Espritpatch

Still while doing my decluterring and still taking advantage of the quilting frame being out, I unearthed another pile of blocks that I made years ago. This time it was practice blocks I had made during the Colour Companions online course on Quilt University in the spring of 2009. I had made these 4 massive blocks (24' finished) at the time and always thought I would soon make a few more to arrange them into a quilt. And of course, that never happened! You can read more about the blocks in my second (!) blog post here ! So without a quilt top ready or an idea for how to arrange the blocks and without the time or will to make more blocks, I thought I could maybe use them for some free-motion quilting practice and make some cushions out of those to place on our bed. So I quilted all 4 blocks with different patterns. Now all I need to do is to finish them into lovely cushions to put on my bed! Hopefully this will not take another 10 years or so!...

This week-end, I finally finished the Summer Solstice QAL by making a lovely summery/fall-inspired cushion. And what can I saY? Well I love this fluffy new cushion and the lovely warm colors it had to the room. The single block for the quilt-along finished at 24' with the sashing so perfect for a massive cussion/fllor cushion. I finished the piecing last month just in time for the quilt-along parade on Melissa's blog  And I was happy to find time earlier in the month to quilt it (without a frame). It made me realised how much harder it is to quilt without a frame! using different quilting patterns for each of the sections of the block I have been wanting to try to add pipping to my cushion for a long time so I thought I would take the plonge with the lovely dotty fabric I had for the back. It's not perfect but it turned out OK! and I inserted a (wonky) zip at the back of the cushion. 2 techniques that I have planned to use for a while but ...

No chance to build a snowman at the moment, it is far too warm but I finished my cushion! It only needed the embellishments after I made the cushion envelope a little while ago. This has been a year long project really. I pieced all the snowmen last winter  quilted the panel in the summer and finished it this winter! And this cushion has got some special #charmpions love with fabric from Esther and buttons from Margaret Quilted with Superior Thread 937 which is a lovely light rainbow. One more OPAM and one from my Q4 Finish Along . Linking to Let's Bee Social . Celine

Last week before our trip to France, I also finished a little cushion for my Grand-Mum who is in hospital after she broke her leg. I used one of the blocks I had made for the Farm Vintage Along: the little chick. I was going to quilt it with chicken wire but time was limited so I decided to go for some worms instead! And a cute little baby chick turned into a soft cushion that I gifted to Grand-Ma over the week-end. Another OPAM for May. Celine

I have more OPAM this month, how incredible! A little while ago, I received an email from Terry's Fabrics asking if I would like to take part in their "Unleash your Creativity Cushion Challenge". The rules were quite simple, you had to choose 2 fabrics from their website (they sell furnishing fabric not quilting fabric) and you were sent a package with half a meter of each fabric and a 18' cushion pad and off you go!

So I haven't post for a long time because I have been really busy behind my sewing machine! The school holidays finally started last Wednesday so of course it was a last minute rush to finish the teachers' presents. Miss Strawberrry Shortcake only started school last April but she has 3 teachers in her class so of course that meant 3 presents and Mr Cars has one teacher and one teacher's assistant, so that was an extra 2 presents. Mr Cars' teacher was extremely good with him this year after a bad year last year so we choose an extra special gift for her. In the class, the kids are placed on the Super Star chart when they are good/doing extra well. Mr Cars judged that his teacher would be on the Super Star and we decided on a cushion with a Super Star inspired by the Christmas Tree pillow in the Pretty in Patchwork - Holidays book.

First of all, I want to wish you all a very happy Christmas. I hope you will have a fantastic time with your loved ones and I hope Santa won't forget you! Finally, finally we have a kitchen (not completely finished yet but at least not far off!) so I have been baking with the kids: shortbread chocolate truffles Christmas yule log, mini mince pies covered in marzipan

In 5 days, we will be without a kitchen... and I don't know how long for. Hopefully as little time as possible, but who knows.... So yesterday afternoon our kitchen was transformed into a restaurant's one. I managed to cook about 12 meals to put in the freezer for the next few weeks when we will be left with just a microwave and a toaster more or less. Industrious cooking was and still is on the agenda before we pack up the whole kitchen ready for the new one to be put in. I am starting to run out of space in the freezer though so I think I am reaching the limits of what I can prepare. Anyway enough of that for now, let's get back to some fabric play!

Teddy is now nice and comfy with two cosy cushions holding him up in Miss Strawberry Shortcake's room.

As usual I have quite a few projects cooking at the same time. This week I have a fat cloud that I need to shrink. I also have a fire flower, a piranha and a question mark started but I need to cut a few more colours to continue on those blocks for the Super Mario quilt-along I also have most of my fabric cut for my [3x6] bee blocks . I am making the star I showed yesterday. I have some cream/beige and orange fabric cut for the Mouthy Stitches swap . And I have some triangles ready to be put together to make a pillow for the X-factor pillow swap . And I need to finish my own Modern Minx Bee Block A range of projects on the go... I am linking this to  Lee's WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced . Celine

Back in 2008 or 2009 (I can't even remember when) I started a wall hanging for a baby present. Well it was never finished. I didn't go further than the applique centre panel.  And by now, the baby is no longer a baby and has received another present. So this little teddy has been abandoned with its pot of honey and a few bees until this week. I finally had an idea on how to use the panel, what about treasure pillow / pyjama tidy / secret cushion /  pocket pillow. I am not sure what is the best name for it! I found in my stash a lovely teddy bear fabric that I had bought a few years ago, perfect for this project! I cut out a square and free-motion quilted it. I then took my applique square and cut the top with a gentle curve, cut a background piece and a wadding piece the same shape and made a pocket for my pillow with my new shaped panel. I really like how it has turned out, don't you think this little bear look happier now that he will be tre...

They are finished! Earlier this month, I made a "chocolate" Union Jack which will be a present for my Mum but I also had plans for a further 2 cushions that I want to give her with the first one. The first cushion I made is a variation on my zig-zag cushion. It is a 16' square cushion, using 32 plain and 32 print squares I played with Half-Square Triangles again, using a chocolate solid fabric and some brown/chocolate prints but I arranged them differently this time. I tried different set-up with my squares and settled on the zig-zag and squares pattern. I used the "zip" fancy stitch again to highlight the squares and I must say, I love the effect! For the other cushion, I prepared 2 x 7 paper-pieced hexagons that I pieced together into 2 stems. The stem are hand-applique to the chocolate background using a black thread, that I am so please to say you can't see! I have simply quilted around the hexagons. I love the modern feel of this one....