Bank Holiday Bargain!

Tomorrow is the 2nd bank holiday Monday in May for us in UK.

It doesn't look like the weather is going to cheer us up, so how about 20% discount on designer fabrics, patterns and charm packs!

Everything in my Etsy shop is 20%, using the coupon code BANKHOLIDAY20 at the checkout!

So if you want a new pattern to try out ...

.. a charm pack or two....

or discount on some already discounted fabrics ...

then pop on over to my Etsy shop and grab yourself a bank holiday bargain!

Discount available until Saturday 30th May, while stocks last.

Jude xo

Secret blocks!

Now that 2 of my lovely Brit Bee buddies have received their BIG birthday wallhangings, I can show you which bits were mine!

Di's wallhanging was 'sewing' themed so I made my own mannequin paper pieced pattern to make this block.  

You can see it here in the quilt (for some bizzare reason I didn't get a photo of the front of the quilt, doh!)

Trudi loves the colour green so we went with a 'leafy' theme for hers.  Of course there was only ever going to be one block for me to make!



And here it is in the quilt:

There's lots more secret sewing happening around the Hollies' household at the moment, but I'm delighted to have my very own personal assistant (uni daughter) back with me!!

Jude xo

Loving Memories!

I spent the weekend across the water, in a beautiful part of the world!

Lincolnshire - View from my bedroom window!

A few of us Brit Bees got together to remember our beloved Terri ...

Terri's Brit Bee quilts which we are finishing for her girls.

... pass on 'special birthday' gifts ...

... and eat loads and laugh even  more!



Our very own Ceri is running 10k for Cancer Research soon, in a patchwork dress no less, made up from donated quilt blocks!  If you would like to make a donation to this amazing organisation, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/ceristokoe/

Thank you my lovelies for the happy memories!

And my weekend was made complete with a stop off in Derby to collect uni-daughter and whisk her back home for the summer! Yey!

I've got all my chicks around me again! Happy, happy!

Jude xo

Scrappy Nines!

I finished a Disappearing 9 Patch quilt over the bank holiday weekend, but have been holding off showing you until today!

Many of the fabrics in this quilt were donated by a friend from Southern Ireland (thank you Kerry). As some of the scraps were already 4.5" squares, I started from there, threw in a few more of my scraps & some Kona Silver and made lots and lots of D9P units!

Instead of sewing the D9P units back into blocks, I laid them all out on my design wall, shifted them around until I was happy with the distribution of colours and prints, and then sewed them together in rows!

The back was pieced from stash and the quilting is a simple free motion 'figure of 8'. There was only ever going to be one binding on this one (my fav!).

All that was left to do was wash, dry, affix label and post!  Tick, tick, tick, tick!

The current tally for making 100 quilts for Siblings Together this year is currently at 60.  There are still more being worked on, but we need 100 quilts completed by June, ready for the summer camps starting in July.

So if you could spare the time to make a quilt, blocks or donate fabric/wadding/binding I know there will be a camp full of reunited siblings this year delighted to receive your blessings!

Linking up with Leanne and Nicky's Scraptastic Tuesday!

Jude xo

New Fabrics!

I have listed some new fabrics in my Etsy shop today!

L-R: Studio E Kyoto Blue; Farm Friends White Chicken Wire; Michael Miller Clown (B/W) Stripe

From £6 per metre, they are selling fast!  So if you want a Low Volume bargain, or some black and white stripey binding, get your skates on!!

(International shipping available)

Jude xo

Farm Girl Vintage - Finally!

All good things come to those who wait!

I finally got my mitts on my long awaited (if slightly battered) copy of Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt, so that I can start sewing blocks each week, along with many others all over the world!

Completing the first 3 blocks in the book brings me back up to speed with the sewing schedule! Phew!

Apron Strings

Autumn Star

Baby Chick

I had originally chosen a set of Denyse Schmidt Chicopee prints, teamed with Riley Blake pindots for the backgrounds.



But as I started sewing I just couldn't resist the urge to throw in a few other designer prints too! What can I say - I'm being true to my scrappy heart!

If you haven't already got hold of this book, I highly recommend it, even for individual block patterns. There are clearly laid out instructions for 2 sizes for each block (6" and 12" finished) and ideas and variations on how to use some of the blocks as quilts in their own right.

I have always wanted to make a medallion quilt (among 100 others too!) and the blocks in this book have given me the perfect inspiration & idea!

Watch this space!

Jude xo

Seeing Double (Hearts)!

This month in the Siblings Together Bee (2) Catrin has invented a beautiful double heart block.

My youngest and I had some Bank Holiday sewing time together today, and we rustled up these blocks!

Tutorial is here if you fancy having a go yourself!

It seemed fitting that as these blocks are destined for a teenage girl quilt, my 13 year old chose all the fabrics for these blocks, and helped me to sew them together!

And I also got another Siblings Together Quilt finished last night.  Perfect photo timing for the sunny weather we've had today!

But this is all I'm going to show for now!  I'm saving the full reveal for Scraptastic Tuesday next week!

Jude xo

Strawberry Patch!

I'm still patiently waiting for my 'Farm Girl Vintage' book to arrive so I can start making the delicious blocks in Lori's sew-a-long!

In the meantime I've had to make do with making up my own version of Lori's strawberry!

A very good friend of mine always has the most scrummy looking breakfast trays on Sunday mornings on Instagram!

So I made her a non-slip tray mat!  Trudi also grows her own fruit and veg and makes her own jam too (what a gal!) so the strawberry tray mat seemed an appropriate 'special' birthday present.

It was lovely being able to hand deliver this to Troods while she was staying with me last weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

(polka dot bias binding available from The Textile Studio)

Jude xo

Positives!

April was a busy and eventful month for me, and packed full of positives, which is probably why it has whizzed past so quickly!

I had my first proper Easter break in ages ...

I played host to 2 very special quilty friends ....

and was granted my Decree Nisi.

There was lots of warm sunny weather in April too, which meant a few extra hours pottering about in the garden!

On the sewing front, an average month, and few extra projects I can't show yet!

So all in all, a month full of positives.

Happy 'first of the month' to you all!

Linking up to Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day!

Jude xo