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Showing posts from September, 2013

Autumn splendour

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If you are willing to enter the giveaway please comment on my post from yesterday . So today, on the last day of September and a glorious Autumn day, I did the last few stitches on my Autumn Plus quilt started before last week-end. I received the fabric for the binding during the week so I cut it off and prepared my binding during the week.

New York Beauties - I am dreaming + a giveaway!

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A little while ago I was contacted by Fons & Porter to ask if I wanted to review one of the class on offer at Daily Craft TV . There is a range of classes on offer: quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, scrapbooking and paper craft. The choice of quilting classes was quite varied and it took me a while to choose one I must admit. I finally settled on How to Make the Paper-Pieced Beauty: Times Square by Jodie Davis and Diane Tomlinson. I have always wanting to make a New York Beauty quilt and I am sure I have enough batiks in my stash for it... but it is so intricate that I had never started it. I even joined a New York Beauty quilt along on Flicker a few years back but I never got started! The package comes as a 40-minutes video and also a document to download (which I believe has been previously been published in Love of Quilting magazine) which gives you the pattern, templates, fabric requirements and also the explanation on how to make the quilt. So you could actuall

And more blocks!

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After my quilting marathon from last week-end, I managed a few more bee blocks in my catch-up exercise. I still have a few to make but at least I am getting there! I mainly did some + and x blocks because I had fallen way behind with those. 2 more to finish off and I will be completely caught up, all ready for the next batch as October is around the corner! So here are the blocks I have sent off this week some red + to Cathy some scrappy to Lory and some solid triangles to Nikki I also finished some blue Granny Bee Squares for Heather which are also on their way! 8 blocks on their way to their new owners but not much more this week because I have been tired. The girls took it in turn to have a stomach bug, not fun! Linking to Building Blocks Tuesday , Whoop Whoop Friday , Sew Darn Crafty . Celine

My Autumn Plus Quilt - a stash attack

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About 6 weeks ago, Sheri of Sunshine in the Attic invited me to join her for a fall inspired Blog Hop: Quilts in the Pumpkin Patch. I must say I was very flattered by her invitation so I jumped at the idea at the time not quite knowing what I would do!   I knew I would find some fall fabric in my stash anyway, I only needing one project! I thought about several ideas over the last few weeks but there were all only ideas ... If you read me regularly, you might have noticed that I have been in a bee-blocks-catch-up mode recently and I was really hoping to get caught up with all my blocks before starting on my fall project, well that didn't happen! But while raiding through my stash to find some fabric for my bee blocks, I re-discovered a few FQs that I had bought years ago at the Festival of Quilt in Birmingham to make some fall cushions, that I had never even started. So the fabrics had been stashed away waiting for that  perfect project. I decided now was the time to use them

Progress on the old UFO

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Not much sewing during the week at the moment unfortunately. But I received my last 2 blocks to be able to finish my batik stars top! I grabbed the stars almost as soon as they arrived to add them to my final row. Of course I had to unpick one of the row that I added to the wrong end of my top (and I hate unpicking!) But now I am so proud that the centre of the quilt is FINISHED - 8 years after it was first started. This was my challenge for the Lazy Bums for August, probably why I picked it and felt comply to work on it! Now it needs a border, some quilting and a binding. Hoping this will not take another 8 years ;-) Nicki has challenged me to finish it by Christmas, let's see if I can meet her challenge! Linking to WIP Wednesday , We did it Wednesday , WOW ,  Brit Sewing Thursday Link . Celine

A few little blocks

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Well not only time seems to disappear since we have come back at the beginning of September but the summer went like a flash. We traveled back and forth to France quite a lot so there was little time to sit at my sewing machine and enjoy some sewing. Which of course means that I am behind with quite a few of my bee blocks. I spent some time last week-end trying to catch up, working on a variety of blocks. Letters should be flying out of my house soon! I first made my wonky star block for Marg for the Sibling Together Bee . I took inspiration from Angela 's Stargazing block in the Modern Blocks book but for a 20' block, I needed more than 3 stars! I also made one of the 2 log cabin blocks for Susy. One more to make and I can send those back too! I am really really behind with my + and x blocks as well (like a few months behind) but at least I started cutting some fabric last week and completed 2 blocks. I have a lot more pieces cut so hopefully there should be some mor

August in review

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I know this is very late but since we have come back from France at the beginning of August, I seem to have very little time to do anything, or to be too tired in the evening to start working on the computer. School has started back, work is really busy and I am trying to be good and attend exercise classes twice a week. Also Autumn has arrived and it is dark so early now that I think all my energy has disappeared. Anyway, it is nearly mid-September but I thought I would still post a mosaic of my August finishes, as often mainly some bee blocks but also a finished hexagon top that needs quilting (and still needs it!) and my batiks stars top which is almost there! Linking to Fresh Sewing Day , even if it is so late! Celine