Snow Geography

Not sure if this is finished or not.  It might get another border.

 1 Putting on The Ritz Jelly Roll
1 meter of 'Full Circle -Stars, Black' (Moda).

 Itching to make another quilt top - but I really have to finish quilting the Bloom project and this one before I dive into another pattern!

Stitchin' Heaven on the 697 - Longframlington

When I heard that a new fabric shop was opening nearby I was very excited.  Even moreso when I heard that it was specifically a quilting orientated shop.  I had to go today - and now I will have to go more often than I should.  The shop is in the beautiful Village of Longframlington in Northumberland - which is just a lovely place.  Stitchin' Heaven on the 697 is the jewel in it's crown (though admittedly, I am biased as I have a fabric habit...)

It was much bigger and more extensive than I had imagined. Shelves upon shelves of gorgeous, high quality fabrics, bundles, jelly rolls, bolts and bolts of loveliness.  It was one of those moments where I was so overcome that I didn't know where to look first. The welcome is warm and friendly - the owner was just wonderful and very accommodating and in this shop was a large table with quilting enthusiasts having their beginners quilting class and a nice cup of coffee.  A lovely, relaxed atmosphere.

The prices are reasonable - a Moda Jelly Roll prices at £28.  Even better is that you can spend as little as £2 if you are short on funds, just to get a mini fix - or buy some of the lovely little bundles that this shop has put together. If you like tempting little packages of delicious prints, then you really will be in heaven.  I had to resist the Moda Jelly Rolls this month as I am spent up - but got 1/2 a meter of a nice slate grey fabric by David Textiles - which is a similar weight and thread count as Moda, so it will bind my Moda quilt quite nicely.  I also treated myself to a couple of fat quarters - one grey on black print and a lovely dusty pink to go with it. I don't have a project in mind for either of the last two fabrics, but I'm sure they will be used very soon - so pretty!!

I love this shop for so many reasons, the range is huge and she is still building on it, the price range is wide so there is something to fit every budget. The service is friendly and warm, they run classes and it is in a gorgeous setting.

Did I say that I loved it? Because I do. Oh yes.  Smiled all of the way home!

Quilts, old and new

I have a severe lack of photo's of my quilts - so while I am waiting to finish my current projects - here they are!

Commission quilt - but to be fair I had a huge artistic licence with this one.  It was also one of the most difficult to hand over.  I always promise that I will never do it again!

The Scrappy Quilt - using up some old fabric stash!

Starry Nights quilt

Sugar Baby

Sampler Quilt for Mother's Day

Scrappy, Strippy (hidden Kitty)

Wheatlands

Experimental 'Mr Suit and Tie' made with wool suit fabric swatches and old ties

Thrifty little quilting bargains

Still waiting for my backing fabric to arrive for my In Bloom quilt!  In the mean time I have been busy with my Moda Jelly Roll project (Putting On The Ritz fabrics)  The pattern was an absolute breeze to put together and excellent for a quick make. All of the blocks are ready to sew together. I'll take pictures later today.

The backing fabric that I am waiting for is just a plain double bed sheet from Marks and Spencer. It quickly became apparent to me that buy the backing fabric off the bolt was a complete rip off. Unless you want a specific pattern to it, then it made perfect sense to me to buy a nice Egyptian cotton, flat bed sheet and just use that.  It saves so much money as you can get a good quality, high thread count sheet for around £16.  So, once it arrives, I can finally finish the Bloom quilt!

That isn't the thriftiest way to back a quilt though.  My favourite way to save money on this particular part of the quilt is to scour charity shops.  One of my past quilts was backed using a flat cotton sheet that I had bought in my local Cancer research shop and cost £4 - burgundy flowers on white and it made a really pretty backing. Today I did even better than that - two single sheets, one pale peach and one white of exceptional quality, 100% cotton, high thread count sheets. The price? £2.99 each!  I was beyond excited at my little find - because a lot of the time the sheets you find in such places are polycotton and just no good for quilt backing. Saying that, I have used polycotton in the past, but it is more prone to dimpling and gathering up at the back as you quilt it.  The best way, in my opinion is to stick with 100%, down to the thread that you use - and the wadding.

So - if you are prepared to skip from charity shop to charity shop for a little rummage in the linen sections, you can save yourself a huge amount of money.  I have spent up to £40 backing a quilt before - but why do that when you can pick up a cotton bed sheet from £16 or get lucky in a local charity shop - while donating to a very worthy cause at the same time.

Thrifty, nifty charity shop finds!

While I'm waiting for the wadding for the In Bloom quilt....

Yeah, I know that I said that I wouldn't start another quilt top, but I lied.  I can't twiddle my thumbs until I can afford to get the rest of the materials to complete my last project. There is a twisted logic in there somewhere!

I have had this lovely Moda Jelly Roll for a couple of weeks now and the only reason why I have resisted unrolling it is because I was frantically finishing my last quilt top. That -  and they always look so pretty, it feels wrong undoing them at all!  Anyway, today I decided that I would, so I could look at the designs properly. The roll is from the 'Putting On The Ritz' collection, which is a selection of beautiful, soft greys and whites.  I can't wait to get started and I *think* that I know what I am going to do with it, but I will decide after I have pawed over it for a couple of days and looked through some of the patterns that I think might work.

Here it is!

Tempting Moda strips!

Untying the goodies!

Textile fluff on my clothes and on the floor......Ahhhhh, time for a cigar!

And here it is! 'In Bloom'

Finally - after two days of being totally demotivated because I have felt so ill, I have sewn the blocks together and added a border.  Strictly speaking, it is a single quilt that would hang nicely over the edges of the bed - so in order to make it a double, I will have to add another border.

All that it needs now is, the extra border, layering, quilting and basting - err, then binding.  I am really pleased with it, I think that it is my favourite make so far.

In other news I bagged a bargain - a lovely, leather vintage satchel for £7.50.  It is handmade and big enought to fit a laptop inside - why do people throw lovely things out?  I'm happy that they did though!

And some felt hair bands - so pretty!

Finally!

It seemed like forever, but tonight I have finally completed the last block for my 'In Bloom' quilt.  Along the way of mass cutting and preparation, there were a couple of schoolboy errors (making a couple of components a mirror image by accident - which was easier to do than you might think and measuring a couple of strips incorrectly) That slowed me down a little as I could see the finish line in sight - a bit frustrating, but they are all done now.  Just a few half triangles required to square the quilt top once I have set the blocks on point and have sewn them. Then to make the quilt a double bed size, I am going to add a further border - so certainly not done yet, but the lion's share of the work is done now :)

I am going to start sewing them together tomorrow, so hopefully it will go together ok and I can put some picture up of my progress. Time for a cup of tea I think! x