Getting Ready

We will be staying and visiting several families while in England next week, so I wanted to bring a little something homemade to say 'thank you for having us!'

I hope these will do the trick:

Big Bro tells me his newly painted hallway is grey!  Let's hope this goes ok!

For another family we will be visiting - no clue what colour their hallway is, so I've taken a risk!

Unfortunately, there are more people we are visiting than time left to make gifts, so the shop bought ones will have to do. 

I don't know if it's just a Northern Irish thing, but we seldom visit empty handed!

I got a few more things ticked off the 'Things to do before you go on holiday' list, but it keeps growing with more stuff I keep remembering I need to do!

Tomorrow it's the hairdressers, the bank, a visitor to the house, and then out to a friends house.  That leaves Wednesday to wash, iron, pack & clean the house and chase away the spiders and rats ready for the house/dog-sitter!  We leave on Thursday!

I am keeping a close eye on the weather forecast, especially for the wedding on Saturday.  Thank goodness we are driving over, so we can pack for all seasons and not worry about weight restrictions!

Looks like I need to add 'Wellies' to the list, and scratch 'sun cream' from it!!

I'll check in once more before the off!

Have a good one!

P.s The pattern for this Welcome Wallhanging is available in my Etsy Shop.

Always Work with Children (but never with animals!)

Today was my Adult/Child workshop, where 10 children (aged 10 - 15) and 10 adults came together to have a fun day making slouch bags with mums, aunties and grannies!

This is by far the biggest class I have ever taught, but I have to say, it was also the best behaved (!!).

The girls were brilliant, and here's the proof that they did most of the sewing themselves!

There were 3 different versions of the Slouch bag to choose from. What I love about working with kids is that they are uninhibited and not afraid to take risks and rise to the challenge (probably because they don't see it as a challenge).  Kids keep things simple, and while there were a few potential perfectionists in the group (don't worry, I'll soon knock that out of them!) wonky lines became design features rather than design problems!!

Isn't it lovely to see all these proud faces!!  It makes my heart sing!  And just look at my own 2 grinning away there in no. 6!  That's them sorted with a bag for their holidays!!

And not forgetting the 2 adults who were also attending the class.

Beautiful bags ladies!

Well done to everyone today!  You were amazing!

I will soon have the pattern for the 3 versions of this slouch bag in my Etsy shop, just as soon as I can work out how to shrink a ginormous paper template to an A4 size PDF!!

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.  Stay dry!

July Bee Blocks

I go away on holiday next week, so I wanted to make sure I was on top of my July bee blocks!

First up - Sew Bee Happy.

Nicky is making an inspirational wallhanging for her sewing room and asked us to make improv word blocks from a list of words she had chosen. 

I've done improv blocks before, but not lettering.  I thought it was going to take longer than it did, but this one was done in half an hour!!

I can't wait to see Nicky's finished wallhanging!

Next up - Brit Bee:

Fiona sent us out the most amazing wee pack of fabrics. She is making a low volume quilt with some of her most special fabrics. For example, some hand made lace, her Grandmother's table cloth, vintage sheets - and more wee bits and pieces that hold particular memories for her.

But within each low volume block, Fiona wanted mini hits of high volume traditional blocks, made with more modern, loud fabrics.

I went for churn dash and trusty log cabin.  It was a joy and a privilege Fi to work with your most special fabrics.  Thank you!

And finally, Modern Irish Bee:

This is the first month of MIB, and Sarah asked us to make one of my favourite modern blocks.

Mod Mosaic Block

The requirements were, 1 small block in low volume fabrics, 1 larger block in high volume fabrics.

I love the improv style piecing of this design by Elizabeth Haartman, and it's a great way to use up scraps.  I may even get my Brit bee ladies to do this for me when it's my turn to be queen bee!

So that's me up-to-date with my bee commitments.

Tomorrow I have an Adult/Child workshop, which is my last work-day before holidays!

We are all heading over to England next week for a family wedding, which I am still not kitted out for!  There have been several rounds of sickness through the house the past 2 weeks, which means I've got a little behind. Better get my skates on or at this rate I'll be going dressed like Sandy Shaw!

Happy Friday!

Stained Blue/Grey Complete

My 18th birthday present to my lovely nephew is pieced, long arm quilted, bound and washed!

I made this quilt as part of the Stained Quilt QAL, hosted by my roomy and friend, Sarah.

Thank you Sarah for hosting such an awesome, detailed and well thought out QAL.  You rock!

When the fabrics (It's a Boy Thing, by Michael Millar) arrived all the way from USA, they seemed very aqua/blue, and the quilt was quickly named Stained Blue.

But now, the quilt is predominantly grey.  I love the Klona grey skinny sashing (thank you Fi!) and the snuggly soft grey flannel on the back.

So I think a new name is in order! 

Now I don't know about you, but something about the words 'stained' and 'teenager' in the same sentence makes me feel a bit icky (if you're wondering where the 'Stained' came from in the first place, you need to ask Sarah!!).

I'm wracking my brains to come up with something arty, funky and cool, but so far, all I have is ...

BLUE SLATE

I would love to hear your suggestions (just as long as they are clean!).  Birthday boy doesn't officially become a man until September, so I've loads of time to stew over it.

And if you want to be inspired, check out the other amazing 'Stained' quilts in the flickr group.

Siblings Together Quilt

When I read about Lynne's call for quilts for kids earlier this year, and the wonderful Siblings Together initiative, I knew that Bee Blessed would want to respond.

Through Bee Blessed, we know the impact that the gift of a quilt has on people's lives - bringing hope, comfort and pleasure.  We regularly donate quilts to children of all ages (as well as adults) so it was a no brainer for us to pass on one of our kid's quilts to Siblings Together.

 
Siblings Together is a charity which brings together siblings who are separated within the care system.   This summer, a residential camp is being organised to give these siblings valuable time together, and each child will be given the gift of a quilt to keep as a reminder of the time they had with their brothers or sisters.

This is such a great idea and a brilliant charity. You can read more about what Siblings Together are trying to achieve this year here on Lynne's blog.

'My First Quilt' Class

The 'My First Quilt Class' finished tonight!

Everyone did amazingly well, especially the beginner sewers in the group!  Some even made 2 quilts during the course of the 6 weeks!

It is so wonderful for me to see each quilt uniquely made, even though everyone was working from the same pattern.

A huge pat on the back ladies!  You should be v.proud of your snuggly creations!  Enjoy!

If you are interested in making a quick & easy quilt from pre-cut squares (called a Layer Cake) then this pattern is available to purchase from my Etsy shop.  You will also receive the complimentary pattern on how to make and attach binding.

The Busiest (& wettest) June on Record?

The highlights for me this June were

* Fat Quarterly Retreat in London

* seeing months of planning come together in our Exhibition/Fund Raising day on 21st. 

* handing over the Pippi Quilt to a young girl in need of hope and blessing.

* and seeing my baby girl turn 11, finish out her last year of Primary School and try on her 'big school' uniform!

So many more lovely things happened this month, which are too numerous to mention here.

But I'll leave you instead with my monster mosaic of makes for June (I did make a few other bee blocks in June, but they were for July so I'll pop them into next month's mosaic!).

Linking up with Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day.