I'm absolutely loving the centre tulip block! This pattern is the Spring Tulip Table Topper which was designed by Julia Roworth and bought as a kit from Cross Patch. Now the table topper has been pieced together, I'm just deliberating over the quilting!
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So this time last week we had a very posh afternoon tea after we said cheerio to a very special person. I'm sure she would've approved as she loved a slice of homemade cake. I spent a busy day last Tuesday baking, and here you can see a Victoria Sponge, filled with Tiptree strawberry and champagne conserve, lemon drizzle cake, and some very delicious cream horns!
This is my favourite stitchery design for friendship gifts - the pattern is the Friendship Notebook by the Austrakian designer Gail Pan, and the patter was bought ages ago from Cpast and Country Crafts. I've used a variegated Valdani perle thread for the hand embroidery, shade M32 which works perfectly with these fabrics that I used from the Katie Jane collection, by Makower. The fabrics and gorgeous thread were bought from Cross Patch last year. I've used an A5 notebook to slip inside the cover, that can be removed when it's full up... ...and here's the finished journal cover, complete with notebook inside. I've machine quilted this very simply with a silver grey King Tut machine quilting thread that blends into the colours of the fabrics. This is proving to be my favourite colour quilting thread - I need to stock up from Sew and So's as they have a super collection of King Tut threads! This was posted off at the weekend to a very special friend - I really hope she likes it!
So today I've shut myself away in my sewing studio with a kit from Julia Roworth Cross Patch called Spring Tulips Table Topper. Julia designed this pattern herself and her instructions are ideal for any level of sewer, as they're clearly written and well illustarted with colour photographs. This block was pieced together with Aurifil 50wt thread in aneutral colour, and I've used a Schmetz Microtex size 60 needle. This buttercup block looks much more comlcated to make than it is. Just 3 more buttercup blocks to make and I can start on the centre tulip block!
"For The Love of Tea" is another design by the Australian designer Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched, and is also made with the gorgeous Tealicicious collection of fabrics. This was a kit that I bought online from Coast and Country Crafts and Quilts. The pattern comes with pre-printed linen for the stitchery blocks, as well as full-sized traceable design sheets. The kit included all the fabrics for making the quilt top, and 9 skeins of DMC embroidery threads - so now I have a few more threads to add to my collection!... ...I machine quilted around all 9 stitchery blocks, sashing, and the peeper strip, then hand quilted along the centre of the sashing strips using a variegated Vandani perle thread. I used shade P10 to pick up the colour of the border around the centre block and the binding. I used the same perle thread to embroider a label which was then hand appliqued to the back of the wall hanging... ...I've handed stitched the binding in place - this was made with another coordinating print from the Tealicious collection, and a narrow quilt sleeve was also hand stitched to the back of the wallhanging to enable it to be displayed on a decorative quilt hanger... ...and here it is, displayed on the wall of my sewing studio. I've got quite a collection of decorative quilt hangers, mostly by Ackfeld Designs. Most of them have a metal rail to thread through a quilt sleeve, although this one has a wooden dowel. I tend to rotate my quilts that are on display, so it always looks fresh and I don't get bored with looking at the same ones all the time!
How appropriate for National Sewing Machine Day! I've been busy over the past few weeks packing my mum's belongings and my daughter found this on a bookcase. Goodness only knows what happened to my dolls house and the rest of the furniture. I wonder what other treasures I'll unearth while I'm sorting, cleaning and packing!
Here's the 6th 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... ...a white cotton placemat has been chopped up to embellish the top corner, and some vitage lace trimming has also been added. The stitchery has been hand embroidered using a selection of DMC, Cosmo and Valdani embroidery threads. I really can't believe we're halfway through this gorgeous BOM already! 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.
It's amazing what you can achieve when you're wide awake at 4am! These words "Think happy thoughts" are very appropriate this week. Inbetween writing my mum's eulogy and preparing for next week's service, I've completed the stitchery blocks for month 6 of Wish You Well, the mystery BOM by Gail Pan Designs. All the details for taking part in this gorgeous block of the month are on Gail's website, if you click on the I Stitch Club tab, or you ca click on the link on the sidebar of my blog. The hand embroidery has been stitched using a selection of embroidety threads - DMC, Cosmo and variegated Valdani threads. The 2 background fabrics are from the Super Bloom collection by Edyta Sitar, of Laundry Basket Quilts.
All ready for afternoon tea! My latest project is this Tea Time Table Runner by the Australian designer Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched. I've used a charm pack of fabrics from the Tealicious collection (also designed by Anni Downs) which were bought from Cross Patch. The table runner pattern was bought online from Coast & Country Crafts and Quilts... ...the applique shapes were all made using the Apliquick method, and stitched into place using Aurifil 80wt thread. the words are hand embroidered using DMC thread. Once the table runner was pieced together, it was layered up using a thin fusible wadding Vilene H630. The joy of using this is that you don't have to fuse it in place if you don't want to. It's also slightly thinner than Vilene H640 and is perfect for table runners and placemats and bags too. This wa sthen machine quilted in a simple cross hatch design, using a King Tut variegated silver-grey quilting thread... ...we'd just had a slice of a homemade Victoria Sponge, filled with buttercream and strawberry jam, for our afternoon tea, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a photoshoot!
This just needs a good press and it will be ready to be layered ready for quilting. I'm using the Tea Party Table Runner pattern by the Australian designer Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched, (bought from Coast & Country Crafts and Quilts in Cornwall) and using a charm pack of fabrics from the Tealicious collection, also designed by Hatched and Patched, which were bought from Cross Patch in Wales. The teacups and saucers were made using the Apliquick method of applique, and have been stitched into place using a mid-grey Aurifil 80wt thread, onto a linen background. Hoping to get the quilted over the weekend, if I can squeeze a few hours into my busy life for a session in my sewing studio. This runner reminds me of having afternoon tea with special friends, something which I'm looking forward to doing when we can finally get together again, hopefully soon.
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About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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