Mouthy Stitches

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I’ve gone and done it: after finishing the Brit Quilt Swap Round 3 I’ve signed up for another swap.
Mouthy Stitches 2
Oh, yes. I got into round two of the Mouthy Stitches Swap and I’m so excited about it. Sign up on Saturday closed after only a few hours and it was pure chance that I saw it had opened in the first place. Sunday evening I made my mosaic to show my partner what I like.

Lots of greens, blues and not as much grey as I would have liked but hey ho. I love every single project on there and can’t wait to see what my partner makes of it.

What are we making, I hear you ask. Well, we’re making totes, more specifically this tote by Skip To My Lou.

Mailing window is around my birthday so I know already that I get a bag for my birthday but what it looks like will be a complete surprise. How cool is that?

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Bang

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Do you remember my little list of UFOs? Well, there was one unfinished project that didn’t make it onto the list because, quite frankly, I’d completely, totally and utterly forgotten about it.

My Swoon block, which was made with Camille Roskelley‘s fantastic pattern.

I had started on the quilting, trying some stippling and didn’t like it. I need to practice a lot more to get it smooth, I think. I buried the block in one of my drawers until last week when, with the speed of light -bang- it reappeared. I started unpicking my stippling and did some echo quilting instead. The star in the middle was hand quilted using some perle cotton.

As this is supposed to be an outdoor cushion, mainly used for our picnics in the garden I used a darkish print on the back and used a zip for the opening.

Stippi the bear seems to like it and I’m just grateful I have one less project on my list of UFOs.

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Generosity

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Look what I received in the post yesterday:

Scraps for my Spring Carnival quilt sent by the lovely, wonderful and very talented Helen from runquiltknitwrite. I tentatively asked for a scrap swap in my last post and Helen offered to send me some straightaway. As I had told her I didn’t have many yellow and green scraps she sent me these.

I love them, they are going to look great in my Spring Carnival. Thank you so much, Helen!

Categories: English Paper Piecing2 Comments

A Little Extra

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In my last post I promised I would show you the pincushion I was making for my BQS 3 partner.

Voila! I used some Klona cream, Hope Valley and scraps from the mini quilt. I think it looks quite cute although you need some very sharp pins to penetrate the owl appliqué. Maybe my partner will be happy to simply have it sitting on a shelf looking pretty.

PS the back is the same Hope Valley print I used for the wings.

Categories: Home Projects, Sewing implements2 Comments

BQS 3 – The End

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The mailing window for the British Quilt Swap Round 3 opened last Thursday and I’m happy to report that I will be sending my mini off on Monday, a little later than I wanted.

On the other hand I’ve been very lucky and have already received my mini from my partner Teresa, The Lochside Quilter. Look what she sent me:

Little Miss Bossy-Boots took one look at the  hexagon quilt and asked if she could have it for her dolls. I’m still thinking about it… Did you notice the cute little tissue holder and fabulous charms Teresa included? The latter will definitely find their way into my Spring Carnival quilt.

Thank you so much, Teresa!

 

The quilt I made isn’t something I would have made for myself and it really took me out of my comfort zone. However, it has taught me a lot. First, I loved the curved piecing and can see some more of it in my future. Second, raw edge appliqué is fun and can be very effective. I like the fact that the tree trunk’s and leaves’ edges are a bit fuzzy. Third, autumnal colours are beautiful. I don’t use them much although I was obviously attracted to them before this mini as I bought Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley a couple of years ago.

Here’s the label I embroidered for the back.

In addition to the quilt we’re supposed to send a little extra gift.

I love pincushions and think that you can never have enough when you’re sewing so that is what I’m making for my partner. I’ll show you a picture once I’ve finished it. I know the number of pincushions I have has quadrupled in the last few months because they are so much fun to make and receive.

Now all I can do is wait and hope that my partner likes what I made for her. Fingers crossed.

 

Categories: Quilting1 Comment

Spring Carnival

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Do you remember the project I started before I tackled any of my UFOs?

My scrappy Spring Carnival quilt is progressing nicely. I took it with me to Denmark and worked on it while chatting, watching the kids play, in the evening. Basically whenever I had a little time.

I have now started sewing the ‘wheels’ together and I’m so happy with the way they look so far. I still have a bit to go before it’s quilt size but my aim is to finish it for next summer.

14 ‘wheels’ down about 85 to go.

 

BTW, loved the Aurifil thread for hand sewing around the leaves on my mini quilt. Will write a bit more about my experience with Aurifil when I show you the finished quilt but it definitely gets a thumbs up from me.

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Uncategorized1 Comment

British Quilt Swap 3 – progress

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I really need to finish this mini quilt now as the mailing window opens in three (!) days. Yesterday I cut out the tree shape and attached it with bondaweb to the ‘field’ next to the road. Next came the leaves. I played around with them for a while before Master said: “Stop!” I ironed them on and left everything to cool down before basting.

I started on the quilting today but wasn’t sure how far I would get as I was fast running out of thread. Luckily, Master went shopping this afternoon so he got some more. I did quite a bit of unpicking as I didn’t like the quilting on the tree trunk or around the leaves.

I have now decided to leave it for today and start on some hand quilting tomorrow trying out some Aurifil for the first time. I’m really excited about it and a bit nervous. What if I’m disappointed after everything I’ve heard and read about the miracle thread that is Aurifil? Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you what I think.

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Let’s Put a Pin in it

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Have you heard of  scrap vomit or technicolour yawn quilts? Katy from I’m a Ginger Monkey (I know, I know) has a great tutorial on her blog. I have been wanting to make a scrap vomit quilt literally from the second I saw a picture of her first one. However, I don’t really have the time or the scraps to start on it yet. I have been cutting all my scraps and some truly ugly fabric into 2,5″ squares for a while now but with 49 squares in each block I still have a long way to go. The solution?

Make a pincushion from Block B.

Now if I had made the block using 2,5″ squares this pincushion would have ended up the size of a small planet. Not very practical. So instead I made it with 1″ squares. Crazy? Yes, but I was nervous as Aron, our lovely 11 year old dog was at the vet’s today to get his teeth cleaned and a few biopsies from some lumps. I really needed to focus on something else and this pincushion did the trick.

There are some fun fabrics in there: an easter egg, an elephant, gloves, a ladybird, a radish, strawberries, a bird, a guitar and a lamb. Not easy to see but you might just get a glimpse of them here and there.

For the back I used some sheep.

If you like this pincushion go check out the scrap vomit appreciation society group’s photo pool on flickr. Who knows, you might want to have a go yourself.

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BQS 3 – A Start

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You might remember that I entered the Brit Quilt Swap Round 3. Very early on I started stalking my partner but there wasn’t much to find out. I checked out the flickr page to see what quilts she liked and got quite confused as I felt she didn’t have a specific style that she preferred. So I went back to the email with her preferences and her mosaic. My partner’s style is quite different from mine but that’s part of the fun when you enter a swap.

This is what I have come up with so far:

Autumnal colours and nature are two of the things my partner likes so I’ve decided to make a road that disappears into the distance and a tree. The tree will be raw edge appliqué, something I haven’t got much experience with. This whole little quilt, which should finish at 18″ square, has been so much fun to plan and I’m really enjoying the fact that I’ve come out of my comfort zone and tried something new.

Mailing window opens in nine days so I better get a move on.

 

Brit Quilts Swap 3
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Danish Loot

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We have just come home from a week in Denmark and I need to show you what I brought home with me.

The first three days we walked around Copenhagen, visiting Tivoli (where we had lunch on a pirate ship), the Zoo and the Botanical Gardens.

All things that are fun for a four year-old on a city break. Little Miss Bossy-Boots loved every minute of her fun-packed holiday where the toy shop had a free (!) roundabout and children were welcome everywhere. Master and I revelled in the fantastic architecture and wonderful food. Portions are of absolutely gargantuan proportions and full of fabulous flavours.

However, what I really want to show you is the gift I got from my friend Dorte. We stayed with her, her husband Leigh and their children for five days and it was bliss. Master jokes that she’s my Danish twin as she’s just as fabric and wool obsessed as I am. She’s incredibly talented and a real allrounder. She quilts for her children, friends and family, knits jumpers and cardigans, sews beautiful bags and makes the most wonderful teddy bears.

When we arrived at their house the first words she said were: “There’s a gift for you on the bed!” I opened it excitedly and this is what I found:

The perfect project bag! I love the owl and the fact that the bag’s huge and can take a whole knitting or crochet project. It’s even big enough for my EPP box which is enormous so as to fit in all my ferris wheels. I love it and can see it following me around the house and garden all day every day so that I can quickly knit a few rows or sew a few stitches whenever I have a couple of minutes to myself. She also gave me some wool and scraps.

Here’s the inside of the bag. As you can see I got some help which resulted in a slightly bizarre pic.

Dorte also took me to a cute quilting shop and this is what I came home with:

Some Kaffe Fassett, text prints, lemons and chicken. These pieces are all a bit smaller than a fat quarter so I don’t have any selvages.

Flannels by Robert Kaufmann.

A metre of My Happy Garden organic cotton by Cloud 9 Fabrics.

All this loveliness cost me about £22. Isn’t it unbelievable? Apparently the Danish quilters aren’t into flannels and this is why I got all the flannels you see in the picture for the grand total of £3.50. There’s definitely enough there for a baby quilt.

UFO’s and the BQS 3 swap first, though.

 

Categories: Bags3 Comments