It was a beautiful sunny day today, I sat and stitched in the garden and finished the Clam Shell block for my green tea and sweet beans quilt. I had to give it a quick rinse with cold water to get rid of the pen marks (I use this Sewline Styla pen and really recommend it!) and then hung it to dry in the sunshine.


I traced the clam shell template on to the fabric using my lightbox and then used needle turn appliqué to stitch them in place.


I used some of my very favourite and special fabrics on a pretty background of Lilium, Gossamer by Sharon Holland. The repro and modern mix brings me joy.

This was my 'stumbling block', the one I was scared to try, but was really fine. I think no templates, no papers, no real guidelines was the frightening aspect but actually the outline of the clam shell shapes provide all the guidance needed. I would not necessarily recommend it as the first block you do if you are new to needle turn appliqué but if you can appliqué a circle you will have no trouble!

What is the block or pattern you are or were most scared to try? Let me know your stumbling block in a comment!

If you're on instagram show me a picture and tag it with #stumblingblockquilt, I would love to see what you made despite the fear :)


On to the winner of the Sew & Quilt paper pieces giveaway...


Congratulations Fiona! I have sent you an email :)


Finally if you are wanting to add to your stash or need some notions, there are some amazing discounts to be had...

Green Fairy Quilts currently have 40% off all their notions and 40-50% off Fat Eighth Bundles, with free US shipping and discounted international shipping it's a great time to stock up (no code necessary). With greats like the Sewline Glue pens and refills, wonderclips and rotary blade refills you definitely don't want to miss it!



Pink Castle Fabrics have 20% off all books and magazines with code BOOK20 and they also have crazy low prices in their sale section, with some fabrics at just $4 per yard! (oh yes I snagged some of those!)



Fat Quarter Shop are having a sale with 20% off Cotton & Steel fabrics with the code CS2015 until Sunday 4th October at 11:59pm CST. I find I'm using Cotton & Steel in almost all my projects, such gorgeous prints and colours!



Wishing you all a happy Friday!