Espritpatch

After sending off all my swaps, I have tried to move to the next items on my list, of course there were the Christmas presents but also my Bee blocks, where I had fallen behind quite a few in the last few months. I didn't want to start the New Year with blocks due from the previous one if possible! So I finished my block for Amanda for Get Your Hex On! And also my blocks for Little Blog Quilting Bee. Some scrappy blocks for Gina and also for Sheila I made these stars for Dorothy for Bee Europa 2014-2015 and also my last block for Rachel for Stash Bee which is now over for this year. I only have my hand sewn blocks to catch up with now, which I am hoping I will be able to pick up during the holidays. That's 8 blocks for the 350-block challenge. Linking to Building Blocks Tuesday . Celine

Reene has designed this fabulous project/knitting bag (which could be used for plenty of crafts etc really) that I kept looking at on IG. So when she asked if I would be interested in pattern testing for her, I jumped at the chance, knowing I could make a lovely Christmas present for my friend who is an avid knitter. She also likes elephant and I knew I had a cute elephant fabric in my stash that I could use for the occasion.So I planned this fabric combo for my bag: The pattern is very easy to follow and the bag is lovely. There are lots of great finishing touches to it that I have not seen on other bags before. You can also have different combinations with the pockets/straps etc so your bag can finish different from the previous one! They are relatively fast to put together too, I think the longest part is the quilting of the panels! I even made a zipped pocket, I am always a bit scared of zips but it worked well! Once I had made the bottom panel and the pocket, I c...

I have been busy baking recently, as well as trying to steal a little sewing time now and then but the blog has been very quiet. I made a Christmas stollen last week which came out very nice. A few people asked me for the recipe on Instagram so I thought it would be easier to share it here! Christmas Stollen Ingredients: 75 g sultanas 75 g mixed cut peeel 75 g glace cherries 60 mL dark rum 400 g unbleached white bread flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 50 g sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon yeast 1 egg 140 mL lukewarm milk 50 g melted butter 50 g pinenuts 225 g marzipan 1. Soak the sultanas, mixed peel and cherries in the rum for a few hours. 2. Mix together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, egg, melted butter and milk to a soft dough. Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. 3. Knock back and knead into the dough the soaked fruits and pinenuts. 4. Roll into a rectangle. Roll the marzipan into a suasage shape and place it in the middle of the rectangle. Fold the dough ove...

This week, I finished my last swap for the year! I finished my table runner for the #jollyswap on Instagram. My partner had asked for a table runner that I had finished piecing last month but stomach bugs had invaded my house! So the quilting got postponed for a week. I used a simple stippling for the negative space. And I used the dark star fabric for the binding. I really like this design I used the extra HST blocks I had to make some coasters and also made a little pin-cushion for my partner. This is my first OPAM for December since I finished it this week, Linking to Anything Goes Monday . Celine

I have done a lot of paper piecing with the 318 Patchwork Patterns sew along. I have made more heart blocks still at 3' for my Christmas ornaments but I have made my mini for the IG mini swap using paper piecing. I choose the Celestial Star pattern from Diane which is all paper pieced. And after a bad start  (I pieced one wedge and didn't like the look of it), I changed my colour scheme to make it lighter (less colours) and I really liked how it looks. 12 wedges were needed for one block which I made at 18' square for a mini.  So 121 pieces later I had a mini, well a 18' square ready for quilting. I took inspiration from the lovely Liberty cushion I received from Alexandra for the quilting and used a blue binding to lift up the design Now I really like this mini and this design, but I sent it to my partner anyway with a few British goodies. This was one of my OPAM for November. And another one of my  Finish Along list . Linking...

Hoping for Finishes! 1.  Liberty of London Swap - finished 2. Fairy Tale swap -  finished -   my goal for  A lovely year of finishes . 3. Star Plus pattern testing  -  needs quilting and finishing 4. Ornaments for Christmas Swaps - Trim the Tree and IG Ornament swaps-  NewFO  -  finished Bee Blocks  1.  Stash Bee  block (November)  2.  Little Blog Bee  block (October and November)  - October is finished 3. Block Lotto blocks 4.  I love Lucy international  block (September)  5. Flower hexies for the Inchy Hexie Swap (October and November)  6. Get Your Hexie On - (August, September and November) August finished, September started WIP 1.  Midnight in the Oasis - no progress 2.  Mod Mod Along  blocks:  Sunrise Blocks x 6, Little Window blocks x 11 and Sweet Dreams blocks  3.  You'...

Yes I still have some swap items to finish, of course I have! So this week-end I finally got started on the table runner I wanted to make for the Jolly Swap on IG. I bought the fabric in October at Alexandra Palace and changed my mind a few times as to the design I was going to use. And finally last week, I found inspiration on Pinterest to make mine. I worked out a pattern on a scrap of paper and got cutting on Friday night! 48 HST and 3 4-patch blocks later I was ready to put the 3 interlocking blocks together into a table runner I love how this has turned out. I hope my partner does to! Quilting and binding next! Stats: middle star made of 2.5' squares and HST outer star made of 4.5' squares and HST Final size will be 23' x 46 ' (block size: 16') And that's another 3 blocks for the 350-blocks challenge taking me to 16!! Linking to Design Wall Monday . Celine