Starburst and Quilting gods

It's been quilted and bound for a while but has been used and put to one side but tonight I got busy and hid all those pesky threads and it's now officially *finished*
The giant starburst was a quilt along by canoeridgecreations although TBH there were only two posts and it sorta petered out I think. I didn't follow the cutting instructions either though lol.. I wanted to make it all with hst's and not the recommended flying geese.
It's made up with zig zag sketch in various different colours and kona white, bound with a funky red sketch and backed with my la redoute cotton bed sheet :)
There is a little story about the quilting, ho hum.... I'd finished the zig zag quilt and got this on the frame. Cleaned the machine and changed the needle. Wasn't quite sure which thread to use but thought playing it safe with a white YLI cotton thread would probably be best. I've used it quite happily before and had no problems but oh no, Machine was a pig and kept breaking thread, tension rubbish, so I rethreaded it, cleaned it again, changed needle AGAIN and decided to go with superior poly thread as it doesn't tend to break as much, same problems and lots of unpicking.
I was getting really frustrated and happened to think, bloody hell, is she having a fit because it's not Aurifil.  Jokingly really, I threaded her up with the Seashell Aurifil poly and guess what,

Perfect stitching, no breakages and no stress
lolololol,so yes She does prefer the A thread !!!

Half way through I was treated to lunch out at the restaurant and happily fed and watered I came back to finish the quilting.

I have to say, Trudi the master longarm quilter is indeed correct and although practice doesn't make perfect it's not half bad. I got into the loops and they are much more rounded and flowing
I was so excited, I got it off the frame and trimmed it, the sun was semi shining so I got it up on the wall to take photo's

DS didn't want to wait for it to be bound, he's been moaning he's had to wait so long for it to be finished.  I pulled some red sketch out and got busy, I think it needed a bit of *pop* I know it doesn't match the back but do I really care NO lol.

And finally 12 days later, I've managed to grab it off him and bury the threads, there are some dodgy paw prints and coke marks on it, he's had fun wrapped up watching the Olympics while playing on the DS but I'll wash it when it's properly grubby, it's now sitting on his bed, along with the spool cushion that he's taken a liking to.


Measuring 60x60" a bright happy quilt for my boy xx

Linking up to can I have a whoop whoop and TGIFF :O) it's also one of my QAL finishes :) whey hey hey

Have a fab weekend x

Rain Rain go away !!!!!

I don't know about all of you but I am totally fed up of the rain that seems to be a constant part of our life, we have a fab morning and then it rains or vice versa. Have to say though Monday was a wonderful day of blue sky, sunshine and 17C !!!! all to change rapidly on Tuesday and be cold, wet and windy.
Anyway, I digress as usual lol...

A while ago I was chatting on twitter and a friend and I decided mini's were the way to go, we wanted quick finishes, trying different things that were cute and we could use stash for.  Camille has lots of mini's like her spool and swoon which are super cute but I wanted a simpler start.  I was rereading her blog when I saw this fab freebie pattern and knew it was perfect to cheer me up.  I would never want to make it into a big quilt but for a little wall hanging it's fab.
I chose 9 fabrics that I'd bought from simply solids for the backgrounds and as it happens, they were the Timeless Treasures Rain.  I then used black sketch for the handles and my zigzag sketches for the brollies.  I do love sketch in any form.
Note to self, be careful with iron and fusing....


I stitched in the ditch around the backgrounds and then attempted buttonhole stitch around the umbrella's while watching the tv.  I used perle thread and probably should've used thinner embroidery thread but still.
To hang I've used the triangle technique of folding a square up and sewing it on with the binding and bound with some left over lime sketch I had from the vomit quilt.  I prefer a smaller binding on little things so chopped it down a bit. It finishes at 8" by 10" so super tiny :)
It's now happily hanging in my sewing room and looking at it makes me smile, so it's done it's job lol.....

Now if I get chance to tie some loose ends up tonight, I've got a Friday finish for you :)

First Fabric Postcard

I came up with an idea for patchwork club, we'd make some fabric postcards in March/April, first time round send them to family or friends and after that, if we got on OK I'd try and find some people willing to swop with us.

After some research on the net and via twitter, I decided to make a trial version.

I used selvedges that I had left over from cutting up 900 squares for a new quilt. If I said Scissors and That naughty girl Katy@Imagingermonkey you may get the idea why I was cutting out 900 squares.
Anyway I apologise for my feeble FMQ attempt, it was on the bernina which I never use for FMQ. Next time some nice quilt as you go or straight line quilting lol...


I'm sending it back to myself to see how the french post copes with it. So who's placing bets on how long it takes, I'm going to post it tomorrow 60kms away and it's got a 2nd class stamp on it. I'm going to try and find a postcard stamp to use and invest in some thinner better sharpies for writing. I love the background but think I need plain fabric such a shame though.
I think I can see alot more of these little postcards in my life, even if they are just to hang on my wall lol...

February Primary Bee

Hi,
I hope you like it. Mum and I chose the fabric together, we had to have hot pink, purple and blue. 



I liked making it and I made it on mum's sewing machine (the bernina) It's called a rail fence block and we used the sizzix to cut the strips.  This block was easier and quicker than the other ones we've made.
Mum says the next block is a Bento box so we might start it when we're on holiday next week.

I hope the girl gets this block soon and likes my block. :)

Triangles, triangles everywhere

Happy Valentines Day everyone !!! I'm scheduling this so am not sure what Dh has got up his sleeve to surprise me with but i'll let you know *wink*



I'm linking up with Can I get a Whoop Whoop Finish it up Friday and TGIFF

I've finished the Triangle quilt :O)
It started with 2 charm packs from my text swop and rainbow swop, I added some of my fabrics too and during the summer DD and I got busy with the sizzix isosceles  triangle die. 


oh to be in July with sun and fun I sewed and sewed and sewed and ended up with this fairly decent quilt, not all the points match up but alot of them do seem to :)



it's not huge at 44x60" but it's perfect for two people to sit on the settee and snuggle

It's sat in the UFO pile for ages but on Sunday the quilting and Aurifil gods were with me and within a few hours I had the quilt back off the frame.  It's quilted in my first attempt at hearts and loops with my go to Aurifil polyester for longarms in Seashell #5505 and bottomline in white for the bobbin.
Binding was the hardest part, I didn't want to square the edges off although I am NEVER EVER doing a triangular binding again.  Making it was easy and with the simplicity bias binding machine I soon had this yummy on the bias bias binding 

But omg, what a nightmare trying to get it to still look triangular and it took sooooooooooooooo much longer than usual straight sided, (even more so than the scallop binding's i've made in the past)


The rain stopped long enough yesterday for me to run out and take these piccies in the sun, the backing is a bit of leftover cotton sheet from one of last year's siblings together quilts.

Thirty minutes later it was given the seal of approval by two little monsters, the bro pushed his sister off it. It's also another finish from my Finish along list :) whey hey hey

Wish me luck and send good vibes to the quilting gods, tomorrow is Giant Star burst quilting day.

January's Primary Bee Block

Hello, It's Amelia here.
My January block was a log cabin using brown, red and green Christmas fabrics. Mummy and I chose the fabric.  I liked choosing it because I love Christmas. My bestest fabric is the Ho Ho Ho.
Mummy cut the fabric into strips.  I sewed one, then mummy trimmed it and I sewed another.  It was quite difficult to keep the lines straight. We managed half the block one Sunday and then finished it on Wednesday.  (I don't have school hehe)

It's going in the post tomorrow and I hope you like it.

January's Fresh Sewing Day

I have to say I'm really disappointed that for the first time in probably years, It's not actually worth me doing  mosaic of my finishes for January because there isn't enough of them....
My Mojo seems to have deserted me and I'm hoping will return in February although it seems unlikely atm.  I don't have a quilt in progress, I have one smaller EPP project and absolutely no incentive to start anything.  Luckily I have 2 virtual magazines, the scrap edition of Fat Quarterly and one *proper* mag to flick through today, see what inspires me.
I made a single bee block for a Euro Siblings Together quilt,

I love the look of #improv but just find it soooooooooo difficult to achieve lol...

And apart from the lap quilt for my mum and the cosy snuggly #economyblockalong quilt that's it for January

Perhaps it's the cross stitch craze that's taking over facebook and instagram that's been keeping me busy, Frosted Pumpkin have started their cute sampler, I loved last year's one but just had too much on my plate, but this year I decided to start and got busy hunting through old threads and bits. Once I'd gathered all the supplies. I just began realising Cross stitch had moved on a bit since I last did any (about 9 years ago) the basics are still the same lol, but the notions you can get...
hehe who knew I actually needed a needle minder (it's literally a button with a magnet and a magnet on the other side) I made my own because I wasn't really forking out stupid amount of euros on 2 magnets !!!!
ohhh and a thread storage card, am I the only person in the world who just uses a postcard and holepunches holes in it, why spend 10/20E on a piece of card/balsa wood in a shape of a cat... :)
I did treat myself to a new frame Q Clips, thinking It could always be used for any hand quilting as well.I changed some of the things on the pattern, like I added quilts onto the washing line instead of some clothes but apart from some colour changes that weren't showing up on white Sparkle Aida, the rest is the same.
Now onto February :)

Linking up to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day