Kevin Baby Quilt
Today is the second day of the Fat Quarter Baby Blog Tour! The new book Fat Quarter Baby is full of adorable and fun quilt patterns!
There are 20 quilts in the book, all with boys and girls names. This is 'Kevin' and it was a joy to make! I chose modern fabric prints in quite autumnal colours that I think suit the guitar pattern.
It's been a dull and blustery day so I had my son help me to get some pictures.
His arms were getting tired.
I will be hand quilting this one, it's calling out for some guitar strings! And I have the backing and binding fabric on hand for when I'm done.
Check out the other bloggers on the tour here to see all the fabulous quilts and get your copy of the Fat Quarter Baby Book!
method ~ le challenge ~ pencil case
Always last minute last night I created a present for my middle daughter to give as a birthday present to her friend.
I decided to use a simple method of appliqué. Quick and easy.
I used my favourite method of straight line quilting using my hera marker to mark some guidelines and the edge of the walking foot to fill in the lines - I have a tutorial for cross hatch quilting here.
I made a pencil case using the Noodlehead tutorial - I've used this many times but still need to check the position of the zip each time (especially when I'm sewing late at night!).
The edges don't look quite as wrinkly in real life and I like the effect of just quilting over the letters.
I'm hoping he will like the pencil case as I don't think there would be many things in the UK with his name printed on them. Zip cases are always a fun and useful make and this method of appliqué was super fast!
If you'd like to see more makes around the theme 'method' or to link up for a chance to win $25 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop and $10 to spend at Eco Fabric Store or Fibers To Fabric head over to Le Challenge!
today...
I am feeling like this!
So I will just point you to my current giveaway (ends 16th Nov.) and also let you know we have more to give away at Le Challenge, which you can read about if you click here.
I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep after a little last minute sewing!
Patterns to Print Giveaway!
**giveaway now closed**
Sometimes you just need a little project, a new top, a different bag... a quick pattern to stitch up as a present or a pattern to challenge your skills or try something new. Patterns to Print is a one-stop marketplace for instant PDF sewing patterns from fabulous designers including Blossom Heart Quilts, Clover and Violet, Emmaline Bags, Imagine Gnats, Mrs H, The Littlest Thistle and more!
"The Patterns to Print marketplace is a great resource when you need a new sewing pattern and you need it immediately! Without having to worry about checking multiple websites and performing several online searches, you can download your next sewing pattern for a knit top, clutch bag or paper pieced cushion in moments, all from one place.
Its founder, Samantha Hussey, is the brilliant handbag designer behind the Mrs H sewing patterns. She set it up in January 2015 to help other independent sewing pattern designers overcome issues with VAT imposed by the European parliament which threatened to put a lot of indie designers out of business. As a result, she has created a fabulous UK based resource working in partnership with other designers around the World, and it is still growing."
I had a good nosy around the site and found so many really gorgeous patterns! Here are some of my favourites:
A Whole Lotta Bag by The Littlest Thistle and The Hazel Pouch Trio by Clover and Violet
English Country Garden by PennyDog Patchwork (I hope to finish my version of this next year!),
Totoro by Blossom Heart Quilts and Celestial Star by From Blank Pages...
The Alder Skirt by Imagine Gnats
It's fabulous to have a UK based site like this, which will cleverly sort out the EU VAT on behalf of the Patterns to Print sellers. If you're interested in selling your patterns please contact Patterns to Print as they are continuing to expand.
The giveaway is open internationally and ends 16th November 2015 (at around 9pm GMT). The winner will chosen by random.org and contacted by email.
Please please leave your email address in the comment so I can contact you e.g. pdflove (at) patterns (dot) com - unless you are totally sure you are not a no reply blogger!!Good luck :)
The giveaway is now closed, the winner is
Congratulations I have sent you an email!
hexie stickers winners!
Thanks to everyone that entered the mini hexie stickers giveaway! The winners are:
75, 86, 53, 8 and 3
Congratulations! I am sending you all emails :)
Thank you to Cori for the fun giveaway, please do check out her shop The Reset Girl for loads of fun stickers and stationery goodies!
new specs ~ Firmoo discount
Having bought glasses from Firmoo before I happily agreed to review another pair. My last pair were the typical black framed geek glasses, I'm sticking with the theme but this time opted for a large ombré style.
I love the colours! They are neutral enough to go with everything but they are a bit different. The large lenses mean I hardly notice I'm wearing them and they are so lightweight, which is perfect because I wear them all day. Firmoo have loads of styles to choose from and they have a Daily New page where frames are updates everyday.
Firmoo have really great customer service and you get a case, cleaning cloth (literally the best one I've ever used!) and handy mini screwdriver keyring with your glasses. If you need some new glasses you can get a 15% discount on your first pair from Firmoo by clicking here.
And it wouldn't feel right not to show you the outtakes aka me looking totally gormless!
hexie label wonder clips ~ The Reset Girl Giveaway!
**Giveaway now closed**
I was cutting out lots of pieces for a quilt the other day and realised I needed to keep track of them, my usual way of doing this involves post its, scraps of paper and pins or separate zip lock bags. None of these are particularly efficient and, let's face it, not at all cute.
When I'm doing English Paper Piecing or hand sewing I always use Clover wonder clips to hold my pieces together and they work really well. Far less fiddly than pins and a better grip than post its! It makes sense to use them for my rotary cut pieces too. I considered writing on them with a Sharpie until I remembered that I did that on my ruler and rotary cutter and it wears off pretty fast.
I looked at that little space on the wonder clips and *lightbulb moment* thought about the adorable mini hexie stickers I got from The Reset Girl!
How perfect is that?!
There's loads of those little stickers on one sheet so I wrote out the alphabet and still have room left to write numbers and/or repeat the alphabet if I want to!
Now I can organise all my cut fabric pieces ready for sewing! I also know I can throw them in a pile and they will stay that way ;)
These clips will live in a special little bag inside the bag where I keep my unlabelled wonder clips (phew! I just might finally have an excuse to make a triple zip pouch!). When Clover finally come out with printed wonder clips I would like to have some credit please, although it will be hard to make them look this sweet ;)
Regardless of whether you use wonder clips or not, the mini hexie stickers are perfect for planners, calendars or to label other things.
I have blogged about The Reset Girl shop before, I love using the stickers in my planner, and as a stationery addict I like following Cori, AKA The Reset Girl, on instagram and watching the fun videos on her YouTube channel. This is not a sponsored post, I just happen to enjoy her work and products and want to share the good stuff... so much so that I arranged a giveaway.
As she is such a sweetheart Cori is kindly offering five of you the chance to win a Mini Sheet of Hexies!
*The giveaway is now closed*
The giveaway is open internationally and ends 9th November 2015 (at around 9pm GMT). The five winners will chosen by random.org and contacted by email.
Please please leave your email address in the comment so I can contact you e.g. stickersrule (at) hexiemail (dot) com - unless you are totally sure you are not a no reply blogger!!Good luck :)
Cozy Cottage Calendar Celebration
I am thrilled to be part of the Fat Quarter Shop Blog Tour to celebrate the Cozy Cottage 2016 Calendar. I love Lori Holt's sweet patterns and vintage style and the calendar has beautiful images that perfectly capture that cheery and homely feel. The calendar also contains the pattern to make two sizes of the Cozy Cottage block, as well as a mini quilt and a cushion.
After raiding my scrap bin, I decided to create a Cozy Cottage Café cushion!
I couldn't resist using that happy chef and a giant chocolate cake to entice people into the café! My kids love it and it makes me smile too. There are lots of possibilities for fussy cutting prints and really making the cottage your own.
The pattern is clearly written and it takes hardly any time to cut out all the required pieces for the cottage, it's also easy to play about and audition fabrics before you sew them together. I changed from a darker grey to the pale grey around the door. The colour choices are a bit unusual for me but I like that I made myself use up scraps and do something a bit different.
The café was taking shape but I felt like I want to add even more...
The border in the pattern is so fun and I picked some patterned and bright scraps to give it nice pops of colour. I used a piece of ribbon to create a 'sign' for the café and then hand quilted in the borders and around the window and door to add texture. I finished the cushion with a covered zip back and the lime stripe binding makes the perfect vivid frame for the cushion.
If you would like to make your own Cozy Cottage and be ready for next year with a charming calendar, the Cozy Cottage 2016 Calendar is available at Fat Quarter Shop.
This is another finish from my FAL list :)
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