Friday 25 October 2013

Oh Deer!

I went through my fabric stash the other night there and don't you just love it when you find fabric you forgot you had!  It's like finding a tenner in a coat you've not worn for a while... but better if I'm honest!

I found this gorgeous momo 'oh deer!' charm pack that I had and some plain moda fabrics.... so I thought I'd do something quick n easy.  So I picked out the pink/blue/purple tones (i've saved the oranges/greens/yellows for another project) and laid them all out until I found a pattern I liked.


Then I sewed them up into a 4 patch square


Using a 1/4 inch seam of course!


So my idea was to have two patterned against 2 plain....

Then I had a jelly roll left over from my last quilt top...so figured I could do a quick and easy lattice border!

I just love the deer print!  So into stags right now.  So once I'd sewn all the above pieces together in rows... it's a good idea to square your squares up before sewing them together!
The next step is to join your vertical rows together and to do this you need to make sure you line up your squares.... I mark the edges of the lattice then pin, pin, pin so that it stays in place through the machine.



Then voila!  A quick n easy quilt project!


What do you think?

I wanted to then turn it into a lap quilt... so I ordered another oh deer pack... as I didn't have enough of these tones left in the charm pack.  I'm hoping to finish it off tomorrow and have a quilting Saturday.

I have the quilt for my Mam to finish for Christmas... the christmas table runners and also another top secret project I'm working on!  My wadding arrived tonight.  I'd like to get these done this year so I can actually wrap them and have them under the tree!!



Monday 14 October 2013

Foodie Stuff

we've been busy in the kitchen of late too.

I made my strawberry and cream cake for the mcmillan coffee morning.  I just love this.  A simple vanilla cake with fresh strawberries and cream. What could be better?




I made fish and chips for tea on Friday night!  So yummy.  Fresh cod, with some flour, spiced up with fresh chilli.... shallow fried, served up with home made oven chips!  mmmmm.  Heaven.  Probably one of my favourite dinners.

We made homemade pizzas for tea on Saturday night.  Here's the boyfriend with his man size pizza!


I love just simple mozzarella, tomato and basil on mine.



And for pure indugence... some chocolate brownies with salted caramel sauce!  yum yum yum!!!



Walks

We have been some pretty super walks over the last few weeks.

I just love the autumn sunshine.  The colours, the sun.  I really do love this time of year.


























We went for a walk in the woods on Sunday.  Check out these mushrooms.  They were in a bed of clovers - we looked for a 4 leafer but didn't find one.  When I see sites like this I'm convinced fairies live on the forrest bed.




And when I see things like THIS.... I know they do!  Look at this - it's like it came right out of a fairy book


























There's still some berries on the branch to be picked!




And to finish off here's an absolute stunner of the dog at Loch Lomond!  This needs to go in a frame!



What's on the Sewing Machine

The sewing machine has been busy recently. 

I've finished the top for the pinwheel quilt I was making.  I was pretty unhappy with it halfway through, but then it came together OK in the end and I'm pretty happy with the way it's turned out.  I figure I'm going to give it to my Mam for Christmas.  I have to quilt it yet but the top's done and that always feels like an achievement.

I've also been finishing off some christmas pinwheel table runners that I started last year!  I'm pretty happy with how these turned out too.  Festive, no?  Again, still to quilt them.



This Santa fabric is super cute!  I think I'd like some cuter designs, but I had the fabric lying around so I figured I'd go use it.



So now I have a bunch of other pretty fabric, mostly charm squares or fat quarters so I need to decide what to make next.  There's one in the layer cake, jelly roll and charm quilts book that I like but I need a triangle ruler - just waiting for it to arrive!

Course Update


It's been a really busy few weeks in my life so sorry for the lack of posting.
I started the patisserie course and it's going really well and is really fun!  So far we made marmalade pudding..  I am not really a fan of steamed puddings but this one was pretty de-lish!

Then we had a go at the eclairs.  These are pictured without the chocolate and the cream!  They vanished so quick after I made them I didn't have a chance to take proper pictures.  They were the yummiest thing we've made so far.



We also made a savoury tart.  Mine didn't turn out so well.  I don't really like creamy savoury things so this was a bit rich for me.  I'd make some adjustments next time.



The following week we made a marbled chocolate tart.  Again, I wasn't super impressed with mine.  I used tesco finest chocolate and I'd probably upgrade to green & blacks or similar the next time.
The sweet pastry was really yummy tho!



And it certainly went down well with a cup of tea and some cream for dinner the following night...

Tuesday 27 August 2013

Pinwheels

After finishing my log cabin quilt I wanted to do another quick(er) project.  I had a couple of charm packs I'd bought ages ago and not done anything with.  I thought I'd try and make a lap quilt for my Mother for Christmas.  So last night I got out the packs.
I've used here a block colour charm pack and a pattern one.  I've picked out the blue and pink ones and as I didn't have enough of both of those to make the size I want, I've put purple in to beef it up.
Here's Pippa choosing her favourite charms!  She is always curled at my feet when I'm quilting!  She's the perfect quilting company.

So I've laid out the colours that I like together.  I want one block colour and one patterned piece per pinwheel.




I saw a tip for doing pin wheels on Missouri Star Quilt tutorials  (which is a great source for quilting tips) so I've followed that.

You basically put your charms together, right side and then sew the whole way around the outside.






Then you want to cut them on the diagonal twice.




Here's all of mine cut up!


Next you fold these out.  I folded mine out to the colour block.  You want them all to go in the same direction so the pinwheels sit well together






I have about 18 pinwheels on my quilt top so it's a good idea to get yourself a system!  I sew all mine, cut them all together and then iron them all out.

Halfway through!  Man it's a lot of cutting and ironing!



You want them all ironed out and then you have to piece them together.  Be really careful here as it's so easy to sew them the wrong way!

Once you've sewn all the pieces together you should end up with something that looks like this!
And when they're all done - something that looks like this!!

I reckon all of that hard work deserves a cup of tea!


I shall finish these tonight and then start piecing together!  I'm not sure if I might put a lattice border through them beforehand! hmmmmmm......



Pinwheels are so fun tho and this method is so quick!  I just love to see the quilt top come up fast like this.


Sunday 25 August 2013

Log Cabin Quilt

Don't you just love those weekends when you have nothing to do!?  Well, for me they just don't come around often enough.  Between work, social commitments, family and of course the dog, I really have to work hard to squeeze in the things I love!  Like my hobbies.

I bought the fabric for this quilt when I went to Seattle Christmas 2012....I discovered JoAnn fabric store and fell in LOVE!  Why do we not have stores like this in the UK?  Hobby craft just pales into comparison.  And while we're at it - why is fabric just SO much more expensive in the UK and we barely get the range.  My local store is over priced and understocked!  No pretty patterns.

Anyway I think I spent like an afternoon in the store and packed a whole extra case to take home and even with the cost of the excess baggage I still saved probably £250/300 on what it would have cost me at home.  I bought some haberdashery products, more fabric than is in this quilt and honestly it was one of the highlights of the holiday for me!  I can't wait to go back to the states so I can go again.  I wish they'd start international shipping!


My first quilt was a double and it just doesn't quite hang properly on a king size bed.  I didn't know how hard this was going to be to do on my domestic sewing machine.  The top came together really quickly and log cabin pattern is so forgiving but when it came to the piecing - oh my lord - it hurt!  My arms are killing me!

So it became a version famous UFP in my house!  Not only was it tough to move but because it's light and dark I found it very difficult to get a suitable thread and ended up working with invisible thread which is really difficult!  Does anybody have any better suggestions on how to do this?  I love the contrast of light and dark fabric??


Yesterday I woke up and decided it was going to get done!  It took me from 1130am until 1am in the morning but I did it!  I'm so proud of it.  



And it's super cosy and now I intend to make some pillows from the scraps to go with it!


My next quilt project is going to be to finish off the Christmas table runners I started last year and then a lap quilt!