Monday Fun

It's Monday. It's gloomy and pouring rain outside but I'm having a very fun Monday!

First I took some photos of the blocks I made yesterday (I had a fun day on Sunday too!)

Brit Bee Blocks for Katy

Swoon block for do.Good Stitches

Block 3 of the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery Block of the Month

Then I got started on a project I've been looking forward to for a long time. I finally found the perfect pattern for some Jelly Rolls I've been saving. I fell head-over-heels in love with Momo's It's a Hoot line when it first came out, and have finally found a reason to unravel them!

The pattern is called Merry Go Round by American Jane, and I LOVE it! I can't stop sewing.

Then the postie rang the doorbell and delivered this amazing pile of yumminess from the lovely Annie at The Village Haberdashery. I did a little project for her a while back and am lucky enough to be doing another one! When she told me I could pick whatever I wanted from the coming soon section I think I might have squealed a little bit because I have been desperate to get my hands on these Country Mice since Heather Ross first showed a sneak peak on her blog!

I think I'm going to find it very hard to go to bed at all tonight, when there is such an amazingly cute stack of fabric to play with!

Hope you are all having a great Monday!

Fiona x

A lovely little swap

I've finished my insane blocks! I really enjoyed making these and stayed up until 2am stitching those appliqué petals down, because I just didn't want to stop stitching!

The first one is a Honey Bee block. I fell in love with this gorgeous little block on Flickr and just had to make one. I added a little frame in turquoise and then decided to keep framing :)

The second is a postage stamp block. I can't believe I was crazy enough to sew 144 little squares together, but I really really enjoyed making it. Both blocks finished slightly bigger than planned at 13"

I made them for the lovely Jan. We decided to do a little block swap when we both discovered that we were planning very similar quilts. The plan was to make a couple blocks, each with a bright 6" traditional block on a soft and pretty low volume background.

These are the blocks Jan made me. Aren't they beautiful?! (Sorry Jan, I should have given them a quick press before I took a photo!)


My lovely Brit Bee girls have been busy making me blocks like these. Hopefully I'll have a whole quilt to show off soon!

Fiona x

Little pieces of insanity!

 I'm suspecting I might be a little bit, well, insane!

This is a 10" block. The plan is that it is to be a 12" block. At the moment there are 100 little squares in there. When it grows to 12"  there will be 144 squares in the block.

I am not making it for myself. This block and it's partner in crime are for a lovely bloggy friend

The partner in crime is a 6" block at the moment. It too will be a 12" block, once I finish the applique, and decide just how I will make it grow.

I am LOVING making these blocks! Does that make me a little bit insane?

Some of you have been asking how Murphy is. Here he is observing his Mum's insanity. He's back to his normal bouncy, happy, daft self again. I caught him eating more stones the other day. I think he's a bit insane too! :)

Just in case anybody is interested, the lovely Sarah from Narcoleptic in a Cupboard is hosting a Japanese Charm swap.  If you fancy joining in all the details are here.

Now I'm off to make a quick cuppa and get back to the applique. My little table doesn't look right without a cup of tea on it :)

Happy Wednesday

Fiona x

Busy busy

So things have been a wee bit quiet here on the blog. I have been pretty busy though.

First of all the new school term started this week and I am now officially old enough to have 3 kids at school!  Eeeeek! My youngest boy is thrilled to bits to finally be a "schoolie" and a proper part of the gang :)

I made a plus quilt. I've been wanting to make one of these since I first saw this one pop up on Jeni's blog, and I used her great tutorial for reference, but I made mine using a layer cake and charm pack of Aneela Hoey's Sherbet Pips line. This quilt is a commission for the big sister of this quilt's owner, and I'm hoping she'll love it.

There was a very special birthday. My Granny celebrated her 90th birthday! It was a lovely day. 4 generations getting together with only one family member who couldn't make it in person, but who managed to be there for part of the time virtually via the wonders of Skype!

I also suffered another attack of the dreaded Labyrinthitis a couple of days after putting my back out. NOT a fun time. Lots of painkillers and trying not to fall over! But I'm pretty much better again thankfully.

So now the question is, what am I going to do with all this time whilst my babies are all at school? I think there may be some more sewing in my future! Yay!!!

Have a great weekend
Fiona x

scribbly daisies

The summer is flying by faster than I can keep up with. The kids went down to my Mum's for a wee Parent-free holiday, while said parents worked.... and quilted ;)

I got the third quilt that I have made as part of the Joy Circle of do.Good Stitches finished up! For this quilt I asked all the lovely ladies of the Joy circle to use the Patchwork wheels tutorial by Don't Call Me Betsy, and asked for summery colours that reminded them of summer fruit and blue skies and they sent me the most amazing blocks! I think it's fantastic that women from all over the world can make blocks that work together so well together, following "summer fruits and blue skies"!!!

I really wanted to practice my FMQ with this quilt and decided to try something different. I found Leah Day's tutorial for Dresden Daisies which she described as easy. and though it might work well with this if I made it bigger as an all-over patten.

I went to a lovely sewing day last week at Jo Bearpaw's shop and had the BEST time and took this quilt along to try a little FMQ demo (don't know why I agreed to do an FMQ demo because I don't have a clue!!!... anyway)

The lovely Jenny (who doesn't have a blog but is Sarah Narcoleptic in a Cupboard's Mum) and Katy both had a wee go at quilting this too, and doesn't it look lovely??? I think they look like scribbly daisies :)

I really really love this quilt! I love that 10 women from all over the world made blocks for it, and 3 Scottish women had a hand in quilting it. The backing and binding were donated by the lovely, generous Jo who blogs at A Life in Lists, and has a gorgeous  Etsy shop. She offered fabric to charity quilters for free and refused to to take money for postage! She reckons she sent me a "pile of crap", but look Jo, look at how lovely your "pile of crap" makes this quilt top!!! :)

This lovely quilt, and it's predecessor are destined for Project Linus, in Glagow in Scotland. I think they will end up finding new homes with children who are attending my local Children's hospital. I really hope they brighten up a difficult time in a child's life (and the life of the child's family)

I had a couple of days down at my Mum's too and it was lovely. It looked a bit like this

and this

and this :)

oh to be 8 years old! :)

Fiona x