The quilt that took two years to sew

An unfinished quilt has been sitting on my bedroom floor for the best part of two years. 

Across those two years it has taken on different forms. At first it was just a pile of fabric, then it progressed to log cabin squares and recently it has been gracing my floor half quilted. 

It's been one of those projects I have wanted to finish but just have never quite got around to it. 

First, I was making a quilt for my friend, then I had a dissertation to write and finals to revise for and then I discovered the world of dress making. So with one thing and another it was left languishing. 

Last week I picked it up and decided that now was its moment.

First the final squares were sewn together. (I chose to make this quilt using a rough log cabin design and a jelly roll of fabric from Moda. I love that the colours easily work together.) 

Then, they were quilted.

Then cut to size. (Measuring is never by forte. My quilts will be forever gloriously wonky.) 

And finally the whole thing was put together with some pretty backing fabric. 

It turned out to be a gloriously colourful, cozy and quirky quilt. 

I wanted to use colours and patterns that I loved so I picked that pretty flower fabric for the back despite it not being quite the right size! It took some fiddling to add the striped fabric but I like how it turned out in the end. 

My model was particularly helpful when it came to taking photos! 

The binding is perhaps my favourite part. It's made of a fat quarter of liberty fabric I picked up in a tiny town north of Durham. With some careful cutting I squeezed out enough to make the binding and  just love how jolly it makes the whole thing. 

So, another quilt for another bed. I won't grow tired of making quilts because each turns out so differently and carry so many memories. The next one though, will not take quite so long to finish....I hope! 

One Photo & Twenty words

Sorry for the delay in posting this folks! 

A tour of university (castle) college before we left Durham. Yes students actually live here. Yes, it is basically Hogwarts.
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My challenge for you today. Find one photo and choose up to twenty words to tell its story. Jot it down and link back here. The link will stay open for a week so you have plenty of time to join in! 

Scrapbooking for One Little Bird

A while back I tried my hand at applying for a design team. It was a real shot in the dark. The company was One Little Bird and I used and loved their products and when the team call came out I knew I would regret it if I didn't have a go.

As it turned out I wasn't offered a spot on the team, which in hindsight was definitely a blessing in disguise, owing to that thing called a degree that got in the way! The process of applying though was so much fun and it made me really consider more about my scrapping and memory keeping.

Though I wasn't offered a place on the team, I was offered a chance to guest design in July and I took it with open arms.

One of the challenges for this month was to create a page using any One Little Bird Products we wanted.

I had such fun creating this page. I stepped outside my comfort zone a little and tried my hand at a traditional scrapbook layout. While I am no master at digital scrapbooking I do like the look of this page and how easily it came together. The joy of working with one designer is that all the papers/embellishments look very cohesive.

The layout documents some creative writing I scribbled on my way back home from Durham. As I was leaving the station to start "near distance" with the boy I saw a couple saying a tough farewell just a few carriages down. It was a beautifully circular moment for me and I knew I needed to put my thoughts in a form of 'letter'.

I'm pleased with how this layout turned out. Clean and quite simple but it documents an important story for me.

So, this month, if you fancy popping by, my layouts will be gracing the gallery at The Lilypad and possibly on the One Little Bird Blog. What fun!

I have so much more to say regarding scrapbooking and PL (or the lack of it on here) and where I am at with memory keeping at the moment. That post is taking time to write though so hang in while I gather my thoughts! 

Quick heads up: One Photo and Twenty words is happening as usual this Thursday. It would be great to see you there!