Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013

Well after the week I've had, I wasn't sure I'd get to enter the fun and games over at Amy's...

But I hate missing out, so here I am!

Since the Spring Festival I have had a lot of finishes, but it came down to a choice of two...

or...

Gah!  So hard to choose.  BUT then I spotted in the small print that you can enter two, so I will enter one today and the other tomorrow, as I am not getting much done right now, and what the heck!

Firstly I went with my Liberty Marcelle Medallion, entering it in the Scrappy Quilt category; purely for the amount of work, piecing and fabrics that went into this one.  I had never made anything as complex before and stuck to a pattern, and I love the sense of achievement it has given me...

I love this quilt so, so much.  And the fact that I managed to get the lovely photoshoot over at my parents' means that it's only fair it gets another airing on my blog.

The Details:
Pattern - Marcelle Medallion by Alexia Abegg from the book Liberty Love
Fabrics - lots and lots of Liberty lawn, and Liberty Lifestyle mixed with complimentary prints and low volume scraps
Finished - 57"x 57"
Pieced and quilted - 50wt Aurifil in 2021
Quilted - continuous spiral from the centre
Backed - IKEA Britten Nummer and more Liberty

If you are visiting for the first time, hello, welcome and please do have a look about and come back again tomorrow.  I do make a lot of stuff, usually!

Da da daaaaah!

There's nothing like a visit to my parents' and a potential pretty photo shoot to get me to put the pedal to the metal and get things done.

My Marcelle Medallion has been a long time coming since the top was completed, very out of character, but I wanted the quilting and backing to be perfect.  I think I sussed it.  I love this quilt...

OK, I took loads of photos, and here they are!!

The Full Details:

Pattern - Marcelle Medallion from Liberty Love by Alexia Marcelle Abegg
Top - mix of Liberty and other high & low prints, mostly from here, here, here and here
Back - IKEA print plus Liberty and low volume charms
Binding - Tula Pink - Prince Charming Fern, in Indigo
Pieced & Quilted - Aurifil 50wt 2021
Spiral quilting from the centre out
Finished size c. 57" square

You don't need to hear me rave on and on, but I have to say this is the quilt I am most proud of; that I didn't rush for the sake of a finish (and a FAL tick), and that has cemented my love for Liberty completely! 

Liberty, Liberty, Liberty!

Well I have had a Liberty-fuelled day.

Kids at school, hubby packed off to the office, (albeit he only made it until lunchtime), and I got down to it.

First I finished off my Marcelle Medallion quilt top.

I. Love. It!  Simple as.  I had a grand plan, lots of Liberty and not a lot of red, pure white or orange.   And it worked!

I took lots of photos...

Then I took some more...

Then the postman turned up with a couple of envelopes containing some more beautiful Liberty...

I knew Ali of Very Berry Handmade had the Eloise print I was after to finish my Retreat name tag, so I ordered what I needed, and maybe a little more fell into the basket, (well Ali does a mini-bundle deal on 3 pieces, so why buy 1 when you can buy 3, or something like that; and super lovely friend that she is, I also received an Only Ditzies Please! scrap bag, which I must say is a complete super bargain at £3, and with all those beautiful teeny prints, is perfect for smaller projects... I am thinking my Retreat goody-swap partners may be seeing these again!  Watch this space.

So with time to myself, I bound my partner's name tag, and made a blue Essex Linen lanyard; and then hand finished the back whilst catching up with a recorded EastEnders that I missed whilst on the Cub run!  (Hold a grudge, moi?).

I now have the dilemma of how to quilt my Marcelle Medallion, but I am surrounded by beautiful things, so I think I can cope with that!

Cross!

It's been a day and a half; hubby is still bed-bound, so on top of everything else, I had the joy of taking and collecting dear son and friends to and from Cubs this evening; in the cold, and rain, taking up precious sewing time.  I have only just got home.

So in an attempt to play catch up with emails and blogs, I will love you and leave you with my Marcelle Medallion crosses, because they are far prettier than my mood!

Until tomorrow xxx

Medallion Monday...

The sun is here for the week, apparently, woo hoo! 

Work was bearable, the ironing has all been done, and I have been adding to my Marcelle Medallion. 

I didn't manage a photo this evening as it got dark already, but here is where I was at yesterday...

I have since added the wide, single strip border - more polka dots, aqua this time.  I am looking forward to piecing all those little cross blocks next, especially as they are all cut already.  It is safe to say that I totally love it!

I am sure there was a load of other stuff I was going to tell you, but my brain is blank; so for now, I'll just bid you a peaceful Monday night xxx

Summer holiday hexies...

Without 10 days of guaranteed wonderful sunshine to look forward to, I think I would go barmy.  So thinking ahead, I decided to turn my hexies into a great big beach bag.

It's a whopping 21" from top to bottom, plenty of room to fit in all the towels, lotions, goggles and biscuits for a day at the beach...

It's going to make me happy to keep looking at it until we head off to sunnier climes!

I quilted the hexies onto some fusible fleece and used most of the remainder of my parent's curtains, so another bargain make, and my second FAL finish too.  I promise, as soon as I go back to work on Monday, and-slash-or, the sun ever comes out again, my output is going to plummet, significantly!

This rainy afternoon though was spent cutting tiny pieces of Liberty and the rest of the fabrics for my Marcelle Medallion; a horrible job, but no-one else was going to do it for me.  But now I am free to piece to my heart's content.  Happy days xxx

Liberty Belle...

(OK, I watched National Treasure again, for the millionth time recently, so blame Nicolas Cage for that one!).

Anyway, I have been threatening to show you my Marcelle Medallion progress for ages, so here you go...

For anyone who doesn't already have the book,  Liberty Love is so full of beautiful things, and the Marcelle Medallion is only the tip of the iceberg.  I loved seeing all the beautiful quilts appearing on instagram, and knew I would start as soon as my Orbit and Brit Bee quilts were complete.  I am nothing, if not, a sheep!

I already had some old skool Liberty scraps and F8ths from Jo and Ali, and some Lifestyle yardage more recently from Pink Castle, but really wanted to supplement these with lots and lots more!  So I hit eBay and discovered my dream charm shop!

Frey is one of those sellers who likes to email you straight away to say they will be mailing tomorrow, thanks you for your business, pops a couple of extra charms in and packages up your treasures like super pretty birthday presents...

Yes, including some Grayson Perry!

I am so impressed, if you want a really lovely selection of prints, be quick, because in the few days since I ordered, loads have sold; and I am not surprised, with such great service and prices they will be gone.  Oh and once you have bought 10 packs, you can trade in your 'thank you cards' for a free pack!!  Please know I am saying all this purely as a satisfied customer and for the warm and fuzzies of sharing the love.

Edited to add:  If you go to Frey's etsyshop, and send a Convo (contatc) mentioning that you are one of my blog followers, you will be sent a discount code;  now you have no excuse!

So having spent a disproportionate part of yesterday evening playing with said charms, I have now whittled down my fabric selections and cut many many small prices, not all mind, but enough to make a start, and it is making me smile, a lot!

This evening I started on my triangle border,  and two are now sewn together.  These are going to be slow-going, requiring thought and accuracy which I usually forego in the name of speed!  But not this time folks, I am going to try and do justice to the fabrics!  One for the FAL for sure.

Talking of good ones, today was another sunny, fine and fun one.

Sadly hubby retired to bed for the day, so I took the kids out to Pulborough Brooks, an RSPB reserve up the road.  We took a 2 mile stroll, saw an adder coiled in the sun, completed a nature quiz, (how come there is 3G access in the middle of nowhere and none at home?  I couldn't remember what animal lives in a holt and had to find out, for the kids' sake, honest!).  We had lunch in the sun and then I just sat back and relaxed whilst they ran about for a couple of hours in the adventure playground...

So here endeth a great weekend, which is a bit of a shame really.  Not holding out hopes of a sunny second week of the holidays, but more sewing time is looking likely, so not all bad.

Right, getting the rest of my Q2 FAL list out into the public domain is next on the cards.