I've been dreaming of sewing up a lone star for a good while now, I thought I would start slowly with a pillow version first but this block ended up far too big.  Whilst I decide what I'm going to do with it, I've hung it up on my new pinboard to add a hit of colour to my sewing room walls.  I'm kind of just liking it as decor..

I also basted up my Meow quilt at last, I got the urge to do it right before I started on dinner last night so I did what any right thinking quilter would do.  I ran up and down the stairs cooking and basting at the same time.  Dinner got cooked, quilt got basted and I got myself some good excercise.  Win win win!

Today, I started quilting it.  I'm going for all over flowers, inspired by the amazing Angela Walters Free Motion quilting book. They are going really well but they are not going to quilt themselves so I suppose I better get back to it!

I somehow made this quilt block completely by accident.  I was piecing up a different idea for a quilt and clumsily sewed it up in the wrong order.  It didn't look the way it was supposed to look but I kind of liked it more than I would've liked whatever it was I was trying to stitch up.  

I love accidental quilt blocks.

So that is where the magic in the name comes from.  And stars because the patched up blocks turned into stars (more magic).  I also really liked that this is another one of those multi layered patterns - there's the star pattern, a trellis pattern and a four patch type thing going on all at the same time.

More is always better than one.

If you are interested in finding out more and discovering the magic for yourself, the pattern is now available here.  The piecing is very easy, it is not put together the way you might think.  There are no templates or any paper piecing involved, it's all super straight forward :)

Fabrics are again a mix from Sherbet Pips, Little Apples, A Walk In The Woods, Sew Stitchy and Posy.  All designed by me for Moda.

I've wanted to make one of these frame coin purses for a couple of years.  I looked online for a tutorial and thought it looked too tricky for me but I kept on seeing other people making them.  So I convinced myself it couldn't be that hard.

Armed with fabric and glue and a little time on my hands I set to work and made two complete duds before I finally got to anything that remotely looked right.  The hard part is that you have to draft your own pattern to fit the frame you have.  The above trapezoid shape is the pattern draft that finally worked for me to create my purse. 

I used my Meadow fabric in Foxglove for the outer and some Ditsy in Geranium for the lining 

I think I might need to make a few more now, I'm pretty sure they could become addictive :)

Today I'm trying something new - blogging from my iPad. So if this post comes out a little odd that is why.
For the last couple of days I've had a little company at home in the form of my youngest daughter. She fell while running in the playground and has a nasty looking scrape down her side. It's been all doctors appointments, bandages and medical creams around here.
In between all of that fun stuff, I've been sitting next to her on the sofa, slowly hand stitching away on this hexagon panel. It's been a nice diversion from the fast machine kind of stitching. I love the look of those wonky little hand stitches. If only I wasn't quite so slow, I might even think of doing it more often. We'll see if I speed up.

Yesterday I got on with pin basting my Skip quilt.

I haven't free motion quilted a quilt for a long time now.  I keep meaning to try some different quilting designs and even bought Angela Walters'  Free Motion Quilting book last year to give me some idea's.  But every time I get to the quilting stage I chicken out of trying something new and go for easy styles that I go to time and time again.  And there's nothing wrong with that except I really really want to try branch out and get quilting more creatively. So that is how I came to quilting this one in Clamshells, using an idea from Angela's book.  

And despite feeling a little anxious I am really REALLY enjoying it.

I love how doodle-y they look, they fit perfectly with the playful nature of this quilt.  I am already three quarters done and can't wait to show you the finished quilt!

This is the other quilt I have been busy working on.  I wanted to make something that was quick and easy to put together but had a wonky playful feel.  It took me a few hours to sew up the blocks. I am dying to make it up in Hello Petal but the digital preview below will have to do for now.  December please hurry up and get here now...

This quilt started in my head several months back when I started to think about quilts I could make in my forthcoming line Hello Petal (especially with those Kitty Cat prints).  Once I got the idea of using the sillouhette of a cat face as the basis for a quilt block I couldn't wait to put one together.  I had never seen another cat quilt block but I am certain that many have been sewn over the years because cats and quilts go together like tea and sugar.

I made a few practise blocks, wrote up the pattern and lots of work deadlines got in the way until finally last week I was able to sew up the blocks.

As I don't have any Hello Petal fabric just yet I decided to make this quilt top from a mix of some of my other lines.  Mostly Sherbet Pips, Little Apples and Posy.  It's been fun to see how these lines combine with each other.

These blocks are simple to put together.  They involve only the most straight forward piecing, no tricky templates or paper piecing.  Their big size means they come together quickly and they are ideal for using even large scale prints.

The pattern is now on sale in my shop and is an instant download PDF so you can buy, download and start sewing straight away.

If you'd like to see how the quilt would look made up in Hello Petal the cover image below gives you an idea.  I will definitely be making another in December!

This is what I am up to today.  I've finally sliced up a little time out for myself and have been busy cutting and chopping up fabric.  Bliss.

I'm doing something I've been itching to get on with for a while.  Making a quilt (or two or three) using a mix of fabrics from all of my lines.

It's fun to see the fabrics all mingling and hanging out together, it will be interesting to see them in new combinations.

These two pictures are what I have been up to the last couple of days - making kitty blocks!  I thought up this idea a while back to make out of hello petal but since fabric is a long way off from arriving, I thought I'd make one up from my current fabrics for now.

I'm loving how the blocks are looking together, so much fun to make too!  More details coming soon.

So finally here is my newest forthcoming line for Moda fabrics - Hello Petal.

This one took forever to do, I took my time with the prints, colours and combinations.  Every time I thought I was done, I found something else that needed a little tweak.  But it was worth all of that detail because this one is my favourite line so far by miles.

Inspired by a little girl I know who wakes up every morning knowing today is going to be a good day because she can do handstands!  My littlest daughter has spent the last year handstanding her way to school (all one and a half miles of it).  Now that we have moved, she skips sometimes too, even with her school rucksack on her back she is fast and happy.

And those cats, originally a suggestion from Moda, my girls have long been suggesting I design cat fabric (it was that or get them a cat) so finally I caved.  Maybe I should listen to them some more?

Please note, this is not the entire line, there are 32 prints in all and I've tried to show as many as I can to give a good idea of the range.

Hello Petal will be shown to the shops next month (if you have a favourite store, now would be a really good time to start dropping hints).

The line will start shipping in December.  I know that is a long way off but the reason I am showing you design images rather than fabric is I won't get any of this fabric until then either :( so WE are all in the same boat (its going to be a long summer for me).

Any how, enough of me waffling, I would love to hear what you think???  Could Hello Petal find it's way on to your Christmas list???