Diary in Stitches Book Tour

My friend and fellow Riley Blake fabric designer Minki Kim has released a new book called Diary in Stitches - and it cannot be more adorable!

Minki specialises in 'sewing illustration', also known as drawing with thread - in her new book she has turned 65 of her sketchbook drawings into charming motifs for us to stitch! As I was flicking my way through the book I was going 'oooh' and 'aaah' the whole time - it was hard to pick just one project to stitch, but this cute little girl motif really jumped out at me as it reminded me of my Alice. Her most beloved toy is a soft bunny and she often wears her hair like this! I prepared the motif and then surrounded it with a floral patchwork frame. The fabrics I used in this project are from my Summer Blush range, with a couple of prints thrown in from my previous collection, Sweet Prairie. These two collections work together ever so well.

I also made myself a sweet little bookmark as my old one has gone a bit tatty, and I just needed an excuse to make one more thing from the book. Love these colours together! The front fabrics are Liberty Tana Lawn and the backing is an Art Gallery print by Maureen Cracknell.

If you are tempted to order this book, I strongly urge you to consider getting the e-book version. Now, I'm a total traditionalist when it comes to books - I like the pleasure of flicking through real pages, none of that Kindle stuff for me. However the publishers sent me an e-book for this tour and I gotta admit, it was fantastically handy as  it's so much easier to just pick the template you need and print that single page, no tracing required! If ever there was a book worth having in PDF, this is it!

Here's the full schedule of the whole tour if you want to check out more projects - it's quite a line up of talented sewists:

Aug 30,   C&T, C&T Publishing Blog  @ctpublishing
Sep 6,  Elise Bae, Elise and Emelie  @eliseandemelie 
Sep 13,  Sharon Burgess,Lilabelle Lane Creations   @lilabellane
Sep 20,  Lauren Wright, Molly and Mama @mollyandmama
Sep 27,  Sedef Imer, Down Grapevine Lane  @downgrapevinelane
Oct 1, Love Patchwork & Quilting, Love PAtchwork & Quilting @lovequiltingmag
Oct 4,  Kristyne Czepuryk, Pretty by Hand  @prettybyhand
Oct 11, Bev McCullogh, FlamingoToes  @flamingotoes
Oct 18, Olivia, This Handmade Life,  @thishandmadelife
Oct 25, Erin Simpson, Aurifil, @aurifilthread
Nov 1,  Ayda Algin,  Cafenohut  @cafenohut
Nov 8, Bernina USA, WeAllSew  @berninausa
Nov 15, Minki Kim, MinkiKim, @zeriano

Finally, there is a GIVEAWAY running on my Instagram to win an e-book copy of Diary in Stitches, so head over there now to enter! Good luck!

Summer Blush Blog Tour - Week 4

We are concluding the Summer Blush blog tour today with a final share from me! I'm a few days late so please forgive me - it's been a very busy week on the home front. A whirlwind of social engagements, kids' birthday parties, and general spring cleaning and work on our farm has been keeping us all super busy.

I was overwhelmed with a sudden urge to do some English paper piecing last week. I don't have the stamina to attempt a full EPP quilt (yet) so I decided to keep it small and make a cushion. I used 1.5" hexie papers and to make the diamond papers I just sliced some hexies across two diagonals.

I hand quilted the cushion front - as I think EPP and hand quilting go together so perfectly for that vintage feel. Making this cushion didn't take long at all - just a few hours of relaxing hand sewing in fact.

I gotta say, I'm really enjoying sewing with Summer Blush at the minute - the colours are so happy and I love playing with the pretty florals! I have a present for you too - I prepared a free printable containing some gift cards and tags. I often find myself in need of a 'thank you' card or a gift tag at very short notice - so voila, I can now just print a pretty one in a jiffy!

You can download the PDF for the free printable here. Enjoy!

Summer Blush Blog Tour - Week 3

This week's featured maker on the Summer Blush blog tour is Christopher Thompson from The Tattooed Quilter! As well as being a fabric designer himself Christopher is a supremely talented quilter - he has a uniquely modern style and I especially love his unusual colour combinations. I saw a sneak peek of what he was making for the tour last week - it's SO not me, but I simply LOVE what he made - I can't explain it! It's really good that every now and then someone comes along and pushes the boundaries of what we consider pretty!

Christopher challenged himself to think of a traditional quilt block that could be updated to look modern - the tulip block was a great choice! These are foundation paper pieced blocks and come in three different sizes. Unfortunately Christopher ran out of background fabric but this will be a fabulous quilt when finished! I just love the way Summer Blush has been paired up with that brushed green background from Riley Blake's Shades range - it takes the collection to a whole new place.

For his blog tour entry Christopher used a couple of the tulip blocks and paired them with oversized flying geese to make this simple but stunning table runner. I love the bow effect in the middle! And I can just imagine how this delicious brunch would have been enjoyed once the photos were taken.

Thank you Christopher for taking part! We will conclude the tour this weekend when I will be sharing one of my own projects as well as some freebies. Thanks for visiting today!

Aug 31 - Saija Kiiskinen, Pomada, @saija_elina
Sep 7 - Beverly McCullough, Flamingo Toes, @flamingotoes
Sep 14 - Christopher Thompson, The Tattooed Quilter, @the_tattooed_quilter
Sep 21 - Sedef Imer, Down Grapevine Lane, @downgrapevinelane 

New Quilt Patterns

I've just released two new quilt patterns featuring my Summer Blush range! They are both available in digital PDF format in my shop - paper versions will be available from next week.

The first quilt is called 'Summer Stroll' and measures 55" x 57". It's a traditionally pieced modern quilt featuring half rectangle triangles. You can get the pattern here.

My second new pattern is called 'Blushing Blooms', measuring 64" x 68". It's traditionally pieced featuring half square triangles and circular appliques for the flower buds. You can get this pattern here.

I hope you like my new patterns! I've been quite blown away by the love they received when I shared them on Instagram a few days ago. Wholesale order enquiries for both patterns can be directed to my distributors Creative Abundance. Please email me if you would like more info!

Summer Blush Blog Tour - Week 2

It's week two of the Summer Blush blog tour and today's featured artist is my fellow Riley Blake designer Bev from Flamingo Toes. Bev came up with a brand new quilt pattern to show off the fabrics and I can't be more in love with it! Her photos are absolutely stunning too.

The pattern is called 'Stacking Stars' and is a 10" stacker (aka layer cake) friendly pattern - you can purchase the PDF in Bev's shop. The beautiful long arm quilting was done by Julie's Longarm Quilting Service in Nashville, USA.

Thank you so much Bev for taking part! Here's the blog tour schedule so you can see who else is sewing with Summer Blush - I'll be sharing some of my own makes as well as a freebie (or two!) on the last day of the tour!

Aug 31 - Saija Kiiskinen, Pomada, @saija_elina
Sep 7 - Beverly McCullough, Flamingo Toes, @flamingotoes
Sep 14 - Christopher Thompson, The Tattooed Quilter, @the_tattooed_quilter
Sep 21 - Sedef Imer, Down Grapevine Lane, @downgrapevinelane 

Thank you for visiting and have a lovely day!