Nice one...

Did you have a good weekend?

My parents came down for the day on Saturday, so gifts were given, cakes eaten and we took a nice walk through the woods and around the block to keep the cobwebs at bay.

On Sunday I got spoilt.  My Pandora bracelet is now pretty much maxed out, as is my waistline after a lovely Mother's Day lunch out.

So no sewing as such, although late Friday I did get to cut the final fabrics that I will be adding to the Brit Bee medallions…

I have Sarah's top here to finish, and the other tops are, fingers crossed, playing speedy catch up so that the grand reveal will take place some time in the not too distant future.  For a self-confessed impatient control freak, I am bearing up quite well ;)

Mother's Day Eponymous Reveal

Happy Mother's Day for all the mothers celebrating today.  I did very well in the pressie department, lots of handmade things, fudge and vouchers, lunch out and I am off work until Wednesday, so I am happy...

Monet Water Lilies before you ask x

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day with my mum, so that meant, um... handmade gifts, chocs, vouchers, lunch out... like mother like daughter!  But I also got to take a secret project and my finished Hadley quilt for a photo shoot in my parent's garden, so everyone was a winner!

So... ta dah!

This quilt has been a long time waiting to be finished; when the top was super speedy and with my concerted effort this week, I could have had it made on about 3 days if I had tried harder!

The colours are a little more vibrant than the end-of-day shots show.  You can just about pick out the straight-line quilting, I stitched corner to corner, then filled in each quarter with parallel chevrons about 1.5" apart.

It really is a rich and grown up looking quilt, and I think the orange binding gives it a little twist...

Thanks goes out again to the Dear Stella team for couriering me the collection after I suggested that they really should, seeing as they had named it after someone with the same name as me!

Full details...
Fabric - Hadley collection - Dear Stella
Pattern - Gypsy Shawl - Jane Brocket - The Gentle Art of Quilt Making
Additional Backing - Klona Rose
Pre-wash 70" x 70"
Piecing - Aurifil 2021 50wt
Quilting - Aurifil 2430 50wt and a little Gutermann to finish.

And this is my last FAL finish this quarter, leaving me only my MATO, so that's a bonus on top of a lovely finish.

Tomorrow is an Inset Day, so we are hoping for some more family fun times, and I am aiming for a little Sizzix action too; you know I'm sure to report back what actually happens xxx

Pressies...

This week the girls' class teaching assistant left, for a job at Hobbycraft apparently, and with it being Mother's Day, I made a couple of pressies...

I used the dinky 4" spool block from 500 Quilt Blocks by Lynne and Kerry, and these needlebooks were stitched in no time.

The sunny day bleached out the photos a little, but I for one preferred sunshine to good pics on this ocassion; and they were wrapped before I uploaded the pictures, so there was no second chance.

We spent the day with my parents today, so my Mum's has been duly left for unwrapping tomorrow, when I will share the photos I took of my latest and last FAL finish for this quarter.

Laters xxx

Yo Mamas!

I started the day with a mountain of cards, a beautiful linen scarf, and a nice cup of tea...

We met my parents for a lovely lunch at Pizza Express in Sevenoaks and then detoured via one hellofalady to drop off the cushion and a couple of hundred paper hexies.

Anyone who knows Terri will nod sagely when I say a quick hello took about 25 minutes, involved taking photos, losing the dog and checking up on the family; obligatory laughter, many many hugs and plans for the future. 

Both purse and cushion were received with wide smiles, so my Mother's Day work is done.

Happy Mother's Day all you mothers out there; keep warm xxx

Back on track...

After the diversionary sewing of the last couple of days, I had to get back to the plan today, because there was that small matter of a Mother's Day present becoming due.

Back in the mists of time, I started cutting fabric for a purse, and then for some reason or other didn't follow through; so today I re-sized the lining using my copy of Emily's stonky pattern which you can find here, and pulled some natural Essex Linen and the last pieces of my Just Dandy fabric, the rest of my FQ resides happily with Mrs S in Australia!

I backed the outer panels with fusible fleece and quilted straight lines in orange 28wt Aurifil; which although the flower strips were different widths, I managed to line up the stitching, how cool is that!?

So that's a tick in the box, and will be gifted tomorrow when we have lunch with my folks.

Oh and here's a couple of pics of the finished cushion which I will also hand over tomorrow...

Now time to get back to some quilts!