Charmalade Quilt

Well I thought I better start as I mean to go! Two posts in two days isn't too shabby is it?  

About a year ago in the midst of all our renovations work my daughter picked out some really pretty fabric for me to make a quilt out of for her: Sakura Park from Moda.  Fast forward a few months and we decided upon a pattern to go with: Charmalade at Moda Bake Shop by Pamela Lincoln.  Then fast forward to November last year and I tried to get the fabric.  Note to self, when you see fabric you like: buy it! Oh boy was it hard to track down the fabric I needed.  It came in from America, Australia and the UK in the end! 

It was a bit of a tall order to make my first quilt that is bigger than a baby quilt in 3 weeks in time for Christmas but I did it! And totally love it! The quilting could be better as always and one of the rows of piecing just doesn't match up but oh well, I still love it!

The Charmalade pattern calls for Moda Snow charm squares, but as I wasn't using the Marmalade fabric line I wasn't sure how Snow would match in with the Sakura Park, so instead I decided to wait til it arrived and trot down to my local quilting shop to find a match.  It just meant cutting 65 charms! Drum roll please....enter the Sizzix Bigz 5 inch square die!  This was great for ensuring accuracy and saving my hand using the rotary cutter!  Not much wastage either which was a bonus.

Although my hand didn't escape the rotary cutter completely as there sure is a lot of trimming to do in this project, 130 squares!

I decided I would not be able to the beautiful fancy quilting that was on the one in the tutorial.  So instead I opted for mostly straight (ish) line quilting with some meandering loops around the edge.  I love the tutorial, very easy to follow and the pattern looks really striking.

The quilting wasn't totally without mishaps! This happened on a couple of occasions and there was much muttering of expletives going on in our house!!

I couldn't get as much fabric as I needed for the back to be all one colour so instead I opted to put a strip of different fabric down the middle.

Really love how on the back the quilting really stands out.

I put a label on the back with a photo of our little family.

 Here's a few more gratuitous photos!

By the way, the fabric line also contained a blue range of the fabrics but I took those out and used them on another project to be blogged later!

Thanks to Pamela for producing a really great tutorial!

Sharing this at Classy Clutter!  And at Sew Can She.  Sharing at Quilt Story too!

A Little Blog Drought and Exciting News!

Sorry about that! Seems I have been away longer than planned.  Well it hasn't been because I haven't been crafting because believe me I have!  Instead of one long post I will endeavour to catch up with lots of individual posts!

Here are a few of the latest creations.

1. Charmalade Quilt  2. Personalised Taggie Blankie  3. Birdie Mini Quilt  4. Reindeer Cushion  

5. Cupcake Purse  6. Burlap Christmas Tree Garland  7. Flavoured Vodka Chalkboard Labels     

8. Daisy Scarf  9. Personalised Christmas Stocking  10. Twins Card  11. Tree Cushion  

12. Scooter Purse  13. Old Git Card  14. Baby Quilt

The most exciting news is that I am planning to start teaching sewing classes again, here in Hampshire, UK.  I've added a tab to the top of the page with a link to where you can book your place if you are local!  The intention is to keep the classes project based so that a student can complete a finished project within the time frame of the lesson.  That being said, the projects will be kept small and depending on the speed of the student, they may need to be completed at home.  I want people to stop being afraid of their sewing machine and have a go at making something.  

So first up on the classes will be:

 If you're local please help me spread the word!

Joining in with Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day:

Make up bags

After making the pencil case for my daughter a while ago I needed a couple of gifts. So decided to make slightly smaller versions of the pencil case. 

I squared off the corners so they stand up on their own. Makes it so much easier to find things. 

 I added a pleated strip of fabric to add interest. 

This one is made mostly from Cath Kidston fabrics. 

I ummed and ared over what colour zip to use but just love the green. Such s good contrast. 

Hope the recipients like them!

Happy Little Bunting Card

A happy little bunting card. 

Paper is Stampin Up. The sentiment is from Unity. I sewed the flags in place. 

I made this card to go with a little make up bag I made for a friend's birthday. 

Wonder Woman Oops Moment!!

Made this card for the Color Throwdown. Didn't get the green in though oops!  Loved this image when I saw it. Will look for a link. 

Made for a friend who loves Wonder Woman! Just thought it was very funny!!

Have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by!