Summer pools quilt.

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.

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.

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.......

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!

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!

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

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?

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.