The absolute joy of quilting ...

I opened my blog to tell you about a Star Wars character quilt I'm making as a 21st birthday gift when I remembered I hadn't post about the FOUR quilts I've made so far this year ... Oops!

It's why I love my hobby - you get to make such a variety of quilts, bags, table mats, etc etc. And the first two months of the year have been creatively perfect for me and busy!

I take my inspiration from all over but for this quilt, my god-daughter's Mum sent me a photo of her bedroom:

And instead of keeping it simple - which would have been fine - I drew a stag on graph paper and decided to surround him with improv / geometric blocks ... as you do! It took some time and a lot of Kona Solid greys and was a biggie (for me) to free motion quilt but I got there in the end:

One of my best friends from school is 50 this year and so she just had to have a quilt too. She loves the colour blue ... I had a Moda charm pack and thought about cutting each square in half to make it go further ... and found an image on Google which I thought would be perfect ... 

I used some blender yardage I had in my stash and a little bit of vintage fabric and added some hearts in the corners of the borders for a bit of interest. Was so lovely to hand it over in person:

And the back:

I know many quilters extol the virtues (and patience) of their husbands / partners ... mine really is a saint! AND he helps me baste my quilts ... he has been asking for a quilt of his own for a few of the 7 years I've been quilting and his patience finally paid off. Along the way, the blocks decorated my sewing room walls for a few months though: 

Made entirely from scraps, the rainbow blocks contained all his favourite colours. He arranged the layout and chose the colour of the sashing and I think you can tell he was happy to finally get it:

And finally a 'proper girly' quilt. Made for hubby's cousin in Miami, she chose the colours - pink, blue, lavender and I designed a pattern to fit:

Another biggie to free motion quilt but lots of fun to make:

And now I can carry on with Bobba Fett!

Loving my quilting at the moment - hope you are too X

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Finished Siblings Together Quilt :)

9th April, I posted this on my IG feed:

I honestly came back in here to tidy up ... now I'm seeing #fabricscraps #stashbusting2016 for a boy's #siblingstogetherquilts #siblingstogether #quilt 💙 I need help 🙏🏻🤔😂

And so it continued. These 20 X 12.5" 'improv' blocks totally made from blue, black and grey fabric scraps were an absolute joy to make. There was no real rhyme nor reason to how they evolved but I tried not to cut into the scraps too much. So if I picked up a larger piece of fabric than I needed, I put it to one side until it was a perfect fit:

I used my walls and washi tape as a design wall:

... and decided to sash the blocks with red Makower Spraytime adding a friendship star at each joint:

Here it was before quilting: 

And all finished - about 55" X 65": 

Made two more blocks to accompany the perfect backing fabric I found online (thank you Fabric Guild for posting so quickly) 

And last night I finished hand sewing the binding and added the label:

This will be in the post on Monday. I really hope the young boy? who gets this at camp this summer enjoys the 3D 'crazy' quilt I've made him.

A reminder why I, and many others, support this fabulous charity: 

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict and the Siblings Together Quilt blog:

Happy weekend X 

Scrap busting to make way for new fabric!!

I have had the best birthday weekend and I want to thank you all in Blogland and on my IG account for your birthday wishes. The winner of my birthday giveaway was Anu in Finland and she chose the pouch and tissue holder so my friend Kate gets the Pants Bag for her birthday tomorrow! (The log cabin pouch is an iPad case for me!) 

Giving really is as much fun as receiving:

Speaking of receiving, as well as some perfume and little bits and pieces, DH got me this wonderful stash of fabric from Craftsy:

The top 4 yards are Blueberry Park by Karen Lewis, the smaller two are Cotton and Steel and the 17 fat quarters are 'sweet petites' by Michael Miller. 

I feel very blessed not only to have all that new loveliness to play with but to have a husband who truly gets my obsession hobby and doesn't moan about all the time (and money!) I spend on quilting ... thanks Nick X  

As if that wasn't enough, I also received these gorgeous birthday gifts from my very kind and talented friends Fran and Maja. From Fran, a mini Pants Bag:

And from Maja, two delightful little pouches:

And on to my scrap busting because I need more space! I am continuing the theme of my scrappy Siblings Together quilt by using up more blue scraps for the backing. Not sure exactly how this will turn out yet! And I pulled some drawers and bins of other colours and have started on some log cabin duet blocks. Again, no idea where this is going!

I used to trim my scraps but find grouping them by colour now is more productive to me than by size - that way if I see two pieces of a similar colour, I pick the one closest to the size I want, thus saving the bigger piece for another project on another day. My scraps are kept in drawers, bins and a birdcage:

More scraps were used up in this 20.5" block for Nicky @mrssewandsew who is the queen of Siblings Together quilt making, bless her:

Linking up with Molli Sparkles showing off my new fabric and sharing my scrap-busting with Cynthia @quiltingismorefunthanhousework 

Can't help but play with fabric scraps :D

Since pulling all the blue and grey scraps out for my Siblings Together quilt, I cannot seem to stop touching my fabric scraps! What's strange is the more I use up, the more I seem to make! 

Today, I have made a few gifts all from scraps. Firstly, I look at the fabric colours and sizes and that helps me to decide on a design / object. Also I find great inspiration from the Internet and other quilters. This block was inspired by Cathy's quilt:

All made from pink scraps and white leftover binding strips. I needed a new iPad cover and now I have one:

It's my birthday tomorrow (and St George's Day) and also my friend Kate's on Monday so I decided to make some gifts for Kate and as a giveaway! I raided the red bucket and made an open wide zipped pouch (great tutorial by @Noodlehead):

The large glass of bubbles was for scale but did get drunk eventually! Then I made a Pants Bag (so called because when I travel, I don't like putting my drawers in other people's drawers so I can just keep my pants in a bag hanging up!):

And here they all are together with a tissue holder I made too:

Would you like the Pants Bag or the open wide zipped pouch and tissue holder? Leave me a comment saying which (giveaway open for 24 hours only) and I shall then pick a winner. I will also offer this on my Instagram account tomorrow and will announce the winner on Sunday. 

As I was tidying up, I just couldn't but help touch some more scraps and quickly made these two log cabin blocks in no time - not sure what to do with them yet:

Have a great weekend - I know I will!

Linking up to Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

Scrappy Quilt ...

I made a start on this quilt top before bedtime last Saturday and cracked on with it on Sunday; I was on a roll and finished it today ... am thrilled! 

My post earlier in the week linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday showed the beginnings:

Once all 20 blocks were made (totally from scraps), I concentrated on the sashing and added 1.5" strips with 1.5" squares for the friendship stars:

Aren't they cute? Am so pleased with their '3D effect' (thanks for that, DH x)  that I think I will use this method again. And here he is - my finished quilt top, ready for me to baste and quilt: 

This will be my second of three quilts for this year's quilt drive for the charity Siblings Together. A reminder of why we do this:

I love this craft; I love my hobby, I really do. 

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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