A massive thank you to all of you who left such wonderful comments on my Colour Block Quilt, which was featured as part of February Quilting Month over at the Sew Mama Sew Blog. This was particularly exciting for me because I’m quite a sporadic quilter and I had made this two years ago. The idea was spawned over three years ago. As you can see, I like to have things on the slow burner!

More pics of the quilt here on Flickr and my original post with all the details here.

Go and check out all the other lovely people being featured this month.

Backwards and now, forwards! HELP!

The quilt was made by my friend T, who used 1930’s repro prints.

Seeing as so many people are outing themselves with their mess-making, I thought I’d join in! This really does need sorting out. There are piles in there somewhere; gifts that need wrapping; quilts needing pinning together………but nothing much else going on in the way of sewing. I must change that this week.

It’s been too hot here to do much knitting but I have been spurred on in the past two days to try and finish the kimono wrap that I started almost immediately after finishing this one. I thought I was being thrifty by using up this leftover sock yarn but ended up being about 20 rows short! I was not a happy girl - didn’t want to rip it out, so I ordered another ball from Web of Wool, who were more than obliging to provide the same dyelot even though I’d purchased the original ball last October. Their website is very outdated, so best thing is to email or call them if you’re looking for something specific. I also got some lovely fabric at £3/m for some unfinished quilts from Antique Angel - total bargain but they’d sold out of the one I really wanted……..They’re having their summer sale at their workroom in Bucks. on 7-8 July but be warned the sale doesn’t apply to web or postal orders.

This was a long time in coming and about 6 months late for a first birthday, but at least it’s done! I recall getting the 5″ squares in a bargain bin at a trade show a few years ago, then teamed it with some stripey cotton shirting from my own hoard and it sewed itself up in an afternoon. However, I really struggled with how to do the border………consequently it got put away for about 6 months until I came up with the olive/purple combo.

This was my attempt at something more modern and I wanted to do the quilting a fair width apart and you can do that successfully with Hobbs Heirloom 100% cotton batting. The Cotton Patch has a good selection of bleached, unbleached and man made wadding. Something for everyone. I’ve used it before and it gives a great result but the only downside is that it does shed alot of fluff. So, defluffing the machine and the quilt has to occur regularly.

The reverse is a large purple square blocked with the olive. Nice and simple. I made my own binding and used invisible thread to sew it down. It’s all labelled and ready to go! Some more shots in my Flickr set here.

Apart from being busy getting this new blog up and running with ALOT of help from DH, I was compelled to make some patches for Shanna’s quilt to be auctioned for the Red Cross. The patches uploaded so far are amazing. There are so many talented ladies out there. All with their own interpretations and some with little or no experience of patchwork but want to help. See the patches here.

My patches weren’t really themed. I just did something I liked at the time and I wanted to include some embroidery because I’ve not done any for ages. The brown floral fabric was some hexagons leftover from a double quilt that my Granny made about 20 years ago. I know she would approve that the proceeds are going to the Red Cross as she fundraised for them for many years.

A quick quilt top I started for a friend’s bub but still musing about the border. I had a load of plain squares in the stash and used some stripey shirting that was in a heap of fabric I gleaned from my Granny. Am popping to Hobbycraft today, they may have some plains I could use.