HAPPY NEW YEAR

Live, Learn, Love 

I know it's already the 6th (eeeek how did that happen) but technically I can still say happy New Year as this is my first post of the year, hopefully the first of many now that I have a much better system in place for planning and sewing.

It started a few months ago with my usual daily Instagram stalk, come on you know you do it to, there are some absolutely amazing things on there so much inspiration which in turn leads to many, many amazing projects and purchases. One of my other small obsessions just happens to be planners!! Planners, stickers, washi tape, note cards, pens you get the idea, I  love how creative they can be and how there seems to be this massive whole other world all about planners and making them art. If you are going to stare at the thing for hours and plan your life, it might as well be pretty and full of stickers right?? Anyway back to the stalk, I came across lots of planners that were being used and immediately wanted them all, as with most of the lovely things I want they are either only available in the US or outrageously expensive to try and get here, so I had to decide on just one. 

Enter the Get To Work Book designed and created by the fabulous Elise Blaha Cripe and is not only a daily planner but has several sections that can be used for goal setting and project planning as well. Many of the pages are graph paper which is perfect for drawing out quilt block ideas and there are also some pages of thick card stock which makes practising one of my other obsessions much easier......

Sharpie pen, Tim Burtonesque illustrations. Although I have only been able to use my GTWB for nearly 2 weeks so far I absolutely love it, there is plenty of space to make the pages pretty yet still get everything down that I need to plan my day, my week, my life and everything in between.

Last year was a jam packed year, I didn't always find enough time to get as much sewing and quilting done as I would have liked but I did manage to achieve some lovely things that I am very proud of:

1. The ridiculous amount of squares needed to make this centre Star

2. Being brave with my fabric choices for my first Mini Swap

3. Remembering how to put in sleeves for the costumes this loon needed for her first role in Panto (super proud sister moment)

I became a we (whoop whoop) and we celebrated some new arrivals, special birthdays, first experiences together, made some new friends and have made some exciting new plans for the start of a new year together, oh and someone else went and got themselves engaged whoop whoop Kerry Q!!

Last year really was a jam packed year with so much going on, I've learnt a lot about myself as one usually does, but I have also learnt things about other people which was harder to get my head around because I can't really make sense of how they tick. I guess the saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" might just be true after all, although I am fairly certain that if I buy any more fabric I may be killed!! It's not my fault though, look at all these lovely things I have found that I absolutely need to try and make....... 

It's already shaping up to be a busy year and we are only the 6th day in, lets hope I can stick to my New Year resolutions of making more time to sew and planning my time better so I can fit it all in and complete more projects, otherwise there will be a multitude of UFO sightings in the South East!!

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

MINI QUILT SWAP

Getting Back Into The Swing

All the way back in July I signed up to be apart of the The Easy Swap UK, that Nina over on BossyOz was hosting. The rules were fairly simple make whichever of the following you feel most comfortable with: Mini Quilt - 300 to 500 square inches, any shape

Zippered Pouch - any design but one zip must be at least 12"long or Tote Bag - to fit at least an A4 note book and to have at least one pocket. We had to fill in a questionnaire about colours, fabrics and designs we liked or were inspired by and things we would like avoided and then given a partner to make for.

The details of my partner at this stage I can't reveal because although I have received my wonderful mini quilt, I'm not yet sure my partner has hers. However I can tell you the guidelines I was given to work from: colours aqua, teal, low volume and purple, quilt blocks traditional (in modern fabrics), modern and/or paper pieced (foundation paper), to make them happy, please avoid sludgy colours, browns etc, batiks, civil war repros. Again all things I love and could absolutely pull off, in the form of a mini quilt.

This was my fabric selection for the mini, mostly bold Kono Solids as they best lent themselves to the Don't Call Me Betsy design I had chosen to make and casually threw in some modern funky prints just to mix it up a bit. 

I have to say I didn't get off to a great start with this one, the first part which just so happens to be the middle section had me at a total loss when trying to get the last bit in!! 

I when slightly off track and had to make some small adjustments to the pattern, but when it was all put together thankfully it couldn't be seen and made no difference to the overall design. After that it was plain sailing all the way, I know I am totally biased because paper piecing is just my most favourite thing, but having now tested out several of Elizabeth's patterns I honestly can not recommend them enough. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow, overall the designs come together quickly, there is so much scope to experiment with fabrics and the results are breathtaking.

There were a lot of different little sections that needed to come together, so like with many blocks the most time consuming aspect was cutting up all the squares and triangles, thankfully though with paper piecing accuracy of cutting is not essential!! 

Originally the design had an orange and yellow star burst effect exploding from the middle, however as I was not using either of those colours I amended the fabric and colour placement to make it slightly more modern....well in my opinion anyway.

As a large block all the sections came together rather quickly and thankfully near enough all my points and seems matched up beautifully, if you're a regular reader you will know that I often struggle with matching up my points but that steady progress is being made. With the top all complete and measuring 24" squared, all that was left to do was back it, quilt it and bind it.

I absolutely loved making this mini quilt, the block has fast become one of my favourites and I will definitely be making it again, I have become a little bit obsessed (don't roll your eyes) with Medallion Quilts and this block might just become the centre of something I am planning. 

As I said at the start of this post my mini arrived today from the person who was given me and what a fabulous job she did!! My most favourite colours Mint, Coral and Grey in my most favourite designer fabrics Tula Pink. 

If you have been part of a this mini swap or another I would love to hear from you and see what you made and/or received.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

P.S In case you were curious everything is going wonderfully with my Special (squeal)

STITCHING UP A STORM

On A Rainy Wednesday

Firstly I really must apologise for being so quiet lately, I haven't been idol - in fact quite the opposite - however I have had some happy life changes so my attention hasn't totally been focused on quilting!! 

The epic African/Colonial adventure is still on going, getting bigger and bigger and at the moment is looking like this

As previously stated I have been quilting up a storm today - my first day off in ages where I could literally stay in my pjs and sew all day - and what better way to start than with a Blackford Beauty?? Well 4 of them actually, all 16inch squares as well!! I know, I know I said no more squares, but I seem to be plagued by them, they appear in every bloody block I want to use for this quilt. Although thankfully this time the smallest ones were 2 1/2"  

so completely manageable.

For this block a selection of prints and solids works well to highlight the overall design of the inner star and the internal square borders, 5 different colours/ fabrics in total. 56 2 1/2" squares and 8 2 1/2" by 6 1/2" rectangles are needed for each block, I made 4 of them so yes I did in fact cut out another 224 squares......

Most of the squares are stitched together to form a series of nine patches, with the centres being a four patch. I have to admit that it's true what they say, "practise does make perfect", most of my seems and points matched like a dream and as you all know I do struggle with accuracy and being neat!!

The remaining pieces are used to form flying geese style units (grrrrrrr) which are then stitched together to make these arrow head units, I was very impressed with the ease in which they came together - once I had stopped stitching them upside down that is!! It is actually a very simple block to follow, with clear instructions and almost blonde proof diagrams as well.

I had originally intended for the stars to be the lighter colour and the backgrounds darker, but changed my mind last minute mostly due to fabric quantities and the fact that a large portion of the quilt is already in shades of brown, cream and tan. I think the dark red has worked well, it certainly 'pops' more against the lighter background colour's.

The backing fabric is this crazy African print my Mom bought for me when she went on holiday earlier this year, it's really funky up close, lots of patterns in patterns. I went for a very simple quilting approach, stitching around the inner stars and arrow heads as well as a small section of the outer square design. Overall I am really happy with how it has turned out, and will definitely be making some of these blocks again.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx