Espritpatch

I have been playing with Super Mario once again lately. The second block I have picked is Goomba as I had much of the pieces already cut. I used the same method as the first block I made (Luigi) using no foundation. I started by sewing the rows this time, starting on the top right corner to get a fat mushroom. I then stitched all the rows together to get my square: And this time it is even the same way as the pattern! Celine

I got a lovely red and green square for the Modern Mini RR so I thought a border or red and green squares (what else?) would be perfect for it. What do you think? Ah yes sorry I can't show you the centre as it is a Mystery RR! Celine

Floh has invited us for tea for her block for the Bee Europa 2012-2013. She has open requirements but wanted something to do with tea, if possible a word to be put on a lovely neutral linen background. I pieced strips of various widths from the fabric she sent and then cut out the letters for "the" - tea in French - before applique to the background (with fusible vilene). I blanket stitched the letters using invisible thread on my machine. I hope it fits in Floh's quilt! Celine

I signed up for (yet another!) swap last month for mug rug. There was no specific theme and my partner's requirements were very open so I had lots of freedom of what to do! I looked at my partner inspiration mosaic and saw a lovely picture that caught my eye, so I used it as a base for my design. I assembled the background of my rug with a selection of random sizes green/lime fabrics that I then sliced off and sew back together. I then draw a flower free-hand and cut all the petals from a bright pink fabric that I fused to the back. I then stitched over the petals with a contrasting black thread, quilted the background with a pebble stitch. I find these little projects a great opportunity to practise my free motion skill. The pebble stitch is fun to try but very onerous in thread, I didn't have enough of one bobbin to stitch this tiny mat. I really like the effect on the front and on the back! I tried a single fold binding for this tiny quilt. I usually use doub...

I have finally finished my little quilt for the British Quilt Swap . I made a sewing room for my partner. I hope she likes it! I based my design on the draft I made out of paper about a month ago. I had this lovely fabric with rolls of fabrics that I used on the side walls of the room. For the centre I used a neutral fabric to applique the mannequin and spools of thread on. I made the dress from some selvage strips I had kept and threaded the spool with variegated threads. I then added a wooden floor and dropped a few buttons on it and my tape measure. The buttons, spools and mannequin were all cut with Tim Holtz sewing room die on Sizzix. My block is 12' square so I'll be able to enter it in the "Texting while sewing" competition that Amy is running this month! I used the knit stitch from the free motion quilting blog on the middle part of the my mini-quilt and also it isn't perfect, I really like the effect of it, my hubby said it looks like wall-...

My hexie flowers for Kate this month are made of lovely black and white petals with red centres. I sew them on the go, as this is a very portable project, and I have finished them this week-end on our way back from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. Now my flowers are ready to fly across the pond! Celine

don't miss the Hexagons Festival happening online now. Lots of gorgeous tutorials based on hexies posted daily. Hop over to Ali's blog to check it out. I am off to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham tomorrow for lots of quilts to admire and some retail therapy too! Celine

OK Luigi is my first block from the Super Mario quilt-along to be finished so I suppose he could get a gold medal but he isn't perfect... some of the seams don't match perfectly so.... maybe not gold. Never mind, I am happy I have finished the first block. I didn't use foundation in the end but it worked well enough. It was fun to make if a bit time consuming, but then sewing together 324 tiny 1.5' squares would be anyway...I had never pieced a block made of such tiny squares before so I was a bit apprehensive but I enjoyed the process, took it as slowly as necessary, and I am happy enough with my first block. Well, I am only 3 blocks behind in the quilt-along now! Celine

Do you remember these? Yes I bought them for the Super Mario Quilt-Along that I haven't started yet... Well, I used some of these fabrics to make 2 "Little Square, Big Square" blocks by Kim Schaefer in the Modern Blocks book for the Modern Minx Beginner Bee and I have also finally started cutting my solids into tiny little 1.5' squares for the Mario blocks, I had the 324 pieces cut for Luigi that have reduced to 18 long rows. How cute is this elongated Luigi? Now can he make it to the closing ceremony of the London Olympics? Stay tuned! Celine

Yesterday I finished "taking some pretty Polaroid pictures" for the Picture-Perfect Polaroid swap on Flicker. These little blocks are so fun and quick to make, it is a pleasure. The original idea came from Little Miss Shabby  and Karen posted a tutorial here to make them. I have made 58 of those little blocks and I am swapping 30. Can't wait to see what will come back to me! Celine

Well, I can't believe it has been nearly a week since my last post. Where is the time going? This week has definitely flown by me. First Miss Baby has caught the bug that we had  been dealing with the previous week and has been poorly with spikes of extremely high temperature... not fun. She seems to finally be on the mend after a full week of drugs etc. Then my Mum was here for most of the week as we had tickets to see the dressage competition in the Olympics. We headed down to Greenwich Park on Thursday with my Mum and her partner and my 2 older children, leaving Miss Baby in Daddy's care for the day. It was great to be part of the Olympics. We don't know anything about dressage so it was a bit hard to follow and the kiddies got bored before the end but it was definitely a great day, even after being soaked by a very heavy shower just after lunch. With such an eventful and busy week, I have hardly had time to sew during the week. My Mum took the 2 older children ba...