Loving my hobby :)

Thank goodness for an understanding husband - who gets me. The last few weekends, I have been a demon quilter and have spent hours and hours in my sewing room. He hasn't complained once. He helps me choose fabrics. He helps me baste quilts. He holds up quilts whilst I take their pictures. Love him x

And tonight, he helped me pick the winner of my birthday giveaway:

Congratulations commenter #9 Shauna @ lovinquiltin ... I shall be in touch soon about your prizes :)

Here's a few photos of what I worked on over the weekend:

Can't wait to get home tomorrow and start working on my next project - thank you all for sharing your great ideas and for your lovely birthday wishes ... I don't know yet which pattern to go with. But I'm looking forward to cutting into these: 

Linking up with Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts

Siblings Together ... Finished Quilt :)

This has been a labour of love. I will be making another one of these quilts for DH who has been really taken by the bold colours. These blocks are a dream to make - no real measuring until you square them up to 7.5" (as I did) and is a great scrap-buster. What's been extra special for me is all the memories the little scraps brought back as I remembered the friends and family for whose gifts the material had been used for.

I had some special help when Fran @ PatchyRose and 'my adopted niece' came to stay a few weeks back:

I only had to buy fabric for the sashing and backing - and I chose this gorgeous butterfly fabric ... I thought the symbolism of  butterflies very apt for the charity I have made the quilt for - Siblings Together - "Interpreting animal symbolism is a powerful way to connect with nature, and learn lessons from her creatures - lessons that we can apply to our own lives. Observing the butterfly and learning her symbolic meanings offers us an opportunity to apply her movements to our own lives. For example, we can relate the butterfly's stages of life to our own life-phases...growing pains, times of ravenous hunger, times of vulnerability, moments of miraculous expansion."

Siblings Together is a UK charity - they aim to help young people in care initiate and continue to have contact with their siblings, helping them to develop strong family bonds and above all achieve an independent and positive place in society supported by their sibling relationships.

See this post for this year's quilt drive and the reasons why we've all been happily making blocks and quilts. 

And some photos just taken in our garden - it's going to rain later so I'm thankful for the little bit of sunshine we've had:

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Don't forget to enter my birthday giveaway! Happy weekend x

Birthday giveaway :)

I had a wonderful birthday! I'm so blessed with great family and friends and they all made me feel very cherished - IG and Facebook messages, texts, phone calls, cards, gifts and great company throughout the day ... it doesn't get much better, hey? 

DH and I went out during the day. I had an ice cream on the beach AND we even found a friendly little quilting shop - Tailor Made - totally unplanned ... honest!

Today, I finished my new sewing machine accessories using these fabulous fabrics gifted to me from the lovely Carla @ creatin in the sticks:

See this post for some of the techniques I used. The sewing machine mat is so handy - I keep my seam rippers, scissors, tape measures in the pockets so I always know where they are:

The cover keeps all that yucky dust off my darling Juki when she's sleeping:

And the little bag is for all my leaders and enders:

Here's it all together:

So here's my giveaway. I need to make a quilt for our God-daughter's 18th birthday (and for her to take to University later this year) and here are my main fabrics - I'll probably add some pinks:

I need some ideas. What block would you choose? Leave me a comment below and I will put everyone's name into a draw on Wednesday night (7pm UK time). Your prize is - I will make you a sewing mat - you choose it's size and colours - and I will add some co-ordinating fabrics for you to make the other accessories (if you want to or you can just keep the fabrics).

Have a lovely weekend :)

Lots of stuff ... :)

I really am a happy little quilter at present. I'm feeling so creative and productive ... if I didn't have to stop for work, I would quilt the world, I'm sure! 

Last weekend, I finally started quilting my 'soldier's quilt':

And I made another scrappy zipper pouch for my friend at work:

And put borders on my Strip Bee Quilt:

And I'm turning these 4 gorgeous fat quarters gifted ages ago to me by my dear friend Carla @ creatin in the sticks:

into a sewing mat, sewing machine cover and 'enders' bag! There's nothing wrong with the old set I made:

But I'm thrilled to be making fresh stuff for the new sewing room. There's lots of tutorials out there but I just made it up as I went along this time! In essence, you're making a mini quilt with a pocket in it. You can spend as much or as little time on it as you want. 

Here's some photos I took along the way:

I have learnt to leave a good 10" when joining the binding ends in this way:

And check before you cut:

Add your pockets where you want them:

Just need to hand sew the binding down:

Do you have a sewing mat? Would you like one? It's my birthday tomorrow so I think it's only right to do a giveaway post :)

Linking up with the lovely Lorna and Lee:

144 HSTs Quilt ... a delightful finish :)

It's wonderful to be able to share another finished quilt. The top was only done at the beginning of February so not too bad really! A gift for my frolleague, my #2, who works hard, makes me laugh and loves my (quilting) work!

Inspired by a photo she sent me of the HST rug she had bought for her new conservatory, I selected mainly Makower Spraytimes, with a few Kona Solids and other plain fabrics from my stash:

Each HST was trimmed to 5.5" and pinned to within an inch of its life - still didn't give me 100% perfect points, but I can live with that:

A few more photos:

Binding - is it really like Marmite? Well, I LOVE it! 

I didn't clock how much time this took to make but Mandy asked so I tried to calculate and I would estimate at least 50 hours. She loved it! I do believe her eyes were a little moist when I gave it to her on Monday ... bless! That's why we do what we do, hey? 

Linking up with Amanda Jean and Sarah.

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy!

Yes, a happy quilter am I! I had a wonderful weekend of almost uninterrupted sewing which has made me so happy. I'm looking forward to this weekend too when I get home and start basting my 4th quilt in 3 weeks! 

I auditioned some fabrics for bed cushions for our bed:

I also started making cushions for Mum's new patio set. I used a Hera marker to show me where to quilt and a zig-zag stitch which I liked so much, I may use it on my next quilt instead of my favoured stippling. Hello Nell:

The binding is on my Siblings Together Quilt. I'm keeping the trimmed backing fabric for my next scrappy quilt and the excess batting for bag handles:

And a couple of orphan blocks from that quilt turned into a handy zipped pouch for my ID and railcards which always seem to get lost at the bottom of my handbag, followed by a 30 second crazy panic when I try to find them:

And my favourite part? More binding - 270" for my 144 HST quilt:

Will have some finishes to share on Friday! Linking up with Lorna and Lee @ Freshly Pieced.