:: finishes ::

i know it is only march but i am giving myself a huge pat on the back on how driven i am by keeping to my new year's resolutions of tidying the studio and getting projects finished before starting new ones. at this point ruby will be coughing **modest**...

but seriously, as you are well aware, i am always distracted by something new and shiny, so to even finish 1, start 2 (oh ok maybe still 3 or 4...) is a huge achievement.

i am not wholly sure if finishing a gift counts but still...a finish is a finish.




it was my sister's 50th last week and the quilt was gifted last friday night. as you can see, she absolutely loves it...or maybe she is a good actress. either way it was a success and i was ready to move on to the next...

i can't believe i allowed my studio to get into such a terrible state. the advantage to having it tidy is i can actually see what WIPs i have. previously they were hidden under piles of, well quite frankly, piles of who knows what. it was a disgrace.

with 2 of my WIPs now staring me in the face i'm onto getting them finished.

finish number 1 is my kiss quilt...
this has now been quilted and waiting for the final job of binding. i'm hoping that will be today.

finish number 2 is my beautiful Bee a Brit Stingy hourglass quilt top that is sitting under the machine as we speak.

3 quilt finishes in a week? what is the world coming to? 

to be honest, if the year finishes here, it will have been a successful one.

As alot of you know, I am a messy crafter. I'd like to think that all creative people are somewhat messy, but I have a feeling that I may be in the minority. I've been using the excuse that it is my artistic temperament. But the time has come for me to just admit that I am a slob and the time to change has arrived.

May scrap pile is getting bigger by the day and it is getting a little out of hand. I've decided to take this in hand.

It's not even as if it's difficult these days to be organised. A jaunt to Ikea to pick up storage boxes is all it takes. And then a couple of hours to contentedly put the right piece in the right box.

Crazy as it sounds, as chaotic as I am I actually love order and to see these boxes getting filled really rocks my boat and makes me wonder why it always takes me so long to realise this.

I'm going to have to go now because I still have more playing, I mean sorting, to do. But just before I do I wanted to quickly tell you about a workshop that Manda and I are hoping to host in December. It will focus on making some small, but fun Christmas presents and decorations. Again, the details still need to be finalised, but it you are interested, please leave me a comment and I will email you the details.

If you wandered into my studio it would be fair for you to think I had been ransacked and invaded by the most violent of intruders. Unfortunately the only intruder around here is me.

I have to admit I have a very messy approach to my creativity. The pile you see below is off-cuts from projects. As I cut and sew I discard the pieces that are too big to be thrown, yet too small to be refolded and put back away.

There's a smaller pile that sits on my desk. These days, with my love of log cabins, this pile is full of strips. There is something quite therapeutic about this little pile. And they have obviously been inspiring me somewhat, because having stared at them for a few days, I realised they were the answer to some much needed wall art for our new bedroom.

I've never decorated in these colours before, so any art we previously had up somehow doesn't look great in this room. Not that a room has to look clinically coordinated. But you wouldn't want to see anything too clashing would you?

So I set to work with my precious off-cuts and in a very short time later had a new piece of art for the room. The question now is, do I put it on the wallpaper wall or bring it over to the other side of the room, on the grey?

I'm leaning towards the grey...I think...

One Lady's Rubbish...

Does this look like rubbish to you? Take a closer look...

Look at these little ditsy flowers...

And will you check out this bird in a blossom tree. Is this not a perfect little picture? Albeit of the miniature 8x6cm variety.

And what about these reds? Yep, you've spotted Prints Charming in there.

And I know that this next one is a personal favourite for lots of you...

The point is that, while these tiny scraps of almost nothingness, despite their beauty, don't warrant saving for the majority of people, once the quilt is made, the bag is finished and all they are fit for is the garbage. For me this is pure treasure. After all I don't need much to make any of these.

So whilst those scraps were one lady's rubbish, they are pure gold to me. And whilst we are the subject...I know one lady who will think my garbage is rather sparkling too...

Thanks for your rubbish, Manda ;-)

A brief hello

Just a brief hello in the middle of our holiday. I just received a little note from Out of Print to say this fab little pack of Moda's Summer in the City is on it's way to me. As you can imagine, I'm rather eager to get home. I've all sorts of plans for these little lovelies :-)



(Hope you are all well and had a good week...looking forward to catching up at the end of next week x)

Cool Summer Project

I just had to show you these, right here, right now. How cool are they? I mean, really?

I was about to shut down for the night, but had to tell you all about them because they are going to be the hit of the summer.

Click here to read all about them and follow the instructions to make a whole batch.

Don't say I never share! Have fun! x