Mini break

My sewing machine MOT coincided with a little mini break to the Longleat Centre Parcs this week.  We did precious little activity, absolutely no biking (the hills are killers!) but we had an amazing week and I quietly lamented celebrated turning 35!

Our week in a few photo's, my favourite being my OH demonstrating why men should probably avoid non-slippy slides ;)

Our last stop on the way home was StoneHenge, it is pretty damn impressive in pictures and real life!


I managed to not get any sewing done this week and am now desperate to get my sewing machine back so I can crack on with my Mouthy Stitches pouch. Still I have been catching up on my reading, which has been great and my family are glad of the peace and quiet ;)
xx

Ready,set.....

Go!!!!!!!!!

The starter gun has gone on the Mouthy Stitches swap and I have begun to stalk my partner.  I have had ideas buzzing around my head for the last week.  I posted three ideas to the group this morning, one being a Circle of geese in miniature. 

I thought I had better see if I could 'put my money where my mouth was' no pun intended, so I got to work practicing.

Photographed next to my Flying geese cushion for an idea of the scale.

I downloaded the original PDF from Piece by Numbers and then printed it out at 50%, this gave me 3.5" geese units.  I love how this turned out and I am going to turn it into a pouch for me.

My machine is going in for a service tomorrow, so the other two ideas will have to wait a week.

On Friday I got a very exciting delivery of the new Melody Miller line and I have to say I am totally in love! 

 I made my first project with it yesterday morning, a quilted needle case following this tutorial.

So I am all set for a lot of hand sewing this week, I have every intention of finishing both circle cushions.

WIP Wednesday

I have had quite a productive week, stayed on track with what I was suppose to be doing and managed to finish two quilt tops.  So technically I should probably have a to-quilt section....

Complete:

Heirloom Colourbrick quilt:

Sherbet Pips quilt:
(although I am still deciding about putting a border on this, the original pattern doesn't have one)

Little makeup bag:
Zipper practice!!  It's not perfect but I am getting there.  I used my boring white zippers for practice saving my jazzy rainbow ones for best ;)

Lined drawstring bag :
 I bought Jeni's pattern and this is the Snack bag size to keep my Perle cotton in.  Echino London scene with Tufted tweet birds representing the pigeons ;)  Lining is the Half Moon modern scissors in slate.

My charms for the Somewhere over the Rainbow charm swap are all cut and winging there way to Emily for sorting.

No progress:

Circle stitch along cushions - I am saving these for next week as my machine is going in for a MOT.

New projects:


More zippy pouches involving some of this fabric that arrived this week from Pink Castle fabrics

Excuse the badly lit pictures, it is so dark and dreary here today.

I am linking this up to the Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday and am off to look at everyone else's WIP :)

Resolved to sew 2012

Ali at Very Berry Handmade has the most fantastic competition going on over at her blog.  You can enter the competition by blogging about your sewing resolutions to sew in 2012.  You can also enter by leaving a comment on the post as well if you don't blog.

I made my resolutions in my second ever post and so far this year I am not doing too badly:

• Mastering curves - I have signed up to Rachel's (Stitched in Colour) Curves class 5 week course.

• Master zippers and joining more online swaps is covered so far by the Mouthy stitches swap and the Rainbow charm pack swap.

• Follow Colourbrick quiltalong - Top finished :)

So I would really love to win this bundle to make the King size quilt for my bed that is one of my main resolutions for this year.  Especially as I already have some yardage of this in my stash :)

It's the weekend!!

My weekend starts today :).  I have lots of sewing planned for the next few days after being oncall since Wednesday and not being able to do much.  If I could just take the sewing machine to work with me....

I did manage to get a little bit done yesterday morning.  One of my friends asked me to make a quilt for his Grandaughter.  I am making this quilt with a Sherbet Pips Jelly roll.

I also sorted my downstairs sewing cupboard out as it was a disgrace (Mother look away now!)

 It won't last long but at least it's tidy for now :)

My other exciting news of the week is joining the London Modern Quilt guild.  It's brand spanking new and they had their first meet up today (which I couldn't make as I had to attend a 3 years olds birthday party!!).  It's open to all, so if you live in or around London go and have a look at the blog :)

Hope you all have had a great weekend.
x

WIP Wednesday & swaps!

 I have joined my first swaps of 2012 this week starting with the Somewhere over the rainbow charmed swap being run by the lovely Emily. 

The second one was the Mouthy Stitches swap being run by Susan, Hadley and Cindy.  The first swap is a zippered pouch, so there is no time like the present to get myself over the fear of zippers!

I think my Mosaic says I like rainbows and linen, I like to think I am quite subtle! ;)

I am also linking up with the Freshly pieced WIP today.

Slight Progress:

So I have made some progress with the Colour brick quilt, just have to get the sashing strips on to complete the top.

No progress:
Circle sticth along cushions

Completed:

I was suppose to make a couple of Kindle cases for some work colleagues, I ended up completing 6 kindle cases, 1 Ipad case, 1 camera case and a phone case! 

I think that will do for the gadget cases for a while!!

Sidetracked

I get sidetracked a lot when it comes to sewing.  Today I had planned to finish the brick quilt top, I only have to sew the long sashing on and it's done.

So what did I do....... I made three Kindle cases, a phone case and a camera case instead!

These are for work colleagues.  They all know that they have to hand over any overtime money to me to support my fabric habit ;).

These two lovelies are for me, and I have made a tiny dent in this scrap pile.....

Sorry for the pic overload, I finally bought myself a decent camera in the January sales :). 

Hope you are all having a good weekend.
xx

WIP Wednesday

I am linking up with WIP Wednesday for the first time today,  perfect for a list loving girl!

I only have one project carried over from last year, but only due to the fact that I had a week off work in November, with 24/7 babysitting from the Grannies. 

WIP:

I am roughly following Rachel's Circle stitch along, which I have been admiring on Flikr for months.  I say roughly as I have a hard time reading and following instructions, which normally ends in disaster.

I have made two of the circle designs and the plan is to turn  them into cushions once I have finally finished the handstitching.  I am a very new handstitcher, up till late last year I used to make my MIL stitch my binding down for me:)

New projects:

Colour brick quilt from Stitched in Colour.  I have got as far as sewing the short sashing on and sorting into eleven piles ready for sewing into strips.  Progress on this is being hampered by my new Kindle arriving this week, and the fact that I have to go to work!

Not being the brightest spark, I chose the smallest part of my living room to lay the bricks out!

This weeks stats:

WIP - 1
New projects - 1

xx

Lovely lovely bricks

Firstly I would like to thank everyone for their lovely comments on yesterdays post.  I have been trying to reply to all but if I haven't thank you very much :).

I have cut my first quilt of 2012 today using the Heirloom line from Joel Dewberry.  I am making the Brick quilt from Stitched in Colour which I have been wanting to do for a while.

After some danger filled cutting thanks to the kidlet jumping on my back mid cut, I now have a very lovely stack of cut bricks and the sashing already to sew.

My other exciting news for the day is that I have signed up for the Stitched in Colour Curves camp.  One of my goals this year is to push myself out of the comfort zone and  curves certainly come under that!

Hope you are all having a good Monday.
xx

2012

Happy New year!

I am linking up with Lynne of Lily's Quilts fame for Fresh Sewing Day, although I haven't a clue what I am doing ;).


I put together a mosaic of my 2011 quilt and cushion makes to try and narrow down my favourite of the year.

 I love them all but the Tropical rainbow is still my favourite, with the BQS pillow fight cushion I made for Helen coming a close second.

On a non-quilty note, my lovely husband and I are planning to take part in the project 365 this year.  I think the comparison of what we photograph will be vastly different (his not involving mostly fabric with a few of the kid thrown in for variety!).


Hope you all had a good New year.
x