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Schnibbles - McGuffy and Short Story

14/11/2010

Whilst surfing the net and "blog-hopping" I discovered that lots of quilters have been making "Schnibbles" - hop over to Stina and Sherri to have a look for yourselves - anyway,I thought they looked great, and decided to have a go at these myself, especially as they used Charm packs, and I'd got a few of those in my stash. Then a few weeks ago I bought this fabulous quilting book - "Schnibbles Times Two" by Carrie Nelson - each quilt in the book is made twice - a small quilt with 2x Charm packs, and a bigger size with 2xLayer Cakes. I have already made 4 - yes that's right 4 of these quilts - ooops - make that 5 - (forgot about Beth's uni quilt) - this is the remains of a Layer cake called Luna Notte, by 3 Sisters for Moda (I had cut the layer cake in half to make 2x Charm packs) . ready to make another small Schnibbles!! I have already taught a Schnibbles class at my local quilt shop, and I'm teaching another class there on Monday. This fabric is "Pure" by Sweetwater for Moda - (bought last week from Chilford Quilt Show) - and I am going to teach another Schnibbles class next term - "Short Story" - I'll use this one as my class sample - my daughter helped me to pick the fabric to use for the background - it's very useful as she's the Saturday girl at my local quilt shop so is brilliant at helping me chose fabric and brilliant at helping me to spend money :)

this is the larger version of McGuffy - my daughter Beth chose the fabrics - well, it was for her - and she chose "Patisserie" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda.

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Lemon Meringue Pie

13/11/2010

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About 4 years ago, my local quilt shop "Quilters Haven" ran a monthly programme called "Stash Pot Pie". Each month, some very enthuisiastic and excited quiters went along with fabrics from their stash to make a quilt - and this particular pattern was called "Queen of Tarts" and was taught by Karin Hellaby. This was one of my first "big quilts" that I made and it always reminds me of my favourite pudding, Lemon Meringue Pie, as it is so sharp and sweet.....

I've added the words "sweet dreams" to one of the setting triangles - this was taken from a book by Nancy Halvorsen called "The Winsome Baby". I try to add stitchery to most of my quilts, sometimes on the quilt top, and sometimes on the reverse as a label - and now it has sort of become my "signature". When life deals you lemons.....make Lemon Meringue Pie!! This has to be my absolute favourite pudding - tangy sharp lemon, with sweet meringue topping - crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. You just can't beat home-made puddings, and a few simple ingredients turn from this...

...into this!! Delia would be proud of me. We had friends round for supper last night, and it proved to be a big hit. As you can see my friend Wendy thought it was delicious - and says when can she come round for supper again!!

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That famous shopping bag - Håndbagasje

12/11/2010

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Last weekend when I went to Chilford Hall Quilt Show, I was constantly hounded - ooops - I mean asked - about my bag - lots of lovely ladies admired it and asked where had I got it from, had I made it myself, what were the fabrics and I'm sure I could've sold it a dozen times!! My poor friends Lesley and Carolyn and Jenny heard my reply over and over - I should've had a sandwich board really - and Carolyn was even writing down my website address for some of these ladies so they could browse it when they got home!! Anyway, here is THAT BAG - it's a Norwegian pattern by AnnAKa and both pattern and fabric came from Lappedilla - the pattern is called "Håndbagasje" (handluggage) and the fabrics are Martinique by 3 Sisters for Moda. Would you believe I've also got a Jelly Roll in these fabrics.....one of the many in my collection!! The pattern was quite easy to follow and although the instructions are in Norwegian, the diagrams are very clear.....

.....this shows the front - appliqued Baboushka and Suffolk Puffs and lots and LOTS of freehand quilting.....

.....and this shows the back view - I added several extra rows of machine quilting (Eva gave me this tip!!) to make the bag firmer.....

.....the pattern has 2 different applique designs - I made this one for my daughter Alice, for her birthday - (she likes owls) - again, this is Martinique fabric.....

.....and here is the back view of the "owl" bag.

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Keats, Quiche and Quilting.....

11/11/2010

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The pattern and fabric kit for this tablerunner was sent to me from Hanne, and is called "Høstvarianter" (Variations of Autumn) it is a pattern by AnnAKa and I started this yesterday. This will look great on my dining table once it's completed. I really enjoy walking in the woods with the dog this time of year, all that "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" malarky is good for the soul, although today it's pouring with rain and blowing a gale, so I'm tucked up indoors with a cuppa and Alan Rickman (well, a girl can always dream. I'll just make do with the DVD Love Actually followed by Sense and Sensibility - a double dose of Alan - perfect!!) and the dog curled up beside me :) .....

...this is what my garden looked like a couple of days ago in the autumn sunshine - although it doesn't look like this now, most of the leaves have blown off!! I've been doing my domestic-goddess bit in the kitchen and have got some left-overs to use up for lunch the remains of a home-made quiche and will make some leek and potato soup too as I'll need plenty of energy ready for an afternoon on the sofa with Alan !!!

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Chicken Run

11/11/2010

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Here is my completed chicken runner "Vartegn" (Signs of Spring) - along with some other hens in my kitchen. The log cabin hen is actually a door stop which I made about 5 years ago. As you can see from the fresh eggs in the background, we have our very own happy hens in the garden, and a few weeks ago we had a new addition. We had a very broody hen, and decided to let her sit on a small clutch of eggs - and this is the result!! We weren't sure if the eggs we were given were fertile, and only 2 chicks hatched, and only one of those survived, and this little cutie was born on Eva's birthday!!

...here she is 10 weeks later - we have now put her into the hen run with our other "girls" and her mother is still extremely protective of her. This is the posh hen house where the happy hens live - they really are very spoilt!!

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Tail Feathers

10/11/2010

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Last year I started a BOM called "Tail Feathers" by Cinderberry Stitches. Every month it arrived from Buttonberry beautifully wrapped in tissue paper with a neat little gingham ribbon tied around it - well, I made an impressive start and each month completed the block before the next one came and things were going great until month 5 - I sort of lost my sewing mojo, and then every month the packages were put away in a box..... in August I dusted them off, and decided to get on with it - here is the centre block - a mixture of piecing, appliqué and embroidery. And here is the finished quilt top - the fabric used is "Patisserie" by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. Now to get it quilted!! I made the most of the autumn sunshine this morning to get this photographed :)

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Quilt Show and Shopping...

7/11/2010

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Yesterday was a great day out at Chilford Hall Quilt Show– lots of lovely stalls selling all sorts of quilty stuff – saw a great bag on the Monkey Buttons stall made with a couple of T-towels!!! And I just adore bags, so had to get the pattern, and bought some beautiful linen to make it with, then I bought a bundle of 6 fat-quarters of yummy “Eva” fabric from Kaleidoscope Fabrics. I’ve already got a jelly roll of this fabric, so maybe that will go towards making a bigger project. Couldn’t resist this gorgeous red and white fabric from the Sunflower Fabrics stall...

...and I just couldn't resist buying this pack of batik fabrics from Patchwork Creations, to make a quilt to go on the back of my sofa in the lounge (all my quilt friends know how much I adore batiks, so this was never going to be left sitting on the stall!!), a kit to make a cute shoulder purse along with some “spring fasteners” to make purses for Christmas presents from Euro Japan Links, and a couple of Charm packs from the Buttonberry stall – these came with a free book, but think I’ll use these to make another “Schnibbles” quilt.....more of those on another post!! And finally this cute little micro iron, which is great for appliqué, when you don’t need a huge iron to press all those fiddly little pieces into place. No wonder I was exhausted by the end of the day!!!

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Chilford Hall Quilt Show..... and friends

6/11/2010

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Had a great day out today with my friends at Chilford Hall Quilt Show - there were absolutely loads and loads of wonderful stalls, and I saw lots of quilty things that I never realised I "needed" (photo's of my shopping to follow tomorrow!!) and some lovely quilts were on display. Lots of ladies at the quilt show commented on my shopping bag - thank you!! Here's a picture of my friends - Lesley, Joan, Carolyn and Jenny - these ladies are my "Quilting Groupies" and they religiously come to all my classes at Quilters Haven and are very supportive to me. This piccie was taken just after we'd had a super lunch (didn't take a piccie of that, as we had to queue for soooo long that by the time we sat down to eat it, we were so ravenous I completely forgot to get my camera out!!!). Those really lovely girls from Buttonberry , Emma and Lisa, were there too - their stall looked lovely as always!! - and I even got to meet Supermum aswell....

there were some lovely quilts on show and this was my absolute favourite. It was made by Linda Park from Alford, Aberdeenshire - and I thought it was stunning. I have always wanted to make a "New York Beauty" quilt, and this has spurred me on to make one.....if anyone out there knows who Linda is, please get her to contact me so I can tell her how fabulous her quilt was!

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Presents from America

3/11/2010

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My youngest daughter, Alice, has just returned from 2 weeks in America, where she was talking part in a school exchange - we had a fantastic American girl stay with us in the summer - oh hi Erika :) and now Alice has been to stay with Erika and her family in Michegan - Hiya Patti :) Just look what Alice bought for me while she was there - 2 Charm packs and a pattern to make tabler unners!! And how lucky was I - Patti and Erika sent me a present too. I adore Jelly Rolls, and already have quite a collection, so imagine how pleased I was with with one - it is called "Wild Rose" and is by Bronnock and Patek for Moda. I can't wait to get my rotary cutter out and start making another Jelly Roll quilt with it!!...

..and finally, this fantastic book came in the post the other day. It's written by the hugely talented Lisa Lam, of U-handbag and I can highly recommend her website. I recntly placed an order with her and it arrived really quickly, and was beautifully packaged. She stocks a fantastic range of all sorts of bag making goodies and you hop along over to her fantastic blog, that has lots of free tutorials that are bag related.

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Forward>>

Schnibbles - McGuffy and Short Story

Lemon Meringue Pie

That famous shopping bag - Håndbagasje

Keats, Quiche and Quilting.....

Chicken Run

Tail Feathers

Quilt Show and Shopping...

Chilford Hall Quilt Show..... and friends

Presents from America

About me...

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