a nice day for finishing a quilt...

2 miracles happened today...

1. i finished a quilt that had been sitting on a pile waiting patiently for its turn since january and...

2. it was sunny enough to take a stroll across the road to the park to shoot a few pics of it.

the quilt in question was my scrappy trip along quilt below, which was my xmas vacation project last year. 

oh so embarrassing to be about to embark on this year's xmas vacation and still have it unfinished. having found an unusual free gap in my week i finally set about to finish it.

there is actually something rather nice about revisiting an unfinished project...memories are wrapped up in it...you get to revisit and rework with fabrics that you may not be anymore.

advantages galore...and that's my story for being a lazy a*** and i'm sticking to it.

im so so pleased with how it's turned out and hopefully ruby, who it was originally made for, is still keen on it too.

i had a fun little photo shoot in the park...dodging the dogs and the wind (weather wind not the dogs' wind) and to show you a few more of the photos i have attached a little flipagram here, which may or may not work. i have never made one before, but have fun with it if it does!

what finishing this quilt has taught me is...

1. i can be a finisher...

2. i actually enjoyed being a finisher...

3. i really really must finish more things before i start anything new.

that last one is my new year's resolution...good luck with that huh?

oh and that first picture at the top?...

that's a sneak of a commission that i have been working on and is about to head off to its destination. just as soon as i can i'll tell you more about that one!

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013...

 it's that time of year again.

the time when Amy inspires us all by running the blogger's quilt festival and when i get to catch up on all the amazing quilting that has been going on around blogland.

i love taking part in the festival, not because i have any delusions of winning, but to be a part of it.

to be honest i wasn't really sure which quilt to enter and then i realised i was actually impeded by the fact that this year i have started many quilts and finished very few so it was  more a case of what i actually could enter.

i have decided to enter my elephants love water in the baby quilt category.

as soon as i saw this fabric at the beginning of the year i knew i had to quilt something out of it (i am having the same feeling about the talented duo's new collection).

it is one of those collections that speaks volumes by itself s doesn't really need too much complicated piecing to make it look good.

i decided to make a wonky windmill kinda block pairing the umbrella prints with coordinating kona solids. i backed it in a simple solid red, again less was more.

i didn't have the right fabric in my stash for the binding. nothing was singing to me when i held fabrics up against the quilt top so it was down to the cellar to print a stripe.

perfect!

it is a simple quilt. it is a small quilt but i absolutely loved working with the umbrella prints fabric and was delighted when a reader loved it so much that they wanted to buy it. i wasn't so pleased to part with it, so i guess i will just have to purchase some floating world and make a substitution.

thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out what else is going on at the festival. x

Guest Blogpost: Julie Ryan...

something a little bit special today...a guest blogpost!

please let me introduce the lovely Julie Ryan. Julie very kindly road tested my new Allotment Tote Bag Kit pattern. she has long since been a wonderfully supportive virtual friend and when she enthused about my new allotment design and suggested what i had been contemplating with it, a tote, i knew she was the girl for this job. it transpires that Julie was also an editor/proof reader in a former life so perfect for the job all round!

thank you so much for your enthusiasm Julie and road testing my latest pattern, and if like Julie you would like your own allotment tote bag you can purchase it here.

:::::::::

I’ve been a big fan of Karen’s screenprinted fabrics for a long time now, especially her geometric prints, so when she posted photos of her new Allotment print, I let out a squeal of delight. Teeny-tiny geometric bits, all in it together, patchwork-style?! My fabric-loving heart swooned!

I am also, it seems, going through a strange phase of tote-bag-obsession -- I suddenly want one for every possible occasion and see tote potential in every bit of fabric I see. (I’m not sure what’s up with that; I never even used to like totes at all.)

To have a lovely, made-by-me tote in Karen’s perfect Allotment print?! And in red, no less! (Another thing I never liked and now suddenly seem to want everywhere.) Eeep! I chose a sweet, girly lining to contrast Allotment and then a precious scrap of Cloud 9 Monsterz print for the inside pocket. I can’t tell you how happy this fabric combination made me - it came together like they were always meant to be!

The tote sews up like there's nothin’ to it - a perfect little instant-gratification project and I loved every bit of it. Now I get to carry my adorable bag around and make everyone jealous!

I'm everywheres: 

julie@button-button.co.uk

http://button-button.co.uk

http://twitter.com/gotthebutton

http://www.etsy.com/shop/littledorritandco

http://www.ravelry.com/stores/button-button

http://andstitches.blogspot.co.uk/

patchy update...

apparently there was only one way to see how white ink on solids would look...go right ahead and try it...

and i'd say, from that same modest standpoint, rather darn lovely!

a few panels have been added to the shop with more colours coming just as soon as i get all those other things done...

well some of them anyway...

sun sea and sand...

sun sand and sea?

it's not quite looking like that from where i am sitting today but i am really liking the sun sand and sea charm pack created by a lovely customer.

i love how you lovely peeps out there see things and add your input into my designs.

i think i'll be creating something myself with this charm pack...

you can too as i have listed a few sets in my Etsy shop...go here if you are tempted by a little sun sand and sea.

don't forget to enter my giveaway if you want a chance to get your hands on some of my screen printed fabrics. 

go here for a chance...but be quick...it closes tomorrow 

a huge thank you to those that have already entered x

swoon...

 being the world's best starter and the world's worst finisher it will come as no surprise that i have started yet another quilt.

to be fair i am on a mission to make a quilt for our bed. i keep thinking i have found the perfect quilt design but then as i get going on it it doesn't seem quite as perfect as i thought so i give up.

i really thought this low volume scrappy trip along above was going to be just right...

...wrong! even though it is low volume there is just too much going on.

the same happened with the + and x quilt below.

way too busy!

it was back to the drawing board but not before i made myself sew up these scrappy and plus blocks into squares big enough to make cosy floor cushions.

now i can relatively guiltlessly get on with the job in hand of making the right quilt and i actually think i am there this time.

i had bought camille's lovely swoon pattern a while ago and had a lightbulb moment of thinking this would be just the right quilt, particularly if i kept it simple.

the first block i made at the top went pretty straight forwardly. i used my 2 favourite fabrics of the moment - architextures' crosshatch in grey and pb&j's raspberry jam in picnic. the background is the crosshatch in white...plain but with a little added interest.

i was really pleased with the result of this first block and started pulling fabrics for the rest of the quilt.  whilst our room has a strong Orla Kiely wallpaper with a shot of chartreusy yellow i initially wanted to keep the quilt neutral.

not according to my sub conscience as before i knew it i'd dragged out some yellows. looks like it was going to have yellow in it after all.

just to make sure yellow was going to work i made up another block. 

nice...

i was liking...

but now i have a dilemma...a big dilemma...

i laid the blocks out on the bed just to see if it was working for me and boom how good do the blocks look as pillow covers??

aaaghhh!

do i stop at these 2 blocks and do something else for the quilt?

but what else would work in this room?

what would you do??

Familiar colours...

It was back to the more familiar colours of yellow and grey today, with a little random orange and brown thrown in.

 Printing my triangle design in white on various coloured Konas had been on the To Do list for some time and was needed to be pushed up the pecking order with autumn/winter thoughts in mind.

 I love how the coloured fabrics have taken the white ink, altho when you compare the 2 ways below (white ink on coloured fabric or coloured ink on white fabric) I am not totally sure you can tell the difference with this design, can you?

What I think it does give me is the flexibility of colour. Paint colours are much more limiting than the huge array of choice of Kona solids, so printing in white ink does allow me to get the perfect colour. I mean who wants Tomato when you can get Tangerine? Seriously, who?

Being the impatient soul that I am I had to see if things would be any different when I made it up into products and again, I'm not totally convinced they are.

Along with the vast choice of colours with Kona, the other advantage of printing with white ink is I can print in lots of colours at once without having to wait for a screen to dry first. This has to be a big plus. 

So unless you have a huge problem with this set up, I think I will be printing with white ink for the foreseeable future.

Friday already?? Where on earth has this week gone??!

I have no idea what happened to Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday I was in London at the NOTHS Meet Up, which was fab.

It is always wonderful to meet up with virtual friends and when you are listening to inspirational talks and given a free lunch, then all the better!

 I am consequently left today feeling rather pooped to put it mildly and politely!

I have just about enough energy to show you my Bella cushion created from the other half of the charm pack.

 Again, I kept it simple and let the little pieces I had shout from the rooftops.

Man, I love these fabrics!

The colours, the designs, the whole combo is just way too perfect. I've a feeling I'm going to be buying whole bolts of this range!

I finished off the cushion making an envelope backing in a bright turquoise solid.

Looking at it I could almost convince myself that the rain isn't lashing down and my heating isn't on and it really is summer time here in the UK...

 It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Lotta Jansdotter. Her simplistic , fresh, Scandinavian style ticks all boxes as far as I am concerned.

She shook the world when her first line Echo for Windham fabrics hit our shelves last year and I am predicting an even bigger world shake up when her next line Bella arrives in August.

I was lucky enough to be sent a charm pack of Bella and let me tell you, it sure has the wow factor. I am going to stick my neck out here and say I may actually prefer it to Echo.

Maybe it's the colour combos that Bella comes in or may it's that the patterns aren't quite as bold individually so work really well when adding to projects.

Because a charm pack isn't the biggest pack on the block I had to team it with other fabrics and because I wanted to showcase Bella in all it's glory i decided to team it with coordinating solids (in this case some lovely Klona cottons), rather than any other prints.

I split the charm pack up into 2 groups and used the orange and cobalt blue pieces in this quilt, saving the greys, yellow and turquoise for my second project which you can see a glimpse of in the bottom photo below.

Again, trying to keep it simple, I backed my Bella quilt in a denim coloured cotton and bound it in my new orange stripe fabric, which actually was born from a desire for an orange stripe to bind it with!

I for one can not wait for this line to be released and having had a play with a few precious pieces I am very excited about having more to really go for it with.

If you want to read more about this line and how Lotta creates her designs go for an informative read here.

And watch this space for what I am doing with the other pieces...

 Next party preparation item ticked off the agenda...

 ...table runners for the kitchen and deck tables.

One thing this party sure is doing is kicking me into touch with projects for the house that have been on the To Do list for aeons.

Yesterday was a very productive screen printing day. With the weather being so beautiful I was able to print, dry the screen and reprint in a different colour far faster than usual.

This left me a little window of opportunity to print up a couple of table runners.

I bought this beautiful pale blue linen in ready made table runner width from Ikea last year (that's how long I've been waiting to make these). Unfortunately it is now discontinued which makes me exceedingly cross I didn't buy the whole darn bolt.

The combination with the white ink is really pleasing and I am so cross about not having more as matching napkins would have gone down a treat.

If you do happen to be in your local Ikea and if by some miracle they have some still in stock, please do let me know and I may even make you a set to say a big thank you ;-)

I blame Florence for distracting me today.

There I was happily taking things a little slower when I read her blogpost and suddenly realised I had to make Ruby an apron for one of her Chanukah presents.

So bang went my "I'm in control" day and enter "crap, I have to make this now" day.

I know Ruby will be delighted because she's been nagging me for a new apron for ages.

The problem is that one apron wasn't too much trouble (apart form a bit of unpicking because you are making it up as you go along - my usual style - rather than following a pattern), the problem started when I realised my nieces needed one too.

Well, they obviously don't need one and I do actually have other gifts ready for them, but they are all coming up over the holidays and since it usually includes a bake off session, then clearly, they do actually need one.

So what started off as my first slightly slower paced day in a long time, has ended just as crazy as the rest.

And I blame you, Florence!

It's turning out to be a really lovely summer with lots of little vacations.

We were at my cousins' last weekend. They have just moved back into their newly built place in the middle of the countryside. It was stunning and such a treat to be hanging out there...swimming pool 'n' all!

Then this weekend we stayed in this stunning hotel, courtesy of my parents - we all went to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary. I'm not sure I have been so pampered in all my life. If you have an excuse to do something special, I highly recommend it.

And no sooner are we back than we are getting ready for a vacation to Israel. I am very very excited to be going. We are visiting family, friends and generally looking forward to hanging out in the sunshine for a couple of weeks.

I have presents at the ready (including this), been making pretty, lightweight skirts for Ruby, a dress half way made for me, and then fresh, pretty bags for our smalls...

I think we are ready for take off.

The girlie quilt is finished...

I seriously can't understand how Noah thinks this is girlie.

If you asked a girl what colours she wanted her quilt to be made in, I'm pretty sure grey, black and red would hardly be mentioned.

And there isn't a flower or heart in sight.

I lined up various fabrics for the binding - (btw that's the first time I have bound a quilt, so I have been doing a little celebratory dance having accomplished that) - and decided to use the black Kei dots to just be sure it was as far from girlie as possible.

Still too girlie.

My friend Tara put the nail on the head. Maybe quilts in general are more girlie, being snuggly and cosy and all that. I think she has a point.

I'm pretty sure that anything I did for Noah, even quilting his beloved Arsenal badge on it, would be too girlie for this boy wonder.

ps Noah...that poster so has to go...

No trade show preparations are quite complete without the necessary trip to Ikea, King of storage and accessories solutions. I headed there this morning to purchase these, but obviously a trip to Ikea is equally never complete without a visit to the fabric department.

Boy was I in for a treat today. I needed some more white cotton for show makes and Lenda is my fabric of choice. Not only did I pick up metres (yes, metres) of this, but my timing was perfect as today saw the re-arrival of Aina, the linen that Ikea used to stock and hasn't been available for a long time. I picked up some of this in white and was over the moon to see that they are also stocking it in grey.

The most perfect grey linen EVER. I've been after a good grey linen and haven't been able to find one that works for me and I think I may just have found it.

I'd almost walked away, when this beautiful grey rose caught my eye and it seemed rude to walk on by. It's even more gorgeous in the flesh and is going to be turned into some lovely summer cushions for our bed just as soon as BCTF is over.

It seemed equally rude to walk past Kajsastina, this lovely daisy.

Most of the pile of beauties will have to stay untouched for the next couple of weeks, put out of temptations way. They aren't right for the show, but they sure are right for me.