mini fini

Hey readers in case you missed my last announcement

I am now blogging here

I'd love to catch up with you all!

Come and have a look at my latest quilt.

 have I told you lately that...

ps. this morning I tried to change my blog url.

I got myself in such a mess I've changed it all back phew!

I shall be starting a fresh blog soon....

a quilt in a bag...and some blog lovin

 Not just any old bag however..

 Recognise the red perle hand stitching?

Yep it's a MollyFlanders original.
And it's just perfect for housing my latest patches.
Plus it's made from fabric by Melody Miller,
swooning now..somebody catch me!

 My husband thinks we are having an affair...

he is right of course..

 it's just a little patchwork love affair!

with a lot of fabric eye candy!

Mary rocks if you haven't already popped over,

go there now!

You will find the most awesome star roses.

Thank you MM

I shall be paying this suprise gifting forward for sure!

Someone else who knows me well

is Claire Jain @ sewing over pins (great name)

Claire has also been taking part in my star rose block party,

and has just written the post of all posts 

about moi!!

It's quite a funny read and she has captured me perfectly

although with a little more eloquence!

Do take a look.

I think she's one to watch!

I want to thank you for all your kind wishes regarding my shoulder.

It's still an issue,

but one I'm trying to cope with.

I am sewing far less, which is hard when you have an addiction.

So what am I doing making another quilt, you ask?

It's okay it's a mini.

I'm taking part in the modern mini challenge over @ Ellison Lane Quilts

And yes it's paper piecing again...

I really need to get machining!

rose star link party

jenny makes stuff, klynq, yarn wrap, tree casiano 

charm about you, molly flanders, shadrach, jerri currl

jerri currl, sew kalico, woodcut55, sunni love affair  

charm about you, fiona poppy, woodcut55, woodcut55

The rose star block party is still going strong..

though I do feel a bit like the pied piper(thanks mary)

leading you all into a cave of doom..

...at least you wont be bored...

someone remember a candle!

now dont forget to share a picture of your latest rose star and link to your blog.

 

baby it's proper cold outside

 Okay so no snow apart from the quilt...

but my god is it cold today.

 I had visions of beautiful sunlit quilt flapping as per norm.

This will have to do...it's too cold..did I mention that?

Back inside for now.

After much head scratching I came to the conclusion that my thoughts on yellow and grey had changed. The tones of grey are actually more on the green side, so I've gone for a turquoise palette

to keep it clean and crisp.

It reminds me of driftwood and the sea

(well in my head it does!)

I'm thinking of a turquoise back and binding

with turquoise and maybe a little red or rust hand quilting.

I'm off to make some butternut squash soup

before venturing out with a friend and our cameras.

Have a great weekend.

Wrap up warm...it's taters.

small wonders...

 ..or one day at a time.. 

 ..daydream believers..

All is calm all is bright.

There has been a shift in my sewing of late.

Just an hour or two a week.

I am seeing an osteopath.

(for pain not for drinks)

 Have you ever timed how long you sew?

Me neither.

Have you ever thought about the bad habits of sewing?

(and blogging)

Me neither.

No more lap topping for me, just table topping.

No more resting my head to one side whilst stitching.

And no more stitching marathons.

Sorry if it's a little melancholy

There is a dove pining for its dead mate in my garden,

as I am pining for my beloved patchwork...

So it's quality rather than quantity for now at least.

Have I told you lately that I love you?

xxx

Off to bury the feathered one.. second thoughts..it's too cold!

very cheery

 I think my 'spring around the corner' statement was a little premature!

Thought I'd spread some cheer with a little colour.

xx

keep on the sunnyside

Then there were two!

This idea was totally stolen from Posy,

I'm not a fan of plagerism, but to be fair Posy herself got the idea from 

Caroline Zoob.

I am like Jim Carey in liar liar.

I cannot lie!

I do believe in showing your working out,

which is why I always link back if possible.

I'm so sick of reading new blogs who have a million devotees and not an ounce of originality.

Ooh getting off my soap box!

Let me distract with some pretty vintage hexagons.

 I've finally got round to sewing a back onto this gorgeous vintage piece
thats been floating around the house.

I love this mash up of colours (obvious) 

the fabrics are just lovely.

 Do you buy patchwork?

I made these with the mind to sell them.

238 squares each!!
Insane!

They remain patchwork pieces, should I make them into curtains?

 hope you can all keep on the sunnyside this weekend...

I think spring is just round the corner.

Clare xxx

how's it hanging?

Yesterday I finally got round to hanging my 

beautiful quilt from Mary@ Molly Flanders.

Now this is something new to me,

as usual my attempt was somewhat adhoc.

If you want to see how it should be done please hop over to

Stitched in color who yesterday also posted a great how to!

If you prefer to wing it with whatever you have 

stick with me!

 The idea is to make tubes of fabric with which to hold a piece of dowel.

Ever the corner cutter, I struck on this old apron that I'd been chopping up.

The ties made perfect tubes for the dowel.

That's one step down.

Now all I had to do was hand stitch the three tubes to the back of the quilt.

I chose three tubes as this seemed to hold the quilt straighter.

I did feel strange sewing my stitches on to Mary's quilt,

I like how my addition is so me!!

 After cutting my dowel with a saw on the kitchen work surface,

I placed it through the stitched tubes.

Next step bang two nails in the wall,

using the hammer as a measuring implement.

Spirit level?  I have eyes.

So there we have it.

One beautiful quilt hung.

How can I possibly go wrong now that Mary has my back!

In case you didn't know I'm a big lover of independence.

Indie music, indie movies and indie quilters!

Are you an indie girl like me?

thursday therapy

Don't ever assume that sewing squares is a simple task.

she soldiers on

with a shoulder that's wrong..

wordless wednesday

procrastinating already

procrastinating, putting things off, in a creative hiatus, sewing block, sore back, losing my mojo.

My resolution this year,

when I feel one or all of the above,

is to cut scrappy squares!

I'm in a state of decluttering my doss hole work room.

So being ruthless with my scrapage is partly useful part creative.

I still have far too much stuff....

but I'm getting there.

And now I have my new radio for company.

So I can at least rock out with planet rock or ken bruce!!

ps. off to the osteopath tomorrow to find out the correct term for my bad sewing shoulder.

too cold to snow?

New Forest Ponies

You just cannot have a warm day in winter with such beautiful clear skies,

but you can wrap up, go for a stroll and enjoy the sun.

I've just finished attaching the border to my flowering snowball quilt

Now I have a dilemma.

(the tiny squares joining the blocks are still holes)

Do I go with

my original concept of tonal greys,

or

grey and yellow

or 

multi coloured 

or

something else?

Quilting

machine narrow lines following the design

or

hand quilted in a lovely jewel colour??

Backing

???

Binding

???

Help

???

rose starlets

rose starlets, a photo by selfsewn on Flickr.

 sew kalico, daddys lil hurl, tree casiano

sunnilove affair, the wee pixie, molly flanders,

fiona poppy, sunniloveaffair, life under quilts,

molly flanders, selfsewn, selfsewn.

Here are some of the latest rose star blocks
from my brilliant starlets over at the flickr block party.
I love their vintage feel,
wouldnt these make an awesome quilt!

These are not all mine, go to the block party to check them out!

Happy Saturday everyone!

We now have 100 members woohoo!! 
I am beyond thrilled
thank you 
xxx

spinning starlets

 Here are my latest efforts to add to the rose star block party

Thanks to all the starlets

for showing my little group some love!

 My inspiration came from this sweet plate.

And yes I am cutting up my favourite vintage skirt (blue)

I've had it many years and never worn it.

 I find that I prefer to mix vintage and new fabrics when using this sort of block.

Though I do love the green moda ric rac which is new.

 Here you can see I've tried different fabrics for the points.

I like the green...but I went with the orange..but I like the green too!

 I love how the plate inspired my colour palette..sublime!

 Next up I'm now using the green points..

 Some may consider paper piecing tiresome..

but when it all comes together

it's so worth it.

 I love the back with papers as much as the front!

I have something in mind for the centres of these two.

More to follow!

 For more beautiful starlets

have a look at my rose star block party

flickr group which now has 89 members!!!

ps.

It's never to late to join.
pps.
There are some wonderful techniques & tips for Epp
being shared on the flickr group.
I'm learning lots!