A Finished Quilt and a Feature

Do you remember an age ago I joined a quilt a-long.....well hands up I was absolutely rubbish at keeping up with it.  I think I was perhaps a little optimistic with just how much spare time I actually have each week to sew....also adding in the fact that I am a crafting butterfly and flutter from project to project!  Rather than enjoying the process, I actually placed myself under a huge amount of pressure and the longer time passed, the more I fell behind.  So over Easter, I gave myself a stern talking too......the whole point of my precious sewing time should be for pleasure....and I decided to crack on and finish the quilt my way and in my own time.

I absolutely love the design of the quilt that Melissa created and my original plan was for 3 x 3 block layout.  So my new plan of action was to use the one star block that I had completed and then as much as possible to use all the other pieces that had been pre-cut and rework them in to my new design..... here's the end result......

I have learnt so much from making this quilt, not only new techniques, but to be realistic with what I can achieve in the time that I have available.  

Pattern: Centre Star Block ~ Star Light Star Bright Quilt by Melissa Corry

Size: 51" x 51"

Rather excitingly I have a little project in this quarters edition of Fat Quarterly, which is all about Pre Cuts

My challenge was to use mini charms from the Winter Wonderland collection by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda fabric.......this is what I came up with....... a jolly mini quilt......

There are some absolutely stunning designs included in the issue, so if you have a moment, please do pop over and take a peek HERE.

I hope that you're all having a lovely week, back soon!

Easter Hols and a winner......

  

  

The Easter holidays have passed by in a flash.  

In the main each day has followed the same routine:

* Watching an early morning family movie... the concept of having a lie in hasn't yet been grasped by the younger generation

* Playing with hama beads...honestly I could get seriously addicted to them :: Edited 22nd April I forgot to say.......Pinterest is a great source for the Star Wars designs and the Rose design was taken from a cross stitch chart from 'Stitch and Sew Home by Eline Pellinkhof

* Eating Easter cornflake cakes.... we never need an excuse to make these

* Easter crafting...lots of Easter crafting

* Going for an afternoon stroll, bike ride or scoot.... sometimes round the block, sometimes across the fields and on Good Friday to one of our favourite country haunts

* A spot of gardening or general jobs around the house 

* I've even managed a bit of sewing....more of this next time

Happy Days!

Now moving on to the Giveaway....thank you so much for all your lovely comments both here and on our Facebook page........I'm sure however you would like to know who has won........ Penny and I are delighted to announce that .......

We look forward to hearing from you Kate.

Thank you so much for visiting me here and I wish you a very happy week...back soon!

A little celebration and giveaway...

Hang out the flags and lets eat cake........Pretty Fabrics and Trims is 2 years old ......wow how time flies! When we pressed that button 'Publish' we really didn't know how things were going to go....... would working together as a mother and daughter team be a success..... would anyone purchase anything from us...... 

Thankfully....Mum and I are still best friends.........we've packed lots and lots of parcels full of loveliness......and we've cut up many metres of fabric in to our unique small and mini pieces.......phew!!!

So as a huge thank you, we thought we would have a little giveaway....... we've filled up a bundle box with a selection of some of our favourite spring coloured goodies.......... here's what's inside......

15 Mini pieces of Sevenberry florals, dots and stripes..... 

15 metres in total of gorgeous ribbons, ric rac.......

 .......and lace

100 candy coloured small buttons

and finally 2 of our very special 'made with love' buttons

So if you would like to enter, here's what you will need to do: 

First off..... simply leave a comment below to say that you would like your name to be entered into the hat.

For a second chance.....be or become a follower of this blog, now this can be done in a variety of ways, either by subscribing by email (click the box in the right hand column) or via Bloglovin or by some other preferred method and then leave a second comment below to let me know which way you do.

The Giveaway is also running on our Facebook page so if you're really keen, you can pop over and enter there.

We will happily post worldwide so everyone, from everywhere is most welcome to enter! 

The Giveaway is open until 11am GMT Sunday 20th April 2014 and a winner will be picked at random from all the entries combined here and from Facebook. We will announce a winner after 6pm on Monday 21st April 2014. 

The small print.......

No cash alternative can be offered. We will cover all postage costs. The winner will be announced both here and on our Facebook page and we will request that the winner get in touch by email. If we have not heard from said winner within 7 days, then we reserve the right to redraw. This competition is run by Pretty Fabrics and Trims and is in no way Sponsored, Endorsed, Administered by, or associated with Facebook.

GOOD LUCK !

:: UPDATED 20th April 2014 Thank you so much for all your entries and very kind comments....the Giveaway is now closed, back tomorrow with details of the winner! xo

A little skirt for Poppy

This week as always, has pretty much been all about fabric....

We've managed to get hold of these scrumptious Michael Miller fabrics....they're very shabby chic don't you think?

I succumbed to temptation and snaffling some of the lovely stripe for a little skirt for Poppy.... perfect for some sunny Easter play......

First off, I measured Poppy from her natural waist to her knee and then added 1 1/2 inches (for the hem and waistband). Then I simply folded the fabric in half, matched the pattern, which is printed horizontally and stitched.  After turning through and pressing, I positioned the seam centre back.

I made a casing for the elastic at the top...

and for the bottom, I simply pressed up approx. 3/8" using the design of the pattern as a guide and then stitched some gingham ribbon over the top to conceal the raw edge.  This is great idea when you want a light weight hem or you've not got a great deal of fabric to play with!

All in all in took less than an hour and a smidge over half a metre of fabric (I have a very tall 6 year old)...now for the twirl test.....

and just one more........

Have a lovely weekend!

A pretty pastel Ta Dah.......

Now I know that I have what feels like a million WIP's in progress at the moment, however, I simply could not resist the temptation to join Chrissie Crafts and Lazy Daisy Jones Mand-a-Long.  I did so with some trepidation, my crochet to date has simply been Granny Squares, all be it I am mighty chuffed with my Grannies, this would mean following a pattern....gulp!!  

I chose Winks 12 round Mandala, although as a newbie I did find it a challenge...I certainly couldn't master a magic circle, although Chrissie thankfully gave some words of encouragement and I started mine with a chain circle.

There are also some holes where I've started/finished a round....however for my third ever piece of crochet, all in all I am very happy and can not wait to pick up my hook again....I've a cushion to finish!

Meanwhile, the Easter holidays are now in full swing, which means balancing family fun time with work....the weather has been helping and it would seem that Spring has sprung.......

 Back soon!

:: Linking up with Chrissie

Work in progress

My little stack of grannies is surely and steadily growing and I now have enough for the front of my cushion cover..whoop whoop!!  I've made a start on the back, I'm going for one big Granny...how much fun are they to make.  

I've been asked a couple of times about the yarn that I using...it's  Drops Muskat and it is so lovely and soft.  I do love cotton, but I have to say it was a bit of a challenge initially as I found that it did split quite easily, but I'm finding the more experienced that I am getting, the less I am doing this.

It does come in a gorgeous range of colours as you can see here and whoops..some more just happened to find their way in to my shopping basket last night...I really must show some constraint I think!  Whilst I wait for it to arrive, let me share a few more pictures with you......

Let me introduce you to Mr Collared Dove.... yes I know that is not very exciting........

however look....can you see......

....... we also have Mrs Collared Dove and they have been very busy and industriously building a nest in the tree at the bottom of our garden......