The front of block 3 of Hearts and Happy Flowers has been prepared - all the mini stitchery designs have been traced using a lightbox and a brown Micron Pigma pen. My favourite is the finest nib, size 005...

...this picture shows a close up of all those 1" blocks. Micron Pigma pens are permanent so you do need a very steady hand when you're tracing the designs. This block will be in my sewing bag tonight, ready for an evening stitching with my friends.

As there are just SO many seams in the blocks of the Hearts and Happy Flowers quilt, and when I made block 2, I decided to press the seams open to help to eliminate bulk, and to make the block lay flat. This has certainly helped, and blocks 2 and 3 are much less bulky than block 1, which I'm really pleased about. This shows the back of block 3, will all the seams pressed open - I just need to trim a few more loose threads, and fuse a large piece of interfacing to the back of the block in preparation for the hand embroidery and applique. I'm still deliberating over whether to re-do block 1 so it lays a bit flatter!! ​

I've had a lovely day out with my daughter today - we spent the morning at Bridge Farm Barns where we did some Christmas shopping, then after an early lunch at Corn Craft Restaurant and Tea Room we headed over to Long Melford. I had a little shopping spree at The Woolpatch as I needed some fabric for backing a festive table runner, and also needed some fat quarters for making some festive placemats too. These fabrics are from the White Christmas Metallic range by Zen Chic for Moda, and are a bit different from the traditional reds and greens for the festive season. I'm off to Norfolk for a sewing weekend in a couple of weeks, and these fabrics will be in my sewing bag. After a stroll around the shops in Long Melford, we then headed home, with a full shopping bag and an empty purse!

What do you do when you have a day off in the week? Fill your day being busy with a new sewing project! A few weeks ago I'd bought a festive-themed charm pack from The Woolpatch in Long Melford, and had the perfect project planned for it. The "Mini Charm Mix" pattern, which is a free download from The Fat Quarter Shop website, is a quick and easy design to make, the smallest size on the pattern is for a table runner. I was hosting a day with some very special "sewing" friends and this was the perfect project for us to make. My friends arrived armed with fabrics, threads, and their sewing machines.  I teamed my charm pack with some linen, and I'm really pleased with the result. Here's a little peek at my progress - it just needs a good press, and I can layer it up ready for quilting. I'm planning a return trip to The Woolpatch at the weekend to get some fabric for the backing, and hopefully some more of this gorgeous fabric ready to make some place mats too. 

As well as investing in some pre-cut templates to try to improve my EPP, I recently bought this book, All Points Patchwork by Dianne Gilleland. I'd seen some fabulous reviews of this book on Instagram, so I thought see what it was like for myself. It really is a great book - with lots of easy to follow instructions, and great colour photographs.

A few weeks ago my friend Lesley, from New Zealand, was on a special holiday here in the UK. As you know, I absolutely LOVE Cottage Garden Threads so was super excited when she gave me these as a gift when she came to stay with us. I shall look forward to stitching with these beautiful variegated hand embroidery threads! All I need to do is make a special stage folder for these, as my wooden thread box isn't big enough for my CGT skeins!

Hehe... this made me giggle this morning!

 The second instalment of the Vintage Sewing Club arrived in the post a few days ago, and these threads really are gorgeous. These are Cottage Garden Threads which have been hand dyed, and they have a beautiful sheen. They're perfect for hand embroidery, and really glide through your fabric. This thread club is organised by Julia at Cross Patch - each month 4 lovely skeins of thread arrive in the post with a free pattern, which can be used as a stand-alone wall hanging or all 12 patterns can be combined to make a quilt. As I've got rather a lot of projects on the go at the moment, this will be packed away for stitching in the future. 

Block 2 of Hearts and Happy Flowers is finally completed! This gorgeous quilt is a 10-part pattern by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley, and mine was sourced from Cross Patch, a fabulous online shop based in Wales, here in the UK. This has been made using several techniques, including machine piecing, hand embroidery, EPP and hand applique. Those eagle-eyed people may have noticed I've altered the first appliqued six-pointed star - that's because the positioning of the darkest diamond makes a secondary pattern when all 9 of the blocks are stitched together.

Block 2 of Hearts and Happy Flowers is ALMOST completed! These hearts have been prepared using the applique paper and glue stick method with Apliquick tools, and are ready to be held in place with a couple of spots of Roxanne's basting glue before being stitched in place...

...those pretty hearts have been appliqued into place using Aurifil 80wt thread and a Clover Black Gold applique needle. This just needs a final press on the reverse side of the block, and Block 2 will be ready to be photographed.