Friday Finishes!

This is my first finish of the week, it’s a little string quilt top measuring about 24.5″ sq, I had fantastic fun using up some of the leftover Field Study scraps from my modern medallion quilt, it was such a lovely change to just do some random sewing and trimming without a pattern to stick to after weeks of sewing 3.5″ squares together! I think it might be destined to be a quilted cushion cover to sit on the sofa with my quilt!

I also made this T-shirt, I originally bought some of this fabric to use in my scrappy swoon quilt, but all I could think about was how much I’d love it as a top so I gave in and bought an extra metre!

It’s hard to tell but it has a pale cream and peach floral design on it, so summery! I didn’t use a pattern for this top, I had an idea in my mind of how I wanted it to look, and it didn’t quite get there! Originally it started out with a dipped hem and a round neck, but by the time I finished the sleeves I wasn’t happy with it. It doesn’t help that my darling husband describes any top with a high neckline as looking like a pajama top! So I added a placket down the front, giving it a more girly feel in my opinion! I didn’t bother adding buttons as I always tend to wear a vest top under everything here in chilly old England! This meant though that the neckline facing was on show, so not being keen on the the serged edges I added a bit of lace to hide them. Eventually I also decided I didn’t like the way the dipped hem sat over my jeans, so it was bye bye to that too! So after all that evolution, I’m finally pleased with how it turned out, although it still needs a wash and press – not perfect, but perfectly wearable!

This last project I started today in nap time, and I’m hoping when it’s finished that it’ll help cheer up a very special friend of mine…
Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

Bloggers Quilt Festival – Pop n Change

This beautiful quilt was my first attempt at a ‘real’ sized quilt and I’m entering it into The Bloggers Quilt Festival. I was given two Moda Freebird jelly rolls for Christmas one year and after many months of indecision, I was finally inspired by the Sugar Pop n Change Quilt on the Moda Bake Shop to open my beautiful beautiful jelly rolls. It was a close call, they were almost too lovely to open, but at least this way I get to admire all the pretty fabric on my bed everyday. The quilt measures about 90 inches square, and I just about managed to quilt it with simple straight lines on my little home sewing machine – that was one of the biggest sewing challenges I’ve ever faced! I backed it with a vintage floral sheet that was just a tiny bit too small so I used some leftover strips from the front to make it bigger. And it only took me about 18 months to make once I finally got up the courage to cut into the fabric. Thankfully I’ve got a bit quicker since this one!

Scrap fever!

Sorry it’s been a bit quiet here, for the last few weeks I’ve been buried under a heap of quilts! I say heap, but it’s really only two…

The first is my modern medallion quilt, or maybe it should be called the tv quilt as I love sitting cuddled up in front of the tv after the kids are in bed doing a bit more hand quilting on it, or stitching down the binding, I think I’ll be quite lost after I’ve finally finished it! This ones kept me busy since mid January, and I have to say I’ve enjoyed every stitch so far, but I did have a tough time trying to get a good photo of it, another job for after bed time I think!

The next quilt is a giant scrappy swoon quilt, I’m a bit late to the party but there’s brilliant instructions and quilt along here! Four weeks ago it looked like this…

Now it looks more like this…

And in between when I’ve felt fed up of sewing a million little squares together I’ve been playing with my scraps, I think I might even enter a couple for the String Fever Scrap Attack.

Oh and my new pj’s!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

Medallion Mayhem!

Finally I’ve finished sewing together the front and back of my Modern Medallion Quilt from the handstitched class I took! For me it’s something of a record, only 3 months and a lot of hand stitching later I have a beautiful quilt I’m so pleased with! The king sized quilt on my bed took me an entire year to complete – and that was entirely machined pieced and quilted.

Oops, I totally forgot to take a picture of the pieced back! Guess I’ll have to try again to take some better photos when all the hand quilting and binding is finished! With any luck by the time I’m finished stitching the weather might actually be nice enough to take some lovely outdoor shots, instead of hastily clearing the lounge floor of toys when the kids are in bed!

This week I’ve also been inspired to try baking some bread with my big monkey, last week I had a big success with some pitta bread, so together we tried making some spiced buns – just like hot cross buns, but I was too lazy to do the crosses! They were soooo tasty I must’ve managed to eat half the batch all by myself, surely 2 a day for breakfast is ok seeing as I made them myself…

Yum yum!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

Finishes of the week!

Just in the nick of time I managed to finish up these little babies as a present for a friends special birthday! They were great fun to make from all my simply colour scraps, and I do love a bit of hand quilting in front of the tv!

I also had fun trying out Bags – The Modern Classics by Sue Kim. The bag on the front cover totally caught my eye when I was looking for gift ideas, I so wish I had that fabric! However before getting stuck in I thought I’d try a few little pencil cases the see how good the patterns and instructions are. I had fantastic fun whipping these two up, and now have an order for a train patterned one from my big monkey. The instructions were very clear and well explained with helpful little diagrams, and I’m very pleased with how the cases turned out. The only problem I found was that I couldn’t spot the seam allowance, I tried 0.5″ and that seemed to work fine, but then I didn’t sit and read the whole book just dived right in so I could’ve missed it somewhere!

Now I just need to get some pics of my other two finishes this week – a lined fitted shift dress and a denim skirt, but I’m too lazy right now! Oh dear!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Sewing Kit.

A couple of weeks ago it was the 30th birthday of one of my dearest friends, I was completely stuck for what to give her but she’s always telling me she’d love to try making stuff.

When I saw this fabric I just knew it was completely perfect for her, so I decided to make a little bag and fill it with goodies so she could try sewing herself!

I also included some instructions for making up some simple patchwork coasters!

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday!

A gift from the baby!

This morning my lovely son gave me one of the nicest presents ever – he went for an extra long nap! For the second time this week!!! This meant a very productive morning sewing, yay! (Who needs a clean and tidy house?!)

I managed to get the patchwork borders and storm-at-sea blocks attached to my modern medallion quilt in the first long nap, although I’m still working my way through all that satin stitching as you can see!

So today I spent my time piecing the blocks for the next border. I’m really happy with how well all the points on the squares matched up, I even felt like giving a little squeal as I was pressing them at the end as I’ve never made them before, but my husband was watching and then he might think my sewing obsession has gone a little too far!

I also managed to make up these little coasters ready to hand quilt. I think I’ll add them to the ones I made last week and give them as a present to a good friend for her birthday!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!