Once upon a time - a Far Far Away quilt in progress-

My brother and his girlfriend's first child was born a few days ago is taking her sweet time and I also wanted to say that the entire familiy is delirous with happiness but instead we are playing the waiting game. So that sentence will hopefully come in the next post.....

I already knitted a blanket for them but of course must make a quilt too. I still have a large stash of Far Far Away by Heather Ross from the collections she did a few years back for Kokka. These are the cotton/linen mix rather than the cotton weight collection that is being re-issued this months. 

I bought the entire collection of Far Far Away II at the time and made one quilt in the blue/grey colourway which is still one of my favourites of all time.  Originally I thought to make two more in the same pattern; one for each of the other colour schemes which are green/orange and purple/pink.

I love these gorgeous fairytale patterns and also love the cotton/linen mixture although I know most people prefer a 100% cotton. I decided on a bit of improvised piecing instead of squares and mixed the fabric with some of her other collections, some text prints and some Moda cross weave for contrast.
I just cut and pieced, cut pieced to my heart's content.

I tried to emphasis the fairy tale elements by fussy cutting around them although the pieces itself are all fairly large anyway.

This quilt is going to be crib size and I must say it is a real relieve to make something small for a change....I forgotten how quickly a quilt can be made.

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.

Stash Note 64

My friends this lovely little package here is the longawaited Ruby Star Vinyl by the Melody Miller.

Regular readers will know that I am totally enamored with Melody Miller's designs. This is now her fourth collection for Kokka and each of them has been a winner in my opinion. You seldom find designers that delivers a 100 % with each collection (and to produce two a year is no mean feast).

Melody Miller stays true to her vintage style. For this collection the centerpiece are old vinyl records. She asked other designers to help her design the labels and if I am not much mistaken our very own Lu Summers was one of them.

As with the previous collections panels are again a big feature. I love those vintage cameras as they remind me of the first cameras I saw as a child. In Germany we called them "ritsch-ratsch klick" which is basically the description of the sound they make when taking the photo and transporting the film forward.

Then we have vintage Bakelite telephones in various colour ways and also graphical and floral designs.

Needless to say that I love the collection. Kokka printed this collection on the lighter cotton/linen mix they do traditionally for their Spring collections (Spring in August ?). I think I would have preferred it on the weightier mix as that lends itself better to bag and purse making but then again I made a fantastic bag quilt from Ruby Star Spring this year and that would not be as soft as it is if it was in the thicker mix.


The collection was bought here in the UK at Village Haberdashery but is also available at the Eternal Maker too.

All-occasion baby-quilt No 4

I had another chance to make one of my 'All-occasion-baby-quilts' the other day and this time for a colleague of mine who had her first baby.

I used the panel fabric I bought a while a go at Fabric Inspirations and that I featured in this stash Note. I added a bright red solid around it with a few dashes of Laurie Wiesbrun fabric.

The back features a Kokka linen/mix with some denim added. The denim is from the lovely Jude who kindly sent me a yard a while ago.

I absolutely love the denim/linen combination.

And here all folded up and ready to go.

Stash Note 51

I couldn't resist these cuties called 'Puti de Pome' from Kokka bought at Fabricworm.

Right in time for Spring

...did i finish my Ruby Star Spring blanket I started back in January. This blanket or throw or bag quilt (whichever description you fancy) was meant to be a quick fix for me and was inspired in the main by a this quilt and a bargain linen buy of 1.5 m of the most gorgeous medium linen at the cloth house (sigh, oh how I love this shop...).

The quick fix wasn't as quick in the end because when I had finished the quilt top I decided that I would cross stitch over the bees on the linen. And so I did.

I took the quilt with me to St. Lucia at the end of January where I spend the short hours between coming back from the beach or excursion to dinner time cross stitching. Then I cross stitched a bit more on a train trip to my parents and cross stitched a lot more last weekend when the weather was much to gorgeous to sit behind the sewing machine. Oh it was bliss being able to lounge on my sun longer and cross stitch.

I used the following Finca Perle Cotton for Cross Stitching: No 2711 (lilac), 1485 (pale orange), 3670 (petrol), 2615 (pale lilac), 1742 (Pink), 8080 (dark brown) and DMC Mouline stranded cotton in 902 (Aubergine).

I am sure this quilt will for ever remind of St. Lucia and the wonderfully early Spring days we have had here in the UK over the last couple of weeks. 

And so I finished it this week. I agonized rather a lot whether I really should not use any batting but decided to stick to the original plan in the end and it was the right choice. As the backing is linen of medium weight the quilt overall has a pleasant weight to it. In addition it is meant to be a light through for the warmer Summer months rather than a warm quilt. I think it will work perfectly for that.

All-occasion baby-quilt No 3 and other news

I finally bought my 'Fat Quarterly retreat' ticket and am literally counting the days until the 2nd of June. It will no doubt be fabulous as it is organized by the fabulous Fat Quarterly crew. This will also be the first time all of the Brit Bee members will meet which I am looking forward to after having only conversed with most of them via our flickr group for almost a year now. . Are any of you coming ?

Whilst I am happily quilting away on 'Tuscan Hills' at a two-bobbin-per-evening speed  (which should give you an idea about the amount of quilting this one is treated to) I thought I share with you another one of my all-occasion-baby quilts that my sister commissioned me to make as she wanted a present for friends of hers
who just had their first baby.

Of course I obliged as it is so much fun making these. Technically they are mini quilts and quite possibly are the only mini-quilts I enjoy making simply because they have a purpose and will be used. Mostly these are actually used as changing mats from what I hear of the recipients I gifted them to in the past.

And that is exactly what I hoped would be their purpose. My friend Leigh carries her all-occasion baby-quilt with here everywhere and that makes me rather happy. 

I really should be making some in advance and perhaps also for the shop....well one day....

 

Holiday sewing

No not the type in the American sense of Christmas but the type where one goes in an actual holiday. I am off to a sunny place this week to freshen up that all important tan and to top up the rather low Vitamin D deposit. And because I want to go in style I engaged in some fun holiday sewing.

Over the next couple of weeks I will feature a few items I have sewn so you have something to read while I am counting sand grains at the beach (sorry !!).

First off my new bag. This is a bag I mirrored on this beautiful hand embroidered shoulder bag that I  bought some years ago in Vietnam. This is the perfect holiday bag because it weighs next to nothing (unlike a leather bag) and has enough space for the important bits (wallet, sunglasses, book, suntan lotion). As you can see it has this clever drawstring unit at the top that helps to keep longfingers out of the bags.

The arrival of 'Ruby Star Shining' inspired bag sewing action my house so I copied my Vietnam bag for which I used one of the panels of the new Melody Miller fabric collections. I think the fabric panels lend themselves ideally to bag making and I used them on most of my previous bags.
The bag is approximately 13 x 12 inches and has a long strap so the bag sits on the hips.

Front

Back

On the Vietnam bag the drawstring unit was simply attached to the top but I wanted a fully lined bag this time and I also wanted the right sight of the lining to show inside the bag AND outside on the drawstring unit. The only way to achieve this is by producing two lining units whereby the top (drawstring) unit has to have a French seam as the seam will be visible on the inside of the unit. French seams are nothing else but a double seam resulting in a clean seam that doesn't fray. You first sew a very narrow seam where the two fabric pieces face wrong sides together and then fold the pieces right sights together and stitch  a normal quarter inch seam over the first seam. There are plenty of tutorials around, a good one is on Sew Mama Sew. You can see my french seam here in this image.

And here you see how the two lining pieces look when sewn together and attached to the bag.

 

 For the straps I used a newspaper print I had in my stash.

  

This images shows the drawstrings pulled together.

Ruby Star Spring framed in linen

What does one do when a quilt is finished ? Start a new one of course.........its that easy.


The inspiration for this new project comes from three sources. The first is the arrival of the new collection 'Ruby Star Shining' from Melody Miller that I featured in my last stash note. I can't really start working with this before I have done something with Melody's last collection, Ruby Star Spring. This is a lighter version of the Kokka typical cotton linen blend and thus has a wonderful drape. It doesn't really lent itself well to bag making but very good to attire and of course quilts, always quilts. This is the collection that features those wonderful pixelated large bees. 

The second source of  inspiration was the wonderful bag quilt that Siobhan made during the Auriful challenge and that I spotted on the Fat quarterly blog.

And the third source of inspiration came from a fantastic linen remnant find at the Cloth House in Soho for a bargain of GBP 8. It is the piece at the bottom of the pile in the picture below. It is so gorgeous and with 1.50 x 1.10 the perfect size for the back of a quick blanket/throw/bag quilt or whatever you want to call it.

So I added another half meter of lighter linen for some sashing and some silk remnants I found in another shop in Soho and started piecing. After a while I decided to leave some of the brighter silks out of the equation in favour of the natural linen with the exception of one stripe of dark aubergine coloured silk in the lower half of the piece

 

My original plan was to then just sew the front to the linen back in a bag style fashion (right sides together, sew all around, leave a whole to turn the hole thing, close hole, done) without any wadding or quilting. I just want a light blanket of this gorgeous cotton/linen/silk blend that I can use when it gets just that little bit cool in the evening during the summer months (damm.... I just thought I lived somewhere where there is actually a long hot sweaty summer....). But then the lovely Corinne from Tikki Ltd made a comment that one could embroider the bees and that caught my attention and the thought did not want to go away anymore.

So I found myself sitting on my sofa last Sunday evening with an array for No 8 Perle cotton, my embroidery hoop doing some long long forgotten cross stitching. And I found I really enjoy it..... so I guess this isn't the quick project I imagined it to be after all.

 I used the following Finca Perle Cotton for Cross Stitching: No 2711 (lilac), 1485 (pale orange), 3670 (petrol), 2615 (pale lilac), 1742 (Pink), 8080 (dark brown) and DMC Mouline stranded cotton in 902 (Aubergine).

Stash Note 41

Ruby Star Shining !
I don't think much needs to be said about my utter devotion to Meldoy Miller's fabric design other than that the new collection is just perfect and to me the best of the three so far.

Look for yourself.

This fat quarter bundle was bought at Fabricworm.

This is again the slightly heavier cotton linen fabric that has a 15 % Linen content.

Typewriters with love letters !

Vintage clocks !

 Flowers !

 And again fantastic panels that of course lend themselves to clothes and bags.

The Italian

After I made my first Ruby Star Rising bag  back in March, I received two commissions for bags that were all a direct result of it. Since I also made a messenger bag called "See you later" . For those of you who are waiting for a pattern and tutorial on the messenger bag I have to ask for a little more patience. I am waiting for another commission for this bag to come in that I then want to use as the base for my pattern.

But today I would like to share with you the second instalment of "The Italian" (formerly known as Jude's bag). This one will not become a pattern just jet as I am still changing things but I am hoping it will become one in the future.

I made a few changes compared to the first model in that I chose not to do external seems as it was a to much fiddly work to add the bias binding around the whole back. I only chose to do that at the top of the back this time.

And I also added a zippered inside pouch.

I absolutely adore this bag as it is so roomy but still very light. This is the perfect bag for those of us who like a big bag (like me !). I just can't really deal with small bags where only a mobile phone and a key fits it.