Time for an update

Just don't know where the time goes these days & can't believe it's been so long since I last posted something here.......but I haven't been completely idle!

The remainder of 2013 was busy sewing wise completing an order of baby quilts and tactile taggies for  the shop at Durrell.

Throughout 2013 I had been making quite a few Antique rose blocks by EPP which would be an ideal Christmas present for someone I know who loves polka dots

 These blocks are such fun to make & great for using up all sorts of scraps

It was a bit of a mad rush to get this quilt top completed & quilted in time. I opted for big stitch hand quilting with Pearl 8 cotton

........and chose to stick with hexagons for the border quilting

I just managed to complete it on time as the last stitch of the binding was made on 23rd December!

2014 so far .........

Remember this time last year I was up to my eyes in making Easy Street, which was a mystery quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter, well this top was chosen as a 60th birthday present for a special person & needed to be quilted asap

For this one I decided to hand quilt in concentric circles radiating from the centre of each main block & filled the gaps in between with concentric squares

I quite like how this one turned out, even though the patchwork design is quite busy with lots of piecing, the hand quilting still shows up well

I now have a new project on the go for 2014......it involves hexagons & guess what EPP!

Busy January!

For the New FO challenge this month hosted by Barbara at Cat Patches,  we have EASY STREET, the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt

The 3 blocks that went a bit haywire have now been corrected & we have a completed top! I'm still debating whether to add borders or not and & thinking I may hand quilt this one.

Bottom row missing - not enough room to get the whole top in the photo

I really got into the swing of piecing by machine with easy street that I just carried on when I came across this Swoonalong & before long.........

Parts 1 & 2

became......

........a completed top!

 (I was too impatient to wait for the rest of the instructions)

Last weekend it was basted & quilted(very simply)

Lucy helped with the binding!

Ta Dah ....finished. 

I used Kaffe Fassett scraps in reds & yellows but not having any modern neutrals I went with shirtings, marrying the old with the new. I was initially worried that you shouldn't really mix the 2 styles, but then thought why not? and am now pleased with the result, i think it works out ok, what do you think?

This month I also managed to finish the big stitch quilting on my Hot Wheel quilt and bind it, so that is another WIP completed.

This one now stays on my bed as my winter quilt & is super cosy!

 ......and finally, I thought it was about time I cracked on with the Sue Spargo Imperial Blooms BOM, before I get stuck into this year's Bird Dance lined up as a New FO for February.

 The first pack arrived this month & I'm itching to get started 

Block 7 done

Block 8 in progress

Oh...and I nearly forgot, I also added another 2 rows to the Japanese boxes EPP top.

So, to recap, January has been a very productive month, foul weather has helped as well as staying away from the laptop, the latter for which I hope you will accept my apologies for not having visited your blogs or responding to messages promptly.......I promise to do better next month :)

Keep on stitching........

New Year - New project

Happy New Year to you all, hope you had a lovely holiday break. We had a pleasant stay in France visiting Mum where I managed to get another fair bit of hand stitching done to add a good section to the thimble top (the weather was so damp, so we didn't venture out much).

As I had a few days holiday left on our return before going back to work, I was determined to get a good start on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt  Easy Street .......so glad I decided to have a go at this, my first ever mystery quilt, as I learnt so much along the journey :)

Not having a ton of suitable scraps I used yardage I had available for the grey, black & white & turquoise and Kaffe Fassett scraps for the green & purple & just hoped they would look ok.

Step 1 - Remember to check the thread is suitable for the project before sewing!

 4 patches - 192 done, lesson learnt here - spinning seams

First ever attempt at flying geese units......a bit tricky to start with but after 128 of them got the hang of it and learnt to use the easy angle ruler in the process.

64 sitting turkeys !

More flying geese......getting pretty good at these now!

All the units now done

Step 7 done but tricky trying to press those triangle blocks!

Step 8 - 1st block ready to sew

Attempt at layout but design wall a tad too small......loving the design!

So resorted to the floor with some interference - notice the bump?

Guess who?

All this sewing can be so tiring

Finally got it all stitched together and felt quite proud of myself and it wasn't until I checked the photos that I noticed this.........urghhhhhhh! How did that happen? I blame the cat!

Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

Thank you Bonnie for designing & sharing this wonderful pattern and providing such great easy steps to follow, I would have never attempted such a project with so many pieces on my own!

Do go check out all the other great tops created by other participants at the link up here and in the Flickr group here