2nd Blogaversary!

Yikes! I am 6 days late celebrating my 2nd Blogaversary, which was 29th April! Better late than never, I suppose, since I have been busy.

The baby quilt that I had started using hexagons got scrapped, I figured that it would take me years to piece. So I started over using the 9-Patch block made with the Noteworthy charm and min-charm packs I had. So far I have done 8 9-patch blocks (I have worked out that I need to do 81 blocks to make a quilt that is 54 by 54 inch square). I have fallen for Sweetwater’s Noteworthy line, especially the ‘bucket list’ print:

My AMH Innocent Crush quilt is coming along nicely. Nearly 3 rows completed.

There might be a giveaway coming soon to celebrate my 2 years of blogging… watch this space.

East Midlands Modern Quilt Guild

Yes! There is a new kid Guild on the block… Right here in the East Midlands.

Today (16th March) was the inaugural meeting of the EMMQG, which was organised by Moira. In all 10 of us met at The Poppy and Pint in West Bridgford: Di, Trudi, Angela, me, Wendy, Moira, Kerry, Renee, Mandy and Liz.

This meeting was to decide when, where, how & what. Moira was uber prepared and had come with copies of the agenda, and we sent about 2 1/2 chatting about we wanted out of the Guild and had a bit of a show-and-tell from Trudi, Mandy (with her Weekender Bag!) and Kerry (with her Fryed Pixels quilt!).

Our next meeting is on April 20th which will be a Weekender Bag workshop. Venue to be confirmed… watch this space (or my twitter feed) for further info.  Maybe I will sit in the corner working on my Parson Gray Curious Nature hexies quilt, which is inspired by this quilt by Elizabeth Hartson; my quilt is destined to go to a work colleague who had a baby 4 weeks ago.

WiP & Stash

The last few weeks I have been quiet… Working on a new WIP. You will have seen a picture of the beginnings of my new EPP project on an old post.

So I have decided to do an update on Oh My Stars!   The Innocent Crush doesn’t have a lot in terms of aqua colours, so I decided to mix in some of Anna Marie’s Field Study.

The background is Kona Bone, and out of a 2m length, I now have about a 1/4m length left. I suck at working out yardage for a quilt :-S

In stash news, I did a bit of shopping during February, both online and in a ‘bricks & mortar’ shop (The Fabric Guild in Leicester). In particular I added to my growing pile of Tula Pink fabrics. Online I got more of the Prince Charming rain drop and Taffy prints, along with a selection of The Birds and The Bees. Might order more of Saltwater to add.

I can see a project starting in the run-up to FQ Retreat 2013 with these fabrics… Watch this space.

Siblings Together

I had not heard of Siblings Together until Lynne posted about Siblings Togther back in March 2012.

Having been lucky to have both parents still alive (or just about, as my dad has on-going heart problems and now has a pacemaker!), me & my younger brother never went into foster care. I know that my parents had planned for all eventualities, and if they had died when me & my little brother were younger, my mum’s brother & his wife would have taken us in. As I said this didn’t happen to us.

However, it happens to children elsewhere in the UK, for many reasons. It can be hard on siblings, as more often than not they are placed in separate foster homes,  and the children lose the only family connection they have left.

Last year about 70 to 80 quilts were donated to Siblings Together by people here in the UK and overseas. The idea is that each child that goes on a ST camp is given a quilt which would remind them of happy times spent with their brother/sister, and have something they can call their own.

Last year I didn’t participate in the charity drive Lynne organised, but this year, due to having run out of space for my stash & having fabric I had brought but not used, I decided to donate 2 fat quarter bundles — mixed bag of chartuese, aqua & teal fabrics with co-ordinating solids, and Moroccan Mirage by Khristian A Howell for Anthology Fabrics. As soon as I posted the pics of the fq bundles in the flickr group pool, they were taken!  There are other ways you can help — may be you have the time to make a quilt top or the time to quilt a quilt, or can donate fabric/blocks/backings for a quilt.

First finish of 2013….

Diamonds in the Sky, or simply Diamonds as I call her, is now quilted and bound. She now awaits to have a label attached.
She isn’t the largest quilt I have made. She is 46 inches by 66 in, compared to Maple Leaf which is 70 in by 70 in.

Just after Christmas I added to my stash thanks to the sales section at Pink Castle Fabrics the following in 1/2 yard cuts:

Janean Morrison – In My Room, Retreat in green (also in tangerine)

Tula Pink – The Birds and the Bees, Lady Bugs in apple (also in storm*)

Tula Pink – Salt Water, Tortoise Shell in coral (also in aqua & seaweed)

V & Co – Simply Color, Sprigs in Lime Green & Aquatic Blue (also in Lime Green & Navy Blue and White & Eggplant*)
* Sold out!!

My favourites would be the Tula Pink fabrics. I have some of her Prince Charming collection, and maybe later this year I might add more of Salt Water and The Birds and the Bees to my TP collection.

And from Hawthorne Threads:

Fat quarter bundle of the complete Chicopee collection by Denyse Schmidt (blue/yellow – Morning colourway; orange/pink – Afternoon colourway).
To go into a quilt with my DS Hope Valley fat quarter collection.

All fabric pictures taken from Pink Castle Fabrics & Hawthorn Threads websites.

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

Another year gone, and it seems that I haven’t done much quilty wise.  I could use the age-old excuse of my M-F job being a royal pain in the @***, but that wouldn’t be the whole story. There have been times when I just didn’t have the enthusiasm to pick up a WiP or UFO.  To be totally honest, I have spent most of the Christmas holidays relaxing and de-stressing.

From January to April 2013, my job is going to be HELL given all the welfare reforms the current government has introduced (universal credit, council tax support allowance, etc) and the effects that these changes will have on the benefit claimants in Leicester.

I hope 2013 will be a more fruitful year for me quilty wise. I am nearly finished with the quilting on Diamonds in the Sky with the binding left to be done, and Oh My Stars is still a WiP.  With a semi-commissioned quilt to be made for a non-quilter friend in the USA.

I am going to the 2nd Fat Quarterly Retreat in London… got my ticket early as I didn’t want to miss out! I can’t wait to meet my fellow quilty peeps again, both old & new. Just a case of booking a hotel room asap.

What next?

While I wait to receive a mini quilt from someone else in the Brit Quilt Swap (and having posted off one to my secret partner today), I have started on a project which is kind of derived from  my mini.

Meet my new starry project. It already has a name …. Oh My Stars!

I am also waiting for an order from Spoonflower, which I plan to use in making up a small quilt based on a pattern I have drafted. Once that is done I can write and ‘publish’ the patten.