comfortstitching

last minute packing

Still here, still thinking up new essentials that must be packed.

Firstly the solution to the problem of what to use in lieu of scissors on the plane (for the record, I had to dispense of a really good pair a few years ago whilst going through airport security, so getting this sorted is important to me).  Cue a special thread cutting tool, sent to me by the packing solutions whizz that is Katy.  Perfect.

and just in case.......a back up pair of super small scissors I found nestling in this travel sewing kit I got from last market.  Between these two I think my cutting issues are safely taken care of. Tick.

What to do on the plane apart from teaching crochet.  It's been a while since I tackled any new embroidery, so I've sketched out a few festive images to keep myself busy (and couldn't resist starting stitching whilst I was supposed to be packing....).

Proper old fashioned travel sweets in a tin to stop our ears popping on the plane.  V. important.

And finally, I spent a good hour yesterday stitching up this shower cap cos I'm too lazy to wash and style my hair everyday.

Actually, I upcycled the waterproof lining from my old shower cap cos the elastic had gone, so this was pretty straight forward to do.

BTW. if anyone knows of a good online source for buying waterproof lining, PLEASE let me know, I've been looking for a while and can't seem to find any.

Two more quick notes before I go,

Thank you for all your comments about the travel needlecase/zip pouches :))) I will certainly get a tutorial up for them when I return.

I'm closing my Etsy shop later today (in a few hours), I'll re-open in a weeks time so if you need anything now you know what to do.

Many thanks for all the well wishes for market, I don't actually have a booth this time but if you are going to be there I will in attendance in the Moda booth so stop by and say hi!!  No market updates from me until I return, so I will see you in a weeks time.

Eeeeeeek that seems like a long time in blogland!!!!!!!!  Have fun!

take it away

Today, I finally started packing for my imminent trip to market.  The clothes bit didn't take too long - 3 pairs of very similar jeans, 5 cardigans, a handful of tops and a pair of boots or thereabouts - The most important bit I have to consider is what I should take with me to pass the time for the 10 hour flight.  This involves taking lots of pretty stitched bags crammed with stitchy goodies, although no scissors and only short needles are allowed on the plane so you can see why this takes a bit of thinking and preperation beforehand.  

Thankfully I am travelling in the company of Katy and Lu on this trip and for some reason or other they have decided I am some kind of crochet whizz kid and asked me to teach them the art of the granny square, you can see a little yarn and a crochet hook peeking out of the pouch above right.  The cute little hexagon pouch is what I always use to house my camera when I'm out and about and I have Katy to thank for stitching up this little beauty for me.  On the bottom right you can see the clutch I made earlier this year and use all the time on account of it's many handy compartments inside, pattern can be found here.

I'm also taking this handy tote bag again too, theres lots of pockets inside and out and its just a handy size, I used the tote bag pattern from Cath Kidston's book 'Sew' to stitch this up.

These are a couple of handy pouches that will hold some embroidery and hexagon bitty bobs to keep me happily stitching between take off and landing.

I whipped up these cute drawstring bags the other day using Jeni's pattern which is very well explained and super easy to follow.  I need to make lots more of these, perhaps a little red one next?

I also had a go at making some handy needle book's, I made up my own pattern and included a zip pouch at the front to add even more stuff.

Very handy, inside...

and out!!

sugar drop

Introducing my 'sugar drop' quilt pattern.

I've had this pattern dancing around in my head doing the twist for months now, I almost made it from 'Little Apples' (perhaps I still shall) but I'm glad I hung on for the new line as I'm hugely delighted with the way it turned out.

I promise the piecing is not at all as wonky as it appears above but it's obvious I can't take a straight on quilt photo to save my life!

Quilt pattern is available here (or it will be as soon as I've listed it) listed!

All sugar, no calories!

a walk in the woods precuts and a giveaway

Today I thought that you might to take a little peeky at the pre-cuts for my new line 'a walk in the woods'.

You can possibly expect a limited amount of these to go on sale around December before the full launch which will be March of next year.  So if you want to get a hold of some early keep those eyes peeled.

There will be the fat quarter and fat eighth bundles,

the charm packs,

and of course the jelly rolls and layer cakes.

So if right now you are thinking do I really have to wait a couple of months?  The short answer is perhaps not!!  I've decided to run a little giveaway BUT it is going to be run slightly differently to previous giveaways I've done.  I'm doing it this way in order to give my regular blog readers the highest chance of winning.

The prize will be a brand new layer cake of 'a walk in the woods'

How it will work - This giveaway is going to be open for around about a month.  You will have a chance to enter everytime I write a new blog post between now and then by commenting on that days post. So you can enter just once or comment again on subsequent posts to increase your chances, comments must relate in some way to the content of that days post to qualify.  

The prize winner will be drawn in a months time, I will use the random number generator to randomly select a post and then randomly select one of the comments on that post to choose the winner.

I hope that sounds easy enough?!

Good luck!!!!

***The comments to this entry are now closed.  To enter the giveaway read details above.

no excuse not to be busy

Three reasons that mean you have no excuse to be busy this week,

I have finally got around to making up a pattern for my girl on a bicycle embroidery.  This pattern originally appeared in the July 2010 issue of UK magazine SewHip.  You can find the pattern here.

If however you like your patterns to be of the free kind, you just might be interested in taking a look at my tutorial for making a zig zaggy blanket like the one below.  This tute has now been re-added to my tutorials page.

Finally, I'm also adding the pdf for making this cutie little pillow.  This project was dreamed up and made by the awesome-ly skilled hands of Debbie Duckworth at Moda, based on my embroidery of the girl from my round and round pattern.  The pillow is an excellent way to use up a handful of 2 1/2" squares.  

 

With Christmas creeping up around the corner (can you see it already, sneakily hiding right behind Halloween???) you just might know the perfect little girl who would appreciate one of these decorating her bed??????

Download Little apples pillow

There you go, three perfect reasons not to have an excuse to not be busy!

checkerboard star

With my sewing machine out of action for the next few days (new foot pedal now in the post), I took the opportunity to enjoy a little snap happy time with my camera instead.

(The mouse and bunny above are projects from Handmade Felt by Kata Golda, I made mine a lot smaller than those in the book though)

This little quilt come floor rug was started eons ago, with the last leg of hand quilting the thing taking forever and more to do.

The rug is composed of a single gigantic star block with a checkboard 16 patch at it's centre.  I kept the colours to blue and blue-y pink and picked co-ordinating fabrics from my Sherbet Pips - dogs, square dots, play dots and scarf stripes!

The central block was inspired totally by these quilt a long blocks.

This is going to live exactly here in my daughters's room, precisely the same distance from each bed, in reaching distance of both sets of small feet when getting up for brekfast.  Full equality is always necessary.

Getting a bit pink in here isn't it?

the handquilting part was done using aurifil wool thread, slow but beautifully enjoyable to do of an evening.

Also been doing a bit of plotting and planning as to what colours I need next.

Am I alone in thinking colour cards are dangerous things to have around???

why thank you pfaff

These last few weeks have seen me spending a lot of time hanging out in the woods (in the fabric sense of the word).

And now with Houston quilt market just 2 weeks away, as I head towards the finishing sprint of my woodland sewing marathon..........

the foot pedal of my sewing machine has decided to stop working.  

(((((((sigh)))))))))

and DRAT.  I haven't got the time to pfaff about.

This is going to be fun with a capital F.

In other news I would like to sincerely say thank you!! to everyone who offered up their opinion on the content of my last post.  My daughter was very happy highly vindicated and pretty well smug (and rightly so!) to the final score of 65 (to save) versus 0 (to bin).

It's a good job raggedy rag blankie is still around, I have a feeling I might be using it myself today.....

welcome home

On Friday we welcomed back a long gone traveller.................my 'fancy' quilt!

Missed by some more than others (see photo above).

I made this quilt back in April for my eldest daughter, telling her it would be hers as soon as market was over.  Only it didn't end up coming straight back home with the other goodies but went travelling around on a non-stop trade show party extravaganza instead (there's work to be done, even if you are a quilt).

And now at last it has come home to retire to a life of........

something to snuggle up in (again, see photo above) technicolour dreamcoat style,

a comfy place to rest on whilst doing your homework,

and of course, keeping a certain young lady's bed warm, day and night.

Quilt pattern here

There is but just one thing to add to this post, the small matter of the raggedy rag blanket my eleven year old daughter loving-ly refers to as her na-na.  

Everytime my daughter asks for a new quilt, I say yes on the pretext that she finally throws her long beloved (raggedy rag thing) blankie in the bin.

Can you guess if this has actually happened yet?

If you said 'no' I'll give you a clue, you might be right.

Here's a closer look so you can see how ragged those edges really are.

So.  Today's question is.....should I put raggedy rag blankie in the bin one day when she is not looking (ie. at school)???????

After all she has got several quilts out of promising to do so and she has only had it since she was about 2 months old but really the thing is falling to bits and she will never be short of blankets.......

a walk in the woods

Introducing 'a walk in the woods', my third line for Moda and very quite possibly my most one favourite yet.

The main print in this group was inspired by this little embroidery of mine which was stitched up a couple of years ago.  I developed this into a story book-ish theme with little foxes, bluebirds and a few mushrooms as well as some simple geometric coordinates to compliment the collection.

This group premiers at Houston Quilt Market at the end of this month and yardage goes on sale in March.

You might not know this but it's a very nerve wracking day for me when I show you something new so I really hope you like what you see???????????

falling

Today, I am

Not feeling very wordy,

loving the warm orange-y glow the sun is casting over my photo's,

thinking of Halloween,

dreaming of witches (pattern from here)

and spiders (free pattern here)

stitching dresden plates

and eating Nice biscuits with my tea while watching 'Houseboat'

Now it's your turn -

What are you up to today????????