Sewing Bee updates.

Well July is my month for Siblings together and it is fun waiting for the postman and opening packages to see what people have made. I decided to have people make a cute cherio block designed by one of my favourite quilter Camille Roskelly.
This is what I have so far. Don't they look great!





Now onto my blocks for Fat Stash Brit Bee and this month we had a choice of two blocks along the theme of cats. I opted for the granny block with some fussy cat cuts in the middle. Hope she likes them!

Finally I managed to get ahead as Sue has gone on a cruise she published her block for august for siblings together.
 I like this block, I think its turned out well.

Blog Hop

A while ago I joined a blog hop and finally it has come good and I am hopping around!

Firstly I apologise this is all new to me and I may get it all wrong but I will do my best.

Onto news.  Well I have been in the UK looking after my sisters cute miniature schnauzers.  They were an inspiration for one of my quilts and I am now making another for an online magazine - sooooo exciting.

The other thing I did whilst I was in the UK was shop for new fabric.

Well I must admit Eternal Maker in Chichester was a hit!  Had to go twice as it had all the new Cotton and Steel and all the possible fabric you could dream of.  Plus they are building a tea shop.  What fabric and cake YUM! The other shop was the quilting shop in Hampton court which was lovely.  Great helpful staff but why oh why was it soo hot in London 30 degrees and melting!

Then today was my birthday. Lots of lovely presents including the Phillipa Naylor book and some money toward one of her courses. 


Plus a lovely gift of some Cotton and Steel (I love it) and some really cute bits and pieces.  I am truly spoilt!

Extra Large

Well when I asked my sister in law if she would dog sit for us over the holidays I thought the best form of payments might be in quilt! So a few months later and it is finished.  I must say this is the largest quilt I have made so far and I am glad to see the back of bear's paw!











Thank you to Sue for quilting it for me now all I have to do is finish the binding!

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Well after making a couple of very large quilts ( which Sue now has the job of quilting!)
I decided to have a go at some smaller projects.  Up popped a free pattern on the Fat Quarter Shop with a tutorial on youtube and inspiration struck!  A Tooth Fairy Pillow.  You put the tooth in one of the sail pockets and the fairy puts the money in the other.




My first pillow was made with fabric I had in my stash.



However, after putting a picture on facebook one of my friends at work said she would like one for her little boy.  Well I just didn't have any suitable fabrics, sooo... yes an excuse for a little internet shopping and I found the perfect combination on Cotton Patch. Storybook by moda that will do I thought and the next day it arrived.
So version two was born.

Well I did buy some more pink in storybook so now we are onto number three!

July Cheerio Block for Siblings Together.

Well July is my month for the Siblings Together sewing Bee.  I have decided on a fun and easy block published by Camille Roskelley in the  Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine Issue 8.


So here are some quick and easy instructions for making the blocks.


You will need:
Four 5'' Squares
Four contrasting 23/4'' squares
Ten 23/4'' white squares
One 23/4'' x 71/4'' white strip

• Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner on 8 of the white squares.
• Place one the top left corner and bottom right corner of each of you 5'' squares.
• Stitch along each line
• Trim
• Press open

• Sew the remaining two 23/4'' white squares to the contrasting 23/4'' squares and press open
• Sew the last two contrasting 23/4'' squares to the white strip.





• Join the blocks in three rows

• Join the three rows together and press.
• And there you have it a  block.
• Unfinished size is 11 3/4 (finished 11 1/4)

Catching Up!

Well I seem to have been too busy to sew and today was the first chance I have had all week!
First on my list was the blocks for the Wishes Quilt Along.  Having still not done May and June was already out I had two to do. Luckily they were pretty easy and I soon had them finished.

Then it was onto my block for the threadbias Hive 8.  This month we were asked to make a purple and grey star.  We were given quite a few patterns to chose from.  I chose a paper pieced hexagon that I haven't tried before.  It looks a bit lopsided to me but when I measure it, it is even so not sure if it is right or wrong.  Oh well it looks quite nice.

Now to get on to finishing all those other projects I started!

Impro for June

Well today my fabric for the Fat Stash Brit Bee June block arrived.
We were told to improvise re Lu Summers.  Well this is not something I have really done before  so I had a look at her book on Amazon and had a go.
I don't think I went far enough but it is difficult when you are working with someone else's fabrics as if you really screw it up you've had it!

I think they are a little too ordered, however not bad for a first try!