Star MJ

 

This quilt started life as a soft linen shirt given to me for recycling.

The shirt belonged to a friend of a friend who had sadly passed away, but the person who gave it to me shares my love of making things and recycling and so I pondered on what best to do with it.  

 

 

I love linen.

The softness when it has been washed may times,

the crisp lines after pressing and the way it moves and crinkles.
 

 

It is combined here with some Tilda fabrics used to make eight point stars.  

 

Hand quilted with simple squares and bound with some red linen bias.
Finished size is 33 by 44 inches.
 

 

 

 

 

Another very blustery day

 

My Moorland Blanket is coming along slowly and I am now on part 3.

I lam loving the pinky purpley heather colours

and they go rather nicely with this little patch of wild cyclamen in the garden don't you think?

 

The wavy pattern of this blanket produces a lovely dense feel to it which is nice and warm to sit under on these cold evenings. I can't wait to see what Lucy does for the edging because that is often my favourite bit.

 

I have also been finishing up this quilt, started a while ago now and blogged here.
 

 

The background is made up of 10" squares of recycled shirt fabrics.

The applique design was very much inspired by the quilt called Summer Chelsea by Pauline Smith in the book Kaffe Quilts Again. I have added some felt circles to the centre of some of the flowers and used embroidery to embellish them. The leaves are also felt.

 

 

I really like the simplicity of Pauline's flower design and also the stripy stems.

 

 

It is very blustery here today with lots of clouds scooting through at regular intervals,

so I am afraid the photos aren't great but at least I had a helper

to hold it up when it kept blowing off the hedge! 

 

And finally two little patchwork key fobs or mini lavender bags (just two and a half inch squares).

My way of using up a few treasured scraps while watching a film.

I wish you could smell them too.

xx

A Quick Fix..

 

Sometimes when there is lots going on, nothing works better than a quick fix.

 

I am still working on the crochet blanket and also have three bits of clothing cut out as well as four cushions to cover for the seats in our camper.

 They all seem like quite big projects for the scraps of time available for sewing at the moment so instead I decided to make a completely non-essential mat!!

 

The gentle ease of sewing some straight seams between some 3" squares is something that I hope I will always find relaxing.

If there can be a bit of recycling of fabric, in this case old jeans, then all the better.

 



 

And a smattering of hand quilting always does the trick.

To top it off,

the sun needs to peep through so I can go out in the garden and take a few unnecessary pictures!

 

Happy sewing.

Mini Quilt and Magnolia

 

The mini quilt is finished and just happened to match the magnolia

which came out about the same time. I love it when that happens.
 

 

 Cosy stripe blanket number two is also coming on, but remind me not to mention sitting in A and E again as shortly after I wrote that last post we had another trip there with the boy,
and an injured ankle!
Luckily it was a relatively short trip, with time for just two or three rows of blanket,
 before being sent on our  way with no broken bones to be reported.
 

 

Do you find yourself sewing or making things that match the flowers and the season?

Two shades of Grey

It's a very grey day here and I have just received a welcome package through the post with some grey yarn (as well as some other colours) for a new cosy blanket that I am starting.

 

 

I decided that one wasn't enough because it is a very popular blanket on our sofa. 

The combination of the treble clusters and straight trebles give the blanket a lovely texture and cosiness that the others don't seem to have and so on these cold days there is a fight for it!

Having chosen to go for a second blanket in the same pattern, a new palette of colours seemed the way to go for a bit of variation. For the original blanket I stuck to Lucy's lovely Cosy Colours and her pattern without a second thought and so this seems a bit scary and could go very wrong!

 I have been playing with some fat quarters which are mainly Kaffe Fassett I think.

This is a sort of mini quilt in progress..

 

I'm not sure what it will end up as but I am planning to give it some hand quilting and embellishment.

 

This one is another plus quilt in the same fabrics with a healthy dose of white.

Again a work in progress with a long way to go.

 

It was the colours in these fabrics that have inspired the new cosy blanket which is not really my usual colours but I am really enjoying them so far.

 

 

Baby Quilt and Big Sister Bunting

 

I did it!

I managed to finish the baby quilt yesterday and braved the icy winds to get some pictures.
This one is a present for a teacher.
 

 

I based the quilt around the lovely elephant fabric which came from Fabric Rehab.  

 

 

The reverse is made from a flannelette sheet as usual.

 

 

The edge is bound with one and a half inch bias strips cut from some pale pink spotty fabric.
 

 

The Big Sister Bunting was made from some of the left over fabric and edged along the top with shop bought bias binding (2cm width).
 As the name suggests, it's for the big sister so that the baby doesn't get all the presents. I think that this maybe something close to my own daughter's heart as she was the one who kindly suggested it!

 

 

And while I was making bunting I whipped up a second row for someone who had a 50th birthday this week because I think that no one is ever too old for bunting!

This time I used some cotton webbing just folded in half along the top and I like the effect and would definitely use it again. It was 2cm width which was just right.

 

Happy weekend.

 

Plus Annabel

 

The plus quilt for Baby Annabel is now finished and soon to be wrapped and on it's way.

As I said, the fabric is a mixture of new and old with a fair few recycled shirts in there.

The quilt is backed with pale blue flannelette.



 

The edge is bound with bias strips cut from a stripy shirt.
 

 

And we even have some sunshine here today to get a picture but it's a bit parky to be out for long!

Cosy evenings by the fire

Sometimes life gets in the way of sewing a bit but I am hopefully back on track now and I have a lot of ideas buzzing around waiting to be made.

I have been looking at various 'cross' quilts for a while now, so when our friends had a baby before Christmas it was a perfect excuse to have a go at a quilt, to follow on from the cross cushion I made in the summer.
 I particularly like some of the quilts made by Ashley from Film in the Fridge. Her colour combinations are just lovely and she has made a number of 'plus quilts' both as smaller baby quilts and larger ones. Just feast your eyes on these beauties!

I set to work with just a fat quarter of elephants (not sure of the designer sorry!), a few bits from my stash and a bunch of recycled shirts, and this was the result..



I cut a stack of four and a half inch squares and just laid them out until I found a pattern I liked before sewing them up in rows. Easy peasy, just how I like it!
The quilting is also very simple straight lines forming tram lines on either side of each seam.
I just have the binding to do now.

Also keeping me going since Christmas has been my beautiful basket of Cosy Colours designed by Lucy from Attic 24..



The colours are simply scrumptious!
I am following her Cosy Stripe Blanket to the letter found here.



It is a brilliant design for tucking into on these cold evenings in front of the TV.
Long straight rows of double crochet that come together fairly quickly and allow for concentrating on the plot of silent witness at the same time!!



And the colours are so bright and cheerful.
I love it.

A bit of this and that..

Finally a sunny day when I am not working and a chance to take some photos!

This was a mini quilt made to sit on top of a table to protect it from mug marks and scratches.

I appliqued some felt circles which is a style used by Wendy Williams in her lovely book

"Wild Blooms and Colorful Creatures".

The Bees are two lavender bags made from this years crop of lavender. 

One is now in my car and the other has been purloined by child two.

Then there was a tunic dress which I made using the basic pattern for Dress A

 from the Stylish Dress Book mentioned before here and here.

 

I made some alterations in that I took out some of the width and added a capped sleeve and pockets. 

 

Sorry about the poor photo but you get the impression!
The dress is made from denim and the pockets from some more of the Lazy Daisy fabric
by Brandon Mably  that is a favourite of mine.

I have really been enjoying the Frocktober Posts over at The Drapery.
I just wish I lived close enough to visit the shop.

And finally an African Flower Mandala Pot Holder.. 

 

  

This was made using a great tutorial here on a blog called Crochet with Raymond.

 

Unfortunately the blog is no longer in use but there are some lovely tutorials and ideas.

 

 

 

I like the back too and the whole thing was done in a day or two.

I can see a few of these being made for presents, I have already started a second.

 

And the chrysanthemums are a flowering their little hearts out and look like they are enjoying the sunshine as much as me!

 

 

 

Nursery Rhyme Quilt

 

 

The Baby quilt is finished and will be off on it's way to Germany soon.

Unfortunately it's raining today so the photo is indoors and not great.
Maybe I'll get some more before it goes if the sun comes out because
I forgot to take the back which I really love as it's recycled shirts.
Come on sunshine, help me out!  

 

 

This is the progress on the pouffe top which I shared in my last post.

 

I have taken off about 5" from round the edge, appliqued a circle in the centre and

quilted it to a piece of blanket..

It was fairly tough to applique the centre as I had to stitch through four layers hence it's a bit wobbly in parts but despite that I like the way it's turned out so far.

Now I need some fabric for the sides but I haven't got anything in my stash.
I think plain brown or green would be ok but it needs to be tough.
Maybe an old curtain?

Then I will finally be able to get rid of the bags of fabric scraps/rubbish that I have been saving for months now to fill it with!

 

WIP - baby quilt update

 

Just a quick post to update you on the progress of the baby quilt.

I haven't quite finished the quilting yet and the binding that I had intended to use isn't quite long enough so I need to get some more or make some.
 

WIP

 

 

A few years ago I made a baby quilt for someone

who has now asked me to make one for her to give to a friend.

 

I love making baby quilts because they are usually quite small quilts but fun to do.
 

 

I am making it very similar to the original quilt which was my own design but using some animal templates from another quilt pattern I bought a long time ago, by The Chook Shed.

 

I have based it on four nursery rhymes.

I'll show you some more as it comes together. 

 

 

I'm also still experimenting with crochet flowers and will update you on that this week.
I haven't had so much crochet time sitting by the side of sports pitches this week
 as the boy has broken his leg!

Home grown and foraged

 

As usual there have been some successes and some disasters in the garden this year.

 

The runner beans got off to a poor start as the first lot were eaten by rabbits but we managed to get a second lot going and keep the bunnies off with an old fire guard.

 

 

 

The Dahlias have been good and are still providing flowers to bring inside as are the sweet peas.

 

 

 

Blackberries in the fields round us have been brilliant this year

 and I have already made two batches of jelly.

 

This time I was aiming for something for the grownups..
 

 

Blackberry vodka and sloe gin!

I have made sloe gin before but the blackberry vodka is a new one for me so I will let you know how it turns out. After a bit of reading on the internet, I have opted for the

 "alcohol and fruit only to start with"

method.

Supposedly this gets more flavour from the fruit before adding the sugar later on.

We'll see.
 

 

And if I pan out you can see this fab table made from a recycled pallet

 that all the produce is sitting on.

Child number two made it and it kept him busy for a whole afternoon.

I just love it!

If you haven't already,
 it is worth looking at recycled pallet furniture on the net as it is amazing I think.
Here's just some.

 

 

And finally, a little quilted table mat which I made for the top of a wooden box.

It stops all the mug marks and the other mat needs a wash.

Any excuse to make a quick and easy quilt!
 

Flag it up!

 

It's finished!

 

This is a quilt that I've been working on for a while and the scrappy triangle blocks are made using the excellent tutorial by Ashley at FITF.

 

If you haven't found her website already you are in for a treat.

 Quilts, clothes, tutorials, household stuff and a shop,  it's great.  

 

 

She calls her quilt the Nautical quilt but mine reminded me of flags as I tried to get photos and it flapped around in the breeze.

 

 

I backed it with this grey spotted cotton poplin which I really like...

 

and bound it with a red which I can't find the name of, but was from Truro fabrics.

 

 

I think it would make a good cushion too.
 

 

I know the quilting lines aren't even but then nor are the flags.

I haven't done much straight line quilting before but I like the effect.
Washing the quilt when it was finished, really helped to sort of crinkle it up evenly.
 

 

The bright colours were fun to photo on a bright sunny day
with lots of blue sky and fresh green leaves.
 

 

And while I was out catching the late afternoon light,

 I picked up the eggs and some parsley for a quick tea of omelettes,
 

 

 because it was a bit late to start anything more complicated!

Bits and Bobs

 

Woops this is the wrong way up but never mind!

I have been quilting the scrappy triangles.

I tried using some lovely multi-coloured thread and quilted around the triangles first

but that got unpicked, it looked all wrong.

Then I did some straight lines which I haven't used before,
 quilted using the walking foot and they are by no means even but I quite like them anyway.
I certainly won't be unpicking these as it would take hours!
 

 

Now I need to trim the edges and bind it- will keep you posted.

 

 

I was given this lovely tiny pin cushion by a friend last week.

She made the felted ball herself.
 

 

I love it and am hoping it might save me finding pins in my cuffs when I'm out shopping!
I can see myself forgetting I'm wearing it though too which could be a laugh.
 

 

I took this photo of a lilac tree in the garden today.

The tree was a present about 5 or 6 years ago and it is just beautiful.
 

 

I wish you could smell it too.

I will be picking some for the house now that the tree is big enough.
 

 

And finally, a bit more purple from this patch of self seeded chives in the gravel.

The original clump of chives were in a raised bed but they self seeded and I can't bring myself to pull them out as they are so pretty.

A sunny evening

 

The sun was lovely this evening after a pretty wet day and I couldn't resist another photo of the scrappy flags in this light.
 

 

As I was taking the pitures it reminded me that the washing line is still propped up in the middle of our garden table where the umbrella usually goes because the base broke - another job to add to the list!!

 

 

The pink magnolia (not sure of the species) is now in full flower. 

 

Beautiful against the blue sky,

 

 

as is this cherry blossom I think.
 

 

We have a patch of wild garlic under a holly bush.
 I suppose it's a weed really but it's so pretty and is quite good at covering the ground and keeping the weeds down so I like it.

 

I got this picture and it wasn't until I saw it on the computer that I realised there was a tiny snail and a fly on the picture too!

 



And finally the daisies.

We have about 5 or 6 big clumps of these now and they all come from a tiny cutting supplied by a friend a few years ago.

Again I'm afraid I'm not sure of the plant name but I will ask her if she knows.

They are a perennial and just flower their hearts out at this time of year and well into the summer.
 



WIP - The Nautical Quilt

I have finally put together some of the strips of scrappy triangles blogged about before and which I found in a tutorial by Ashley from FilmintheFridge here. 

 

 

Not an easy thing to get a picture of on a blustery day like today without the edge flipping over.
 

Finally got it.

I have loved making these scrappy triangles and using up some of my scrap box,

and it has reminded me of some of the boats on holiday.
 

Now I need to decide how to quilt it and what to back it with.

Will let you know.
 

Cartwheels on the beach

 

I started this quilt way back in January and as usual it has taken me forever to finish it.

I blogged about the nearly finished top here.

I couldn't work out what to edge it with but eventually opted for

Full Moon Lagoon (brilliant name!) by mo bedell

which I found in Soft Touch Needlecrafts in Tavistock.

 

So this weekend, while sitting on the beach, I was able to hand sew down the binding and finally finish it off.

 

The blocks were made using a lovely tutorial by Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

I used a mixture of Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably fabrics as well as some plains for the cartwheels and recycled shirts for the background.

I used an old blanket for the batting and backed it with a recycled flannelette sheet because they are so soft to wrap around you.

It is machine quilted around the edge of the background recatangles, if that makes sense.

 

Off to enjoy this sunshine!

 

A Mat for the Mahjong

 

I have been working on another table runner.

 It's a satisfying project, not too small and not too big.

The finished size is 42 x 70cm.

 

 

We are looking after a very old set of mahjong that belonged to my grandparents and the lovely wooden box was scratching the table so I decided to make it a mat to sit on.

 

Here it is resting on a pile of builder's plastic netting in the garden where I think it looks quite at home! 

 

 

Also finished this cushion which I think may form part of a pink present.
 

Happy weekend.

Sampler quilt finally finished

Despite the windy day, I managed to get some photos of my finished sampler quilt.

 

I started it back in August 2012 when I bought a charm pack (I think that's what you call it, squares to you and me) of fabric by Moda called 'Ten Little Things'.

I wanted to use just the one pack and an old white sheet and see what I could come up with.
I turned to Gwen Marton's Liberated Quiltmaking II for inspiration, and off I went. 

 

 

The blocks grew slowly one here and one there..
 

 

Trying out new ideas and techniques as I went..
 

 

When I had used all the bits I could, I pieced them together using various strips as fillers..

 

 

 

Then as usual it took me a while to get quilting.
 

 I decided all the white needed a bit of colour and texture, and I had seen some lovely Kantha Quilts which I liked. So that was the inspiration for the colurful quilting..
 

 

It was a good project that I could sit and do by hand but it did take a while to finish.

 

So 8 months after it began, here is the finished quilt.

 

 

Bound with a red and white spotted fabric (not sure of the make sorry) and then washed and dried in the sunshine. 

 

 

 

Now I need to try and get on with the cartwheels but it may take a while so don't hold your breath!!