Tag: Craftsy

A Mini Mini

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I just wanted to show you the finished mini I’m giving away over on Instagram (I’m Lemonshark if you’d like to try your luck).

MiniThis little mini was designed and made for the giveaway. I used some of my all time favourite scraps, such as Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander, Summersville by Lu Summers and some Tula Pink. You can’t go wrong with Tula Pink. The whole thing was pieced and quilted in Aurifil 50wt (no 2600, my favourite). For the quilting I did some stitching in the ditch and echoing as the quilt is busy enough as it is.

It was appliquéd on some grey Essex linen and bound with more of the yummy Tula Pink print I used. This mini mini finishes at 13,5″ and I’m in love with it. It’s going to be a little difficult to give it away but a promise is a promise.

I’m thinking of putting the templates for this mini up on the blog. This will then be the last pattern on here as I’m going to open a shop on Craftsy.

 

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Quilts1 Comment

Doll Quilt Swap 14

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I enjoy a good swap and one of my favourites so far was the Doll Quilt Swap Round 13. The mini quilt I got was absolutely stunning and was one of the first things I hung up in my sewing room. When I saw that registration for round 14 opened I jumped at the chance to get another little beauty as those ladies are a talented bunch.

The mini quilt I did was an English Paper Piecing project that I found on the internet. As I couldn’t find the pattern I copied the design and drew the templates myself. I have since found and purchased it on Craftsy as I truly didn’t want to rip off the talented designer, Endulzar.

Anyway, I decided to go for another EPP project as I knew I was going to spend Christmas in Ireland and it would be great to sew a bit between eating turkey and Christmas pudding.   I designed my own pattern on TouchDraw for iPad and will be adding the templates to this blog once I’ve finished the mini and am sure that everything fits and looks the way I want it.

EPP for DQS 14

This year I went for the classic combination of linen and Liberty Tana lawn. As I only had scraps, I went for a scrappy but ordered approach and got to the last two pieces before I realised that I didn’t have enough scraps to finish it.I have now ordered more from Ali‘s gorgeous shop on Folksy where all my other scraps have come from too. I can’t wait to get them and finish this mini.

DQS 14 Mini

 

Pieced, as always, with my favourite thread: Aurifil 50wt (colour no 2000).

Categories: Doll Quilt Swap 14, Quilting, Uncategorized2 Comments

Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

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Quite a while ago I ordered a jelly roll of Kona brights by Robert Kaufman; not because I needed it but because I love solids and it called out to me. Once it arrived I put it on my shelf and admired the vibrancy of the colours and how well the colours looked together.

Last year I opened it and grabbed the purples to use as binding for the Mindless Flannel quilt. Then I rolled it back together again, stood back and admired it some more.

On Monday the admiring stopped and the cutting started. After sorting out the yellows and greys I turned to one of my favourite fabrics ever and chopped that up too. ‘Heron’ is from the line Across the Pond by Cloud 9 Fabrics . The design of this quilt had been in my head for quite some time. I could picture it and I really wanted to do it but there was always something else I needed to finished first. The list of things I need to finish is still as long as my arm but the quilt top has finally been made and it’s just the way I imagined it would be.

Heron Log Cabin

Excuse the poor quality picture. We have been swallowed up by the fog and despite having all the lights on it’s still really dark. However, I love the bright colours in real life. It has, of course, been pieced with my favourite Aurifil thread 50wt colour 2000 which is a lovely neutral colour that seems to go with all the colours in this quilt.

It finishes at 48″ x 60″ and is going to go and live on our sofa once I’ve quilted it. Little Miss Bossy-Boots tried to get this one too (she already has two quilts) but I thought it would be nice to have one we can share.

My dilemma now is how to quilt it. Once upon a time I would have just echoed the log cabin but after taking three (!) fmq classes on Craftsy I really want to do something else. Should I go for feathers (very ambitious), dot to dot quilting à la Angela Walters or use some of the designs I’ve learned from Leah Day? Answers on a postcard, please!

PS I will post better pictures the minute we have a sunny day.

Categories: Quilting, QuiltsLeave a comment

Tea?

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I love being part of a bee as it challenges me and lets me discover new sewing techniques. Last month’s request by Di from Quiltova were tea cups in bright and contrasting colours and fabrics. The pattern is by the talented Sarah Fielke whose Craftsy course Big Techniques from Small Scraps I bought ages ago because I wanted to learn how to do needle turn appliqué.

I would lie if I said I loved making these tea cups. Or rather, I would lie if I said I loved making the first tea cup as I just couldn’t get my head around working with the templates of the saucer ends. The seam ripper came out countless times and the air was turned dark blue until I gave up and made some HSTs.

Tea CupsI went back to Sarah’s class and watched the two lessons for needleturn appliqué again before attaching the handles. That’s what’s so great about Craftsy, you can go back anytime you want and re-watch the relevant lessons.

I’m totally in love with these tea cups now and would love to make one of these quilts, which is called All That and the Hatter, myself. Isn’t that the best name for a quilt? I’m now hoping Sarah’s book will be put under the Christmas tree for me. Please, Santa, I promise to be good and stop swearing…!

Categories: Quilting, Quilts, Sew Euro-Bee-An1 Comment

Fly, Robin, Fly!

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Yeah, my internet, phone and tv have finally been sorted and I’m hoping that this means I can get back to blogging on a more regular basis. Somehow, it’s not much fun to write blog posts without being able to publish them.

Juliet, who blogs at Tartan Kiwi, is a very talented pattern designer who concentrates on foundation paper pieced blocks. I haven’t seen one yet that hasn’t impressed me so, please, go and have a quick look at her Craftsy store. It’s alright, I’ll wait for you here.

Ok, what did you think? Isn’t she wonderful? Well, she was looking for pattern testers a while ago and I put my name forward. However, with the move to Switzerland being more time consuming and stressful than I had anticipated I haven’t really had the time to test any of those gorgeous patterns…until now, that is. Check out this little cutie:

Paper Pieced RobinThe pattern comes together really easily despite some teeny tiny pieces. In fact I had the most problems with those long thin pieces around the legs and for the twig. Slippery little so-and-sos.

Close up RobinIf you like to FPP (foundation paper piece) and you love Christmas this little Robin is almost a must. The block finishes at 10″ so I’m now going to go and have a little rummage through my Christmas fabric to add a couple of borders before I turn him into a cushion cover.

By the way, go check out Amy of Amy’sCrafty Shenanigans‘ version out as well. It’s in the bottom row of her October mosaic. I wish I had some of that snowflake fabric so that I could make another one.

I used some Kona solids, a couple of prints from Carolyn Friedlander’s line Architextures and a little bit of Denyse Schmidt for my Robin. The fabric I used for the eye was a small scrap I had lying around. Pieced, as always, with my beloved Aurifil 50 wt.

I love him and I will be sad when he flies away to his new home as I’ve decided he would be a perfect gift for…whoops, I almost told you there, didn’t I? I’ll tell you some other time, don’t want to spoil the surprise, do we now?

 

 

Categories: Quilting, Quilts1 Comment