Christmas in July

I recently showed a sneak peek of the gift I was making for Linda and Stephanie's Christmas in July swap. Well I'm pleased to say that it's all finished and the parcel has safely found its way to its new home on the other side of the world in Australia. My partner was Kriston
We had to make a christmas stocking or santa sack and I decided to make a santa sack/bag.
I used a stitchery pattern by Gail Pan and included it in the bag design, I didn't use a pattern for the bag. I've seen the stitchery used in a couple of the other gifts sent by other participents in the swap.

I also made an oragami christmas tree. And sent a few other little gifts which I failed to take photots of.

I'm pleased to say that I've heard from Kriston and she says that she loves the gifts. I've not recieved my parcel yet but more about that another time.

I have some finishing touches to do on my Seaside swap gift and then it's onto the next round of the Doll quilt swap on flickr.

Bye for now, Maria

There's a storm at sea brewing!

Do you ever get an idea in your head and even though you know you really shouldn't you just have to go with it? Well, that's what I did last week. I've started another quilt despite the fact that I have some swap items to finish, a project Linus quilt to complete and a recently started quilt that I've only made four blocks for.
A friend recently borrowed this book and made a gorgeous quilt from it, I've had it for about ten years and haven't used it for a long time. Her quilt inspired me to make a quilt from the book too.

I was drawn to the idea that from Storm At Sea blocks it is possible to get a circular effect using only straight lines. I chose this quilt from the book and although I don't like the fabrics in this particular one I thought I'd like to use this pattern.

This black and white picture shows the effect of the circles more effectively.

I wanted to use some of my hand dyed fabrics but also needed to purchase some fabrics.I chose a rather bright, but in my opinion, beautiful batik for the stars and possibly for the border. So far I've made one block and cut out some more squares. I was too impatient to do all the cutting before I started on the sewing as I wanted to see what a block would look like. Not the most perfect points in the world but I'm not too worried. Eleven more to go now plus all the sashing. There's along way to go before I see how effective the circular illusion that I wish to create is going to be.

I just had to show my little seven year old boy's first go at sewing. They have been doing a project on pirates at school and made felt pirate parrot puppets which they designed themselves. I love the colours he's used and just look at those little legs!

Bye for now, Maria.

Autographs this way please!

Earlier in the year I was contacted by a journalist from a new UK sewing magazine. She asked whether I could answer some questions about my blog for a feature she was writing on sewing blogs.
The magazine is called "Sew" and low and behold I make an appearence in the second issue.

I'm in a feature called "Meet the Bloggers". The magazine states " They design, sew, and discover gorgeous things -and then write about them with wit, enthusiasm and stunning images. What's not to love?" I can't believe that I've been included in this description but no, I'm definately there.

If anyone has found their way here after seeing the feature in the magazine please do leave a comment to say "Hi".

I've started on my next quilt this week. It will be used as a throw for our living room. I'm not sure what the block is called but it's similar to a log cabin. I'm going for a scrappy look with each block being slightly different.

This is a sneak peek of the gift I'm making for the Christmas in July swap I'm participating in. I won't show much more incase my partner reads this.

I thought I'd show this picture of a poppy that self seeded in my garden. Unfortunately its beauty was fleeting as the flower only lasted a day but I'm glad to say this little buzzy bee seemed to enjoy visiting.

Bye for now, Maria.