dreams do come true...

 this week was a week where some of the secrets i have been hoarding have been spilling out...

the week started with my tumbling tinsel piece being featured in the fat quarterly scraps issue.

i really enjoyed devising this little quilt, using up precious scraps from previous projects.

i just wish i had had time to make a bigger version, but i guess we shall just put it on the ever growing to do list.

on friday my pixelated quilt, that i had been working on at the end of last year, achieved star status as this month's issue of love patchwork and quilting.

i obviously knew it was coming out, but to see my quilt and my name on the front cover of this fab mag was such a thrill! i am still recovering from seeing it!

and lp&q have done such a beautiful job on it. in fact they have done a stunning job on the whole magazine...the best edition yet i think. seriously if you haven't bought or subscribed to this new magazine yet, you really should.

i am very very proud of this quilt. 

i am very proud that it is on the front cover of a mag. and i am very proud of it being the first double size quilt i have made.

here's to many more of both!

this is definitely the year of hard work paying off and dreams coming true...

...and here's to seeing the big one coming true very very soon! 

i blame mrs e...

i blame nicky for this one.

she planted the seed in my head about green and how could i possibly not like green?

let's just get one thing straight however...

i'm not sure i ever actually said i didn't like green...just that i wasn't particularly drawn to it.

all that has changed however...

as long as it is the right shade of green and boy is fern the right shade of green.
i even managed to mix my own version of it today...i love it that much.

nicky has got me dreaming of this colour way now...damn you girl.

and the rest of you have her to thank as more green creeps into my work.

thank you all for your fantastic feedback on my soon to be fabric club...it really is invaluable. and if you haven't entered my giveaway yet where you have an opportunity to win some of my (green?) fabric please do. just go right here. x

fickle with fabric

 i don't know about you but every now and then a fabric collection comes out that blows me over and i can't imagine there ever being a more perfect fabric line...ever...

and then a different one comes out.

i know...i'm fickle.

i was blown over by cloud 9's simpatico and more recently rashida coleman-hale's tsuru for cloud 9, not to mention heather moore's cut out and keep. ok so i love cloud 9 fabrics (can't wait for Eloise's bark and branch and heather's up up and away) and it goes without saying that i adore everything lotta lansdotter has produced so far.

did i also mention my love for carolyn friedlander's architextures?

see...fickle.

but i think a collection has finally come along that couldn't possibly be more perfect. i don't think i will ever feel the same about another collection...ever.

have you seen tule by leah duncan? i have always been a fan of leah's and am absolutely wrapped at the thought of this collection and what i will do with it.

not only are the colours spot on but the entire collection is so fresh and contemporary yet classic.

i simply can not wait for it. 

and because i simply can not wait (it's out sometime this month for goodness sake) i had to buy these from a previous line of leah's.

i'm not even sure what i was thinking as i bought these on etsy to be delivered to my aunt's in USA...you know how i let her personally bring me over some fabrics to make her feel like she's being kind and doing me a favour (it's good to make people feel wanted). well that's all very well and good but she isn't coming until the end of october.

all very well and good scratching the leah-duncan-must-buy-fabric-now itch but i will be able to get my hands on tule way before i get the above.

still, you can never have too much of a good thing.

so we've established that i am fickle with fabric but think i may have found the one. do you have a collection that has blown you over way more than another? only to be usurped by the next collection on the block?

do tell.

the changing of minds...

 So, the Low Volume quilt for our bed has had various transformations while I searched for just the right block design.

You may remember it started life as a Log Cabin on Sunday...

 Early yesterday morning it had morphed into HSTs...

 And before the day was even out it had changed again into straight line piecing cut within an inch of its life. 

I woke up dreaming (yes, literally dreaming) of wonky windmill blocks, having gone to bed wowing at this beauty and finding this ace tutorial.

My Tuesday running buddy was coming round at 8.30 so I was hard pushed to do a trial block before then....I am seriously my own worst enemy.

That said, I am now 100% sure (yeah, right, until the next change of plan) that this is the block I am going to use. 

The log cabin would have been too busy, even if it is Low Volume...

the HST gorgeous, but too full-on for a king sized bed (yes, Charlotte, you were right...I do listen)...

as for the straight line piecing, I have no idea where that one was going.

I'm hoping the wonky windmills will be easy on the eye, be as asymmetric and random as I like and still be the one I love when it eventually gets onto the bed.

Now I have made a decision this will now have to be put on a shelf high up out of temptations way. I have a lot on. And I mean a lot. And if I'm good I'll let myself bring it down and do a few blocks for a while.

Ooh I'm so strict.

Something old...something new...

old design...new fabric combination...

what do you reckon?

stick to linen or freshen it up a little?

I know I'm a bit of a fabricaholic - I'll be the first to admit I have a teensy problem - but really, who could resist buying these wonderful scrap bags from Skinny Laminx?

Like the majority of my fabric purchases I had no specific project in mind, but when Heather listed them, it was more a question of "I want those, I NEED them!"

I had no idea whether there would be large enough pieces to make something in it's entirety, but quite frankly, even a little patch of Heather's fab designs would shine in a project. The next question was "Grey? Or Red?"

Ok, so I'm rubbish at decisions.

When they arrived yesterday, I was overcome by how gorgeous they were. Not that I doubted they wouldn't be, but like all hand-printed fabrics they look and feel even better in the flesh.

Not only that, these sure were not scraps...with pieces measuring over 25 x 50cm, I was able to rustle up a couple of wash-bags toute suite...

...perfect for the guys, hey?

(they are available here now...)

I think I must be becoming extremely transparent. I must be becoming very predictable with my likes.

Courtney of Seamstar sent me the following samples of some new linens she has just started stocking...

Do they have my name written all over them or what??

And just to illustrate the point further (just in case you aren't quite convinced) here they are with my pencil case and purse, both of which I carry about with me at all times.

I'm going to have to start being more creative with my colour palette. Who knows, I may surprise you one day with my choices...

Do you ever make things to sell and realise actually you can't bear to part with them?

Well, I'm on a mega zipper pouch making sess and was using some small leftover pieces from various projects.

One such project was the fabric I used for my cushions for the hallway. I decided this would make perfect little pencil and coin pouches, so I set off making a set for the shop.

At the same time I covered a sketch book with some wallpaper (that my friend Tara very kindly 'bequeathed' me) that I was planning to use for my Screen Printing journey as recommended by Gina, my screen printing guru. Gina suggested (I've a feeling you may be hearing the phrase 'Gina said' fairly often around these parts) keeping a journal of prints produced and marking on them what worked, what didn't. I really love this idea as I have a brain like a sieve and to keep a record seemed a genius idea.

Back to the zipper pouches...

Because I was doing the 2 mustard-based projects in tandem, I realised there was no way on earth that these pouches were ever going to make it into the shop. I love the wallpaper that Tara sent me and this gorgeous Skinny Laminx fabric was just made to accompany it, so in record time the pouches were a keeper.

I may just order more of this beautiful fabric to make some pieces for the shop (can't keep a good thing to yourself) but in the meantime, I am more than happy and inspired by having these things for me.

I am very much made up of contradictory elements. On the one hand I fail to cross the finishing line when I am almost there. On the other hand I get a bit obsessed so when I have something in my head I have to get on with it.

At least the advantage of the latter is I get things done.

Hence the making of cushion number 2 in double quick time.

Thank you for all your comments and ideas for this second cushion.

I decided to go for using a piece of the first fabric but incorporating the grey too.

I'm really pleased with how this second one has turned out and how they look together. In fact I'm liking them so much that I think I'm going to have to do the same combination in our bedroom.

Or is that overkill?

I just can't bear to have this gorgeous fabric in the place in the house that I pass fleetingly without stopping to admire and appreciate.

I suppose I could always take my coffee break in one of the seats...