Space dust

Way back in the summer at the Fat Quarterly retreat, Kelly asked me to quilt her Tula Pink Spacedust quilt. 

The brief ... do whatever you think on it! 

so it sat, for a while, and I quilted others ahead of it,

and I hung it in the studio for a while so it could inspire me ...

and I knew what I was going to do in the background, 

and then I started quilting it ...

and it just sort of happened, 

and the back

Kelly has a done a beautiful post about her quilt here, so please go take a read,

if you are ever not sure about a quilt, sometimes taking a leap ... and handing over the reigns to someone else can be just the ticket to bring your focus back to why you loved it in the first place.  

Thank you Kelly for placing your trust in me.  

Secret Santa!

It's quite the tradition in the Brit Bee for us to do Secret Santa, 

and this year was no exception!  

We even had a plan, each of us to make a cushion cover, our choices and preference declared, Christmas themed or not, the stitching began.

This is what I opened on Christmas Day ..

its hard to see, but it has matchstick quilting all over it, 

its truly stunning!

Thank You Ms Santa, I'm still pondering your identity!

I love it!

edited:  Thank You Katy!

and because she already knows, this is what I sent ...

Up north!

I hope your Christmas was filled with many surprises, 

much happiness and merriment, 

and some quality family time.

xx

Baby Secrets

no, stop those thoughts right now!

Not those sort of baby secrets, 

but these ...

secret packages being sent from friend to friend ... 

quilting, and binding

and present giving to Ceri, at the Brit Bee Social...

(Susan, I borrowed your photo's - thank you x)

Susan's blog post all about our day out to Laulli's is here

and this is the lovely Harriet with her new quilt

(picture borrowed from Ceri's IG feed - thanks Lovely!)

so you see, these little secrets have been happening a lot lately!

then there was one for Sarah too!

Celebrating Bean with a baby shower, organised by Rhonda!

Oh my, the wonders of technology!

So there was this other package that arrived in the post, this was never meant to be a puking, sickie type of baby quilt, this had to be special ... so special I did!

a couple of late nights ..

its hard to see, but the back shows just how heavily quilted this was

I never managed any daytime shots of this, as it headed straight out the door as soon as the last stitch was put in the binding!

but you get a better view of it on Sarah's blog post about the baby Shower

and of all the other beautiful gifts

so there you have some secret baby news

next up some of my customer quilts I've been working on :)

hellooooooo!

Its been a while, and I have so much to show ... and tell!

With the run up to Christmas I had a few quilts to get done with deadlines ...

but I didn't tell you about my weekend away with the Kitchen Guild Girls ...

Katy did a great blog post about it here ...

and of course there were preparations to be done ...

you can read about Katy's star here too!

so that Katy managed to get the binding on this beautiful star made with velveteen's and flannel

Laura Jane pieced this Tula Pink Anchor quilt over the weeekend

Justine got the binding stitched down on her Swoon quilt, back from the land of Angela Walters no less!

I managed to piece a quick star with the left overs from my previous star quilt

Mandy quilted and bound her Made to Measure Medallion quilt

and I got all 50 of my pb&J kaleidoscope blocks made and trimmed

and we even came home with a retreat treat

it was such a fabulous weekend, spent with friends, fabulous food and much laughter!

Thank you ladies, same time next year!

There have been a few secrets happening around here too,  

more on those next time!

(need to give you some time to get over the shock of me blogging first!)

Remembrance ...

we will remember them

Already?

November!  

It was definitely a busy month around these parts, with birthday gifts, quilts, customer quilts, and then a couple of secret things along the way too!  

With 3 large customer quilts, (well 4, but I can't show you that one)

and teaching a 3 week beginners patchwork course,

so no wonder the last week was a little under par!

So if that was October, I can't wait to see what November brings!

Linking this up with Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day

dont forget to have a lookie see what everyone else has been up to, and visit some new to you blogs in process. 

Happy Quilting! 

Happy Mail

So as part of the Finish Along

not only do we get to work on actually focusing and finishing projects, 

there is of course, a little incentive from the sponsors

and this last quarter I was lucky enough to be picked as a winner!

so a very big Thank You to Green Fairy Quilts for sponsoring us

and for my fabulous prize!

I'm looking for the perfect pattern to do something special with this, 

I may have to start something New!

Brit Bee - Round 3!

I am so happy to be a member of one of the best Bees out there,

Over the last two and a half years, we have been through many crisis, celebrations, and much happiness, fun and frivolity together, I am blessed to call these ladies my friends indeed!

so as we start our third year, we have a new member Di, as Terri has stepped down from active stitching duty, but not from fun and frivolity, oh no! 

Long may fun and frivolity be at the heart of Brit Bee!

right back to this year, I've chosen some fabrics ...

based, sort of, on these ...

and set too in making a plan ...

I took the time to plan my colour layout, so that when it came to the piecing it could be as straight forward as possible.  it also meant I could plan my cutting, and got all that done before any of the piecing commenced

and commence it did ...

so over a couple of days I managed to get the center pieced

the next dilemma was how to get it into a square

I went for the easy option, and appliqued the circle to the background fabric,

then I cut away the bulk of the back and pulled out the papers

and before long, borders were chosen, cut and sewn

so normally, I would have this whipped up in no time,

but it has taken me about 5 days to get this far, thanks to being somewhat under the weather,

I really haven't had the energy or the inclination to sew

but this has to be done and received before the end of the month and time is running out

so yesterday I sat down in the peace and quiet whilst the Diva was at college 

and stitched into my Sigi block

Aurifil 12 wt was a dream to stitch with, I even managed a proper french knot!

and now this little block starts a new adventure 

12th Street, a new finish!

Nothing like starting the week off on a high!

12th Street is a newly released pattern available from Brenda and Pink Castle Fabrics,
if you've not or ordered from her before, I cannot recommend them highly enough
(as a very satisfied customer and for no other reason)

Well, it all started with a shout out from Brenda on Instagram for pattern testers,
never one to sit back and twiddle my thumbs, I jumped at the chance ...

so I made a selection of fabrics ...

can't beat a little bit of Amy Butler in your 'go to' stash

and started piecing

and I have to say, this is a really quick and easy pattern to make, definitely beginner friendly

I did take the time to make sure I didn't have the same fabrics in each block, and am pleased with how that little bit of obsessive behavior has worked out!

this was so quick to make, it was done in two sessions over a weekend,

and then I managed to slip it in between customer quilts on the frame

and gave it the 'Trudi' treatment with some Aurifil!

I also managed to dig out a great back from my stash!

that did make me giggle!

so that is the first finish for Q4 of the Finish Along!

Yayyy for being just a little obsessed!

and for reducing my FAL List too!