I've recently been making the latest pattern by Lynette Anderson Designs, called My Floss Organiser. The inner part of the organiser has 24 small plastic pockets, to keep spools of thread in. (I'd already got some plastic in my craft box that I'd bought a few years ago from Norway, but if you're here in the UK I'd suggest you try Amazon UK for clear vinyl - I recently bought some more from there, and it was about £2.50 for a metre... it comes folded, and you just need to warm it up with a hairdryer to get the creases out!). Firstly, the plastic strips are cut to size, and the top edge is covered with a strip of binding. This is done the same way as binding on a quilt, but I have machined the folded edge into place. My top tip for sewing the binding strips to the top edge of the plastic pockets is to use very thin paper underneath the plastic, to stop it sticking to the stitch plate, feed dogs and extension table. This paper was wrapped around the plastic when I bought it, and it's perfect for this. I've used fabrics from Lynette's My Hearts at Home collection for this project. My other top tips are to use a very fine, sharp needle (my favourite is a Schmetz Microtex size 60) and a walking foot. I used a Clover Hera Marker to mark the placement lines for the pockets. Then I machined along the lower edges of the plastic pockets to secure them into place, using a walking foot and a slightly longer than usual stitch...

...then I machined down the centre of the fabric and plastic, through all layers, and then again 2" from the centre line on each side, to make the small pockets ready for the wooden spools. I used a walking foot, and it didn't stick to the plastic at all. The next step is to make some embroidered ribbon strips to cover the lower edge of the plastic pockets. I prepped the background fabric by ruling a line with a pencil, as it would be easier putting a larger piece of fabric in an embroidery hoop for the stitchery rather than stitching on narrow pieces of fabric. I traced the stitchery design using a Micron Pigma pen and a light box, then I carefully fused a narrow strip of weaveline half an inch wide along the back of each ruled area, and completed the embroidery by hand, using Valdani hand-dyed threads... 

...the edges of the embroidered ribbon strips were folded over, pressed, and placed over the bottom edges of the plastic pockets,  and machined along both sides - I used the walking foot for this, and moved the needle position over to stitch just along the edge of the strip. I love the embroidered ribbon strips, they look so pretty. This project has been made with fabrics from Lynette's "My Hearts At Home" collection, and the fabrics really are very pretty - these were leftover from the gorgeous kit that Lynette sent me to make the "Stitched By Me" quilt, that I made a few weeks ago.
This pattern is available from Lynette's shop, Little Quilt Store, (Lynette has these gorgeous wooden spools too) and if you're here in the UK the patterns are also available with some wooden spools from Julia at Cross Patch.

My latest project, My Floss Organiser, by Lynette Anderson Designs, is a beautiful case for storing embroidery threads. My version has been made with with really pretty fabrics from "My Hearts At Home" collection, also by Lynette, and the wool felt was bought from Eternal Maker here in the UK. The outer part of the case is a combination of applique and hand embroidery. I used the applique paper and glue stick method for most of the applique, and the wool felt birds are made using a fusible webbing on the back of the wool felt, and then hand embroidered using blanket stitch...

...when I made the appliquéd mini-quilt, the bunting and the bird cage for the Floss Organiser I found it much easier to do the stitchery first, using the applique paper as a stabiliser. The letter "T" below shows the wrong side of the fabric, with the appliqué paper in place. Then I cut out the shapes, and turned the edges over using a glue stick and apliquick rods, ready to stitch them in place by hand, using a very fine YLI silk thread and an applique needle. Once the appliqué and stitchery for the front of the organiser was completed, I trimmed the panels to the right size. The two panels just needed to be stitched to a centre panel of fabric, enclosing one of the ties too, then layered onto a piece of wadding. The little envelope is for storing packets of needles, and the two appliqued wool birds is an ideal location for storing your needles that you're using. I didn't have the same scissor charm that Lynette used but I found something similar in my sewing box. 
If you want to purchase one of these patterns, they are available in Lynette's shop Little Quilt Store, and if you're in the UK Julia at Cross Patch also has them in stock. 

A few weeks ago, Lynette Anderson Designs asked me to test one of her patterns, and I've been busy stitching away. Can you guess what it is? This project has a mixture of applique and hand embroidery, and I've been using fabrics from Lynette's latest collection My Hearts At Home for this, and I used some gorgeous hand dyed Valdani threads for the stitchery. I'll share some more pictures at the weekend!

Back in December 2015 the postman knocked on the door, and had the most wonderful parcel for me - block 9 of Bluebird Lane by Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs. I finally started the first block just a few weeks ago at the beginning of March, and finally it was time to make the final block, called Home. I'd bought this gorgeous BOM online from Patchwork Chicks here in the UK. They really do have a fabulous website, and Karen the owner is really lovely (I've met her a few times at FOQ in Birmingham when we were helping Lynette set up her stall) and my orders always arrive promptly with a handwritten note inside - it's the little touches like that that mean so much. Anyway, once all the fabrics were pressed and sorted I made the appliqued centrepiece. I'd been trying some new applique needles by Hugs 'n Kisses and they're really lovely to sew with. I used to sew with Clover Black Gold applique needles, and they really are VERY fine, but also tend to snap easily. The Hugs 'n Kisses one are a bit more robust...

...the applique was all completed using the applique paper and glue stick method, and using apliquick rods. There are several videos on YouTube demonstrating this method, and the one that I'd recommend is of Lynette Anderson - she talks through each stage really well. Eeekkkk!!! More blasted hexies - they really are the most devillish things to make, and the eagle-eyed ones of you may have noticed that there are some hexagon papers in the picture with the fabrics and patterns - and you may remember that hexagons aren't my best friend - I really don't like them, and this block has a few that are pieced together to make a couple of blocks for the side borders. Well, I took a deep breath, had a cup of tea, and decided to tackle them head-on. Once they'd been pieced together I got my revenge on these pesky little blighters by cutting the edges off - yes, that's right - my rotary cutter sliced right through them and squared them up ready to be pieced together for the borders...

...and here it is, the final block for this gorgeous BOM. Now I just need to piece the blocks together and then I'll have the borders to make. That will be rather time consuming, as there are 42 star blocks to piece together. I've got a Bank Holiday weekend coming up soon, so I'm planning to spend a bit of time on them then. Hopefully I can leave my sewing machine up for a few days without Mr F complaining too much!

I decided to go with a scrappy binding for this project. This quilt had been made with fabrics from Lynette's "Time With Friends" collection. Strips of fabric left over from the quilt were cut 1.5" wide ready for single fold binding. Rather than joining the strips with a diagonal seam, these were joined end-to-end and then machined to the front of the quilt. There's something rather lovely about a scrappy binding! I used a mid-grey Aurifil 40wt thread for attaching the binding - firstly it was machine stitched to the front of the quilt with a 3/8" from the raw edge, and the corners were mitred. The free edge was pressed over and then slip stitched by hand to the back of the quilt...

...drum roll pleeeease - here's the completed quilt "A Dog's Life" (designed by Lynette Anderson Designs). This has been beautifully custom quilted by the amazing Janette at J-Quilts. I made the quilt top a few weeks ago, and it was machine pieced, hand embroidered and hand appliqued using the applique paper and glue stick method. I finally collected this from the longarm quilter a couple of days ago. I finished the binding last night, and just did a quick photo shoot in the garden when I got home from work. This was initially bought last year as a BOM from Cross Patch in Wales, you really must have a look at Julia's website, as she stocks a large range of Lynettes's patterns.

I love making quilt labels, and for A Dog's Life I was inspired by a motif by a book also by Lynette Anderson Designs called "It's Quilting Cats and Dogs". I traced the design onto fabric using a lightbox and a Micron Pigma pen. Weaveline fusible interfacing was ironed onto the back of the fabric, and I used Valdani threads for the embroidery...

...the label was appliqued into place on the back of the quilt, and a quilt sleeve was also added so it's ready to hang up. This scrappy binding is looking rather good - I'll share a picture of the finished quilt tomorrow. ​

Back in November 2015 the next block of Bluebird Lane by Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs arrived in the post. I'd seen this gorgeous BOM online on the Patchwork Chicks website and didn't waste anytime at all in signing up. However once the blocks started to arrive I was so busy with other projects, this one had to wait. Anyway, over the past few weeks I've been busy getting these blocks pieced together and it was time to make a start on this one - called "The Shearing Shed" it features some rather cute sheep leaping over the shed - and they're wearing rather gorgeous blankets, maybe to keep them warm after they've been shorn...

...I've used a method of applique for this project that uses applique paper, a glue stick and apliquick rods. There are lots of tutorials and videos on how to use these rods - I was very lucky to see Lynette Anderson demonstrating these a couple of years ago at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, and the video that I'd recommend is of her doing a demo that you can easily find on YouTube. Anyway, here's the completed block - made with a variety of techniques - machine piecing, hand embroidery with DMC threads and hand applique. Only one more block left, so I think you can guess what I'll be piecing together next weekend!

Ohh look what was in my sewing bag on Monday evening when I went to the Sewing Group! The pattern for block 2 of Leanne's House by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley Leanne's House had arrived in the post a few days beforehand from Cross Patch in Wales. The block was machine pieced together using Aurifil 50wt thread, the stitchery design was traced with a Micron Pigma pen, and a piece of weave line interfacing was fused to the stitchery background. On Monday evening I made a start on the first mini-block, with some hand embroidery and hand appliqued hearts...

...I always use a wooden embroidery hoop to keep my fabric taut, and I have a few in an assortment of sizes ranging from 4" - 8" in diameter. These min-blocks really didn't take too long to stitch, and I spent my evenings relaxing after supper stitching these...

...the final mini-block has a lot of embroidery on it - DMC threads are used for this, and a selection of simple embroidery stitches are used - back stitch, satin stitch, circular blanket stitch and colonial knots...

...and this afternoon the block was completed. I really love these colours, Julia has put a really great kit together. I have really enjoyed the mixture of applique and embroidery, and can't wait for block 3 to arrive!

A few weeks ago I left my quilt "A Dog's Life" by Lynette Anderson Designs with my longarm quilter Janette at J-Quilts. As you can see, she's doing an amazing job! I'm really looking forward to collecting this from her next week. I'd bought this as a BOM last year from Cross Patch in Wales. I substituted some gorgeous linen for the background fabric for the blocks, and I used the applique paper and glue stick method of applique for this quilt._

The pattern and fabrics for Block 7 of Bluebird Lane by Natalie Bird arrived back in October last year from Patchwork Chicks here in the UK. It was safely packed away with the others, and was in the queue for "projects I really must start"!! Eventually I started this project a few weeks ago - the centre block was pieced together, and the flower and alphabet were appliqued into place, I used the applique paper, glue stick method, along with apliquick rods for this, and the applique pieces are then held in place with a few spots of Roxanne's basting glue. Finally, the applique is secured with hand sewing using a very fine thread (I recommend YLI silk thread or Bottomline, both in a neutral colour to match the background fabric). The "label" has been hand embroidered with DMC threads...

 ...unfortunately I really don't like making hexagons, and there are a few of them on this block. And they're only HALF INCH hexagons!! They're my LEAST favourite thing to make, and they were making me use some very bad words!!! Thankfully I had some applique paper pre-cut hexies that I used for these, and once they'd been pieced together by hand, these pesky little blighters were beaten into submission with a blast of steam and a hot iron. Once those pesky hexies (did I say they were only half inch hexagons??!!!) had finally been appliquéd into place, I must admit I was rather pleased with them!...

...and here is the finished block. This has been machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand embroidered. Those pesky half inch hexagons gave me a bit of grief, but I'm really pleased with the result!! Now I can get started on block 8. Thankfully there aren't any hexagons on that one!