Blog Archives - Nicola Foreman Quilts

A Spooky Corner

31/10/2020

Here's a spooky corner - or is it a cute corner - of my lounge. No trick or treating this year, but just a few Halloween themed decorations...

...Winnie the Witch was made several years ago, and is a pattern by Button Angel. I'd bought this as a kit which included all the fabrics, adding a few of my own buttons for embellishment. She was great fun to make, and I poked a few cloves in her arms and legs with the stuffing, so she smells rather nice and I used a cinnamon stick for the pumpkin stalk too. The Spooky House table mat is a Lynette Anderson pattern and was made in 2015 using fabrics also designed by Lynette, and hand embroidered using variegated Valdani threads and hand appliqued.

Høstvarianter - Variations of Autumn

30/10/2020

I've finally replaced the runner on my table with something more autumnal! Høstvarianter - this pattern is by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa. Machine appliqued and machine quilted. This one was was made back in November 2010, after my friend Hanne sent me a kit that included the fabrics and the pattern, from her shop in Norway, Lappedilla...

...the pumpkins and leaves were machine quilted using a blanket stitch, and the tendrils were hand embroidered. This pattern Høstvarianter tranlates to variations of autumn and includes 3 different appliqued designs to chose from, so I may have to make another one!

Greensleaves Quilting Design

29/10/2020

Here's a little peek at the Greensleaves all-over quilting design on my latest Turning Twenty quilt. This has been longarm quilted by Daisy May Quilting and I really am very pleased with the reuslt. These gorgeous fabrics are from the Little Sweetheart collection by Edyta Sitar which were bought from Cross Patch last year. Turning Twenty is a pattern by Tricia Cribbs and is so easy to cut and piece together, and is a great pattern for showcasing those beautiful fat quarters that you don't want to cut up into little pieces! The original pattern uses 20 fat quarters, but as I wanted my quilt to be larger I used 25 for this one. Now I just need to get the binding strips cut and stitched into place, all 344" of them!

Daisy May Quilting

28/10/2020

I'd recently made another Turning Twenty quilt (this is a great pattern by Tricia Cribbs) and had left it in the very capable hands of Daisy May Quilting. As well as doing the longarm quilting, Daisy May Quilting also supplied the extra wide fabric for the backing (a Moda tone on tone fabric that really is gorgeous) and wadding (I'd chosen bamboo which drapes beautifully). After just a few weeks (their turnaround is very quick) it was ready and boy did I get a surprise when I went to collect it. This was made with a selection of 25 fat quarters of the Little Sweetheart collection by Edyta Sitar for Laundry Basket Quilts which I had bought from Cross Patch last year, and really does look pretty. As I wanted a larger quilt, to drape over the sides of the bed in my spare room, I usde 25 fat quartes and used a 5x5 block layout. This beauty finishes at 86" square, and I really am thrilled to bits with it as you can see! The tricky part is going to be decidinng which fabric to chose for the binding, as I have a few options to chose from. Decisions decisions!

The Spooky Set - Ornaments

25/10/2020

These are the smaller stitchery designs from "The Spooky Set" pattern by Lynette Anderson Designs. The pattern instructions are for making coasters, but I'm going to stuff them and turn them into ornaments like the Christmas and Spring ones that I've made previously. These have been had embroidered with a selection of variegated Valdani embroidery threads, shades O511, O86, P2 and O510. These fabrics are from Lynette's Happy Halloween collection, and are perfect for some spooky stitching...

...I used some scraps of wool wadding for the stuffing, and added a few cloves to make them smell nice, then added some garden twine, to turn them into rather cute Halloween ornaments. These will be displayed along with my Spooky House table mat that I made a few years ago, also designed by Lynette. Now I'm just deliberating over whether to make a few more of these!

Daisy Pendant

20/10/2020

The best gifts are definitely the ones that are handmade with love. My daughter Alice is very creative and she has made me this beautiful silver clay daisy pendant for my birthday. It really is very pretty, with amazing detail and I absolutely LOVE it. Everytime I wear it, it will be like having a hug from my daughter!

The Spooky Set - Wall Hanging

13/10/2020

This little wall hanging is part of "The Spooky Set" - pattern by Lynette Anderson Designs. I'd bought this pattern, along with a pack of "My Halloween" raw wood buttons a couple of years ago, and only just got around to making it. This has been hand embroidered with a selection of variegated Valdani threads and hand appliqued. These fabrics are from the Happy Halloween collection, that I bought from Lynette's stall at Festival of Quilts back in 2014 - they were perfect for this project! Finally this has been embellished with a few raw wood buttons. I really love the border, which was made with lots of tiny 1" squares!

Kismet Pyramid Pouch

10/10/2020

This Kismet pouch is a really easy project to make! This pattern is by Helen Butcher (Little Patch Pockets) and the finished size is 6" x 4" x 2" and the addition of a carabiner style clip to the top loop makes it even more versatile. This pouch is perfect for my husband to clip on his belt loop for keeping a few dog poo bags in when he takes our black lab for a walk! I bought this as a kit from Little Patch Pockets (this is the Moondance colourway) but you can buy just the paper pattern or you can dowload a PDF version. This really was very quick to make - I'll definately make a few more. They would also be useful for storing a few face masks and a small bottle of hand sanitizer too.

Sewing is Good for my Soul

9/10/2020

After a rather stressful week, I just needed half an hour of peace and quiet in my sewing studio. I'd already completed blocks 9 and 10 of Wish You Well by the Australian designer Gail Pan Designs and couldn't resist putting them together. These gorgeous fabrics are from the Super Bloom collection by Edyta Sitar bought earlier this year from Cross Patch

Wish You Well - Block 10

7/10/2020

Here's the 10th block of Wish You Well - it's the 2020 I Stitch Club design, which is a mystery block of the month, designed by the Australian designer Gail Pan Designs and is available from her website as a PDF download. This combines a mixture of hand embroidery and applique (you can use whatever method of applique you prefer). Each month you're sent an email with a PDF download with the pattern instructions, colour picture of the completed block and a full size traceable stitchery design. You also get a bonus project each month. I've used a GORGEOUS selection of fabrics for this project, that are from the Super Bloom collection by Edyta Sitar, which were purchased from Cross Patch an online shop based in Wales here in the UK...

...as you can see, I've used some vintage lace trimming on this block. I've got quite a collection of vintage lace trimmings and ribbons, moustly sourced from charity shops and vintage markets. The stitchery has been hand embroidered using a selection of DMC, Cosmo and Valdani embroidery threads. You can click on the pictures below to enlarge them if you want to see them in more detail. This is such a pretty BOM, I'm really looking forward to seeing these blocks all pieced together!
If you want to take part too, click on the link on the sidebar of my blog to take you to Gail Pan's website where you'll get all the details.