56 charm squares of Japanese fabric, all different…
The one sitting on top at the top left of the photo is the fabric I bought- I made sure I got an extra FQ just in case I cut it wonky. Thankfully I didn’t!
This was the result of the Japanese charm swap that Sarah hosted. I just have no idea what to make with them- any ideas?
I’ve got a new design in my Spoonflower fabric shop…
It’s available in two colourways as above, and I have a single FQ available in my patterns/supplies Etsy shop for $6- click here.
I’ve also already whipped up a simple Kindle pouch using it.
I have a little stash of precuts that I’ve resisted cutting into recently, I have other projects to finish first as you all well know.
I even had a dream earlier in the week that I was at the Fat Quarterly Retreat and we were using precuts, but someone used my Birds and Berries layer cake thinking it was a provided one and I was upset! Sad but true. But it is pretty. Oops I opened it. I don’t think there’s a print I don’t love in the range…
And look at the little birdies!
Hey Denyse Schmidt fans- check out this cake!
This cake is by Baker Days, they offered me a free letterbox cake in order for a review. Not one to turn down cake(!), I said yes!
At Baker Days you can personalise designs for all occasions and upload your own photos which are then printed on a cake of your choice. I thought a fabric cake would be a lovely gift for a fellow sewer, a close-up of a quilt block would look stunning too! I chose to photograph some of my Flea Market Fancy fabric- the colours are reasonably accurate, the orange looks a bit dirty on these photos- it’s actually much better in real life.
The letterbox cake starts at £14.99 for a madeira sponge which seems like quite a lot for such a small cake (it’s about the size of a side plate and shallow so that it fits through the letter box as the name would suggest). However this does include first class UK delivery (which was pretty speedy- I sent off my photo and the cake arrived 2 working days later), careful packaging, a lovely tin, a notecard with your chosen gift message and even some balloons and streamers! If you pay a bit extra, other cake flavours are available including chocolate chip.
I must admit, it was pretty tasty- the sponge is, well, spongy, and the jam and slight butter cream used to attach the icing to the top is nice too. And because it’s not a massive cake you don’t feel guilty about eating half in one sitting….
For more information, go to www.bakerdays.com
Yep another gloaty post, sorry about that! Actually no, I’m not even sorry! I’ve had fantastic luck with blog giveaways recently, this stack is the result of a $35 voucher for Fashionable Fabrics that I won on The Crafty Mummy earlier in the month for having the most inspiring blog post about something I have made!…
And I’ve got my Aurufil thread winnings from Maureen Cracknell Handmade to come yet too!
Just a quick post today to let you know about the Scrap Vomit swap just in case you want to sign up. If you’ve seen Katy’s scrap vomit quilt then you will know that the main block is made up from a grid of 7×7 2.5″ squares (2″ finished size). Angie at Gnome Angel has organised a Swapbot swap for 49 squares- i.e. a block’s worth- that’s open internationally, but she does have an Australia only one too. The last day for sign ups is in 9 days time, 22nd September.
I’ve joined the international one as I’m a Swapbot user anyway and it means that come payday the one treat I will allow myself this month (Austerity measures!) is the 2.5″ quilting die from Sizzix for my Big Shot that I’ve had for a couple of years now. It will be my first quilting die as opposed to the standard paper/felt cutting ones so I’m looking forward to giving it a go and taming the scrap drawer! I think I’m going to make mine a postage stamp quilt with blocks alternated with solids though. Looking forward to a bit of simple piecing!
I was going to post about my curtain- yes singular- this weekend but they were a bit of a shouty disaster so I shall leave that for a time when I have fixed the problem and can think about it without feeling disappointed with myself.
So on a positive note, there are new fabrics in my Spoonflower shop- Barn Owls, Narwhal and a scribbly flowery thing. Here’s what they look like on Kona cotton.
Go get some if you like 😉
And here is a picture of my idiot dog.
This is the boring curtains pattern I mentioned. I need 4 strips of 5 blocks for each curtain (helped with a chunk of fabric at the top and bottom- they are for patio doors), which means at 3 columns done I’m quite a long way of finishing and I HATE this pattern! I wish I hadn’t started it, it’s SO boring and I’ve only done 8 of the boring blocks!
Don’t get me wrong I LOVE the fabrics, Salt Air may be my favourite fabric range ever ever ever, but the slashed grid blocks are just taking SO long for a not very inspiring and creative end product.
So should I persevere and get them curtains done or should I make simple, one fabric NORMAL curtains, finish half of my intended work and make a simple lap quilt, adding the rest of the layer cake to my stash (even though I’ve slashed half of the blocks)? What do you think? Is there another solution staring me in the face? Maybe I’m just not a fan of “modern” patchwork!
I’ve seen other people blogging about this so I think it must be safe to do so now!
I was sent a bundle of lovely brand new Katherine’s Wheel by Nel Whatmore from Fat Quarterly to make a block with. Here’s my stack…
Most people have then sewn this block into something. I must confess I haven’t… I decided to plan mine on Electric Quilt. EQ7 has a new “swath” tool which puts curves and curls of flying geese on your quilt block design. I had a few problems with printing this because I wanted to create a design where these were appliqued on. This is what I came up with…
Do you think it looks like fireworks in the sky- cos that’s what I was going for! Anyway I had to unpick from the black base fabric because when zigzag stitching the applique on, it puckered really really badly. I spent about an hour unpicking it all and then fused some interfacing on the back to stop that. Much better that time! I must confess though with all of the layers of fabric involved in the geese it was really hard to turn the fabric under before appliqueing and I really really wanted turned under applique. So I cheated and coloured in the edges where it wasn’t perfect with a black Sharpie. Result!
Here are the out takes….
Me trying to get the edges to turn under and almost succeeding! The chalk marks are there to help me place them symmetrically.
And the horrendously wrinkly first version!
Since it’s Wednesday, I decided to show you one of my new WIPs, based on Giant George…
It’s now all glued together and I need to sew it next and then quilt it! It’s only taken a couple of days to turn the edges under and glue. The background is Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry and I think it looks great. I should probably get back to making my curtains soon now that’s sort of out of my system.
And this stack came through the post yesterday, just after I wrote I’m expecting my last few fabric packages before Christmas and not ordering anything else. I was lucky enough to win a $50 gift voucher for Abbi Mays from the Pets on Quilts competition on Lilypad Quilting and this is what I bought! 6x 1m cuts of Keiki Oops a Daisy from Moda. I only ordered Friday 17th from the US and they arrived in the UK on Tuesday 21st! AMAZING!
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PennyDog Patchwork (and illustration, recipes, other crafts...) 