sew love to sew

Unroll that Jelly Roll!

2012-01-13T17:26:00.001Z

I was lucky to recieve a Jelly Roll of Joel Dewbury's Heirloom line for Christmas. This is my first venture into the world of Jelly Rolls and as cutting is probably my least favourite part of quilt making, (apart from basting), I was excited to get started sewing with these lovely fabrics without a load of cutting first.

I recently bought Jelly Roll Quilts: The Perfect Guide to Making The Most Of The Latest Strip Rolls by Pam and Nicky Lintott and was waiting to get my hands on a jelly roll so I could have a go at making one of the quilts from the book. The book uses Moda Jelly Rolls which consist of 40 strips and mine had 30 so I had to add a few of my own fabrics.
Before I could start I had to take the big step of opening the perfectly formed roll of fabric candy which wasn't easy! It was great to see the fabrics all layed out though.

Hopefully soon I'll show you my progress with the quilt.......I have however been sidetracked with another quilt that needs finishing. As the saying goes variety is the spice of life.
I just wanted to say "Hi" to Ruby if you read this, I've been told that you do!
Maria .

Christmas Canasta quilt complete.

2011-12-28T16:59:00.000Z

Hi there. I hope you had a great Christmas. We spent time at my parent's house and my brother was home from the U.S, there was lots of eating and relaxing which was great. I was in need of a few days rest. I'm not back at work for another week so there should be time for some sewing.

I made my brother a quilt for Christmas and I didn't finish it until 23.45 on Friday, I needed to get it done by Christmas Eve and just managed to get it done with 15mins to spare. Many thanks go to my husband who took over cooking duties for the last week while I worked on getting it finished. Note to self, start a project like this with more time to spare another time.

I would highly recommend the pattern which was the Natural Canasta Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman from oh Franson!
I did make a few mistakes which were frustrating but that was more down to me rather than the pattern.

Sorry about the photo quality, they were taken in a hurry on a phone.
I used fabric from a variety of ranges. I didn't realise until I started this quilt that there is a severe lack of fabric ranges out there for men. It took ages tracking down appropriate fabrics but I'm pleased with how this quilt turned out.

The original quilt is quilted in an all over free motion design. I wanted a more geometric look so quilted about a quarter of an inch around the seam line of some of the squares.
After spending so many hours together I've had to wave goodbye to the quilt as today it's off to it's new home at my brother's apartment in NYC.

Happy New Year!

Maria x
I've linked this post to Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day. The button is over on my side bar. I can't work out how to put it here. Any help with this would be appreciated!
Tuesday 3rd Jan: Also linked to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, button on side bar.
Friday 6th Jan. Now linking to Amylouwho's Sew and Tell Friday. Again, button on side bar.

A finish on Friday.

2011-12-02T12:45:00.001Z

The cushion I made for the Duo QAL on flickr is finished. Hurray! The block is a concentric square design which was quick and easy to make.

I tried some new to me quilting patterns which include feather quilting, clam shell and pebble quilting. The hand quilting is in a variagated perle thread.

The cushion has an envelope closure on the reverse and the back is quilted which helps to make it nice and squishy. It's great how reading craft blogs shows you new ways of doing things. A revelation to me was binding the edges as you would a quilt, I can't remember which blogs I read it on but thanks to whoever you are. It saves making a piped edging , I love it.

I made the cushion to match the quilt I made for Lily's Quilts Dead Simple QAL. I love the autumnal colours.

Here it is with the back of the quilt.

Now onwards and upwards. I decided, perhaps rather too late to Christmas to make a quilt as a Christmas gift for a member of my family. The fabrics are washed and ironed ready and I've decided on the design which I've designed myself but I'm nervous to cut into the fabrics and get going in case my design doesn't work...............I'll show my progress soon.

I'm linking this post to Amylouwho's sew and tell Friday, her button is in my side bar if you fancy popping over to see what others have been up to.

Also linking to Crazymomquilts Finish it up Friday.
Now also linking to Fabric Tuesday over at Quiltstory.

November Rainbow Quilt

2011-11-21T13:36:00.001Z

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, the colours of the rainbow. The idea behind this quilt top was to make a rainbow quilt starting with red blocks at the top and graduating the colours down to violet at the bottom with no defined point where each colour changes.

I'm pleased with how it turned out especially as the fabrics were not bought specifically for the design.
Fabrics used were a couple of charm packs by Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler and fabrics from my scrap bag. The background is made from various shades of plain greens left over from other projects.

The blocks are Windmill blocks made from half square triangles. I'll definately be using half square triangles again, they are so quick and easy to make.

The photo I took of the whole quilt laying on the floor looked terrible so you'll have to imagine how it looks from these two photos. Unfortunately there are no quilt top holder upers here today to help!

I've linked this post to Fabric Tuesday on the Quilt Story Blog, their button is over on my side bar if you want to pay a visit.
Now to decide on the quilting. Any suggestions on how to quilt it will be gratefuly recieved.
Maria.

A finished quilt

2011-11-12T15:04:00.001Z

Last night I finished sewing down the binding on my Lily's Quilts Dead Simple QAL. My original post about this QAL can be seen here.
I'm pleased with how it turned out apart from the placement of some of the squares in the final layout. I won't point out which ones though. I layed out the squares and labeled them but still managed to get them muddled up.

I wanted this quilt to be puffy and cosy so used a polyester wadding but chose a cheap one which I won't be doing again in a hurry as it wasn't great to quilt with.

I made a pieced back with some scraps from this quilt and some Kaffe Fassett prints which I recently bought. The quilting can be seen better on this shot.

The binding is a Mark Lipinski design print which I bought at half price! at my local quilt shop. I was so pleased to find a binding fabric in the sale section which was just right.

I've seen some gorgeous mini quilts on blogs lately and really fancy a go at some mini quilt making....as usual there are a few finishes to see too first. Some discipline is needed round here at the moment.

Maria x
P.S I'm linking this quilt to Fabric Tuesday on the lovely Quilt Story blog. Click on the link in my sidebar to see what other quilters have been upto.

Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2011, My Entry.

2011-10-30T14:01:00.000Z

I decided it would be fun to enter a quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival which is generously hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.

I've shown the progress of this quilt before but apart from sewing in a few threads it's now finished. The quilt was started way back in 2008 when I decided to make a quilt in the style of Kaffe Fassett, I borrowed a couple of his books from the library for inspiration and chose this one. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the book, the quilt was called the Postcard Quilt and if my memory serves me correctly it was inspired by a quilt in London's Victoria and Albert museum. It was made by Liza Prior Lucy and is a medallion quilt.

Image taken from the book, sorry about poor quality.

This quilt was made using templates which I didn't fancy so I adapted the design to use rotary cut fabric. My quilt isn't an exact copy of the one in the book, I just used Kaffe's as inspiration.

The quilt required lots of different fabrics, I bought a few but many were scraps and the purple inner border fabric was retreived from a friends rubbish bin!

This was the first time I had attempted such a large quilt and it spent long periods of time lonely and forgotten in a cupboard until the urge would strike to work on it again.

I'm proud to say that I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine. When I started the quilting it felt like a very daunting prospect, trying to wrestle such a large, heavy quilt through the machine was quite a struggle at times. I soon realised it was best to concentrate on a small area at a time and try not to look at the rest of what needed to be done .

After a while of quilt photography, which wasn't easy on a dull breezy day, some quilt photography hysteria set in!

Thanks to husband and ten year old son for help with taking the photos.

Thanks also go to Amy for hosting the quilt festival, I was planning on visiting and commenting on the blogs of all the other entrents but as the number of entries now stands at 345 I don't think I'll quite manage it, but I'll visit as many as I can.

Maria.

Duo and Bloggers BOM Quilt -A-Long.

2011-10-25T12:41:00.000+01:00

A couple of finished quilt along blocks to show today.
First up is the block I've made for the Duo QAL run by Rachel of Contented and Rhonda of Quilter in the Gap. The idea is to make a quilt using a concentric squares pattern on which to practice hand and machine quilting. I decided to make one large block to make a cushion to go with the quilt I'm making for the Lily's Quilts Dead Simple Quilt QAL.
Although I say it myself I think I'm not bad at twirly wirly free machine quilting but would like to have a go at some other free motion designs so this block will be my guinea pig block.

I included the light green solid fabric as a background for hand quilting which I plan to do in variagated orange perle thread.

My second block was made for the Blogger Block of the Month QAL run by Jackie of Canton Village
Quilt Works. Each month block instructions are posted on the blogs of Jackie's merry band of helpers, Sherry at A Quilting Life was the first to go, here is the block I came up with using her instructions. Just noticed some of the points are not too great!

Thanks go to Sherri and Jackie. The next block is up today so I'm off the Jackie's blog to find out where to go for the instructions. By the way there is a flickr group for the QAL here.
Bye for now, Maria.

Cushion number four.

2011-10-20T11:16:00.000+01:00

This is the last of my quartet of cushions. It's a very simple design of pieced strips set out in parallel vertical lines.
That's it for now until I find the camera charger to show what else I've been upto.

Maria

Cushion number three.

2011-10-06T17:38:00.000+01:00

I've shown two of my recent quartet of cushions. Today it's time for number three.
It was inspired by two images I found on flickr, this one and this one.

Take a look at the fabulous green walls in the background of the two flickr images I've linked too. They set off the cushions much more effectively than my dining room carpet!
Bye for now, Maria x

Picking a Palette

2011-10-03T17:04:00.000+01:00

Lynne at Lily's Quilts posed the question "Interested in a dead simple QAL?" Well, yes I thought actually I am. The idea is to make a simple, quick easy quilt where the interesting thing is the palette rather than the pattern which is a squares design. Lynne suggests that you pick a colour palette perhaps from a site such as design seeds, or you make your own palette, and then make the quilt using your chosen palette.
I've never seen a site like design seeds before, I'd recommend a look, it's fabulous if you love colour.

I've gone about it slightly differently. I found that I didn't have the fabrics for whichever palette I picked on design seeds, and I'm trying to use fabrics I already have not buy new ones! Whilst rummaging through my fabrics I found a half metre of an Amy Butler fabric from the Love range which has a beautiful palette of colours. Why come up with my own palette when Amy's already done the work?!

Luckily I found fabrics in my stash which matched the palette and I'm really pleased with how they look. Left to my own devices I wouldn't have put this selection together.

I've decided against the pink as although there is a small amount in the pattern I don't like it with the other fabrics.
I've been too impatient to wait for the tutorial on Lily's quilts so I've jumped the gun and started sewing my 5" inch squares together.

Bye for now, Maria.

String Quilt Cushion.

2011-09-29T17:53:00.001+01:00

Today it's time for cushion number two. I love this one. Its from this great tutorial by Ashley at Film In The Fridge. Like the last one it's great for using up scraps.

String Quilt Cushion.

Maria.

Cushion (or pillow) number one.

2011-09-27T09:17:00.000+01:00

Pillow or cushion? I suppose it depends on which side of the Atlantic you live but to me it's a cushion. Anyway, we could do with a new dining table and chairs but as the table is used for homework, as an occasional sewing table etc and I would be paranoid about damaging a new one we gave our old set some TLC and I made some new seat cushions.
I fancied trying some new patchwork techniques and thought it would be fun to make each one different.
The first is the Mod Mosaic Pillow from a tutorial by Oh Fransson! This is a great, fun method for using scraps and I would recommend giving it a go.


Mod Mosaic Pillow, design by Oh, Fransson!

It's hard to see the quilting properly but I quilted it in random free machined square and rectangle spirals.

Back soon with another of my new cushions.
Maria x

Still here.

2011-09-25T12:44:00.000+01:00

It's been over a year since I wrote a post on my blog. I felt that I was taking too much of my time fiddling round trying to take great photos and deciding what to write etc. Well inspiration has struck and I've decided to have another go. It doesn't matter if my photos aren't perfect or what I write isn't perfect or witty. It's not a competition between blogs, just a bit of fun.
I've still been blog reading and apologise for not commenting either.

Well here goes............................
Many moons ago I showed the progress of a quilt I called my "Kaffe Fassett Quilt". It was inspired by a quilt from one of his wonderful books but I can't remember which book and it has long since been returned to the library.
Well after about three years it is finished apart from hand sewing the back of a small piece of binding and tying in some ends.

A long time ago I also showed the progress of a storm at sea quilt. Well, that fella's now on the wall. Unfashionably it's made from batiks but I love it. I love how the blocks have a circular effect even though they are all straight lines. I quilted lots of circles which add to the effect.


It's not really wider at the top then the bottom!

Ok, that's it for now. Hopefully back soon with cushions!

Maria.

Thank You.

2010-06-11T17:01:00.002+01:00

My Mum taught me that you should always say " thank you" for a gift. Well a few months ago I was very lucky to win (another) wonderful give-away and although I said thank you to the gift giver at the time I very naughtily haven't thanked her here yet.
So here goes............................ many, many, many thanks to the lovely Julia who runs the on-line fabric shop Gone to Earth for a very beautiful give-away prize. I won these fat quaters from the beautiful Nicey Jane range by Heather Bailey. I even got to choose which fabrics from the range I wanted.

I have a plan of what I want to make with the fabrics which involves another give-away gift I recently won. I'll leave it as a mystery for now and show you if it turns out ok.

We recently had a wonderful week long holiday staying in the lovely little town of Bakewell in the Derbyshire Peak District. My husband took this early morning picture of the river Wye which runs through the town.

We visited Chatsworth House which was used in the 2005 big screen version of Jane Austen's book Pride and Prejudice as the setting for Pemberley, the fictional home of Mr Darcy. Many people believe that Chatsworth was Austen's influence for Pemberley. Austen's description does sound like this is likely, and even if it is incorrect it's fun to imagine that you are at Pemberley when visiting Chatsworth.

"It was a large, handsome, stone building standing well on
rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; and in front,
a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but
without any artificial appearance." (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

Here's a better view
of the river.

And finally, I hope this year my garden provides an abundent supply of cut flowers for the house, this may be a little optimistic but this little bouquet is a good start.

Bye for now, Maria.

In an English country garden.

2010-06-07T14:08:00.001+01:00

I'm still here! I can't believe how long it is since I last posted. I seem to have fallen off the blogging and sewing wagon. My google reader sits at 466 posts to be read and my poor sewing machine must feel as though I've fallen out of love with it. There's been a bit of sewing going on, a few summer tops which have been waiting to be finished for a few weeks and this bag for my Mum which I'm pleased to say has had an outing with the the pink and green outfit which it was made to accompany. The photo of the bag is up there as couldn't get it down here where I want it to be.

I've been busy in the garden and am delighted with the little sitting area we started last year. I can't believe the change in just over a year.
It's gone from this:

To this:

I'm looking forward to seeing how it will change again in the next few weeks as the lavenders burst into a haze of purple and the cosmos and zinnias which I've grown from seed hopefully flower.

Bye for now and if there's still anyone out there who reads this please say 'Hi'.
Maria x

Spring sewing.

2010-03-26T14:38:00.001Z

As spring has officially started and easter is very near I thought I'd better get on with my easter/spring makes. A few weeks ago I showed you Lucie the Goosie and Harriet Hare and I've now made them a friend each, some fabric eggs and I've nearly finished a table runner. I haven't taken any photos of the other items but here is the table runner in progress.

Despite the fact that I have other items to finish I got an idea for another project into my head, and me being me I couldn't wait to start. Any ideas what it's going to be?

I was reading Karol-Ann's blog the other day and saw the gorgeous little coin purses she's been making and couldn't resist buying one from her etsy shop. Go and take a look, I'm sure she'd love to sell some more, they even smell lovely too. Here's my new purse.

That's it for now, I've got some ~~sewing~~ ironing to do before school pick-up.
Bye for now, Maria.

Complete...

2010-03-21T10:21:00.002Z

I'm pleased to say that at long last I've finished my wonky log cabin quilt. It was originally inspired by the Old Red Barn Co. Quilt along on flickr. The tutorial was by John from the Quilt Dad blog.

Ta-da.

I had loads of scaps left which I didn't want to waste so I pieced the back too.

It's constructed in rows. I started with the row of patterned squares and white rectangles in the middle and then I just worked my way outwards either side of this row until it reached the right size. The pattern but not the fabrics is a mirror image. I made the design up as I went along, working with what fabrics were left as the pile of scraps got smaller and smaller.
I'm so pleased to have finished it. I dread to think how many hours went into piecing both sides and doing all the quilting.
Now onto finishing some more projects...............

Maria.

At long last.

2010-03-16T22:08:00.002Z

I thought this time would never come. My wonky log cabin quilt is only lap size but the quilting seemed to go on forever. Today I sewed the binding on and yes I know it's not basted or pinned on first but this method works for me. Now to hand sew the binding to the back.

Bye for now, Maria.

Birds in the sunshine.

2010-03-01T11:10:00.002Z

Yesterday I finished my birdies wall hanging.
I thought the birdies would like to bask in the sunlight so I quilted them some sunshine.

Last year at the Knitting and Stitching show in London I noticed that many of the pieces had been mounted on board and decided to try this rather than binding the quilt. This required the purchase of a staple gun and the help of a husband but it was fairly easy and I'm pleased with the result.

I've been the lucky winner of another give-away, this one was on Trends and Traditions which is the inspirational blog of the fabric and pattern designer Heather Mulder-Peterson. I won her new book "Shams with Style" which she has written with her mother Deb Mulder. Heather very kindly included a copy of her new bag pattern "The Bella Bag". I was amazed to win as there were four books to be one and 334 entries! I'm looking forward to making some pillow covers from the book and a new bag for the summer.

At last it's a beautiful day here, it feels like spring is begining to arrive. We have perfect blue sky and as I was hanging the washing outside for the first time this year I was almost deafened by the sound of birds singing. I think they were enjoying the sunshine like the birds on my quilt.

Bye for now, Maria.

Meet Lucie the Goosie and Harriet the Hare...

2010-02-23T10:54:00.001Z

Two new members of the family have moved in with us. I'm pleased to introduce Lucie the Goosie and Harriet the hare.

Apart from Christmas I don't usually decorate according to the seasons, but this year I decided I would like an easter/springtime display. I found a beautiful book called Crafting Springtime Gifts by Tonne Finnanger and couldn't resist the cute bunnies, hares, geese and chickens inside.

Harriet and Lucie weren't very happy about sharing the limelight so here they are on their own.

The book shows a flock of geese stuck all together in a basket so I think I'll make some friends for Lucie and do the same. There are also some other beautiful ideas in the book which I'm planning to make for an easter display.

Now an apology. Before Christmas I was lucky to win one of the prizes in a give-away by the very generous Simone and it's taken me until now to thank her for it on my blog. I did thank her personally though.
I won this pattern for a beautiful Melly and Me bag and some fabric. One I've finished a couple of works in progress and get going with the bag.

Many thanks Simone.

Bye for now, Maria.

Twirly wirly quilting.

2010-02-11T10:05:00.001Z

Hi. Today I thought I'd show what I've been working on over the last few days.
Firstly I've been going round and round with what I call twirly quilting on my wonky log cabin quilt. If you look closely you may spot some little flowers too. I'm desperate to finish it and it seems to be going on forever but I'm over half way there now.

I received the book Material Obsession for christmas and loved a really cute quilt in it which has appliqued birds, leaves and flowers. I didn't think I could face all the applique required to do the whole quilt so decided to do a smaller version just using one section of it. I'm now hand quilting it which I'm enjoying. I'm thinking of mounting it on a board rather than binding it for a change.

I would normally have rejected this picture due to the lighting but I rather like it. I think the birdies would rather like the sunshine and shade.
Must dash, I'm off to a body combat class at the gym!!
Bye for now, Maria.

Pebbles.

2010-02-06T18:33:00.002Z

Hi. I've been doing bits and pieces of various projects lately and have only managed to finish one item so far this year. I really want to finish my wonky log cabin quilt which I'm in the process of quilting but it seems to be taking ages. I've decided to try and do at least an hour a day until it's done (starting from tomorrow).

The piece of work that I finished is part of a project which my sewing group have started. There are 7 of us, we have chosen 7 colours, we have each dyed 7 pieces of cotton which are all 7" square, we will then all produce a piece of work using the same technique and subject. They will then all be displayed together as one piece of work. Not sure if that is clear but it should all make sense eventually.
I dyed my fabric purple and started with this colour first. The first subject we chose were pebbles and the technique was machine embroidery. This is what I came up with.

It was very interesting to see what different interpretations we came up with.
We have now swapped colours and the next subject is water using sheers and metallics. My colour is yellow.
That should be fun!
Bye for now, Maria

Quilt blocks two by two.

2010-01-12T21:24:00.001Z

Hi. Yet again it's been ages since I posted here. I had intended on posting before Christmas and I did get as far as starting to write a draft which I didn't finish. So instead of wasting it, here it is in all its unfinished glory.

I wanted to fit in a final post (remember it's now January 12th) before Christmas, and thanks to a falling of the cold white stuff I've been able to include some seasonal looking photos. We don't see this much snow here very often. I've not been able to get the song "Walking in a winter wonderland" out of my head!
There's a heath and golf course in walking distance from our house but there's not been much golfing going on over the last few days, it's been replaced with lots of sledging. Luckily my attempts weren't caught on camera as the first two ended up with me falling off the sledge and ending up amongst the bushes . My son very sweetly said "she is just a beginner". I soon got the hang of it though.

This tree is in our front garden and it looks beautiful with it's red berries covered with snow.

So there you go, that's what it looked like around here before Christmas and we haven't got rid of the snow yet, in fact we've had even more. As the old ryhme says "Rain, Rain go away, come again another day", that's the way I feel about the white stuff but it can wait until next year before visiting again.

Onto my main reason for writing a blog, SEWING.
I was recently invited to join a quilting bee called Bee Europa. We are divided into two groups of 12 quilters, the Honey Bees and the Bumble Bees, I'm in the later. I rather like the idea of being a buzzy bumble bee!
Tacha is organising the bee and volunteered to go first. She is planning to make her two little daughters quilts from the blocks. She gave suggestions for the type of blocks she would like and these are the two blocks I came up with from her fabrics...

I enjoyed working with someone elses choice of colour palette and fabrics. I use a lot of blue, green and pink but it made a change to team the blues with oranges and browns. There are some really cute fabrics amongst Tacha's selection.
My month for sending out fabrics is May and I'm thinking of going for a Christmas theme, I hope the others won't mind sewing with christmas fabrics in the spring!

I've also made two quilt blocks for Simone who is making charity quilts. She sent fabrics and block instructions to a group of volunteers from across the globe, we then add our own choice of fabrics, complete the blocks and send them back to her in Holland where she will make two quilts for a boy and a girl. Here are my blocks.

(oops, out of focus photo).

I'm planning to start a new quilt tomorrow even though I have three others to finish but you know how it is sometimes you can't resist.

By for now, Maria.

This "n" That.

2009-12-01T10:39:00.002Z

Hi there, during the last week I've been working on a few items that need finishing. I decided to make a pieced back for my wonky log cabin quilt using the many scraps I had left over plus some fabric that just needs using up. It's taking ages to put together as there are many small pieces, I could probably have finished it by now if I'd not pieced the back but it's nearly done now. I'll show a picture when it's completed.

I showed this christmas mini quilt last year when I started it and surprise, surprise it's not finished yet, I'm doing hand work on it now and hope to get it done for this christmas.

My "Summer pools" quilt has finally made it onto the wall. Sorry about the poor photo.

I tried a new craft the other day inspired by this wonderful post by Lucy at Attic24. It's called decopatch and involves tearing up pieces of paper and glueing them to an MDF frame. I bought mine from here.

I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out, I much prefer Lucy's though. They were sold out of the style of letters she used and I was too impatient to wait for more. It was fun to do and I think I may do another one which spells "home".

Bye for now, Maria.

Colour Therapy.

2009-11-24T11:25:00.002Z

One of the main reasons I love to sew is that it gives me the oppurtunity to play with bright, colourful, cheerful fabrics. We're having a very dull, dreary November and even a quick glance at my unfinished quilt laying over a chair brightens my day and immediately makes think of sunshine and summer.

Last night when it was dark and cold outside I went into my sewing room and looked at my other bright quilt laying on the work table and felt so happy that I have quilting and fabric in my life. Maybe all us lovers of bright, colourful, quilty gorgeousness should start a new movement. I vote that we all make some bright, happy quilt blocks and hand them out to people in the streets to bring some sunshine into their days too!!

I've been plodding on with quilting the quilt I showed in my last post. It's getting slightly less frustrating but I'm still having trouble keeping the stitches the same length and also with manouvering the weight of quilt. Here's some of my progress so far.

Next I need to finish the blue triangles and then its onto the pink diamonds, just got to decide what pattern to try in the diamonds.

Last week I was very lucky to win a give-away by Rachel of Contended. Look at the lovely pressies she sent.

Don't you just love that cute owl fabric Rachel made the zippy bag from? The little heart now hangs from a cupboard door in my sewing room and I wore the flower brooch at my sewing group and it received lots of compliments. Rachel also sent these pretty cards.

There were also some jelly beans and bath bombs but they're both long gone! Many thanks for the generous gifts Rachel.

Well I better go and get on with some quilting, er sorry, housework now!

Bye for now, Maria.

Quilting frustration!

2009-11-17T14:26:00.001Z

Hi there, it's been a very long time since I've posted on my blog. There's no particular reason other than I've not had much new sewing wise to show. I've still been blog reading and I hope there is someone out there who hasn't forgoten me and may pop by to say "hi".

I've been working on a wonky log cabin quilt from a tutorial by John from Quiltdad who was the guest tutor (if that's the correct term) on the Old Red Barn Co. Quilt Along on fickr.
I used fabrics that I already had and wanted to use up. I recently did a direct fabric swap for some Park Slope strips with Viv from Highway cottage
and they went really well with the fabrics I was using so I added those too.
Here's some photos of the completed quilt top. I'm piecing the back too in a random make it up as you go along, let's use up some of the scraps style.

This is where I've spent some of my time this morning getting very annoyed and frustrated (you should see how hard I hit the key board when I wrote that).

I've been quilting a large double bed size quilt top, which I started making nearly two years ago, and my frustration is not the fault of my lovely new Bernina but down to the fact that the quilt is just too big to manouvre when free machine quilting. I'm not happy with how the quilting is looking but I'm just going to have to live with it.

Bye for now, Maria.

Mini-Quilt finish.

2009-09-09T23:47:00.001+01:00

I've finished my quilt for the flickr Doll quilt swap an flickr and It's now in the mail. Have a look here for some photos of what other members of the swap have been upto. There's some beautiful work.

I showed a picture of my quilt in my last post when it was in the nearly finished stage. I'm pleased with how it turned out. The pattern for the applique flower is from a book called "Making scrap Quilts to use it up" by Lynne Edwards. She is a local author (Suffolk, UK) who was recently awarded the MBE for her work as a quilter and author. My mother-in-law remembers her when she first started patchwork. She used to sit on a bench hand stitching hexegans whilst my husband (when he was a child!) and her children played in the village play area.
The quilt in the book uses lots of the flowers, I'm afraid my patients only stretches to one though. I just used the pattern for the applique and designed the rest of the mini-quilt myself.

Bye for now, Maria

Sewing and some culture.

2009-09-06T22:25:00.002+01:00

At last some sewing to show. I've nearly finished my quilt for the doll quilt swap over on flickr.
I've hand appliqued a flower with each petal made from a different fabric and I'm in the process of hand quilting around each petal. I've used a fairly thick embroidery thread rather than a standard hand quilting thread. In the centre of the flower I've embroidered some french nots but I think it needs a few more.
The rest of the quilt will be machine quilted. Hopefully this will be one of the last quilts I machine quilt on my trusty old Janome as I'm off to order a new Bernina tomorrow. I'm so excited!

Months ago I explained that we'd started decorating our living room. Well it's been quite a big job and I'm not sure whether we started it at the best time as my husband has been very busy over the summer and progress has been slow. We need new cushion covers to go with the new decor and I've made the first one. It's in a log cabin design and uses a different fabric for each log. I'm pleased that I managed to insert a zip in the back and piped the edges with piping I covered myself. I plan to use the same fabrics for the next three but they'll all use a different patchwork design.

And now from some culture!
In my last post I showed a photograph of a lighthouse I took from a beach in Cornwall near St.Ives. I explained that I couldn't remember the name of the beach, well Carolyn of Love Stitching Red lives in St.Ives and recognised it. She kindly informed me that the beach is called Godrevy and she told me that it's the lighthouse that the major twentieth century author Virginia Woolf writes about in her novel "To The Lighthouse" (first published 1927). I've now learned that Woolf spent time as a child at Talland House which overlooks St.Ives bay and Godrevy lighthouse. Although it is the inspiration for the book the lighthouse in the book is set in Scotland. The house has now been turned into luxury holiday apartments.
I bought a copy of the book today but I must admit that it's not the kind of book I normally read, I've read a review that states that many readers find the novel strange and difficult but I'll see how it goes.

When I first saw the book cover I was somewhat disappointed as although the image was beautiful it appeared to be modern. It was in fact taken in 1913 by Lieutenant Colonel Mervyn O'Gorman and is called "Christina walking on the beach", Christina was his daughter and two more of his photos of her can be seen here and here. The photos are autochromes which were the first practicable colour photographs and to me they have a beautiful dream like quality and bring the past to life more than black and white photos.
Sorry about my photos, the light was poor.
Bye for now, Maria

Cornwall.

2009-09-03T10:42:00.002+01:00

Thought I would show a few pics of our recent trip to Cornwall. We stayed in Newquay, I was rather worried about staying there as lots of youngsters go there for surfing and lots of partying but we found it to be OK.

We stayed in this lovely house nestled into the cliffs overlooking Newquay bay.

Here it is from one of the beaches. You can see some fishing boats going into the little harbour.

This little chap and his (or her) friends live in the harbour and follow the fishing boats after food.

The weather was mixed but mostly dry. A certain little boy spent lots fun time body boarding. I'm afraid his Mummy was a wimp and didn't venture into the sea at all! It was too cold for me.

I can't remember what this beach was called but it had a beautiful view of a light house which sat on rocks out in the sea.

We visited St.Ives which we loved. Lots of lovely galleries and individual shops. We went on holiday with friends so while the husbands and children were on the beach myself and my friend had a great time shopping!

We had a very enjoyable day at the Eden project. It's amazing to think there's a rainforest in one of the domes complete with a waterfall.

They have enormous bees in this part of Cornwall!

I have been doing some sewing but haven't taken any photos yet, I'll be back soon to show what I've been upto.
Bye for now, Maria.

Lucky old me.

2009-08-24T21:03:00.001+01:00

Hi All. We've just returned from a week away in beautiful Cornwall so I'm refreshed and ready to start sewing again. As I mentioned in my last post I received a fabulous package of goodies from my Christmas in July swap partner Kelly. She sent lots of beautiful gifts, here they all are.

We had to make a Christmas stocking or santa sack. Kelly made this lovely, huge bag.

This Santa has been appliqued onto the bag with blanket stitch.

I love these jingle bells sewn onto prairie points.

Kelly also made this beautiful wall hanging.

I love the hanger, it's so pretty.

This is a shopping bag. What a great saying.

Look at this selection of delights. A magazine, Australian fabric, sewing theme badges and a pretty address book.

I even received some pretty jewellry which I've had the pleasure of wearing and a cute little bag which I used to take my jewellry on holiday in.

Just look at these cute little chaps, they'll look great on our christmas tree.

Thanks very much kelly, you sent a very generous, beautiful parcel.

Due to circumstances I received two wonderful parcels in this swap from Stephanie and Kelly and I've therefore decided to do a give-away which will be open just to other membersof the Christmas in July swap. As I've received so much I thought it would share things out a bit. I'm not giving away anything that Stephanie or Kelly sent though, they're all mine! I'll come up with a parcel of goodies, not sure what yet though. I'll post about it when I get my act together.

Bye for now, Maria.

Swap, Swap, Swapping.

2009-08-12T12:33:00.005+01:00

Lots of pictures today all swap related. I recently took part in a seaside swap organised by Rachel. My partner was Viv from New Zealand. I made her this mini-quilt.

Slightly wonky stitching on the beach hut doors but I'm sure Viv doesn't mind.
Viv sent me a very New Zealand themed parcel which I love. It's great to be sent something personal to the area where the sender lives. I'm sure there are many seaside items that are mass produced and sold all over the world. I told Viv the story of when I bought a handbag in a small boutique in France last year thinking it would be different to what other people at home had but I've seen bags exactly the same on our local market and loads of people with them in the town.

Anyway, here is the super parcel that Viv sent. I love the New Zealand Paua shell, it is beautiful how it shimmers in the light. There's too much to mention each gift but here they all are. Thanks a lot viv.

Another swap I recently took part in was Linda and Stephanie's Christmas in July swap. I recently showed what I sent my partner. Well unfortunately it has turned out that the lady who was partnered to send me a parcel has been ill and we thought that she was no longer taking part, Stephanie kindly stepped in and sent me a beautiful parcel.

I gasped when this beautiful bag full of gifts popped out of the box.

Here's the bag in all its polka dot glory.

Isn't this fab? It's a christmasy craft apron. Don't you just love the fabric and the way Stephanie has fussy cut the fabrics on the pockets? Unfortunately I haven't got all the pockets in the photo.

Stephanie also sent some t-cloths, recipe cards, polka dot note cards, a needle case, a super soft flannel pillow case and a knitted dishcloth. Many thanks Stephanie, you are very kind.

We have since heard from my partner and she has sent a parcel too so it looks like I'm going to be the lucky recipient of two parcels!

I haven't been very productive with my sewing over the last week but I've started my quilt for the Doll Quilt 7 swap on flickr so I better get going with that.
Bye for now, Maria.

Update: I have just received a wonderful parcel from my original Christmas in July swap partner Kelly, I will do a post about it soon.

Paying our respects in France.

2009-08-03T16:46:00.004+01:00

Yesterday we returned from a brief trip across the Channel to France. The reason for our trip was to visit the grave of my great uncle who died, aged 21, in 1918 during the first world war. He was the eldest of six children who came from Hunstanton, a small coastal town in North Norfolk , England and was the brother of my late grandmother.
He was (I think) a motorcycle despatch rider from the Royal Engineers regiment and he was sent to a camp to deliver mail or messages. As it was getting late he was told to stay at the camp overnight before returning in the morning, but tragically his tent received a direct hit and he was killed.

The cemetery is just outside the town of Hazebrouk in northern France. It was used chiefly by field ambulances and fighting units of the 29th division from April to August 1918 for the burial of Commonwealth casulaties sustained during the German offensive. There are 226 first World War burials in the cemetery.

The cemetry is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Comission and we assume a local gardener maintains the land. We were hugely impressed by how beautifully kept it is. There are red roses and other plants growing in front of and between the graves and the grass is neat and manicured. It is wonderful that the final resting place of these young men, who appeared to be mostly in their 20's, is kept so lovingly and respectfully over 90 years after the war in which they died ended.The picture below shows the headstones from behind and doesn't show the planting to full effect.

The image below shows the headstone of my great uncle Charles Robert Nelson Crown. We were unaware that the the headstone was carved with the crest of his regiment (as were all the headstones) and a personal inscription which we believe his parents must have chosen. I had imagined something far more simple.

Charlie's parents or siblings never had the opportunity to visit his grave so I feel proud that three generations of his family - my dad, myself and my son - have now visited and paid our respects. His parents died in the 1950's and they never had the oppurtunity to visit their son's grave. To them France would have seemed so far away but to us it is just a few hours away. We drove to the Channel tunnel which is about 2 hours, drove onto the train and arrived in France after about 30mins and the cemetery was about another 30 minute drive. I wonder what my great grandmother and grandfather would have thought if they had been told that one day in the not too distant future you could drive onto a train that would take you under the sea to France.

Sadly my grandparents also lost their youngest son Sydney but this time during the second world war. He died age 27 as a POW whilst building the Burma-Siam railway and his grave is in the Chungkai War Cemetery Thialand. Maybe one day we be able to visit his grave too.

When we returned from our trip I stole a few minutes to look at a few blogs and was amazed by the co-incidence of the post by my seaside swap partner Viv. She wrote about an exhibition she had attended in New Zealand where she lives which was about the battle for Passchendaele, Belguim by New Zealand soldiers in 1918 during WW1.

Until next time, Maria.

Christmas in July

2009-07-28T13:37:00.002+01:00

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!

2009-07-13T19:59:00.003+01:00

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!

2009-07-04T19:20:00.001+01:00

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.

Summer pools quilt.

2009-06-25T12:38:00.003+01:00

I've finally finished what was previously known as my dining room quilt, I've decided to re-named it Summer Pools. I'm pleased with the summery, fresh, bright look.

The quilt won't be going on the wall for a while due to the dust from decorating our living room.
Now this is finished I can start by next quilt without feeling guilty!

Bye for now, Maria.

Bright and Cheerful.

2009-06-22T11:14:00.001+01:00

I've titled this post "Bright and Cheeful" but infact I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself today as I've come down with a cold. You know the type of thing I mean, runny nose, blocked sinus's, sore throat. I've got no new sewing to show you as I've still not yet completed by dining room quilt. I'm making a pieced binding which is nearly done, so if I can summon up the energy I plan to finish it today and I can then sit down and hand sew the back of it on while watching Wimbledon which starts today. I'm hoping for a British win this year by Andy Murray.
So, to cheer myself up I'll show some pictures of some of my hand made stuff (which I've shown before) in bright, cheerful, stop feeling sorry for yourself colours.

This one is a Kaffe Fassett inspired quilt which still isn't finished.

Values quilt made from my many scraps.

I made this bag for myself last year from AmyButler fabrics and I'm pleased to say it's been well used.

Oh dear, another one that's not finished, this one's for Project Linus.

I hope all these bright colours have helped you have a bright and cheerful day.

Bye for now, Maria

Camper van bag.

2009-06-20T10:13:00.001+01:00

A friend's daughter is a huge fan of camper vans. I've made her this bag from Heather Ross's Camper Van fabric.

I've lined it in a Laura Ashley yellow gingham. I hope she likes it.

We have been having some problems with Internet Explorer 8 and in trying to work out what is wrong deleted the original publishing of this post along with to six comments. Thanks to those six commenters for leaving a comment. Has anybody else had problems with IE 8 and blogger?

Decorating.......

2009-06-14T21:22:00.000+01:00

Ever since we moved into this house over two years ago we've planned to re-decorate our living room and this weekend we started. It's quite a big job as there was a large brick fireplace to remove and all the paint needs to be scraped back to the plaster before re-painting.

They say you know that you're getting old when policemen look young but I suppose this must be true with tradesmen too!

There is a sewing related reason for telling you this - unfortunately the re-decorating means that I'll just HAVE to make a new quilted throw to match the new decor as my old one doesn't match and I'll need new cushions too. Oh dear me, it's such a shame!

I plan to use these fabrics for the throw as they co-ordinate with my dining room quilt and the dining room leads off from the living room.

Some were kindly sent to me from Kelli who was my partner in the recent doll quilt swap. I bought the pink ones from Julia's shop Gone To Earth where I received a fantastic, super quick service. I received the parcel less than 24hrs after ordering.

"But you haven't finished your last quilt yet" I hear you cry. I know but I can plan can't I?

Whilst on the subject of decorating I thought I'd mention that my brother (who now lives in America), and his wife had their beautiful home featured in the American magazine Better Homes and Gardens. They have done so much work on the place and have completely renovated it. We haven't visited yet but plan too in the next year or two.

I may be biased but I think it looks so stylish. They are both talented graphic designers so have a great eye for good design. Just realised I've missed a picture of the kitchen........will add it later.

Bye for now and hope to be back soon with some finished sewing, Maria.

Sewing Va Va Voom!

2009-06-12T19:26:00.005+01:00

At last I've started to quilt my "dining room" quilt. As I explained previously I lost my sewing va va voom for a while but it's on its way back - Hurrah. I was reading the hugely inspirational blog anyonecanquilt and was amused to see the line "For goodness sake, just sew woman!" in the header. Ah ha I thought, yes Maria, just do it and I did.

So, this is how far I've got. I decided to use straight line quilting with a different design in each block. The sashing has three parallel lines stitched with variagated embroidery thread. I think I like it but the jury is still out. I really wish my photos would look better when uploaded onto blogger.

I'd love to get it finished this weekend but I don't think I'll be able to sneak off for long enough!

I've come back home!

2009-06-07T22:28:00.009+01:00

Dear Blogger.com,
I'm really sorry that I decided to leave you but in the end it didn't work out in my new home at typepad so I've decided to come back. I hope you forgive me and take me back. x x

Still no new sewing to show. I just haven't felt the need to sew lately but I can feel it returning and am begining to get excited about my projects again.

We had a lovely day today at Minsmere bird reserve in Suffolk. UK readers will probably be familiar with the BBC t.v programme Spring Watch. The BBC hosted an event at the reserve today and the special guest was Chris Packham who is one of the presenters of the show. Chris is hugely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about British wildlife and is great on the show.

He was like the Pied Piper today with a crowd of people following him around. I sidled up to him and tried to look casual and not at all excited while my husband took a photo.

As you can see we are dressed in wet weather gear as the summer seems to have emigrated at the moment. You can't see him very well under that hat and I seem to have expanded in the awful coat.

My son had a great time pond dipping, it's amazing how small children love dipping nets in the water and peering in to see the tiny creatures they have caught.

The resevere is on the coast with areas of marshland where you can watch the wildlife from bird hides. We enjoyed watching a bird(s) called a Hobby which is a small falcon who is a summer visitor from tropical Africa.

I loved these flowers. I'm wondering if they are wild orchids.

These were very pretty too. Not sure what they are though.

Hopefully I'll have some sewing to show soon.

Bye for now, Maria.

A new home

2009-06-02T15:13:00.002+01:00

I'm trying out a new home so why not come and say "Hi" at http://www.sewlovetosew.typepad.com/

Hope to see you there, Love Maria.

Sewing.........what sewing?

2009-06-01T17:01:00.007+01:00

Despite the fact that I sew love to sew I haven't done any sewing for about ten days. I made a bag as a comission for a friend of my Mum's but forgot to take a photo of it.

The quilt I showed in my last post is ready for quilting and I can't wait to get it done but there seems to be an invisible wire keeping me away from my machine. I'm sure it will disapear soon as I have loads of things I want to make wizzing around in my head.

Last week I received my doll quilt swap from Kelli from Tasmania who has a lovely blog called Willowdale. The quilt is super cute and is only the second quilt that Kelli has made. She was really worried that I wouldnt like it but there was need to worry as I do, it's adorable. Kelli also bought me some fabulous fabrics which I have plans for but more of that another time.

Sorry about the photo, I think I've lightened it too much.

As I've not got much in the way of sewing to show I'll show you some pictures of our new sitting area in our garden where, as we are having glorious weather in England at the moment, I sat and ate my breakfast and lunch today.

A few months ago this part of the garden was full of junk but we've recently transformed it into a pretty place where I love to sit.

I'm really pleased with the colour we painted the shed. The fence behind could do with a lick of paint too............when we get round to it.
I decided to put some bunting around the shed. We keep my son's garden toys in it so he sees it as his shed. I had a string of really pretty pink bunting left over from when I used to make it to sell and I started to hang this up but he got really upset at having pink bunting up so I had to use blue 'boy's' bunting instead. I think the pink looked much better but never mind. I appear to be the only person who likes pink in this house.

Hopefully I'll have some sewing to show soon.
Bye for now, Maria.

Dining room quilt.

2009-05-16T14:32:00.012+01:00

I recently showed some fabric and blocks I was planning to make up into a wall hanging for my dining room, inspired by a tutorial on the wonderful Oh,Fransson!blog.
Before I had joined them into the quilt top a group of us from my sewing group met up for a session of fabric dying. The colours I chose went really well with the fabrics I was using for the quilt,

Here they are drying on the line.

Don't they just look fantastic ironed and piled up together?

Here they are with some of the quilt blocks.

I had planned to sash the blocks with a cream fabric and decided that the dyed fabrics would look great as a pieced inner border.

I'm not going to add an outer border but plan to make a pieced binding from the patterned fabrics.
Just got to decide how to quilt it now. Any suggestions?
Bye for now, Maria.

The birdies have landed!

2009-05-07T14:04:00.005+01:00

Sorry to bore regular readers with this little quilt again. The little birdies have flown away and have now landed in their new home. Here they are with me just before they flew.

And here they are after they flew across the North Sea and landed in Holland with their new owner, my swap partner Marja. As you can see they have a lovely garden at their new home so if they get bored with their bright yellow surroundings they can fly into the lovely green garden. There's even another bird table for them to sit on. I wonder if Marja will leave some crumbs out for them!

Bye for now, Maria.

A new quilt started.

2009-05-05T11:49:00.007+01:00

Since making the table runner I showed here I've been wanting to make a quilt in matching fabrics to hang on the dining room wall next to the side board on which table runner is displayed.

I ordered some more fabrics, all by Amy Butler, except the bottom one which is b y Heather Bailey.

I then had to decide on a pattern. I've seen lots of coin quilts on blogs and flickr lately and originally decided to make one but then I discovered a wonderful blog called Oh, Fransson! by Elizabeth Hartman. She makes some scrummy quilts using modern, square blocks sashed with mostly white linen and I decided this was the style to go for. Elizabeth sells some of her patterns on etsy but also has some free tutorials on her blog, they're definately worth a look.

I decided my quilt would consist of twelve blocks using six patterns with two blocks made from each pattern. Each block would contain two fabrics and I'm not sure how to describe this but the fabrics in each matching block would be placed in opposite positions in the blocks.

I've done six blocks so far. One is called Paint Box (top left and bottom right) and is from a tutorial on Oh Fransson! The other two blocks I designed myself.

I won't be sashing them with linen as I have some cream fabric to use up although I'm sure linen would look great. I'll show some more of the quilt as I go along.

I took this picture of a beautiful Aquilegia in my garden on a sunny morning last week. I just love the way it looks like it's lifting its face up to the sunshine.

Bye for now, Maria.

Birdy quilt off to its new owner!

2009-04-30T09:34:00.007+01:00

At last I finished this quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap and it's in the mail heading off to its new owner. It was very difficult letting go of this one as it has taken many hours to make. It's been great fun to do but as I was making it I began to wonder whether it was rather a complicated design to do as a swap quilt. I wondered whether I must be mad to put all this work into something I am sending to a stranger, but I suppose that's the nature of doing these swaps. I am rather proud of it as I think it has turned out really well. I hope my partner likes it. I'm waiting for mine to arrive now.

The photo's don't look as good as they do on my computer. Does anyone else find that the quality of their photos diminish when they're loaded onto blogger?

I took these two pictures of Alchemilla Mollis in my graden with the morning dew drops sitting on the leaves. Don't the droplets of water look amazing?

Off to the gym now! Bye for now, Maria.

Spring swap parcels received.

2009-04-19T23:00:00.001+01:00

We have just returned from spending time with friends in the beautiful Peak District of England and on my return I was excited to discover that my Spring Swap parcel was waiting for me. I had been lucky to have been partnered with Tami from bearypatch. She made me a beautiful project bag and needle case. I love the fabrics she has chosen. The bag comes complete with pockets all round the outside which are decorated with some exquisite blanket stitch applique butterflies and yoyo flowers with buttons in the middle. I have some new display shelves in my sewing room and the bag will take pride of place there when it's not in use.

Tami must have known that I need a needle case as I'm always loosing my needles. This is also decorated with yoyo flowers. I was also lucky to receive some pretty fat quarters which I'm sure will be used soon. Tami also sent some yummy chocolate. Huge thanks Tami for everything.

Many thanks to Linda for organising the swap, it's been great fun.

I can now show one of the items I made for the swap as my partner has received them. I say one of the items as I didn't take pictures of the others - woops!

My partner was Bonnie from Calamity Jane's Cottage. I made Bonnie her very own cottage (wall hanging!) with roses growing over it as I know she likes the cottagey style. I embroidered her blog name on it as it seemed to very appropriate. Bonnie has done a lovely blog post here about her gifts.

Bye for now, Maria

A new quilt and some gardening.

2009-04-07T11:00:00.004+01:00

Have you ever had that feeling of excitement when you see something you'd like to make and decide that you just HAVE to do it NOW? Well I did the other day. I saw this tutorial for a fantastic value quilt by Katie who has a fabulous blog. As I have loads of fabric scraps I thought it would be the ideal quilt to make without buying any fabric.

It was one of thoses awful days when one minute the sun was out and the next it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain, I think there was even some hale too. I was feeling fed up as I had been planning a shopping trip to look for some little extras to put in with my spring swap. A spot of spontaneous quilt starting was just what I needed!

Here is the enoromous pile of fabrics I selected.

Here is the finished quilt. I quilted most of it using invisible thread in the ditch and then stitched a line through the dark sections in variagated thread. I didn't feel that in needed a border so just bound it in purple.

With the onset of spring I always feel hugely inspired to do some gardening. We've lived in this house for just over 2 years and you certainly wouldn't call the previous owner a keen gardener so we've been given an almost blank canvas to work with.

This picture is taken last year, it is an area at the bottom of the garden which I planned to make into a sitting area with a large raised bed at the back.

This is the same area, also last year after some work. Don't you just love the old wheel in the background!

Here it is again complete with the raised bed that my clever husband made this weekend. It looks rather large but I'm sure it will be fine when it's full of plants. The fun part now begins - filling it with plants. As you can see I've planted a few.

I recently discovered this beautiful gardening magazine which is full of absolutley stunning photographs of truely amazing gardens which are so inspiring. That sounds really gushing but I LOVE this magazine.

Bye for now, Maria

More Swap Peeking

2009-03-20T14:37:00.005Z

My sewing time has been taken up with swap items recently so nothing new to show apart from the progress I've made with these. I've done some quilting and hand embroidery on this little gift I'm making for the spring swap. I hope it looks spring like.

The picture below shows some more of the Doll Quilt 6 quilt. Sorry but it looks a bit out of focus. It's actually more of a wall hanging than a doll quilt but I think a lot of the members use them as wall hangings. I've added some flying geese blocks and am in the process of making some foundation pieced trees. I haven't decided whether to make one more or two more trees. I thought the little birdies may like some trees to fly off too. Above the line of trees I plan to do another line of flying geese flying in the opposite directions to the first row.

Once I've finished the swaps and the Linus quilt I'm looking forward to making something for myself. I've recently bought some yummy fabrics from America which I've had delivered to my brother who lives in New York, he's coming home for a few days at Easter so he'll bring them with him. It saves on the postage costs and the fabrics are cheaper than here although with the exchange rate as it is it's not as cheap for us as it was.

Bye for now, Maria.

Quilty Eye Candy

2009-03-16T17:46:00.004Z

My creation
Originally uploaded by poppets1

For the doll quilt swap I'm participating in many of the group have made these mosaics of some of their favourite quilts etc. (from flickr) to give their partner an idea of their tastes. I just love the look of these mosaics and thought you may like to feast your eyes on all the gorgeousness (is that a word?).

All we seem to hear about in the news is gloom and doom so I hope these treasures brighten your day.
This also means that I can do a post withought having to take any photos!
Bye for now, Maria.

Edit: I don't know how to make the picture bigger but if you want to see it in more detail just click on it and it will be bigger.

Doll quilt swap peek.

2009-03-14T09:07:00.004Z

Tweet Tweet! Hi there. Here is another peek at a quilt I'm making for a swap. It's for the Doll Quilt Swap 6 swap.

I've been doing some lurking on my partner's blog and fickr photos for clues to what she likes and this is part of the design I've come up with. I hope she will like it.

Now, I hope you realise that these are supposed to be bird houses/boxes. After spending hours making them I asked my 7 year old what he thought they were. The conversation went a bit like this:

Me: "What do you think these are?"

Him: "Um, Houses?"

Me: "Yes, but what type of houses?"

Him: "Flats?" (apartments)

Me: "What with doors like that? They're bird boxes"

Him: "Oh, right"

I had a similar conversation with my husband who thought the stands were paths leading to the front door!

I then decided to add the birds, which I hope clarify what it's supposed to be.

I think I should have made the houses longer and thinner. But never mind I rather like them myself.

It's a work in progress at the moment, you may be able to see that the blanket stitching around some of the birds isn't finished yet. I 'm making some flying geese blocks now to add to it.

I've been without a computer for the last week and have really missed reading blogs and following what others have been upto on the doll quilt flickr. I'm sure I wouldn't have got as far with my swap items if the computer had been up and running so maybe it hasn't been a bad thing. I'm sure a lot of other people spend too much time blogging too!

Bye for now, Maria

Spring swap peek

2009-03-06T11:41:00.006Z

I mentioned in my last post that I've entered a couple of swaps. Linda's spring swap has the first completion date. I've started working on my item and I thought I'd show a peek of what I've been upto.

For those a) old enough to remember and b) live in a country where the programme was shown, in the words of Rolf Harris "Have you guessed what it is yet?"

I won't show the finished product until the recipient has recieved it.

I've been coming up with some ideas for the Doll Quilt 6 swap and will show a peek of that when it's started.

Bye for now, Maria.

Sew love to ......sow!

2009-03-02T14:00:00.000Z

Is there a theme developing here? (see last post).

As we march into March I feel that spring is in the air and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into some gardening. We have lived here for just over two years and we're slowly "doing" the garden. We have been given a greenhouse and I'm really excited about growing some juicy tomatoes and flowers for the garden.

Yesterday we went to a garden centre and bought some seeds.

These were my husbands choice........

And these were mine..........

It's funny how men go for vegetables, women for flowers and children for Sunflowers - my son chose those.

This picture may not look very exciting but snuggled just under the surface of the compost are some Echinacea seeds. Hopefully in a few months time they will magically turn into huge pink flowers. The packet says that seeds sown in February will flower in the same year, well it's only 2nd March so don't tell the seeds and perhaps they'll put on a display this year. They're now going to be popped into a plastic bag and placed on a window sill. Then I'll just have to wait.

I've been a bit slack on the sewing lately but am begining to feel the urge to get going again especially as I've joined two swaps which I'm exited about. Firsty there's Linda's Spring swap and secondly the Doll Quilt Swap 6. There are buttons for both in my side bar.

Bye for now, Maria

Sew love to.......Crochet?

2009-02-23T16:27:00.006Z

I can knit and I can sew but I've never learned to crochet so at the age of ahem 41, I decided it was time to learn.

I bought this book, a crochet hook and some yarn and set to work.

First of all I couldn't even work out how to do the slip knot to start off! My husband had to show me how. As a child I had at least learnt to crochet a chain and after much fiddling around I remembered how to get this far.

As well as using the book I used some films on u-tube to learn how to double (USA single) and treble (USA half treble) crochet. To be honest I needed the films as I couldn't work out what to do just from the book but that was probably down to me rather than the book's instructions as now I know what to do the book makes sense.

I won't show my first few efforts, they are very wonky and I have a tendancy to pull the yarn too tight. A friend showed me how to do a square which was a great help.

Here is flower I made from the book. I've used a thinner yarn and a different size hook but it's ok.

Finally, last night I did a square with changes of colour. Hurray! I'm not sure what to do next. I may do more squares and make a cushion from them.

All this made may think about how, as adults, most things we do come naturally. I felt so awkward trying to hold the yarn and hook and manipulate the hook through the yarn. I felt like a newborn lamb learning to walk or a child learning how to hold a pen and write.

Amanda has kindly sent me some Bushfire Quilt appeal Star blocks which I will send with mine during the first week in March. If any UK bloggers would like me to send their's with mine let me know.

Bye for now, Maria

Australian Bushfire quilt block appeal.

2009-02-13T12:23:00.008Z

Tia has set up a flickrgroup asking for 12.5 inch star quilt blocks which she and her band of helpers will make up into quilts to be donated to the victims of the Australian bushfires. Hopefully these quilts can offer some comfort to people who may have lost everything in the fires.

This link will take you to a blog entry where a survivor of the 2003 Canberra firestorm explains how some of her family's most treasured items that were donated were those handmade, with love, by complete strangers.

Please click on the flickr link at the begining of this post and it will take you to the Bushfire Quilt Project flickr group where the appeal is explained in more detail. This includes details of the suggested quilt block.

I would like to volunteer to send blocks made by UK ladies to Tia. I think it would be good if a few blocks could be pooled and sent in one parcel rather than individual people sending one or two at time. Do you think that sounds like a good idea?

If anyone reading this would like me to send your blocks with mine please leave a comment and I will contact you with my postal address.

I better get going with making some blocks! I look forward to hopefully hearing from some of you.

Bye for now, Maria.

Quilts in progress.

2009-02-04T16:01:00.013Z

Hi there, it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. All is well but I haven't had much to show until now.

I have a couple of projects in progress. The first is a quilt for project Linus. I have loads of fabric to use up and a great deal of it is children's fabric. I thought that charity quilts would be a great way of using it up. This one is bright and cheerful and I hope it will brighten up the world of an ill or under privelaged girl. I've now got to put the borders on. I have loads of the yellow flowery fabric left, enough for the backing and border.

About a year ago I started this quilt which is based on a design from a Kaffe Fassett book. It's a medallian quilt which means that you start with a central block and then build it up by adding borders. I'm not concerned that it's taking so long as this was my plan from the start. I wanted a long term project to keep going back to whilst working on other, smaller projects in between.

My next border is to be made of nine patch blocks made up of lots of different fabrics. Once they're sewn together you won't be able to see that they're nine patches. Hopefully they'll look like loads of small random squares. Luckily I have lots of scraps to use up for this as I needed lots of different designs.

So, here is my pile of sets of three squares ready to be sewn into nine patch blocks.

I hope you've enjoyed todays little look at what I've been upto.

Bye for now, Maria.

Another bag finished.

2009-01-20T09:59:00.007Z

Hurray, I've just finished this bag for my friend's 40th birthday.

The last three bags I've made have been basically the same design so I think it's time to try a different design next time. This is my own design and I think I may try a bought pattern next.

As you know the title of my blog is sew love to sew and I have been thinking about how true this is. Wouldn't it be terrible to not have a hobby to loose yourself in?

I went into my sewing room yesterday, picked up the project I was working on and felt a rush of joy and exitement at the thought of some sewing time. I just love the textures, colours and the satisfation of creating.

A non-sewing friend asked what I'd been doing one day. She looked at me as if I was bonkers when I told her that I'd been sewing, but I'm so grateful to have a hobby which I love sew much!

So what's next? I'm planning to make a couple of charity quilts for project Linus. A few years ago I made and sold fabric gifts for children and I have quite a lot of children's fabric left so I thought charity quilts would be a good way of using some of it up.

I also have a small amount of the Amy Butler fabric I used for the table runner left. I thought I'd make a small wall hanging with it to go in the dining room to match the runner. Just got to come up with an idea for what design to use.

Bye for now, Maria

Table Runner.

2009-01-18T11:22:00.006Z

Hi, In my last post I showed the placemat I made in these beautiful, fresh Amy Butler fabrics. Well, I've just finished this table runner to go with it. And although I say it myself I think it's great! It's only a short table runner so hasn't run very far - ha ha.

I did some what I call twirly quilting on it. It looks fine on the front but the stitches don't catch properly on the back. This is ok for somthing like this or a wall hanging but I want to quilt a bed quilt with free motion quilting and the stitches need to be good on the back and front. Well this leads to the fact that I need (want) a new machine! I have decided that it has to be a Bernina so I now have to save up some pennies to pay for one. I'm even doing some extra shifts at work to earn the money - I must be desperate!

Below is a preview of the bag I'm making for my friend's 40th birthday pressie. I love those purple batik fabrics. I need to give it to her on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday and as usual I will be rushing to finish it in time. Why do I always do that?

Bye for now, Maria.

My new placemat

2009-01-08T10:12:00.007Z

This is the first item I've made in 2009. It was good to start with something quick to get me back in the swing. I needed the instant gratification!

The placemat was made from fabric from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern range. I used the pattern given to me by my partner Marie from Linda's bag swap.

I was planning to make a full set but decided to make a table runner to match and I haven't enough fabric for both. Our dining table is now rather scruffy so I now keep a cloth on it and the mat looks lovely in the centre with this glass bowl on top.

Here is the side board on which I plan to put the table runner. It is looking rather bare as it is, mind you it is often the home to mail and other junk but I'm trying to keep it tidier. Not easy in this house.

I can't decide what pattern to do the table runner in. Must hurry up and make a decision soon though as I'd like to start it today. I have a HUGE pile of post Christmas ironing to catch up with though and it's staring at me in my sewing room.

Bye for now, Maria.

The last of the christmas sewing.

2009-01-03T17:07:00.004Z

Hi, I hope you all had a great Christmas. We had a fairly quiet family time. I had to work christmas night but at least I had the whole day at home. We went to Norfolk to stay with my parents for a few days between christmas and new year, it was great to have someone else do the cooking for a while!

This is the bag I made Mum for christmas. I was very pleased with how it turned out. I used a stiffer interlining than I've used before and put in a special stiff base in the bottom. It stands up on its own well. I didn't finish it until about midnight on the night before christmas eve.

Mum showed it to some of her friends who all loved it which does the ego good. I'd quite like to have an etsy shop to sell some in but as I have to pay full price for the materials I'm not sure the profit margin would be high enough to make it worth while.

Below is the last of the cushions I made as christmas pressies. It's not really my colours but the young lady I made it for has a black and grey bedroom so hopefully she will like it. ( she hasn't received it yet - I won't bore you with the details)

I haven't done any sewing since I finished the bag before christmas and am ready to get going again. I'm planning to make a couple of charity quilts but think it's time to do something for myself first!

Bye for now, Maria.

More Cushions!

2008-12-18T09:36:00.007Z

Here are the other cushions I have finished making for my cousin's girls. I'm not sure I want to give them away now they are finished!

I'm going to make one for my other cousin's daughter. I've been told that her room is in black and grey with a splash of lime green!

Bye for now, Maria.

Christmas sewing

2008-12-16T16:24:00.010Z

Hi, I haven't posted for a while as I've been pretty busy, you know how it is at this time of year.

I've been making cushions for my cousin's three girls for Christmas. They have purple bedrooms and luckily I had some fabrics in purples. I decided to put some applique felt flowers on them. I've never used felt before and was pleased that it was easy to work with. The cushion I've shown here is the first to be completed, the others are nearly done. I think this is my favourite one, the others have a different type of flower. I'll show you them when they're finished.

I'm begining to panic slightly as I'm going to make my Mum a bag as a christmas gift and I've not started it yet!

I better get on.

I've just remembered, thanks to Marie at Marie Quilts for the blog award in my side bar that she so kindly gave me.

Bye for now, Maria.

On the wall at last.

2008-11-28T21:27:00.005Z

I started this wall hanging about 18 months ago at a workshop at my local quilt shop. The design is taken from a Rikky Tims DVD called "Quilting Caveman Style". No rulers are used, the cutting is done free hand which makes a change from what I'm used to. I've done some free motion quilting on it which I'm pleased with and embellished it with beads.

The colours are more true to life in this picture. I played around with the photos in Photo Shop and altered the first picture too much although I think I prefer the colours of the altered one.

I'm pleased with the quilt but it doesn't lay flat, I guess this is because it has not been measured but I suppose that the whole idea of quilting caveman style!

I finished it a few months ago and have been waiting for it to be hung on the wall. It was going in the hall but I changed my mind and it's now in my sewing room. Despite saying that it's probably not supposed to lay flat I can't bring myself to hang a wobbly quilt where other people will see it. I suppose I'll just have to make another quilt for the hall - eventually.

Bye for now, Maria.

Lots of Lovely Fabric.

2008-11-25T12:12:00.014Z

Isn't it strange when you think about something and then it happens? Last week I ordered some fabric (more about that later) and this morning I was driving back from the gym (!) wondering when it would arrive. I drove up to the house and there on the doorstep was the parcel.

I ordered the fabric from Karen Gray's etsy shop. She also has a lovely blog that you can find here. The fabric was beautifully packaged and the delivery was very fast. Would you like to see what I ordered?

These are six yummy fat quaters called "Olive Rose" by Valori Wells for Freespirit. I plan to make my Mum a bag for christmas with them. I'll show you it when it's finished.

I love these fabrics from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern range.

I'm planning to make place mats for the dinning room from it with this pattern which the lovely Marie, my bag swap partner sent me.

Finally another look at the christmas quilt I'm making that I showed in my last post. I was planning for it to be a lap quilt/throw but I think it would take too long to make and as there's lots of hand work on it I thought it would be better displayed as a wall hanging.

This isn't the final layout, I've just layed them out like this for the picture (and there are more to make).

Bye for now, Maria.

Christmas quilt.

2008-11-19T10:47:00.000Z

I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to make a christmas lap quilt/throw with some christmas fabric I have. The fabric is the classic reds, greens and gold colourway, now I do love these colours but I saw this christmas stocking in the christmas edition of Country Living magazine and loved the red, white and blue country style. Ah ha, I thought, that's the look I want to go for.

Luckily I found some fabrics in my stash that will be fine, I dont' have to go and buy more. Using up fabrics I have was one of the excuses for making the quilt in the first place! I have included some christmasy holly fabric given to me by my bag swap partner Marie. I think it's got the country style, non glitzy look I'm going for.

I am planning to make blocks of about 8 inches, each block will be different, I will use applique, embroidery and patchwork such as pieced stars. I'm going to make it up as I go along!

Here is an appliqued star I made last night. It is bond-a-webbed with blanket stitch edging using the aqua thread Jemma gave me in the Red and Aqua swap. Tonight I embroidered "Merry Christmas" on cream fabric using the red thread from Jemma, it's coming in useful already.

I'll post more pictures as I go along.

Bye for now, Maria.

Red and Aqua Swap

2008-11-16T10:25:00.012Z

This blog post comes with a health warning: You may wish to wear sunglasses before looking at the pictures!

I seem to have done most of my posts about swaps recently as most of my sewing time seems to have been taken up with them. The Red and Aqua swap posted by Apron Thrift Girl and Peas and Bees has been great fun. I was partnered with Jemma from monkey make do, also from the UK. It was a direct swap which I enjoyed as it was fun to be in contact with your partner throughout the swap and you knew you could trust them to fulfill their side of the deal.

I returned home in the dark from taking my son swimming on Thursday afternoon and there waiting for me was my parcel. I had left a note taped to the front door asking the post man to put the parcel round the side of the house as I couldn't have beared for it to have been taken back to the depot!

Jemma made a beautiful job of wrapping the goodies in the colour theme of the swap.
She enclosed a note saying that the small parcel was something pretty for me to wear. In this parcel I found a gorgeous silver and aqua bracelet.

The note said that the middle-sized parcel was something to keep me warm. In this package I found a beautiful soft scarf. It is in a twisted design and has a sweet, red velvet ribbon woven down the middle. Sorry about the picture.

The large package was a fabulous selection of sewing goodies as Jemma said she new I love to sew. The little boxes have been painted and contain some funky buttons.

Thanks Jemma. I was thrilled to receive your gifts.

We were asked by the organisers if we have any particular preferences. Jemma said she likes 1950's style and polka dots so I kept this in mind when collecting my items for the swap.

I won't go through eveything but here is what I sent her.

I managed to find some fabric with a 1950's kitchen theme as I learned from looking at Jemma's blog that she likes cooking.

Below is a bag I made for her. I couldn't find any polka dot fabric but managed to find some with little red dots. When I was making the bag I kept thinking that it looked rather bright but as I kept telling myself this was the theme of the swap!

Jemma has written a lovely account of the swap on her blog.

Thanks to those ladies who left quilting suggestions for my quilt on the last post. My machine didn't want to play the game with free motion quilting so I've gone for a rather boring grid pattern.

I am feeling the urge to make a christmas lap quilt/throw as I have some christmas fabric to use up so I may start that as well.

Bye for now, Maria.

A poor, forgotten quilt.

2008-11-11T17:26:00.011Z

I started this quilt at a workshop a few years ago and it has been folded up in the bottom of the cupboard waiting to be quilted. Tastes change over the years and I'm not that keen on it anymore. I now prefer brighter, more patterned fabrics.

A quilting friend came over today and reminded me about the quilt. She knows I hate tacking the layers together and helped me do it a couple of years ago. I'm not sure how to quilt it. I did start doing some freemotion quilting in a variegated thread which really was the wrong colour so I have started unpicking it.

Despite saying that I'm not keen on it I feel quite inspired to finish it and am in the mood to have another go at the quilting.

This picture shows the back (looking somewhat creased). I made too many blocks so used them as a centre for the backing.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to quilt it?

Another Swap.

2008-11-04T09:48:00.005Z

Hi, there. It's been a month since my last post. Oh dear, I don't know what happened there. Not much to say I suppose. I have been reading other fabulous blogs though.

The picture shows the items I have made for the Stitching Angels swap. They should be winging their way to their new owner at the moment, or more likely sitting in a pile of other parcels waiting to be sent. I always feel nervous when I hand over a parcel that it won't arrive. The fluffy thing is a scarf, not a pink cat trying to stow away in the parcel.

I received a lovely pin cushion, a cute little tin and a charm from my partner but I still don't know who she is, can't wait to find out. I'll post pictures soon.

I have recently been tagged by Julia at primrose corner, I will do a post soon stating 7 fact about myself but I'm still thinking about what to write.

Well I better go as I've noticed that our stairs are in desperate need of a vacuum - or shall I go and do some more to my quilt........................?

Bye for now Maria.

I'm a lucky girl!

2008-10-03T17:47:00.012+01:00

This is the lovely bag I received from my partner Marie
in linda's bag swap. I love it. The colours are bright and cheerful and I love the unusual handles which are tied. It has some cute covered buttons too. The bag is big with plenty of room for lots of sewing stuff. It also has not one but two pockets on the inside. This is the first bag that Marie has made and I think she has done a fantastic job.

Marie has been more than generous with all the wonderful gifts she included with the bag. She sent quilting magazines, scissors, a little angel brooch, cute bottons...............................

Fabulous fabric.............................

A pattern for table mats and coasters, a yo-yo maker, a book on binding quilts and last but not least....CHOCOLATE!

Thank you so much Marie I feel that christmas has arrived early.

Bye for now, Maria.

2008-09-24T10:40:00.007+01:00

This is a peek at the bag I am making for Helen's Stitching Angels bag swap. It is from a gorgeous pattern by May Britt. There are more photos of the beautiful items the stitching angels have been making for the swap at this flickr group.

I really must finish it soon as we have to make a minimum of three items and I'm still on my first.

I was pleased to learn that the bag I made for Linda's bag swap has safely reached it's new owner Cheryl. I am sure she won't mind me saying that she has been unwell recently so has not posted for a while but she sent me a lovely e-mail thanking me for the bag. I must say it brought a tear to my eye to hear that she was so thrilled with the bag. I am so pleased that she has gained so much pleasure from receiving it.

My son had a friend over for tea after school a few days ago. While they were playing in his room I stole a few minutes in my sewing room. His friend came in, pointed at my sewing machine and said "Whats that thing?" For a moment I was rather shocked by his question but then I thought about it and realised there was probably no reason why he should have seen one before as his Mum does not sew and I presume no grandmothers or aunties in his family do either. I was brought up with a Mum who used to make me little dresses when I was small so I've always been around sewing machines. I showed him how it worked and explained that a similar machine (I couldn't face explaining overlockers/sergers) had been used to make his t-shirt. I think he went away very pleased with his new knowledge.

Bye for now, Maria.

Bags aren't just for the girls!

2008-09-17T09:40:00.000+01:00

This is what I made with the fabric I showed you in my last post.
We borrowed my Dad's sat.nav. on our recent holiday in France. As he didn't have a bag or case for it I thought I'd make him one.
It has a little pocket on the inside to keep the sat.nav. unit in and the wires go in the main part of the bag.

I spent some of yesterday at a sewing friend's house. We sometimes have a sewing session while the children are at school. When I got home I went to my bag to get my rotary cutter out and IT WASN'T THERE! I'd left it on her sewing table. I'm sure you sewers out there must understand what a trauma it was to discover this. I'm not seeing her until Monday and I can't last that long without it so I've got to drive over to her work today to collect it. She lives about 35 mins away from here so luckily her work is closer.

Bye for now, Maria.

Bye, bye bag!

2008-09-14T00:17:00.006+01:00

This is the finished bag I made for ********* in Linda's bag swap.

I hope she likes it.

I felt really sad to see it go. I just hope it arrives safely and that the mail services in both countries look after it well.

Here is the back. I didn't have time to do the same stitching as on the front so did this design. It is from a quilting stencil I have.

I bought these fabrics to make a birthday pressie for my Dad. It felt strange buying this colour pallette as I'm a girlie colour type of girl. I didn't think he would appreciate pink though! I'll show you what I made in my next post as I can't get the camera to load onto the computer. Hubby is off playing football and I need him to sort it out - as he does with most things!

A duchess, a stately home and cornish pasties!

2008-09-07T16:44:00.003+01:00

I'm hoping to go to the cinema soon to see the new Kiera Knightly film "The Duchess".

One of my reasons for wanting to see the film is some scenes were filmed at Holkham Hall in Norfolk.

We visited Holkham this summer. It is a beautiful stately home on the North Norfolk coast set in gorgeous grounds with a lake and wild deer roaming freely. The interior is beautiful and is lovingly kept by the owners, the Earls of Leicester. The Viscount Coke and his young family live in the hall in private quarters but they use some of the rooms in the main hall at times. We were told that guests had stayed in one of the very grand bedrooms the weekend before. The room has a fabulous four poster bed and an amazing en-suite bathroom with a huge bath in the middle of the room.

My son took the picture below. Not bad for a six year old. When I first saw the picture above I thought it was the same conifer but now I look closer I don't think it is.

They also have a museum at the hall with lots of old exhibits including carriages, fire engines, farm machinery, kitchen equipment, etc.
I particularly loved these old sewing machines. Not a Bernina in sight.

Here is another peak at the bag I'm making for the bag swap. It's not finished yet and is supposed to be posted by Friday - I think I know what I'll be up to this week!

I'm being spoilt this rainy Sunday afternoon, hubby is in the Kitchen making Cornish pasties for tea. He saw them being made on the "Hairy Bikers" programme and wanted to have a go. He's never made pastry before - he's in the kitchen with Delia learning how. Should be interesting!!!

Bye for now, Maria.

Just Playing

2008-09-06T01:14:00.004+01:00

What am I doing? It's now 01.20, yes 01.20 and I'm playing on the computer.

I decided that my photos on the blog look pretty c**p and as we have photo shop I've had a play with a couple of the photos I've posted before to try and make them look better. So this is me just experimenting.

I don't actually know what I'm doing with photo shop but I've managed to brighten the colours a bit.

I really, really must go to bed now.

Maria x

Bonjour!

2008-09-01T13:10:00.014+01:00

Bonjour! We are back from a wonderful holiday in the Vendee region of south west France.

I knew we wouldn't be out living it up in the evenings so I took some stitching with me.

This is a piccy of my endeavours, it is part of the bag for my bag swap partner. It looks, on the picture, that it is sewn onto the pink fabric but I just put it on that for the photo. I will be using some of this fabric in the bag.

I have only recently started hand embroidery and wanted a book of stitches. We went to the local supermarket on our arrival at our holiday home and I wandered over to the magazine department as I like to look at the French home, gardening and craft magazines, I don't speak/read French but they have gorgeous pictures. Well, there on one of those twirly racks, staring straight at me was this book.

I think it was waiting for me. Even though I don't know what the instructions say the pictures are very clear so I should be able to work out what to do. As luck would have it one of my friends in our sewing group is french so I can ask her to translate any bits I need to read. You may be able to get an English version but I wasn't going to wait to find out! I had to have the book immediately.

Other people's holiday photos can be very boring so here are just a couple of ours. This is one my hubby took of our holiday home, it looks like it comes from the brochure but he managed take it before anyone went in the pool and withought anyone in the background. Our liitle house was the one with the green shutters. It had a little garden with a patio and the rest was sand, it was like having your own beach outside the door, great for a little one to make sand castles.

We took our car with our bikes on the back. There are some fabulous cycle paths around this part of France, we were very impressed with them. This picture is of William and me by a beautiful lake during a lovely cycle ride. He's not really the tall, he's standing on a rock!

We visited a beautiful chateau in the pretty village of Apremont, here's me and William again.

I should have some more previews of my bag swap bag soon.

I've had a message from the organiser of the swap, Linda, to say that she has heard from the lady making my bag to say that due to a natural disaster in her area she will not be able to get my bag sent on time. If she is able to read this I just wanted to send my best wishes and hope all returns to normal soon. I'm sure you all send your best wishes too.

I better go now as loads of washing and ironing etc. to do post holiday.

Bye for now, Maria x

Festival of quilts and some shopping!

2008-08-21T14:30:00.001+01:00

On Sunday myself and a friend visited the Festivalof Quilts at the Birmingham NEC. We had a fabulous day admiring the quilts and shopping (!). We felt that there seemed to be a trend amongst the professional quilters and also with some of the "amateurs" to use what we saw as dull, murky colours. Many of the prize winners had also used those colours. I'm more of a cheerful colour kind of girl and don't think I'll be following that trend.

My friend could bearly contain her exitement as we entered the hall and said she wanted to run around looking at everything. Our sewing group has decided that next year we'll stay overnight and visit for two days and probably do a workshop.

I managed to be fairly restrained with my buying. Here are some pics of my purchases.

I bought two gorgeous skeins of hand dyed fabric from Oliver Twists and some anchor perle thread, these threads may appear in my bag swap bag which I really must get on with.

The fabric is has already been cut up and used in the quilt I showed on my previous post.

I also bought this necklace which I thought was a bargain. You chose your pendant which was £2 and matched it with the ribbon of your choice which was £1. I haven't been brave enough to include my face in any photos so far!

The picture above is a preview of the bag I'm making for my secret partner in Linda's bag swap. "What?", I hear you say, "that's a bag?", yes I know it doesn't look much like a bag at the moment but it will when I eventually finish it.

We are off on holiday tomorrow to south west France so I must get on with some more packing. I hope the weather is better than here, I really need some sun. I plan to do some hand sewing on the bag and will take it with me. You need something to do when it rains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bye for now, Maria.

Title...what title?....I can't think of one.

2008-08-11T15:56:00.017+01:00

I've been working on this quilt top for a while now. It's been quite slow progress as I'll do some and then go onto something else for a while. Saying that I have enjoyed doing it but I like to have a change and have a few things on the go at once.

I have used a quilt from a kaffe Fassett book for inspiration, this being my interpritation of the one in the book. I can't remember which of his books it was as it's gone back to the library now.

I love the colours he uses and how he is not concerned about light, medium and dark fabrics but how they look together.

The colours are brighter than in the pictures. I took some yesterday afternoon and even with the flash they were too dark and these were taken in the sun this morning and they are too light, I can't seem to get it right.

I've been lucky enough to recieve these awards from two lovely ladies. This one from the lovely sarah

And this one from the lovely Oge.

I am supposed to nominate other blogs for the awards but please accept the blogs in my bloglist in the side bar as my nominations without me actually nominating them. I love reading them all. I hope this is Ok and that I haven't been a spoil sport!

Thanks again girls - I've called you ladies once and that's enough !!!!

Lucy requested I share the runner bean chutney recipe. It's not a secret family recipe, I don't know where Grandma and Grandpa got it from. You need a lot of runner beans so of course the recipe can be halved if needed. It made about 4 jam jars and a large coffee jar full.

RUNNER BEAN CHUTNEY

2 lbs runner beans (when trimmed and sliced)
1½ lbs onions (when chopped)
1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
1 tablespoon of turmeric
1 heaped tablespoon of dry mustard
1 lb Demerara sugar
1 lb soft brown sugar
1½ pints of vinegar (white or malt - I used white, they use malt)

Cook sliced beans in well-salted water until tender.
Cook chopped onions in ½pint of the vinegar.
Mix dry ingredients to smooth paste with a little of the vinegar.
Strain cooked beans, then add rest of vinegar and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the sugar and the rest of the ingredients.
Boil until until the chutney starts to thicken. ( mine wasn't quite thick enough so I added more corn flour).

Bye for now, Maria.

Grow your own veg...........grow your own quilt.......

2008-07-31T23:15:00.005+01:00

We have a small vegetable patch in our garden. It doesn't provide us with all our veggies but I think it's great to be able to eat food you have grown yourself when you can. It's also great for children to learn where food comes from. My son (who I'll call WJ from now on) loves to pick the runner beans and pod peas.

I was so exited the other evening when I came into the kitchen with my glamorous old washing up bowl full of potatoes, carrots, runners and mint. The carrots have not been all that successful this year. Not many germinated but the ones that did are mostly of a good size and tasted delicious.

We've had loads of runner beans and I made some delicious runner bean chutney. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the recipe.

I think I must be feeling philosophical (hurray for spell check). I was thinking about how making a quilt is similar to growing crops. You start off with your fabric or seeds, give it lots of TLC and end up with something amazing which sometimes doesn't grow quite how you planned but is great all the same.

Last year I decided that I needed some hand sewing to do at my sewing group and in the evenings when it is sometimes too anti social to sit on the machine. I didn't mind if it was something that took ages to complete. The patchwork top is my own variation of a pattern from a friend's book but I can't remember the title.

I am doing some hand quilting using big, bright, bold stitches with the pattern taken from a template. On other areas I am doing embroidery stitches and beading. I'm making it up as I go along.

Sorry about the quality of the photos. My camera does not seem to cope with close ups very well. I'd love to do some fabulous pictures like I've seen on some blogs. My husband has a "proper" camera with different lenses and all that jazz. I'll have to learn how to use it.

We are off to Norfolk tomorrow to stay with my parents. Looking forward to days out on the coast. We are meeting up with some of my school friends which should be fun.

Bye for now, maria.

I'm in love..........with a monkey!

2008-07-24T21:12:00.009+01:00

Hello, and thanks to everyone who left comments on my last post it was fantastic to receive so many.

Whilst looking at blogs a few days ago, when in fact it was actually night and I really should have been in bed, I found a lovely Australian blog, mellyandme. They produce some fantastic sewing patterns and I immediately fell in love with Magoo the Monkey.

They have suppliers in the UK and I ordered a pattern from Buttonberry who provided a quick service with accurately priced p&p costs. I hate being overcharged for postage.

Don't you just love Magoo! These are photos of my pattern. I hope he doesn't mind but I'm going to make him in purple fabric. I have loads of fabric in my stash that needs using up and thought he would be rather cool in purple.

Many thanks to Lesley who explained how to link to someone else's blog, hopeful I've just linked to hers.

Some of you lovely people have said you enjoyed the photos of Suffolk I've included in my last couple of posts. This one is of beautiful Chistchurch park in Ipswich where myself and my son went on this sunny summers day. At Last!

These are of part of a gorgeous garden which is behind Christchurch Mansion, a beautiful old building which is now a museum. This is of the back of the building which looks nothing like the front. I didn't think to take a picture of the front. My son was desperate to get to the play area so I couldn't hang around for long taking pictures.

The pictures don't show up the colours particularly well. The lavender was stunning a few weeks ago.

Bye for now, Maria x

My New Bag.

2008-07-21T18:13:00.012+01:00

I finished a bag today which is from two Amy Butler fabrics. The polka dot one is from some fabric I had left over from the tunic I showed previously and the flowery fabric is Belle in orange. I made a skirt in this fabric from Amy's pattern "Barcelona". I'll show you this another day.

I made up the design as I went along, I gathered a panel of the polka dot fabric and placed it between two pieces of Belle. The handles are padded and are short enough that the bag doesn't drag on the floor when I hold it but long enough to wear over my shoulder.

I didn't have big enough pieces of either fabric for the lining so used both. I made a lined two piece pocket. I think it's a bit low but never mind. The bag is closed with a magnetic button thingy. I'm fairly please with it. I had planned for it to be narrower at he top but it didn't turn out how I thought but never mind.

On the subject of bags I received my partner details today for Linda's bag swap at http://all-stitched-up.blogspot.com/. I am looking forward to making the bag and have been coming up with some ideas. It's my first swap so I'm looking forward to it, especially receiving my parcel.

I've seen on other peoples' blogs where it says a name, you click on it and you are taken to their blog/web site. I haven't worked out how to do this. Perhaps one of you kind people could let me know what to do.

On Sunday we went on an outing to Flatford Mill. This is where the famous artist John Constable painted many of his works. It is a beautiful place on the river Stour on the Suffolk/Essex border. The National Trust now owns the Mill and surrounding buildings. We took a rowing boat out which my little boy enjoyed. The area is worth visiting if you are in this area. No I don't work for the local tourist board!

Bye for now, Maria.

A day out, fabric, a book and flowers....lovely.

2008-07-17T16:29:00.012+01:00

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday. Myself and a friend took her out for a coffee, a short walk and lunch. Notice there was more eating and drinking than walking.
We visited Woodbridge which is a pretty town not far from where I live. I took some photos of the river and Tide Mill. You can go inside the mill but I thought I would save this for the School holidays.
As you can see the weather was pretty poor for July. Please can we have summer soon.

These fabrics show my favourite colour combination at the moment. Turquoise and Pink.

I bought this book yesterday and when I got home I noticed the colours. They feature heavily in the quilt I am making. Did I choose it because I liked the description of the story or subconsciously for the colours?

I love fuchsias. These are in a hanging basket on the front of our house.

Bye for now, Maria.

Hubby says it's funky!

2008-07-15T13:44:00.016+01:00

I am a member of a small sewing group. We meet up most weeks and usually just do our own thing and talk (surprise, surprise). The picture is of a wall hanging I made with some fabric we dyed at our group. A couple of the members are more arty than me and often dye their own fabric. I have done a bit of dyeing in the past but have not ever made anything with it. I think I gave my last attempts to my son's school.

A couple of weeks a go we had another "dyeing session". We did some stamping onto white fabric and then over dyed the designs by painting the dyes on with brushes and sponges. Some of the stamps we made but others were bought.

We also painted dyes onto fabric without stamping first.

I decided to make a small wall hanging.

I made a background by cutting out various shapes and patchworking them together in a random pattern.

I then cut out some spirals and also around one of the stamps and bondawebbed them on.

I then made a quilt sandwich and freemachine quilted.

My trusty machine isn't particularly good when it comes to freemachining. I can't control the speed very well. I barely touch the foot pedal and the needle goes up and down at a million miles an hour, consequently my stitches are varying sizes but never mind, I'm not planning on entering any competitions. I just have to take a deep breathe and go for it.

The binding fabric was a present from my friend who brought it back from America. She saw the colour and thought it would go with the quilt I am making which I mentioned in my first post. as any UK quilters know quilting fabric is expensive here so she always brings some home from America. It was really sweet of her to think of me.

I decided to bead around the binding, I'm really pleased with effect.

My husband doesn't usually say much about my creations but he commented that he really likes this one calling it funky. It is going on the wall in the hall. woohoo.

I hope you enjoyed my little story. I'm afraid the colours in the pictures varies as I took them in different lights. The darker ones are more true to life.

Bye for now. Maria.

Anna Tunic. (Amy Butler Pattern).

2008-07-08T19:43:00.006+01:00

This is my tunic I recently made from the Amy Butler "Anna Tunic" pattern.
It is from one of her fabrics "Cherry full moon polka dot".
I altered the shoulders slightly as I have narrow shoulders and they stuck out too much on me.
I also made my tunic quite short. I was very impressed with myself as I made a muslin first which was good as I discovered the thing about the shoulders and could work out the alteration on it although I didn't really know what I was doing.
The tunic has sweet covered buttons on the back but you can't really see them on this photo.

I have started to make a bag from this fabric and another Amy Butler fabric, which I have made a skirt from, - I really must finish it.

I think I must be more vain than I realised.
Firstly I removed my age from my profile as I didn't like seeing it in black and white ( or any colour!) that I am now 40!
Secondly I held my stomach in as far as I could for the photo. I was planning to go to a pilates class this morning but have spent so long looking at blogs that I haven't got time to get there now. At this rate I'll be having to pull my stomach in even more.

Please Say Hi!

2008-07-07T16:24:00.008+01:00

To any readers of my blog - please say Hi! It's great to hear from anyone who may be taking a peak!

I don't have any crafting pictures to post today so have posted some pics of some work we did in our garden over the weekend.

We have lived in our house for about 18 months and are working our way through decorating and putting in a new bathroom and kitchen etc. We are also gradually re doing the garden.

Most of it is being left as lawn for my 6 year old to play on, we also have a vegetable area, an area where the green house will be (it's just a frame at the moment) and what will be a sitting and barbeque area with a raised flower bed which is half finished. It's this sitting area that we did at the weekend.

These show what a mess it was with lots of weeds, broken slabs and rubbish including an old wheel..

Above is the area partly cleared.

And here is how far we have got. There's still more to do but it's looking much better. ( The thing in the middle is a table).

Below is a beautiful poppy that self seeded itself in the middle of the glass-less green house. Its beauty was short lived, a few hours later and the flower was gone.

post number one.

2008-07-03T10:42:00.000+01:00

Well after being a reader of other people's blogs for a while I've finally decided to start my own.
I haven't a clue what I'm doing at the moment but am sure I will learn as I go along.
I intend this to be mainly a craft blog to record my sewing endevours but may also include bits and pieces from my daily life as a diary for myself. Not sure if I will include pictures of my family as not sure if I want them to be "out there" in cyber space.
Will this be a whim that fades off in a while? Not sure at the moment.

How often will I post? Not sure at the moment.

Will I be too lazy to take and load the photos? Not sure at the moment.

Will I spend too long doing this and not getting on with cleaning, shopping, ironing, gym etc.? Not sure at the moment.

Will I be an embarressed blogger who doesn't tell her family and friends about her blogging (we are a shy lot us English)? Not sure at the moment.

How do you get other people to read your blogs? Not sure at the moment.

So many not sures, so much to find out!

I sew on my trusty janome, not sure which model but it is fairly basic. It has been a faithful friend for about 8years now. The picture above shows it with some fabric I put together to make my version of a beautiful quilt from one of Kaffe Fassett's books, can't remember which book but it is called the 'Post Card' quilt, the other picture shows it in the book.

I will post a picture of my progress soon.

Well that's it then, my first post, lots to learn and hopefully lots of blogging friends to make.