Tea?

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…!

Wonky Princess Bee

Hello again, I decided to seize the fact that mojo was lurking in a corner and started on my wonky stars again. Stellar is the wonderful pattern some of the Sew Solids Crew Stash Club are using for the Sew Solids Quilt-Along. You can see the posts about my first stars here and here. Because I was lagging behind I had two colours to sew stars from, pink and blue. To be honest the most difficult part of this sew-along is pairing up the colours to get enough contrast between the star and the background.

Stellar Sew-AlongDon’t look too closely please. The blocks have lots of stray threads hanging off them and my floor is…. let’s just say it needs a good clean. This quilt is definitely going to be colourful and I’m not sure how much I like it yet.

Something I love, however, is the fabric that arrived today from Simply Solids. I know a lot of people prefer prints to solids but I really enjoy working with solids.

SolidsNext month it’s my turn to be the Princess Bee of the Sew-Euro-Bee-ans. For a long time I didn’t know what to ask for but then I decided to go for colour rather than block. This means that my fellow bees are allowed to make any block they like, in any size they want to make (I’m sure I’ll regret that decision later) and with any extra scraps (solids or prints)  they want/need. I’m only asking them to stick to this colour palette. I would like the blocks to be something they enjoy making and that, I suppose, therefore represents them.  Now that the fabric has arrived I’m really excited about sending it out to everyone.

It’s good to have you back, mojo.

 

 

Bee

The fabric for October’s bee block of my bee Sew-Euro-Bee-An were sent out a little late. I didn’t want to be too late sending them back so I sat down on Friday to sew them both. The blocks are great fun to make and I think the finished quilt is going to look fabulous.

These two will be in the post on Monday (we had a very lazy day today) winging their way to….

….London.

 

I’m looking forward to November’s block as it involves a bit of Denyse Schmidt, one of my favourite designers.