a nice day for finishing a quilt...

2 miracles happened today...

1. i finished a quilt that had been sitting on a pile waiting patiently for its turn since january and...

2. it was sunny enough to take a stroll across the road to the park to shoot a few pics of it.

the quilt in question was my scrappy trip along quilt below, which was my xmas vacation project last year. 

oh so embarrassing to be about to embark on this year's xmas vacation and still have it unfinished. having found an unusual free gap in my week i finally set about to finish it.

there is actually something rather nice about revisiting an unfinished project...memories are wrapped up in it...you get to revisit and rework with fabrics that you may not be anymore.

advantages galore...and that's my story for being a lazy a*** and i'm sticking to it.

im so so pleased with how it's turned out and hopefully ruby, who it was originally made for, is still keen on it too.

i had a fun little photo shoot in the park...dodging the dogs and the wind (weather wind not the dogs' wind) and to show you a few more of the photos i have attached a little flipagram here, which may or may not work. i have never made one before, but have fun with it if it does!

what finishing this quilt has taught me is...

1. i can be a finisher...

2. i actually enjoyed being a finisher...

3. i really really must finish more things before i start anything new.

that last one is my new year's resolution...good luck with that huh?

oh and that first picture at the top?...

that's a sneak of a commission that i have been working on and is about to head off to its destination. just as soon as i can i'll tell you more about that one!

in familiar territory...

 this may look a little familiar...

giant hexie quilt in blues and greys...with yellow binding...

a customer was so taken with the original that she wanted me to make a replica.

fine by me...i'm a bit partial to this colour combo.

this is a replica with a difference however, as who has the exact same fabrics in their stash 2 years later?

evidently not me.

the lovely thing about doing the same thing again but different is that it gives you chance to try things a little differently that you didn't think of first time round.

like the binding for instance.

not having the same lotta fabric for the binding meant nothing else quite worked for me. 

so instead i opted for scrappy...result!

this was particularly pleasing on the back which was kept more simple with this fab ikea piece.

 and then there was the quilting...

i jumped in rather quickly first time and did a simple tracing of the hexies in zigzag lines. this worked thanks to some additional hand quilting but without that it needed something different.

i remember being bowled over by Laura's concentric circles quilting on her fantabulous scrappy trip along quilt and thought that would work here...fun but not too fussy. (just realised i've used the same backing as laura too!)ikea

so one replica giant hexie quilt with a difference done...

...one customer deciding she wants one bigger!

the good news is that i get to do a take 3...who knows what improvements will be made on that one.

the other good news is that this one is in my etsy shop for one lucky buyer looking for a pretty quilt...go check it out here.

the other good news is that i am so pleased to be back in familiar territory with my giant hexie pattern that i think that is the first thing i am going to make when i get my hands on some of Leah Duncan's tule...can't wait for that.

No trade show preparations are quite complete without the necessary trip to Ikea, King of storage and accessories solutions. I headed there this morning to purchase these, but obviously a trip to Ikea is equally never complete without a visit to the fabric department.

Boy was I in for a treat today. I needed some more white cotton for show makes and Lenda is my fabric of choice. Not only did I pick up metres (yes, metres) of this, but my timing was perfect as today saw the re-arrival of Aina, the linen that Ikea used to stock and hasn't been available for a long time. I picked up some of this in white and was over the moon to see that they are also stocking it in grey.

The most perfect grey linen EVER. I've been after a good grey linen and haven't been able to find one that works for me and I think I may just have found it.

I'd almost walked away, when this beautiful grey rose caught my eye and it seemed rude to walk on by. It's even more gorgeous in the flesh and is going to be turned into some lovely summer cushions for our bed just as soon as BCTF is over.

It seemed equally rude to walk past Kajsastina, this lovely daisy.

Most of the pile of beauties will have to stay untouched for the next couple of weeks, put out of temptations way. They aren't right for the show, but they sure are right for me.

I've just had a birthday.

It wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst.

I've been feeling a tad strange recently, which is hardly surprising with all the goings on lately and my birthday seemed to come and go without me getting overly excited.

Or maybe that's just age.

It hardly seems a year ago that I bought this book with my birthday book money. I always ask my In Laws for an Amazon voucher (it's safer that way), so I can purchase all those books (well some of them anyway) that have made their way onto the wish-list over the year.

Seeing as though this book has been in my possession for a year now, I thought I'd better dip into it before the new batch arrive.

There are quite a few patterns in here that I've marked that I want to make, but it's this fab Everything Tote that I most wanted to do.

I'm in holiday mode at the moment, having just booked our summer holiday last night, so this seemed perfect for that.

I love this bag already. The handles are very comfortable and it's so roomy - it will no doubt be filled with everything-but-the-kitchen-sink all summer long.

Ok, summer is still a long way off, but at least I'm prepared, hey?

As you know we've done a lot of work on the house and are thrilled to bits with it all, but when you step into the hallway, it all looks a bit grey and bare (although seeing it here makes it look rather serene) and in need of something hanging.

So, I have a plan. I have an old canvas, an old very large canvas (it's 130 x 80cm) that I want to cover and hang there.

It's going to involve a piece of my screen printed fabric, a few of these embroidery threads...

...a section of an Ebay purchase of a matching Orla fabric piece to the wallpaper in the room next door...

...and lots of my favourite grey fabrics.

I'm going to try and be really patient (I can hear you laughing from here) and plan this design carefully and take my time with it. it's a large piece, in a prominent position, so it needs to be just right. I have lots of different ideas that I want to play around with before I actually cut into anything. But I have an idea of the one I am actually drawn to.

Watch this space.

Forgive me for gloating for a moment, but I am actually quite impressed with myself. I always have big plans to make handmade gifts for all the children at Christmas, but time always runs away and I never get started early enough.

But not this year! It's still only October and I've already made the starting point of 4 of my nieces' and nephews' gifts.

The rabbits are all done, as are the fabric baskets. I just need to make a couple of gifts to put in the baskets. Just something little. Nothing too challenging or demanding on time.

So, I am quite pleased with myself. And I'm hoping to even get started on a little something for the grown-ups too. Ok, so now I'm gloating...

A holiday isn't a holiday if you haven't a new, clean, fresh bag to accompany you.

I'm now ready for my holiday.

If you don't count not having done any packing...at least I have the bag.

I had a very big order earlier this week from a beautiful local stately home. The items they have chosen are going to be part of a 'Made in Yorkshire' space in their gift shop. Because they are all going to be displayed together I wanted the whole look to be cohesive, rather than my usual eclectic mix and match approach. Thus the 'Sand and Sea' Collection was borne.

I'm really pleased with how it's coming together and am loving the challenge of making every piece work. However, I am having a bit of a crisis. I have decided that it is going to fail if I don't have this yellow and mushroom dot from Denyse Shmidt's out of print County Fair Collection. (Below is a larger sample of it in blue to get the bigger picture)

And therein lies the problem...it's out of print. And as you can see I don't have enough to make ANYTHING! Not even a flower to sew onto my Needle Cases.

So I am now resorted to begging. If any of you out there know of anywhere that just may have this in stock or have some in your stash that you would love to trade with me for something I may have that you are after and can spare a little, I will be eternally grateful and my collection will be (in my eyes, at least) complete.

In reality I know I am being just a little bit crazy and my very first Collection will stand up more than adequately without this beautiful, stunning, crisp, fresh, sunny, perfect piece of fabric...

As you can tell, I've had a very productive week in the studio...and you are only getting to see half of it! Life is back to how it used to be. Time to work...there's something novel! No doubt something else will crop up to get in the way soon (yeah, like the long school summer holidays), but in the meantime I'm really enjoying getting creative.

I've been making a few of these pot holders as gifts lately and yesterday decided they'd be great for my Etsy shop. Obviously I still had my lovely Junecraft fabric on the work table from yesterday and whilst I was cutting for the "A Stroll in the Garden" picture, I already had in mind that I was going to use the pear and flower panel for some of these. Actually, I have a zillion projects in my head that these panels will be perfect for. I just love the repeating pattern of seeing a whole linear row of them. It pleases my mathematical brain ;-)

I backed the holders with a couple of fabrics that tied in the orange but gave more of a contrast too. I love the Ikea one on the right, with the sprinkling of orange spots.

They come as a pair and are available here. And if next week continues in the same vein, there'll be lots more by then in there too.

I love red. I love a red and aqua combo. Having redecorated the house in greys/teals/mustards red doesn't seem to fit in too well now.

However I do bring it into the kitchen. On last week's Ikea trip I picked up this fab piece of oilcloth. At first I had in mind that it was going to be a mucky activity protector, but having put it out yesterday for Noah's birthday tea I've decided it's far too nice for that.

With a few blooms picked from the garden and the most perfect napkins to accompany it, I am very happy to find a place where red works in my home.

I was rather green when I saw my buddy's post the other day and her recent blue and red purchase from Ikea.

I needn't have been as when the lovely lady brought my linen stash over that she picked up for me when she was there, there was a gift of a set of the afore-coveted bowls...for me!

Aren't they just perfect?

The linen is side hemmed table runner width and is a really lovely quality and weave. We've both been struggling to find good linen in the UK at the mo, so when Ikea got stock back in, Manda was straight on the phone and asked how much I needed.

Phew. I can breathe again knowing my linen stash is replenished.

Oh and if all this wasn't enough, Manda also brought over my birthday pressie of this divine Rob Ryan print. I absolutely love it and can't wait to get it up on my new walls. It's going to be just perfect.

Thanks for ALL of it, Manda...you are a gem xx

(P.S. Friday is my 2 year Blog Anniversary...I can't quite believe it! Come by for a FANTASTIC birthday giveaway...you won't be disappointed ;-))

Thank you all for your positive and encouraging comments yesterday. I didn't mean to be all moany yesterday, it's just with the thought of worse to come this week got the better of me. I'm feeling a lot better today, thanks to a little Ikea jaunt with Manda and Lily. Thanks ladies...the distraction was just what the doctor ordered. (So was the tray that you can see featured in these photos!)

In celebration of remaining cheerful I thought I'd post some pretty, beloved objects that make me happy.

I have a bit of a thing for jugs. I don't know what it is about them, but I just can't have enough. Here is a little collection of my favourite ones that either sit prettily on shelves in full view, or get used nearly every day. Some do both.

Starting from the left, this is my latest vintage pick up, which I blogged about a few weeks ago. it's rapidly become a firm milk favourite to accompany my morning tea.

This next one is one Matthew bought for me whilst at The Edinburgh Festival one year. I love the drip marks sliding down the side. It's my favourite one for heating milk up in the microwave for my morning coffee ritual. It's the perfect size for 2, so please pop in and share a cafetiere with me.

This next one is probably my most expensive jug and thus is never used. It sits on my beautiful cake stand in the kitchen alcoves where I can see it every day. It is exquisite and delicate and I could stare at it for eternity.

This porcelain dimpled jug is very special to me. Not only is it unbelievably tactile and sits just oh so comfortably in your hand, but it was my very first item sourced for Blueberry Park. I have used mine every single day for 4 years ever since and have never stopped getting that breathless feel when I pick it up out of the fridge. I know - it's a jug, goddammit! But simple pleasures 'n' all that...

And now for my latest addition to my all time favourite jugs... It was my birthday last week and the gorgeous Kristy, quite rightly, decided that this would be the perfect gift for me (along with this fab bowl too). Not only do I absolutely love it, not only is it just perfect in my home, but the fact that Kristy has come to know me so well, despite us never actually having met. The wonders of the internet that our paths can cross so.

Definitely a day for cheery thoughts...

This week has not started too well. We have had a great holidays and I really switched off and enjoyed a much needed break. We caught up with some friends. We went on a great walk in the Yorkshire Dales (queue picture on my header). We ate alot. Drank alot. Chilled alot.

I knew I'd relaxed well because towards the end of last week my fingers were starting to twitch. I was beginning to sleep less well as I needed to get active with work again.

My studio had got into it's usual pre-xmas over-worked chaos that needed tackling head on. I had all these plans that required the children to be back at school. A trip to Ikea was in order so that I could sort the chaos. Oh and purchase some more fabric ;-)

Samuel was still off yesterday so that was already a staggered start to the week. Matthew was off too, so a trip to Ikea was order of the day. I'd been planning to get this set of drawers for a while - highly recommended by Madame TFD. Purchase made. Drawers built (by aforementioned off work hubby). Organisation started....

And that's where it's ended. The night's heavy snowfall has scuppered any further plans to regain order up in my studio. The children were off school today and with school closed again tomorrow, I'm not totally sure when I'll manage to venture up there again.

Still, there is something rather mesmerising about that colour coordinated site, don't you think? Or am I just a little more anal than normal?

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(P.S. Thank you for your lovely comments and good wishes about my grandparent's anniversary. We had a fab old time with grandad rather proudly declaring secrets of their courtship - stories we'd never heard before!)

Sunday Stash #3

It's been one fabric stash after another for me of late. I certainly haven't been holding back on that front.

I was in Ikea yesterday and picked up a couple more. They've a fantastic collection at the moment.

I really couldn't resist the linen and at £3.99/m I know I'll be back for more. It's ready hemmed for a 45cm wide table runner. I bought 2.5m for our kitchen table and have plans to embroider some patterns onto it.

This red one had literally just been put on the shelves - part of their new Christmas range. Isn't it fab?

I'm off now to sew some designs...I'll let you know how it turns out.