'I believe the children are our future ...'

In the true spirit of Witney, and like a good wee mummy, I spent a day with my daughter & her friend teaching them how to sew mugrugs!

The big girls were back to school but my youngest had an extra day off on Monday. So we arranged for her friend to come round, who also enjoys sewing.

They got straight to work!

It's a hard life barking at builders all day!

And with the builders banging, the dog barking, and the electricity going off half way through, the girls triumphed with 2 crazy patchwork mugrugs, while I nursed my very last shredded nerve!!

My daugher on the left, friend on the right & Abe Lincoln's nose in the background!

And in the words of another well known celeb.. "Didn't they do well?"

Judith xo

Christmas Gifts part 5

Information on the November Bee Blessed block can be found here.

Christmas isn't complete without a wee stocking, or two.

These mini ones make great gifts, either just by themselves, or filled with all manner of goodies!

They are approx. 10" in height and fun and quick to make, depending on how decorative you want them to be.  And another great way to use up smaller scraps!

And speaking of small pieces of fabric, last week I received my Christmas Charm pack, from the swap organised by the lovely Emily.

There are 2 squares of every fabric you see here!

56 squares of yumminess to play with!  

I just can't decide what to make with them!  At the moment I'm leaning towards a table runner for my dining room table, which at Christmas time becomes ridiculously long (good 'ol IKEA!).

Judith xo

November Bee Blessed Block

It's that time again when we change the block for Bee Blessed Quilts.

Thanks again to those of you who are quilting along with us.  We v.much appreciate your support and contributions.

If you are new to my blog, you are more than welcome to join in our charity quilting Bee and donate some blocks or fabric.  A group of us will then meet every 3 weeks to make up the quilts and gift them to needy local families in Belfast.

This month we will be making Log Cabin blocks.

The measurements and tutorial is below, but first here are the criteria for the blocks:

* We are making these for folks who are senior/elderly & female, so the key words here for fabrics are 'soft' and 'traditional/vintage'.

* For the centre square, please choose a fabric that contrasts with the others, so that it stands out a little.

* For the outer row of 'logs' please make this up in all the same fabric, giving a type of border to the block.

* The other 'logs' can be as varied as you wish.

Tutorial:  This is the 'trim as you go' log cabin method.

Please assume scant 1/4" seam throughout.

 

You will need 1 x 3.5" square for the centre, 2" strips of varying lengths for the middle 2 rows, and 4 x 2.5" strips for the outer border.

 

1. I find it helpful to roughly layout my design in advance, to get a good idea of colour balance etc.  There are 3 rows of 'logs' around the centre square, incl. the outer border.

2. When you are happy with your design, take the centre square and the

first strip & sew right sides together.  Don’t worry if your first strip is too long.  After sewing it to the centre square, iron the seam away from the centre and trim to same length as square.

 

3. Now put a safety pin in the first 'log' to mark it as the starting strip.

4. Attach the next strip by sewing it down the right hand side of the centre square & first strip.  Again iron the seams away from the centre and trim to size.

Continue adding the remaining 2 strips in a clockwise direction around the centre square.

When round 1 is complete you may want to square the piece before adding round 2.

The seams should all be lying away from the centre.

5. Start attaching round 2 by sewing a 'log' above the strip with the pin in it.

 6. When you have ironed & trimmed this log, move the safety pin to this log - this is now the starting log of round 2.

7.   Continue rounds 2 & 3 the same as steps 2-6 above.   Remember to move the safety pin onto the ‘first strip’ at the start of each round, & square the piece after each round.

8.    By the end of round 3, iron & trim the piece to measure 12.5” square.

Have fun with this block (it's one of my favourites!).

Looking forward to seeing what you create, and don't forget to post pics of your blocks in the Bee Blessed Flickr group!

Judith xo

Today!

Today was the most beautiful Autumnal day!

Stomont Castle

Lord Carson & a few other wanabees!

Imagine your driveway being 1 mile long!!

It was almost too bright to be photographing quilts outside ......

... but I wanted to show you a better pic of the 2nd D9P quilt Bee Blessed made yesterday.

Tune in tomorrow for the November Bee Blessed block details!

Hope you've had a lovely Sunday!

Judith xo

Scaffolding & Squares!

We have had the most beautiful weather the past few days!  It's definitely getting colder, but I love the delicious mix of cold air and clear, blue sky.

Sadly, the view outside my window at the moment isn't very beautiful!

Last week rain water starting coming in through the ceiling (we've had LOTS of rain lately!), so we had to call in our trusty builders to get to the root of the problem.  So that meant this week, I had children off school for half term, 3 classes, a birthday tea for my mum, 3 builders, lots of scaffolding & a dog going mental at the ladders and strange men invading her territory!

Not much work done then!

However, I did manage to get Hadley's Brit Bee (monster) block done:

I love the colours and design Hadley has chosen for her quilt - it's going to be a stunner!

And today was all about fun and blessings.

Not many pics to show you of our November gathering of Bee Blessed, but we did get our final cot quilt bound & labeled, a 2nd D9P lap quilt top completed ....

...binding & labels made and a baby mat progressed with the leftover blocks.  Well done ladies - we did good!

I promise to bring you more pictures when we next meet.

Thanks again to all my blogging friends for contributing D9P blocks so far.  I know there are still a few more to come in, and they will most certainly be used!

I will soon be posting the tutorial on our next block so watch this space.

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend!

Judith xo

Jelly Rolling!

My Jelly Roll Quilt class finished tonight!  6 weeks of laughter, creativity, and of course amazing quilts.

There were 4 more quilts, not pictured, and sadly my photography does not do justice to the stunning colours and amazing quilting detail in these gems.

Well done ladies!  You've been a wonderful group and I hope your quilts will be a blessing to those who get the privilege of using them.

Judith xo

The Value of Charms

Firstly some post news!

November heralds the turn of my hilariously funny bloggy friend Hadley in our monthly Brit Bee.

My wee fabric package arrived in style yesterday with instructions on how to make a 24" block!!!  

The fabrics are gorgeous and the design is stunning, so I don't have anything to worry about (only a million hsts to match up!).

And speaking of hsts, I sewed 80 of them together over the weekend to get this:

Too big for my design board!

This is a value quilt/wallhanging I want to put up in my bedroom.  Although I just used some scrappy 5" squares (including some items of clothing!) I sized the design specifically so that it can be made from 2 charm packs, a patterned one and a solid one (it might make it's way into my programme of classes one day!).  

I'm really enjoying making this - however, I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to retain accurate points on every sewn hst, without a cutting device like the GO! Baby.  Despite accurate cutting, starching, sewing and painstaking trimming, some of my points just don't match up!  More practise needed me thinks!

I'm not too bothered with this particular quilt, because it's for me, but if I was making it for someonelse I wouldn't feel able to hand it over!

So just the border to add, and then I can get quilting. 

The sun is shining this morning, after a horrendous day of torrential rain yesterday.  The kids are off so no doubt it will be down to the park later with tennis rackets in hand!

Early morning sunshine!

Have a great Tuesday, whatever you get up to!

Judith xo