A new beginner

This week-end was all about having a great time with very good friends who came over to stay with us. 6 adults and 7 kids under 8 but it was great fun. We had a very relaxing time and it almost felt like a holiday despite the cooking and that. Not much sewing done but that's fine! And yesterday afternoon while I was clearing up, Miss Strawberry Shortcake decided to have a go at sewing with fabric! She had done a grid on paper but hadn't tried "real sewing" yet. She got hold of my scrap baskets and picked some pieces with the idea of making a small bag.
She is a bag lady actually even though she is only 4!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - beginnings

It is that time again when the lovely Amy from Amy's Creative Side is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Although this is the 9th festival, it will be my 6th time! I really like the virtual festival, even more at the moment when everyone seems to be having a fantastic time at Quilt Market in Portland and I am here in the cold and grey weather of the UK! Blog hopping to marvel at wonderful quilts should cheer me up!

It is always packed with gorgeous quilts and wonderful story. And although I am not making award winning quilts, I like participating and showing the world my own creations! It is a great way to reach out to people you would have never met otherwise and to discover some wonderful blogs that you didn't know were at the reach of your computer!

WIP

I have finished some bee blocks this past week, but I still have more to do. I am working on my Simply Solids blocks for Kerri and I am nearly there! Here are my 2 in-progress blocks:

But I have also made some progress on something for me, or rather for Miss Strawberry Shortcake. I have put together all the blocks I had (made by my fellow bees in February for Bee Europa) using the layout she decided on and got this 5 x 5 flimsy.

Now it fits her toddler bed at the moment but she will most probably move out of the toddler bed for a bigger bed in a year or so. The fabric and pattern are not baby-ish so I figure she could still use her quilt so I have decided to make it bigger with one additional row. So I am making more blocks to be able to complete her quilt soon-ish.

It has been so long since I have put together something bigger than a purse or a bag, it feels so great. I can't wait to get going with this one and I know she can't wait either!
Linking with Lee for WIP Wednesday.
Celine

More Bee Blocks

This past week-end was a lot busier than I planned and I hardly had any time to sew. On Saturday, I spent a few hours moving about 950kg of turf from our front drive to our back garden and laying it just in time to avoid the very heavy showers we had for most of the afternoon. Hubby was planning to do it in the afternoon after Mr Cars football tournament but the weather forecast was so bad that I thought I'd be better taking advantage of the dry morning. I was really tired after that and didn't have much energy but I managed to hem one more curtain while having a rest. 
On Sunday we went on a shopping trip to IKEA and we came back with lots of flat packs to finish organising the house. Lots of DIY on the agenda. We spent most of the afternoon in IKEA and again that left little to no time for some sewing unfortunately. The weather has been so horrible lately cold and wet that it is actually perfect time to quilt but I can't seem to find much time for it unfortunately.

Anyway I did manage to finish a few more bee blocks than the ones I showed you last week. I finished my Bee White Black block with a lovely bright red strip to make it pop and it is on its way back home now.

Bee silly!

I told you yesterday that I had a few Bee blocks in progress, well I managed to finish one last night. But this one has a story, hence my title of Bee Silly! I received the package from Cecilie in April to make her lovely block for Bee Europa. Cecilie had picked a gorgeous Garden Lattice block from the 99 Modern Blocks book.

Unfortunately for some reasons, I did everything wrong with her lovely fabric right from the cutting step. Cecilie had sent us 4 squares of solid fabric and 2 rectangle of Lark fabric. The first step was to cut some 1' strips from the Lark fabric, well I nearly sliced the solid fabric but thankfully stopped my rotary cutter, just in time! Next step was to cut off a triangle in each corner of the square and then to divide the square in 4.

Well that's where my problems started. I mis-read the instructions and cut along the diagonals rather than the centre. Anyway I carried on with the sewing and inserted the Lark strips, until I got to the last step where you are supposed to reattach the triangles separated by another Lark strip. Well then I realised by mistake... but far too late. Can you see?

Of course I was mortified to have messed up so badly with the fabric I was sent to make the blocks so I asked Cecilie what was the solid fabric and ordered some more to be able to make her blocks. Well I ordered Kona Dresden but it wasn't the same as the fabric I had been sent so there was no way I could use it for Cecilie's blocks.

She graciously sent me another 2 squares to enable me to make her the blocks, which I have finally finished last night. I am feeling so bad that I have been unable to make her the blocks she was expected. This is the first time I have such a mishap when making bee blocks and I can tell you it isn't a nice feeling at all...

Yesterday I also worked on my Bee White Black block. I finished all 4 strings squares that I now need to assemble to make my block.

And finally I cut my second stack of Texty Charms.

Charms are now all ready to be sent out for swapping

Linking with Jen's for Building Blocks Tuesday.

WIP

So I did some sewing (very little compared to my grand plans!) but at least I got to play with some fabric!

I started off my cutting some charms for the Texty Charm Swap. I have cut my first batch out of a lovely fabric by Benartex.

I still my second batch to cut. Hopefully I will have time later this week.

Then I worked on some bee blocks. I worked on my April block for Bee Europa, and I am nearly there. I have taken this block the wrong way and have had one disaster after the other...
I also started some granny squares and I am almost done with the 2 patriotic blocks for Ginger for the Granny Block Bee.
I have started my block for Bee White Black. And also my Simply Solids May block!

Hexi-ing away

Spring has finally arrived to the UK and it was all the better that we had a long week-end. Although we stayed at home we had quite a busy time as we entertained on Saturday afternoon and Sunday lunch time. I had grand plans for some sewing over the week-end but of course, I have been tied in to the kitchen for a great part of the time. Never mind, I still did a few bits and pieces but not as much as I had hoped/planned!

During my commute from work, I usually try to sew and English Paper Piecing projects are perfect for the train. Very portable and easy to do. I always have a stash of paper hexies at the ready and some fabric hexies too. I cut everything with my Sizzix dies to have perfect shapes and not have to worry about trimming the fabric away. So, it is still early in the month but I have already finished my 2 hexie flowers for Diane for the Inchy Hexie Swap. She wanted some 30s fabric with a solid centre so this is the 2 fabrics I picked. Hope they will fit in her garden!

I have also received some lovely grey hexies from Jane which I am planning to use to build my garden with the flowers I have accumulated so far. I love the stone like fabric she has used.

Linking to Let's get Acquainted Monday at Plum and June.
Celine

April in review

This is my first time linking with Lilly's Quilt Fresh Sewing day. I like the idea of going back to what I have done this month!

When compiling my mosaic, I realised how much the postal system must be glad I am a swap addict LOL! I have "only" made swap blocks this month. But I have sent a grand total of 21 packages! Not bad if I say so myself! A variety of blocks and English Paper Piecing. We have been away quite a lot with a week in Spain and 2 week-ends in France so I had plenty of hand sewing time for some EPP.

You have seen them all on my blog this month but it is actually nice for me to reflect on the sewing I have been able to cram here and there during my days or rather nights!

Celine

Simply solid - and linen

And one more pick in the packages I sent earlier in the week. One of the letter was only going a couple of miles down the road from me to Patti. It was her block for the Simply Solids bee. And she choose a great design, she picked this winged square block from Amy at During Quiet Time

and send us some solids in purple with some linen. I absolutely love how her block turned out and can't wait to see her quilt. Patti sent us some 5' squares and pointed us to this method to make half square triangles. I hadn't tried it before but it works great. One to bookmark for the future!

I am linking to We Did it Wednesday at Sew Much Ado.
Celine

Granny squares

I showed you the envelopes yesterday, now a pick inside! On Saturday night I used my Sizzix quite a lot to cut squares for my granny bee blocks. I started cutting my squares with my rotary cutter until I remember that I bought the 2.5' square die for my Big Shot in Birmingham after talking with Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey. She recommended it highly saying she uses hers all the time and I must say until now, I had hardly thought about using it. Well granny square blocks are an ideal block for the die since they are made of 25 x 2.5' squares. And I must admit that using the Sizzix die did speed up my cutting considerably and the waste (I hate wasting fabric) was very minimal. I will definitely start using it more!

So I made 2 blocks for Liz using a printed ring and 2 coordinating solids. She wanted bright blocks so I hope she likes my choice of fabric

Did you recognise the printed fabric? It came from the rainbow Bento block I made and didn't like because it was too busy. I took it apart and reused the small squares for these blocks, no waste!

And also 2 blocks for Yvette who wanted some dark grey, chocolate and black for a quilt for her son. I hope this fits her son's taste.

I am linking my Granny Bee Blocks to Jen's Building Blocks Tuesday.
Celine

Mail in, mail out

I am, for sure, keeping the postal services into business lately. I have sent 8 parcels this morning with Bee blocks to my fellow swappers. I prepared all my packages last night while watching TV and they all went in the box this morning!

And in the last few weeks, I have replenished my stash (which doesn't really need to be, anyway) but then, do we *NEED* to need fabric to buy more?

Bento Box - take 2

Although I showed you my finished blocks for the [4x5] Modern Quilt Bee earlier in the week, I didn't really like the rainbow one I made. It was too busy. So I decided to remake it with a rainbow fabric and Kona Ash. And I think this works much better. What do you think?

So now here are all my blocks together, ready to be sent to my fellow bees.

And I have taken apart my previous block for other blocks too, I don't like wasting fabric, even so I have enough in my stash to keep me going for decades
Celine

Bento Boxes

In between all the travelling, I have stolen a few instants at my sewing machine here and there in the evenings to make a few bee blocks. I picked one of my favourite blocks for the [4x5] Modern Quilt Bee: The Bento Box block. After collecting pink and purple blocks with white background in the last couple of rounds, I changed my colour combo this round to make a quilt for Mr Cars's bed. His room is green and blue so I asked for green and blue blocks with either texty fabric or low volume fabric or white for the background. I made my test block with texty fabric for him.

Second puzzle completed

Another week-end and another trip to France. I didn't even manage to blog last week, it has been busy at home. Add to that a terrible week at work, which has stressed me far more that I wanted and made me lose sleep for a couple of nights and I am now very tired. We first went back for my niece and God-daughter's Christening and it was a very nice day with the family. The sun was shining and everybody had a great day.
Last week-end, we went on an express trip for Mum and her partner's 60th birthday party. Again this was a fantastic day with family and friends. A day full of emotions, with lots of laughter, lots of memories, and also a few tears, especially when thinking of Dad. The girls painted this lovely picture for their grand-ma and we asked all the guests to sign it.

Lots of travel has also meant a lot of time in the car, not always during day time though. But I still managed to finally get caught up with my hexie flowers during our last few trips.

Stepping stairs

I have also finished all my blocks for the [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee. I picked the Stepping Stairs block from John Adams at Quilt Dad from the Shape Workshop for Quilters Book for this quarter of the swap. I have made 7 variations of the block (including mine) in various colour combination and it is amazing to see how different the block looks. Here is a picture of all the blocks together:

And now a close up on each block that I am sending to my fellow bees