Drum Roll Please!

I've had few presents to make for birthdays this week:



Number 2 daughter has requested a roll/pouch to keep her drumsticks in!



And my sister-in-law is getting this 'tote for life' in the cutest wellie boots fabric I've seen!  There's no wadding in this one, so that it can be easily rolled up and stored in her handbag, so I put some French seams on the inside to make it more secure.

That's another few makes ticked off the list!

Rolling Pins at the Ready!

Have you noticed how aprons have become very fashionable again?

I love the vintage, retro ones that are about at the moment, almost too nice to wear when cooking!

Now I'm known for many things (let me have this one dillusion!), but being a domestic goddesss in the kitchen is not one of them (just ask my long suffering family!).

So I don't actually use an apron myself, but I know lots of folks who do.

I drafted this simple pattern that folks could make in a one day workshop.

You can tie it at the front or the back ....



..... and it has an adjustable neck strap!



I tried to get some decent pics of me wearing the apron to give you a sense of scale and the front pocket, but my photo shoot didn't go too well!



And as I will definitely be making some of these as gifts for friends and family, how about gift wrapping it in a jar!



I hope to have a few more variations of these aprons made in time for the workshop next term!

Have a great weekend!

Baby Bear Paw Finished!

Two quilt finishes in one week!  Goodness gracious me!



The idea behind this quilt was to modernise the traditional bear paw block for a class I'll be teaching next term.  You can read more info about it here.



This is the 'baby' size (approx. 55" x 55"), but the pattern will also have the option of upsizing to a Mama Bear Paw Quilt.

I used a fq bundle of Savannah Bop which I won at FQ Retreat last year. The guts of 6 fqs went into the front, and the rest went into the back and scrappy binding.



For speed I quilted diagonally through the blocks,though there are many quilting options open to this pattern.  As with most of what I teach, when the pattern gets written up it will be available in my Etsy shop.

Well, I'm almost caught up with myself now! I will soon need to turn my attention to some birthday makes, but with my boiler broken down again, I just want to snuggle up in front of the fire!

Hope you are all keeping warm!

Ferry Floor Finished!

I may have started this quilt a while ago, but I'm pleased to say it is finally finished! (You can read about the inspiration behind this quilt here.)

This is another class sample - I will be teaching this layer cake pattern next term.  Nothing like a looming deadline to increase one's productivity!

I went with wonky organic straight line quilting, 2" apart - no chalking on of lines - just guesstimating the distances and going with the flow!



I'm rubbish at recording quilt deets!  For all you eager stat-types out there, I used a Flora (Lauren & Jessi Yung) Layer Cake but I can't remember the name of the fabric I used on the back or the binding!  The solid strips are Kona Everglade (I think!).  It finishes at approx. 57" x 57".

Still a few more class samples to make so I'd better get cracking!

Hope you are having a great Tuesday!

Foundation Piecing

This is one of the first patchwork techniques I learnt, and it has remained one of my favourites!

I'm so excited to be teaching it next term, and am having fun making up some class samples!

First up, a Circle of Geese cushion, sewn in Mustard and Eggplant Irish Linen!





Next, a smaller sample, showing that foundation piecing can be used in little projects too!



This zippy pouch is 8.5" square, making the Scottie Dog only 4" square!  Isn't he cute! He's from the book 'A Quilter's Ark' by Margaret Rolfe.  I used soft brushed cottons and linen to make the pouch.



There are of course many ways to use this technique, in quilts, cushions, runners, handbags etc.



And I've still to turn Spring Bloom into something!  Another cushion perhaps?  It is 18" square at the moment, but I'm open to suggestions!

February is My Month!

I'm queen bee for February in the Brit Bee.

I stewed and wrangled over ideas for a while, and nothing seemed quite right! So I went back to my Pinterest Inspiration Board and it all started to come together.

I had pinned this beauty from Red Pepper Quilts a while ago ...

.... and thought it would make a wonderful wallhanging above my bed.  I don't have a headboard, so the large wall space will easily accommodate this.

Now my bedroom is decorated in soft browns (!!) and duck egg blues. I will never apologise for liking the colour brown, but I love my Brit Bee-ers too much to inflict the colour on them!

So I've asked them to make me the scrappy duck egg blue parts of the giant star.  The half blocks look like this:

The other half of these blocks will be paired with natural linen or brown solid.

And being the chancer that I am, I'm also asking them to make me another block.  This is a 2 block bee afterall!

The 2nd block will be for a completely different quilt, using my recently acquired vintage fqs.  Again, I had pinned this beauty, but wanted to reverse the solids and patterns.  So the block will look like this:

I have a particular affection for the colour purple!

And because I'm such a kind hearted queen bee (if a demanding one!) I have pre-cut EVERYTHING!

I can't wait to get my blocks back, some of which will be hand-delivered (over there)!  Squeeeeeeee!

A Bit of This! A Bit of That!

January feels like a bitty month for me, creatively speaking!

It has felt like there's been loads going on, but not much to show for it!

Blocks

I am in the throws of finalising next terms' class samples, most of which are WIPs at the moment!  I really need February to bring all these WIPs to completion for me (do you think the Shoemaker could lend me his elves for a few nights!!!).

I hope you've had a productive January and are looking forward to lighter evenings in February!

Linking up to Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day!