comfortstitching

a bedroom in dresden

Thank you so much for all of your support both in the comments and by email to my last post :) and a big thank you too to my first sponsors now snuggled up right there on the top right.  Things are feeling a little lighter now and I have you all to thank for that.

For today's post we are returning to a favourite quilt block destination of mine -

The dresden plate.  I will never tire of playing around with those petals or blades or whatever you like to call them.  I made these projects just over a year ago for a book submission and despite having got them back about a month ago, they have been sitting around all folded up on my nice little quilt shelf, waiting (and waiting).

But no more.

This little number has been placed lovingly onto the bedside table of my daughters - it'll no doubt soon be smothered in hair bobbles and lip balm (so this might one day be a 'before' photo).

And this is the 'sister' to the table cover - a quilted floor rug  (which also makes a mighty fine wall hanging or baby quilt).

Here are my feet, testing out the performance quality of that rug-ability for my daughters. 

Let's just hope they notice the home dec updates when they got home.

The patterns for both these projects are available in the new Moda Bakeshop Book - Sweet Celebrations (along with a boatload of other good stuff it has to be said)

If you live in the UK, you can buy a signed by me copy here.

And if you happen to be in the US - look no further than right here.

quilting modern televisions

During my self emposed sewing exile last week, my sole 'activity' seemed to centre around the watching of the television.  I watched lots including many episodes of Miss Marple - oohing and ahhing over the chocolate box village -y murderous glory.  I also took time out to view some of my favourite film discoveries - these include,

Love with the proper stranger - Steve Mcqueen playing neither cowboy nor thug but as romantic lead in a kind of comedy (if you've never seen this, go seek it out).

It started in naples - Sopia Loren at her nonchalent comidienne best.

Killing bono - Unreasonably optimistic yet fairly talentless musician living in the shadow of Ireland's greatest rock band.

* please forgive my scarily weak descriptions.

With all the 'activity' of the above, it was only a matter of time before I yawned my way out of my tiredness and headed back to the Pfaff to stitch....

Televisions!!!

Inspired by the marvellous Mod T.V. quilt pattern from the book Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen, I decided to dip my toe back gently into sewing waters and make a pillow version.

I used blues and a few greens from across all my fabric lines, everything was scraps including all the white fabric.  I also quilted it exactly like the quilting in the book and also borrowed the idea of using a dark medium blue for the binding.

I think this fella is my favourite fabric television.

And like all good tv programs - I'm already dreaming up the sequel.

Stay tuned ;)

with fabric and thread

If there is one thing I have a teeny addiction for (apart from fabric) it has to be a quilting/sewing book.  I have a habit and my bookshelf always has the appetite to squeeze in just one more.

When I find a book about BOTH quilting and sewing projects in it,  I always have to look twice and pay a little more attention to the contents than usual because this is my ideal kind of book candy.  With Fabric and Thread is the new book by Joanna Figueroa, the wonderfully talented and charming lady behind Fig tree and co.  Joanna is a very seasoned pattern writer and someone whose expertise I trust because of that, in other words, this is someone who knows their quilty sewing onions.  

This book is full of delightful projects I want to make space for in my house, including floor mats woven from fabric strips and cute quilty slipper booties (my daughters already have both their orders in for a pair),

Then there's the scallop edged placemats (and pillows) - truly this book is home-y sewing heaven.

One thing I really love about the contents is - this is a book with VARIATIONS!  There are variations on everything in it.  The quilt above comes with instructions for three different looks with different placement and colour feels.  There is a whole chapter that gives both a quilted and sewn variations of the same project, so there is plenty of choice and possiblity (I love both those words) here.

A little FYI  I really want to emphasize - this book comes with a template folder as thick as the book itself.  All templates are full size and printed on one side of the paper only, which means no printing off first, just cut and use and reuse to your hearts content.

Ok, back to my copy and fabric and deciding exactly what to make first.

 

words and pictures

Ive been pondering lately, thinking about why I still buy craft books when there is so much available on line for free.  I love me a good crafty book - a couple of hundred pages of 'I could make that' inspiration bound in a tempting 'buy me now' cover and speckled with ' you could make me this aftenoon' photos.

Who can say no?  

Ive been craft book addicted ever since I've had my own cash to spend.  I started out my habit when both my daughters were very young and a lot of time was spent changing nappies and feeding and toilet training and going to the doctors. Lots of time was spent going to the doctors, far too much.  The doctors surgery I frequented however was situated very neatly across the street from the library.  And it became a ritual for me to 'reward' myself a treat for all those hours spent attending to the needs of my daughters - a visit to the world of books where I could flip through the pages and dream about other peoples lives, people who had time to cook, to garden and to sit around making things out of pretty fabric.  It became customary for me to visit the library every time I passed it.  I would never knowingly leave without at least 8 books nestled neatly in the handy storage area at the bottom of my daughters pram/buggy/stroller.  My daughters benefited too as they always came home with a selection of childrens books, which they delighted in reading and playing with whilst I put the kettle on and my feet up (in that order) and read my books and looked at the pictures and dreamed of all these other lives I could have led. All the dreamy gardens that would one day be mine, all the delicious dishes I would one day cook and all the fabric-y things I would one day make.

Time has moved on and with my daughters tucked out of sight in school for a large chunk of the day combined with a lack of visits to the doctors.  I now have to satisfy my book cravings by purchasing them instead.  Which is no hardship with the world of Amazon at the beck of my fingertips.  I am careful with my purchases though, alot of time is spent on research, mostly in the 'look inside' chamber.  It is a rare purchase these days for me that doesn't begin with a scroll down in the 'look inside' chamber.

It is an odd thing that I rarely make stuff from the books I purchase but I think books can also act as a spring board for putting yourself into a creative mindset where your own idea's take hold to suit your own needs.  That is how it seems to work for me.  The books in these pictures are just some of my favourites that I return to again and again to flick through with a cup of tea in one hand and my sewing machine just out of reach of the other.  I like the feeling of looking at something and thinking 'I could make this right now if I wanted to'.  I might not go ahead and make it but the choice is mine.

It's not just new books that tempt me either.  Both of the above are highly recommended by me and are titles I return to again and again.

And all good book habits deserve a pretty quirky bookmark.  This one was made from the project in  Zakka Style.

What are your favourite craft, quilting, patchwork or embroidery books? any you are looking forward to coming out??  I'd love to know.  Need to keep this habit of mine ticking over.