I've been Published!

It's only a small project, but a few month's back Irish Quilting magazine saw my Beach themed mug rug and asked if I would adapt it to co-incide with their special American July Issue.

I obliged, and with a limited selection of fabrics, came up with an 'Irish' string of bunting and an 'American' string of bunting.

I received in the post today a copy of the magazine, with my very own name in print!!

 

The text in this pic is a bit blurry, but my name is there, trust me!

To 'Celebrate' this first for me, Irish Quilting have very kindly given me a few extra copies of this issue to giveaway.  

So, to the first 3 readers to leave me a comment, I'll be delighted to send you your very own issue (if you don't already have a copy that is!).

Irish Quilting are interested in some of my other makes, so I hope to soon be telling you of more projects published. How exciting!

Hi's and Lo's!

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post.

Today the sun was shining, and I managed to finally finish a project I'd been grabbing snatches at all week.  It's a project for my new program in September, designed from scratch.  

I was chuffed to bits with how it turned out.  Here's a sneaky peak.

I left it on the dining room table and skipped out the door with my kids for an hour's fun playing tennis in the park.

When we came home, I discovered a tragedy!  I can't even bear to tell you what happened, but it involves my new project and our dog!!!!!!!! 

So to avoid another (pre-meditated) tragedy from occurring (also involving our dog!), I threw myself into making the tea, with way more gusto than I ever show (I hate cooking!).

Maybe when my emotions are a little less fragile I'll fill in the blanks.  For now, look at these pictures of the lovely flowers in my front garden, and hopefully you won't hear the screams of despair in the distance!

100th Post & Crafty Kids!

I started blogging at the very end of December, after being tempted lurred inspired by my good friend Sarah of Sew Me.

Today is post no. 100!  Woohoo!  

Amazing, because I really don't ever think I've got that much to say, nothing terribly interesting anyway (I can churn out shed loads of nonsense!).

I was hoping to have a giveaway to mark said achievement, however the particular item I'm planning to giveaway hasn't arrived in the post yet!  Sorry, but I will hopefully be able to do the giveaway soon.

So you will have to make do with a round up of a crafty day spent with my kids yesterday.  

Hubbie and no.2 daughter were both away this weekend, so the house was unusually quiet!!

We started off in my sewing room (gone are the days when play dough and finger paints would entertain for hours!), where my youngest made a pincushion for her friend's birthday ...

The only part I played in this was the rotary cutting and hand sewing it closed!  She did everything else herself!

....while the big girl got all arty with fabric scraps and my soldering iron!

Next, the 'baby' wanted a go with said soldering iron (eek!) ..............

Melting off the top layer to get lots of texture!

Ta dah!

....while the big girl did something similar with water soluble fabric.

Then we moved downstairs to the dining room table and got felting!  Great fun!

The 'baby's' works - I suggested some stitching over them but she likes them as is!

The Big Girl's felted beads - part of her GCSE Art & Textile module.

As for me, I was hoping for a sneaky nap yesterday afternoon - no chance!

I got a hanging sleeve put on to my Eye Spy Quilt and No.3 daughter is delighted to now be displaying it in the perfectly sized recess above her bed!

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ............... T!

She's looking forward to many games of Eye Spy at bedtime!

Hope you all had a creative weekend!

July Brit Bee Blocks

The very lovely Judith from Needles & Lemons (aka Miss July) gave us free reign this month, to make two blocks using the red & white Oakshot cottons she sent us.

I had intended on making one traditional block and one modern block.

But I accidentally cut too many triangles for the first, traditional block I was making, so used the leftovers to make another traditional block!  

What a block-head!

'Nautilus' - Judith asked us to include some of our own red fabric

'Card Trick'

The reds in these pictures are darker than in real life!

A first attempt at stamping a label - these are called 'siggy's'!

Judith kindly gave us permission to post about our blocks when we'd made them, rather than waiting until the next Bee month.

Keep an eye on flickr over the next few weeks to see all the blocks being put together.

Project 51

I've entered into an urgent top secret mission called Project 51 (most spontaneous of me, I know!).

My Mission:  To make 2 x 16.5" blocks in reds, whites & aquas (some pink allowed)!

Target: Classified (if I tell you, I'll have to kill you!)

Deadline:  End of this month

Mission accomplished (this was no Mission Impossible, being the super spy that I am)!

This post will self destruct in 10 seconds!

Anyone for a Picnic?

My Thursday night class have been making rag quilted picnic rugs.

Just take a look at some of these beauties!

Marion's ready for the beach - just need the sunshine & a bikini!

This was Norma's first ever quilt - a gift for her grandchildren - isn't it fab!

Sally's right on trend with her Sailor style red, white & blues recycled fabrics. Gorgeous!

Sarah's Heather Bailey Nicey Jane quilt is so summery, another stunning gift!

I'll have another picture to show you, when Heather gets hers finished.  These ones are now ready to be washed & tumble dried so the seams can get lovely & fluffy!!

Well done ladies, fabulous quilts.

And thank you for the sweet birthday cake, that mysteriously arrived on my table when I was out of the room!

How cute is that bunting!

You're all so naughty, but nice!

Free Motion Applique

I was at the library the other day and picked up this interesting looking book.

It's a beautifully presented book that totally lurred me into having a go at an embroidery technique called 'sketching'.

Sorry about the blurry pic!

This technique is everywhere in blogland at the moment, and I love the naive & imperfect look of it.

So today, with the torrential rain and thunder banging outiside, I thought I'd have a go.

In the book, the author uses an embroidery hoop.  I find mine tricky to use on the Pfaff, and actually not that freeing!

Practising with random squiggles & shapes!

So for me, a different approach was needed.  

I grabbed the first scraps that came to hand, and diverted from the book slightly by introducing some trusty bondaweb and ditching the hoop, and ended up with this!

Essentially, this is drawing and colouring in, only using your sewing machine as the pencil & felt tip pen.

The idea is not to have perfectly formed stitches or lines so that the 'sketchy' look is achieved.

From the back

As an experiment I'm quite pleased with it.  

While the bondaweb holds the fabric in place, I'm not so keen on the 'neatness' it offers, and would prefer a softer, more organic look, as in the book.  However I will practise more with different techniques until I'm happy with the look I'm after. 

I don't know yet how easily quilting could be incorporated, but I'll keep playing around with some ideas & see what happens.

Happy Thursday everyone!