Workshops this week

This week I am teaching again at the Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead. And not just one but two workshops.

Starting of on Wednesdays evening is the beginning of my Baby quilt class. I am teaching students the A-Z of making a baby quilt over the course of 3 Wednesday including homework. This workshop is full but Annie and I are planning a second one due to its popularity that is scheduled for the first three weeks of August.

I am so looking forward to this class because it is enormously satisfying to make baby quilts.

We will be starting easy with squares for which charm packs are ideal.
I was thinking something along the lines of this quilt:

The second class I am teaching this coming week is on Saturday and it is again the quilted cushion class that produced such great results the last time around. Check out this post and see what fabulous cushions my students crafted.

For this class places are still up for grabs. So if you know somebody who would like to start quilting then point them in my direction. All I am asking for is a little bit of sewing expertise and that students have used a sewing machine before.

Stash Note 78

Gosh has it really  be that long that I shared some new fabric with you ! Well although I did not have the opportunity to sew during much of the renovation in my house I did have opportunity to purchase fabric ! And in fact I had that opportunity in New York. I had the most wonderful 5 days in early May there with my sister. Proper sister time that we much enjoyed. We shopped, sat in cafes, went to restaurants and galleries and cycled almost the entire length of Manhattan. Before I flew out I purchased fabric at some of the online stores and had it all sent to the hotel. That way I saved quite a bit on postage and of course the nasty tax.

So without further ado. My I introduce Field Study in Linen by Anna-Maria Horner that I bought at Fabricworm.

In the top image from left to right we have Flower Circuit in Guava, Ghost Wing in Aqua, the most sumptuous and wonderfully named 'Parenthetical in Deep' and last the 'Domestic Cat in Aqua' - isn't that one a riot !

For some of these I had  planned to make the Study Hall Skirt which is also by Anna-Maria Horner.  I have had the pattern for ages but so far haven't found the energy to make a skirt although I absolutely love the pattern.
But I am not so sure now as they would also make a gorgeous quilt back and I have just the quilt top lying around here that is clamoring for something glamorous.

Have a lovely Sunday

Sketch - a work in fast progress

Could have ironed it a bit better.....

Sketch - inspiration struck

I got an e-mail the other day from a restaurant in London called 'Sketch'. They were advertising their Sunday offers. I have been to Sketch a couple of times over the years but have not seen all their dining rooms and as I had no intention of going there anytime soon, only halfheartedly scanned through the mail. And then it happened; inspiration struck like a flash of lightening when I got stuck on an accompanying photo of one of their dining rooms.

Photo credit 'Sketch' restaurant in London

Do you see why ? It's obvious isn't it ?

So I dove straight into my solids scrap bag which I had been eying beadily since I unearthed it from the loft anyway and pulled out every single strip I could find in their. I was like a woman possessed and a few hours later I had easily 5 meters worth of strips sewn together.

Then I went on to cutting white squares, luckily I had a 2 meter piece of almost white solid in my stash...phew...it was last Sunday afternoon too....so no shop would have been open to get me any white solid.

And I am still sewing.....

In the top ten

In the top 10 of my favorite quilts is this one for sure. I love everything about Otti's quilt and can't wait to hand it over next month or so. As a matter of fact I will probably sent it over next week.

This quilt was a breeze to make and allowed me to use a lot of linens and linen/blend fabric I had in my stash. Many of the fabrics in this quilt are from Japan interspersed with some ticking and text fabrics.

I quilted in a crosshatch pattern which I am doing a lot lately. I just love it because it gives every quilt that all important extra dimension. The back is a print from American Jane's punctuation line, Alphabet in Cream.

The best part on this quilt is most certainly the binding. Isn't it just the cutest with those little bees ? This is a cotton print from Kokka but I can't remember what it is called and when I bought it.

The quilt is about 36 x 45 inches and should be just perfect for a 9 months old.

Otti's quilt

I moved back into my house on Saturday. The top floor is finished and that is the main thing because that's where my studio is located. Downstairs will take another 4 weeks or so to finish because the screed needs to dry out before the wood floor can be applied.
It is soooo nice to sleep again in my own bed and in my own house after 4 weeks of being a nomad.

Anyhow after much cleaning and organising I allowed myself a spot of sewing .....
Last year my friends and neighbors celebrated the arrival of their second child. Actually we all celebrated and Ottilie is the most adorable little girl ever. Sadly they now have moved to the west country and I miss my almost daily dose of Otti very much. But on the plus side I get to visit them and enjoy the beaches of Cornwall ...there is that all important silver lining.

Otti got one of my changing mats when she was born but a quilt for her bed is still outstanding and as my first visit will happen in the next months I started to make the long planned quilt for her.

I bought the panel fabric I used in this quilt almost 2 years ago at the Eternal Maker's stand at the Birmingham quilt festival. Honestly one moment an entire role was there, the next it was gone and I was lucky or actually smart enough to buy right away.

This Japanese panel fabric was sort of earmarked for something really special but without any specific plan. That is until Otti came along. It is just perfect for her and her parents. I added many pieces of other Japanese linen blends, cottons and some ticking fabric too.

This was a lot of fun to make and is sort of 'improv' pieced.
Stay tuned to see the finished quilt.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - my quilt for Enne

Well hello there. No I am not quite back and my house is still in a state of renovation but the progress is huge and I am hoping to be back at my sewing machine in a weeks time and soon thereafter with a blog post of a works in progress. God I can't tell how I miss my Janome !

Still, I swore to myself when I finished the quilt for Enne before Christmas that I would enter it to the Blogger's quilt festival. None of my quilts has ever had a more positive response and hardly a week goes by without it being tagged somewhere. So I guess it would almost be a crime not to enter it.

The funny thing is that when my sister commissioned me to make this quilt for here mother-in-law I wasn't really sure that it would would be a good one. I had my doubts throughout the entire process which proves that you can be totally wrong about something. Don't get me wrong when it was finally finished I loved it and how can you not with so much Oakshott Lyon in it but I still was utterly unprepared and overwhelmed by the response of the quilting community and that of my family.

 It took me a while to get my head around it but I finally decided that this quilt was probably one of my best ones.

And what was double wonderful was that Enne who used to sew a lot herself was really happy about it and appreciated all the work that went into it. The quilt was quilted on my trusted Janome 7700 along the lines of the patterned fabric. The Oakshott Lyon is a delicate fabric and I did not want to quilt on top of the fabric so decided I quilt around it. This produced a great effect on the overall quilt.

This quilt is based on Megan's Trajectory quilt that can be found here including a tutorial.
My original post can be found here.