Pack Patch Mini QAL with Quarter Inch Mark

Last weekend I needed a little indulgence, a bit of selfish impromptu sewing. Then the lovely Chase from Quarter Inch Mark came up in my Instagram feed with her delightful Pack Patch Mini qal.

Image from Quarter Inch Mark

It was so sweet and charming I just had to join in. Of course I didn't really qal with Chase and the other ladies because I had come in right at the end. But I did still work through the directions for each week in order, interpreting the themes that Chase had set. I must say it made for the most interesting way of selecting fabrics, with different themes like Cheddar, Country Mouse and Town mouse and many more!

So I set to work with my scrap basket, making myself limited to just using these scraps made the challenge more fun!

In an afternoon I had all my mini blocks made! Fresh on Sunday morning I set to work sashing and had a finished mini quilt top by elevenses!




Sashing only needed 1/2 yard but I don't really keep any solids on hand over a fq. So I used an old cotton denim shirt, donated by my mother in law for my scrap/recycling basket. I think the soft denim colour gives it a lovely country feel. I arranged all my blocks in the order of weeks 1-10, just as chase did. I like how it looks, despite the fact that at no point did I give any thought to whether the mini would look cohesive overall, I just concentrated on each little block in isolation.

All that remains is quilting and binding. Very handily I am giving a class on machine quilting this Saturday at Social Fabric, so the Pack Patch Mini will be used for demonstrating some fmq to my class. Then it will come home to go up on my studio wall!

Indulgent sewing is certainly good for the soul! I hope you all enjoy a little selfish sewing time this weekend!

Last week in pictures

As promised here is the insane amount of sewing I got done last week!

Excuse the instagram photos (whoops, I forgot to mention, I fell for instagram! You can find me @lovestrawberrypatch)

From top to bottom there is:

1. Fractured Oakshott Finished
2. Christmas Table Runner Sample for Workshop finished
3. 2 patchwork chair pads for the girls made
4. EPP Rose Star Cushion made as sample in preparation for teaching epp class at LQS
5. Same cushion but used as a table mat/mini quilt
6. Liberty Mini Finished
7. Another rose star block made (that's 7 now)
8. Bruce the Buck phone case made
9. More + and x blocks made
10. Infinity scarf made from my Melody Miller I won from Kelly back in May (finally!)

I am embarrassed to say there was more but I just didn't take photos (these were bad enough, there are only so many naff pictures I want to clutter my blog with ;-)

This week seems to be heading the same way...I 'may' have just started a swoon quilt on a whim whilst Mary was here for a sewing day on Monday, ahem. Well I have finished a few wip's so I figured I was entitled to start another (technically two as I've been sewing up all of the hst cut offs to use at the same time).

I've just got the log burner fired up so I think a cuppa and a biscuit are in order before braving the Arctic conditions in the sewing room again!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Firstly apologies to Hadley, Katy and anyone else offended by the untimely arrival of this festive laden post!

But today I hosted/taught my first workshop at home in my small studio. 3 lovely ladies joined me to make a quilted advent calender. We laughed, sewed, ate home made cake, drank tea and talked and talked and talked!

I am quite exhausted but very contented after a blissful afternoon. It has confirmed what I already suspected, I love sewing and sharing my knowledge. Apparently it was quite obvious I have a passion for sewing, my ladies told me as much! I was so caught up in demonstrating, helping and explaining that I clean forgot to take any photos!

So you will have to make do with snaps of a couple of Christmas mini quilts I made this week to decorate the workshop and get it looking all festive to inspire the ladies.

Mini quilt inspired by this one here

I used the little scraps of Cherry Christmas sent to me by Kelly to make some little 1" hexies. I love this line so much and I know I need a charm pack just as soon as I can afford one. So pleased too to finally have some use for the cute little hanger I brought last year at my lqs. A bargain £1.50 I have been dying to use it ever since! I tried out a new stof linen that I brought a fq of this week, it is only £6.99 a meter at my lqs, another bargain!

As soon as I saw this mini quilt on pinterest I just had to make my own little one, it is adorable!

They are both at home in the studio, this is AFTER I de-cluttered ready for the workshop!

The girls are much better following their tummy bug and all should be back to normal next week, fingers crossed! My week was made a lot cheerier by the news that I had won a cute bundle of Christmas Fabric, from Jesse at Messy Jesse. Very timely too with all the projects I have been working on!

They are lovely, thanks Jesse! Expect more Christmas makes soon (Just waning ya!)

Jesse has just launched a fab new online shop, Sew and Quilt. 

She is selling lots of wonderful vintage fabrics, along with a lovely range of 1930's reproduction prints which can be hard to come by, along with favourites such as Sew Mama Sew, Liberty Bloomsbury Garden prints and lovely Scandinavian themed Christmas prints. I know that I will be adding to my Christmas bundle soon!

I'll be back in a day or two with a new project (as long as I get it finished tonight and I'm not too distracted by the gogglebox) and I promise it wont be a Christmas one!

Being a good girl!

I am dutifully working my way through my FAL list, ticking things off, all with the sole intention of giving myself some guilt free sewing fun time!

This morning I finally put the binding on the Dresden mini, thank you for all your fab suggestions, all of which I completely disregarded! In the end I had to go with what I had to hand and used up the apple print on white from the Little Apples line. I had to join like 10 tiny strips to make a piece long enough but it is for me, so I don't mind all the seam joins on the binding. ONE day I WILL learn how to make these joins properly on an angles, until then I am happy to carry on doing it my way!

It is great to have it finished and up on the wall above the sofa with it's other mini buddies. This wall is unintentionally becoming a little mini art wall, they seem to be multiplying! And yes, that is another typewriter mini like I made Hadley in the BQS3. I made them both at the same time, it seemed to hardly take any longer to cut and make 2 together than just the one, I am so glad I did too!!

I've earmarked the space under the typewriter on the left for my fractured oakshott mini :-)

I have also been working on saving the original epp mini I had started for the swap, I have unpicked and removed all the large whole pieces that didn't get doggified. Now I 'just' need to add more to replace the damaged pieces.

I also quilted a pile of my bee blocks that have been arriving in the post. I have decided to try quilt as you go technique for the first time and thought this was an ideal project as I want a quick finish, for no reason other than I love it so much I just want it done!

As for my big news, well, you may not be as wet your pants overwhelmingly excited as I by it, but.....drumroll......... agonisingly annoying pause a'la x-factor.........

Sharpen your pencils and listen carefully, I am going to be teaching!

My local quilt shop asked me some time ago if I would think about teaching for them, I was very flattered but as time went on my confidence (lack of) got the better of me and I didn't follow it up. After a proverbial shove up the backside from Susan last week I finally went in there. WHY did I wait? I practically floated out of the place!

In the new year when littlest one starts preschool part time I will be teaching several classes there. A series of 3 epp classes, a full day wallet/purse class and two morning classes covering zipped pouches and frame purses. I am so excited! Lots of samples to make up for the shop and 'homework' to do to get ready, this weekend I made a start on my epp sample, what else but a rose star block?!

Phew, thank goodness that basting marathon is over! Now I just have to assemble the block, I NEED a thimble asap, a soft one for my middle finger. Does anyone have a great one they can recommend? I have a very sore hole/tunnel in my middle fingertip where the needle keeps disappearing, ouch!

Spitting Feathers

I have a very important family party coming up next month....a 50th Wedding Anniversary and I wanted to make the special couple (Graham's Aunt and Uncle) something very special too.

I was highly influenced by this beautiful picture I saw on Facebook, adding in the crazy patchwork border to make it a mini quilt. 

I decided that this mini needed some really special quilting, feathers infact, because they are lets say, an older couple, I thought the more traditional feathers would be perfect. That and I am obsessed with getting them right!

I stippled the centre of the quilt and feather quilted the outer border with hearts in each corner. This is where the spitting begins. I am VERY pleased with my feathers, smug in fact. BUT I am really annoyed they are not more prominent, all that effort and they are barely visible.

I have decided that it is the scale that is causing the problem, if the stippling has been much smaller and tighter the feathers would have stood out more perhaps?

Watch out, shameless boasting of feathers coming, which are best viewed from the back, honestly!

Oh well, hopefully they will still like it and appreciate the work that has gone into into it. Next time, better feathers and an exercise in learning to be less self-critical!!

Polishing a turd

When picking out block designs for my Aneela Sample quilt recently I knew it just had to have a dresden in it, I love dresdens!

Luckily for me the Shape Workshop for Quilters has a desden plate block, complete with template. I duly sent my book to work with my husband to photo copy/enlarge the template as required. The book calls for 100% enlargement of the template for the 12.5" unfinished block.

Whether due to my husbands photocopying error, he assured me that doing it at 100% just made it come out the same size as the original, or a printing error in the book (seems unlikely to me, sorry husband!) but my dresden plate was NOT the right size for a 12.5" block, more like a 6" block! So having used up most of my Walk in the Woods charms, and not having any of that line left, I made up a different block with the tiny scraps left and he copied me the template at 200%, thinking this would give me the size I needed.

I got going again, moving onto a new fabric line using up the very last of my large Little Apples scraps i'd been sent, piecing some together as they were too small. It wasn't until I had joined about half of the blades together I realised this dresden was going to be far too big.

Oh S**T!

With most of my large scraps gone I had to abandon the dresden and do a different more scrappy block for the quilt :-(

If anyone can advise me at what rate I should enlarge the template in the book to be able to make a 12.5" block i'd be very grateful. Our photocopier only gives options for 100%, 140% and 200%.
100% comes out exactly the same size as the original (i.e too small) and 200% is far too big, giving me more like a 18" block. Is it our photocopier or the book that is in error?

My two mis-sized dresdens reminded me of Aneela's bloom quilt, being a bit pee'd off with the whole dresden thing by now I decided to turn my 'crap' into something that perhaps would look like it was done on purpose and not just rejects! I couldn't waste my wonderful donated fabric after all!

So for the better part of this week whilst getting over my migraine (seriously, it has taken a week and I can still feel the lingering's of it!) I have been 'polishing my turds'!

 I decided I couldn't be arsed to make  it worked fine without the third dresden plate to make it like a mini bloom quilt and put it onto my brand spanky new Madrona Road Memoir fq and hand quilted the hell out of it.

I echo quilted around the large dresden with embroidery floss and large stitches. I quilted straight lines under every second line of text with some crochet cotton in black. I love this because it is a little more subtle than pearle cotton or embroidery floss but stands out more than hand quilting thread on the spool.

I then used my finer hand quilting thread to quilt between each dresden blade and around the smaller dresden, doing this in the ditch so it was invisible. I love how you can see the design on the back. This is the first thing I have hand quilted entirely, I am so glad it was a mini!

Now I just need to decide what to bind it with, any suggestions? I am thinking plain black or dark grey perhaps.

I am not really here!

Well, just for today I am as a wonderful friend has loaned me their laptop :-)

I should be back to normal in a few days when the laptop part arrives now that I have been able to order it, phew!

Despite being a little cut off interweb wise I am still reachable from the outside world and I had some lovely post yesterday from Kelly, she is awesome, I love her!

Lovely little piles of scraps from each of Aneela's range, now I am sure to be able to get my quilt finished along with the charm pack of Sew Stitchy on its way from the USA. Thank you SO much Kelly :-)

Speaking of which I guess the Aneela quilt was really my only WIP, I have managed to move it along a bit in the last few days

All of the embroidery blocks for the top row are now complete and I just have 5 sampler block to make and then sash everything. The pieces of paper are noting which blocks are going where, so far I have decided on a constellation star (seeing as the one I made Hadley went down so well!) a dresden plate and a wonky star 9 patch (from Shape workshop for quilters). I just have to come up with 2 more...that's the bit that is slowing me down!

I have also managed to add quite a few projects to my WIP whilst having all this internet free time on my hands!

I blame Lucy for this one! I have finally caved in a decided to start a rose star quilt, I held off for so long as I don't usually do long term project but I just couldn't resist any longer! I got one made yesterday, I adore it and there is even brown in it. Perhaps making Hadley's joke mini has done something terrible to me, eeek!

I was so excited by my rose star block that I went and pulled all my most precious fabric from my stash for the rest of the blocks. I seem to have a lack of aubergine/browny prints though and I need more text fabric on a creamy/snow background...if anyone can suggest any current lines that might help? I am not sure if the sweetwater print I used is still available.

I have also made a new block for the Liberty Mini, just two more to make, these will come when inspiration strikes! Thanks to Lolly for being my churn dash muse, I couldn't not make some little ones after seeing her Brit Bee blocks popping up everywhere!

Finally, I have been asked to make some Christmas stocking for a friend - 6 of them! I can't believe I am sewing for Christmas so early but it was fun choosing fabrics with her. We settled on these prints from Kate Spain's Joy line.

That's not including 2 lots of bee blocks also to do this month. All in all, a lot more going on than I usually like, being a virgo and all that (read neurotic about having half finished things laying about!). Lets hope that laptop part does take a few days to get here so I can get a head start!

Sew-ichigo Strawberry

the sun has been shining here for a few days, it has made me feel a little care-free and wild ;-)

Hence my spur of the moment purchase last night when I saw the new Sew-ichigo Strawberry pattern, well it was less than £2, a bargain!

I don't know what I was thinking, I have only done freezer paper piecing once at the FQ retreat and even then not that well! It must be my general soft spot for all things strawberry and Kerry's cute curtain that suckered me in!

After a fair amount of unpicking (and trust me, I don't DO unpicking!) and a bit of huffing and puffing I have something vaguely resembling a strawberry! I have to say rather than put me off it has made me more determined to go back and try and get it better next time, perhaps in a few days though! Usually I abandon something if I can't do it well, I'd rather not do it all all I am that much of a perfectionist!

Just to clarify though, any struggles I had were down to my own in-adequacy! Kerry & Penny's patterns are so well written, with clear and detailed instructions, so easy to read and follow that anyone can have a go. So if you get it wrong, you've only got yourself to blame. Just sayin ;-)

Once I had finished the strawberry block I made it into a pot holder/mini quilt/mug rug (read multi-purpose thingy!). Vintage linen napkin used for background, bordered in Liberty Silk (do you see what is happening here? Now that I've started using it, I can't stop!) and an old Moda dot print for binding. Quilted in cross hatch by eye for a more relaxed look.

I love the way it looks in my kitchen on the rustic cabinet, perfect with all the vintage china, I think I may have to make a wall hanging with 4 of the strawberry's to go with it, if I can be brave enough!

Today has been about lots of visiting friends, a couple of commissions for sewing work (albeit boring ones, but they will pay for a day out at the Aquarium on Friday, hurray!) and sewing up the worlds fastest baby sling for my little nephew. When his mum came to visit this morning with a sling, some fabric and wadding and the idea that perhaps I may be able to make something similar I am not sure she expected to leave a couple of hours later with one! I was in 'that' kind of mood still and promptly relieved her of the fabric and scurried off to the sewing room to whizz it up. Unfortunately I was so excited to have it made for them I forgot to take any photos!

I wonder how much more I can get done while the mood lasts and the kids let me.......

I want your scraps!

Specifically and only Aneela Hoey ones though I am afraid.....you may remember on my FAL list I included the Aneela Tribute Mini Quilt. I want to make a mini with a little of every line she has so far, along with my Aneela signature and embroidery (yes I am just a little crazy!)

Problem is I only have a charm pack of Walk in the Woods and a few scraps of Sherbet Pips.

This is where you come in. I need just scraps, any shape and size as it is going to be a bit 'improv' in nature, of the following lines:

Sherbet Pips

Little Apples

Sew Stitchy

Cherry Christmas 

(I am aware that most people wont have this yet as it is only just being released)

Because I only need a few scraps from each line you can understand why I am reluctant to buy from a store, it would work out very ineffective cost wise.

So I will do whatever you want to get your scraps, ie pay you, swap with you (provided I have something you want in return) make you something or just make sure everyone knows you are the most awesome lovely person on the entire planet for helping me out!

Can you help me? Pretty please :-)

Quick Fixes

Whoa, Mr Sunshine, long time no see!

Just like everyone else I guess we have been soaking up the rare rays, froliking in a last minute-brought paddling pool and generally enjoying being outside from breakfast to bedtime. The kids are warm, worn out and happy. What a difference some sunshine can make!

With all this happy holiday fun I haven't even turned on the laptop in 2 days since my last post, so apologies if I have missed something or not replied to you, I am getting there.

I did squeeze in a teeny bit of sewing on Wednesday evening, making the latest Zakka project. The Delightful Linen Pouch, delightful it certainly is! I love it, this one I am keeping. Although I don't know what I will use it for, I don't have any electronic device that size but it is so sweet I am just keeping it on my table and smiling at it! AND it took me minutes to make, instant gratification!

I used some cool blue linen I picked up in the charity shop, £2 for 2 meters, sweet! A pretty embroidered cotton napkin, also from the charity shop and lined it with some Sevenberry floral. I found the Sevenberry at my local (usually twee) quilt shop, I was so excited I nearly ran to the till with it! I am hoping perhaps they have more hidden treasures :-)

Then I just had time to whizz over my bq3 mini and quilt it and attach the binding, then spent yesterday sewing down the binding in the sunshine.

I have also discovered HOW useful bulldog clips are for sewing down the binding, they don't distort it like usual pins do, but hold it lovely and flat, perfect!

Just the label to write and attach and then I can sit back and wait for the post window, yay!

Off to top up the pool and enjoy it before the weather breaks...happy summer everyone :-)

Charlie is a very naughty boy...

It has been one of those weeks....not as bad as Hadleys, I only had one real incident so to speak but it was bad enough that it has taken all week and a long lie in today to feel better about it.

It all started at the beginning of the week when I decided it was time to potty train my youngest. Cue LOTS of accidents and not much progress. I decided to stick with it though and see if it got any better over a few days. I spent days hoovering around her, poised with the potty on standby should she start to 'go'. This left little opportunity for sewing. I decided trying to finish the piecing on my BQS3 epp would be the perfect solution. I could do it right by her and drop it in an instant if needed. But then you need to add a very frustrated puppy into the mix, who doesn't like going out in the rain, and was very bored.

Total scenario......abandoned epp whilst mum deals with yet another 'accident', bored puppy see's a very bright and crazy looking mini quilt top dog toy and decides to relieve his boredom with it.....ARGGGGGGGHHHHH!

To top it off said 'toy' didn't agree with him and he promptly threw up all over the kitchen, leaving trails of it out to the back door as I shooed him out. Another accident for me to clean up.

Needless to say I took no photos of it, does anyone want to look at photos of dog sick anyway? I want to remember it like this, as it was

So yes, Charlie is a VERY naughty boy! I hope that one day soon I can muster the courage to start another one of these, that will never, never, never ever be put within dog reach. But for now I am too gutted about the loss of all the hours I put into it to start again. 

That leaves me BQS quilt-less and I really felt bad as my partner I know liked the epp. So wanting to do my best to make it upto them I poured over photo's on flikr and jumped in with both feet to something else they liked, improv. I have never improved before but I think I may again. That said I did pretty much use the mini quilt I fell in love with as a pattern to use.....I hope that's ok?!

I really am pleased with how this turned out and hope my partner is too, I used a treasured MM typewriter sent to me by the lovely Lucy and the last of my precious Hope Valley and a few other bits. Now I just need to decide how to quilt it. I think I am going to bind it in the orange praire flower DS print, I am hoping that will make the orange pop out of the quilt.

I did get more makes done this week but they will have to wait as my children are finally awake (10am on a Saturday, thank you up there!) and I can hear the youngest one trying to free herself from her room by throwing teddies at the door!

sqiffle waffle doo daah!

Well, I don't know about you but I am not cool enough to ALWAYS think of something intelligent and appropriately awesome in my title, so today 'sqiffle waffle doo daah' will do!

I was naughty last night, I SHOULD have been sewing together the blocks I had made for the Siblings Together Quit2 during the day

But I didn't. I should also have been getting my name badge for the FQ retreat swap finished....but I didn't!

Instead I had a compete whim to suddenly have a go at some fmq. I wanted a really plain canvas to work on so made up a quick mini quilt, I also had a little length of dowel kicking around the studio I have been saving for about a year for just this purpose. Earlier in the day I had found the amazing quilting by Krista Withers and for some unknown reason I had ideas of making my own mini quilt in a similarly awesome quilty style.

How wrong was I! I was so excited, quilted away and then soon got disheartened! I used 2 different thread colours (the first ran out!), I am telling myself it doesn't matter as it was just a practice, truth be told I don't like to waste anything so I always secretly hope the practice is good enough to use!

Anyway, I finished it, felt rather disappointed and went to bed thinking I had wasted the evening making something awful when I had so much else I should have done.

I got up today, not remembering the quilt and was pleasantly surprised when I saw it in the daylight

Nope, still don't like the darker thread side!

It is not brilliant but it is mine, I would love to have a quilt long arm quilted in this style, but I doubt I will ever afford it. So I have my 15 inches squared of amateur fancy pants quilting. Perhaps when I get over how testing this was I may make another so it is not so lonely on the wall!