Glancing back, leaping forward...welcome 2015!

It's that time again.  Time to reflect on the year that's past before blindly leaping into the year ahead. I'm pleased to say that overall, 2014 was a good one for me.

There were so many highlights, it's hard to know where to start.  It was my first year of teaching, not only at at The Harbour Gallery in Jersey, The City Quilter in New York (it was wonderful to meet Chris at last) and MyBearpaw in Edinburgh too. My goodness what happy memories I have of those times and all the wonderful ladies I met.  

The Fat Quarterly Retreat was also fabulous and it was wonderful to catch up again with fellow quilters at the Stitch Gathering in September.   I've nearly finished the quilt I made with Thomas Knauer!  

I also had a fabulous time here in Jersey with some wonderful textile artists.

Not to mention taking a 2 day class with award winning Phillipa Naylor, who shared her secrets of FMQ.  What an inspiration she was.

And I met the wonderful Strip Bee ladies, and we swapped our beautiful quilts in the sunshine of Jen's back garden.  It was so much fun, I just wish we could have been together for longer.  

And so to my year's makes in pictures.

Starting with quilts.  Not so many, but each special in it's own way.

Then there was lots of bunting and cushions...

And then I got a little bit obsessed with making mini's,  zipper pouches and sitting in front of the tv stitching pretty embroideries.

I know there's more makes than I can find photos for, but I think it's fair to say it was a productive year.  2015 certainly has a lot to live up to!   But no fear, I'm hatching plans, hatching plans...I can't wait to see what it brings.

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Sarah x

Linking up with:

  

Sending a Little Bit of Happiness

I've got a very good friend, Nadia, who told me about her friend who's soon to be heading to Africa to work on a project building a hospital.  When she was telling me about the project, it sounded so exciting, and I knew that even though I couldn't be there (this time!) I wanted to do something to make a small difference.  

So I had an idea to make some simple, but multicoloured bunting, that can be hung in the hospital and hopefully bring a small bit of comfort to those who stay there.  

Time's tight at the moment, so I knew that if I wanted this to happen, I'd have to draft in reinforcements.  In this case, it was in the form of Nadia, who has never even as much as sewn on a button, let alone made bunting.  So she was on triangle drawing duty, and I was on pinking shears duty.  

 

We decided that we wanted to make as much bunting as possible in the 2 short mornings that we had, and after thinking we could make 9 metres, we decided to push ourselves and go for a full on 12 metres...that's 48 flags.  We were certainly feeling determined!

Here's Nadia with all 48 ready to be sewn.

That's when she handed over the reins to me; I jumped on my Bernina and sewed like mad, in between trying to keep my 2 year old happy.  I think that was the most challenging bit about this whole project!

Sadly time got the better of us, and on day 2 school pick up came around faster than you can say '3 o'clock.' Luckily I managed to finish the last bit of sewing in the afternoon, and take some photos while the sun was shining.

Don't all those colours look so pretty against the blue skies?  It all looks so calm and peaceful in my garden.  But I just have to share the reality of this photo shoot...

In the absence of Nadia, I had to draft in assistance from the under 5's!!

I can't wait for it to arrive at the hospital in Africa.  I hope to get more specific details about the project soon and share them with you.  The fab thing is Nadia's friend doesn't even know we've made the bunting yet, I hope she can squeeze it into her suitcase!

Thank you for stopping by,

Sarah x

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2013 - A Year in Review Part 1

2013 has been a splendid year.  So it seems only fitting to write a year in review, and reflect on all the things I've made, all the wonderful people I've met and all the fantastic times I've had.  It's hard to know where to start with such a mammoth task, but I think first I'll start with my makes. 

 

As you may know I make quilts and other items for my little business Quilt Candy, so here are all the quilts I've made this year, roughly in chronological order. 

 

A mini for my dear friend Julie

I'll admit, it's not as many quilts as I would like, but that's partly because I have been super busy making personalised bunting too - something that has proved really popular.  Here are some examples of the bunting I've made, often many times but with different names. 

 I was also lucky enough to have a stand at The Harbour Gallery in the summer months.

The small items in particular proved very popular; I never imagined having to make so many chickens!

I also had great fun  making lots of quilted journal covers. 

 

 

I did have big plans to make personalised stockings.  But sadly there was just not enough time.   But I did manage to finish my WIP of six years, my Christmas Stocking Cross Stitch.

And I even managed to make some Christmas gift tags, both for my children and a few orders :-)

 

When I look back, I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to achieve all I have in this last year.  All those late nights at the sewing machine; all those mornings where I've felt like a zombie have all been worth it when I think of all the things I've made and hopefully the happiness I've brought to their owners. 

I've also had so many wonderful quilting related experiences, more than I could have ever imagined, and made SO many new friends.  I can't wait to re-cap them all with you.  But I think I'll save that for another post. 

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you've had a wonderful year too.

Sarah x

Triangle City

That's what it's felt like in my studio kitchen these last few weeks.  I mustn't complain, it's great to be so busy with bunting orders for Christmas.  All I can say is I'm glad I've got a template and a rotary cutter! 

 

So here's a new one I put together last week for a friend who wanted a gift for a baby boy that wasn't too cutesy babyish, as she wanted it to last in his room for a couple of years.  Those good old chevrons did the job...I hope!

 

I'd not heard of the name 'Avi' before, I had to keep checking to make sure I had the spelling was correct.  How silly is that with a 3 letter word?!

 

I was also asked if I could make some space/robot bunting for 2 brothers.  I immediately knew I had the perfect fabric in my stash.

 

 

 

Isn't it just adorable.  It's Rebekah Gilnda Robotic and available at my favourite store of all time, Eclectic Maker.  But get in quick because it's selling out fast.  I had to stock up on Robotic supplies, as I plan to make a quilt for my littlest Candy for his 2nd Birthday at the end of January.  At this rate he'll be lucky to get it before he's 3! 

 

 

I've also been busy making more Christmas bunting and Circus bunting; at one stage I had 5 sets of bunting on the go simultaneously.  That was a lot of triangles!

 

I hope you are having a productive week too.  Bunting is fun but I can't wait to make a quilt soon!

Sarah x