Service that made me smile

Don't you just love it when a parcel arrives from the quilt shop

But how often is it wrapped in tissue paper, a red ribbon and a fabric heart with fusing on the back!
Awesome or what

This is my first order off Quilt me Happy and its made me very happy indeed!

And in the parcel was my Kona white fabric for my New York beauty quilt, I'm all set now for some weekend curved piecing GULP!

Happy sewing!

Oakshott inspiration

I'm a pin it addict! I recently joined that happening groovy site called Pinterest

Its absolutely great for finding and keeping photos that you find inspirational when designing new quilts and looking for quilting motifs.

At the moment I'm using it to find design ideas for a wall hanging using this fabric, its the Autumn collection of fat8ths from Oakshott.

This is the link to my Oakshott fabric inpiration board on Pinterest 
For more inspiration I'm linking up with Quilting by the River and these linky parties

Happy sewing!

Happy sewing!

Design Wall Monday

My pond is looking a tad murky in the photos today, not at all vibrant and lush (I love the word lush, I like to say it with an extra shhh sound!) as it is in real life.

 The applique has been glued down with Roxanne glue, and three of the pads have been sewn.

 I'm ashamed to admit it, but my poppy quilt hasn't made it up onto the wall yet, I'm really rubbish when it comes to sewing on hanging sleeves

You would think for a girl who loves to make wall hangings this wouldn't be an issue but these quilts still languish in a drawer as well.

and um there are others in there too, damn it!

Anyways I'm butt kicking myself as I type which isn't easy, so hanging sleeves are my top priority!

This post is linked up to some fab linky parties and I'm off to check them out, see you soon.

Happy sewing!

Oakshott loveliness!

One of these arrived in the post yesterday

Its a Autumn bundle of shot cotton fat 8ths from Oakshott Fabrics, 

Lily from Lily quilts  raved about the fabric on her blog on Tuesday, so I went to have a look and ended up ordering some, I'm so not sorry as its seriously gorgeous in a iridescent luminous way!

She is now hosting a give away of a colour box of 100 fat 8ths from Oakshott, for a chance to win some pop over and enter.

Good luck!

New York beauty preparations

A little parcel arrived for me in the week, 100 sheets! that should keep me busy and an add a quarter ruler a gadget that I didn't technically need as I have a 1 - 6 inch ruler already, but hey it doesn't have the edge bit on it so......

 And I've been cutting up my charms into sets of six colour tones.

and then stacking them ready

Ive printed out the foundation patterns, so I'm all set!

This little ark needs some more friends!

This post is linked to

Happy sewing!

Pond life

My pond is coming together quite swimmingly!

This is maybe, roughly, kind of the what the layout will look like, plus three water lily's.

The fish's body has changed colour and I'll probably just have two, but I do like the idea of a little baby fish thou, I should be able to baste it all down soon with my Roxanne glue and start sewing.


This post is linking up with some great linky parties!

Thank you very much for popping by.

May your days be long and full of sewing!



 

Pointy points

It has taken me days and several attempts but I finally learnt how to paper piece.

 It was a hard nut to crack thou, its a very backward way to sew, but you get lovely sharp points.

I have been using these Electric Quilt foundation sheets, but found them difficult to tear away, my sharp points have had their stitching pulled away when I removed the paper, I'm going to have to resew them.

I have sent away for Carol Doak's paper instead.

I watched her DVD yesterday and when she pulls the paper out it tears away easily.

I have been looking for a quilt to make using my Kona charms that I bought last year, I got the classic and bright ones, and have decided to make a New York beauty quilt with them and plain white, each block is going to have one colour peaks but with different tones, I'm hoping that it will look quite modern.

While I'm waiting for the paper to arrive, I'll be making up some water Lilie's.

Happy sewing!

It's all very fishy!

I have started a new applique wall hanging, it's totally inspired by this quilt by Shape Moth, when I first saw it, I was blown away by those beautiful lilies and she has been kind enough to post a tutorial.

After a little google image searching, I found this which makes a good starting point for ideas.

This is what I've done so far, my fish are going to be gold fish, I haven't got many orange batik fabrics and I'm not sure there is enough contrast going on yet.

This blue batik fabric is ideal, Its left over from my poppy quilt, its a good size, its folded her for this photo, and I have plenty of contrasting greens.

This little fishy and the lily pads were made using the starch and press method of applique, it was such a pleasure tonight to sit and make them, the fabrics are gorgeous, I really love this technique and can't wait to sit and hand sew them down.

Next I'm going to make a lily using the tutorial, to see if I've got the size right before I carry on making up the applique pieces, I've made 3D flowers before on this quilt, they are fushias (you could tell right?)

 This post is linking up with

Happy sewing!

Dseign Wall Monday

I've been playing with my new foot, I bought it before Christmas and it is the 1/4 inch foot with the side guide on it which helps with accurate pieceing, I used to have foot like this on my old Janome and always missed it.

I have made the square in a square blocks for the borders of the Bargello, but have decided on a new setting.

I have been wanting to try Trapunto for ages and thought these boreders might give me an opportunity.

I recently missed out on a quilt as you go project that has been taking place in my quilting class, I didn't want to start a new quilt when I was already making the poppy quilt, so I thought I would use the technique on this quilt instead.
I am going to quilt the bargello itself first and then individually quilt the borders.

I'm really excited to be trying out two new techniques!
This post is linked up to




Happy sewing!

Work in Progress

This small bargello is a UFO from 2010.

The fabrics are batiks and are sooo gorgeous, they look much better in real life.

It was made out of  fat quarters and ended up too small for the wall it was intended for, so I'm going to add some borders to each side to make it wider.

To help it coordinate with the wall hangings that already hang in my alcoves, I'm going to make some square in a square blocks to run down both sides.

I did manage to finally finish my Poppy quilt yesterday, but it was too wet to take any photo's outside today, so I'll post some as soon as I can.

This post is linked to Freshly Pieced and Ester's blog.

Happy sewing!

Design Wall Monday

I managed to take some pictures of my progress on my Poppy quilt today, its been quite dark and damp recently in Wales so a little bit of sun between the showers was a nice change.

All the photo's are of the straight stitching on the fused applique.

 

Well that's it my progress so far, this post is linked to Judy's blog Patchworktimes.

Happy sewing!