holibags

It appears that my sewjo has decided to go off on its holibags for December. That's after getting sucked in to Masterchef the Professionals (and being bitterly disappointed that Adam fluffed the final).  December so far has meant a Bumbling Honeys Christmas FQ swap organising by lovely Liz.  I forgot to take a photo of the fabric I sent to Teresa (some lovely Laura Gunn) but I made a drawstring pouch to go with it...

made from some gorgeous Joel Dewberry
that I got from a way too generous Amy

I say drawstring bag but I forgot the holes for the drawstring and couldn't find the seam ripper so had to improvise with some ribbon and a button.  Not very useful but it looks pretty.  Of course, as soon as I finished it I worked out a better way to do it #heyho

My FQ came courtesy of the gorgeous JoJo...

I had a much better photo but deleted it by mistake.  I hope you can pick out the fabulous origami stars, tucked into an equally fabulous piece of liberty #swoon.

Then it was my birthday and cake was made....

waiting for its chocolate fudge icing....

I can't recommend Nigella's old fashioned chocolate cake recipe highly enough. [I previously would have hash tagged Team Nigella here but someone has ruined that for me.]  I made salted caramel butter icing for the middle and chocolate fudge icing to cover it.  Flipping delicious, if I say so myself. And I ate enough to ensure consistent flipping deliciousness too!

And on the same weekend, I taught myself how to do portholes ....

you ain't seen me, roight?

Part of some secret sewing but I had to share cos I love it!  This was the sole product of my sewing weekend sans kiddo.  I ended up doing housework for most of it #weird.  Of course, there was the lovely red wine.......

Oh and this week, I got myself a new job too. #nobiggie #relief

And that's it!  I haven't even begun to finish the one and only handmade Christmas present on the list.  The wee man and I are off to Scotland in half an hour for the week and I should be packing.

Have a great Christmas.  See you on the other side xx

blitzkreig bop

How did it end up being December already?  Proper December too, not just the start of the month.  I know I'm not very original with this cry but jeez louise where did November go?!

After coming down from the high of finally finishing the wee man's quilt, I walked back into my back bedroom/laundry room/home office/sewing space and was aghast at what looked like a bomb site.  I know that lots of you work neatly but I am a super messy crafter and sometimes it just gets too much.  Here's a snapshot of the really neat and tidy end of the room....



I do know what each pile is about though!

No wonder Laughing boy despairs of me.  Anyway after a swift stuffing of things in the stash cupboard and stuff drawer methodical blitz, I found the floor again!  And I managed to identify piles of cut fabric that were destined to be bee blocks but hadn't got very far in their quest.  So another bee block blitzkrieg....

First up, Krista's Modern Maverick blocks ... two ribbon stars...

the middle stars are dark grey

I thought I'd done well in terms of accurate cutting but that wasn't the case so they took longer than they should have to get done #sigh

Next up, Teresa's Bumbling Honeys blocks

stringtastic

I've never done string blocks before and they were fun and pretty quick.  I was too chicken to cut them down to the actual size that Teresa wants, given my cutting accuracy issues - better too big, right?

Finally, and very late, Tanya's QATWII block.  She wanted rainbow stars and my printer was on the blink so I needed to make something that wasn't paper pieced.  Tanya lives in New Zealand so I went with a very tenuous version of the stars on the NZ flag....

it's upside down, obviously!

And here are her blocks so far...

football softie is an optional extra

I've still got a ways to go before I conquer the BB mountain and the air is getting rare up here but the wee man is off to his Nana's this weekend and I think I've got a full day sewing on the cards so fingers crossed for one last push.

Here's one thing keeping me company (in my head)....

Linking with Liz and Claire's Brit Sewing Thursday Linky thingy

Check out this giveaway

I first saw Tilly on the Great British Sewing Bee but only recently starting following her blog.  She's got a great giveaway at the moment:



Go here to check it out

#chuffedtobits

I'm cutting to the chase with this post.  I have finally finished the wee man's quilt (now that nearly every one of his friends has one made by me it was only fair!) - WOOP WOOP!  I had planned to venture outside and attempt some arty photo shoot but the light is rubbish today and I'm no Kelly, so with no further ado...

#chuffedtobits

I am so chuffed with this quilt I could burst!  As mentioned previously, the blocks were made for me by my lovely Bumblie Bee friends last year and once I'd got my head around it, the top came together really quickly.  I've only ever done straight line quilting before so the circles were a wee bit of a challenge but only really making sure they were actual circles and not diamond or rhomboids (love that word!).  There are four different thread colours used for the circles so the bobbin and thread was changed for each circle (I only got the order wrong once and didn't rip it out #naughty). A few of the circles were unpicked to correct over wonkiness or filthy little puckers.  I felt it important that it was the best I could do.  I am so glad cos I just LOVE how the quilting looks...front and back....

#chuffedwiththebacktoo

I've never pieced a back before and I am loving this too.  It shifted a bit during the quilting process and required some remedial attention but I'm probably the only one who will notice that.  I f*cked up royally with was a little parsimonious with the backing so it was only fair that I learned my lesson!

The binding is the left over green and orange fabric from the front and it works really well.  I took my time putting it on and the corners are pretty chuffing brilliant.  Hand sewn down too. #justright

The wee man is suitably bored with it although he does have a favourite owl.  It will be doing on his big boy bed when I can persuade Laughing Boy that he's ready for one. And the wee man will know that it was made with love by lots of people.

Thanks to the Bumblie Bees for your fabulous work
Thanks to Tanya for helping me with the block placement
Thanks to Sue for telling me to just get on with it
Thanks to Catherine for the circles tute
Thanks to Carly for the advice about the stitch length #genius
Thanks for all the IG love through the process
Thanks to the quilt goddesses for the invention of the seam ripper and for being good to me...

managed to finish the circle...just!
 

Edited to link up with Celtic Thistle Stitches New to Me in November for my circle quilting

to the left, to the left....

I'm on a roll with the wee man's quilt #finally.  I pieced the back and made the sandwich over the weekend.  The binding was made yesterday lunchtime and the quilting expedition started in earnest last night....and then stopped in a proper strop!

I'm doing concentric circles and used a 12" bowl as my starting circle template.  I also decided to use four different thread colours, grey, blue, lime and orange - alternating them every circle. Look, I've proper thought about the quilting and everything.  It's not FMQ but it's not straight lines either. 

All went well with the first circle, it was slightly wavy but I could live with it.  I just need to slow down a bit.  Thread change, onto next circle and fitting my quilting bar to the walking foot - cue filthy sweary words and fists railing at the sky.  The quilting bar only fits/works to the right and not to the left, which is where I needed in order to follow the starter circle.  I mean, what a stupid design flaw.  I tried putting it to the left but it kept jumping up and was useless.

I decided to wing it a little but soon stopped when I remembered that circles shouldn't have corners!  To be fair, the kinks happened when I got a little carried away with my needle speed.  Some of the circles were actually quite smooth and evenly spaced.  But I grumped out last night and grabbed the seam ripper. (oh, and ordered an adjustable quilting bar!)

So today I am mostly doing this....

#ochwell

I found some nests so perhaps ripping is the way forward

what took me so long?!

The head down charge through bee blocks continued this week. First up: JoJo's QATWII block.  She asked for blue, that's all so I pp'd myself out with this.....

thank you Kerry for the fabric!

I am pretty chuffed with how it turned out and it goes well with her other blocks:

pretty cool huh?

Just as I was about to post these off to Rachel, I decided to finish Rachel's block and send them on to her at the same time...

got to love a +x block!

And what a riot of richness her final quilt will be...

I still have a fair pile of bee blocks to get through but I decided I needed a little sewing that may stay in our house for a while and dug out the FQR Kinky Bee blocks that I received during my stint as Bee Mama wa-a-a-y back in September of last year.  The request was for bento box blocks that would be used to make a quilt for the wee man.  I have fretted about these blocks since getting them back - how to get them all the right size before starting mainly. And they have been taken out, played with and put back so many times.

Anyhoo, this week, I dug them out and sewed them up, sorting out the sizing as I went.  In total it too an hour and a half to go from blocks to this...

#love - thank you my bee buddies

What the heck took me so long?!?!  I've made quilts for 5 of the wee man's friends but nothing so far for him.  It was so straightforward in the end.  The seams pretty much match up and everything!  It's around 48" by "58" and will be sandwiched this weekend. I'm going to back it with this (bought from fabricworm a long while ago:

photo courtesy of www.fabricworm.com

And I'm thinking concentric circles for the quilting - fmq or walking foot?  advice please! I want to get this done and done before Christmas.

Finally, to top off a pretty productive week so far, I made cakes for that toddler group - a banana and chocolate bread for the littlies and an iced gingerbread for the grownups...

 The gingerbread is absolutely delish.  I have no idea about the banana bread (plah!).  Both recipes were taken from my new favourite book...

http://bakingjames.co.uk/

It's ace!  I have many bread making books but this one has gotten me making really, really nice bread.  I can't recommend it enough!  The wee man adores the scotch pancakes recipe too.  #goodtimes

running to keep up

I'm not a natural runner - my chebs are too big for a start... there's a health and safety issue right there.  Anyway, I feel that I am having to run and run to keep up with my bee obligations.  Just as I clear one lot, a whole other bunch thud onto my to do list (or rather start shouting that they're late!). It's one reason why I opted out of the current round of Pillow Talk. 

But I have been tempted by another bee after an invite from the lovely Joan.  She was one of the first quilters I had contact with when, a few years back, we participated in a fabric swap organised by Sew Mama Sew.  He work is impeccable. I was stoked when I found out that she was part of the QATWII bee and even more pleased when she invited me to join the Friends with Additions bee she is mama of.  It's a kind of travelling quilts bee, which I think will be real fun as well as a challenge.

I chose Yoshiko Jinzenji as my inspiration and pulled together this inspiration mosaic

cool huh?

Then came the design and making of the starter block.  I used her cipher quilts as a kick off point and designed my own paper piece templates in EQ7, chose some bright fabric and came up with this...

 

pigpen cipher code....how knew?!

It says "enjoy the journey" - which is appropriate in many ways.  I'm stepping into new territory with this kind of design but what better way to start a new journey than with quilty friends.  It's also a call to arms for my bee buddies, who have already expressed a little trepidation with my inspiration mosaic.  Don't stress, just enjoy :). And, my quilt block is about to head off to Switzerland for the first stop of its global journey.  I am really looking forward to seeing it come home as a completed quilt top.

 

Another little make this week that kind of snuck its way in after I couldn't find anything nicer in the shops was this little peasant dress made as a 4th birthday gift for my niece, Grace May...

 

got to love the foxes

Thank goodness the wee man decided on a 3 hour nap that day!  I'm hoping she (and her lovely mum) will think that the upside down foxes on the back and one sleeve is an innovative design feature #oops.

 

Back to the bee block grind!