Featured on...Saturday Summertime Highlights!

It's always lovely to know that people like your work, and it's even lovelier when they want to feature your work on their blog.  So imagine my delight when I was asked by Stephanie of Smalltown Dreamz if I would like my Kukla Dolls Cot Quilt to be featured as part of:

Please do hop over to Smalltown Dreamz and take a look!

Thank you so much Stephanie for featuring my quilt!

Fancy a Walk in the Woods?

Here it is at last, my finished Walk in the Woods cot quilt.  

It's just a simple charm square quilt, with stitch in the ditch machine quilting, as I wanted the adorable little characters to speak for themselves;

And the back is a co-ordinating red and pink.

It looked so pretty hanging in my garden...

I wanted to leave it there.  But that wouldn't be sensible. So I just took one last photo...

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Introducing the Kukla Dolls

Ok, so it has taken me longer to blog about my most recent quilt than it has taken to make it.  Mainly because I have been waiting for an opportunity to get outside and photograph it, and trust me, waiting for a sunny day has taken a long time!  But here we are at last, mid June, and thankfully the sun seems to have resumed service. 

So anyway, I would like to introduce you to the Little Kukla Dolls.  Aren't they cute?!

And I rather like the pairs of little love birds on the back too;

I wanted to make another cot sized quilt that was a complete departure from the usual colours I would go for (ie. girly pink, florals, blues, purples etc.) and so it was a nice change and a lot of fun using such vibrant colours.  I loved doing the bright orange hand quilting too.  Yes, I hand quilted the whole thing with diagonal lines; I must have too much time on my hands!  But I really like the effect so I think it was worth the time investment. 

My C and G coursework is having to take a back seat for a month, as I am making lots of preparations for a certain little girl's 3rd birthday party - A Flower Fairies Tea Party to be precise.  Flower Fairies fabric arrived on my doorstep last week, and it's crying out to be made into bunting.  I am going to make lots of other bits and bobs too, not necessarily sewing related, but you will have to wait until after the big day to see them ;-)

I have another busy week ahead, which might just include worshiping the elusive sun when it shines.  I hope the sun is shining for you too. x

A Sneek Peek and a Link Up

I shall start today by being typically British and talking about the weather.  For most of the weekend it has been drizzle.  Constant rain, grey skies, below average temperatures and the feeling that we are having yet another rubbish British summer.  Not good. 

But on the plus side of not being out sunbathing and enjoying the beaches/summer fairs/outdoor pursuits, I have indulged in a little hand quilting.  Or should I say a lot.  Once I set my mind to something then I don't stop till I'm done, and I had it in mind on Friday to make a cot sized quilt and hand quilt it by Sunday night.  Optimistic?  Perhaps.  Do-able?  Well almost!! 

It got to 11.30 Sunday evening and I only had about an hours worth of hand quilting to go, and of course then the binding, so the sensible side of me said 'go to bed.'  Which I did.  So I ok, I didn't complete my challenge, but hey, I do have 2 children to look after as well!  So anyway, here is a sneak peek of a very nearly finished cot quilt...

Hope to show you the finished article very soon! 

I am linking up with ;

So if you are new to my blog, it's lovely to meet you!  I shall be sure to visit your blog too if you drop by and say hello :-)

Happy Monday and here's hoping for some sunshine soon! 

Small Blog Meet - better late than never!

I am probably the last person in blogland to join up with;

because I have been on holiday!!  My family and I left the green pastures of Jersey and hopped over to France for a little bit of this:

before attending this;



The wedding of my oldest, dear special friend Rachel, to her husband James.  With the backdrop of rural France to get married, what more could a girl (and her guests) ask for?!  It was an amazing day, and as you can see, the bride looked stunning. 

So if you are new to my blog, it's lovely to meet you and I apologise for the lack of anything quilting related in this blog post, but I promise there is going to be lots in store in the future! 





Mooing and Making

Finally, finally, the summer is here at last!  And in Jersey it's been no exception.  The socks, winter boots and rain macks have finally retired to the back of the wardrobe, in favour of sandals, summer dresses and sunglasses.  Hooray! 

Even our neighbours, the Jersey cows have been enjoying the sunshine;

For my international readers (if you're out there) you probably won't have heard of Jersey.  It's a teeny tiny island off the coast of France, and part of the Channel Islands, only 45 square miles wide, and famous for, you guessed it, these gorgeous, friendly, sweet natured cows, that produce rich creamy milk, arguably the best in the world.  I am so lucky to get to see them every day! 

Anyhow, back to the business of quilting.  Last week was another productive week, as I put these gorgeous Ed Emberly Happy Drawing fabrics to good use...

And came up with this:

So that's two quilt tops made (this one and Walk in the Woods) and they are both to be finished asap.  Watch this space.

I have also been doing some research into the history of quilting as part of my coursework, which has proved fascinating.  I might share some brief snippits another day.  It is interesting, I promise!

A Little Charm Quilt

Last week the gorgeous fabrics that I ordered came through the letter box.  It was a bundle of fat quarters of Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey.  They were wrapped so beautifully, and were just so enticing,   I couldn't stop thinking about what I was going to do with them.

But then it got to Friday, and after several evenings of studying, I couldn't help myself.  I just had to make something with them there and then.  Nothing complicted, just something quick and simple, so on Friday evening I came up with this...

As you can see it's just the quilt top, and it's still to be quilted, backed and binded, but I do feel rather pleased with myself.  It was a late night though, and I paid the price the next day with a throbing headache!

I had hoped to post about it earlier, but I was keen to get an outdoor picture.  I can honestly say it hasn't stopped raining here in Jersey all weekend, so today (Monday afternoon) was literally my first opportunity.  But as you can see, the sky is still grey and the temperatures far too low!

As per usual I have run out of fabric.  I have ordered a co-ordinating piece of fabric for the backing and some more wadding, and as soon as they arrive I shall get going.  I am thinking simple machine quilting, in the ditch and also 1 cm either side.  I can't help feeling that these gorgeous fabrics need to speak for themselves.  I just adore the little girl that is Little Red Riding Hood and I don't want any fancy quilting to take away from her. 

I have also made good progress with my coursework.  Last week, I managed work on module 5 nearly every night and managed to:

• research 'form' and put a set of notes together
• research my chosen artist - sculptor Phillip King (very interesting) and finalise my notes
• start researching the history of quiliting, for a seperate file I have to put together on quilting techniques

Lots more to go but a good start. 

In other news - I am going out tonight!!!  First time this year!!!  So no feeding the baby/sewing/designing/creating/blogging for me tonight, just eating, drinking, socialising and hopefully having fun!!