Espritpatch

Wow time flies when you are having fun! I didn't realised it had been a week since I posted anything. I must say I have kept myself busy! Work is crazy mad at the moment and I added to that by deciding I needed to finish 3 quilt by tomorrow night. OK there are not big huge quilt but still, neither top was pieced completely a week ago. So I worked on the piecing for all 3 last week-end and got my Diamond Quilt ready for quilting that was after I unpicked my last row as I thought it looked upside down. my Advent calendar with all its pockets on and my Hena quilt pieced by the end of Sunday. I quilted my Diamond quilt first (which took 2 evenings in total and one for the binding) to be able to send it away to my Mum this week. I picked a lovely red binding (Joy by Kate Spain Moda fabric) and the back was a brown bubble fabric by Timeless Treasure (one less in my pile of backing now!) I kept the quilting simple by echoing the diamonds and it was in the post on

Yes my usual activity these days, catching up with my bee blocks. In between my broken herringbone blocks last week, I also finished my + and x blocks for Carol and I finsished a batch of Granny Square blocks for Michelle for Rachael for Jodie A few more to finish and I will have caught up finally! Linking to Whoop Whoop Friday Celine

I am catching up with a few things but I also still have loads on the go of course! I like to have more than one thing going (!) (well in reality I probably have about 20) but I also like to finish some stuff! I am resisting very hard at the moment to just run and start a new project. There is a Midnight in the Oasis quilt-along over on Sharon's blog Fabrics and Flowers . Well I have the pattern, from Quiltmania, I have identified the focus fabric and the background as well I think. What do you think? Polka dots or map?  but... I am trying to be good and finish other things first. So this week I started some Christmas coasters for a swap. They only need quilting now so I am hoping to have them ready very soon! I really like this red Scandinavian fabric and paired with the green it makes for a lovely traditional Christmas feeling I think. I also got out some blocks I got from a bee last year, which have made it to my UFO list. They were made based on a pattern in 99 Mo

The last few weeks, I have been much more disciplined on the train and spent less time on my phone/more time sewing. And you know what, well of course it has paid off!  I have finished my 2 very late EPP blocks for Shevvy. I really like those blocks and the colour scheme she picked. I can't wait to see her finished quilt. Linking to Building Blocks Tuesday . Celine

Yes I know I am a useless joiner but when May asked whether anyone was interested in a secret Christmas basket swap, of course I couldn't resist. So this week-end, I made this Scandinavian-inspired little basket for my secret partner. The basket is very cute and easy to make from this tutorial from Tina at Seaside Stitches I didn't have any fancy buttons to put on the folded corners but I had this lovely glass star beads that I bought in Prague a few years back. I thought they would be perfect for a Christmas basket! And this morning, I filled it wih chocolates and a few magnets before sending it on its way to ??? And of course this one OPAM for November. I am hoping for more this month because I have a few swap items I need to make and a quilt to finish so watch this space! Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday Celine

Last week was my birthday, yes another year has passed! I have been very busy in the kitchen to cook cakes for work, for home and for our childminder the day before but I was spoiled when I came home from work with some lovely presents. My friend gave me a lovely hand-painted mug which I really love and my DH bought me a stack of books which should keep me busy for a while reading for the holidays ideas to keep me busy on the way to the holidays! lovely projects in this one but I am not sure I'll see it often as it seems Miss Strawberry Shortcake has already claimed it as (almost) her own.  and also some Clover templates.  I have never used Clover templates before so I can't wait to try. They should come in handy for fussy cutting. Celine

I haven't had time to blog this week, yesterday was the deadline for sending the [3x6] blocks and I hadn't started sewing them until this week. I picked my block design in September, really tempted to try the lovely Broken Herringbone block from Molly Sparkle but I never got around to try them! So I have been busy cutting, sewing, pressing, cutting, sewing, pressing and again and again until I got my 5 blocks ready to be put in enveloppes just before midnight on Thursday night. And yes the envelopes were in the post yesterday morning. Am I the queen of last minute, yes I think so! Now I have my own block to finish off, it is half way through but then, there is no deadline for me! So this is my black and red block for Karen aqua, red and sage green for Jo purple, yellow and orange for Erika grey, navy and sage green for Francine green, yellow and orange for Liz I really like this block and the different colours combo. I hope my fellow bees like them too!

I always have my sewing-on-the-go with me for our numerous trips to France and my daily commute, and with all the travelling over half-term, it has been handy again. Also the days are so short here at the moment than the sewing time is greatly reduced... I kept busy with some lovely EPP blocks for Shevvi. She sent her templates month ago and I have been so long to pick them up, it is embarrassing. The blocks are easy to make and I love the look of them. It reminds me of these rosaces we used to draw at school with a compass. I still have the second block to finish off but that should hopefully be do-able by the end of this month. I better clear the back-log of my EPP block before I receive the shapes to make some Patchwork of the Cross blocks... Linking to Building Blocks Tuesday . Celine

The half-term holidays is over and we have been back for over a week but I really don't know where the time disappears. This week has been very busy at work and at home and I didn't find much time to blog or sew really. I am still playing catch up like last month with my bee blocks... I didn't think it would take me that long to get back on track but here we are, I am still trying. Anyway, I played with solid fabric this week and made Nat's dancing stars blocks for Simply Solids Bee . I really like the look of these little stars.  They are paper-pieced from a free pattern by Amy Ellis . I must say that reading the cutting instructions for a full size quilt had my head spinning (500+ squares in different colours!) The blocks are not too difficult to make but a little bit fiddly if you haven't tried paper piecing before with all the triangles! They go together quite quickly, and a lot quicker that if you had to cut all the individual pieces together. I am

I really like going back to see how much or little I have done in a month, I think it is quite nice to realise that yes, despite everything else going on (and October has been busy and tiring with the kids being ill almost constantly), I have managed to squeeze a little bit of sewing time and have achieved a few targets! So here is what I finished in October. 1. Bee Europa block 2. snowflakes for Get your Hex on 3. Bee White black pink wave 4. log cabin for Siblings Together 5. Cross Roads for Siblings Together 6. Improv block for Simply Solids 7. Block #31 Farmer's Wife 8. Block #1 Farmer's Wife 8. Crazy pinwheel Simply Solids 9. Crazy Pinwheel Simply Solids 10. Pyramid Log Cabin Simply Solids  Central picture: Maisy quilt Again, I have quite a few bee blocks as I was still playing catch up from the summer. I have now caught up with the late blocks, yeah! Just a few of my October ones which are not finished yet now. And I made 2 Farmer's Wife blocks with the new