Home again

So the retreat was brilliant!

I drove down to Dublin early on Friday morning, and did a machine quilting workshop with Barbara Barber. It was great, her work is amazing!

Aswell as this quilt 'Fishy Affair', she had brought her 'Cats' quilt and we were able to see it on display. Then on Saturday morning I did another workshop with Barbara called 'Really Sharp Piecing'. Jean and Louise did a super job on their curves and points!

Stitch ripper at hand, I was happy with mine too!

I never got time to post this photo last week, its my latest offering for Lily's Quilts Quiltalong.

They were all randomly put together, but I think it'll work!

Dublin here I come!

I had to buy some more 'Hunky Dory' fabric this week to finish off my piecing for Lily's Quilts Quiltalong.

My fabric stash just didn't stretch far enough.

This line of fabric may just be my all time favourite.

I am off to Dublin tomorrow for the Quilter's Guild of Ireland retreat.

I'm a very new member, so am looking forward to taking part...

in fact I can't wait!

I've signed up for two workshops with Barbara Barber.

Sew, sew, sew. Stop for coffee. Sew, sew, sew. Stop for lunch.

It'll be great!

Fabrics for Lily's Quiltalong

I've never taken part in a quiltalong before, its a whole new world!

After much consideration I have picked my fabrics for Lily's Quiltalong.

These are fabrics from my stash, mostly 'Hunky Dory' by Chez Moi for Moda. There is also some dearly loved 'Darla' by Tanya Whelan and a few checks aswell. They were randomly sewn together, I'm afraid 'orderly' was thrown out the window! The background will be plain white and the centre circle will be a different print each time. It's quite quick to sew together, which is great!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

It's very quiet in our house this morning,

even though all the children are off school:)

They decided a lie in was needed!

I have something green to share with you

on this the greenest day of the year!

Ok, not very Irish!

I was reading some other quilting blogs recently and came across someone who reccommended gardening/working gloves as an alternative to proper - made for the purpose - quilting gloves. I ran off to our nearest hardware store and purchased these, not the height of fashion, but they are super for free motion quilting. They're also a lot cheaper than the conventional quilting gloves:)

I have no idea what the true purpose of these gloves are, but they are coated with a bubbly rubber surface on the palm side and a knitted fabric on the back.

Bobbins at the ready, I'm all set to go!

Charley Harper Quiltalong

I have finally picked an image to use as the basis for my project,

for the Charley Harper quilt along.We have quite a few of these 'Phancy Pheathers' running about in our hedgerows, I guess thats why it appeals to me so much:)

I might end up with a row of these fellas,

but I do want to get some different textures into the project.

I have no idea what the final item will be, it is quite a tall image, so should I make it small and squish it into a cushion or should I make a really tall and skinny wallhanging?

Decisions, decisions....

Its got a lot to do with the packaging...

A few days ago I ordered some grey Moda fabric from an online shop.

It arrived this morning in the usual plastic packaging,

but when I opened it....

I got a lovely package wrapped in pink tissue paper and tied with ribbon!

Now, I have ordered online from various shops,

but never ever have I got such a pretty parcel.

It made my morning:)

Practice makes perfect

I've just finished my latest quilt top, ready now to put the

backing and wadding together and then machine quilt...

So I'm practicing some free motion quilting...

Maybe some butterflies to echo the ones on the fabric?

Although mine are a completly different shape:D

getting more realistic...?

Maybe I'll stick with some curly wurly lines!

I do like the idea of putting a name in the quilting.

I need to practice, practice,practice!

Whats your favourite quilting motif?

Do you stick with the same one each time?

New projects

I'm putting together a new project for the Moda Bakeshop,

its made from the fabric 'Just wing it!' by MoMo.

There is quite a bit of blue in the quilt which doesn't really show up in this photo. Quilt top is nearly complete, just have to add the borders.

Over at the Flaming Stiches blog, Ethne has just announced a Charley Harper Quiltalong.

Now I am going to be completely truthful and say that up until this point in time I had never heard of Charley Harper. After looking at some of his artwork I am truly inspired to take part in this quilt along. This quiltalong will also give me a chance to finally figure out how Flickr works:D