The Single Girl...

A couple of years ago Katy, Nova and Megan ran a Quilt Along to make Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl Quilt. I jumped in with both feet, and made 2 cushions and a quilt top

One cushion was sent to a partner in the Pillow Talk Swap, the other belongs to my youngest boy and keeps his bum comfy while he's watching TV. The quilt top has been sitting in a bag at the bottom of my wardrobe since February 2011 because it is so big I just couldn't face basting it. 

I did come across it in November last year and told myself I really should get it finished, but it ended up back in the bag in the wardrobe.

Fast forward to last week when the lovely Emily announced that she was going to start offering a basting service! How exciting!!!! A couple of emails later and my Single Girl quilt top is going to head down to Emily's so she can work her magic and then send it back to me all ready for quilting!

I've pieced a backing and I'm getting wadding sent down to Emily too and I can't wait to finally get this thing basted! It's so exciting when bloggy pals think up brilliant schemes to make life easier! :)

Happy Monday

Fiona x

Scrappy Trippin'

Last week I was seized by the urge to start a Scrappy Trip quilt using some American Jane jelly roll strips that the lovely Laura sent me a while back. I had been resisting the Scrappy-Trip-Along Fever that gripped Instagram and Flickr a wee while back, and I was actually in the middle of doing something else when I came upon the jelly roll strips. Anyway, one thing lead to another and before I knew it I had 4 scrappy trip blocks that I made using this tutorial.

Once I got a grip of myself again I realised that a whole big quilt using this pattern in this fabric just isn't for me, and I decided to make a baby quilt instead. I added a few borders and some straight line quilting, and then just a teeny wee touch of hand quilting in green perle to the white borders.

I used some of the remaining jelly roll strips to make a scrappy binding which I stitched down by hand one evening and voila! A very bright and happy baby quilt :)

I've popped the quilt into my little Etsy shop, before I decide that I need to have another baby just so I can use this quilt. If you're interested, you can find it here.

Fabric used is American Jane's ABC123 for Moda plus some scraps
Backing is a lovely American Jane print from Snippets that the lovely Gertie sent me :)
Wadding is Warm and Natural (NOT the easiest to hand quilt!)
The quilt measures approx 39" x 39"

Happy Tuesday!

Fiona x

Well Hello

I'm just popping in to say Hello as I seem to be slowly sinking under a pile of fabric, half-finished projects and coursework and it feels like ages since I wrote a blog post!

My course is going really well and I'm managing to juggle kids, work, coursework and fit in a little bit of sewing, but blogging seems to be a step to far a lot of the time. But I've just arrived home from work to an empty house (well almost, Murphy was the welcoming committee) and thought I'd pop in here and show a little of what I've been up to :)

For years I've been wanting to make this quilt from the Moda Bake Shop. I just think it's brilliant! Recently the lovely Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting asked some friends to help her out and make some little quilts to help show off the lovely fabric she stocks in her shop. I decided that it was the perfect chance to make that baby quilt.

While I was waiting for the fabric I'd chosen to come into stock I just couldn't wait to make that quilt so I made a girlie version using my very precious charm pack of Wonderland by Momo for Moda. The lovely Emily had tipped me off about where I could find some Hopdot from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane and it arrived when I was thinking about background fabric. I think it's a match made in Heaven!

The prairie points are really easy to make and I think they just make this quilt so lively and fun! This quilt is now listed for sale in my Etsy shop in case anybody is interested :)

The fabric from Cindy has now arrived, and I think I will have a wee play about with that until my noise-makers return from a family party :)


Happy weekend!
Fiona x

I think there's a chance spring might be here!

Springy-licious!

The sun is out and I'm planning my next big project! I can't wait to unravel that jelly roll!

Happy Tuesday!
Fiona x

16 patch quilt block tutorial

This is a quick tutorial showing how to make a fast and easy 16 patch quilt block.

To make one 12.5" unfinished block you need  2 contrasting fabrics. Cut each fabric into 2 strips each measuring at least 14" x 3.5"

Lay your strips out so they are ordered dark, light, dark, light. Sew the strips together with a 1/4" seam, pressing to the dark fabric.

Cross cut into strips measuring 3.5" wide.

Flip the 2nd and 4th strips to give a chequerboard effect.

Sew the strips together, again using a 1/4" seam. You should find that your seams nest perfectly because you pressed to the dark fabric.

Press all seams in one direction and admire your pretty block! I found this really fast and addictive and ended up making 4 blocks in about half an hour because I couldn't stop myself!

Note. This block works best when you use a dark value fabric and a light value fabric. There needs to be a good contrast between the two.

This tutorial is for the Together Circle of do.Good Stitches, but if anybody else finds it useful I'd love to see what you make!

Fiona x

do.Good Stitches in the UK

I'm just popping in here quickly to let you know that Rachel of Stitched in Color is forming a new circle of do.Good Stitches that will be based in the UK.

I've been involved with do.Good Stitches for more than 2 years now and I think it's a great way to do a little bit for some very worthy causes. I've got to know some lovely people in the time I've been in the Joy Circle and we've made some beautiful quilts that have hopefully brought a bit of comfort when it's needed.

If anybody is interested in finding out more you can visit the main Flickr group here, or have a look at this blog post from Rachel last year. Rachel is looking for active Flickr-users who enjoy a modern quilt style.  Those that are interested can register here.

I think a UK based circle is brilliant, as we can keep postage costs down and make quilts that will be donated to local communities. If anybody has any questions about it, I will do my best to answer :)

Fiona x

PS. Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last post! I haven't replied to any of you yet, but I will :)

Finished Orbit QAL

I've finished a quilt! I showed the progress I'd made in the Orbit QAL that Lindsey of LR Stitched is running a week or two ago and now I've managed to finish!

I quilted it using a spiral pattern with my walking foot. I drew the start of the spiral with a pencil and started quilting from the centre. I hadn't thought through the logistics of quilting a spiral and realised after one circle round that I was going to end up with almost the whole quilt in the throat as I got near the edges because of the direction I'd drawn my spiral. So I ripped it out and started again, drawing my spiral in the opposite direction this time.

Above is a picture of the easier direction in case anyone is thinking of doing a spiral.

I really like this quilting pattern, although I got a bit bored and started spacing my lines further apart as I moved out to speed up the quilting a bit. But I quite like the way it looks now.

After a consultation with my 9 year old son, I was advised that the binding should be smooth and soft like his favourite quilt (aka my favourite quilt that I never get a chance to use because he has adopted it)

 So I used some Anna Maria Horner Voile to bind it. I have to give my boy his due. He knows what he is talking about when it comes to binding a quilt, and I LOVE this binding! It doesn't quite match any of the colours in the quilt and I think that makes it look better. The backing is an IKEA print I got for £2.85 a metre - bargain!!!

I tried to get photos of it on Friday when I finished but a certain rascal had other ideas!

My new quilt is now crumpled, covered in dog hair and what looks like chocolate, after a weekend of keeping my 3 little folk warm, and that's just the way I like it :) I'm going to let the kids and Murphy decide who it belongs to now ;)

Happy Monday!
Fiona x