Playtime - my new and first quilt pattern

You might remember my 'Girls at play' quilt I finished several months ago. I loved making this quilt and loved the finished quilt even more.

While sewing I took a lot of images of the process and decided to write up my first pattern. It took at lot (in words a lot) longer than I thought and was a lot more work then I anticipated. It is a very detailed pattern and is in total 17 pages long. The lovely Terry did a great job in proof reading (thank you again) to correct some of my more "Genglish" expressions.  But now I am finally happy with it and ready to reveal the pattern. May I proudly present:

This pattern is suitable for advanced beginners and one of its best features is that it does not use paper piecing to assemble the outer corner units of the blocks but instead a technique that is just as accurate but does not waste fabric and is also quicker.

The ‘Playtime’ quilt pattern includes:

1.     Fabric measurements for 3 different quilt sizes (Baby/Crip, Lap and Twin) and two different styles (all blocks different/ all blocks the same)

2.     Cutting instructions

3.     Fabric and colour suggestions

4.     A picture supported detailed tutorial on the construction of the block (without paper piecing)

5.     Layout and assembly instructions

6.     Making the quilt back and constructing a quilt sandwich

7.     Suggestions on quilting

8.     Binding the way I do it

It is available in my Etsy store here

Meet the "See you later" messanger bag

The month of July has been really good to me with two commission that have given me the chance to explore my bag making abilities further. Today I'd like to introduce you to my new messenger style bag "See you later".

Front with Flap

When I went on a business trip to Germany a while ago I carried my "Jude" bag with me and some of my colleagues  were really impressed with it which to be honest took me utterly by surprise. They in fact liked it so much that they commissioned me to make bags for them. One colleague wanted the Ruby Star Rising fabric but in a different style and the other wanted an exact copy of my "Jude" bag (will post about this at a later point). 

I tackled the messenger back first. I loved this commission as I have had a messenger bag on my to-do-list for a while and this gave me finally an excuse to do it. I opted for a slightly more formal style with a flap that can be closed through a magnetic clasp and separate side panels that provide enough room albeit it being a fairly small bag (10 x 12 inches).

The bag is again made from the wonderful Ruby Star Rising Autumn 2010 collection (the new Spring collection is inanimate !).

Back

The bag is fully lined with Kona cotton and has integrated pouches; one that is parted in two and one zipper pouch for keys etc.

For the sides I fussy cut panels from 'Vintage Dishes' in Pink.
I am planning to make this bag into a pattern incl. tutorial on how to tackle an integrated zippered pouch. Would anybody be interested in this at all ?

Needles and Lemons on-line shop

............. is now open for business and can be found on my etsy page here or via the button on the sidebar of my blog.

I'd like to explain a little why I have decided to sell some of my quilts. I suppose one doesn't really have to explain this as it maybe rather obvious. But it actaully isn't quite that simple. I love my quilts, each and every one of them and I find it hard to part with them. Believe me it is a bit like giving something away from me. But at the same time I get a very warm and fuzzy feeling when I know that somebody owns one of my quilts and loves it as much as I do. Another reason is simply that I can't possible keep all of them as I just don't have the space. Living in London means living in small spaces and my house really is just a cottage.

So far I have listed 3 quilts (lucky me one of them already sold). 

In the coming weeks I will also list patterns for the 'Cranberry Crush', ' Sleeping Beauty' and  'Meadow and Bees'. However before I inflict these on anybody to buy I would love to road test them, so if you are interested in a free pattern and the chance to tell tell me that I did it all wrong.............then please get in touch with me via e-mail: judith@needlesandlemons.com.