oh look - she finished something!

It seems like forever since I actually showed you a finished quilt. Well, just like buses you wait all day for one and two come at once.

Both of these have been finished for a little while, I just haven't gotten any pictures before now. And excuse the crappy pictures - it's like winter here today. There's been hail and rain so far this morning, and it's so dark. I even had to turn the heat on to warm my little bones a bit. Crazy - it's almost the end of May!

First up is the Christmas scrappy trips. This one is for Justine, I have another Christmas scrappy trips on the go but it's taking me forever. Maybe I lost my scrappy trips mojo a little bit? It's ages 'til Christmas so I'm good - it can wait a while. I'd also like to think I'll quilt my Christmas one myself...but we'll see about that. I need to have a practise and get my quilting skillz a bit better.

Justine and me pooled all of our Christmassy fabrics and fabrics that followed the same colour scheme and cut more than enough for the 2 quilts. The plan was that we'd both make one, but because I'm an excellent friend (ha!) I decided I'd make them both and surprise her. I cut the strips for both using the Sizzix big shot - which was a really awesome timesaver. I did it sat on the floor when I watched TV, and was pretty quickly surrounded by strips (which the cats thought were for them to play with. Hmm.)

I backed it with a sketch flannel (you can get that from Brenda or Justine) and Sarah quilted it for me (and did an awesome job). Note on flannels - I would probably pre-wash them, I didn't and I'm kind of worried about the colour bleed now, because that flannel is really pink, but I'm just going to hand this over to Justine and tell her to wash it on a cool wash with a ton of colour catchers. Heck, I did the hard work - it's her responsibility now, right? (That's it Katy - don't take responsibility if the colour runs).

Next up is another scrappy trips, but in voiles. This one feels like butter and it's backed in shannon cuddle (like minky) so it's soft and fluffy on one side and smooth and silky on the other. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love it, and how much I want to back more quilts with cuddle cloth. Both kids have now requested their own snuggle quilts, so I should probably get on with that at some point soon.

Trudi quilted this one - her first time quilting cuddle and she said it was no problem at all. I was a little concerned the different textures from the voile and the soft minky like fluff would cause some tension issues with her quilting, but they didn't at all. It quilted up beautifully (we went for a safe stipple - just in case). I got my cuddle from Brenda. hahaha - that sounds funny. Fat Quarter Shop also have a few different ones (on sale)

So that's another couple of finishes for the year. Next start is the Impromptu quilt - which I'm really excited about. I cut my fabrics into 10" squares (becauseI'm using Liberty bloomsbury gardens) and I'm waiting for my solid to arrive. We start properly on June 1st - more details on this blogpost here.

Edited to add - I used sew simple cotton batting for the voile scrappy trip along. It's a lovely soft and light batting that is really reasonably priced and washes brilliantly. (I'm not sure what Sarah used on the Christmas one. It's a light, low loft or medium loft though - nice and thin and drapey)

need a smile?

You've probably already seen this from the team at Riley Blake. It was all over twitter at the weekend from Quilt Market, but it's worth another watch, especially if you need to put a little smile on your face (I love the huge grins on those kids faces).

midweek newsflash

A quick early what's new post for the chance to save big.....

Pink Castle Fabrics have a skinny bolt sale. If there's bolt in the store with 5 yards or less on it, you save 30% on what you buy off that bolt using the code SKINNY30

All the skinny bolts are here (and if another bolt hits 5 yards as the days go by then it too gets added to the section automaticaly. Cool, huh?)

Stock up on some great stuff like domestic cat linen blend

Or first of infinity (which is super cool)

Or any of the 300 plus fabrics in the skinny bolts section (including some already on sale - so that's a huge huge saving)

Sew fresh fabrics are also having a sale, in the etsy shop. Save now and save later.

All designer prints are marked down - most less than $8/yard and spend $35 or more get a free shipping code (for US customers) for the next time you visit Sew fresh fabrics web store. (International orders get 10% off a future purchase)

For Aussies, Ballarat patchwork is having a sale with 20% off all stock. So hurry along and don't miss out!

scrappy trips (a class)

If you're local to me (West Yorkshire) then you might like to know I'm teaching a class on scrappy trips at the Skep in Farsley, Leeds.



Bonnie ever so kindly agreed to me spreading the love of the 'trips and to share her method for making the blocks. It's a really fun technique, addictive and so simple. It's the only time you'll ever enjoy using a seam ripper!



The full day class runs on 2 different dates - June 9th and June 23rd (9.30-4pm) and costs £50 for the full day, including fabric to make your blocks.



I'll also be showing you how to speed things up when you cut your fabric by using the Sizzix big shot (but you don't need one for the class - your fabrics are all ready and cut and waiting for you). You need to have a basic idea on how to make a quilt - because we won't be finishing a quilt in a day, just making  blocks, but you don't need to be any kind of expert.



For more details or to book a place give Clare a call on 0113 2362570

bring me flowers, every month

I signed up for Jen Kingwell's latest block of the month, Bring Me Flowers and my parcel of fabrics and instructions for month one arrived a week or so ago. Jen is the owner of Amitie textiles in Melbourne, Australia and is one of my favourite quilt designers ever. I love her work, her sense of colour and the fact that her blocks of the month are hand pieced.

I really enjoy english paper piecing, but I've never hand pieced a quilt before so when I was cutting the templates for the first month's blocks I decided I wouldn't machine piece (which is what I'd intended originally), I'd hand piece. Which will mean I'll make some (many) mistakes, and I'll learn a lot along the way but when my quilt is finished I'll be especially proud of it. It helps that I have an expert hand piecer as a friend.  When it comes to doing things properly and as it should be I am positive I'll be completely wrong, but I'm marking my 1/4" seam allowances, I'm making small stitches, and I'm taking it all very slowly - so hopefully I'll be ok (although if you have any advice on hand piecing I'd really appreciate it!)

The first section of block 1 is done. It's far from perfect and I admit I almost gave up and went to sit at the sewing machine, but I battled on. There's going to be a lot of battles ahead...I can feel it. I've signed up for Sarah's class on craftsy because she has a great technique for needleturn applique, and I need that to sew the little circles onto the centre of my double pinwheels. And I'll need it elsewhere in the quilt, so best to be prepared, isn't it?

Don't get me wrong - I love a quick quilt that I can bang out in a weekend (impromptu quilt along anyone? St Louis 16 patch? Scrappy trip along?) but slowing things right down to snail pace is going to challenge me and a challenge is good.

what katy did (wrong)

Go and check out my Sizzix blog post today and check out the stupid mistake I made when sewing my latest grandmother's flower garden block.

Sewing when tired isn't the best idea, it seems.

pin it forward

I'm pretty sure most you have already heard of pinterest, and use it daily...am I right? Well, they've just launched Pinterest UK and as part of the launch have got a few of us blogging types to share the news and introduce a fellow UK blogger and pinner that you probably haven't heard of before.


So, I'd like you all to meet Michelle and Vicki from pocketful of dreams. They are event planners for weddings and parties and have a great eye for design with the emphasis on fun. No dull stuff here! Check out their pinterest board for DIY and crafts  - they have some really cool pins full of really handy ideas that I know I'll be pinning for future reference.

I love pinterest, I have to admit I wasn't sure about it when I first heard about it but as someone who has spent far too much of her life ripping out pictures from magazines and saving scraps of fabric, wallpaper and interesting bits I've seen and kept them in a drawer or stuck them on my noticeboard, once I started pinning I realised it was going to be a really cool way to keep a check on my habit. Every time I see something I love online I repin it so I can find that idea or project later on - it links back to the source I saw it so I'm never having to screen shot a quilt or pattern, print it out and scrawl the website addy on it (because I actually used to do that - bookmarking stuff started to get too confusing).

I'm sharing my board 'my stuffs' - it's where I pin all my projects to keep them in one place, you'll find all of my quilts, and the things I've made in one place.

go join and pin now! If you click on the widget below you can find out more about the pin it forward campaign and follow other great UK based pinners! Better grab a coffee first though - you'll be there for some time!