My Granny Naps Quilt!

I know for a fact that I'm not the only blogger who likes a wee granny nap during the day, when I can get one!

In fact, my 2nd favourite hobby is sleeping!

Well I've finally finished the 3rd vintage sheets quilt (started last year!) and as this one is for me, I've decided it will be my Granny Naps Quilt!



I find the colours and fabrics in this quilt so soothing and peaceful, perfect for nap time!



There are some precious fabrics in there too.  A Liberty hankie from my sister, my childhood pillowcase and I fussy cut some embroidery from my Nanny Martha's tray cloths!



Even the backing (thank you M!) reminds me of my 1970's purple bedroom as a child!



So lots of lovely memories and thoughts to bring me comfort and joy as I snuggle down for a dreamy kip!

And I might just have road tested it today too! Wink! Wink!

Quilts Resurrected!

I'm starting to accumulate a few quilt tops!  Most unlike me as I tend to work on 1 quilt at a time, usually for a specific person or project.

However like the magic porridge pot, they just seem to be growing by themselves!

So I decided to move them on another stage and get them basted.



Around this time last year, I took part in the Across the Seas  QAL, thinking I would make a baby quilt for my friend who was pregnant at the time, just in case she had a boy!

She had a girl!

So I lost interest in the quilt, despite having the front and back made.  The QAL ended and the quilt got relegated to the bottom drawer!



Then I unearthed my Brit Bee quilt top, from January this year! I LOVE my Brit Bee quilt - I still smile each time I look at the blocks made by my girls!

But I didn't know what to do on the back of this quilt.  So it got parked!



It is now half basted, while I slowly hatch a plan for the back.  As the theme of the front was log cabin, I'm thinking a Leanne style mahusive log cabin back!  Stark raving or what!

Ferry Floor is a quilt top I made this Autumn & I plan to teach it next year.  It is now basted both front and back waiting to be quilted.



And finally, my own vintage sheets quilt is now basted and ready for quilting (I even have the binding made!). 



It's satisfying when projects can be moved on a stage!  But boy is there still loads to do!

Onwards and upwards!

Finally! 2 Finishes!

Actually, I've finished more than 2 things this week, but I can't show you some of them until next week (I can't wait!).

What I can show you today is my 2nd vintage sheets quilt, pieced, quilted, bound and labelled for my v.sweet niece in England.

I'm ashamed to say I started this quilt in the summer, to give hope and comfort to my niece as she goes through a difficult time in her young life. 

 

 

The text on the label is from a quote by Anne Frank.  Here is the full quote:

“Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.”

I'm so pleased with how this quilt has turned out, and I'm confident that this vintage/retro loving girl will love it as much as 'The Belfast Hollies' do!

I've also managed to get another handbag pattern completed!  Say hello to Martha May!!

I name all my handbags after particular members of my family, and this one is named after my Nanny Martha.  You may remember seeing another version of this bag as part of my 1 year blogiversary giveaway last December, which Nicky won!

I had to make a few adjustments to the pattern to simplify one or two steps and although I've graded the pattern as 'Intermediate', if you consider yourself a beginner but have tackled a zip before, then you will more than cope with this pattern.

A huge 'thank you' goes to my friend Sarah, who was the perfect choice to test this pattern for me.  Her attention to detail skills are impeccable!  I'm sure she will soon show you her very own Martha May!

The Pattern for Martha May is now available to purchase from my Etsy shop.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Airing your Laundry!

The lovely Mary has put the word out about an upcoming UK vintage sheets swap!  I'm super excited about this (& would be lying if I said I had nothing to do with giving Mary a nudge to do this!). 

 

We are both nuts about collecting vintage sheets, as I know many of you are too!  So we thought a UK vintage sheets swap would be just the ticket to feed this addiction fascination!

The swap will be happening in the new year, but we thought we'd give you time to get scouring those charity shops and unearth some vintagey treasures.

Here's a sample of what I've collected this summer:

The first one there is actually a curtain, which I'm itching to make a skirt out of!

Now you may think that some of these are a bit on the fuddy duddy side, and not so pretty, but I've learned not to discount these, because those ugly ducklings seem to get transformed when included in a quilt with other brighter/prettier prints.

On this quilt I made for my friend, I kept to colourway bands, so I needed the brights and softer shades in 6 different colourways.

And keep your eyes out for some vintage pillowcases too.  You can get some great fussy cuts from them:

In a vintage sheets quilt I'm making for myself, I'm also including some vintage tray & table cloth embroidery:

So if you fancy adding to your collection of vintage sheets, or would like to start one, head on over to Mary's to find out more.  You can also join the flickr group here, where there will be guidelines posted about the swap, and also pictures of the sheets that will be swapped.

Hope to see you over there!

A Vintage Year!

I've definitely been riding high this year on a vintage theme.

Tootling around antique and charity shops this summer reaffirmed my love of vintage sheets and objects, and the joy one gets from appreciating age and history in things which are no longer made today.

Then I got to distressing some picture frames and my church pew (I thought of doing a post called 'A Distressing Summer' but didn't think it would create the right impression! LOL!).

I'm even going with the vintage theme in my new bathroom (the old one gets ripped out next week - hooray!).

But for today, I can show you a finished quilt - the first of my 3 vintage sheets quilts.

The weather here has been so lovely this week, that it is almost too bright to be photographing quilts outside!

The backing is a vintage sheet I found in a charity shop several years ago!

The finished quilt is approx. 60" square, and 90% of it is made from vintage sheets and offcuts. My pillowcase from when I was a wee girl (in the '70's) is in this one, so according to my kids it is definitely vintage!

This quilt is for my friend's birthday this month, so I'd better get it packaged up and shipped over to England.

Hope you are all getting some gorgeous Autumn weather in your part of the world!

A Vintage Line!

I managed to get the house to myself for an hour or two today, and cracked on with some sewing.

2 of my vintage quilt tops are now finished:

It was so bright and breezy today, I couldn't get a good picture of them, so I took them inside and draped them over my dining table.

This one is for my friend's birthday next month.  One of those purple squares in the centre is from my pillowcase when I was wee!  It's the softest brushed cotton!

This one is for my niece who's had a really tough year. 

I've almost finished the top of the 3rd one, which will be for me!

So a productive day today!

Tomorrow my nephew comes to stay for the weekend.  He's 6, has cerebral palsy and is an adorable cheeky chap!  My girls love having him here.  So I don't think there'll be too much sewing done!

And before I go, if you love cute Russian dolls, check out these!

Coming Out!

It's time I let you all into a secret!

I LIKE BROWN!

Now some of you will be gasping aloud and frantically reaching for the number of your therapist or psycho-analyst at the very mention of the 'B' word!

Well I'm secure enough in my skin to admit that I like brown.  It seems to sit v.well with my inner Granny, right along side my inner flower lovin' Hippy!  (I might be needing the number of a good therapist if I identify any more multiple personalities though!).

I was recently commissioned to make my Value Charm Quilt for a friend, and the remit was browns, teals and cream.

I found this cute charm pack online, called Late Bloomers and teamed it up with some Kona Cream.

I've managed to get the half square triangles made, but not yet trimmed.  Oh the trimming!

I might be needing porridge for breakfast in the morning before tackling this lot!

I've also cut up a 3rd vintage sheets quilt today, a birthday pressie for a friend, and got another bee block done.  But more on that another day.

For those of you not blowing hard into a brown paper bag in the corner of the room, I hope you've had a great day!

A Vintage Celebration!

It was a golden day for our atheletes today, and it was a mini golden day for me too!

I found out today my Mini Brit Quilt ('Sing Your Song') picture made it onto Flickr Explore!

'Explore' is the top 200 most interesting pictures selected from the hundreds of thousands downloaded that day!

This is my 4th Explore pic!  Not bragging or anything!!

And another cause for celebration is reaching 200 followers!  Thank you all for showing an interest in my ramblings and creations!  I never think I've anything of much interest to say, so thank you for sticking with me!

The sun shone all day today (can we have a cheer please?), which gave me no end of problems trying to photograph this:

This is the vintage sheets quilt top for my niece, but despite trying several locations, I just wasn't able to capture the beautiful soft colours in the quilt.  Isn't it funny how some fabrics are just harder to photograph accurately than others!

It won't be that easy to tell, but there is an intentional colourway happening in the quilt, starting with the dark pink centre and working out in colourbands from there (green, orange, blue, pink, yellow).

And this is another 'soon to be quilt top' laid out on my design board, ready for me to sew together. 

This one is for me and I love it! 

I've stuck to the colourbands design again, just changing the order according to the charm squares I had leftover.  I even cut up my Liberty handkerchief that big sis bought me for my birthday, and put it in there! 

Perhaps I'll call this one 'A few of my favourite things!'

Hope you've had a wonderful Saturday!