Sometimes I think I'd forget my head....

..if it wasn't attached.

I've just realised that I forgot to mention in my previous post that I won two Sew Mamma Sew Givaway Day giveaways!

This is a big oversight on my part as I never win anything and was doing a little dance on saturday when the emails arrived.

So thank you very much to Sew Lovins and Sew Well Maide for your amazing generosity.  I've got a lovely pattern and two bundles of yummy fabric winging their way from opposite corners of the globe.

It was such fun - I'll definitely be offering a giveaway when the next Giveaway Day rolls around later this year.
Sarah

A little sewing and a lot of fabric!

Sun, sun glorious sun!  Finally after weeks of damp drought the sun appeared with a vengeance.

This has meant not much sewing but plenty of sitting around in the garden, topping up the kids' sun cream and entreating them to drink some more water.

However I did manage to get a little sewing done last night and as a result I have finished the top of my second quilt for Siblings Together

The pattern is Super Zig by Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie.  It is a free pattern available here.
The fabrics are klona tan and the prints are all from Natural Effects by Michele D'Amore and were donated by Katy of I'm a ginger monkey.

Apart from a couple of hiccups when I sewed pieces together upside down it came together really fast.  I've still got quite a lot of the prints left so I'm planning a bit of an improv back - I've never attempted that before so hopefully it will turn out OK.

I've also had a couple of fabric deliveries over the last few days

little lady came to investigate 

A jelly roll of Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda.

And most exciting

A complete fat quarter bundle of Summersville by Lucie Summers for Moda.  I bought it from The Stock Room on Etsy and it was a fantastic price, even allowing for the postage.  And it didn't get stopped by customs which made it even better value.  The service was great - posted really fast with excellent communication.
I think these are my favourite prints

But it changes every time I look at them!

If you have been thinking about getting some Summersville then do it!  The prints are so gorgeous and the colours are beautiful.  I can think of so many projects they would be perfect for.

Anyway I'm off to have a glass of wine in the garden!
See you soon
Sarah

Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop

Well I've been trying to find the time to write this post for over a week but life kept getting in the way - the Wee Chap came down with a vomiting bug (much, much laundry) and then on the day he went back to school the Little Lady ran into the corner of an open car door and split her head open (much, much blood) requiring a trip to A&E to glue her back together.

But enough about all that!  Beth of Plum and June had the wonderful idea of a blog hop for newer bloggers and was kind enough to ask me to take part.  You can read all about it here.

My date is 14th June and that is perfect as my project is a baby quilt for some good friends of ours and that is their due date, so for once I know I'll have a baby quilt ready in time!

Here is some of the fabric I'll be using

Monsterz by Cloud9

I hope you will check out all the participants, starting tomorrow with

Kelsey of Kelsey Sews
Erin of Billy Button Designs

See you soon
Sarah

Bloggers' Quilt Festival Spring 2012

This is a very exciting post for me!

Ever since I got into quilting 18 months ago I've been a massive fan of quilting blogs and last spring I noticed posts popping up about the Bloggers' Quilt festival run by the wonderful Amy of Amy's Creative side.  I became a follower and looked forward to the Autumn Festival, with good reason - so many wonderful inspiring quilts.

So when I started this blog at the beginning of 2012 one of the things I was really looking forward to was taking part in these fantastic online quilt shows.

But I've spent the last couple of days pondering which quilt to enter - part of me wants to feature my 'best' quilt so far but at the same time many of the stories I've most enjoyed from past festivals have been those with a story.

So in the end I've decided to show you the Monkey quilt.

This quilt was made last year for my 4 year old son.  I made my first ever quilt for my 2yr old daughter and then I had made several quilts that I gave as baby gifts and was in the process of making another baby quilt when he asked if that was 'his' quilt.

I hadn't even thought about making him a quilt! Queue a dose of mother's guilt and a scramble to find some fabric he would really like.

I settled on Lollipop by Sandy Gervais for Moda as he is a massive fan of monkeys - his favourite softie is a monkey (called Monkey - we are not good at thinking up names in this house, we also have Blue Bear, Red Ted and Big Dog).  I bought some bundles in the cream, brown, turquoise and yellow colours on ebay and the seller was kind enough to send me the panel for free.

But these were not standard fat quarters but rather scraps (albeit big ones) that she was selling off.  So then I had a bit of a dilemma - up to that point I'd always used patterns and pre-cuts so I'd not had to figure out fabric quantities of how to put them together.

So after a bit of surfing I came across Oh Fransson's Mod Sampler pattern which I reckoned I could make work if I used the block designs and substituted the panel in the centre.  I then spent the next couple of evenings working out which fabrics I had sufficient of to make which blocks.  I added half square triangle blocks as I wanted to try them out and then I got cutting.

Amazingly for my first attempt at 'quilt maths' it all came together pretty well.  There was a slight hiccup - you can probably see that the panel is chopped off at top and bottom, unnecessarily as it turned out, as I'd got mixed up with seam  allowances.  So then I had to increase the sashing width at the top and bottom.

But none of that mattered to the Wee Chap who has loved this quilt from the moment it was finished.  It is the most used quilt I've made and he asks to be wrapped up in it whenever he is cold, tired or sad. And that to me is the best thing about quilting!

If you are here from the festival I hope you will stay and look around and if not then head over there and browse the 400+ fantastic quilts.

Sarah

Wednesday again!

Hello!

Seems like an age since I posted - I was away at a conference so I missed WIP last week and Fresh Sewing Day and Small blog meet.  Very inconvenient of my job to get in the way of my sewing and blogging!

Anyway despite my trip, the horrendous weather (which means the kids are stir crazy) and a small snotty little lady who wanted lots of cuddles over the weekend I have managed to get a good bit of sewing done

Finished

Siblings together quilt

Really pleased with how it turned out - it is bright and cheerful and hopefully will bring a bit of comfort to its recipient.

I backed it with Klona Corn Yellow and bound it in the same with a few last scraps of Modern workshop thrown in.  It is quilted with a simple diagonal running through the centre of the blocks

Fabric - Modern Workshop by Oliver+S, klona white and corn yellow.
Pattern - adapted from Small plates by Elizabeth Hartman

Baby wonky stars quilt

The owls are my favourite!

Well technically not entirely finished as still needs to be bound but binding strip is made and will be attached tonight as I'm off sewing with my friends A & J.

I'll definitely be making more wonky stars - love them.  Quilted with an all over loop pattern and my FMQ is definitely improving, I still have the odd stutter but this was much smoother than my last attempt.

Fabrics - Urban Zoologie by Ann Kelle and Klona pink and pomegranate
Pattern - wonky star tutorial here

In progress

Siblings together quilt 2 - Print fabric is cut and solid is on order so hopefully get sewing soon
Paper pieced bag commission - paper pieced block completed

No progress

Twiggy lattice quilt - really must start quilting this!
Alice mixtape - have decided on fabric for backing so need to order
Modern workshop bed quilt - going to take it tonight so hopefully progress to report next week

There are probably others as well but can't think of them this week.

Other news

• As you might have noticed I've been messing around with my header using a tutorial by Clover Lane. It isn't perfect but not back for a first try so expect to see more changes in the future.

• Emma of the fabulous Emma's Fabric Studio has posted about my Building Block Baby quilt on her blog!  Eeek!

• The lovely Beth of Plum and June has invited my to be part of her Let's Get Acquainted bloghop.   Designed for newer blogs it looks like a great way to get to know each other a bit better.

Well this must be my longest post ever so well done if you made it to the end!  I'll try to post a bit more regularly instead of occasional deluges.

Linking up with 

Bye for now
Sarah