Espritpatch

Today was the deadline to send the Liberty swap #lolswapround2 and this is another one that got finished just in time. I had started cutting my pieces some time last week but there were so many deadlines in the last week or so that I didn't finished piecing my block until last night. My partner showed a glance of her mini wall on IG and I noticed that she had a few with stars so I thought a swoon block could work well with those. I picked 3 pink Liberty, a larger print with owls for the centre star, an allover pink for the outside and pink and green floral for the accents. And I love the block I must admit. I even thought that a quilt made of Liberty swoon blocks would be so nice... maybe, one day (I can dream lol) I started the quilting last night but didn't manage to finish it before bed time. So I got back to it this morning when I got up. I used a white binding so it doesn't show. I added the binding entirely by hand because I was so late but it worked quite...

After the challenge of THE dress and before commencing THE dress number 2, I tried to catch up with some bee blocks last week-end for some easy sewing with little free time. I finished my blocks for Gina for Bee Europa which were easy "scrap vomit" type blocks I also finished my Lucy Boston Patchwork of the cross block for Alex (although I forgot to take a picture when it was finished!) So that's 3 more blocks for the 350-blocks challenge taking me to only 7 blocks this month I am very much behind on my bee blocks, so that will be my first task for March, catch up time. Linking to Building Blocks Tuesday . Celine

There are been another stream of birthday parties and cooking/baking for the kiddies and last week was half term so the kids were on holidays while my Mum spent the week with us so I must admit I didn't spend much time sewing. I caught up this week as there were quite a few deadlines looming. First there was the Downton Swap that was due on Tuesday. I finished the mug rug on Monday night. I had pieced the block earlier this month and it waited until the last minute to finish it. This was my  A lovely Year of Finishes  challenge for February! I also made a sewing kit with my favorite pattern, using some cute heels fabrics and I also tried my hand at making a scissor fob. Next was my second Frozen dress for my little princess! I was dreading sewing it because the first one was so troublesome but I made it, just in time. She was thrilled with it and wore it as soon as she saw it. I made the girls some new pillowcases as well for their birthdays and they lov...

I had such a hard time making the Frozen dress that I needed to keep it real and take a break from the difficult sewing to have some easy sewing time. So I concentrated on some blocks that I wanted to make and also some I had to make. 2 paper-pieced blocks and 2 pieced blocks.  I made an umbrella for my Downton Swap mug rug, using some fabric that I feel are very Downton. I hope my partner feels the same. Just need to quilt it and finish it. I also made my Book Bee block and sent it off. And I started on my Elephant Parade quilt with 2 big elephants That's a slow start but that makes 4 blocks for February, I better get a move and make plenty more quickly! Linking to Building Blocks Tuesday . Celine

The theme for the Tuesday Archive this week is obviously Hearts and Love, what else? I have made this mini a long time ago (12 years exactly) with some lovely hearts for my cousin's 18th birthday but of course that was pre-blog time. I had hardly started to quilt at the time but I had a lovely pattern and used some fusible to applique the hearts, all in different fabrics (including organza). All the hearts were machine applique, some with metallic threads, and then I tried free-motion quilting around the hearts, how daring for a beginner! Linking to Tuesday Archive . Celine

Where does the time disappear, I am sure the days have shrunk in length, I can't believe it is nearly 2 weeks since my last block post. Admittedly we have been quite busy, we have reached this time of year where we celebrate the kids' birthdays, all 3 over about a few weeks. The festivities started last week with a trip back to France to celebrate all 3 birthdays at once with family and friends (also known as extended family!) So of course, I have been busy baking and baking again. And then this week my eldest princess turned 6, so more baking has been and will be involved (one more cake to make tomorrow)! And then stupidly enough I thought it would be such a good idea to make her a Frozen dress for her birthday. Yes such a good idea when you have no experience of sewing clothes. My original plan was to make my skirt with the sew-along in January and then to tackle Frozen but that didn't quite work out. And Frozen dress is so simple with a bodice in 4 parts, a yoke ...

January is over already, time to look back at my to-do list and what I can cross off Hoping for Finishes! 1.  Mr Snowmen cushion - all the blocks are pieced - my choice for  A lovely Year of Finishes  -  no progress so I failed the challenge! 2.  Star Plus -   needs quilting and finishing - no progress Bee Blocks  1.  Little Blog Bee  block (January)  - in progress 2. Block Lotto blocks -  I made 9 this month and I love them! 3.  I love Lucy international  block (September and January) -  finally finished September and started January 4. Flower hexies for the Inchy Hexie Swap (December and January)  December finished 5. Get Your Hexie On - (January)  6. Snowdrop block -  done 7. Bee Europa (January) -  2 wonky log cabins 8. Book Bee (January) 9. Flying geese Bee (January) WIP 1.  Midnight in the Oasis...