She likes dogs ... and girly colours!

That's what my friend said when I asked her about what style of quilt our God-daughter would like for her 18th birthday! 

I found some lovely dog fabric online and it inspired the colour choices for the rest of the fabrics:

I made this block and then just built around it:

Friends know I am challenged by straight line quilting - whether, it's me, my machine, the way I baste (spray not pin)?? Who knows ... but I gave it a go on this one using my zig-zag stitch. I put my gloves on, I went slow, I gripped (and it hurt my shoulder!) This was what happened with the walking foot on:

But it didn't happen when I just had the ordinary foot on?? Go figure ... so I quilted it without the walking foot, persevered and after a glass (or 2!) of the white stuff:

And using both my chins:

It was done ... Phew!

Finished sewing the label on this afternoon and took a few garden photos:

I love it! I think she will too ... dogs and girly colours she has! Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Gifts for dear niece for her new home :)

We live in London and our family live in Chester (a 4 hours drive) and North Wales (a 6 hours drive) so when I have gifts for family that need finishing, and I run out of time in the week, I know I have a good few hours on the car journey to get them done! (Thanks DH for driving!) Which was just as well as we were driving to Chester today and I still hadn't finished the binding on the table runner and 4 table mats I was making for dear niece.

Forgive the leg shot but I was trying to find a comfortable position! I'm sure every bump in the road made me miss a stitch:

I had finished her cushions at home during the week:

We were expected for pre-dinner drinks at 6pm and I was still stitching at 5.50pm! But I did it and 'girly' (dear niece) was over the moon! She had chosen the fabric herself the last time we were home but was still so very surprised and pleased when I took her gifts out of the bag and instructed her to 'close her eyes and open her hands'. She 'whooped' and did a happy dance :) Doesn't that make it all the more worthwhile?

Here are the cushions in situ in her bedroom:

One of the table mats - front and back:

The back of the runner and mats:

And the table runner and mats in their full glory:

Have said it before and will say it again; you can buy stuff in the shops that is cheaper and (perhaps?) better made but there really is no substitute for hand-made, unique, time-donated, lovingly-made gifts ... and her face was a picture (though she wouldn't let me take it!) Worth every minute that went into making these special things for her :)

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

Speedy Scrappy Sunday :)

What a busy weekend! Friday night after work, DH and I had a fabby night out at the theatre seeing Shakespeare's finest comedy - A Midsummer Night's Dream. Starring the sublime David Walliams and Sheridan Smith, it was a very good play:

Yesterday, I free motion quilted Mandy's lap quilt and straight-line quilted dear niece's table runner and mats ... just some binding to hand sew on the runner and mats and Mandy's label to be attached and these will be finished:

The lovely Jennie over at Porch Swing Quilts (one of my loyal followers) and I have been emailing each other after she left this comment on my scraps post: 

The birdcage of pink scraps is perfection.

I'm hopeless with scraps. I know in my head I need to make a scrappy quilt, but I also can't wrap my brain around truly scrappy ones. I might force myself to do one or two or ten next year. My OCD little self will have to shush in order for that to happen!

We've decided to 'challenge' each other to use up our scraps and Jennie suggested an idea from Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts - please pop over and see her post from Friday. So this morning, I made a start on my blue scraps and decided it would be that scrappy that all I needed was my scraps, a pair of scissors and my finger (to press!):

This was so quick! Like Jennie, I could never relinquish control to complete randomness so I did give a little bit of thought to choosing the fabrics but I just kept adding and adding:

... until it was about a 7" square, then I pressed it and trimmed it down and voila:

Thirty minutes later, I had done three more! Am going to stop now ... I think my Sunday mornings will be my scrappy quilt time from now on as these blocks really do come together so quickly. And I have LOTS of scraps to use up :) I wonder what Jennie's blocks will look like? 

And to cap it all, I have signed up for a 'low volume charm swap' that Rachael over at The Floral Suitcase is organising. I haven't taken part in a swap before and I don't have any suitable low volume fabric ... I'll just have to go shopping ... YAY!!

The early bird ...

... catches an extra few hours sewing and makes a cushion and finishes a Pants Bag! Well, if you wake up at 0615 on your day off, you might as well get up and make the most of it :)

Remember the lovely Katheen over at Crabbit Quilter gifted me her pink scraps:

I had such fun rummaging through them and deciding what to do with them. Then I remembered seeing this scrappy Pillow over at Red Pepper Quilts. Perfect. So, I adapted it a little to fit my 18" cushions and cut 56 x 1 3/4" x 4 3/4" strips. It sewed together really quickly :) Then I decided to give the straight line quilting another go. I used a Hera Marker to 'draw' lines 2" apart:

and quilted it with raspberry cotton:

This is the back. Not too shabby, hey?

And the front ... ta-daaaaaaa:

Love it. And I get to keep it ... it's for meeeeee:) And, although I had to twist her arm, Kathleen agreed to me making her a Pants Bag as a thank you! I blogged about choosing my colours and paper-piecing the 'jewel' in the week here. Paper piecing is quite tricky (well, it is for a novice like me) so I only made a jewel on one side.

Here is the finished Pants Bag: 

and a little bonus pocket on the inside:

I'll pop it in the post tomorrow, Kathleen ... hope you like it :)

"Happiness"

Showing off this finish over at Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday :)

"Happiness" is the name I've given to this jelly roll quilt that I finished at 11pm last night :) and I've just been outside in the blowy spring wind to take some photos and I am feeling the happiness today!

In fact, I started feeling happy when I first touched this jelly roll (Me and My Sister - Good Morning) after it was posted to me from the very lovely and talented Carla over at Creatin' in the Sticks. I had won it in her giveaway and when it arrived on the 23rd February (with lots of other loveliness), I just knew I was going to make something special with it.

I have blogged quite a bit about making this quilt and it feels like I've been working on it for months but I actually only started cutting and sewing on the 13th March ... and, at that point, I had NO idea how much work it would entail! The pattern, 'Stormy Weather' is from this book by mother and daughter team, Pam and Nicky Lintott. It's very doable - I suppose I'd class myself as an 'intermediate' quilter (whatever that means) so it wasn't that it was particularly challenging but there are a lot of 4 1/2" units to cut and sew and a million seams to match up!

As soon as I made my first block, I just knew this was going to be a bright and happy quilt - perfect for the couple I was making it for! This is a wedding gift and they don't know I've made this for them ... Lisa (my perfect best friend - pbf) doesn't read my blog so it will still be a surprise when I hand this over ... I hope!

By 18th March, all the individual 4 1/2" units were cut and sewn together, waiting to become blocks:

And on Good Friday, I finally finished piecing the front and back ... yay! And on to the quilting. Now, here's where it got tricky :) I only FMQ as I can't do straight line quilting. Well, I can do straight lines but I get 'bunching' (when quilting squares) in the corners and 'folds' in the top material all the time even with a walking foot. Don't know why, so I only do straight lines on cushions and iPad Cases and just stick to what I'm good at used to on my quilts.

But this quilt was just asking for some straight lines so I went for it. I won't lie ... I didn't like it ... I felt the quilt was fighting me all the time and do you know how many knots I had to bury because all the stops and starts were 'inside' the quilt? 72! And it took me 2 hours :(

But that was Saturday. Yesterday, things went better. I tried love hearts and loopy links in the borders and, whilst not perfect, I think they turned out okay and very fitting for a wedding quilt, don't you think?

And them centre stars were looking just a bit 'empty' so I filled them with ... wait for it ... yes, you guessed: my tried and testing stippling and each star only took 3 minutes to quilt:

Yes, if I had just stippled all over, it would have still looked lovely and been finished in a fraction of the time but then it wouldn't have been as special and I wouldn't have learnt anything. I will persevere with the straight line quilting - I really like the mixture of pattern and texture it has given:

And the label? I had some 'spare' units left over for some reason I so sewed a couple together. I finished this on the 31st March but I wrote April 2013, to reflect the month my friends will get it:

And my favourite part ... the binding! I love love love ... seriously love doing binding - every bit of it - making all 280", machine sewing to the front and hand sewing on the back and how cute is the black and white spot :) 

So I'm happy about lots of things:

• Meeting my pbf 6 years ago, I am so thankful for our friendship
• And that she is marrying a wonderful man 
• And that we'll see them getting married next month ... in Sweden!!!
• 'Finding' Carla, who gives me so much support and laughs at my jokes
• And winning her giveaway
• Learning new skills 
• And conquering a demon (well, me and straight line quilting will never be pbfs!)
• Creating something so special in just a few weeks
• And having the luxury of a 4-day weekend at home, giving me time to quilt
• And for being 'good enough' at this brilliant hobby - OMG, how lucky am I??
• And for having the most wonderful husband who lets me disappear in the loft to sew for hours and hours, never grumbles and always takes an interest (and even helps me baste!)

Quilt Facts: "Happiness" for Lisa and Richard

Time from start to finish - 2 weeks, 4 days but most done in the last 3 days! 

Size - 70" x 55"

Fabric - Moda Good Morning Jelly Roll, Makower black and lilac spots, Makower Swirls (white) 

Backing - Moda Good Morning Jelly Roll - Floral Super Flower, Positively Purple and Makower lilac spots

Binding - folded 2 1/4" Makower black spot

 xx

I did it! I sewed in a zip :)

Hooray, hooray, hooray - and more cheers, please  ... for I am a happy little sewer - is that the right word; best I check. Ewwww, obviously, I am referring to the last bullet-pointed meaning!!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,

Sewer may refer to:

• Part of sewerage, the infrastructure that conveys sewage
• Effluent sewer, a collection system that transports only the liquid portion of wastewater through small-diameter pipes laid at contour
• Sanitary sewer, a system of pipes used to transport human waste
• Storm drain, a collection and transportation system for storm water
• Combined sewer, a system performing both the functions of a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer
• Sewer, one who does sewing

Yesterday at 0900 hours, I was the first through the doors of my local craft store to buy some 9" zips. Zips? Me? I never use zips ... I don't even know how to use a zipper foot! That may sound a bit lame but I've never had to and, to be honest, I thought it would be way too difficult and would be one of those things I just never got round to doing.

I wanted to make an iPad case for my Aunty's birthday and most of the patterns out there called for the use of a zip. So, to the trusty Google search engine and thanks to Sewing Parts Online for this little gem, I now know which one of those 'spare bits of metal' is my zipper foot, how to fix it on and how to use it.

Next, and another search led me to the very glamorous Debbie Shore at Thimble Lane and her YouTube tutorial on sewing this zipped make up bag. It was so easy to follow - the only difference was I quilted my outside pieces. I even did straight line quilting - it was okay (though, I think I'll still struggle with this when doing something quilt sized): 

Then, following Debbie's clear instructions, within 30 minutes, I had made my first iPad (zipped-up) Case:

Isn't she lovely? Look at that cute label! Aren't those my favourite colours? Oh oh ... I'm in trouble :) She is lovely and pink! I want to keep it for meeeeeee! What's a girl to do? The only thing a girl can do ... Yep, keep your 'first born' and make another one! Here's Aunty's:

Later in the day, my friend (and #1 Fan!) came visiting and fell in love so now I just had to make her one too! She picked her own fabrics and ... ta da, here's number 3:

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED making these - wish everyone had an iPad so I could make some more!

Hey, I know it's not on a par with inventing penicillin, landing on the moon or conquering Everest but it was my greatest achievement yesterday! And I'm still crowing about it today :D

Aunty Monika loved hers and we all had a great St Patrick's Day lunch this afternoon with the friendliest Landlords Sean and Sue, at The Fordwich Arms (near Canterbury, Kent) - here's a picture of me wearing the obligatory Guinness hat to prove it:

Hope you had (or are having) a wonderful weekend and I'd love to hear about your sewing achievements :)