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.

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

???

stitch n bitch or pain stops play (again)

Well I've started so I'll finish!

Appliqueing that is: my flowering snowball to the polka dot border.

Why is it that I cannot seem to make something that is regular and easy?

I swear my next quilt will be plain old squares.

I am not advocating this technique,

I just want to keep the border whole,

and this seemed the easiest way?

Remember I reported a bad wrist, 

well I have worked out that it's actually my shoulder causing the problems.

Falling off my bike is not so funny now...

...where is the cod liver oil?

I'm trying to do a little at a time...

...and that's not an easy thing for the chief creator here at selfsewn headquarters!!

*don't forget to click on the flowering snowball label for progress on this quilt.

amendment: currently on a creative rest
due to pain.
Now I'm thinking it could have been my fall on the beach in Devon.
I may be having a trip to a chiropractor.
Either way it sucks....I must stop falling!

feeling dotty

 I have six more pieces left to stitch on my flowering snowball.

So I'm trying out the idea I've had floating about my design studio*

*aka. my head

 What do you think?

I am thinking of appliqueing the quilt top to the border,

and then cutting away the excess fabric.

Anyone done this before?

I like the continuous pattern of the dots,

so I don't really want to cut it about much.

Obviously the batting will be of a light colour 

so the white will pop and make the grey fabrics stand out.

I am also thinking of using yellow for the inserts,

and possibly for the binding...

...but that could change!!

moving

 Hey you guys really moved me yesterday.

Thanks xx

I know it's not fun to read about sad stuff,

I just needed to get it out there and clear my head.

Now back to the good stuff!

Remember the flowering snowball?

This progress snap is just for you.

xxx

fade to grey

Well folks my well tuned seasonal intuition has kicked in.

Yesterday I noted a distinct difference in the air.

I'm not sure how it works, I just feel Autumn is on the way.

Which is true of course...but with the garden still in bloom,

it seems a little off!

Strange then how my latest wip has already predicted the end of summer!

Funny how freakishly hot it was in spring 

when I was sewing the 'summer of love'...

Maybe I should get out some sunnier fabrics!

I am unsure of this project.

I'm just not used to two tone patchwork.

I purposefully left the mini squares blank,

to fill in later when I decide how the quilt is working.

At the moment I am thinking dark grey for a border,

(paper pieced of course),

because I want the circles to really pop.

Finishing off with white binding with rounded corners.

Though this could change depending on the weather!!

wordless wednesday

feeling misty

 There are days when you can't see the woods for the trees..

 The fog...

...lifts!!!

Don't you just love new beginnings?

*sailor trousers vintage boden - these are my favourites

*patchwork inspiration - Molly Flanders my favourite

stash dash

 I've taken time out from the diy to show you my new fabric purchase.

These came from the great UK company Simply Solids.

Why such a great service?

The majority of fabrics are sold as half metres

which is two fat quarts.

Fat quarts are great, but always seem so precious!

On top of that there are no delivery charges,

so what you see is what you get.

It's bonus time at the moment with a great sale.

These beauties cost just £2.50 each.

 I have been coveting the sweetwater sunkissed collection from Moda. 

It's different.

I feel like a change from all the colours.

Well most of them!!