Nicola Foreman Quilts - BLOG

Seaside Town - Ready for Quilting

22/4/2018

Seaside Town is all ready to go off to J-Quilts, the wonderful longarm quilter that works her magic on my quilts. This was the mystery button club quilt by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson. I've made several of Lynette's designs - quilts, bags, cushions and sewing accesssories. This will be embellished with hand painted wooden buttons once the quilt is finishex - I've just laid them in place for the photograph! The lighting wasn't very good indoors this morning, normally I prefer to do my photoshoots outside. Mr F kindly dismantled my washing line as he's re-designing the garden - so worse than having nowhere to hang my laundry, there's nowhere to hang my quilts for a photoshoot!

Seaside Town - The Outer Border is Stitched in Place!

21/4/2018

Seaside Town was first launched back in April 2017 - it was a mystery button club quilt, by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson Designs. I'd signed up with Cross Patch in Wales, and each month the pattern arrived in the post along with a cute hand painted wooden button (these will be stitched place once the quilt is completed). The outer border has now finally been pieced together and stitched in place. This border consists of lots of small blocks - 16 patch, Snail Trail, foundation paper pieced houses...

...and some really cute appliqued seahorses. After starting this BOM back in April 2017, Seaside Town is almost complete. I have learnt lots of new techniques whilst making this quilt - and discovered that I really enjoyed foundation paper piecing!...

...those tiny squares in the 16 patch blocks are just 1" finished size! I'm really pleased that I remade the Snail Trail blocks - initially I had made several cream and blue blocks to resemble the waves and the ocean, but I think these ones look much better.

Blue Butterfly Bag Kit

20/4/2018

Ohhh I have admired this bag for simply ages. This is the Blue Butterfly Bag - pattern is by the Australian Designer Gail Pan Designs - and this gorgeous kit arrived in the post this morning from Cross Patch in Wales. The kit includes the pattern, fabrics, ric-rac, AND a skein of Cottage Garden Threads for the hand embroidery. I've suddenly become very distracted from completing my chores!! This will be the perfect gift for my mother-in-law's birthday in the summer. I've already made her quilts, numerous cushions and a bag for keeping her knitting in, so this will be perfect for when she's just popping down to the shops!
If you fancy getting yourself one of these kits too, follow this link Blue Butterfly Bag Kit

Seaside Town - Seahorse Blocks

19/4/2018

I was going to say here's my shoal of seahorse blocks (afterall, they are fish) but Mr Google informed me the correct collective noun is a herd of seahorses. Whatever they are, they really are cute! These have been hand embroidered with variegated Valdani Threads (two strands of thread have been used for the embroidery) and hand appliqued using the applique paper and glue stick method along with Apliquick tools. These are all ready to be added to the outer border of Seaside Town, the mystery button club quilt by Lynette Anderson Designs.

Bloom and Bliss Fabrics

17/4/2018

A few days ago I spotted some rather lovely fabrics on Instagram - Bloom and Bliss by Riley Blake Designs and just HAD to get them! These were bought online from You, me and Mabel - anyway, they arrived in the post on Friday and they are absolutely GORGEOUS. I have a few ideas on what to make with these, but for now I'm still just admiring them!

Seaside Town - More Snail Trail Blocks!

16/4/2018

I spent a very productive Sunday morning in my sewing studio, stitching more Snail Trail blocks for the outer border of my Seaside Town quilt. I'd made a selection of blocks for the outer border a few weeks ago, and I really wasn't that keen on the colourway I'd used. These blocks are quite small, 4" finished size - so this involved lots of precision piecing - using a straight stitch needle place, Schmetz Microtex size 60 needle and Aurifil 50wt thread in shade 2610 - and I'm happy to say that I'm MUCH happier with the colourway of these blocks! Once I'd picked out my selection of fabrics, I cut all the squares/triangles that I needed, and chain pieced the blocks together to save time. These look much more like the blue/green blocks Lynette uses in her original quilt, and definitely look better than the ones I'd previously made!...

...after a quick break for lunch, the 10 blue/red Snail Trail blocks for the outer border were completed too. All that's left to do now is to finish a couple of applique seahorse blocks, then these will be added to the foundation pieced houses, 16-patch blocks and the Snail Trail blocks pictured above. I'm hoping to get all the components for the outer border pieced together next weekend - then I can finally share a picture of the completed quilt top.

Seadide Town - Deliberating Over The Borders

15/4/2018

The inner border for Seaside Town has been added, but now I'm deliberating over the blocks that make up the outer border. The foundation pieced houses are so cute, as are the 16-patch blocks, and I'm very happy with them. I loved making the Snail Trail blocks, but I'm having second thoughts about the colourway I chose. So I've shut myself in my sewing studio while I make some more. I may be some time!!

My Amazing Sister

15/4/2018

My absolutely AMAZING sister Becky had her head shaved yesterday morning to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of our wonderful dad who sadly lost his battle with this bloody awful disease 15 years ago. He would've been incredibly proud of Becky - and she still looks beautiful even without her lovely long hair. If you would like to donate, Becky's Just Giving page is still open and you can use this link here.

Another Glorious Sunset

14/4/2018

After a hectic day, I've spent a very relaxing couple of hours walking in Captain's Wood, at Sudbourne. This is just a short drive from my home and as well as seeing plenty of hares and deer, this evening a special treat was a spectacular sunset. All this practically on my doorstep.

Seaside Town - The Kite Tail

14/4/2018

The kite tail meanders over several blocks of Seaside Town - (this is the mystery button club quilt by Lynette Anderson Designs that I started back in April 2017) - and Hugo is holding on to the string! The ribbons on the kite tail are all hand embroidered using variegated Valdani Threads....

...the kite string was drawn onto the fabric once all the blocks had been completed and sewn together. I used a very fine Micron Pigma pen in a brown colourway (this is permanent so you do need a steady hand) and outlined the "ribbons" in backstitch before adding the satin stitch. The backstitch gives a nice edge to stitch against. A quick press on the back and it will be ready for the borders to be added!