comfortstitching

The gentle art of anonymity

Good morning/afternoon/evening.  Today I wanted to share a little story with you.

This tale took place two years ago when I used to work as a shop assistant at a department store in a nearby town.  I worked in the fashion accessories department and part of my job was to open the locked stands that contained the sunglasses whenever a customer wanted to try a pair on.  One day, a customer approached me to try on a few pairs, she was a fairly amiable young brunette, pretty ordinarily dressed with a hole in the cuff of her jumper.  She tried on several pairs as we chatted for a short while and eventually settled on a pair of Chanels.  I took her over to the cash register to complete the sale and my manager at the time immediatley ran over to us and began taking a lot of interest in the sale, I was fairly flummoxed to his reasons but continued as normal nonetheless.  When it came to payment the young lady produced a card which I looked over and accepted as all looked well with the signature she produced.  My manager grabbed the card and scrutinised it a little which began to worry me, was there something I had missed?  My manager handed the young lady back her card, we thanked her and off she went.

No sooner was she out of sight when the entire staff of the department on the shop floor that day came over to me and said 'you don't know who that was do you?'  I tried to remember the lady's face but nope didn't have a clue.  Have you guessed who it was yet?  

Yep!  Miss Kate Middleton, the same Kate Middleton who minutes ago married Prince William and became his lady wife, Catherine Windsor.

I love this memory and it made me instantly like Kate as a person, that she could be such a public figure but still manage to be so low key in going about her day and conduct herself in such a subtle and graceful manner.

 Pure class.

And I love the fact that I am such a dimwit that I 

a) didn't recognise her.

b) didn't notice the name on her card (this was why my manager was taking such an interest in it).

P.s. sorry about the picture today, I just didn't want to spoil the outcome of the story by showing a more related one.

Whatever you are up to this weekend please enjoy yourselves!  I shall be celebrating my 40th birthday on Sunday by doing absolutely nothing. 

This little quilt is going to market

Thank you.

You have made my heart sing.

After writing yesterdays post, I shut down the computer and took a little time out.  I don't know why I got so hung up on details but I know I have just been a bag of nerves from time to time over the last few weeks.  It's hard not to stitch when you love stitching and are also immenintly off to market but sometimes that is what you have to do. 

And then, when I did turn the computer back on, my oh my!  when I read all of those comments, I was weeping.  Man, I don't think I have ever felt such a sea of lovliness, in all the words you wrote.  You were completely right and it has bucked me right back up to feeling STRONG.

I've never really thought about the imperfections before but I do love the beauty in the flaws, it's just the whole being on show thing, a new and unknown experience that daunted me.  I don't think it has helped that my daughters have been home for the holidays the last two and a half weeks either, I felt guilty sitting there sewing the whole time.

So back with the positive stuff, the pics above and below are from the first quilt I have made, I really wanted something to show off all the little goings on in the fabric, so I created blocks made up of lots of fun little details.  I tried to make a quilt that was very me in style.  The same kind of thing I would make if I wasn't going to market but just making a quilt for my daughters.  They of course love it.

So as well as the wonky playful quilt style, take a little look at the corner of the backing.  Yep, I cut out a corner of the fabric to test for quilting tension and then didn't notice whilst sandwiching, basting and quilting that all was not ok.  A quick dose of botch up surgery fixing made it all as if it never happened.

No-one will ever know ;)

The calm before the storm

Yesterdays 'break' was particularly good for me, I needed to stop the stitching marathon.

I am in the mood to talk a little honestly today and perhaps negatively too (sorry in advance).  These past two and a bit years that I have been quilting, I have been pretty happy with the results, I sew with fabric I love and all the quilts I have made are used - a lot.

But the past two weeks whilst I have been very happy with the projects I have made, I have developed a blushing fear of impending scrutiny.

Let me explain,

This is my front room, all my quilts are made in their entirety here.

See that little coffee table? that is where all my cutting, stitching, squaring up etc. is done.

This patch of carpet is the scene to the right of the photo above.  This is both my design wall and where I baste every quilt I make.  Carpet is not ideal for successful basting but it's all I have (I am sure it is the same sitch for many of you too?).  My quilts are never perfectly basted or quilted.

Machine quilting on a coffee table is not easy option either but again I'm sure it is the same for a lot of people.

Normally all this would not bother me.  At all. But I've been looking at the quilts I just made and am feeling the impending doom of panic at the thought of the laughibility of the not very lined up blocks and the straight line grid quilting that is more than a little wonky.  I actually took some photo's to show today and while I would be more than happy to show them on my blog under normal circumstances I chickened out in doing so because in a couple of weeks they are going to be hanging up at market and I'm already hoping the flaws will magically disappear or at least not be as bad as I'm thinking.

So today is a chicken out post, maybe I have just been sewing too much and am making trucks out of bicycles, hopefully I will take a deep breath and be able to show you tommorow.

 

little apples pre-cuts

I don't think I have ever sewed as much as I have these past two weeks.

Been getting some quilts and other stuff ready for my little corner of the Moda booth.  Quite how I have managed to sew with both girls at home for the holidays and possibly the hottest Easter break I can ever remember I don't know.

I need a break before I actually break, so I'm taking a little time to show you a first glimpse of the precuts for the new line.  The layer cake above has already been made into a quilt(!) the top print you can see is the lead design this time 'round and round' in lollipop.

There's the charm packs,

Jelly rolls,

Fat quarter packs and all new super cutie patootie fat eighth stacks! (my girls call these mother and baby).

If you are going to sample spree at quilt market (I think this is on Thursday?) or know someone who is, a little heads up for you - you will be allowed to pick up one of each of the fat 1/4 and fat 1/8 stacks (ie. both).

Time to take my seat back at the machine, I'm hoping to share some of my projects with you this week as well as a little story with a royal twist on Friday.

Hope you are all enjoying some sunshine wherever you are, catch a few rays for me please. 

little apples!!!!!!!!!!!

May I introduce to you a peek at my new fabric line with Moda?

Without further ado, a look at the collection,

 

'Little Apples' is what I came up with when I was asked to design a collection for fall.  I took the idea of fall literally and came up with a group around this theme, kind of interpreted through the eyes of children.  So we have kids playing games in the park, apple trees, tortoises talking to snails, autumn outfits and a few simple fun co-ordinates to go with.  

You might also reconize the dancing quartet???

It's a much bolder and more graphic look than 'sherbet pips' with a strong bright colour story.  I've been doing a little sewing with 'the apples' over the last few days and they are FUN prints to play with.

This group will debut at quilt market next month and goes on sale in the fall.

So what do you think??

Got any room left in your stash for a few of the 'little apples'????????

As always, I would love to know your thoughts??????

A grand total of one

That is the total number of crazy scrappy quilt a long blocks I managed to sew last week.  I'm hoping some of you are going to tell me you did better?

In my defence, your right honourable honours, I have been 

1. Sewing lots for market (pics of which I'll be showing this week).

2. doing a little bit of this,

3. trying to pretend the sunshine ain't happenin' outside.  Pretty hard when your garden looks like this,

Ok there's no actual sunshine in this pic but there are forsythia's, spanish bluebells and little pea shoots.

So how are you getting along with your own scrappy quilt blocks???

Don't forget there will be a giveaway of a big bag of cherry picked scraps happening soon (after Quilt Market), open to anyone paricipating in the quilt a long (which gives you plenty of time to get working on those blocks).

A little hint : There just might be a few very exciting pics to come this week, so keep watching.

crazy scrappy block tutorial and a maybe quilt a long

Last week I decided I needed to start something new to keep my overflowing scrap box in order and there would no better way to do it than to start another crazy scrappy quilt.

I first started making these blocks here and here then wrote up a pattern for the first ever issue of Fat Quarterly - a version with a single gigantic block called the Bedtme story quilt.

The best thing about this quilt is it uses up all types of scrap shapes from squares to strips to triangles. No scrap is too scrappy for this quilt!

This time I'm hoping to make a much larger version with at least 20 - 30 blocks (that's how bad the scrap sitch is).

What I want to know is, do you want to join me????????

Below is the tute for making the basic block, along with a button if you care to wear it on your blog.  As an added incentive for you to get scrapping with me, I'll be holding a yummy-super-scraptastic giveaway!!!!!!!!! in a few weeks time open to all who are participating.

 

Crazy Scrappy block tute

 

For my quilt, I'll be making 11" blocks with each block using shades of one colour only, so if you want to do the same first sort your scraps according to colour.

To make your block, select a fabric for the centre, this piece needs to have 5 sides, so slice off a couple of corners if necessary.

Starting with any side you please, find a scrap that measures slightly longer than the side and stitch the two pieces together.  

We will be working around the block clockwise, so trim the excess from the next edge along in that direction, in the above case this is the bottom edge.

Continue working around clockwise in a log cabin kind of style, trimming and adding as you go.  I press my seams open after each addition to keep things as flat and neat as possible.

To stop your corners becoming too square as you go round, occasionally chop them off.  This keeps everything nice and vortex like which is what makes this block look different to the log cabin style.

It's also good to throw in pieced strips now and again, this will up the scrapilisciousness as well as bust down that scrap pile.

An 11" square ruler (if such a thing exists) would be great here but I don't have one, so I just keep going until my block is at least 11" square all around and then trim.

When you have finished your block, make another!

Then another!

I promise these are very addictive!

So the question is,

care to join me????

Button Code

<p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/comfortstitching/2011/04/crazy-scrappy-block-tutorial-and-a-maybe-quilt-a-long.html" target="_blank"><img style="width: 200px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Button" src="http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/.a/6a010536fd6c85970c014e87663b14970d-200wi" alt="Button" /></a></p>

Sherbet pips is now shipping!!!!

Thank you so much for all the fabric love for the peek at my new line, I am honestly floored with the response :)

Meanwhile, the pips are now all on a ship coming to a store near you soon!!!

In a bid to free up my inbox from the deluge of requests on where to buy, I put out a call here on the blog a few days ago for store owners carrying the entire line to get in touch, as this is currently the most FAQ put to me.  Below, I have listed all the responses I got.  This is by no means a complete list!  

If you are a store owner not listed below, you are more than welcome to leave a comment below and I will add you to the list, please include your location and a direct link to the sherbet pips page on your site in your comment.

 

Where to buy Sherbet Pips

Fresh squeezed fabrics

Fat quarter shop

Wondrous wovens - Cathy is also selling a kit for the quilt below.

Strawberry patches 

The calico house - no website - email or phone for ordering details

Honey bee humble 

Sweet pea fabrics

Sew mama sew 

Pink chalk fabrics

The quilted castle - has yardage, precuts and the bella solids below

Crazy quilt girl fabric shop 

Fort worth fabric studio

Harts fabric

Kelani Fabrics - Melbourne, Australia

Web fabrics

wish upon a quilt 

Suppose quilt boutique

Olive juice quilts - no website but happy to ship

Greenwood quiltery - online shop based in Ontario, Canada

Ray-stitch - New Uk online store

The little fabric store - UK store, pips arrive in May

Sew me happy - UK shop, pips arrive in May

 

Bella solids that co-ordinate with Sherbet pips

bleached white (990097) - this is the solid I used in my pickledish quilt

white bleached (990098) - this one is a bright white

gray (99083) - this is the solid I used in my comic strip quilt

scarlet (990047)

30's pink (990027) - matches the darker pink in the line

baby pink (990030) - matches the light pink

 

You can find a free pattern download of the snowball stripe quilt I designed for market here.  You can also buy a kit for making this quilt at wondrous wovens.

I would love to see any finished versions of the above quilt in my flickr group!

I would also love to hear if you have ordered your pips yet and what you all plan to make?  From what I hear it is selling pretty quick so please don't delay.

Happy shopping!!!

new fabric peek!!!!!!

Introducing 'little apples' - my newest fabric line for Moda.

This one will be premiering at Spring Market and I will be there too for my first ever market experience (eep!).

I'm so so excited to share with you this first little peeky, there will be more, much much more to come (including all the little stories behind the characters) but for now I just hope you all like what you see and would love to hear what you are thinking.

Are you as excited as me???!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

little superstar quilt top

I've had the pedal to the metal all last week stitching up this star top. I used the wonky star tutorial here but instead of giving my stars wonky points I did even ones.  I added the wonkiness when I placed the blocks into my quilt instead (does that make sense?), just to ring those ch-ch-changes.

I'm liking how the colours played out in this one, it started out as a *****massy quilt but I think it turned out with a bit more year round useability than I thought it might.

Fabrics used include some from Bliss, pips, flurry, city weekend, fa la la la la as well as some robins egg and christmas red bella solids.  Top finished up at 40" x 57" (star blocks were 6 1/2" before sashing, blocks were made from 2 1/2" squares).

BTW - did you know it is now only a week or so until stores start to receive Sherbet pips yardage??????  Eeeek!!

Calling all Shop Owners and eagle eyed shoppers!!!!!!!!

I am getting a ton of requests asking which stores are carrying the entire line of prints so if you are a store owner or know of one who is please let me know.