Espritpatch

I need your help. My childminder will retire in just over a year, she has looked after all 3 of my children and helped raise them to be lovely independent and well developed children. To thank her for being such an important/positive/fantastic part of their lives and ours, I would like to make her a quilt but I am not sure what to make. She is a keen gardener and has a big allotment from which she regularly regales us with freshly picked fruits and vegetables. So I would love to make her something with a gardening theme. I know there is the Gardener's Journal quilt by Anni Down which has quite a lot of stitcheries and because of the stitcheries I am wondering whether this would be too big a challenge to take on. What do you think? Do you know any good pattern that I could use maybe? Thanks for your suggestions. Celine

Growing up in France, I am not use to celebrating Halloween. We used to dress up for Mardi Gras and Mum would make us the most beautiful fancy dress and we would go all around the village (small village with about 200 inhabitants!) knocking at each door and people would give us a little coin with which we'd eventually go and buy sweets. I haven't got many Halloween projects that I have made for our house because it hasn't really been a tradition but 2 years ago I did a fun swap with Diane called Halloween See Saw and organised by Michele . Diane and I each made a central block that we sent to each other every other month for a few months. One month I would add one border to Diane's block and one month I would add a border to my block. I started from this  my block Diane's block that I quilted with glow in the dark thread and finished the same year (yes!) in time for Halloween. You can see more here . Linking to Val's Archive Tuesday...

Look what has arrived all the way from Texas.... my Fairy Tale package from Gwen. Gwen made me a gorgeous mini that I think might be quickly claimed by Miss C and a lovely bag and lots of goodies, a snail retractable meter (cute), lots of sweeties and some yummy chocolates, lovely fabric and ribbons Thanks Gwen I absolutely love it! Celine

I finished my mini and bag last week but I needed to shop to complete my package to include either a rare to find or a local item. I found some London items for my partner and some London fabric. I also found some little ponies, I now they are not unicorns but they are close! I hope she likes it all! I Another swap completed! Celine

It is this time of year again, the amazing Bloggers's Quilt Festival  that  Amy  organises so brilliantly. So many beauties to discover, so many lovely blogs to get lost into! With 11 categories to enter quilts under, there should be a fantastic range of quilts to admire! After much thoughts, I have decided to enter my Flower Power quilt in the  Original Design Category . This time I have chosen to feature the quilt I finished for my grand-mum over the summer. I had a collection of blocks (20) that I received from a BOM exchange in 2010-2011 and that had sat there since. My Grand-Mum turned 85 earlier this year and lost her life-long companion, my Grand-Dad, earlier in the year after over 65 years of marriage. My Grand-Mum was a keen gardner and an outdoor lady as she worked on the farm all her life with my Grand-Dad. I thought those flowery blocks would brighten her days a little bit. With the 20 blocks I had, I decided a lap quilt would be a good si...

No sewing happened last night because I had an important dinner in London. I went into town straight after work so I had a couple of hours to kill before dinner time. My first stop was for my favourite shop in London: Liberty's. I love going there even just for a browse, it is such a fantastic building filled with lots of pretty (and oh so expensive!) stuff. I had time to browse and I even got my make up done while I was there so I could look the part for the evening! I went to the fabric and haberdashery department of course to try and find a little something for my Liberty of London swap partner. I also spent some time in MacCulloch & Wallis, another favorite in London. I was looking for some key fob kits but unfortunately they didn't have them. After another browse in John Lewis where there was a lovely Lego display I headed to South London, wondering whether to buy a new car on my way to the restaurant ;-) The dinner was very good and I spent a l...

and this where I am going with my strips of Liberty fabric. The idea is a tiled mat. Hope my partner likes it! I need to add 2 more rows and make the pockets now. Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

You probably know that I love hexagons and play with them often. Hexagons is also the theme of this Tuesday Archive over on Val's blog . So how many quilts have I got to show you with hexagons.... well I guess this will be none... :-( I have plenty of hexagons WIP but no finished quilt as such. For a while I did a swap mainly with Australian ladies of framed hexagons. My theme was Asia/Japan inspired. And I received a gorgeous collection of hexagons but unfortunately I haven't put them together yet. These are most of the ones I have (since 2012), aren't they pretty? This post actually makes me want to get them out and display them... maybe soon! Then I have my September in the Hexagon , a very slow progressing UFO which is still not quilted, it is now at flimsy stage (and has been for over a year now). I pieced the top last year  but I had actually prepared all my triangles 3 years before And then I have score of hexie flowers from the Inchy Hexie Swap, sti...

I had a plan. And then I changed my mind and ordered some fabric. And then the fabric I ordered hasn't arrived yet so I decided I was time to make a start on my project for the Liberty of London Swap or #lolswap which is due early next month. I will be making a sewing machine mat for my partner with mini-charm squares, My first idea was to use a handful of fabric and use strips. I then decided that maye it would be better to mix it more and ordered some charm packs but they aren't there yet and I don't want to leave it till the last minute (not sure what is wrong with me!) and decided to make a start this week-end. So here is my selection of fabric for my mat. Hope my partner likes it! Linking to Design Wall Monday , Anything Goes Monday , WIP , WOW . Celine

There was just the binding left to add on my mini. And today I finished sewing it by hand so my mini is officially finished. I really like the way the binding line with the backing in some places. Another OPAM and this is one of my Q4 Finish Along , my A lovely year of Finishes project for October and one of my NewFO . Linking to Whoop Whoop Friday . Celine

Do I need to add any new project to my already to long list? Have I got enough willpower to resist a cute quilt-along? I think when it comes to fabric and quilt, I have no willpower at all. Anyway, I am really really tempted by Lee's Fair Isle Sew Along starting on Thursday. It is such a gorgeous quilt, look at this picture on Lee's blog . If you love Scandinavian Christmas, this is for you! Isn't this quilt beautiful? Cutting starts on Thursday are you joining? I think I need a little fabric shopping tonight as it is stunning with solid fabrics. And if this is not enough to keep you bsuy you want to check Ali's 318 Patchwork Patterns quilt-along starting now. I bought the book so surely I ought to join! And if you haven't got the book, there is a giveaway on Ali's blog until Tuesday. Celine

While sewing my blocks for the Star Plus quilt, I also made one of my Bee Block. I finish this stash busting block for RobinSue for the Stash Bee. Linking to Building Blocks Tuesday . Celine

Did you see the lovely Nicky and Leanne are organising a new linky party Scraptastic Tuesday . The place to link your scrappy projects and else! If you know me somehow, you will probably know that I have a fabric problem , euh addiction sorry collection which is forever extending. Sometimes I buy fabric for a specific project, often I buy fabric, because oh it is so pretty and I can't resist it. And then, I store it and I am torn whether to use it or not. Is it that special project yet or should I keep for something else? This is mad really. But then when I finally get to cut into my stash, of course I keep all the scraps (even some tiny ones sometimes but then tiny scraps are great for paper piecing). I organise or rather store my scraps in baskets by colours. And when I start something new, unless I am going to use a particular fabric collection, I always dive into my scrap baskets first to see if there is any suitable fabric there before I start cutting into my p...

This is why I love quilting. I love how a flat block turns into a lovely textured piece once it is quilted. I did simple stippling on my Unicorn block and I really love how it has turned out. (I am seriously thinking I will not want to send it on!) Love the back too and how you can read the pattern almost. Now it only needs its binding before it can fly away. Linking to WIP Wednesday , WOW  and I Quilt . Celine

On of the theme for Tuesday Archive at Val's blog today is hand quilting. Not something I do very often I must admit, as I can recall only one example where I have done hand quilting. And because this was long before I started my blog, I thought I'd create a specific post and share this quilt with you. When one of my friend had her first baby (not long after my first baby!) in 2006 I set on to make her an alphabet quilt from a pattern I had found in Magic Patch. I applique all the squares by hand (on my work commute mainly) and then decided that it would be better to hand quilt as well. So the quilt was not finished by the time the baby was born, but it was finished about 5 minutes before I went to visit her in December that year. The quilt took me 4 months to make in total and is almost all hand sewn apart for the assembly of the top. Unfortunately I haven't got many pictures and none with good lighting but hopefully you can see my effort at hand quilt...