default setting...

 at the beginning of april i declared that i had 4 quilts to complete by the end of the month. since it is still not quite the end of the month i can live in false comfort that i can still achieve this.

reality is...

not a hope in hell!!

having said that, I am 2 1/2 down and 1 1/2 to go...but even at my crazy rate, that's neigh on impossible.

so what has been holding me back i hear you ask?

well there has been the little thing of "the book". there were a few nips n tucks and tweaks that needed attending to but a couple of weeks ago it went off to the printers so all we can do now is wait!

i am beyond excited and beyond nervous about it in equal measure. it's my baby...and everyone wants their baby to be loved and adored, right? criticism is so hard to take...so be kind!

the publishers have been brilliant. it has all been such a journey and such a steep learning curve but i think they got me down to a T...they most certainly have with the front cover anyway. i only saw this complete for the first time today on Amazon and coincidentally i posted this picture below earlier today on Instagram talking about my default colour setting. i think there is little arguing now about this...one and the same! i do try to work in something fresh and different, but no matter how hard it always comes back to this. i guess i just shouldn't fight it. it's not such a bad default setting after all.

meanwhile back to the April Must Dos...no more book excuses, so let's just see quite how much we can do in the next 2 (2?? really?? only 2??) days...

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im so so pleased with how it's turned out and hopefully ruby, who it was originally made for, is still keen on it too.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

a week in pics...plus the odd word or 2...

 what a week...and it's still only thursday!

it all started with Ruby's Bat Mitzvah weekend which went brilliantly.

i had been very anxious about it for weeks partly due to how much work i have on at the mo and how on earth i was going to have time to prepare for the batty as well and partly due to not having dad with us. i have been very emotional about that for the weeks leading up to the batty and was worried i wouldn't be able to keep it together...

i did keep it together...

for most of the time...

well, some of the time.

we had a truly wonderful weekend and one thing it did teach me was, whilst it is beyond sad that dad is no longer here to share these occasions with us, it is so important to build new happy memories.

the work side of life has had to fit in alongside. it couldn't stop altogether due to the up coming xmas fairs and other deadlines.

the newly discovered silver brussels linen was made up into cushions and napkins. i can't tell you how much i love this fabric. it's so soft and smooth and of the most exquisite colour and i blame that for my little sideways distraction of piecing it together with some of my printed pieces. i haven't quite decided whether this is destined to become a quilt or wall art...time will tell.

then things got a bit more colourful...

selvedge needle books for the xmas fairs...

ruby's horse printed onto vintage fabric that is destined to become famous...

printed fabrics for a new exciting commission...

a play around with lotje's gorgeous pattern for this week's big city girl QAL...i couldn't resist...it's so cute!...and besides my new love kona fern had arrived and i just had to find something to sew with it...

and then finally, not made all this week, my screen printing table drop cloth... 

it could just be the colours but i'm thinking it would look great framed as a piece of art...or maybe not!

another mad week in my mad and hectic world and looking at the calendar it isn't due to get any less mad this side of 2014 so you may just see photo mosaics cropping up regularly just to keep you up to speed with what's going on around these parts!

BM time...take 3...

 So it's that time again...the time where when i had wished for more than 3 children i am damn glad there aren't more.

it's bar mitzvah time...again! well actually it's bat mitzvah this time as it's ruby's turn, but full on entertaining our nearest and dearest for an entire weekend.

having done it twice before i haven't quite got the oomph to get going on the organising for a third time.

thankfully ruby being a girl means that this time she has loads of ideas and input of her own. 

that in itself can be double edged...having someone else to consult and negotiate with is just yet another hurdle to jump. still, she's very keen to be on board and it is definitely another pair of hands.

unfortunately my heart isn't quite in this one tho, partly for bad reasons (not having dad with us is playing on my mind) but partly for good (humungous work deadline 2 days after...and one that hopefully by then i will be able to spill the beans about...finally!)

putting all the colour schemes, party prop ideas, food consultations, invitations made, written and hand delivered to one side there is the big issue of dress shopping...

5 people, 3 outfits a piece, 4 for ruby "because it is my bat mitzvah"...as if we didn't know.

(ignore gonky pic...where's a decent photographer when you need on?)

in order to cut down on the wear and tear on my shoes searching for my attire i decided to make one of my dresses and after seeing made by rae's ruby dress it seemed both perfect and rather apt.

when i set out i wasn't sure what fabric it would work for me in but i grabbed what fabric i had in my stash that was big enough to give it a try. i wasn't going to waste precious special fabric if it wasn't going to be right.

after a few changes to the original pattern - the original one has gathers which i felt were a bit baby doll for me so i adapted these to box pleats - i decided that this was indeed a great dress for what i needed it for. next time i do need to use more fabric across the front so the pleat doesn't pull across my ample bazoomerage (yeh right - magnifying glass springs to mind).

the question then was which fabric was i going to make it in. originally i had in mind this nani iro but having received a sample, whilst i love it and will possibly use another time, it wasn't quite right for this event.

looking again i have decided on this beautiful voile below. 

i am actually really excited about having this and bullied kate into sending it pronto (if i could have persuaded her to drive up to leeds from brighton to bring it today believe me i would have). 

because i wasn't sure which one would work best with the voile i have ordered 3 of the brussels washers. i am hoping one will jump out at me when i see them in the flesh. does one of them jump out at you?

so end of october sees bat mitzvah weekend along with **** deadline so if you don't hear from me before i resurface again in november, you now know why!

:: one clever lady ::

 do you know charlotte?

you know, that clever lady (she knows about science she does)...

the hilariously funny lady...

oh and let's not miss out the uber talented lady. 

a while ago charlotte wrote this fab tutorial for a teabag wallet, the perfect little gift for well, the tea lover obvs.

i had parked this idea in my brain for when the perfect gift was a teabag wallet.

that moment has arisen and clever charlotte's tutorial came in very handy.

it's a fantastic little tutorial...

really really speedy that uses almost scraps on your pile (in fact you could use scraps and make a patchwork version) but produces a gift that is just perfect...if the recipient like tea that is.

fortunately this recipient does like tea...and pink...so i am excited to be able to hand deliver the perfect gift.

clever me for thinking up such a perfect gift...not to mention clever, funny, talented charlotte for designing it in the first place. 

:: molly's quilt ::

 i love quilt commissions. 

i love them because it gives me an excuse to make a quilt.

i love that people pay me to play with fabric.

it doesn't get much better than that does it?!

i also love quilt commissions because i love that other people come up with colour combos that i wouldn't necessarily be drawn to.

last week i had a quilt commission to make a quilt for molly's 1st birthday. 

all of molly's female relatives had clubbed together to buy her what will become an heirloom. how gorgeous an idea is that? not a plastic unnecessary toy in sight just a beautiful long lasting piece that i particularly am very proud to be part of.

even though i was working in a colourway that i wouldn't ordinarily do, i had a surprisingly good collection of fabrics in and only needed to top up a few which i found in the beautifully stocked Tikki.

i had only made my giant hexie quilt in my trademark teal grey and mustard before so it was a lovely refreshing change to make it up in something different.

i look forward to being paid to play some more.

(ps sorry about the blurry (atmospheric?) photographs...molly's aunt came to whisk the quilt away before i could take some decent shots...but you get the idea)

patchy update...

apparently there was only one way to see how white ink on solids would look...go right ahead and try it...

and i'd say, from that same modest standpoint, rather darn lovely!

a few panels have been added to the shop with more colours coming just as soon as i get all those other things done...

well some of them anyway...

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.

pretty practical...

 yesterday began with a quick much needed project.

the loo door is half glass and when we first moved in i put up a temporary scratty piece of fabric to tide us over...that was 9 years ago now...ahem...

every time i sat on the loo i was reminded that i really needed to rectify this.

9 years is obviously plenty of time to decide just what i wanted up there.

having played around with doily prints recently and having developed a recent penchant for this colour ways having been inspired by this print i put 2 and 2 together and whipped up this piece of fabric.

it was a case of layering up the colours using the lovely warm sunshine to speed up the drying process...

it started with pale pink...followed swiftly by some ochre...

and finally a splash of gunmetal grey.

4 stitched edges and an insert of ribbon and i'm wondering why it took my 9 years.

i'll have time now to think of other things while frequenting the littlest room in the house.

swoon...

 being the world's best starter and the world's worst finisher it will come as no surprise that i have started yet another quilt.

to be fair i am on a mission to make a quilt for our bed. i keep thinking i have found the perfect quilt design but then as i get going on it it doesn't seem quite as perfect as i thought so i give up.

i really thought this low volume scrappy trip along above was going to be just right...

...wrong! even though it is low volume there is just too much going on.

the same happened with the + and x quilt below.

way too busy!

it was back to the drawing board but not before i made myself sew up these scrappy and plus blocks into squares big enough to make cosy floor cushions.

now i can relatively guiltlessly get on with the job in hand of making the right quilt and i actually think i am there this time.

i had bought camille's lovely swoon pattern a while ago and had a lightbulb moment of thinking this would be just the right quilt, particularly if i kept it simple.

the first block i made at the top went pretty straight forwardly. i used my 2 favourite fabrics of the moment - architextures' crosshatch in grey and pb&j's raspberry jam in picnic. the background is the crosshatch in white...plain but with a little added interest.

i was really pleased with the result of this first block and started pulling fabrics for the rest of the quilt.  whilst our room has a strong Orla Kiely wallpaper with a shot of chartreusy yellow i initially wanted to keep the quilt neutral.

not according to my sub conscience as before i knew it i'd dragged out some yellows. looks like it was going to have yellow in it after all.

just to make sure yellow was going to work i made up another block. 

nice...

i was liking...

but now i have a dilemma...a big dilemma...

i laid the blocks out on the bed just to see if it was working for me and boom how good do the blocks look as pillow covers??

aaaghhh!

do i stop at these 2 blocks and do something else for the quilt?

but what else would work in this room?

what would you do??

new skills...

 a few weeks ago i bought a new toy and after a shaky start of the wrong foot being sent i finally had a spare 5 minutes to try it out yesterday.

 me being me i jumped right on in. no trying it out on fabric to see how this would actually work.

oh no, not me, i just grabbed the nearest block hanging on my wall and set to try.

if it worked great, if it didn't, well, it wouldn't be the first time.

 i knew exactly the design i wanted to try.

i'd made this sashiko cushion a while ago. i just love the stitch and thought it would work quite well on the x+ block. i actually had this quilting design in mind for my scrappytripalong quilt and so i thought this would be a good place to try it out. see...not all blind thoughtless jumping in. there is occasionally method to my madness...occasionally.

ok so it may be a little wonky and uneven but for a first attempt, not bloody bad at all! it is actually easier than quilting with a regular foot where i seem to ruche up the back no matter how careful i am at basting.

i am really pleased with how this little block has turned out and now just a teensy bit excited to quilt the scrappytrip along.

new toys, new skills...even more sewing fun!