Last year I bought this fabric from the Spring Quilt Festival at Duxford. The black and white fat quarters are called "Needles and Yarn" from the "Knit" collection, and the main fabric is called "Do Ewe Knit", also from the "Knit" collection, all by Timeless Treasures. I'm using the text print for the lining - and surprise surprise a Norwegian pattern. My plan was to make a knitting bag for my mother-in-law who is a knitaholic . The pattern I finally decided on is "På Quiltelaup" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa. The pockets are quilted in a cross-hatch design, using a Clover Hera marker to mark the quilting lines, and a variegated thread King Tut thread in black, grey and white...

...a collection of smart prairie points add a nice design touch and are also added to the pockets. I used some black and white spotted fabric and some red tone-on-tone spotted fabric scraps from my stash to compliment the main fabrics. A narrow strap was made with a clip attached to the end so my mother-in-law can attach a pair of scissors so they don't get lost inside the bag...

...one of my labels was sewn along the top edge of the bag, and the top edge was finished off with some red binding. The binding was machined into place on the front of the bag, and slip-stitched into place to the lining of the bag by hand...

...the final finishing touch was the addition of 2 white buttons. As you can see, I used the white "Needles and Yarn" fabric for the top panel of one side of the bag (the pocket is also lined with the same fabric) and the black version for the other side...

...and here's the finished bag! What do you think? I hope my mother-in-law likes it. The next project is to make a bag for my mum, who's rather fond of Laurel Burch fabric, so I'd better get busy sewing!!

Do you remember the "Spring Posy" give-away that my very talented and crafty sister did on her blog? Well the winner was announced a few days ago - and the lucky winner was Kari from Norway - so one of these pretty brooches will soon be on it's way to her. Hope you like it Kari - my sister made me one of these ages ago, and I always get lots of compliments about mine!

A few weeks ago I made a set of 4 place mats, using the pattern called "Take 4" (designed by Cary Flanagan for Something Sew Fine Quilt Design), and 4 fat quarters of beautiful brown batiks. These orange batiks were still in my stash, that I'd bought from the Festival Of Quilts in 2011, so I thought I'd make another set...

...this pattern is very quick and simple to piece together, and I used a variegated Sulky Gutterman quilting thread. These were quilted really simply, just stitch-in-the-ditch. I always use Pellon wadding for table runners and place mats, which is a felted polyester, and it always lies nice and flat...

...and here are the finished place mats. I used the striped batik for the binding, and I'm really pleased with this set. 

Yesterday was National Quilting Day, and I did my bit in supporting this day - by purchasing a few half metres of gorgeous brown batiks from Sew and Sew's at Bungay. I was en route to visit my daughter who is studying at uni in Norwich, and as I have to drive through Bungay to get to Norwich, it seemed silly not to drop in a make a purchase! The project I was planning for these was another Turning Twenty quilt, this time for my lounge, to hang over a large brown leather sofa. These blocks really do piece together very quickly...

...and in no time at all the quilt top was finished, complete with border. This is now ready to take over to Janette, so she can work her magic on it! Oh and I must say "hello" to Diana, a very nice lady who I met in Sew and So's and we got chatting - like you do - anyway, I hope you and your husband managed to find the cafe in Earsham Street, and had a safe journey home :)

I've had a really lovely day out in Norwich visiting my daughter today, and we popped into the Post Winter Fair at Clutter City. My sister had a stall there, and she is very VERY crafty and does some beautiful hand quilting and crochet and baking. Anyway, she's got a super blog, and she's got a great giveaway at the moment - if you leave a comment you could win one of her beautiful "Spring Posy" brooches, and you don't have to live in the UK to enter as if you win she'll post anywhere in the world! I saw these at Clutter City today and these really are gorgeous. Here's the link. But you'll have to hurry up though as it ends on Sunday 16th March!! 

A few weeks ago I took this red batik quilt over to Janette, who has a Longarm Quilting Studio over at East Bergholt called J-Quilts. My daughter Alice made this several months ago, while she was working at our local quilt shop during her gap year. Anyway, this weekend she came home from university for a couple of days, so it was the perfect opportunity to finish it. I am so proud of her - Alice's piecing was so neat and precise. Here's a closeup of the piecing and the black backing fabric is perfect for showcasing the wonderful quilting. Alice wanted a red thread to compliment her red batiks, and this looks really dramatic...

...anyway, she wanted me to help out by cutting her some binding strips while she was busy with her new hobby - crochet! So the binding strips were cut from the leftover backing fabric, and then machined into place, and finally slip stitched by hand to the back of the quilt. And yes, I managed to do all this while she was still busy with a ball of wool and a crochet hook!...

...this pattern is called "Pie Chart" and was part of a "Stash Pot Pie" programme that was held at my local quilt shop a few years ago. Unfortunately it's been really difficult to photograph these reds - they either look pink or orange, but they really are beautiful and rich. Alice is really pleased with her quilt - doesn't it look fabulous!! 

A few weeks ago, Mr F was busy decorating (with me supervising of course!) and after all the walls were freshly painted and the new carpet was laid, it was time to think about new curtains. Normally I make my own, and in our first home together I busied myself making soft furnishings galore. The windows were adorned with festoon blinds and curtains and pelmets and there was a huge array of cushions on the sofa, and yes, it did rather resemble a Laura Ashley catalogue, but it was the 1980's and  was very fashionable at the time! And our first home together was a small Victorian house that lent itself to that style of décor. Then 13 years ago we moved to a very modern 1950's built military-style bungalow and all the window treatments that I'd lovingly made stayed put, as our new windows were HUGE - I mean really HUGE, and nothing that I had would fit. And so I set about making new curtains for the lounge. The windows were nearly 3 metres wide. And over 2 metres tall. And then there was another pair for the French doors at the opposite end of the room leading into the conservatory. Well I can honestly say that making those curtains nearly killed me! I resolved then NEVER to make another pair of curtains for all those windows! So after the decorating was completed, I started my search for some ready-made curtains, and discovered that those HUGE windows were going to be a devil to find curtains to fit. Either I'd have to do some minor alterations to the length, or make the whole things my self. After about 2 minutes of thinking about that, I ordered 2 pairs of HUGE curtains from Glasswells, that only needed to be shortened by a few inches. It's so much easier to alter curtains from the top than fiddling about with hems on curtains (and don't even get me started on hems in linings!) so I bought some extra deep heading tape from Barretts of Woodbridge, (no, I wasn't going to spend hours unpicking the original heading tape) and set about turning over the tops of the curtains...

...leaving the original heading tape in place when I turned the tops over means the top of the curtain is a bit thicker, but it gathers up beautifully. Sewing these with a walking foot also made this task so much simpler, as there was no risk of the layers puckering underneath. This heading tape from Barretts of Woodbridge was extra deep, and as the curtains are so big, it makes them hang really well...

...and a final photograph taken this morning, with the sun shining just a bit TOO brightly! Before I'd altered the curtains, I'd hung them up for a few days to see if I could live with them being "extra long" but Jasper decided he could curl up behind the curtains and make himself a copy bed while he waited for Mr F to come home from work, which wasn't my idea of a nice neat window dressing. Now I've finished my alterations, Jasper will have to find somewhere it curl up and sleep during the evenings ;) Well hopefully that will be the end of "normal" sewing for a few years and now I can get back to quilting again!

I've spent a lovely couple of days admiring quilts and chatting with friends, at the Cotton Club Quilt Show, in Woodbridge. Here are my favourite quilts, I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I did. If you click on the pictures you can see a larger image.
This beautiful quilt below is "That's The Point" by Angela Seabrook. The Crown of Thorn blocks are foundation pieced on paper and bordered by flying geese. This was longarm quilted by Daisy May Quilting, which is run by husband and wife team John and Val. They had quilted several quilts that were hanging around the hall, and they all looked superb...

...these wall hangings were stunning - I especially loved the one with the 3-D leaves. The trees ones were designed by Helen Howes. I've been on a "Trees" workshop with Helen a few years ago, and although the quilt top is completed, it's not yet quilted, and now I've seen these I feel very inspired to get mine finished!...

..."Bring Me Sunshine"  by Jan Carlton - using tints, tones and shades of yellow. This was a Sampler Quilt class taught by Helen Hazon. Helen is my quilting buddy, and along with my friend Linda we're off on another little jaunt to Yorkshire to spend a week quilting with Philippa Naylor later in the year - anyway, I met Jan the first time I went on one of these trips, a couple of years ago, so it was lovely to see her again, and to admire her beautiful quilt...

...these two pictures show some close-ups of Jan's beautiful work. She had added some yellow lace to the Grandmother's fan block, and looked so delicate... 

..."Valerie's Garden" by Valerie Winchester, including a close up of this beautiful quilt in muted tones...

...as you know, I do like table runners, and this one looked really great - I'm not sure who it was made by, but the pattern is by Disa Designs. And finally, I couldn't resist a picture of these rather quirky stones, complete with crocheted covers!!