A NEW ADVENTURE....

It's Been A While!

"Not all who wonder are lost", has always been one of my favorite quotes, sometimes life takes you to unexpected places and you have to just go with the flow, it's an adventure, be brave and take the leap! So I did, I took the leap I made some big changes to my life and had to focus my attentions on getting things done. I started studying full time again, whilst having a full time grown up job, running two households (with the help of my favorite), dealing with ups and downs, family dramas, new arrivals and some unexpected losses. 

You would think that with all this going on I didn't have time to buy fabric, sew, quilt or make pretty things? WRONG! You know me, I will always find away haha! I really had my confidence knocked and haven't felt in the right place to write about it, but I've not been idol and have got some great things to share with you!

Firstly Kerry Q did in fact say 'I DO!' and it was such a brilliant day.....

She looked absolutely beautiful, the weather was glorious and the Gin was flowing! What more can you ask for on a Friday in September?

My Favorite and I have had some grand adventures over the last year, in Ireland, Blackpool (never again!), Los Angeles, Vegas, Hastings and in a few more sleeps Boston! you'll be very pleased to hear that all of them have been littered with fabric and quilt shop stops!

There have also been a few new additions to the mix, as if I need any excuses to make more quits! Just look at those little faces, so so cute!

I'm feeling very lucky as I sit and write this from my new studio space, he did a fab job of putting up my shelves, it's a bit bigger than my previous one and in an entirely different county! The view is slightly different and there is a great deal to explore but it's been an epic adventure so far and there's plenty more to come!

It won't be so long until my next post, I promise, as I said I have been super busy making and creating so keep an eye out!

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

FESTIVAL FEVER

One Day Just Isn't Enough

This week, as I am sure many of you know, was The Festival of Quilts up (or down depending where you are coming from)in Birmingham, it is my quilting highlight of the year, the one I save all my pennies for, the one I get huge amounts of inspiration from, the one I get back ache and bruises from, and this year was no different. I always find it incredible to see the wide variety of people that come to this event, literally every age group, race, both men and women, it is amazing to me how so many different people from all walks of life can be drawn together by bits of colourful fabric stitched together in some truly breath taking patterns and designs.

We set off at 6:30am, had one petrol pit stop and arrived promptly at 9am, this allowed enough time to sit down, have a sausage sarnie and hot chocolate whilst planning our route of attack via the trusty show guide. First stop was Quiltmania, to purchase the rather lovely premiere issue of Simply Moderne. The first 100 customers bagged themselves a free gift, a rather lovely set of Aurofil threads put together by the super talented Victoria Findlay Wolfe, so obviously Kerry Q and I made a mad dash straight over there. An extra bonus is that inside is a detailed spread of where to go for your quilty needs when in New York....I'll be there in 10 weeks time, it's like they knew!! Our next stop is always the wonderfully colourful Alice Caroline, for all our Liberty needs, and yes we need them!! Her infamous £1 a piece scrap baskets are always full of treasures and this year was no different.

We then zig-zag around all our other favourite places - The Cotton Patch, Lady Sew and Sew, Kaleidoscope, picking up a huge variety of delicious fabrics and a few sought after books/patterns before moving on to ogling the hundreds of beautiful quilts on display. Every year I am amazed by the talented people there are in this world, and the breath taking things they can create from such little pieces of fabric, rows and rows of stitching and just pure imagination. I think it's best if I just let the pictures do the talking....

I came away feeling a few things on Thursday, firstly in awe of these master pieces and the people who created them, secondly a little bit intimidated by their talent but hopeful that maybe one day with a lot of practise I might be half as good and thirdly very inspired with lots and lots of ideas for projects I want to create and make. It really is such a fab day out, there is something for everyone and even non-quilters come away feeling like maybe they should learn to sew. There are many great places to go and try out beginners quilting classes or less specific general sewing classes, many of them can be done online via websites such as Craftsy, but there are also a huge amount of free video tutorials on websites such as Youtube. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't sew, it has opened up my life to a whole creative world that has saved me from some very dark times and helped me to make some wonderful life long friends.

If you have been to the show, I'd love to hear about what you found inspiring and see all the lovely things you bought...it will make me feel less bad about all my spends!!

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

EVERYTHING'S BETTER WITH SEQUINS

And Great Friends!!

When little children are excited about things coming up they count in 'sleeps', it's not a law written down anywhere it's simply accepted that if a count down of 'sleeps' is involved, it's serious!! Why I ask you is this only exclusive to little children?? I have been counting down from about 200 sleeps until Taylor Swift would be in Hyde Park and I would be there singing very loudly with my favourites!! And on Saturday 27th June there no more sleeps, the actual day had arrived, we were going to Shake It Off along with 65,000 other people living out one of my Wildest Dreams, singing a Love Story whilst watching Sparks Fly all the while hoping there wouldn't be Bad Blood. And it was absolutly amazing!! Taylor Swift might just be the most beautiful person I've ever seen in real life, she's so tall and has such a gorgeous figure and oh my those costumes!!! So many sequins in so many colours every Disney Princess would be jealous. 

The fun didn't stop there no Sir, it has been a few weeks of no stop partying for the crazy Smith girls! This Saturday saw us go back in time to the hay day of our parents (who are actually rather Young for my age) and head off to Club Tropicana, an 80s theme night club of sorts where 80s inspired fashion is the only acceptable form of attire permitted, sooooo.........

As you can see we were true to form and totally got involved, go hard or go home right??!! There was everything from Footloose and Fame to I Wanna Dance With Somebody and no party is complete without Ooops Upside Your Head......complete with dance moves of course!! 

I learnt a few things last week about someone who I thought I knew and who had at one time meant a great deal to me, turns out he was a total liar and he just made a mockery of my thoughts and feelings. I felt really sad to begin with, as anyone would when they confide in a person who just lets them down, but when I thought about it I think I feel more sad for him and the woman he is probably still lying to given he was with her the whole time. Thank God I had a lucky escape from yet another liar, someone else who just isn't worth my tears or my time!! It does mean however that I am still on the market for my knight in shining armour/ Prince Charming, so if anybody has David Beckham or Jamie Dornan on speed dial, hook a sister up!!! 

I haven't just been partying I have been working very hard on a few projects and have some exciting things in the pipe line.......honest!!

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx 

TWO CHEEKY MONKEYS SNUGGLING ON THE BED...

And A Whole Lot Of Shopping!!

So the quilts made it safely across the oceans and found their way to these two cheeky monkeys

And as you can see they loved them!! Look at those smiles and those chubby cheeks, just to beautiful but then I am a very biased Aunty. Something else I am very biased about is how breathing taking The North is, if you have never ventured up there I can't tell you enough how much you should, just don't tell my Granny she won't be pleased if I start sending hoards up there!!

Half of my family is from Yorkshire, it is a fair distance - 263 miles if you want to be picky about it - from where we live down south, so for one week of the summer my Granny (who is rather young to have that title) and I head up to make the rounds visiting friends, friends and quaint little villages that time has forgotten, eating far to many pub lunches and baked goods and of course stopping off at as many quilt shops/ fabric shops that can be found!!   

This is Whitby Abbey, one of my most favourite places on earth, it is set high on top of the cliff face where only the brave can reach it, not because of the cliffs or the heights oh no, but because of the 199 stairs one has to climb to get there!! That is a lot of stairs, I know it looks like a lot of stairs and even saying 199 stairs you know it is a lot of stairs but you don't really, until you have climbed those stairs and then have to turn around and walk back down those stairs...then you will know!!

It was a busy start to the week with lots and lots of walking around all these beautiful places and the end of the week was just as busy with possibly even more walking around at Sandown for The Quilt Champs!! Did you go? Wasn't it wonderful?? I thought so, my bank account didn't however!! 

These are just a small number of things that caught my eye, mostly the really beautiful quilting, a lot of which is free motion and something I really wish I could master!! I'd love to see what caught your eye if you were there?! And if you have any gorgeous projects you are working on I'd love to see them to, not that I need any encouragement to start yet another new project!! Kerry Q already despairs of me, she might just disown me if I start something else!!

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

NEW YORK BEAUTIES

Triangles, Points and Piecing

It's no secret I spend hours and hours of my life on Pinterest, I mean who needs to iron and dust? Honestly?! It was on one of these 'research' afternoons that I stumbled across a picture of an amazing quilt, it really was just so beautiful I had to investigate further!! Enter Karen K. Stone!! 

The image I found was in fact the cover of Karen's wonderful book Karen K. Stone Quilts, which can be found at many great book stores and quilting suppliers, so can her program for EQ7 as it happens!! The title of the quilt is Cinco de Mayo and I am sure you will agree its just beautiful!!

So with no further ado I decided to drive myself even more crazy with these tiny little pieces of fabric and fiddly little paper sections and embark on a New York Beautie of my own!!! I still have a veeeeeeeery loooooong way to go and so far the design I have chosen is quite simple BUT I am really happy with it so far!

I have a real thing for batiks, so I decided to indulge myself here a little and only use them for this quilt.

The next step is of course to cut out all the tiny pieces of fabric, as this is a foundation pieced quilt they don't have to be very accurate and they can mostly be cut from scraps which is fab because not much fabric is needed. Each section is sewn separately and then sewn together in sections, making a stack of squares!!

The individual squares can then be placed in a multitude of ways to create really eye catching designs, I have been playing around with a few but haven't settled on anything just yet, I am still toying with the idea of adding in some other colors.....

It was very daunting making a start on this quilt but I have to say once I got going I found it really difficult to stop!! I am thoroughly enjoying it and now that I feel more confident I am looking forward to branching out a little and trying some more adventurous sections and borders.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx