Little bit of Liberty love

Finish number 2 from the Q1 list !! The competition for our Gartmore retreat was a mini quilt with red in it. Hmmmm I really really wanted to use up some Liberty from my visit to the Standfast barracks, I found s stunning red fabric there. I also wanted to try clamshells by hand, I have done them by machine before but wanted to try a little one by hand.  

I still had to hand quilt it, I have tendon issues in my right arm so this takes me a bit long as I have to ration my hand sewing time! But I get there.  Et voila

It didn't win at Gartmore but I love it and had a great time making it and that's the main thing isn't it!

FAL 2017 Q1 first finish!

First tick off the Q1 list I haz a finish!! Woo hoo!   

  

So what do you give as a wedding present when a paper conservator marries a rare book cataloguer? Well you think about a double wedding ring.

The arcs you do in Janet Clare wordsmith.

  

You put ardently Austen in the center of the arcs.

For the centers of the rings you use library from Paperie by Amy Sinibaldi

Tha backing is notebook, more texty fun. A little bit of Denyse Schmidt thrown into the mix and we have a table runner. They liked it!

Month in the country BOM

You know that thing when you are ridiculously proud of something and want to show it off?? Yep that!! I am so so in love with this block. I wanted to do Jo Averys block of the month, A month in the country, from today's quilter. I found the perfect fabric, it was quite sad, fair trade fabric was going out of business and had a sale. I bought loads of it, as it's perfect for this project!

The tree fabric I got in a scrap bundle, it was tricky using directional fabric for HSTs but I managed. 

I just adore this!

Here is my variation barn block.

The very first blocks were maple leaves, great for bursts of colour.

The flying geese were surprisingly challenging, but Jo likes to keep us on our toes! Certainly ups your skill level!

Talking of skill levels I should perhaps remember to read the instructions thoroughly!! Ahem ... The template for this should have been enlarged by 200% 😂😂 honestly if I had a brain I would be dangerous!!

I decided just to leave it, as a Jo says it's now part of the story! 

I'm loving this BOM , am now fully caught up, patiently waiting for next Installment.

FAL2017 Q1

So 2017! Let's go for it! No faffing about straight in with the first finish along list of the year.  I don't often put embroidery, cross stitch on but I really really love the Pretty little city designs from Satsuma Street, so let's get this Pretty Little Italy done, I have many many more to go!
This is a wedding gift , all it needs is bound, no excuse here!

 Clamshell Liberty, my hand sewing is slooooooooow, let's knock this one off eh?

I'm in a swap for these 4.5 inch economy blocks, I have a bazillion of them, need to make them into something!

 Eeeekkkkk! This should be top of list, baby quilt made with pattern from Pam and Nicky lintott. Baby due in April, plenty time ...

 

 

Right FAL2017, bring it on sunshine! *rolls up sleeves*

Stitch gathering house quilt! Another FAL Q4 finish!

We are storming through the FALQ4 list!! This one went on the FALQ4 list LQ4 list because I really wanted to get it done and sent off to Siblings together. I was delighted when Jo asked me to take away some of the fabulous ticket 'house' blocks made for this years Stitchgathering.   

There was a lot of green in the house blocks so I bought some plain green fabric for sashing. A nice sunny yellow for corner stones and off we go!

 

Right that it's done and dusted ready to send off to siblings together and ticked off the FALQ4 list!

Hexies, another FAL Q4 finish

This was an after thought to the FAL list for Q4 when I was tidying out the patchwork room I came across all these hexies flowers I made ages ago. I do love paper piecing but tendon and shoulder issues mean I can't really do too much hand stuff so I don't think I will be making any more of these.  

  Soooo let's use them up! Simple machine applique onto plain white fabric and we are good to go. 

I made the back from a Corie Dantini panel I won in a raffle plus some orphan blocks and pieces of frozen fabric I had left over.

This isn't big enough for a siblings together quilt but will make a lovely Linus one I think. 

Mini quilt for mini Bud

Another tick off the Q4 FAL list from here 

I bought this mini pattern when I was in Paducah two years ago, the stand was gorgeous lots of fun little retro quilts. I bought another one for a Scottie dog quilt to use up my 30s repro dog fabrics.

It need twelve little three inch square hand embroideries, for over a year now I have had two embroideries done and needed to get a wiggle on with the rest. Perfect for a FAL project!

I took it up when visiting my mam and got cracking, aided by a lovely cheering squad on Instagram.

 Pretty!

Here is the finished quilt, all ready to keep mini Bud nice and snug.

Mini Bud has quite a few quilts this is the Scottie dog one.

This one I made while I was sick, all hand sewn, couldn't do that now! This was when big Bud was still alive, wouldn't have been big enough for him!