So I finally finished my Vintage Holiday quilt and I feel like celebrating.  This one came together so fast because those fabric baubles are just plain fun to piece up (I only started working  at a leisurely pace when it came to binding the thing).

Fabrics used are all from my Cherry Christmas line plus Moda Bella Solid in White Bleached.  I quilted it using my favourite la la loopy quilting.

Pattern is Vintage Holiday by Thimbleblossoms

So finally, after owning my machine - a pfaff QE 4.0 - for a little over three years.  Today I accidentally press a button and for some reason I notice it is finally quilting properly.  I look it up in the manual and it is the speed control button, it allows you to quilt at a slower, even speed.  Why did I never notice it before???

For the record, whenever I have done any quilting, the stitch size has always been fairly inconsistent, ranging from large to small stitches and now I have discovered the secret of getting them even.

They have never been this even!

The speed control button is the third button down on the left (it looks like a triangle slicing a circle in half) and it brings up the triangle with the jaggedy edge on the bottom left of the display screen.

I feel like such a dizzy divvy after all this time.

Have you ever accidentally stumbled across something you wish you'd known all along????  Please tell me I am not the only one who faux pas her way through this game??????

Am I really the last person to realise that Sew Stitchy precuts have officially gone on sale?  I thought there were a few more weeks to go but apparently not.  

If you are looking for an excuse to splash the cash on these, consider this important point.  At the Fat Quarterly retreat in June, there was a jelly roll race contest.  And the winning quilt top by Amanda was made from none other than a Sew Stitchy jelly roll :))))))))

So it's officially official - Sew Stitchy sews faster than other similar fabrics available.

Guaranteed (sort of).

Thank you for all of your sweet comments on the last post, I've did exactly nothing last week and let my to do list get dusty whilst I lazily la dee daahed on my sofa.  That and a couple of others things have completely perked me up for the coming week.

Other things being - Attending the London Modern Quilt Guild meeting yesterday, eating homemade biscuits and seeing not one but two versions of my Bloom quilt.  Charlotte's is above and was just jaw droppingingly lovely made all up from various Denyse Schmidt prints and appliqued onto a very pale blue background.  She decided to go the extra half mile and made a fifth ring of dresden petals (my version had just four) and made it a whopping 100" square.  She also hand quilted the entire thing. 

Kelly also has a Bloom in progress and is well on her way to getting those rings appliqued down.

Aren't these colours just wonderful together?

To top off my weekend, I got my copy of the special Christmas in July issue of Australian Homespun magazine.  I have an interview in this issue and was delighted to be described as an artisan on the cover!  There is also a seasonal embroidery pattern from me inside this copy, you can see it there in the bottom right hand corner.  Not just that but there is also a chance to win one of five copies of my book and an embroidered quilt journal.  Not bad!

Let's just hope the rest of the week continues in the same way :)

Edited to add - Bloom quilt pattern is now available again and can be found here.