Do you remember this baby quilt that I made at the end of last year?? It was made with a range of fabric by Riley Blake Designs, called "Happy Sunny Skies". Lots of my friends were expecting babies and grandchildren, and this quilt was sent off to Norway - my friend Hanne (hei hei Hanne!!) was already a grandmother to a very handsome baby boy, Henrik, (hei hei Marthe and Henrik!!) and then in April, Hanne's daughter Sofie had a beautiful little girl called Emilie - isn't she just perfect??

It's Tuesday again so it must be "Sew Cute Tuesday" over on the Better Off Thread blog - I've added links to my applique books that I made when I was on hols with Philippa Naylor. There's lots of other great stuff to see too, so why don't you hop over and take a look?

My favourite jewellery designer, is Amanda Davie, and she was recently inspired to create a series of "healing hearts" jewelry. This one is a  beautiful long layering necklace that could be doubled up, and worn twice around your neck, but Amanda has added a few more beads so it could also be used as a wrap style bracelet. These versatile pieces feature a beautiful collection of glass, trade, brass, gemstone and wood beads and measure about 39". Each heart is formed by hand with lots of love and character. Amanda has hand embellished each piece and add an aged crackle finish. The necklace also features one of her tiny dictionary word charms with the word "heal" encased in glass and brass. Each heart can be removed so the necklace can be worn as a bracelet, and each necklace is marked with her signature tag. I am sure my heart will be healed when I wear this.

Another project that I completed on the "Drama and Detail" course with Philippa Naylor, was a cover for a ring-binder. I used a mixture of batiks and linen for this project, based loosely on the tutorial by Roslyn Mirrington of "Bloom" and used a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman of "Oh Fransson!" for the pockets on the inside front cover, (a zippered pocket, a slip pocket and even a clear plastic pocket!) and my own pattern for a slip-pocket inside the back cover. I prefer to use Schmetz Microtex needles size 60 when sewing batiks, and this project was no exception.....

.....I was really pleased with how this cover turned out! The applique on the front was a combination of edge-stitch applique for the petals, satin stitched applique circles and free-motion applique for the top layer of the petals. I quilted the batik part of the cover in straight rows of quilting about 0.5" apart, and used a King Tut variegated quilting thread to match the colour of the batiks. I even managed to thread a Schmetz Microtex needle size 60 with the quilting thread - for some reason my automatic threader isn't very good when it comes to size 60 needles - and I could hardly see the eye of the needle when it was in my machine, so my top tip was to thread the needle THEN put it in the machine! 

During the "Drama and Detail" course that I did with Philippa Naylor, we learnt to make some curved bias strips - and some were made so the sides had varying widths. These strips were made with a turquoise batik, and stitched into place on top of some linen to make a notebook cover, lined with more batik. This pattern is from a tutorial by Roslyn Mirrington of "Bloom" and was easily adaptable to make it with these curved applique strips. It can be scaled up or down depending on the size of the notebook that you want to cover.....

.....this one was for my daughter Alice. Now I've mastered this technique for covering notebooks, I'll be making several for friends and family as Christmas gifts! And what about making one as a cover for a Wedding Album using a photograph printed onto fabric like the memory cushions? Ohhhh now my creative juices are flowing I can't wait to get stitching at the weekend!!

Another journal cover - this time with 3-D applique and a surprise! Embellished with applique and plastic flowers and button centers. This tutorial is by Roslyn Mirrington of "Bloom" and is a really easy project to make. I used some denim from an old pair of jeans to make this, and quilted the front with the same flower shape that I had used for the applique, then quilted the back with straight rows.....

.....the batik flowers have been appliqued in different ways - satin stitch applique (this was done VERY slowly!!) with a Mettler silk finish cotton thread, and free motion applique with a variegated YLI quilting thread. I added a "foil" flower with the add of some steam-a-seam 2 and some red craft foil. The plastic flowers were great fun to do, (they were Philippa's idea - I thought she was mad!!) and I added a button centre for all the flowers.....

.....and the surprise? The 3-D pink flower has been backed with a bright lime green batik!

During my week away with Philippa Naylor, I made lots of small projects embellished with applique - I took a supply of notebooks and bag handles with me, and was inspired by the sample I made of satin stitch appliqued circles to progress further to make a decorative journal cover. This free tutorial for a journal cover by Roslyn Mirrington of "Bloom" is super - I've just enlarged the layout so it will accommodate an A4 notebook - and I've made this one using pink batiks and linen. 3 circles of different batiks were attached to a piece of linen using steam-a-seam-2 and secured with machine satin stitch. I used a Mettler silk-finish thread in fuchsia pink around the purple batik circle, orange Mettler quilting thread around the pink batik circle, and finally I used purple Mettler quilting thread around the orange batik circle. Then I added the panel of linen, which I frayed along the 2 long sides, just off centre on the front of the journal cover. The linen panel was then machine stitched into place with a matching coloured thread..... 

.....and here is the finished journal cover. I really love using linen, and think it goes beautifully with the fine cotton batik. The joy of having a removable cover is that when the notebook is full, it can be removed and replaced with a new one! Philippa showed us lots of top tips for satin stitch applique - we used stitch and tear stabilizer underneath the background fabric (in this case the linen), and stitched very slowly!! As you can see, this was quilted very simply using lots of straight rows, using a variegated YLI quilting thread in shades of orange and pink to match the pink batik fabric. 

What a fantastic week we had in Yorkshire - the food, the sewing, the company and OF COURSE Philippa Naylor! We stayed at Highfield Farm - an excellent B and B where we were very well looked after - the meals were superb, and it was so nice not to have to think about cooking meals for a whole week! I'm back from my travels, and still getting used to having to prepare my own breakfast, washing up the dishes and having to go to work instead of spending the day sewing! The course was "Drama and Detail" - the focus of this class is to study in detail both composition and fine workmanship techniques. These techniques include raw-edge, turned-edge, satin stitch and invisible machine appliqué. We learnt how to sew perfect satin stitch circles and mitered corners, how to make a variety of bias strips and the neatest rouleau loops you've ever seen. Philippa is a fantastic teacher, and as usual we all learnt lots and lots, from both Philippa and from each other. I'll share some pictures of all the lovely crafty things I made during my week away over the next few days - I decided to make several smaller projects this year, rather than a wall hanging or a quilt, and feel inspired to make lots more. It was lovely to see Caroline and Edith again who had travelled all the way from France, and it was lovely to meet new friends too - Katy, Ali, and Ruth. I can't wait to go again next year - after all, it's so nice to have something to look forward too!!

I've had a fantastic week away in Yorkshire, and will share all my pictures and stories on here during the next week, but firstly here is something that I took with me on my holipops! Last year I made Philippa a cosmetic bag as a small gift, and this year I decided to make her a cushion. I had already emailed her to see if I could "borrow" a picture that was on her website - it was taken by her father, when Philippa was 5 yrs old. I added the usual lace and buttons and lots of straight row quilting.....

.....this shows the back, with the binding sewn into place by hand, and a covered zipper. Oh and yes, one of my labels too.....

.....and here is the front of the finished cushion. It was such a beautiful sunny day when I left for Yorkshire, it was difficult to get a photograph without the sun getting in the way! Philippa was really pleased with it, and we had a super week on the course with her - I feel full of design ideas now - what a shame I've got to go back to work tomorrow - I could easily spend a creative week at home making crafty plans and putting all my new ideas together!

Well I'm off on my travels again - do you remember last year I went on the most wonderful trip to Yorkshire? I stayed at a superb B&B - Highfield Farm at Driffield - the food was wonderful, the service was excellent and the rooms were lovely. I was part of a group of quilters who were on a course with Philippa Naylor - she is simply the best quilt tutor I have ever been on a class with. This year we are going to be taught by her for 5 whole days!! We are doing a course called "Drama and Detail" - studies in composition, colour and contemporary machine appliqué.....

.....I'm just trying to squeeze everything I might "need" into my sewing box. And why oh why is my bag of fabrics bigger than my bag of clothes??!! Oh and Mr F is really happy about me going off on my hols - it means that at least for this week he can walk about barefoot without fear of treading on a needle or a pin!! Anyway I'll be back to tell you all about it next weekend. Until then, Au Revoir!!