Lilac Embroidery With Cosmo Floss

Last week we completed settlement for our new home (see my earlier post if you missed my news) so we are now in full sort-out and pack-up mode! My house is a sea of boxes so there is no time to sew, but whenever I get a brief break I escape to my sewing room - as the craft beast inside me demands to be fed! One small thing I managed to finish this week is this little embroidery of a lilac branch. When life is busy, I find working on small projects can be so satisfying and the best way to relieve stress.

This embroidery was inspired by an embroidery pattern I found on Pinterest, I added lots more French knots and lazy daisies, and also changed the leaves. The gorgeous embroidery floss is the new colour palette by Cosmo, and stupidly I forgot to write down the numbers of each skein before packing them away. When I unpack them at the other end I will update this post with the floss numbers so check back next week if you wanted to know.

I hope you enjoyed a little embroidery inspiration today! Right-O - time to get back to packing and stacking! 

Patchwork Quilt Along - Block 3

The third block in Fat Quarter Shop's annual charity quilt-along has just been revealed: it's called 'Box-in-a-box' and the pattern is now available on the FQS blog. In case you missed my first blog post - this is the quilt we are making!

You can either use your own fabrics, or order a quilt kit from Fat Quarter Shop if you would like to make the same quilt as above, featuring Bonnie & Camille Basics fabric.

This quilt along benefits Make-A-Wish. This fantastic organization grants the wishes of children diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition. The Patchwork quilt blocks are FREE to download on the 15th of every month on the Fat Quarter Shop blog, Jolly Jabber, starting today. We only ask a suggested donation of $5 to the Make-A-Wish campaign for each time you download a block pattern.

My pink, red and grey quilt is progressing well!  For this month's fabrics I used a selection of Bonnie & Camille prints.

 

I hope you like my blocks! You can also check out the quilts other guest bloggers are making by visiting their blogs, here's the full list:

Amanda from Jedi Craft Girl (@jedicraftgirl)
Amy of Diary of a Quilter (@diaryofaquilter)
Andy of A Bright Corner (@abrightcorner)
Bonnie of Cotton Way (@bonniecottonway)
Camille of Thimble Blossoms (@thimbleblossoms)
Debbie of Happy Little Cottage (@happylittlecottage1)
Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio (@greydogwoodstudio)
Heidi of Buttons and Butterflies (@buttonsandbutterflies)
Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)
Melissa of Oh How Sweet (@ohhowsweet)
Pat Sloan of PatSloan.com (@quilterpatsloan)
Renee of Sewn with Grace (@sewnwithgrace)
Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane (@downgrapevinelane)
Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)
Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)
Taunja of Carried Away Quilting (@taunjalynn)
Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset (@emilyannskloset)

If you are inspired and would like to join this quilt along, bookmark the quilt along page on the Fat Quarter Shop blog, and visit on the 15th of each month to download that month's block pattern. Easy peasy! You can share your progress with other quilters  in the Patchwork Facebook group and post your blocks using #patchworkquiltalong on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Enjoy!

Scrappy Project Planner Sew Along

Have you been following the Scrappy Project Planner sew-along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop? This is the final week so if you missed it here's the link to the FQS blog so you can catch up!

This planner was designed by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet and is literally all you need to get your quilty life organised! If you are anything like me you will have several WIPs on the go at any one time, so the project planner section is great to keep on top of it all and make sure nothing gets forgotten about. There is also a weekly planner (for your to-do lists), and 6 exclusive quilt patterns to sew.

I chose the 'Fat Quarter Flirt Quilt' pattern and decided to turn it into a tote bag (mainly because I didn't have enough time to make the full quilt!). Here's Lori's Flirt Quilt - it looks totally scrappy and random but consists of 6 different blocks laid out cleverly to make it look so.

I chose 'Block 3" from the pattern and made six of these for my tote bag. The fabric I used is 'Posy Garden' by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake Designs.

I then laid out the six blocks in two columns and three rows (arranged randomly), and sewed them together to make my bag outer. Then I followed this tutorial to construct the bag. And voila! It was such a quick and satisfying sew!

I'm so very proud of this project not only because I totally love the bag and will be using it every day, but it's also the very first bag I've ever made (not counting pouches). Yes, that's right. For some reason I've been utterly terrified of bags, their construction looks so bewildering but in actual fact it was easy peasy. Truly. I highly recommend the tutorial above if you are new to bags - it's a great introduction.

For the quilting, I used Aurifil Pink 2410 (50 wt), and my favourite fake-FMQ method: using the wavy line stitch on my Janome Horizon. I love that it looks like free motion quilting at first glance but you don't even need to mark any lines - just follow the previous wavy line with the edge of your walking foot. It's super quick.

And here's a page from my planner showing you a sneak peek of a new quilt pattern I will be releasing soon. Pattern testers, please apply within! (my awesome wood watch is from Jord Watches).

Before I go, I wanted to share some exciting news: we just bought a new house! It was totally meant to be - we weren't even looking for a new home - I was driving up this particular road one day and thinking to myself "What an amazing place to live, amongst all the vineyards" and 10 metres down came across this big 'for sale' sign! It was love at first sight for both me and hubby. Set amongst 8 acres, it has a large established fruit orchard, room for chickens and an awesome tree house for the kids, and last but not least I will be getting a bespoke sewing studio built in the garden. So much to do now for the move in a few weeks but we are all super excited about this new chapter in our lives!

Thank you for visiting!

A Free Pattern: 'Bolt' Mini Quilt + Riley Blake Giveaway!

As you know I have a real soft spot for mini-quilts, so much so that I wrote a book full of them! So when Caroline from Sew Can She invited me to come up with an exclusive design for her monthly mini-quilt series I jumped at the chance! I've been following Caroline for a long time so I was so happy to finally get the opportunity to collaborate.

I called this mini quilt 'Bolt', because of the white lightning bolt effect running down the middle. Caroline has made her own version too, which you gotta pop over to her blog to see - I love her choice of strong, bright colours, and the quilting of her mini is just divine.

The free pattern for this mini quilt is now available on Caroline's blog - click here to download. In the same blog post Caroline is also giving away a Confetti Cottons Vintage Crayola Rolie Polie, courtesy of Riley Blake - just the perfect fabrics to make this mini. Go enter! Good luck!