My placemats in Quilt Now

Hurrah, I am in Quilt Now again. Well, this was the previous issue but typical me, I had no time until now to actually post about these. I love how these placemats have been photographed, how cute are they, ha? I made these when I was obsessed with using up scraps and I wanted to make smaller pieces. That obsession did not last long, I quickly went back to making quilts. But to be honest, I have so many scraps I probably should make more small items and it can't hurt to have a stash of potential presents, especially when I have long stretches at work where I get no sewing done for weeks/months.

I absolutely love these placemats. They look very modern, but sort of retro at the same time. I would say the colors are not quite as dark in real life as they are in the magazine. I will hunt for some more pictures and add them to this post, if I can find any, that is.

I hope you like them. I will show you the quilt that has just been published in the latest Quilt Now in a few days. For now I would like to wish you happy holidays and a few relaxing days before the chaos of the new year ensues.

Merry Christmas,
Nadine

OMG I love this quilt so much

This is probably one of my favorite quilts out of all the quilts I have made over the years. Yes, I do have many favorites, but this one is absolutely lovely too.

The fabrics really speak to me (I used Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt, yes, finally after years of drooling over it I cut into my FQ bundle, am so proud). And it is so simple. A really simple design is sometimes so much nicer than a really intricate and complicated one. It is also fairly big and I went to my limits in basting this on my floor.

I quilted only the negative space in tiny stipples and I LOVE it. The texture is divine and I am not ever giving this quilt away. I am keeping it to myself.

Love, love, LOVE it.
N

My first hexies project

 I might have mentioned that I have recently started making hexies. I think watching an episode of Quilt Monkey finally did the trick and got me started.

My first and so far only finished hexies project uses lots of Lotta Jandotter fabrics from her Echo collection. Yes, one of those collections I have had for ages but haven't used much at all.

I do love this quilt a lot and am very proud of the quilting too. I decided to quilt in very small meandering stitches in the negative space and then do a freehand flowery pattern on the hexies.

Next time I make a hexies project like this I will cut away the background fabric behind the hexies. I found they ended up quite bulky but I didn't want the quilt to become less safe and stable if I removed the fabric behind the hexies. I am a bit paranoid that way.

I have now cut out thousands of hexies pieces, smaller than in this quilt, and have started making hexies at out monthly Leeds Modern Quilt Guild meetings. I have to take the train and don't want to move my sewing machien around. It is not in the best condition and not safe for travelling anyway. Besides, it is very loud and I don't want to annoy my fellow quilt members. That's why I have been concentrating on hand sewing.

I will show you those hexies soon, btu I think it will take me another x years to actually make something and I am soooooooo sloooooooow at it.

Lots of love,
Nadine

More cushions

      

Have I shown you these yet? No? I honestly can't remember. Well, I did make some more cushions a while ago in an attempt to use up my scraps and I really like the result. The patterns are fairly simple and similar to other cushions I have made years ago.

I do have to say, I am constantly trying to think of things to do with my scraps. So much so that I end up using the same fabrics over and over again in order to reduce my pile of scraps but then I never actually cut into my precious collections of fabric.

As you already know, I have a fabric addiction of humungous proportions but I can't get myself to cut into my complete collections. I tend to buy Fat quarter bundles of collections I really like and I store the collections together and often use fabrics from one collection for a quilt which means I don't mix collections much. I know, big mistake. But maybe one day I will overcome this.

So here are my cushions, I believe they are all about 18 x 18 and I used fleece on the back. Can never be too soft, eh?

I hope you like these. I am sure I will make more and I will also have to come up with some other projects using up some scraps. I recently got into EPP and have been making hexies like mad (will show you in another post). Maybe I can cut my scraps into hexies sizes and use them up that way, hmmm, that is not a bad idea.

Love, Nadine

Quilting Mojo: Lost .... and Found?

Hello everyone,

I can't believe how long I haven't written a blog post. I think it's probably a pretty obvious sign that I had been struggling with my quilting and that I have not beeing very productive.

I had lost my quilt mojo completely, questioning why I am doing this. The shop is pretty much dead, nobody is buying anything and I honestly have no time to invest in some serious marketing which is probably what it would take to make some sales at all. And even if I had some time to work on the shop I wouldn't even know where to start.

And I think all of us quilters ask ourselves sometime, what am I gonna do with all these quilts? Of course some of us have large families and constant birthdays and celebrations to make quilts for but everyone I know already has at least one quilt or more and many people are just not that keen on quilts, they are maybe not modern or trendy enough to show off in a home and I can understand that my family and friends just roll their eyes if I present them with yet another quilt.

Besides, only quilters really understand what such an item is actually worth. Of course, everything is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. But considering the amount of money we spend on the materials, the sewing machines and the hours upon hours upon even more hours we spend on making our quilts, not having our work appreciated is heartbreaking. I guess it isn't always obvious how much goes into a quilt.

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to make a quilt for her unborn baby. She sent a specific image of a quilt set she found on Argos and said she can't afford the 75 pounds they are asking for that quilt (plus bedding, sheet etc. - the poor quilter who made that set was what I was thinking but I kept my mouth shut). In the same sentence she said she would of course pay me the 'going rate'. Ha, I thought someone had punched me in the stomach. I guess she had never seen my shop and the 'going rate' I normally charge. I guess that puts it all into perspective. When our own friends think a quilt might be worth 20 or 30 pounds and we invest a lot more than that in fabric alone not even counting how much our time is worth, then we need to reevaluate. But it's not their foult how would they know, right? I keep telling myself that all the time.

So you can understand I had taken it quite slow lately with quilting as I have so many, and I mean SOOOOOO MANY quilts already and don't know what to do with them. I was getting to the point where I thought I needed to find something to do that does not cost so much money time and effort and I need to stop creating things, large things that take up lots of space in our tiny house.

So that was my frame of mind, you see I was not in the best quilting moods, and then Katy Jones of ImAGingerMonkey came along and asked whether I'd make something for her new magazine Quilt Now! And bang, all of a sudden I felt I had a purpose again.

I am sure you've seen the magazine, it is gorgeous and taking the quilting world by storm right now. Issue 3 featured the first cushion I had made in years out of Kaffe Fassett scraps. I love how Katy posed the cushion and how nicely it fits into the magazine amongst amazing quilts and features on quilters and designers I have admired for years.

I was ecstatic, as you can imagine and dare I say it, there might be even more of my things in future issues, maybe. :) I am so proud to be featured and it has given me my passion for quilting back. I have been working on a number of projects since and will show them to you in good time.

So please go check out the magazine, you won't regret it, it's awesome.

Lots of love and happy crafting.
Nadine

Christmas in July SALE

Ho Ho Ho,

yep, it's that time of year. We are now on the side of the year that takes us straight to Christmas. And what better way to celebrate that than with a SALE. Everything in the shop is 10% off from today until 20 July and I have also listed the last few advent calendars again in case someone wants to be super prepared for December and have them ready. 

 

I am currently taking it a bit slow with the sewing and am working on lots of hexies, prepping papers at the moment really. As we don't have a car and my sewing machines are quite big and clunky and OLD, too old to take them on the train to Leeds and cart them through the city centre, so for that reason I can only do hand work at our Leeds Modern Quilt Guild meetings, so hexies it is from now to eternity. :)

I will show you some of them soon and also the other new quilts and cushions. (If you're curious feel free to check them out in the shop as I have already listed them.)

Lots of love and I hope you're enjoying your summer.

Nadine

New quilts and cushions - Fresh Sewing Day

Hello all,

I am adding this post to the Fresh Sewing Day on Lily's Quilts. Go and check out what everyone has been up to.

As for myself, I don't even know where the time went, how can it be July? Where is the Spring gone? well, I guess you know I need to apologize again for  neglecting the blog.

I have been so busy though and working endlessly on my WIPs. I have recently finished another 10 quilts (will not post all today, will show you the others soon) and 4 cushions.

Here are just a few finished quilts for now. The first is a baby quilt made with echo fabrics by Lotta Jansdotter and some solids. I absolutely adore this quilt. The colors are so vivid and is just feels amazing, the texture of the quilting is lovely.

The next quilt is my finished houses quilt. Yes, I finally cut into my Tufted Tweets stash, after years. I think it was the first ever full FQ bundle of a collection I bought and the first fabrics I bought from the US. So long ago now. Am quite proud of myself for finally using some. I keep drooling over them and never actually use them (one of the reasons I had to join Fabricaholics Anonymous)

And the Chairs quilt, again using some Tufted Tweets (I am on a roll here, you see). Just like the Houses quilt this quilt is actually a bit larger, more of a lap quilt size and I love the effect, I also used some Kona cotton solids which really match the prints very well. Quilted is in a swirly pattern which I don't use very often, but I really like the effect. It doesn't always have to be stippling, no?

All 3 quilts are in the shop. I hope you like them.

I will show you some of the other quilts soon, so watch this space. I also need to share my soon to be finished craft room with you. SOON.

Love, Nadine

New quilts and cushions - BEEN BUSY

Hello all,

I don't even know where the time went, how can it be almost the end of June? Where is the Spring gone? well, I guess you know I need to apologize again for  neglecting the blog.

I have been so busy though and working endlessly on my WIPs. I have recently finished another 10 quilts (will not post all today, will show you the others soon) and 4 cushions.

Here are just a few finished quilts for now. The first is a baby quilt made with echo fabrics by Lotta Jansdotter and some solids. I absolutely adore this quilt. The colors are so vivid and is just feels amazing, the texture of the quilting is lovely.

The next quilt is my finished houses quilt. Yes, I finally cut into my Tufted Tweets stash, after years. I think it was the first ever full FQ bundle of a collection I bought and the first fabrics I bought from the US. So long ago now. Am quite proud of myself for finally using some. I keep drooling over them and never actually use them (one of the reasons I had to join Fabricaholics Anonymous)

And the Chairs quilt, again using some Tufted Tweets (I am on a roll here, you see). Just like the Houses quilt this quilt is actually a bit larger, more of a lap quilt size and I love the effect, I also used some Kona cotton solids which really match the prints very well. Quilted is in a swirly pattern which I don't use very often, but I really like the effect. It doesn't always have to be stippling, no?

All 3 quilts are in the shop. I hope you like them.

I will show you some of the other quilts soon, so watch this space. I also need to share my soon to be finished craft room with you. SOON.

Love, Nadine