Show n Tell Saturday

I have pin basted, quilted and bound my first complete project!

Friday is one of only two days in the week when both the boys are in school/preschool all day (9am-3pm), so I took the opportunity to completely ignore all the chores that needed doing around the house and started looking for a small project that could be completed in a day by a beginner.

I found a lovely tutorial for placemats and potholders and decided to make the smaller of the two.

Mine has come out slightly smaller again than the tutorial... so I'm calling it a Mug Rug!

I used 2.5" scraps of apple fabric I had left over from my Fruitilicious Baby quilt top made on Wednesday, and plain white just because that's what I had to hand.

I was a bit confused about binding as it was my first time but I found that the tutorial on Jaybird Quilts was really helpful.

Although my binding is messy and the stitch doesn't disappear in the ditch all the way around (My hand sewing is atrocious so I machined it) I'm really pleased to have completed a full project on my own.

Work In Progress Wednesday

I needed a break from the monochrome black and white quilt and decided to whip up a colourful baby sized quilt with some fabric pieces I ordered from ebay.

Rachel over at Stitched in Color hosted the {Colorbrick} a Beginner’s Quilt-Along last year and the tutorial was really easy to follow and with great results!

I was cutting away at spots and stripes and owls when I realised that actually the quilt in the the tutorial was bigger than I fancied doing and I had chosen rather alot of bright fruity fabrics, so my fruit baby quilt was born, I'm calling it Fruitilicious Baby. It will be backed in the red and white strawberry fabric.

I think I'll put another one together with the other blocks I cut with a more animal based theme...

Friday Finds on Flikr

I saw the term 'Friday Flikr Finds' on another blog and thought it a great way to share our inspiration.

Although my very first quilt isn't finished yet I'm completely in awe of all the fabulous work out there and have ideas flying around in my head day and night!.  Here are some of my current favourite snaps from Flikr.

P.s. I'm new to this importing photo mosaic tool thingy, so I hope I get it right!

1. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperknit/4589980936/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3E128.pointy kitty!</a>, 2. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/purlbee/4096222463/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3EMolly's Sketchbook: Miniature Patchwork Pincushions</a>, 3. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/firehorsetextiles/3092704123/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3E%22Austerity Britain" - small patchwork quilt flag - detail</a>, 4. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/twinfibers/3348400677/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3Ehandbagswap1%3C/a>, 5. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31957791@N08/5348200896/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3EOwl quilt - front</a>, 6. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80179988@N00/5199936627/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3EColorbrick Quilt-along</a>, 7. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/twinfibers/5231266029/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3EOrnament Mini Quilt - stitching detail</a>, 8. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvies/4720177321/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3EZigzag table runner</a>, 9. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/julieantinucci/5199661209/in/faves-8789000@N06/%22%3EElephants and Dots Quilt</a>

Fabric Stash - A Beginning...

I only know one other quilter, Judith, and she has a beautiful sewing room in her converted attic and what a fabric stash she has!  I was very jealous!

I've seen online too many photo's of lucky quilters with the most beautiful stash of materials, so I recently ordered my first selection online and they arrived today! The 4 colourful pieces of Robert Kaufman on the right, thank you Celtic Fusion Fabrics :o)

My closest fabric shop is Heocks Patchwork in Liss, Hampshire but unfortunately just as I've found her, she's closing up to move to Dubai.  I popped in today and most things are 30-40% off, so I got some lovely bright red brick fabric and the black and white pumps fabric.

I popped into Mitchells Fabrics in Haslemere, Surrey on Saturday and got this very pretty remnant to play with.

I've got black and white bits and bobs left from my current quilt project - but I'm sure I'll use these up on the back of the quilt.

And last but not least I've got some Union Jack Flag fabric from ebay.  I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet, but I just had to have it!

Any UK Quilters Out There?

I only started Quilting last month, Jan 2011, and although the internet is a great resource I would love to find some other UK based quilters out there who can share information on the best places to buy fabric, websites, tutorials, events etc.

Please get in touch!
Thank you :o)

My First Quilt

I asked my husband if sometime this year, 2011, we could redecorate our bedroom?  We hastily painted it a lilac colour when we moved in 9 years ago but now I'd like it much simpler, in white.

Having been to Ikea recently, I had seen and fallen in love with some HUGE wardrobes which had fully customisable interiors and they had a misted glass sliding door with a white panel behind and a flower design just visibile in a shade of grey.  Then onto the textiles section of the IKEA warehouse and I found a lovely black and white material with trees, flowers and birds on, and just the slightest hint of green on it.  'Curtain Material' I thought!

Next came a bargain duvet and pillow set brought in Asda, in black and white with a floral design but not so much that it offended him indoors!  A positive step in the direction of a newly coloured boudoir I thought!

I needed a project for my new sewing machine and said so on my facebook page.  I was pointed in the direction of some quilting pages which provided much inspiration (and awe!), and I found the Moda Bakeshop website which provided step by step tutorials for beautiful quilts.  I came across the Sugar Pop N Change tutorial and thought it to be a lovely quilt;

A trip to the Hobbycraft 'massive clearance sale' provided a jelly roll of fabric in black and white materials and a subsequent facebook post from a friend that the local fabric shop was closing down and that I might get some bargain fabric with which to practice, yielded even more fabulous fabric.

I got cutting...

And sewing...

And one square became 3 very quickly...

And before I knew it I had 16 squares.  The original pattern only calls for 9 but my bed is king size and I measured up and decided that a 4x4 pattern would work for me.

The pattern is great for newcomers to quilting as it all starts coming together very quickly and results are visible.  I found that any slight cutting or sewing errors resulting in uneven lines could easily be rectified by trimming down the squares slightly so that they all ended up exactly the same size.

This latest photo shows my squares in 4 rows of 4, but I have since sewn them all together to form one piece, and cut the edging strips too. 

So my very first quilt top is almost finished!