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!

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!

Out with the old.....

......and in with the new!

I have been sat in my sewing room in a general state of shock for a few days because I brought myself an early birthday present!

Ever since my numerous problems with my Pfaff earlier this year I have been saving and saving and saving....like mad! Then the lovely Kerry mentioned she had cause to sell her 'old' machine last month I hoped and prayed I would have enough.

I was a little short but she is so kind as she waited for me whilst I sold most of our family possessions off at car boot sales and on ebay to make up the shortfall! I made it, although we may be having bread and water for the next month as I might have used a little of the grocery money, ahem.

Even though I have been working hard to buy this for months I still cannot believe that it is mine, it is so shiny and new, has a little computer screen and beeps and talks to me, it is amazing. I'll let you know what I think of it when I have mastered more than a straight stitch! And yes, I am hoping that some of it's previous owners skill may rub off on me ;-)

I did put it through its paces with something I've been waiting to do for ages, the templates have been printed off for weeks now!

Wheel of Liberty

Yes, using more of my Liberty stash! I have decided to make a little mini with 4 blocks, I need 3 more and I can't think of what to do.....I only have very small pieces of Liberty  and I'd like as much neutral space in the blocks as in the circle of geese...any suggestions?

Uncharacteristically for me I abandoned that little project because of my indecision and hopped straight onto another new one!

I finally started on my Aneela quilt blocks, yay! I had/have no real plan for this quilt other than to use all 4 of the lines already out. I decided not to include Cherry Christmas, as adorable as it is (and I have to get some, no question) I wanted this to be a year round quilt.

The top row of the quilt will be 4 blocks (3 pictured above) each with an embroidery in the centre, the bottom row of the quilt (all 4 pictured above) will be the same block design but with a feature fabric from each line as the centre panel.

I will make another 8 blocks (2 more rows) in random block designs, a bit of a sampler I think. I have used all the Sew Stitchy scraps up so I am debating whether to get a charm pack so I can do 2  blocks in each line for the final 8....I am worried it won't have the balance I am after if I don't......lets hope I get some birthday money tomorrow, I know what it'll be going on!

I didn't need any birthday money to get this little gem today....50pence in the charity shop!

I had seen it last week for £1.50 and wondered if it might be useful for storing my spools of thread on, the basket I was using was a nightmare, getting all tangled every time I rummaged through it. When I saw it was reduced to 50 pence I snapped it up! I think it will be getting a lick of paint soon, for now I am just pleased to gaze at my neat spools, when I am not staring dreamily at my new machine that is.......

Chocolates and tissues!

Phew, what a break I've had. Almost 2 weeks since I last blogged and practically as long since I last sat at the sewing machine. Christmas was lovely, so relaxing and peaceful, so nice to spend time settling into the new house.

The house looked beautiful with all its decorations, all warm and cosy. We barely left the house for a week except to walk the dog. Then new year arrived, along with the germs! It has worked its way through the children and then yesterday I was the next victim! I was so devastated. My darling husband spend the morning putting up new storage in the sewing room and no sooner had I unpacked and arranged and re-arranged my supplies than the runny nose and shivers started. No sewing for me :(

Today I managed to do a little sewing, but not much (I mostly ate chocolates!) and I used my extra spool holder on the machine to hold a toilet roll in case of cold related emergencies - no photo, sorry!

So without further ado, as greatly requested by my bloggy mate Cindy, here is my new sewing room. Before:

Not the best pictures, I kinda forgot to take photos before we started! Basically you get that it was a BIG room with not much furniture. I used an little folding table my MIL got me for craft fairs, it was rammed full with all my bits and they were not easy to get to or use. Also the table is only about 2 feet high so far too easy for little hands to get at.

That's better! We didn't decorate because a) I couldn't be bothered and b) there was nothing really wrong with the paintwork and magnolia works great if I decide to change the 'theme colours' in the room. Right now its a shabby chic kinda vibe because that's what I mostly had already. It was easier to add a few cheap shabby bits of furniture from the recycling centre for now to bulk my storage out.

The wall immediately behind the sewing machine (where you can just see my 'make do and mend' sign hanging) is going to be my design wall, eeeepppp! I cant believe my room is so big, I am mega lucky!

This is our favourite piece of furniture, I stole it for my room ha ha! Its a beautiful arts and crafts sideboard we picked up for a bargain price years ago and sitting on top is my wall unit I paid £20 for and restored. I just love that I have somewhere to display all my fq's. You can just see my little owls and bowl of selvedges. This is one of the little touches I've loved putting in. Ive always been 'squatting' and never really had my own room. It was so fun being able to make it stylish as well as purposeful!

This unit is my mega bargain! The base I picked up for £12 last week at the recycling centre, its missing its shelf but Hubby promises he will cut me one soon. I painted it cream as it was a rather dated 80's high gloss teak effect. The book shelving at the top is my display stand i made for taking to craft fairs. It is made from 4 pieces of old picket fence and 3 lengths of old skirting board. It cost nothing. I love it!

I am in love with this part of the room! This is an old coat rack I made for our first house together. It didn't have a home when we moved here because there were already big racks in the boot room. So, it was headed for the tip. But then yesterday I had a brainwave! OK so I don't really need storage for quilts I've made. And yes I did go around the house and steal them back just so I could hang them and look at them but why not?!

Doesn't it look cosy? The tree is now naked and waiting to be taken outside. I will miss it, having my own sewing room tree has made me feel very special indeed!

Another brainwave, again pulled out of the pile for the tip! This time a seagrass CD rack, turned on its side and hung on the wall. Now home to my jars of buttons. Hubby is going to cut the feet off the bottom (on the left hand side) but for now I've hung tote bags from their that I've made so they may stay!

The little 'shroom hooks below it were only £1.50 and my only purchase for the sewing room other than the bookcase, so in all I spent a grand £13.50! Meaning that money my husband said I could have to kit the room out at the end of the month isn't needed. I wonder if I can convince him to let me use if for fabric to full up the new storage?

I'll leave you with a pic of some of my handmade Christmas gifty makes, not all got photographed in the mad dash to unpack, sew, wrap and gift! I'll be back soon with all the details for my rainbow charm swap and hopefully my link-up to Rhondas 2012 finish-along.