my first sew-along

Here are my fabric choices for the 

spring runner sew-along

held by stumbles & stitches

My first choice is the vintage flower fabric

only purchased recently, and I love it like crazy!

Either side I'm going for a turquoise gingham and Amy Butler sunspot.

These will be teamed with a natural cotton,

instead of linen, as I'm not great with that!

I think the smaller floral fabric will be the backing,

not yet decided on the binding :o)

This is the inspiration.

Its taken from I love patchwork 

a book by Rashida from I heart linen

Who is playing along also!

Why not pop over and join in?

Runners must be finished by

April 19th

There is a prize!!

floored!

Here is a sneak peek of lovely floor 

we now have in our lounge, hall and dining room.

All recreated by the wonderful Mr Fete.

It's the second time he has sanded floors,

lets hope never again!

To those worried about dust,

we sealed the doors with polythene,

and to be honest the floor sander

kept most of the sawdust contained.

He only hit on one issue

as seen above!

Originally there was a fireplace in the dining room

not taken out by us.

So we had to replace some boards,

which we bought from a reclamation yard.

But as you see they are no way as old as ours,

and unfortunately, once stained look a bit odd.

Hopefully for now we will just cover the area 

with our table and chairs.

We used colron 'american walnut' wood stain,

and 3 coats of ronseal satinwood floor varnish.

Yep that was 3 coats of varnish!

 I cant really show you much more

as I'm painting the ceilings, wood work and walls!

Paint now that's another story!!

We are heading towards the fluffy bunny.

ps. the French gray from F&B

in real life its not as pretty as pictured online,

it's a really strange colour, like putty really.

I'm just glad because I didn't want to spend £29 on a tin of paint!!

unsprung

Anyone else bursting with life like these buds?

I'm loving life right now!

Thank you for your positive thoughts
 on my experimental quilt,

I'm thoroughly excited about my future
in the patchwork world.

I would love to be known as a maker of quilts :o)

ps. I need a chalk board to scribble down all the to-dos

that are filling my head!!

Lets hope this sunny weather continues.

Have a superb weekend all.

xxx

charlie brown

Okay before anyone coos,

this is my first machine jobby.

Its a learning quilt to let me see if I can actually handle 

machine patchwork.

Let me say that there are MANY issues,

but that was the whole point right?

I didnt want to cut up the lovely fabric

before I'd even tried me out first!

 

I believe that patchwork can be made from whatever fabric you have

Special quilting fabrics are lovely,

and I will be using them on quilts I plan to sell.

However traditionally quilts were made up with
scraps of fabric,

there werent quilt shops back in the day.

This being an experimental quilt

I have used a 100% cotton beige sheet and
some plain white cotton.

 half square triangles make up this zig zag pattern.

The easiest way is to take two 10" squares of each colour

place them right sides together

draw a line from corner to corner.

Then simply sew1/4" either side of the line

and cut down the pencil line,

and you have two hst

This very much reminded me of Charlie Brown hence the name.

first ever use of walking foot and quilting bar.

homemade binding

floral backing

So things I've learnt:

squares must be accurate

(to achieve perfect points)

iron all seams to the light side

light weight fabrics should not be used for backing

(puckering!)

dont ever quilt so close again

(I cant sew straight and it ate up my thread!)

Dont sew too scant a seam when attaching the binding

(as you'll miss some of the edge when sewing
as I have done!)

check the bobbin thread before setting off

(to avoid sewing imaginery lines on you quilt!)

check the backing is still taut

(to avoid puckering and unpicking!)

 I spy with my little eye something beginning with F

 (Diane!)

On the whole some very good things learnt!

I really like the colour way too.

Hopefully something very pretty to follow.

ps. it survived the wash!
Think it may have shrunk slightly?

wednesday winner

Remember me saying how as a child Tog appeared only after I'd drank all my milk?

Well he has appeared again

only this time he has a friend!

Catherine of Potter Jotter

You are the lucky wednesday winner.

Catherines comment:

Hi Clare - seriously these little coasters would look just right in my kitchen along with all my other patchwork stuff that I have acquired (not made!). They are LOVELY.

If you would like to send me your details Catherine

I shall pop them in the post

right away!

Thanks to all who entered

sorry you couldnt all win,

maybe next time...

the best of blends

What do you call a gathering of blog friends?

Blends.

You read that here first right!

Why are vintage aprons like blog friends?

Because if you wait long enough

two come along at once!

Actually they were more the fantastic four as Lisa brought her lovely children along.

This was our Saturday in sunny Southampton.

A brilliant plan was hatched by
Lisa from Jumble and Jelly (green)

to get Diane from Heart Shaped (red)
aka strange holding hands lady

down from Yorkshire for a blog meet.

Fortunately for us our football teams are in the same league

having both suffered spectacular falls from grace.

A quick whiff of said football match in Diane's Hubbys direction

and she is here!!

 As you'd expect we all got on like a house on fire.

Having common interest and all.

 So you can imagine the squeals of delight on exchanging gifts!

So much for a grown up get together.

Here are the goodies that Diane made for me.

Love them all Diane!!
Edited.
You know what I said about ikea, girls.
picture frame-ikea
ironing board-ikea
seat pad-ikea.
I had to laugh when I looked at this photo
so much for not buying much in ikea!

 And the very vintage apron came from Lisa

which she knows I LOVE.

And I will not cut this one up!

On our jaunt around Old Southampton

led by the knowledgeable Lisa we learnt all sorts of stuff

probably better explained over at Heart Shaped!

Diane asked me where I get all my lovely fabrics from.

This brings in another lovely lady Sal

whose beautiful array of fabrics arrived on Saturday too

sent from the kindness of her heart!

Thank you Sal :o)

I will write a post all about fabric soon...

...it is my one weakness..

Ooh nearly forgot.

Diane also made me this bracelet.

Kept the earrings for herself

and gave Lisa the necklace.

Apparently good things happen when these three get together!!

Photo courtesy of Lisa!!
ps. I made some patchwork dresdan plates
(tutorial to follow)
as gifts for the girls
and forgot to take photos!!!

let the games begin!

 remember a while back

I mentioned about floor stripping?

Well the day is here!

Not by me of course.

I shall be stuffed in my hole with my machine.

(which by the way, 

my love for her is growing).

Dont forget to enter my giveaway

I want all my readers to have the chance to win!

three is the magic number giveaway!!

 I do believe I have a three year old blog on my hands!

To celebrate I've whipped up these lovely little handmade

patchwork coasters/wall decorators,
in my favourite vintage fabrics

to cheer your home up!

Do I spy something pink?

 All you need do is leave me a sweet comment here 

and my little friend* above will help choose

the lucky winner next week.

 good luck and thankyou for

your friendship xx

* please note that Tog is my baby cup
therefore he won't be journeying with your goodies!

(I have fond memories of his appearance
a great way to make me finish my milk!)

ps. dont worry if you dont win
I will be making similar items to sell.
coming soon!

the stash

 I'm back!

Thank you for all your sweet comments they really kept me going.

Unfortunately no stork arriving here.

I'm actually feeling fine.

It's the not knowing which is the hard bit.

Now I have spring and summer to look forward to,

and making some magic with this fabric instead.

What with all my 'taking it easy'

I've had plenty of time to tidy the stash and organise..

...and surf the online fabric stores!

I am as you know a keen recycler of old fabrics,

however this doesn't mean I'm immune to the wicked temptations out there!!

My latest purchase came from 

M is for Make

This is my second purchase from the super efficient Kate!

If you are looking for reasonable fat quarts and P&P

go take a look.

Camera update*

Apologies for the quality of today's snaps

they were taken with my husbands underwater camera

(hmm that could make an interesting post)

Our insurers are covering part of the cost

towards a new camera

Hooray!

I'm still kicking myself in the butt.

I hate breaking things that are in perfect working order

it's such a waste of resources!