my life has been opened up to the wonderful world of barn quilts.
i had never heard of barn quilts until i read about them here today.
i know...where have i been?
i have always had a thing for american barns, ever since i was old enough to hop across the ocean to visit my family in connecticut but i have never come across barn quilts there.
having flicked over to the barn quilt trail website (yes there is such a thing) i did in fact see that nowhere in CT was registered on the barn quilt trail.
this made me relieved that i hadn't been going around there with my eyes shut but saddened that i will have to go further afield to find some.
i will however be rectifying the lack of barn quilts in CT by painting one on my aunt's barn next time i am there...
american barns are so evocative and full of life and by painting a quilt on one of the walls just adds to this.
i've posted a few of my favourite barn quilt photos here and have started a new pinterest board where there are more. i know...obsessed.
there is even a book on barn quilts...that's obviously now on my wishlist.
the question is was i on my own here with my ignorance of barn quilts or have i enlightened a few more of you too?
do share you favourite barn quilt photo if you have one.
i was lucky enough to be sent some from the collection to make a quilt for them. i'd like to use the excuse that there was a short deadline on dashwood needing the quilt, for marketing purposes for the reason for the rapido making, but really it was down to it's irresistibility.
not only is the collection right up my alley, designs, colours, but the fabric itself is beautiful - really soft and light and i just couldn't wait to get sewing.
so sewing i did...until midnight last night.
as you can see from the top photograph, all the designs are really lovely but it is possibly the prints in the one colour designs that are most striking - perfect blenders for any project and would make wonderful dress-making fabrics too.
if you haven't come across dashwood before do check out their collections (this one is in store end of november). at the moment they are available here (see stockists bottom right) but i am sure it won't be long before they are more widespread.
in the meantime i am off to make a replica quilt as this one is on its way back to dashwood headquarters...sniff...
i was thrilled when kirsty asked me to be part of her blog hop. i have long been a fan of kirsty's and her work having 'met' her over the internet when i first entered this wonderful world of ours.
kirsty is one of those effortlessly clever people who produces things that are so quirky and original and, as this book demonstrates, is not short on ideas.
hoop-la is a gem of a book that incorporates {well over} a hundred ideas and projects to do with embroidery hoops.
whilst the book is not only a visual delight with all of kirsty's fab fun designs but it is a fantastic manual too with pages upon pages of templates to use and detailed instructions on how to carry out all the different skills. i love all her
::top tip::
ideas too.
so embroidery hoops are for, well, embroidery? aren't they?
wrong!
think again! kirsty shows in this wonderful book that this little humble piece of equipment can be used in oh so many different ways and decorated in an endless variety of ways.
my favourite ideas are the ones that make the hoop into a functional piece, rather than merely as a frame for a piece of art...although those are obviously all awesome too.
i love the chalkboard idea...and the noughts and crosses game...the vase of flowers, although you may not want to put water in them...the pen holder.
with this theme in mind i made my own little homage to hoop-la frame...an advent calendar pocket decorated in washi tape...ok i should make the other 24, and it would probably look rather cool if i did, but i just love how again you can take something quite simple and make something very striking.
i love when kirsty's thinking outside the box has resulted in more than one frame being the whole picture like the giraffe...the conversation...the hot air balloon.
so the giveaway! kirsty is very kindly offering one of you lovely readers a chance to win one of her fab frames from the book. being a screen printer the one i was instantly drawn to is the mix tape screen print. it's so cool!
all you need to do for a chance to win this frame is to leave a comment here. it is open to anywhere in the world and please feel free to tweet and the rest about it! i will be drawing a winner sometime on sunday 17 november.
thanks again for stopping by and if you have missed the rest of the blog hop (it finishes on friday) do check out and catch up on the other posts right here. you may still be in with a chance of entering some of the other giveaways!
i hope this has given you a good insight into this really marvellous book (put it on your xmas list) you will never look at an embroidery hoop in the same way again!
and i will leave you with this really cool little video that kirsty made. if what i have said hasn't persuaded you that you need a copy, then this really will!
it's that time of year again...xmas fair season...where i can normally be seen galavanting off all over the place at various fairs around the country.
it's an unusual year this year however, due to other work and personal commitments, as i am actually only going to be out and about at one fair.
i am going to be exhibiting at the selvedge winter fair at chelsea old town hall on fri and sat 29 and 30 november.
coincidentally this is one of my favourite fairs to exhibit at and also to shop at. it is full of beautiful handmade products that make exceptional gifts. i'm hoping to conquer my complete xmas/chanukah list whilst i am there!
if you are in the neighbourhood and fancy a great day out do come along and as a little incentive to come over to my stand i am offering all my lovely blog friends 10% off at the fair. just make yourself known to me quoting {fair13}.
right, i'm off to make some more goodies for my stand and hope to see lots of you then!
ps if there's anything in particular you are wanting to buy do let me know and i can make sure i have it or put on one side for you. x
it's amazing how much time you feel you have when things get back to normal. when i say normal i obviously don't mean normal, but rather back to routine. it's never normal round these parts.
having had our routine disrupted for 2 weeks worth of half term, i am always amazed by how much time i feel i have when the kids first go back to school.
without constant interruptions i have had a successful week getting through the long list of projects I am working on, all of which will be revealed in the up-coming weeks. I actually haven't finished any of them, but it has been fun having time to work on all of them.
a good productive happy week round these parts. no doubt next week will be back to the only normal i know about...normal mayhem.
hope whatever your normal is, it has been a good one.
x
ps watch out for the middle of next week when one of these projects will be finished and be featured on a blog tour!
the time when Amy inspires us all by running the blogger's quilt festival and when i get to catch up on all the amazing quilting that has been going on around blogland.
i love taking part in the festival, not because i have any delusions of winning, but to be a part of it.
to be honest i wasn't really sure which quilt to enter and then i realised i was actually impeded by the fact that this year i have started many quilts and finished very few so it was more a case of what i actually could enter.
i have decided to enter my elephants love water in the baby quilt category.
as soon as i saw this fabric at the beginning of the year i knew i had to quilt something out of it (i am having the same feeling about the talented duo's new collection).
it is one of those collections that speaks volumes by itself s doesn't really need too much complicated piecing to make it look good.
i decided to make a wonky windmill kinda block pairing the umbrella prints with coordinating kona solids. i backed it in a simple solid red, again less was more.
i didn't have the right fabric in my stash for the binding. nothing was singing to me when i held fabrics up against the quilt top so it was down to the cellar to print a stripe.
perfect!
it is a simple quilt. it is a small quilt but i absolutely loved working with the umbrella prints fabric and was delighted when a reader loved it so much that they wanted to buy it. i wasn't so pleased to part with it, so i guess i will just have to purchase some floating world and make a substitution.
thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out what else is going on at the festival. x
