CHARM ABOUT YOU

More work on my Farmer's Wife 1930's sew along blocks. These three blocks were all hand pieced. I decided to rotary cut the pieces and used Marti Michell's templates for the triangles, which made it so easy! As the pieces get smaller it really helps to not have dog ears and I found the points came together as well as when I was English Paper Piecing. I will be doing a tutorial for hand piecing soon.


#78 Old Maid
I love this block! It looks so fabulous on point. The letter from Miss Homemaker was a nice testament to the satisfaction of keeping house for your family (provided they are grateful!). I chose homely feeling fabrics for this block, gingham is perfect for a Farmer's Wife homemaker!



#94 Susannah
A great lesson in saving and business! Wouldn't it be great if you could buy a Ford for $15?! I decided to use colours to represent elements of the letter - the green for money, the brown for wood and the pink for the children's pigs! I hope my children will be as resourceful.

#49 Katherine
One of my middle names. The letter was a tale of hard work, struggle and also contentment. I tried to reflect this in my fabric picks; the black and white for the toils, the brown for the fields of the farm and the flowers for the "well earned" rest as her children grow and leave home.





Now for the thank you! I received a package the other day from the lovely Amy, I had put my name down to get a gift from her and then I would pay it forward. You have probably seen this idea around blog land and social media. The first three people that comment to say they would like a handmade gift from me will receive a package within the next few months BUT only if you agree to pay it forward in the same way.
**EDIT - Thank you! I now have three people but stay tuned because I will have more giveaways coming soon!

It's always hard to photograph Bee A Brit Stingy rows, they don't fit neatly in a picture and at 48" long I have to stand on my tiptoes to get it all in!

I'm really happy with how this turned out and I hope Collette likes it. Her sewing themed quilt is going to be gorgeous! The other bees have already made her rows with scissors, sewing machines, button jars and spools of thread.

I used instructions from the book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci to form the letters and improvised the background. The heart was made using this tutorial and I enjoyed making a rainbow of clips using the Clippity Clip Block pattern by Amanda.

These blocks were English Paper Pieced but I think they might be the last ones I do using this method. I am now hand piecing this weeks blocks and really enjoying it. It's easier and since that's how Laurie Hird, the author, constructed her quilt it makes sense to do the same. I may still EPP some blocks in the future but I now think the blocks lend themselves better to being hand pieced. If anyone is interested I could do a post to show you how I hand piece?

Most people in the sew-along seem to be paper piecing the blocks, I am not a huge fan of paper piecing but occasionally I do a bit...

Collette asked for sewing theme rows for Bee A Brit Stingy and the rows so far are gorgeous, it's going to be such a fun quilt! It took me a while to really decide what I wanted to do but I'm halfway done with the row and hope to finish it off this weekend. Here's a sneak at my favourite block so far:

I used the Clippity Clip Block pattern by Amanda - What The Bobbin? It's a really fun block to make and you can play about with fabric.

A little sponsor news:

There is a massive sale on Charm Packs at Green Fairy Quilts, most individual packs are $6.96 and there are crazy deals on packs of 10 or 20 too! Click to see all the Charm Packs!

You will always find stunning fabric and bundles at Pink Castle Fabrics, they have an amazing variety. The new Carolina Gingham by Robert Kaufman is the perfect stash addition and there are new Cotton & Steel stash boxes available, I adore the Limited Edition Au Naturale Stash Box!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

linking up:

It's that time of year where colds and flu abound. I seem to get a sore throat, which I usually try to soothe with hot water, honey and lemon. I came across this brilliant remedy recipe from Simple Green Smoothies and decided to give it a whirl.

So organic lemons, organic ginger and some honey my mum recently brought back from Greece (yes that's honeycomb) have been combined in a lovely jar and are currently in the fridge. I will let you know what the verdict is when I try it.

I also signed up for the free 30-day challenge so I've been getting green smoothie recipes emailed to me each week. I definitely feel a difference already. My hair is definitely shinier and a couple of people have said I look like I've lost weight (I haven't but that felt nice!).  I don't use them as a meal replacement, though I don't ever eat breakfast and have been having smoothies in the morning so it kind of is!  They really fill you up and I've been experimenting, adding chia seeds and coconut oil when I fancy them. 

Check out the Simple Green Smoothies website, there are loads of great recipes to try! It's not one of those 'don't eat food' kind of sites, it's really an honest and inspiring place to get healthy inspiration. They do have a recipe book available to buy but the website is still full of lots of information and free recipes.

Today I'm over at Sew Sweetness, reviewing the Market Bag pattern by Sharon Holland as part of Purse Palooza.

p.s.  I don't recommend putting this pretty bag on the handle of your bike... I can't even ride a bike... this is my husband's bike... I just thought the picture looked cool... safer to let your kid carry it.

Welcome to my stop on the Halloween Haunts 2015 Blog Hop organised by Marian at Seams To Be Sew and sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop.

Thanks for dropping by, I'm excited you're here because this may just be one of the coolest things I have ever made! There's a great video towards the end of this post so you can see the full effect of the lights and what a nice addition LED lights are!

It is simple to make and a fun way to decorate for Halloween, so I'm going to run through how to make your own flashing hoop...

·  black thread and white thread, use embroidery thread or perle thread

2. Draw a ghost shape onto felt or use the adorable ghost template from the Flying Felt Ghost Toy project by the talented Mollie at Wild Olive (please note the template is for personal use only), which I used here. Cut out the shape and draw on eyes and a mouth.

5. Undo the embroidery hoop, place the rubber band around the back part of the hoop so it's horizontal.

6. Put the fabric back in the hoop and make sure it's taut. Take some thread, tie a knot and do a running stitch around the fabric, pulling slightly as you go so it gathers and tie another knot when you reach the end. 

If you can please watch the video because it shows it to full effect (turn the volume off if you are at work though!) and if it won't play check out my instagram because I will post it there too (you don't need an instagram account to watch it). Warning, as the title suggests the video contains flashing images.

The cool thing is you can easily change this up, replace the embroidery with whatever theme / holiday you want and you can twinkle all year long.

There are so many works in progress around here it's kind of ridiculous. For the last quarter of the finish-along I'm abandoning all those things I would like finished at some point and knuckling down to get the things I need done done!

1. Tote bag. So despite my declaration above, this doesn't have a deadline but I want to make it for myself using these yummy fabrics:

When it came to sewing the circles though I kept messing up. Getting the fabric the wrong way round and then my circles not being circular! I decided not to worry too much though and just got it done. The diameter of the circles is 5cm, next time I will go a bit bigger.

At the final stage I thought you had to make them all into the shapes shown in the tutorial, when actually you make one and keep adding rows to make it a circle. Now I know. So instead of one ornament I will have two. I only managed to finish one in time for this post but that's fine! It still needs a press but you get the idea - though it's one of those things that looks so much better in real life. I used a bit of ribbon that also had some gold. The blue isn't really the best colour option but it still looks cute and I'm not matchy matchy with my tree decorations anyway!

I would love to try this again. There are so many fabrics that would suit this pretty bauble! I also want to get it right ;)

What a thought provoking and beautiful letter this was. I chose fabrics to represent the sunrise, the "soft crystals [that] fall from the heavens" and combined them with the black and white Cotton & Steel print, which I feel represents the universe. To me the block shows the sense of being part of something bigger and of how incredible life is. I am on a journey with my faith but I recognise "the everyday wonders". 

Left to right: Pets and Crafts in Pink by Kiyohara; Apples in Sky, Oh Clementine by Allison Harris and Non-Pareils Lawn in Warm, Cookie Book by Kimberly Kight.

I haven't used Lawn as a backing before but it's so silky and gorgeous I really want to! If you have let me know and is there anything I need to know before I do?!

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I have to say a huge thank you to everyone that has contributed to Nat's #therearenowordsquilt. It's been hard getting through the door as the blocks arrive and it is so generous and kind.

There is a donation page to help the family get a memorial bench so they have a place to go, sit and talk to the little one. If you are able to contribute please click this link: 

https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/littlebabybench

We are currently at 22% and, while I feel uncomfortable asking for money, I am reaching out for help. If you could please share the link above I would really appreciate it.

Thank you xx