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

resolved to sew 2012

 I may well have left this to the last minute,

but it was always there

filed away in my to do head.

So here is my 2012 resolution post for 

Ali at veryberryhandmade

who has brought together such a fabulous group of sponsors for her amazing giveaway.

 

 My first resolution is well on its way to being realised.

My word for 2012 is connect.

I'm not good at joining things,

but it seems I am good at hosting a sewing party

(see sidebar).

What a great way of meeting like minded friends,

so more connecting for sure in 2012

The second is to finish what I've started,

and if it's not right bin it!!

 My third is to actually get my online shop up and running

like I've threatened to many times.

This also includes to make less fiddly things!

My last resolution is to buy less ugly fabric online.

Therefore my choice of prizes to win would be from 

fancymoon.

They are new suppliers to me,

I expect I will be a customer this year,

even if I don't win!

rose starlets update

 life under quilts, carefreegorgeous, dukesayssewwhat, fionapoppy

jennymakesstuff, yummylavender, shadrach, sewkalico

dukesayssewwhat, treecasiano, sewliz, charmaboutyou,

mollyflanders, shadrach, sewkalico, klynq.

Happy Monday everyone!!

I just had to share with you the latest creations from the rose star block party.

I am blown away by their beauty..each one such a gem.

I love this explosion into paperpiecing, I really was on my own for quite sometime

when I made my first paperpieced star quilt in 2009

It's never to late to join the group.
We now have 125 members!!

rosestarblockparty

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!

rose star tutorial

Its Monday (for most!)
we know what that means..
..its time for my tutorial for English paper piecing

of the rose star block.
yay!
May I suggest that you read through a couple of times
so you really get to grips with it.
Have fun!

 When I was looking for a design for Marys mini quilt

I found Eileen and her beautiful quilt on her blog at

my quilting porch
Her blocks are quite a bit bigger than mine.

 Eileens quilt

 After much head scratching and puzzlement

I realised the pattern is actually a lot easier than it looks.

As you can see from my sketch it's basically dissected hexagons.

To start with work out your desired size of hexagon.

I used one that measured 3 inches across
from point to point.

I found a hexagon shape from google images
and printed it.
Edit 
Kreatives von mir has just shared her template (on flickr)
drawn up on squared paper.
It's a really helpful idea..
wish I was that clever! 

Measure halfway along on the sides shown above

and draw a line across to make the disected shapes.

note:

You can either make 3 cardboard templates to draw around
or you can just draw and measure as I have done.

For one block you will need 

1 hexagon

12 petal shapes

18 kite shapes

Cut out your fabrics roughly an extra 1/4 inch larger than your papers,
and tack them with large stitches holding the corners down as you go.
 Before you begin to sew them together,
make sure you like your composition.
Don't be afraid to try different fabrics,
I quite often find clashing fabrics can work really well.

I am using a mixture of vintage and new fabrics.

I've chosen to keep the centres solid as I'm going to hand quilt them.

With all your fabrics tacked to their templates

it's now just a case of sewing the correct pieces back together.

I don't think it matters what order you do it in,

as long as you end up with hexagon to hexagon.
Just check back with my original drawing if you get lost.

Hold the pieces together and whip stich over the edges

until you run out of thread.

Here I'm using a pale grey thread to blend better,

though on paler fabrics I've used white.

Here you can see my progress and see the hexagons reforming.

The finished back complete with papers,

which can be removed from the inside and used again.

Always keep the outer edge papers in place until you have sewn into your desired project.

So here it is

the rose star.
Once you understand how the jigsaw fits together
you can join blocks with a solid colour
still using the same templates.

 The fun thing about this pattern is choosing the colours and fabrics.

I like to use mixes that you might shy away from.

I do try and link the overall quilt together.

The dominant colour was turquoise, 

which featured on every block.

The finished size of the quilt is approx 20x30''

If you would like to have a go or see more.

why not join my block party on flickr

Click on the picture to take you there!
 
edit: I have recently discovered that this pattern may also be called
the kite pattern, as it is possible to make with just one template..the kite.
However, me being one for an easy and faster method,
I simplified the design by using one whole hexagon in the middle.
(for fussy cutting you could use the kite method instead)

Apparently the kite pattern is in the book Material Obsession two,
I don't own any material obsession books,
maybe I should!

If you love this pattern but can't sew by hand I think there is possibly
a machine technique out there somewhere.
I prefer paper piecing for it's accuracy
and take anywhere approach!

second edit:
There are some great hints and tips being posted in the flickr group,
do take a look!
Inspiration.

 The colour palette for this project was inspired by my

hand pieced quilt which I named.

summer of love