Friday 29 March 2013

Movin' to Bloglovin'


<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5416135/?claim=44utkq2ua94">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>



I'm sure by now you've all heard that Google Reader is retiring on the 1st July 2013.

My Blog is moving to Bloglovin', and this is my boring but necessary post to claim it.

I'm not sure why their logo remains as HTML but I've been assured it will work!

To follow my blog just click on the button in the right-hand margin - and thank you for your patience with my obvious learning curve with all things bloggy.

Happy Easter all 

Wednesday 27 March 2013

An entire blog-post about a colour? Let's see....

Last week a little piece of heaven (along with some other lovely pieces of colour and design) arrived in a small parcel from http://www.thevillagehaberdashery.co.uk/    The two Summersville FQ's in blue and green were an unexpected but very appreciated addition - thank you.    


In case anyone's wondering, I know I showcased the above green Lizzie House print in my quilt top in the Pantone Emerald Quilt Challenge 2013  - (which I thoroughly enjoyed -see previous blog post), but I found myself really really liking these particular greens - and I've had an idea for another quilt using these colours - so I'm currently stashing for that as it requires half yards as opposed the FQ's I had collected. 

Pearl Bracelet - just because!  I like Pearl Bracelet - it's got to be one of the most versatile fabric designs I've ever used - it just seems to work wherever it's placed, and more than that, it makes the fabric around it work harder too!   When I added this particular one to my budding Pearl Bracelet collection I found that..... it's already there!  Ssshhh!  One can never have too much of this particular good thing.

And now, on to the "little piece of heaven" that is............................



this!!!  

 Crosshatch in tangerine

 - and what a colour this is.  It sings.  It makes my heart sing AND it makes all the colours in the quilt I've just bound with it sing too!   (Quite noisy round here then).   Even Truffle likes it. 


And where's the quilt with this wonderful binding?  Almost complete - I just have to try my hand at needle turn applique (eek, my skill with a sewing needle is non-existent) to tie in all the colours.   And there's also a little fudge on the back which has turned into the best kind, looking as if it was meant to be.  

Watch this space!

  

Sunday 17 March 2013


Pantone Emerald Challenge 2013





Up until now I've posted no more than once a month - a few posts about some of my quilts and blankets - and shared within a small, cosy circle of family and friends.  

Until a few weeks ago - whilst indulging in one of my favourite pastimes, browsing all the yummy quilting blogs out there, I came across the  Pantone Emerald Quilt Challenge 2013, being hosted by Ali at a(squared)w .  I love the colour, I love the challenge - it presented a deadline which, true to form, I maximised to the hilt.  More importantly, it also challenged me to take the scary step of putting me and my quilts "out there".  So here I am, quilt top in hand.  Actually, it's my eldest son holding up the top.

I'd never sewn kaleidoscope blocks before and when my search for a template produced "foundation by the yard", I thought it seemed a great, time-saving idea.  Next time I'll paper piece, the layers of fabric all moved around a lot. 


 
Truffle helped with choosing colours, fabric placement etc.  I had such fun with my son's coloured pencils - and I spent hours colouring in! 




Slowly (it's always slowly with me - I ignore my own rules - don't sew after 10pm, you'll only have to unpick the next day - or I unpick the wrong block!) it's started to come together.  

And then, with hours to go, a quilt top.  (Photographs not so great, indoors, evening, phone camera).  




 I was going to use many more fabrics than this, but somehow they all ended up being Lizzy House (whose fabrics I adore).   The neutral is Kona white and the accent is a Lizzy House Jewel print - the detail not so easily visible in this pic. 

The quilt top measures 40.5 x 48.  



Thank you Ali for hosting this competition.   Now I'm off to learn Flickr!