planning to make.  There are therefore loads of ways to be involved!  So, can I tempt you to join in too?

Button Love

I got home today to find a lovely parcel waiting for me on the doormat.  I signed up to Noodlebubble's button swap a couple of weeks ago and was paired up with the lovely Jane of A pocket full of daisys.  I received these gorgeous buttons from Jane and I totally love them!  She included a lovely selection of really bright colours - thank you Jane! x

Jane has blogged about the swap here, so why not head over and have a read.

A touch of colour

I talked cee pea into taking the Bust Yo! Scraps quilt I made with her when she headed across the fields with Alfie and her camera last Saturday, and this is what I got in return - I love it!

I found out who my swap partner will be for Noodlebubble's button swap.  I'll be swapping with Jane of A pocket full of daisys and after reading her blog and seeing how much she loves buttons I really hope she'll like the ones I've got ready to send her.



I got chance one night last week to make a couple of simple pillowcase dresses for the Dress A Girl Around The World project.  I read about this on Sew Scrumptious' blog; Louise not only makes these dresses herself, but also collects dresses from other people and arranges for them to be sent to the children who need them.  She's just exceeded 1000 dresses and her blog is full of pictures of the amazing dresses which have been made.  These two dresses will be sent to Louise soon, and as soon as I've found some more pieces of fabric big enough there will be more to follow.

A great week.......and a button swap!

This week has been a busy one, mainly in a ace way.  I took a day off work on Friday and spent most of it hanging out with Kate, bouncing creative ideas around and drooling on her new fabrics when she wasn't looking.  Kate had been planning some new 'tape measure' accessories for a while, and it was great to be there to help her with her first few broaches.  Want a sneak peek?  Oh go on then......








How cute!

On Saturday we went to Sheffield to the Reetsweet fair.  It was held in the Millennium Gallery in the city centre, which is a pretty perfect venue for this event.  The fair was, as expected, full of an amazing amount of talent, and it was great to wander round taking in the range of handmade goods there.  I know it's not nice to have a favourite but I did, so there; Molly's Mum 's stall was packed with the cutest textiles, all of an amazing quality and cuteness.  Their website has the cutest waving bear too - go have a look! 

After the fair we made out way to Meadowhall and, after a lovely dinner, spent an indecent amount of time in Paperchase.  Cee pea and I are used to being persuaded, bribed and eventually dragged out of that shop, but as Kate loves it just as much as we do we were allowed to ooh and ahh at everything; and ended up leaving with big bags of happiness!

Today has been spent mainly not doing the must do things on my to-do list, which I already know will result in chaos in the morning - c'est la vie!  Instead of doing sensible things I spent time playing with the amazing map print paper I picked up yesterday.

I saw this paper on my last trip to Paperchase a few months ago, but as much as I loved it I really had no reason to buy it.  Then a couple of lovely work colleagues picked this mini shelf unit (on the right) up for me from a charity stall at work, and I just knew how I wanted to decorate them.  The shelves on the left with the little drawers I've had for a few years, and I think they were ready for a makeover.  I've no idea what either of these are going to be used for as they are both pretty small, but I'm happy with the way they've turned out and I really enjoyed spending time doing them.



I've ordered these cute red and white Scandinavian print fabrics for a quilt I want to make for my friends baby who is due in a couple of months.  I found some gorgeous pale aqua cotton to go with them while I was out on Friday, which I hope will be a nice contrast.  I had underestimated how hard it is choosing colours when you don't know the sex of the baby, but I'm definitely not complaining as I love the surprise!




And last but not least...I've joined my first swap!!!  NoodleBubble is hosting a button swap and I jumped at the chance to join as soon as I read about it.  My button addiction is getting harder to hide...most people have fires in their fireplaces, but I have...

 
...some* of my button collection!

* I don't want to confess to how many more I have in case I'm declared insane and forced to attend weekly meetings in a bid to stop the madness.

I'm really pleased to have signed up to this swap, as it means I can send some of my most loved buttons to someone who will hopefully love them too!  You can sign up to the swap until 14th March, so come sign up too!
x

These are a few of my favourite things...

Last Saturday was officially the best.  I spent the day with my mum, dad and cee pea in Horncastle, rummaging through the antiques shops in my element!  We had originally planned this trip for the beginning of February but the weather postponed it, so it was great to get to drive out there and hunt for some treasures.

I totally fell in love with this 1960's coffee service and, despite cee pea trying to reason that we neither drink coffee nor have anywhere for it to live, I knew it had to come home with us!  I love both the shape of the coffee pot and the gorgeously retro blue and grey flowers, but my absolute favourite part of the set is the milk jug; it's just so cute!  When my mum told me that her and my dad had received the same milk jug and sugar bowl in an orange and brown colourway as a wedding gift, it sealed the deal.





For now I've re homed the set on some small shelves in the kitchen, and am successfully ignoring the things that have been unceremoniously evicted from them which will now need to find somewhere to live....a minor detail, right?



Sewing wise I've been busy working on something big, but it's a secret project for now so as much as I'd love to share some photos of the progress I've been making I can't.  It hasn't all been secret sewing though, I was asked recently to make a personalised apron so I spent some time on it at the weekend.  I was so pleased to be asked to make this; it's for a lady who's son had received one as a gift for Christmas, so the fact she wanted to give one away as a gift herself was lovely.



I had no plain blue fabric left in my stash, so I went shopping and found this lovely soft cotton, and picked up some more of this blue spotty fabric for trim.  Like the apron's I made for the Christmas Fayre I did last year, I used the trim on the pocket, apron top and the ends of the waist ties.  I also put press studs on the bottom of the apron so that it can be made 3 different lengths, hopefully meaning it can get longer use from a no doubt fast growing boy!

I spent some time after work yesterday playing around with ideas for packaging, and finally came up with this simple paper envelope.  The thick blue paper is held together with simple stitches, and the flap is held down with eyelets and a piece of ribbon.  I'm really pleased with the way this turned out, although at some point I'll pick up a roll of brown paper and butchers twine and will make some more.

I'm excited about the rest of this week...I'm taking the day off work on Friday to hang out with the lovely Kate of Helter Skelter to do some productive crafting and no doubt a lot of laughing.  On Saturday Kate and I are going over to Sheffield to visit the Reetsweet fair at the Millennium Gallery, and we're both stupidly excited about it! x

Birthday Treats and Squidgy Quilts

Anyone who knows me can tell you that while I get overly excited about celebrating other people's birthday I actually hate my own.  Having said that, this year my birthday was lovely!  The arrival of snow put an end to the planned trip to Horncastle, for a good rummage through the antiques shops for vintage treasures, but instead we went to a local-ish garden centre which has both a lovely restaurant and a big selection of crafty/gifty goodies to peruse.  My lovely daughter, cee pea, had splashed out on a new SLR camera for her college course the day before, so brought it with her and spent time testing it out...beautiful huh!?

Pressie wise I was totally spoilt!  Among the crafty pressies I received were Sarah Fielke's 'Quilting from little things' book and this amazing London notebook from cee pea...









and one of these amazing tape measure bracelet's and a cross stitch tote bag from my lovely friend Kate.  My birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so I took the following Monday off work and spent it at Kate's house, cooing over her craft supplies and planning future projects.  We have another craft day planned soon and I can't wait!

All the sewing round here recently has been about quilts, and both the Tula Pink Prince Charming design roll quilt and Bust Yo! Scraps quilts are now finished! 

The Prince Charming quilt is heavily quilted.  I never planned it to be when I started, but the quilting pattern sort of just 'happened' as I went along.  I love this about it, especially as washing and drying the quilt resulted in it shrinking just enough to wrinkle nicely with the quilting.

I chose a plain cream cotton for the backing, which was actually a double sheet I found in the January sales.  I had originally planned to piece a backing, but in the end I just didn't want to take away from the simplicity of the design, and as it happens I really like the way the quilting pattern shows up on the plain back.  I pieced the binding from the remains of the jelly roll, and doubled the batting under the backing as I hand sewed it down to make it nice and squidgy. 











I'm a little bit in love with this quilt: I love the colours and designs of the Prince Charming fabric, but I do wish I'd made it a little bigger.  At 45" x 55" it's a small lap size which is fine for me cos I'm pretty diddy and tend to curl up on the sofa, but the bigger people in the house have put in complaints that it's not long enough!

I'm very proud of the self restraint I had with my Bust Yo! Scraps quilt.  I promised myself I would spend no money on this (except for the batting), and despite many wobbles and fabric browsing I stuck to my word.  The only cotton I had enough of for the background colour was this slate grey/blue, which I wasn't convinced would look okay but which has ultimately grown on me.  I think it balances out the pink in the scraps and is probably much more sensible than using white or cream as I'd initially intended. 

After much rummaging through my fabric cupboard I found an old single duvet cover which I used for the backing.  As it wasn't wide enough I decided to add a wide border all the way round, which breaks up the business of the patterned middle. 











The quilting on this quilt is much simpler than the Prince Charming, a mix of single and triple diagonal lines, and again I used a scrappy pieced, squidgy binding to finish it off.  If I'd had more of the blue background fabric I think I'd have given it a plain border, but hey I can live with it.







And so, it would seem, can Alfie who has taken ownership of both quilts at the first opportunity!  Well, they were freshly washed and dried for his benefit, right?