Liebster Blog.....

So. I had just finished posting my blog on cathedral windows and then decided to browse a few blogs that I am following and find that I have been tagged by Sheila from Blue Patch quilter: http://bluepatchquilter.blogspot.com/

with this

 

wow, I am so chuffed to be tagged!  Here are the rules:

1) If you are tagged, and you want to accept, then create a post on your blog and add the leibster blog pic.
2) Link back to the person who gave you the award and say if you accept.
3) Choose 3-5 of your favourite blogs to tag, link these in your post too and tell the lucky people they have been tagged.

The aim of this award is to bring unknown good blogs to light, (less than 50 Followers is ideal), therefore, please don't tag somebody with 3000 followers!

1: Nellies Niceities: http://nelliesniceties.blogspot.com/  a mother and daughter blog, that I have enjoyed reading

2: Sunshine quilting: http://sunshinequilting.blogspot.com/.  Martina is based in Switzerland and writes her blog in English and German.  I took German at Alevel (a very long time ago) and enjoy trying to read the german, before needing to look at the english!  Aside from that Martina has some lovely blogs there to read.

3: Sugarlane Quilts:  http://sugarlanequilts.blogspot.com/ Wendy lives in N Queensland and is also doing the Birdie stiches block of the month.  I love reading blogs from around the world.

I think the blogging community is great at bringing people together and this is a perfect example of how we 'spread the word'!!
4: Summerfete: http://summerfete.blogspot.com/. Another lovely blog - and she has a retro VW campervan.....

so, hope I have done this correctly and you check out their blogs

Cathedral Windows

 Whilst browsing all those wonderful quilting blogs recently, I seem to have come across a lot of pictures of quilts and cushions made with the cathedral window pattern - and they all look fab

So, I decided I would have a go.  I searched for tutorials and came across this one, which I have used: http://hyena-in-petticoats.blogspot.com/2007/08/cathedral-window-quilt-tutorial.html

It was all wonderfully explained, with great pictures and has definately done the job for me.  It is a fiddly job though - I don't mean because of the instuctions, but the actual pattern itself.  And for those who dont like ironing, this probably isn't the quilt you want to do!  Anyway, I started yesterday and this is how far I have got so far:

I intend to make a cushion cover with it.
And I have even found it is compatible with revising.  I have a test on Tuesday afternoon, which is a lot less hands on than any of the others, but involves a lot of parrot fashion learning.  So, I pick a paragraph, say it out loud and then start sewing, talking away to myself the whole time.  I do appear to have learnt quite a lot and it has seemed a lot less of a chore.  Proof will be in the results of course!

wedding present

 

My friend Zoe is getting married on May 29th and I am maid

(don't like matron!) of honour. They got engaged on holiday last Easter. So, in honour of her wedding, I have made her and Tim a quilt and I finished to top off last night - round about when I was meant to be revising!!  It has taken me ages to make this quilt as the triangles are small.  It was made from a jelly roll: moda fresh figs, mill house inn.  These pictures do not show the lovely material to its best.

The pattern came from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott and was very easy to put together.  I did add an extra row, so now it fits the bed perfectly

Oviously now that I have put the quilt on my blog, I can't tell Zoe that I have started a blog or she will see her quilt, which means that I will probably be stuck at 3 followers for a while!

On top of getting marrried in May she and Tim found out that they are expecting a baby in July, so she is having her wedding dress altered! 

So, now I am knitting another quilt, like the one I did for Daniel.  And speaking of which isn't he gorgeous:

 Myself and my youngest, Beccy, with Daniel

My settee

 This is my settee with all my homemade cushions and a throw over quilt.  (it also happens to be a very comfy sofa bed)

 This is a cushion that my sister in law made me for christmas - isn't it fab, and very patriotic

the cushion on the right, I made, my first attemp at log cabin. it was very theraputic

 The cushion on the left I made yesterday, after I saw these 3 fabrics and knew I had to buy them.  I already had the jumbo ric rak and the flowers, so it all came together very nicely.  The knitted cushion on the right was some left over wool for a fab cardi I knitted for my daughter

 And then this is the quilt on the back of the settee.  It was made from a few fat quarters, that I bought in a bundle and an old duvet cover that I was given.  I always take things like that because I know I can chop them up to make something at a knock down price!

The old quilt is the pink and white material used as the sashing around the squares.  This was a nice quilt to make and came together quickly.  The backing is an old single sheet, although I did buy the fabric for the binding!


The weather is so horrid here at the moment, well it is half term!  I usually don't work in the school holidays, but was working monday morning, exam monday afternoon, working thurs and friday.  In between I am revising for another exam on tues afternoon, but out of all the revision I have had to do, this is by far the most boring and I am not doing very well.  So, I need a break.  I think I will go and find my sewing machine.....

Blue quilt

 I love this quilt, love the colours, love the pattern, love the size......  It took a long time to make, probably the best part of a year, on and off obviously.  It was another free pattern, from quilters cache, a fabulous website with a huge selectoion of blocks to choose from.  I choose a block, knew what colours I wanted and off I went.

It is a very versatile quilt, lovely for lying under on summer nights (you know, those few hot days that we have) when a full duvet is too much and soooo toasty in the winter - it has definately been used a lot this winter!

it is a horrid wet cold weekend here - perfect for sewing, but I have been revising as I have an exam on Monday afternoon and then another one the following Tuesday.  It is half term and I should have the week off, but I am working for a couple of days, which is rubbish!  But once these two exams are out of my way, then I have finished my intermediate year.  I will take a break then until the summer and take time to sort out the house and do lots of sewing!

flowers

this is a wall hanging that I started in the summer whilst on holiday in Perranporth, Cornwall.  Whenever I look at it, it reminds me of our week away.  Perranporth has the most fantastic beach and is great for surfing and body boarding.  It was our 2nd year there, and hopefully we will get there for a week again this year.

Anyway, it was a free pattern from Henry Glass Fabrics - not only are they show casing great fabrics, but they also have some great free patterns

I changed it a little by using ric rak instead of material.  I am really glad that I did that as I think it looks great

Whilst on a flower theme, Beccy and I belong to the Tiptree Flower club.  The club meets every 2nd Thursday and there is a guest demonstrator who put together, effortlessly, 5 flower arrangements, whilst entertaining us with stories at the same time.  They are amazing

At the end of the evening, the arrangements are raffled off.  I did win an arrangement once, it looked fantastic in my front room! 

Beccy entered the flower arranging competition at the Suffolk show last year for under 17's..  They were provided with the flowers and props and left to arrange everything.  She got a highly commended, which is amazing for a 13 year old (as she was then) at her 1st county show!

These are lovely dispalys and the two ladies that did the demonstations were so entertaining.

Valentines project (especially for Heather!)

 On Sunday we started block 2 of our sew a long, which had a valentines theme.  Once our squares were done (completed blocks to follow) I had a lot of scrappy red and white left over, so I decided to do something with them.  Ist I sewed the scraps together - these scraps are any old width, just sew them in a row.  I then sewed a panel on each end, I have had these for a while and they were just waiting for a project.  Then I cut along the top and bottom to neaten up

I did two of these rows.  It doesn't matter what length they are, as long as they are longer than the two end panels.  Fantastic way to use up scraps.

 I didn't really know where I was going with this when I started but decided some sort of place mat would be the way to go.

 So, I had some nice cream and gold fabric that I have had lying around for a while and decided to use that and then thought a bit of red ric rac would break it all up:

I decided that the cream and gold all over was too much, so went with the white in the middle on either side of the middle panel.  Then I sewed on the ric rac, but some wadding in the middle, some backing on and had some red satin binding which I used - and hey presto:all from some scraps.  I am thinking that I will hand quilt two red hearts on either side of the middle panel just to finish it off.  (I havn't finished sewing the binding at the back yet either!)

It might not win any competitions (!), but it took all of about 2 hours to make, used up some scraps and will look lovely somewhere in our home.

And this was a previous table topper that I made from some left over scraps

Projects

This is a large cushion that Beccy made, about 3 years ago, so she was 11.  I bought the squares ready cut off ebay and she arranged them and sewed them all together.  Not bad for a 1st project!

This quilt was made by Jenny last year,  the pattern came from the fabulous moda bake shop website.  They have amazing patterns on there for people to use: if you don't know the website I can definately suggest you have a look.  You won't know which pattern to do first

And this one is also Jennys. She is a big animal lover, so I bought animal fat quarters whenever I saw them and when I had enough, suggested that she made the quilt.  This was her 1st quilt so she stuck to squares.  Its fantastic.  We found some great flame orange material to go around the outside - really makes a saffari theme

I have a project that I was working on on Sunday, which I will post now, but in a separate post.

Scrap quilt

this is one of my more recent quilts - made from a lot of my scraps.  I love it because whenever I look at it, I can see all the other things that I have made from those bits of material. And it was sew easy to make, in fact I wish i had made it bigger.  Beccy is also in the process of making one of these, but I get the feeling that she has done the sewing together part and the rest is up to me...

She sewed these squares like a demon.  She used the same scraps as me, but I used white in the middle of mine and they have both come out so differently.  I need to find the time now to finish it off for her.

Both my girls enjoy sewing. I will save their finished projects for tomorrows post....

Sew a Long

                                                    

Jens block

     Me and my two girlies started a sew a long at the beginning of January - take a look at the site :  http://www.littlemissshabby.com/    It is called Birdie Stiches and we thought we would all have a go to see how differently they all turn out

             My block

                                                                     

Beccys block

Jenny and Beccy havn't quite finished their blocks yet, but they don't have much more to do.  We are using up my scraps.  The squares around the edge are 2.5" and great to get from scraps.  And the white blocks are scraps as well.  The next (2nd) block is on the website today, so they had better hurry up and finish the 1st one!!  I know what scraps I will be using.  I think its really exciting to see how the squares will all finish up and how different the quilts will look.  I'll let you know in about 11 months time!!