Retro Butterflies!

The last of my classes finished last night!

Aren't these butterflies so pretty!  This was a great class and the ladies totally rose to the 'curve' challenge!  Well done ladies - enjoy your gorgeous quilts.

The Retro butterflies quilt pattern is an original design by Leanne, who gave me permission to write the pattern. 

If you would like to have a go at this gorgeous pattern yourself, you can get it here!

And the pattern for the multi-pocketed sewing pouch is available here!

I'm off now for a week on annual leave. A much needed rest before the summer classes and the new Autumn term.

Have a great week everyone!

Jude xo

Sneaked Up On Me!

I now have 3 teenage girls!  Eeeek!

My baby turned 13 today!  When/how did that happen!

Here she is obliging mummy taking photos of the homemade pressies!

First up, a simple top:

I made my own bias binding for the neckline!!

Then a specially requested beach bag:



Bethany choose the bright fabric from Ikea, and I sourced the mesh on Ebay and then just made it up as I went along!  There are lots of pockets for all the accoutrements one takes to the beach, a zippered top and I lined it with a recycled shower curtain.

A few bags of sweets might just have made there way in there!

And finally a newly designed lunch bag.  The bag is made with waterproofed Irish linen and lined with an Ikea shower curtain. There's even an elasticated drinks holder on the inside!  Bethany totally loved it!

Unfortunately, she won't be able to try out her new lunch bag until September, as schools finish here tomorrow for the summer!

And if you want to see what big sister Shannon made her, go here.

So that's another successful birthday this week!  Phew!

Have a good one!

Jude xo

Little Pretties!

Thank you everyone for all your lovely birthday wishes! I'm so touched by the thoughtfulness and love shared among this 'quilty' community!

Classes are starting to wind down this week, and it's always lovely to show you some finishes.

Here are the Sewing Pouch class finishes:

And the Metal and Flex Framed purses class finishes:

Well done ladies!  I hope you enjoy your new pretties!

And tomorrow I will have some birthday makes to show you!

Hope you are having a great week.

Jude xo

Bitter Sweet!

This week is a particularly painful first anniversary for me.

But today, I've been celebrating!

A huge thank you to all my amazing family and friends for your unending love and care, and for making this birthday a lot less bitter and a lot more sweet!

Jude xo

Saw II

I'm so enjoying my garden at the moment!

The colours are wonderful ....

...and the fruit and veg are coming along nicely!

But there was one part of the garden that I haven't tackled yet!  Today was the day!

Ah there's nothing quite like the feel of a power tool! So satisfying (even though I was terrifying my kids in the process!).

Not bad eh?

And with all fingers and toes still intact (!!) I whipped up a journal cover for youngest daughter's friend.

Fabrics chosen and cover design by Bethany!

So a fairly productive day I'd say!

Hope you've had a great Saturday!

Jude xo

Lucky Duck!

The lucky winner of my Fabric Yard Stash builder giveaway is .............

No. 6 is Teje, my lovely bloggy friend in Greece!

Congratulations Teje! I will have your goodies in the post this week!

Thank you everyone for taking part.  Sadly half of you who entered were 'no comment bloggers' and didn't leave email addresses, so there was no way of getting in touch with you.

And thank you too to Fabric Yard for the generous giveaway!

I am hatching another giveaway plan soon, so stay tuned, and get your blog settings sorted so that you are eligible to enter!

Jude xo

Hot! Hot! Hot!

It's been deliciously warm here recently!

I even got the bare legs out today!

But what I've been working on recently hasn't exactly been summery!

These are hot water bottle covers for part of a Gifts course I'll be running in the Autumn!

Shannon very kindly made me some grey and yellow QAYG panels and I constructed the cover.

This one is an Irish linen and Heather Ross mix - always a winning combo IMO!

Using up leftover fleece from a quilt backing

And finally, a fleecy number!  So snuggly!

All of these covers have Insul Bright wadding inside to make sure they retain the heat for those cold winter evenings!

So it was hot inside and out after working on these!

Some of you on IG have very kindly expressed an interest in the pattern for these.  Thank you, I'm tickled pink!  But I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the Autumn, but I will post about here when it's ready!

Hope you are getting some sunshine in your neck of the woods!

Jude xo

A Great Read!

If you haven't already seen this brilliant magazine yet, then you need to get your mitts on one!

It is one of the best P&Q magazines I have seen for a while.  I love the layout, the style and presentation of the mag.  And what's more, I personally know many of the talented contributors and can vouch for their amazing designs and quality sewing!

 

Susan's Sewing Machine cover

Each magazine is packed full of inspiring ideas and makes!

Jo's stunning feathers

You won't be disappointed!

Why not try 3 issues for only £5 by going to www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/LPQ31V

Terms & Conditions: This offer is for new UK print subscribers paying by direct debit only. You will receive 13 issues in a year.  For full terms and conditions click here.

Go on!  You know you want to!

Jude xo

A While Ago...

.... I finished a quilt and cushion commission for my mum's bestie!

The lovely lady in question reads my blog (waving to C!) & has now received her pressie, so now I can show you what I made her!

C chose the French General layer cake, quickly eliminated the dark browns, which left me scratching my head for a suitable design.

Granny squares seemed appropriate, and with a little extra yardage thrown in, the lap quilt came together lovely, with some leftover squares for a matching cushion!

I did however sneak the rejected 'browns' into the back!

 
So glad you like your quilt C!  Enjoy!

And if you haven't signed up yet for my Stash Builder Giveaway, go here!

Jude xo

For the Boys!

To enter my Stash Builder Giveaway go here!

Today was our last Bee Blessed get together before the summer break!

The Plus quilt top (kindly donated by Katie) was quilted and the binding attached.

Shannon got a wonky cross quilt made for a boy of 10.

And for his little brother, she got the asterisk blocks sewn together (with a few leftover blocks added in) and today I quilted it.

These 2 quilts will be donated this week to these boys whose family lost their home in a fire.



And some of our spare blocks which have been donated and made over the past 2 years have been quilted up and will be on their way to Alison this week for her Soy Amado project.

There was of course lots of other important activities happening at Bee Blessed today (eating homemade lemon cake being one of them!). 

Thank you for all your lovely scrappy bow ties that have come in so far.  Please feel free to continue making them over the summer, we would love to have them ready for when we get back together in September.

Jude xo

Stash Builder Giveaway!

Fancy a wee giveaway?

How about 8 delicious fat quarters from Fabric Yard!

Aren't they lovely!  Well lucky for you, Alice is having a summer sale this weekend, so pop on over to her website and have a browse.  Then come back to my blog and leave me a comment telling me what fabrics you would like to buy and for what project!

Alice has a brilliant selection of fabrics and if they don't tempt you, then her £1 flat rate shipping within the UK just might!

The giveaway is open to international readers too, and I'll draw the winner on Wednesday 18th June.

I won't be able to reply to all your comments this time, and if you are a 'no reply comment' blogger, you must also leave your email address with your comment.  Otherwise your entry cannot be included.

Best of luck everyone!

Jude xo

Lunch Bags!

You may remember last week I was working on some lunch bags for a class in the Autumn.

It took this many prototypes to decide on just the right size and proportions!

And when I did there was no stopping me!

There are 2 shapes here:  An easier construction ...

 ...and a slightly more involved, boxy construction:

I played around a bit with handles and closures and decided the snap poppers were the best.

You can also see I experimented with different fabrics, oilcloth, linen, denim, deco weight.  And to make them 'cool bag' like, I used Insul Bright Heat Resistant Wadding on the inside.

Oilcloth definitely adds a level of difficulty to the construction and I used wipeable fabrics for the lining, which also requires some patience!

Recycled machine washable shower curtains are great here!

But mainly I had lots of fun playing around with some of my favourite free motion sketching!

This will be a Saturday workshop in the Autumn term, and I'm hoping the ladies who come will enjoy making these as much as I did!

Jude xo

Stash Building

I spent a lovely weekend by the sea with some great friends!

We took a break from eating and chatting to visit the lovely Alice (Fabric Yard) and drool over her gorgeous fabrics!

Here are my purchases (yes you are seeing Christmas fabrics there!) with a little jar of lovelies I picked up in The French Rooms, Bushmills.

Alice has so many fab fabrics it was hard to stick to what I needed.  Check out her full range here and a brilliant new website. With £1 flat rate P&P you get a great deal, and stay tuned here for a wee giveaway later in the week.

When I got home, I pegged up 12 quilts on my washing line! 

These are Bee Blessed quilts which will soon be shipped out to Zimbabwe Orphan Care.  In fact 13 quilts will be going out to keep 13 beautiful adopted children warm during the cold African winters (as you can see, I could only fit 12 onto my line!).

Some of them were donated by a friend of Bee Blessed.  Those of you who are regular contributors may recognise some of the other quilts we have worked on this past year.

These quilts go out with our prayers & blessings of comfort, warmth, peace and hope. Thank you for being a part of this blessing.

I hope you all enjoyed a great weekend.

Jude xo