Siblings Together Quilt - chapter 2

I'm hoping this quilt is suitable for a teen boy because I've made it for the Siblings Together charity with an older boy in mind.

     

 I drew a quick sketch of my idea and then just grabbed the fabric and started randomly sewing. This is what it all turned into :) It was so much fun to make.

I used part of a Kona Classic Charm pack and part of a Kona Classic jelly roll. The light grey sashing is Klona Ash and the main sashing is Klona dark navy. Now I need to decide how to quilt it. Any ideas?

Happy Friday - it's definitely Friday today - I double checked! ;)

Fiona x

Little things *Edited!*

 

I got some very exciting mail this week. I did a little charm pack swap with a lovely flickr friend and I'm sure I got the better end of the swap because she sent me this lovely little hard to find charm pack of Wonderland by Momo. I loved this line when it came out, but back then I didn't know that fabric went out of print, and decided I would buy this 'later' and never managed to find any.

I had also placed an order for the Zakka Style  book compiled by Rashida Coleman-Hale after Trudi tipped me over the edge of temptation with her sweet little sewing kits. I'm joing in with the Zakka Style Sew Along happening on Flickr just now.

As soon as the book arrived I got straight to work and used a teeny tiny bit of my precious Heather Ross Mendocino to make my very own little sewing kit. I made a loop and button though because I decided that ties could end up being too much temptation for a certain puppy with a very strong urge to chew anything he can get his wee paws (or jaws!) on.

Yes I'm wearing my PJs. I got soaked on the school run, and put on my PJs and slippers as soon as I got in the door :)

*** Edited to add ***
If you get a wee second it would be great if you could pop on over to the Fesival of HSTs viewers choice to take a look at the gorgeous quilts there. My friend Hadley's Constellation quilt has made it to the top 10! and it would be great if you voted for your favourite (AKA Hadley's) quilt :)

Hadley's quilt from Flickr

Happy Tuesday
Fiona x

Latest Giveaway EVER

So a while back, before Christmas, you may remember that Sew Mama Sew held a massive Giveaway event. It was loads of fun seeing all the amazing stuff that everyone was giving away. I offered up an embroidered hoop and had a fantastic response. The conditions of the event were that the prizes had to be mailed before Christmas....

No problem I thought and started stitching the hoop. Somehow in all the hubbub of Christmas the hoop got buried under a pile of stuff and I managed to get almost everything I planned to make made in time, and posted off (except a bag for my sister's Christmas present but I wrote her an IOU)

Back in February when I was tidying up I came across the Sew Mama Sew Hoop. I hadn't finished it! I hadn't sent it! I sent a grovelling email to the prize winner and she was lovely about my tardiness. I carried that hoop around with me, to work, on holidays and never managed to work on it, but it bothered me and bothered me until I cracked.

Here it is. I has taken me 5 months to make it, and in that time I think I've managed to make 7 quilts! I really don't know why it took me so long, but I'm so relieved I can finally get it mailed off to it's new owner. I can finally stop feeling guilty about not having done it! The pattern is Laundry Day by Tasha Horsley

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my circles post. A lot of people have asked me for a tutorial on how I made them, but I'm not going to do a tutorial just now. The lovely Lucie Summers will be teaching a class at the FQ retreat in June, showing how to make her gorgeous portholes, and given that I studied her photos to work out how to make something similar, it would be really unfair of me to do a tutorial. Hope you all understand :)

And just in case any of you are wondering why there have been no pictures of wee Murphy this week, it's because he won't be still enough for me to take a photo! This is how he usually looks

Or crashed out, lying on his back with his legs akimbo, showing his boy bits!

I have managed to teach him to sit now though so I was able to get a quick snap this morning

Happy Thursday!
Fiona x

Running in circles

For April in the Brit Bee the lovely Jo asked us to make any kind of block we fancied, as long as it involved circles. I pondered this for a couple of weeks, and thought about applique, drunkards paths and dresdens, but then I remembered the beautiful port-holes that Lu Summers makes, and had a bit of a puzzle about how to make them.

Here's what I can up with

I don't know if there's a better way to make them (there probably is!) but I'm pretty happy with how these came out and I hope Jo is too :)

Expect to see more of this type of thing from me. I've realised that you could make any shape and can have pieced fabric in the centre, like the blue circle at the bottom.

Too. Many. Possibilities!

The other Brit Bees have made some fantastic circley blocks, you should have a wee look

Happy Tuesday :)
Fiona x

Hopscotch in Ruby

I'm really sorry if you're all sick of the sight of my Hopscotch quilt, but I have to show it off because it's now finished and just off the washing line.

I love it! I have never made a quilt that makes my heart flutter, but this one does! I wasn't sure if I loved the Ruby line when I first saw it, but I got a jelly roll on sale and decided to give it a go in Katy's Swooning on a Hop Along QAL.

I'm so glad I did. I just love it. I loved making it, and I'm going to find it very hard to give this one away because it's sadly not for me. It's a gift for someone special. I'm going to keep it for a few weeks though and just enjoy looking at it :)

For those interested the pattern is Hopscotch by Camille Roskelley
I used a Ruby Jelly Roll, also by Camille for Moda
I used an Ivory quilting cotton, and Kona Ruby for the centre triangles and diamonds and the binding is Kona Ruby
Backing is a print from Camille's older line Bliss.

Okay, No more pictures of this quilt. Promise!
But I am going to make a version for myself :)

Fiona x

A Mini from offcuts :)

I got my Hopscotch quilt all trimmed after work last night and as I cut off the excess triangles I had a little idea. I played about with the funny shaped off cuts that were just too pretty to throw away and came up with this

I think it looks rather impressive! But it was pretty easy, involving just 1 Y seam and some binding. Y-seams can be a bit daunting, but with these Hopscotch blocks all the work is done for you because all the contrasting seams guide you.

And I've still got enough off cuts to make another :)

Back to the binding :)

Happy Wednesday
Fiona x

PS. for those of you traumatised by the sight of Murphy playing with my quilt in my last post, don't worry! He's not allowed to touch my quilts, or fabric, or sewing machine. I managed to make that mini quilt with the foot pedal on the table beside my machine, using my elbow to press it because the wee rascal took a fancy to chewing the cable!

Trying to finish Hopscotch

After seeing Laura's gorgeous Hopscotch quilt all finished earlier today I decided to try to get mine quilted. I managed the quilting in a couple of bursts while the puppy was sleeping but as soon as I put it on the floor to trim it Mr Murphy wanted to play :)

Think I better leave the trimming until later!

Happy Tuesday!
Fiona x

My Precious

The lovely Kelly has started a QAL and even though it gives me Palpitations to think about it, I'm going to join in. You can read her blog post here, and the Flickr group is here

Here is what I'm think of using

If I can be brave enough to do it, I'm going to cut up my Mendocino stash and make a big version of this mini quilt I made my mum last year

If I'm not that brave yet I'm thinking either a quilt just for me from the Recess charms I found in my LQS last week, or my random Heather Ross stash. I've been wanting to use these fabrics for ages, but can't quite bring myself to do it. What if I find a better pattern after I've cut it all up? What if I somehow destroy my precious fabric and can never ever ever get any more? What if the puppy chews it all when I'm not looking?

Actually that's a real possibility!

Happy Easter
Fiona x

Meet Murphy

Our new little puppy is here! And he's a wee cutie. We've called him Murphy :)

I made him his own little quilt last week :)

Here is what he looks like now. Crashed out after a hard day exploring and playing

Happy Thursday!
Fiona x

Snow in April?

We're on holiday just now. We've come up to my in-laws holiday house in Aviemore (North of Scotland) After last week's unseasonably warm weather I didn't believe the weather forecast when it told me it would snow. How could it? It was glorious last week! I did pack the kids' snowboots just in case, and a couple of jumpers, but that's about as far as I went. My poor children were out buiding a snowman this morning wearing socks on their hands because their fool of a mother didn't pack gloves!

Their fool of a mother has not set foot outside today and is cosied up on the sofa playing with hexagons :)

2 more sleeps until puppy day!!!

Fiona x