Well just look what I saw in Amanda Davie's Etsy shop - this super collection of quilting charms, that are just perfect for a quilter! And yes you've guessed it, I just couldn't resist them!! These fun pieces are the perfect size for charm bracelets, necklaces, or even used as a zipper pull. Amanda has added brass findings and a lobster claw clasp to each piece, making it easy to add onto an existing piece of jewellery. I bet all my quilting friends will love these!!

Look what I saw on Amanda's fab Etsy shop - this sweet "British Invasion" kilt pin, with beautiful images, and sweet accent charms. These 3 inch pins are great for keeping your sweater or shrug closed, dressing up a jacket, or pinned onto your favorite hat. Each pin comes with a charming image captured under a crystal clear cabochon, fun accents, and a bonus charm that can be clipped on or off. This will look stunning pinned to my winter coat or scarf - can't wait for it to arrive!

Do you remember the Mango Salsa Tonga Treats that I bought from Glenroy Designs? And do you remember that I sliced these all up on Friday evening?? Well just look what happened over the weekend! Firstly I kept them in neat piles of each size.....

.....then I pieced these squares and rectangles together, and made a few blocks. Actually, if you're counting, I made 36 blocks. Lots and lots of chain-piecing and lots and lots of pressing seams and lots and lots of more chain-piecing and finally there were 36 blocks of yummy batiks. All it needs now is an inner border and an outer border.....

.....and after much umming and ahhhing, this is the fabric that I decided to use for the inner border. This was already in my stash, and has been lurking there for at least a couple of years! I must've been psychic when I bought it as I can't believe how well it works with these Tonga Treats. So this evening I got my sewing machine out again, and added the inner border....

.....and then lots and lots of chain-piecing and lots and lots of pressing seams and lots and lots of more chain piecing and the pieced outer border was finally added to complete it. These batiks really do look great together. I keep thinking how fabulous this will look on the back of my brown leather sofa!.....

.....now I've got to save my pennies and then I can take it over to Janette to work her magic on it with her wonderful quilting. Now - decisions!! What quilting design will I choose? And what colour backing fabric?? And which batik for the binding??? Maybe the same batik that I used for the inner border????

Well although FNSI at the Foreman household was very productive, it was really more like FNCI - Friday Night Cut It!!! I dithered over what project to finish and eventually decided to start a new one!!! In fact I dithered about so much that I didn't even get my sewing machine out at all, so I'm not really sure if the reveal counts! I decided to cut up my beautiful Tonga Treats - 2 packs of 40 pre-cut 10" squares of Tonga batiks, that I bought from Glenroy Designs a few weeks ago. The colourway is called Mango Salsa and it is gorgeous - vibrant oranges and corals and yellows and soft creams all in my favourite batiks - yummy! I pulled out this book for inspiration - "Schnibbles Times Two" by Carrie Nelson.....

.....after a couple of hours of pressing fabric and layering lots of squares and slicing, slicing and more slicing, I was left with some very neat piles of batiks all ready to piece together to make another "McGuffey" quilt (and having a really large rotary cutter like this one helps with cutting out lots of layers together).....

.....and a very tidy pile of trimmings from all the slicing up that I'd done!! (Oh and by the way - I've got great plans for using up the leftovers from preparing the strips for this quilt - this really is all the waste there it!) Unfortunately I was just too tired to get it together last night, so I've left it in a project box ready for next month. Unless I get bored over the weekend of course, and then it might get put together a bit quicker!

Oh my goodness - how time flies!! it's that time of the month again, and I haven't taken part in the Friday Night Sew-In for absolutely ages - and I've got so many projects on the go I don't know which one to crack on with first!!! If you hop over here you can sign up too - anyway, I'll be stitching away tonight (even better Mr F is working a night shift so I can sew away until the early hours without getting told off!!) and maybe have a glass of wine too - only the one, as I don't want any wonky stitches or seams!! And then tomorrow I'll show you piccies of what I was busy stitching! 

A couple of years ago I bought my daughter Alice a bundle of fat eighths of "Max and Whiskers" fabric by Basic Grey for Moda. She finally decided to make a quilt herself, and she decided on a simple block layout - she cut the fat eighths into 9" squares which she sewed together. Then she pin based the layers together - she has used an extra wide calico for the back, and used a polyester wadding.....

.....Alice quilted it very simply using the "stitch-in-the-ditch" method with a variegated King Tut quilting thread shade 936 (Pharaoh's Treasures) and a cream Mettler thread in the bobbin to match the calico backing. She hand stitched the binding to the back of the quilt and her stitching is very neat - and I'm VERY impressed with her mitred corners!..........    

.....she used another Basic Grey fabric for the binding - she picked out the turquoise blue "grunge" - and it looks stunning teamed with the brown and mustard and coral in the rest of the quilt.....

.....and here is her finished quilt - what a clever girl!! I wonder who she takes after! Maybe she'll start making bags next!! Alice tells me that this is going to be the quilt that she snuggles up with when she's watching TV - she still wants me to make the quilt for her room with the Bali-Pops that I bought her from Birmingham last month. Maybe she'll be able to help me!

Another baby quilt for a very special little boy - this time made with some fabric from a beautiful Lecien Sushi roll - I had used some of this fabric for a baby quilt last year, and the strips that I hadn't used were perfect for my latest project. 
I really love these teddy bears and sailors and bees and cars and geese. Firstly I cut the strips into lots of  2½" squares then joined them together randomly.....

.....I was going to use a Moda Bakeshop pattern for this baby quilt but didn't have quite enough fabric, so made the panel a bit smaller. Asymmetric borders of white floral fabric were then joined either side of the panel. I kept to the original pattern of quilting in straight rows ½" apart, and used Mettler quilting thread in white to keep it looking simple and modern.....

.....I used the same fabric for the binding and backing, the label is sewn into place and it's finally finished!.....

.....one more completed baby quilt, ready to post off to Norway to a lovely mummy-to-be, Marthe. Her mother is my very special friend Hanne, and this is for the soon-to-arrive baby boy - I really hope Marthe likes it!!

I have joined a group on Facebook called "Sew SwapIt" and items are made and swapped among the group members. The swap this month is a table runner, and could be either a Halloween or Autumn theme, and these are the fabrics I have decided to use - an Autumnal collection called Gobble Gobble by Sandy Gervais for Moda..... 

.....I received only a little bit of information about the person who I'm making this runner for - she had requested autumn colours - and she'd said that although she was just starting to get into "modern quilting", she was not totally embracing it yet, but was trying to broaden her horizons, so this fabric range is ideal for the project I had in mind. Traditional piecing, but with a modern layout and quilting design. I thought my "swapee" would like these autumnal fabrics, in a variety of colours - greens, rusts, oranges and browns. Pumpkins, leaves, flowers and spots. Funky and modern patterns but traditional colours. I decided to design my own pattern for the runner - a modern layout, but made with traditional piecing.  So, I started off by cutting out lots of 2½" squares.....

.....I joined the squares together to make a nine-patch block, pressing my seams as I went along - then I joined 5 of these nine-patch blocks together..... 

.....asymmetric crisp linen borders were added on each side of the runner..... 

.....the runner was finished with simple machine quilting, using a dark brown Mettler quilting thread (top tip - I always use Schmetz Topstitch needles size 90 for quilting). I used a Clover Hera marker to mark quilting lines 1" apart, then quilted in the middle of these lines by using the edge of my walking foot as a guide.....

.....I have used matching prints from the same fabric range for both the backing and for the single-fold binding. And one of my labels as a final flourish? But of course.....  

.....and finally - here is the finished runner! This will be winging it's way across the sea to America - and no I'm NOT going to say who it is for yet, I don't want to spoil the surprise! Oh and I might just add a couple of extra "treats" for the lucky swappee!

I apologise to my blog followers as this post is rather wordy, but I feel very strongly about the subject of copyright, and have recently had a stream of demanding emails from people wanting copies of patterns that I have paid for, so I felt I had to make you aware of the issue of copyright. As most of my blog followers know, I am very fond of patterns by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa. I have been lucky enough to meet her and have been on two courses with her which was very exciting. I really love her patterns - people ask why, and I think it is because they are just that little bit different. I do not have a quilt shop (ohhhh - I wish!!) and I do not have an online shop either - however I do have a very good friend Hanne, who owns a quilt shop in Norway (Lappedilla - it's a wonderful shop!) and I get most of my AnnAKa patterns from her. Also I have also bought patterns from a Swedish quilt shop, Lapp-Elisa, and have been very impressed with the prompt service (thanks Elisabeth!). Well I really don't know where to start with this. Whilst I appreciate that some of my blog readers do not know how to buy AnnAKa patterns, so they have contacted me for some advice, and many of them have gone on to email me and say how pleased they are with the patterns they have been able to purchase through the links that I have given them, I have now received numerous emails from people asking me to copy the patterns that I have bought and wanting me to send the photocopies to them - I'm not sure if this is because they cannot afford to buy them, or because they do not want to source them, but what they may not be aware of is that this is illegal.  This has definitely got worse after I joined a FB group called "Sewing and Quilting Enthusiasts" and several members of this group have sent me repeated requests for photocopies of patterns. These are patterns that I have paid for. 
I have always tried to politely point out that I am unable to send them photocopies of these patterns because of copyright law - and the response has been terrible. I have recently received several emails demanding to know why I won't do this - in fact one member of this group emailed me after I had informed her why I was unable to send her copies of patterns that I had paid for myself, and her reply to me was "I guess I do not see much harm in sharing a pattern here and there, but that is my belief and choice" - honestly, she has absolutely no idea that she is flouting copyright law. This is a huge worldwide problem, and it would be wonderful if more consumers refused to 'share' their patterns. Sadly I think there are a lot of people who use excuses like 'I cant afford to buy a pattern so its OK to share'. 
From a designers point of view, designing and creating patterns is their job, its how they earn a living.  I wonder how someone who is happy to share books and a pattern would feel if their wages were stolen before they got them because instead of buying something for themselves they managed to get someone who is often a stranger to 'share' something with them. Do these people not realise they are receiving stolen goods and could be prosecuted for doing so? So please - if you want to source a pattern that you have seen on my blog, (not just the Norwegian patterns) feel free to contact me and I will send you the link of how to buy it - but please please do not offend me by asking for a photocopy. Oh and yes - I have left the FB group concerned. If you are one of those people who have been requesting copies of patterns - shame on you!!!  

**UPDATE: The owner of my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, has also blogged about copyright and she has some stories that will make your blood boil!! 

Do you remember the Stitchery Challenge that I set myself a few weeks ago? I used a Leanne Beasley pattern called "Ruth's Quilt" (from Leanne's book "Living the Dream) and stitched one little block per evening for 35 evenings. Well look at it now! A few weeks ago I drove off to visit Janette in her studio, J-Quilts, with my friend Linda (didn't we have an eventful afternoon out Linda!!) anyway, I left my quilt with Janette and look what she has done! It's superb!.....

.....Janette had suggested a peach coloured thread to blend with the subtle tones of the colours of the fabrics, and I knew exactly which quilting design I wanted - this one is called "Alfresco" and I simply adore it! I had already bought some extra wide fabric for the backing (Aster Manor by 3 Sisters for Moda) from my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven. So I left my quilt and backing fabric in Janette's capable hands and waited.....

.....at last I got that all-important email from Janette to say it was ready, so on Saturday morning I drove off to Janette's studio with my friend Helen to collect it - and I really wasn't disappointed! And the peach thread that Janette had suggested looks beautiful on the back too..... 

.....as you can see I have used an assortment of Fig Tree Quilts fabrics for the scrappy binding. I used all my left over scraps of Fig Tree Quilts fabrics for this project, which gives a co-ordinated scrappy look. Patisserie, Mill House Inn, Buttercup, Breakfast At Tiffany's, Gypsy Rose, Strawberry Fields and Fresh Cotton have all been used in this quilt - and yes, I've sewn on one of my labels too..... 

.....and here is the finished quilt, bound and labelled, spread out on our bed ready for us to use tonight. It really is gorgeous.  Thank you so much Janette - this really is my favourite quilt. I absolutely LOVE it! 
* By the way - if you click on this link here you can read all about the stitchery challenge I made to myself and see how this quilt started!
* And Janette has written about my quilt over here on her blog too!!