Tula Pink is coming to town!

 

Not much sewing happening here this weekend, but next weekend this is what is happening at a store near me! I will be there with a few of my friends!

Crafty Cooks Apron Swap–Sign ups close March 15th come and join in the fun!!!!!

 

Just a little reminder about the Crafty Cooks Apron Swap! Spaces are filling up fast but we do have a few more left so be quick if you want to join in. Signups close on March 15th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We have a great crowd on Flickr already! and if you like a swap where people are chatty then come join in.

With the short winter nights nearly behind us (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway!) it is time for a bit of Spring Cleaning, well thinking about it at least :) Even if Spring Cleaning doesn't feature prominently on your to-do list, here is an opportunity to embrace your inner Domestic Goddess and look the part if not live it! In conjunction with Fiona, who is one of my blogging friends and who blogs at Celtic Thistle Stitches, I invite you to make and secretly swap a Half-Apron and your absolute failsafe, go-to recipe with would-be Domestic Goddesses around the world. Whether your style is Hostess with the Mostess

Homecooking Heroine (Courtesy of Celtic Thistle)

Or Kitchen Diva (Celtic Thistle) Your swap hostesses have the ideal partner out there waiting to make the perfect apron just for you. This swap will be limited to 30 participants so you will need to register early to ensure your place. To join the Crafty Cooks Apron and Recipe Swap you will need to confirm your agreement to the Swap guidelines and complete the registration form at the Crafty Cooks Apron and Recipe Swap Flickr Group here Sign ups will close on March 15th, or when the limit of 30 participants is reached. All swaps to be sent no later than April 30th. As if the Swap itself wasn't exciting enough your Swap Hostesses have lined up some fabulous incentives to help you stay on track. Kristy at Quiet Play is offering Crafty Cooks Apron Swappers a 15% discount on her Sew Retro Paper-pieced patterns in her Craftsy store Julie at The Intrepid Thread is offering Crafty Cooks Apron Swappers a 10% discount for a limited time on fabrics from her online store. Pam at Uberstitch is offering a $25 Gift Voucher to one lucky Crafty Cooks Apron Swapper who completes the swap on time.

Bee Blocks–Star Light, Star Bright 3x6 Bee

 

I managed to finish all my Bee Blocks for the Star Light, Star Bright 3x6 Bee that I am in on Flickr, which means I can now begin my Bee Blocks for the Sampler hive I am in. 

This block is for Linda, Hive caretaker, she asked for a block with the colours that you find in a coleus plant.  I think the Joel Dewberry fabric on the large star points is perfect for this.

This block is for Sue, I love, love this colour combination, I also went with this combination but added pink into the mix too. For this block I used some scraps I had left over from my Christmas Vintage Holiday Quilt and also some scraps from my Swoon Quilt.

Lisa, went for light yellow, light blue and a little bit of pink red and green, so I couldn’t resist adding some Vintage modern for the centre block.

I love the large star points in this block, it is amazing how such a traditional block can look so modern and different with the right fabric. The large star points are Laurie Wisburn – Tufted Tweets.

Brandy asked for low volume, with a pop of colour, I had a hard time deciding what fabric to use, but I think this works.  For my pop of colour I used a Laurie Wisburn fabric.

Megan asked for aqua orange and green, this Joel Dewberry Heirloom fabric is just perfect for this colour combination and luckily I had some left over from the Amy Butler Birdie Sling Bag that I made.

And here they are together! I am going to have to make a star quilt.  I love this block, its easy and fun to do.

I am tempted to do the same blocks again for the sampler hive that I am in, I think that stars are a popular block and I had a lot of fun doing them, and I think the ladies in the Bee will like them too. I just have to wait and get some feedback before going ahead with the. If not I might have a go at some churn dash blocks instead.

If you missed my last post, then I just want to let you all know that I am cohosting an Apron Swap, details can be found here

Crafty Cooks Apron Swap

With the short winter nights nearly behind us (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway!) it is time for a bit of Spring Cleaning, well thinking about it at least :) Even if Spring Cleaning doesn't feature prominently on your to-do list, here is an opportunity to embrace your inner Domestic Goddess and look the part if not live it! In conjunction with Fiona, who is one of my blogging friends and who blogs at Celtic Thistle Stitches, I invite you to make and secretly swap a Half-Apron and your absolute failsafe, go-to recipe with would-be Domestic Goddesses around the world. Whether your style is Hostess with the Mostess

Homecooking Heroine (Courtesy of Celtic Thistle)

Or Kitchen Diva (Celtic Thistle) Your swap hostesses have the ideal partner out there waiting to make the perfect apron just for you. This swap will be limited to 30 participants so you will need to register early to ensure your place. To join the Crafty Cooks Apron and Recipe Swap you will need to confirm your agreement to the Swap guidelines and complete the registration form at the Crafty Cooks Apron and Recipe Swap Flickr Group here Sign ups will close on March 15th, or when the limit of 30 participants is reached. All swaps to be sent no later than April 30th. As if the Swap itself wasn't exciting enough your Swap Hostesses have lined up some fabulous incentives to help you stay on track. Kristy at Quiet Play is offering Crafty Cooks Apron Swappers a 15% discount on her Sew Retro Paper-pieced patterns in her Craftsy store Julie at The Intrepid Thread is offering Crafty Cooks Apron Swappers a 10% discount for a limited time on fabrics from her online store. Pam at Uberstitch is offering a $25 Gift Voucher to one lucky Crafty Cooks Apron Swapper who completes the swap on time.

WIP Wednesday

I managed to do lots of sewing this past week, I finished the piecing of my swoon quilt! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

If your swooning over my swoon, like I am!!!! and you wanna see more gorgeous snowy photos, then you can find them  here

and I also managed to get some Bee Blocks done!  I’ve been sewing like a crazy lady the last week, it feels good!

 

I just have one bee block left to do for this hive and then I need to start on the sampler hive blocks.  I still have not decided which block I plan on doing yet so any suggestions for a fun easy block, let me know.

I am Swooning

This post is going to be photo heavy!  I am so excited to finally finish the piecing of my swoon quilt.  I have yet to add a couple of borders to it, but I thought I would share it with you anyway. .

I had my very helpful assistant (UKdad) hang the quilt from the deck, there is no way I would have had the arm span to show this to you.

This is one big quilt! at the moment it measures 90”x90”, and I hope to make it even bigger, I just need to decide how, then it will be off to the quilter, hopefully that will be sooner htan later.re it with you.

Swooning and Sneak peak!

Life has been a little busy here recently, which is why the lack of blog posts.
But I have been sewing when I have had the time.
I have also been working on an upcoming project with one of my blogger friends Fiona who blogs over at Celtic Thistle. this is something that I hope to share with you all very soon, so keep checking up on me so you don’t miss out!  Here is a little sneak peak!!

I have also been swooning again! In fact I swooned 3 times yesterday! and completed the last 3 blocks of my Swoon Quilt.
So here are a few more blocks that I have made since the last time I blogged.

Now all I need to do is attach the sashing and borders. I want to actually use this quilt on my bed, the only problem being is our bed is a California king, so I need to figure out the best way to make it big enough. I think I will add a couple of borders, maybe one plain and one patterned, this is going to be one very large quilt.

WIP Wednesday Bee Blocks

 

Test Block for 3x6 Bee, this wasn’t the block I planned on doing originally! I did a test block with another pattern and decided that would be it and then made another block and decided to trim them up only to find they were both the wrong size, so I learned a lesson, always when making bee blocks to test your first one to make sure it is the right size!  This block worked perfectly and the finished size is what it says it is 12.5 inches finished!

Linking up to over at Freshly pieced.

Still Swooning

I am on a roll, here is the next block!

So I have seen yet another quilt pattern that I would love to make, in fact there are  two but they are both more or less the same so I need your help, have you ever used any patterns made by either of these people and which would you recommend.  In truth all quilt patterns are not written the same, some are wordy, some have great instructions, some don’t.  So I am not too sure which one to buy. So if you can give me a point in the right direction I would really appreciate it.
The patterns I am looking at are
Spin Cycle by Cluck Cluck Sew and The Labyrinth Quilt by Red Pepper Quilts

Swoon

 

Another one to share, I had a little accident with this one, can you see the mark in the centre of the flying geese on the star?  My iron decided to spew water out on the block, I need to clean my iron, we have extremely hard water so it gets nasty very quickly.  I hope when I eventually wash this the mark comes out! unless anyone has any other suggestions?

 

Swooning over my 1st Swoon Block

So on my to do list for this year is to complete a Swoon Quilt, yes I got on the bandwagon and I am going to enjoy the ride, even if I was a little bit late!
What can I say, I am loving this block, its massive!

For those people that like details, the patterned fabrics used in the above block are: Lemon Grove in grey c8606 Starburst and  Lemon Grove  leaves  C8609, Designed by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures,

I was going to use grey for my background but they were all out of grey at the LQS so I went with Konna White instead, Wow there is 4+ yards of just white fabric for the blocks! and sashing!!!
It took me a while to cut the white out! and I am cutting the patterned fabrics for the blocks as I go. 
Here is a reminder of the fabric I will be using

I made a start last weekend cutting out and was eager to start sewing.  So I did a little bit of sewing and then found out my sewing machine did not want to play!!! So with the help of dh we got it sewing fine (it took us a good couple of hours), and then again it started to have a paddy! So on Wednesday I took it to the sewing machine hospital!
Now what I didn’t tell you is my machine is 20 years old! It has only had about 5 hours total sewing time!  I got this machine for my fist Christmas present from my husband on our first Christmas together.  At the time I had made a throw away comment about wanting a sewing machine so he went out and bought the best machine he could find at the time! which was so sweet of him, but my experience in sewing did not match the level of the machine and it just scared the e b jeebies out of me and so I never really sewed on it until we came to the US.  It’s a Pfaff 1475 CD and according to the man at the sewing shop, todays equivalent would set me back a mere $6000, so its here to stay.  The one thing I love about Pfaff machines are their dual feed, it makes sewing so much easier.
So imagine this its been moved from one country to another, we lived in Germany when he first bought it for me and then moved home to the UK so I had to use an adaptor for the wattage, then when we moved to the US and  I had to buy a big transformer, that weighs a ton so that we can make the power stronger.  So this is the downside of having this machine.  However this machine is fantastic and was the machine back in 1992! you could link it up to your computer and do all sorts of amazing wonderful things, not that I ever did as it was just to complicated for me, which is a real shame as even now it is capable of so much more, I just don’t know how to use it to its full capacity and as it is so old there are no forums for this machine, but I love it all the same and  now it has been fixed it does the job and sews perfectly.

My Fabric Haul

 

So here is my fabric haul from my trip to Minneapolis.  I bought 37 half yards of fabric!! Which makes that 74 fat quarters!  and I calculated that each fat quarter was $1.50 so now you know why I bought so much.This lot should keep me going for a long time!

And for those that like details here you are,  from left to right:

1. Spots Yellow from the Dolly Dear Collection for Timeless Treasures
2. Michael Miller House Designer - Mod Prints - Feeling Groovy in Citron
3. Ty Pennington Impressions Wave in Gray for Westminster/Free Spirit
4. Dumb Dot by Michael Miller cx2490
5. ????
6. Kitchy Kitchen Fabric by Maude Asbury "Wedge Geo Yellow" for Blend Fabrics
7. Primitive by Jane Dixon for Andover Fabrics
8. Blossom in Charcoal from Ty Pennington's Impressions for  Westminster/Free Spirit
9. Kimono in Spice from Ty Pennington's Impressions for Westminster/Free Spirit

 

1. Fleur-C8132 Orange Peacock Collection by Timeless Treasures
2. MC06-Gray Calypso Swing Rhythmic Toss for Free Spirit
3. Fruit a La Carte Red and Black Rain Drops by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics
4. Tiny Diamonds Petal Pushers Dear Stella Designs
5. Fruit a La Carte  Bubble Dot  in Charcoal by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics
6. Fruit a La Carte  Bubble Dot by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics
7. Love Birds Cranberry Circles C7097 by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs
8. JM30 Pink Hollywood California Dreaming' by Jenean Morrison for Free Spirit Fabrics
9. Orange Crush by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures

The next two photos are the fabrics I bought to make my swoon quilt, I have already started cutting some of these half yards into fat quarters (2nd photo).

From left to right

1. DC5084 Michael Miller Fabric Peacock Lane Falling Flowers
2. Metro Living: Robert Kaufman
3. Flower Mart III Lattice  Bernatex
4. Riley Blake Designs "Tuxedo Collection" by Doodlebug Design inc. C2693 Gray - Floral.
5. Calypso Dot Fabric  designed by Maude Asbury for Blend Fabrics
6. Riley Blake Designs - Sheri Berry Designs - Woodland Tails - Dots in Blue
7. Lemon Grove  in blue leaves by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures

 

Clockwise

1. Green Dear Stella Designs
2. Riley Blake Designs "Fly a Kite" by October Afternoon C2787 Green Dot
3. The Blue Skies Ringlets by Sharon Holland by Paintbrush Studio
4. ??????????????????????????????????????
5. Wilmington Prints The Daily Special 84336-444 by Stephanie Marrott
6. ??????????????????????????????????????????
7. Windham Basic Bright's & Pastels 29395
8. Lemon Grove in grey c8606 Starburst by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures
9. The Pixie Pops for Timeless Treasures C8707
10. Riley Blake Designs - Sheri Berry Designs - Woodland Tails - Dots in Green
11. ?????????????????????????????????????????????

Whoops I just realized there are a couple more fabrics I forgot to take photos of!

Fabric Shopping Spree

No excuses for not blogging I’ve just been a little busy!

But anyhow……………..

Last week I went on a road trip with a couple of my friends to Minneapolis, we had a blast.

We went to SR Harris a fabric a fabric outlet. Our mission was to buy as much fabric as we thought we could get away with when we got home.  I went a little crazy and bought so much gorgeous fabric.

I bought enough to make 3 quilts and more.

Now this place we went to is crazy, its just full of aisles and aisle of different bolts of fabric, from decorator fabrics, apparel, quilting cottons trims and beyond, you name it they have it, I didn’t even get to look at all the haberdashery  (trims, buttons, zippers etc., you get the idea) they have and everything else as we ran out of time, we were there for over 6 hours!  This place has 30,000 square feet of fabric!

 

Just a small sample of some of the trims!

 

This is how all the fabric is stacked, so you get a good work out choosing your fabric!

Basically you take a trolley (cart)  with you, choose your fabric from the shelves, which is  stacked 3 shelves high and then you take it to the cutting table and cut it yourself, what fun we had!

In this photo you can see the large cutting tables, they supply scissors and a metal ruler, but I took my cutting mat and rotary cutter with me!

Most of the fabrics I bought are all designer fabrics and all of them are good quality quilting cottons, I managed to find some Riley Bake, Robert Kaufman,  and a few other gorgeous designer fabrics.  The minimum cut is 1/8 yard and I wanted fat quarters so just cut a half yard for each fabric I wanted and will get around to making fat quarters out of them eventually.  Oh and did I tell you they were $11.99 a yard but were 50% off!! so basically I got a fat quarter for $1.50, talk about being in fabric heaven!

I went with blue, aqua, green and grey for my swoon quilt

Then I went with grey yellow and a pale orange for another quilt

Then I just bought fabric I liked that could go together for another possible quilt.

I am hoping to go again very soon!

I will post soon about the fabrics I bought and share photos of my fabric haul!!!