12 Hens-A-Laying!

To enter my giveaway until Friday 29th January, click here.

*************************

Don't worry!  I'm not regressing back to Christmas, or stuck in the wrong season!

It's definitely the end of January, and spring has just about sprung!

It's so nice to still have daylight well after 4pm!

Up on my design board today are these lovely ladies!

Aren't they a happy bunch!

When I was bee mama in Siblings Together Bee 2 last year, I asked everyone to make me a Mama Hen from Lori Holt's book 'Farm Girl Vintage'.

With 12 different makers, scrappy works best, so I kept the scrappy theme going in the Low Volume sashing and cornerstones.

I'm still debating whether or not to add a border, probably more scrappy LV, just to make it a bit bigger.

So nice to see the brood altogether at last!

Cluck! Cluck!

Jude xo

Blackberries and Maples!

You may be surprised to know that I was quite the domestic goddess today! (even I'm surprised!)

I made soup from homegrown tomatoes, basil, tarragon & celery; YUM

Made a fruit crumble from homegrown apples, white currants & 2 raspberries (and no shop bought crumble mix either! Oh no!  I made my own cinnamon crumble!); DOUBLE YUM

And .... (hold on to your hats) made a Victoria sponge, from scratch, with homemade plum jam (made by my friend!)!

I even took my youngest blackberry picking!!

I'm in danger of growing my hair long, dying it black, and considerably upsizing my hips!!

And there was some sewing too!

Pears & Mini Maple leaf blocks from Farm Girl Vintage

This is my block in Brit Bee Round 4.

This year we are each designing a block to make up 1 quilt design. At the end of our year(ish) we will all have the same quilt design, but made with a block from each of the other 11 members to go with our own block.  Clear as mud?!

We also make a 15" centre block to get started.  Because of the Farm Girl Vintage vibe going on round here, I thought I'd use the baby chick block I'd previously made from the book, bringing it up to size with Low Volume borders.

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments about being Cover Girl for Sewing World this month!

I heard today I made a double entry in October issue of Quilt Now!  Woohoo!  When I get to see a copy I'll post some pics here of what I made!

Have a fab weekend!

Jude xo

Farm House Lane

This summer I've been working on a quilt from the Farm Girl Vintage book by Lori Holt.

If you haven't already got this book, I highly recommend it.  All the blocks, quilts and projects in it are adorable and super easy to follow.

I particularly love 'house' quilts and so decided to make 'Farm House Lane' (pg128) using mainly Denyse Schmidt fabrics.

Approx. 67" x 71"

If you are familiar with this pattern, you will notice that I haven't stuck completely to the brief (not like me at all!!!).

From previous posts you will know that I had started making the 16 x 6" Welcome blocks which go in between the rows. But they are a little time consuming so I made an executive decision and went for rows of 2.5" squares instead.

The 4 Welcome blocks became corner stones!

So now to make a back and think about how to quilt this baby!

Jude xo

Kids on the Block!

This week I've been beavering away on my Farm Girl Vintage Farmhouse blocks.

I'm now up to 7 (includes the 2 you have previously seen).  Only 2 more to go!

But as I'm taking a few days off and switching off sewing machine and laptop, that's my lot for now!

And I'll leave you with some fun family pics of my youngest daughter's 14th birthday bbq in my mum and dad's beautiful garden.

Enjoy the heat wave!!

Jude xo

Time to Play!

No more GCSE exams for my middle daughter, and end of term on Friday (& birthday) for the youngest, means .....

... a meal out with the funniest teenagers I'm privileged to call my girls!

And as the last of my classes are winding down this week for the summer break, I get to play!

I was inspired by Aylin's gorgeous cushion, and have been wanting to do more with my Sizzix drunkard's path die.  So when I eventually decided on some fabrics & scraps, I set to cutting and sewing.

I've actually finished 5 x 14" blocks and sewed them together for a potential table runner, but I couldn't fit them all into 1 photograph!!  Once again I find Leanne's technique for sewing curves much quicker and simpler than the endless pinning method!

I'm also working on some Farm House blocks from the Farm Girl Vintage book (pg 27).

As usual I've deviated from the quilt-a-long block schedule currently running on Lori's blog!!

My plan is to make the Farmhouse Lane Quilt shown on page 128 of the book, but truth be told, I want to make every single thing in this book!!

Fingers crossed I can stay focused and not get distracted by one of the many other beautiful projects in the book!

Happy sewing!

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

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