FairyFace Designs

A tour of my new sewing space!

2013-05-22T21:10:00.000+01:00

I'm so excited to finally be able to write this post and post these pictures of my very own sewing space!!!

Ever since I started sewing 5 years ago, I have been swooning over other people's sewing rooms. I have been stalking Google images and Pinterest, green with envy. Living in a 3 bed semi-D - a fairly standard Irish house (and homes here are so much smaller than in the USA, to my eternal disgust) and having 3 kids, the opportunity to convert one of my rooms was just not there. However, we are lucky to have a separate playroom from our kitchen/diner, and over the last few months a plan formed in my head. The playroom has been home to a big sofabed which primarily functioned as a dumping ground for toys, as well as proper storage for the kids toys and playing space. But as the older 2 got bigger and their toys got smaller, less space was needed for them. And the sofabed was never used. So I hatched a plan. And here is the result!

This post is pretty picture heavy - I hope you'll excuse that. I'm just so thrilled and delighted with how my corner turned out that I want to share every last detail. Also - I think its good to see that you don't need a lot of physical space. I have literally one corner & the back wall of a room, and I've found a way to multi-task the space, plus some other space.

Let me show you around :-) First up - my desk. This is the Linnmon/Ullrik table from IKEA. The table top is pretty big - 150cm long and I chose it for the size and the storage. I have enough room to put my laptop to the right of my machine if I'm following a tute online, and still have my fabric etc beside me as I work. The storage in the legs is brill. I have little clear plastic baskets that I use to keep fabric for each project separate. And I have some other baskets and boxes which store various WIPs and supplies like ribbons, purse frames, embroidery hoops, precuts etc. I can also fit my Go Baby and dies in there too, there's way more space than I imagined there would be. I would highly recommend.

A big reason for my bright and happy space is the lovely decor, most of it acquired through swaps! Kirsten made my sewing machine cover, and Jennifer made my mug rug - aren't they gorgeous! On the wall behind the desk, I have a variety of space saving/organiser type things. I got the little hanging baskets on the rail and the magnetic knife rack in IKEA too. The hanging baskets hold all my thread and my sewing essentials - seam ripper, pens, etc etc. I got some of those little magnetic backed jars too for my binding pins, tape measures etc as well as using the knife rack for storing my cutter and scissors.

I also then have a little shelf holding other bits and pieces - my little boxes of zippers and bindings, pincushion etc. Oh - and my Bliss hearts, which I made years ago for using in my sewing space, whenever I finally got it!

I also have my knitting and sewing needles stored on the desk just under/to the side of the shelf. I picked up the tall vase on sale in Heatons and the other 2 are an old hot chocolate and mustard tin, Mod Podged with some nice paper. You can see them better in the pic below. To the right of the desk, I have an Expedit book case with all my sewing books on display finally. Its nice and wide, so I can fit my sewing basket with my handsewing stuff in there too.

The lovely thing about sewing supplies is that they make the best decorations - I just love the perle cotton colours there.

Between the desk and the bookcase is the narrowest of spaces - perfect for my board and rulers and it keeps them nice and straight.

I also needed some noticeboard and display space. I googled for a few ideas, and quickly made this fabric covered notice board in an embroidery hoop - it was very simple and is corkboard underneath from an old noticeboard. I made the little pins too with some thumb tacks and buttons and pegs and a hot glue gun (my new favourite thing).

I also put up some hooks (disguised with buttons) and rick rack on the side of the bookcase to hang the little cards etc I get from people in swaps - I love holding onto those.

I added some decorations to the space just for fun. I've been wanting to use this Periodic Table of Sewing Elements by The Scientific Seamstress for the longest time, and it looks exatly like I imagined it would.

I also picked up some cardboard 3D letters in my local craft shop and Mod Podged some fabric on them. I originally was going to put them on the wall, but I left them up on top of the bookcase to dry, and I like how they are there so I think I'll leave them.

I have a box on top of the bookcase with all the stuff I really don't want my kids getting their hands on - basting spray, staple gun, glue gun etc etc. Out of sight, no temptation!

One of my favourite things is the hanging rail I put on the wall - IKEA again. I hate folding up quilt tops after I have finished and pressed them, and they are so pretty out on display. My friend Sonya has a big rail in her sewing room where she hangs her finished baby blankets and it looks gorgeous. I didn't have the space for a big portable one, but this does the job and doesn't take too much space.

I also wanted a design wall but as you can see, I didn't really have enough space for one big enough to do a quilt layout on - even a baby quilt. The other walls in this room are taken up with a big storage unit and a tv and the kids desk, or patio doors. So I reused an old canvas, covered it in an old flannel cot sheet and I have a tiny design wall that I can use for block layouts - it will fit 2 blocks at a squeeze.

I also made some good use of other space in the room. One wall has a large storage unit, and a couple of those shelves are mine for my fabric storage:

I have the quilting fabric on the bottom shelf. The bins hold various cuts - the big one on the left has backing and binding fabric and solids. You can see the lid lifting off the top of my scraps bin in at the very back on the right hand side. I have half yard cuts in front of that, and fat quarters in the bottom tray. On the top shelf I have the bulky stuff, batting, fleece and other dressmaking and decor weight fabrics in the box.

Underneath those shelf, we have a pull out shelf that could function as a desk, and I use that for my cutting table when I'm working:

You can see there that I have baby changing supplies in the little basket hanging from the shelf - that's because its right beside my changing table. As I usually sew when the baby is asleep, I also use the top of the baby changing station as a table to put my little ironing board on:

Bet you won't see that in too many sewing rooms lol! I'm pretty happy with how I can use the space for multiple uses. (and for those of you wondering, I thoroughly clean that baby station after every change and before I bring fabric near it so there's no chance of any little accidents ;-) )

This is now a real family room. Knowing that my desk would get co-opted for drawing by the kids, I invested in a small desk and set of hanging baskets plus a magnetic noticeboard and some storage and now they have their very own arts and crafts corner where they can sit and work when I am sewing.

I also have a Jumperoo for my littlest lady, and she can hang out beside me as I work! Can you spot her there in the picture?

Lastly, one of the absolute must haves that was pretty much the first thing I planned after the table and bookcase - my hanging wire at the top of the wall where I can display lovely mini quilts that I have received through various swaps. They clip on and off, so I can swap them out as I accumulate more. The ones up there right now (left to right) were made by me, Lennye, Kirsten and Sharon. That wire was put up at the end of a long day and try as we might, we couldn't get it as taut as I wanted. But some day I'll go back and try again so that those minis can hang absolutely straight like I intended!

The thing I love most? The fact that its all mine - I didn't have to check with anyone, I didn't have to refer to anyone else's taste like I would decorating any other space in the house. The other thing I love - it cost me very little. The money from the sofa bed funded the desk and bookcase from IKEA - I think there were a few euro in the difference. I bought some of the accessories etc in IKEA and elsewhere. The rest of the stuff was from either things I had on hand, or other bits and pieces I picked up/reused. I think in total my new space probably only cost me about €50, which was brill as I have a tight budget on maternity leave.

I also need to say a few huge thank yous - first up to my brother and his girlfriend who went to IKEA with my list, picked the stuff and arranged for delivery to me (as its 3 hours away from me). And that was a long list, because we got a lot of other furniture for the house too! But mainly to my lovely hubbie who put everything together for me and did all the necessary DIY to get the stuff up on the walls - he did a brill job, and even though I know I was a pain in the ass about where stuff was to go etc, he never complained once.

So. There you have it. My new sewing space. I have pretty much everything sorted out at this stage - I just need to organise my yarn supplies which I have a space earmarked for. And, now, at last, I can get back to sewing instead of organising!

Kona Tumbler Quilt top

2013-05-13T22:20:00.000+01:00

A while back, the lovely Cindy asked me would I be interested in making up a quilt for her shop and of course, I jumped at the chance! She had quite a few ideas for fabrics I could use, but I immediately knew I wanted the Kona Brights solids charm packs.

When I started quilting first, I only saw solids as background fabrics, and it took me a while before I realised the possibilities with them. Then I took part in a couple of rounds of the For the Love of Solids swap and became really inspired by solids only projects! I love how they put the emphasis back on colour use and design.

So I jumped at the chance to make a baby quilt with these beauties. I wanted to do another tumbler quilt, having had so much fun making my Posy tumbler quilt for baby R earlier in the year. I used a quick and easy pattern from Moda Bake Shop and decided to add a few tumblers in a single coordinating print from The Sweetest Thing just to add some contrast and interest to it. I like you you can really see the print tumblers popping in this picture:

A few hours sewing (in my new sewing space...I promise I will have pics this week) and it was done and ready to flap around in the wind this afternoon:

I just need to quilt and bind this baby now and she will be winging her way back to Cindy. The backing will be Kona Peacock (you can see in the top photo) and I just have to decide on a binding colour. Hot Pink? Orange? Yellow? I'm still mulling that one over.

Hipster FQ bundle winner

2013-05-13T21:44:00.001+01:00

Wow, that Hipster bundle certainly was popular! Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. But there can only be one winner who was

and no 61 was:

Congratulations B Greene, I've emailed you.

And for anyone who was disappointed, I'm sure Julie would be happy to sell you some of these lovely fabrics - just pop over to order! Thanks so much to Julie and The Intrepid Thread for sponsoring a great giveaway!

Circles Quilt Finish

2013-05-11T13:22:00.000+01:00

Almost exactly a year ago, I started the Polka Dot quilt from the Block Party book for my little boy Mr D.

And finally, after a very long journey, it is finished! I'm pleased to say that he absolutely loves it because there was a significant amount of energy and mental angst expended on this quilt. It has been used every day since I finished it and I even had a snuggle under it last night myself watching tv. I adjusted the block size slightly as I had a limited amount of the Ash fabric in my stash, but wound up with a great lap size quilt measuring 60" x 65"

This quilt definitely would be a great one for a Bee, as the process of making the appliqued circle blocks was fairly labour intensive, but not as satisfying as piecing blocks - so a whole quilt of them felt like a lot of work :-)

I used Kona Ash for the block background, and used the train and car prints from Ann Kelle's Ready, Set, Go as the focal fabrics - and the basis for the rest of the colour palette choices for the applique circles. The result is all those bright and vibrant fabrics in blues, greens, yellows, reds and oranges, from a combination of the novelty kids fabrics in my stash, plus some other lovely fabrics. Mr D helped me pick the fabrics, and had surprisingly strong opinions on which ones he liked and didn't like.

The sashing is a bright vibrant peacock blue that I found in my local fabric shop and I like how it works with the Ash, it really brightens the quilt top

I even pieced the back which I rarely do - I used some more of the blue, a large strip of the train print from Ready, Set Go, and some Kona Charcoal which I adore.

After basting it (twice -more of anon!) I machine quilted wavy lines in the sashing to secure the blocks, and then I hand quilted around a number of the circles in each block using a variety of perle cotton colours. I debated quilting each of them but decided against it in the end.

One of the things I love is how the quilting shows up on the back:

When it came to the binding, my original plan was a dark grey binding, somewhere between the Ash and Charcoal colours. But it just didn't feel right, nor did picking one particular colour from the focal fabrics either (orange was a strong contender). So I decided to go with a scrappy binding.

I really doubted my decision on this one when I pinned it on as it just seemed too much colour, but I stuck with it and once the binding was finished on the back, I knew it had been the right decision. It finishes it off nicely, and it shows up even better on the back.

Despite how much I love the quilt, there are aspects of the finish I am unhappy with. I basted this quilt twice - running into issues after the first baste - and despite taking great care second time round, I still ended up with some puckering on the front where my machine stitching lines crossed each other in the sashing. I don't know if this was because I should have stretched the quilt top more (I thought you weren't supposed to stretch, only to make it taut?) or if its a machine tension issue. I have been noticing that even when I engage the integrated walking foot on my Pfaff, the top layer of fabric is being pulled at a different rate to the bottom. Its quite obvious when I'm sewing binding on, where I have to really really stretch the binding when I'm pinning, or otherwise I end up with an extra quarter to half inch when I get to the corner. It seems like the presser foot pressure is just a tiny bit too heavy, if that makes sense? Maybe I could fix this by playing with the tension settings, if any of you have any suggestions I would love if you could email me about it as sewing machine stuff is not my strong point.

In any case, once the quilt was washed and dried, the puckering is much less obvious and to be honest, my almost 7 year old little man couldn't care less about it anyway. It actually feels lovely. So I'm letting go of my perfectionist streak and just letting myself love it :-)

This quilt was on my FinishALong list, so I'm thrilled to get it done and will be adding it at the end of the quarter. I have another finish to show you too from that list - will post that next week.

Modern Baby book winner

2013-05-07T23:16:00.000+01:00

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway for my Modern Baby book. It was really fun reading all the baby names you liked, some great names in there!

But there can only be one winner, and that winner was:

Who was:

Ritainalaska, I will email you! I hope you enjoy the book :-)

Friday Fabric Giveaway! Hipster FQ bundle :-)

2013-05-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

Woohoo, it's Friday! Even better, it's a long weekend for the May bank holiday here, we are hosting a little party for our families to celebrate baby R's Christening tomorrow and the kids are off school fon mid term next week. It's all very happy round here today :-)

So I'm really happy to be hosting a great giveaway kindly sponsored by the lovely Julie of The Intrepid Thread.

Regular readers will know that I love Julie - she has a fab selection of fabric and brilliant customer service. She has lots of gorgeousness in stock right now like Glimma

and Indian Summer

and lots more! Go check out the shop where you'll be sure to find something you love. And don't forget to follow Julie over on Facebook to keep up to date with what's coming in and for promotions and discount coupons etc. She's on Instagram too which is my very favourite thing at the moment.

Just in this week is the brand new Hipster by Riley Blake and I just love this FQ bundle of dots which is the great prize up for grabs today. It's the happiest bundle of fabric I've seen in ages, I love that rainbow!

To be in with a chance to win just leave me a comment on this post. Tell me what you're planning to do this weekend! For a 2nd entry, follow me on Instagram or Facebook and let me know that you do.

I'll draw a winner next Friday. Please ensure that you have an email address attached to your profile, or leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you. If I can't contact you, I will redraw. Thanks again to Julie for sponsoring! Dont forget also that my giveaway for a copy of the Modern Baby book is open till Monday, you can enter here.

Modern Baby: Shapes Sampler quilt and giveaway

2013-04-29T08:47:00.001+01:00

I'm very excited and honoured to be hosting a stop on the Modern Baby blog tour today.

If its your first time visiting me here at FairyFace Designs, I'd like to extend a huge big Irish welcome to you. I hope it won't be your last visit! My quilt design was for this Modern Shapes Sampler, pictured in a baby girl's colourway here.

The theme for this book and the tour is Baby Shower. Now, baby showers are only starting to make an appearance in Ireland, so I've never been to one! But new babies are cerainly showered with gifts and since I started knitting and sewing back a few years ago, pretty much every baby that has arrived in my family and circle of friends has received a handmade gift from me as part (or all) of their baby gift. There's something amazingly special about making a gift for a brand new baby!

When I came to designing this quilt, the starting point was in my (overflowing) playroom. Its not the first time I've been inspired by classic baby toys in quilt design, and for this one, it was this simple but classic toy that inspired me: the humble shape sorter.

The various shapes appealed to my quilting eye - I love simple geometric shapes in my piecing and am drawn to how they let the fabric and colour shine through.

When it came to colour and fabric choice, my approach was simple. I only took up quilting after my 2nd child was born, and never had the opportunity to make a baby quilt for one of my own kids, so I imagined the sort of quilt I would love to make were I to have a new baby girl. For this very special quilt, I chose vibrant colours and beautiful fabrics and mixed solids with prints which were perfect for fussy cutting.

It turned out exactly how I imagined it. Babies were definitely on my mind, and shortly after I submitted my finished quilt, I found out I was expecting my third baby, who was born at the start of January this year - a beautiful baby girl, who has been lucky enough to receive a wealth of handmade gifts from my friends and who I have been busy making blankets, quilts and clothes for. I can't wait to get this quilt back, when it has finished its touring with Martingale, to put on her cot.

This quilt design will, however, work really well with different colour schemes and approaches. I did a couple of other colour mock-ups so you can see, not having had time to make an alternative colourway with the pregnancy and new baby. All white solid background in the blocks will give the shapes a floating effect.

And a boys solid colour scheme would work wonderfully.

If I make this quilt again, I will definitely make the shapes in a wonky, improv style which I think would work really well.

Moderrn Baby is packed full of wonderful baby quilt projects, with tonnes of inspiration. And to celebrate its publication, I have an eBook copy to giveaway! To be in with a chance to win, just leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite baby name. Please leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you. I'll choose a random winner next Monday. If I cannot contact the winner, I will redraw.

Don't forget to check out the other great designers who contributed quilt patterns for additional chances to win copies of the book - the full blog tour schedule is here:

April 18, Thursday Jenny, StitchThis! http://blog.shopmartingale.com/
April 19, Friday Shea Henderson, http://emptybobbinsewing.com
April 22, Monday Jake Finch, http://generationqmagazine.com/
April 23, Tuesday Audrie Bidwell, http://blueisbleu.blogspot.com/
April 24, Wed Carolyn Friedlander, http://carolynfriedlander.com/blog/
April 25, Thursday Melissa Corry, http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com/
April 26, Friday Jen Eskridge, http://reannalilydesigns.com/blog/
April 29, Monday Sarah Flynn, http://fairyfacedesigns.blogspot.com/
April 30, Tuesday Dana Bolyard, http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/
May 1, Wednesday Amy Smart, http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/
May 2, Thursday Carrie Bloomston, http://suchitysuch.blogspot.com/
May 3, Fri Victoria Findlay Wolfe, http://www.bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/
May 6, Monday Lindsey Rhodes, http://lrstitched.com/
May 7, Tuesday Pippa Eccles Armbrester,http://www.pippapatchwork.com/blog/

Thanks for stopping by!

To Boston with Love

2013-04-25T12:22:00.000+01:00

The events in Boston in the last week have been truly shocking. That's why, when I saw the project being coordinated by the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild to make flags for an exhibition, I immediately wanted to take part - its good to feel like you can do something small that might, in some small way, help.

This is a collaborative project to make flags to be displayed in an exhibition in June. There are loads of tutorials on the Vancouver Modern Quilt guild website, or its really easy to make your own. Mine was a very simple little applique heart, made of a few 5" x 1.5" strips of fabric pieced together, then cut into a heart using a template from the heart shape in Microsoft Word. All I had to do then was fuse it to my white fabric and zig zag the edges.

I am coordinating the flags for the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland, and I will also accept flags from any individual based in Ireland who wants to send one, even if they are not a member. The guidelines for colour palette, size, binding tie etc are here. They are a quick and fun project to make so I hope you'll join me! If you want to contribute a flag to reach me before 13th May, please comment below or email me at fairyfacedesigns at gmail dot com for my address and I can send you more details.

Pay It Forward: Reveal (at long last!)

2013-04-21T22:25:00.000+01:00

Back a long (long) time ago, I signed up for Pay It Forward and for my trouble I got a beautiful 241 tote bag from Toni. I subsequently posted and got my 3 people to make for - Michelle @ The Quilted Tortoise, Erin @ Billy Button Design and Deb @ Life on the Selvage Edge . So far, so good. But my pregnancy and all the issues I had put paid to my reaching my deadline for sending out my goodies late last year, and though I tried, I really couldn't find the energy to finish those projects. The 3 ladies were very understanding and gracious and as soon as I started to get some sewing energy back, I set to finishing their projects as one of my first priorities.

Michelle @ The Quilted Tortoise

Now that their gifts have been received, I can finally do a little reveal. Anyone following me on Instagram will have seen some of my pictures of these earlier in the year, so you can skip. But for anyone else who wants a little bit of eye candy, here are the 3 circles mug rugs that I hand quilted for my recipients.

Erin @ Billy Button Design

All were stitched using Perle Cotton #8. The pink/red ones used a single variegated thread. The blue used an aqua variegated thread, and a combination of a number of other blue shades to try to balance it a little.

These were made using a sew-along tutorial by Rachel of Contented and if you haven't tried hand quilting before, this is a fabulous project to start with - its very straightforward and the instructions are great, and you end up with a lovely mini quilt at the end. This is one of my go-to projects when I need something special - very enjoyable sewing and a big impact because of the ripple effect and texture of all the stitching. I hope my recipients enjoy them as much as I loved making them :-)

Modern Baby: Blog Tour is starting and I'm in it!

2013-04-17T20:33:00.000+01:00

I'm very excited to be taking part in my first official blog tour! The blog tour for the newly released Modern Baby book is starting tomorrow, and its such an honour to be on the list of contributors with these amazing quilters.

This is the schedule - I hope you'll pop over to visit each of the contributors and find out a bit more about what inspired their quilts:

April 18, Thursday Jenny, StitchThis! http://blog.shopmartingale.com/

April 19, Friday Shea Henderson, http://emptybobbinsewing.com

April 22, Monday Jake Finch, http://generationqmagazine.com/

April 23, Tuesday Audrie Bidwell, http://blueisbleu.blogspot.com/

April 24, Wed Carolyn Friedlander, http://carolynfriedlander.com/blog/

April 25, Thursday Melissa Corry, http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com/

April 26, Friday Jen Eskridge, http://reannalilydesigns.com/blog/

April 29, Monday Sarah Flynn (ME!!!!), http://fairyfacedesigns.blogspot.com/

April 30, Tuesday Dana Bolyard, http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/

May 1, Wednesday Amy Smart, http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/

May 2, Thursday Carrie Bloomston, http://suchitysuch.blogspot.com/

May 3, Fri Victoria Findlay Wolfe, http://www.bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/

May 6, Monday Lindsey Rhodes, http://lrstitched.com/

May 7, Tuesday Pippa Eccles Armbrester,http://www.pippapatchwork.com/blog/

Looking forward to seeing you soon where I'll share a little of my baby quilt inspiration with you :-)

Winner, winner!

2013-04-15T15:32:00.001+01:00

Thanks everyone for entering my destash giveaway! Without further ado, the winner was:

who is my fellow Modern Irish Bee member Anneliese.

So these fabrics will not be travelling too far at all! Congrats Anneliese, these fabrics will be with you before the end of the week, I've emailed you!

Triangular fun

2013-04-14T13:36:00.001+01:00

Last week I started a new project. It started with this mustard and grey bundle:

Primarily from Lotta Jansdotter's Echo, with a copule of other prints thrown in too.

I want to make placemats as a housewarming gift for my brother. Its long overdue - I should have made them 6 months ago! My brother is not into quilty stuff, so I decided to try and go for a minimalist, modern kind of style that would fit into his apartment. The Scandanavian feel of the Echo and the restricted palette works perfectly for what I had in mind.

I also discovered that I had an equilateral triangle cutting ruler in my sewing basket which I had totally forgotten about until just before Christmas. So it was quick work to cut the 3" triangles. I also wanted to make the placemats in a triangular shape. For no other reason than I thought it would be a bit different. So I added some white solid triangles and went for a random arrangement.

These came together very quickly for me and I soon had 2 done. Each with different fabric arrangements.

I slightly stalled after the first two - more to do with busy family weekend than anything else. I'm halfway through no 3 which was bundled into my sewing box mid way through sewing yesterday afternoon when baby woke up.

But I'm hopeful of getting this and the 4th one done this evening and then I need to decide how to quilt them. I could do a diagonal cross hatch, echoing the seams. Or I could do some type of concentric triangualar pattern. If any of you wise peeps have suggestions I would love to hear them. The one thing I want to be sure of is not to mess up the quilting, because this is the 2nd set of placemats I have made for him and the last lot were ruined by un-rescueable quilting mistakes!

Don't forget my destash giveaway for these FQs is closing this evening so make sure to enter here.

Destash Giveaway

2013-04-11T10:17:00.001+01:00

One of the benefits of being at home full time on maternity leave is getting a bit of time to do jobs around the house that normally go on the long finger..like decluttering. My fabric stash is no exception and I have been trying to put some sort of order on it in the last week or so. I found I had a number of duplicate FQs and decided that to celebrate being "back" and to thank my lovely followers, I would give them away.

I have 2 giveaways. One is running over on my Facebook page for a bundle of 4 bright FQs. And I'm running a separate one here on the blog to win this lovely bundle of 7 FQs:

All from collections that I have loved.

First two from Hope Valley, middle three from Echo and the two on the right from 1001 Peeps.

*****GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED*******

To be in with a chance to win, just leave a comment. Tell me what your all time favourite fabric line is!

For a second entry, follow me over on Instagram and leave a comment saying you do - I'm sewfairyface over there.

For a third entry, share this post on your FB/Twitter/Blog/Instagram etc and let me know you did.

Entries will close this Sunday at approx 6pm and I will choose a random winner then. If you do not have an email address attached to your Blogger profile I will not be able to contact you, so please leave your email address in the comments. If I can't contact the winnner, I will redraw. I will post worldwide. Don't forget to go enter the other giveaway on FB too.

Did I mention I love quilting books?

2013-04-10T22:51:00.001+01:00

So today was a happy day, because not one, but two stunners arrived in the post.

I order Sarah Fielke's new book Handquilted with Love a couple of weeks ago and have been anxiously watching out the window early each morning since hoping the postman would arrive with it in hand. Today, finally, the van stopped outside my house and I opened the door before he could even knock. And I was not disappointed.

String Sane

The Made to Measure quilt on the cover is what drew me to it - but there are even more beautiful treasures inside. I took some pics of a few of my favourites - just a few, I love pretty much every quilt in there.

Ups and Downs

This book is stunning. I love quilting books but sometimes I love just looking at them and end up feeling I wouldn't/couldn't actually make any of the patterns for myself. But this is not one of those books. There is just one gorgeous pattern after another all the way through. It's fab.

Lady Marmalade

My biggest issue now is - which one am I going to make first?

Bangles

I really can't decide! I think I need a few more days poring over it to decide. Whatever one I pick, I have no doubt that any of these patterns would be perfectly suited to reducing the size of my overflowing scrap box. 2013 is going to be a stash busting year for me, I'm on a mission to clear out my mahooosive stash as much as I can! (Of which, more anon...)

The Bass Line

I also got a book which I have had on my wish list for a very, very long time. Free motion quilting is something that I can do in the most basic of fashions, but I'm tired of looking at fabulous quilting on other people's blogs and not being able to even attempt it. After finding a project that I made a complete mess of last year attempting to pebble quilt it, I decided to order it at the same time.

When the kids were in their music lesson today and I was sitting in the car for half an hour, I sat and started reading it. I am SO thrilled I got this book. It is inspiring and practical in equal measure and I can't wait to start trying some of the patterns.

Check back in tomorrow when I am doing a small giveaway to help my destash process and celebrate the fact that my "sewjo" is back! In fact, I'm doing 2 giveaways. The first is currently running over on my Facebook page for 4 bright and cheerful FQs so pop over there to enter that. And I more to give away here tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you!

Finish A Long Quarter 2 plans

2013-04-08T08:15:00.000+01:00

Now that I have rejoined the quilting and blogging universe, its time to get myself organised and finish the raft of projects I left littered in my wake last year. Luckily, Leanne's Finish-A-Long for Quarter 2 is coming along at just the right time so I'm linking up over there and hoping to have some nice completed projects to show you at the end of June.

So here's my list! Even writing it is making feel excited to get started.

1. First up, my little boy's bright circles quilt. The quilt top was made last summer, but I ran into basting problems and did not have the energy to fix them with a big pregnant belly. Now rebasted and about a third of the way through quilting, this is my top priority project for the next few weeks.

2. A tumbler quilt using Kona solids and a pop of print for Cindy I'm ready to start this very soon, and looking forward to tackling another tumbler quilt as I loved the last one I made.

3. Baste, quilt and bind my Ruby quilt top.

4. Make another peasant dress for baby R in these lovely fabrics, seeing as the first one I made her fit her for all of 2 days!

5. I started (and had a complete craft fail with the quilting on) some placemats for my brother's new place last year. I took them out and looked at them again this week to see if I can rescue them but one is beyond repair. So although this looks like a new project, really its a replacement finish that I need to do. I have a plan in my head (heavily inspired by Leanne's triangles mini quilt) to make some triangular placemats (using equilateral triangles) using these lovely mustard and grey fabrics, mostly from my Echo bundle:

6. I'm hesitant to add this to the list, but if things were to go very, very well, then I would just love to get my Mod Mosaic blocks from my friends in the Modern Irish Bee pieced into a quilt top and back, and the quilt finished. That's an ambitious one but I'll put it in here anyway, a bit of motivation is good for the soul!

So that's my list. Lots of good stuff on there and I really hope I can get them all done. I'm trying not to be too overambitious, but we'll see :-) Don't forget to head over to Leanne and see what everyone else is planning!

Baby boy quilt finish

2013-04-06T16:19:00.000+01:00

As well as having my own gorgeous little new baby girl, I also have a new baby nephew, born just 7 weeks before my darling. So, obviously, he needed a quilt from his auntie Sarah. I picked out the fabrics after he was born - already dreaming of bright and cheerful spring colours with boyish tones - but was unable to do too much with them.

Last week I pulled them out again and very quickly cut and pieced them.

I used Elizabeth Hartman's baby charm quilt pattern and its definitely one I'll be using again for last minute quilts, so simple and easy and because its about 33 x 40, very quick to baste, quilt and bind too. I decided to embroider his name in the bottom corner, using a simple running stitch in perle cotton. I traced his name using washable marker and it worked very well. I fused a small piece of very lightweight interfacing to the back of the fabric before starting to stablise the stitches a little.

After quilting it using a random stipple with some little hearts around his name, I picked a blue heart poplin print for the binding:

And a green hippo print from IKEA for the backing.

And in no time at all, it was done and ready to give to my sister today just in time for his Christening.

It's good to have my sewing mojo (or my sewjo as I saw it referred to during the week!) back again. I'm busy getting my list of projects for quarter 2 of the Finish A Long ready to post on Monday. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Learn to Sew: Free online sewing classes

2013-04-02T22:56:00.000+01:00

Have you been inspired by The Great British Sewing Bee? Keen to try your hand at sewing, dressmaking and quilting? If so you're in the right place!

I learned to sew in 2008. I did a basic night class (how to turn on a sewing machine, that basic!!) for a few weeks, and then I started reading sewing blogs. Pretty much everything I know, apart from how to thread my sewing machine, and a little bit of basic dressmaking, I learned from free tutorials on the fantastic sewing and quilting blogs out there. I had never done Home Economics/Domestic Science in school, and had never sat behind a sewing machine before I bought a machine in Lidl in August 2008. I'm pretty amazed at some of the things I've managed to make and how many skills I've acquired in the intervening 5 years - I even have a quilt pattern featured in a book being published this spring!

But more than that, I am constantly amazed at how much I absolutely adore sewing. I really, really love it. I love making pretty things. I love the processes and the satisfaction at getting something right. I love how challenging it is, and how I can constantly push my skill levels to achieve more. The internet is still my go-to source for all sewing related techniques and questions and yes, you can learn to sew from it - I absolutely did!

So - if you are ready to be hooked, what next?

Last year, I ran a very popular series of sewing and quilting tutorials and classes here on my blog for beginners. I called it {Sew} Get Started. It started by explaining the basics and then progressed into a series of tutorials/classes aimed at helping the complete beginner to learn to sew and increasing in complexity as the series progressed. Tutorials were contributed by my very talented sewing friends, who all have blogs of their own.

They're all listed on this page:

If you're not a complete beginner, you might want to dive in with some of the tutorials. But if you just want to learn to sew, start at the top, and work your way down...and then get out there and explore the wonderful world of sewing blogs!

A new kindle cover...

2013-03-24T09:10:00.002Z

I've been incredibly drawn to a wintery cool colour palette in the last few weeks. It started when I bought a couple of quarter metres of fabric for different projects in the fabric shop on Mother's day - a minty aqua green and a deep grape purple, both with tiny dots in white - and when I stacked them on top of each other on the shelf, I realised that they belonged together in a project. I actually couldn't take my eyes off them, and there was a lot of fabric-strokery going on in my house! After a few days of mulling it over, I decided to add some greys and a few other fabrics in similar colours and hey presto, I got this lovely bundle of cool prettiness:

That was my starting point, but I needed a project for them that would be quick and easy for my time-challenged existence. When I got my Kindle last year, I had intended to make a few different covers to swap it in and out of, but it got away from me, so I decided to do another one - the bonus being that as it was all for me, I could do whatever I wanted with it and not be wondering if someone else would like it.

This was one of those projects that took shape in my head. I had a really clear idea, once I pulled the fabric bundle, what I wanted the cover to look like - randomly pieced squares and rectangles and dense straight line quilting. At first I attempted to work out a little pattern for the piecing so I would get my measurements right but it didn't flow, so I resorted to cutting out pieces and putting them together improv-style as I went along.

Here's where it started:

But the middle was too dense with colour, so I switched it around as I pieced until I got an arrangement I was happy with - no pic as it evolved kind of organically.

I moved quickly on to quilting it very densely with straight lines spaced only 1/4" apart, using my faourite Aurifil 50wt thread in a silvery grey:

I loosely followed Clover and Violet's tute, but got the idea of an elasticated strap closure from another tute (can't remember which, apologies). I also added a fabric casing over the elastic, as my elastic was strong, but not pretty at all. I like how the fabric casing looks, I wasn't sure I would as I thought it might be fussy but I don't think it is. I also added some very stiff sew-in interfacing in the panel under the Kindle to give it a bit of structure - I found it in my interfacing box, its almost cardboard like in texture.

The only thing I was a bit unhappy about was that I slightly undermeasured the height, and hence my binding and elastic were affected a bit, and not as even and crisp looking as I wanted, but I think once I am using it I won't even notice, and I'll definitely be making another cover so I can adjust it a bit then.

All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out and even happier that I can look at this fabric combo every day!

Also - for those of you moving blog readers, you can now follow my blog easily through Bloglovin by clicking through this link:
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Woohoo! First quilt finish of 2013 :-)))))

2013-03-19T21:01:00.001Z

Those noises you're hearing and wondering what they are? They're the sound of me doing a happy dance that I have finally - almost 3 months into the year - managed a quilt finish. Yippee!

It's a very small quilt - a baby size pram quilt - but a big milestone. Finished this morning as my baba hit the 10 week mark - can you believe how fast the weeks are flying by? (A hell of a lot faster than the last 10 weeks of pregnancy which were pure torture!) After she was born, I bought a couple of Posy charm packs and when they arrived, I stroked them for a couple of weeks while I was deciding what to do with them. I've wanted to try a tumbler quilt for a little while now, and as the charms lent themselves so easily to cutting into tumbler shapes, I made quick progress once I jumped in and started cutting. I used about 1.5 charm packs - or slightly less - on this, primarily picking the brightest fabrics from the packs.

Back in the Black Friday sale, I bought a yard of Happy Ever After fabric from The Intrepid Thread just because I thought it was lovely - it was one of a few boys and girls fabrics I bought to make sure I had some lovely fabrics in my stash when baby arrived. I really like how it works against the quilt top - totally different, but sweet and girlie also and able to stand on its own enough to make this functional as a double sided quilt.

I quilted it in a random stipple using Aurifil 50wt thread in a light pink, adding in lots of hearts for my gorgeous baby who has truly stolen our hearts! I like how the quilting shows up on this picture I took in the sunlight this morning before washing it:

After that, all that remained was to bind it. I auditioned a few binding choices over on Instagram, but wasn't really happy with any of them. So I popped off to the local fabric shop and while I was looking at fabrics, noticed they had a premade bias binding in precisely the colour I had been searching for in the fabrics.

I really am happy with the deep purple binding, it works well with the Posy colours and kind of grounds the colours and frames the quilt. (I also might be in love with the premade binding, this was the nicest I've found and super easy and quick to work with. Anything that makes the process easier at the moment!)

And ta-dah, it's done!! I hope you'll forgive me the number of photos for such a small quilt (25 x 36"), but as you can see, I'm very excited to finally have a finish to show you. And here's the lady herself, kicking around happily on it this evening!

I'm working on a few other things - don't forget to pop over and follow me on Instagram where I am posting regular pictures of my work in progress and enjoying looking at what everyone else is working on.

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story:

Naptime Sewing

2013-02-24T21:56:00.000Z

It's been a busy 6 weeks here, but I've managed to squeeze some sewing into R's nap time in the last week or so, and its amazing how great it makes me feel. I didn't realise how much I had missed the process of making things - it does my sanity good! It might seem like its impossible to sew with a new baby, but I am finding 15 minutes here and there and making progress steadily working in bite size chunks, so to speak!

When I was browsing around looking for cute tutorials to make things for R, I found a great tutorial to restyle a little girl's tshirt into a dress and decided to try it on a tshirt E has had in her wardrobe, unworn for months now. I haven't done any garment sewing in a long time, so it was fun to tackle a different project.

Ooops - of course, I discovered the reason she hasn't worn it when I started sewing - its more than a full size too big for her, but by the time she fits it, the Moshi Monsters will no doubt be last year's fad. So I kept going and added some ruffles. I used a knit, a cotton and a seersucker to give some different textures.

When I pinned this, I thought it would be a simple enough project, but I found sewing the ruffles on in layers a bit tricky. But I got there in the end and I think it turned out pretty cute.

Next I moved on to making something for my baby girl. When I saw the peasant dresses that Toni sewed for her baby girl last summer, I made a mental note to make some myself if I had a baby girl. So I ran up one in the last few days, using a pretty cotton print I found in the local fabric shop, and a little bit of one of my stash fabrics (Hope Valley I think?).

I used this free tute, although I might buy the pattern so I can size it up as its very pretty. I even added the ric rac edging!

The pattern is great and easy to make. The only thing I realised - at the very end - is that the sizing is quite small. I only noticed that even though its 0-3 months, its up to 12lbs - most of the 0-3 month clothing here in Ireland goes up to 13.5lbs at a minimum, even 14lbs sometimes. Some my chubby little lady is already nearly at the weight limit and I'd say she'll get only a couple of wears out of it.... I'll just have to make another in a bigger size! :-)

The last project I've been working on is a tumbler quilt with my Posy charm packs. Here's a sneak peek...I have the tumblers all pieced and just need to add some borders to have a finished quilt top. I'm loving working on this and aiming to get it finished maybe next weekend, it will only be a small pram sized quilt but very pretty.

Getting the time to write posts and upload pics is still a bit of an effort, as is commenting on other blogs. But as I have my phone on me most of the time, I am snapping what I'm working on and posting it on Instagram (sewfairyface) and my FB page, and following others on the same apps that I can browse easily while cuddling or feeding a baby so if you want to keep up with me, you might like to follow me there. And if you leave your Instagram name or link to your FB page in the comments I'll be able to keep up easier with you too :-)

Catching up on some Bee blocks

2013-02-14T18:54:00.000Z

I've finally managed to do a little bit of sewing when R has been napping in the last few days. It's so lovely to get my machine out again.

The very first job I had to do - before I started cutting into the Posy or Little Matryoshka fabrics I got to make stuff for R - was to catch up on some Bee blocks I was very behind on. The foggy haze of late pregnancy meant that I just couldn't do these before she arrived - I had no concentration whatsoever!

First up were some scrappy heart blocks for Karen. The first was a pieced scrappy heart, and the second could be anything we wanted along that theme. I really love the fabrics Karen picked, and for the second block I decided to do some applique hearts - they were fun to do and turned out as nicely as I hoped.

Next up were some scrappy triangles for Fiona. She sent us a little pile of scraps and asked us to make 3.5" equilateral triangles with them (paper pieced). I really had fun with these - I loved choosing the fabrics, and they were really easy to run up. They're so vibrant and happy!

Fiona wanted an extra triangle with our own scraps, and I had so many that I couldn't resist making 3. Aren't they pretty? And a fab way of using up scraps!

Now that I'm caught up - I'm ready to make February's blocks next - I can really start thinking about quilts. I feel like I might be able to finally get down on the floor to fix the basting mistake I made in D's quilt so that I can do the machine quilting in the ditch and then take it into the sofa to do the hand quilting here and there when R is napping. This quilt is sitting there since last summer and needs to be finished!f

And of course, I need to start making a quilt for R - I have some Posy as you know, and also a FQ bundle of Little Matryoshka to play with. Can't wait to cut into it!

Hanging out with my gorgeous girl

2013-02-01T16:40:00.001Z

Life is good these last 3 weeks. My lovely baby girl already feels like she has always been here! With my older two in school every day, I am loving spending quality time with her, doing important things like tickling toes ❤❤

It's fab to have the benefit of having already had 2 other babies, and so knowing what I am doing (as much as you can really "know" with a brand new baby who has her own unique personality) but the luxury of having lots of one-to-one time with her.

R has such a content, sweet little personality she is easy to adore and I am completely in love with her!

Not ~~much~~ any sewing going on, but I did make some purchases to make some quilts for her when my machine comes out again, including a bundle of Little Matryoshka fat quarters (which should arrive next week) and these Posy charm packs which arrived today:

I am itching to get started sewing again - a sure sign I am beginning to feel like myself although what with all the time spent feeding and changing R, not to mention looking after my other 2 kids, I have a feeling it will be slower than I would hope!

Thank you all for the congratulations and good wishes on my last post. I haven't had a chance to reply to people individually but I loved reading them all xx

Baby, I love you..

2013-01-10T20:19:00.001Z

Our new baby girl arrived on Tuesday afternoon and we are smitten! She is a beauty ❤

Thanks for all the good wishes before her arrival. She is perfect and I am recovering well :-)

So, I'm going to be in print!!

2013-01-07T22:05:00.000Z

Just a really quick post with some very exciting news..........

Remember last spring I was working away on a secret project? Well, you probably don't, but I was! And finally now I can let the cat out of the bag. I am really really proud to be contributing a pattern to a new quilt book - Modern Baby: Easy, Fresh and Fun Quilt Designs - which is scheduled for publication in April! Even more exciting, its now available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and ShopMartingale.

There are some fab quilts in this book contributed by really talented quilters - you can see the full gallery on the Martingale site - here. This is my one, the Modern Shapes Sampler, inspired by the ever popular shape sorter toys that babies love:

I am really proud to finally be able to show you it! I had fun with the pattern and it would work in girls or boys colours, or a gender neutral version. It would also work really well in a wonky version. Watch out for more news about this in the coming months!

Goodbye 2012!

2012-12-31T13:35:00.000Z

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to ringing in the New Year in style this evening! Here, half of our family succumbed to the horrible chest infection that appears to be rampant everywhere this winter, including myself. Coughing while 9 months pregnant is no fun!! Anyway, thankfully after lots of antibiotics we are over the worst of it. Quite a bit heavier too, after eating all the food we had bought for visitors who then couldn't visit!

The year would not be complete without my annual collage of favourite projects from the year. It hasn't felt too productive, but I had forgotten that I got lots of nice things made earlier in the year when I was feeling better, and had fun going through my photos.

Happy New Year everyone - I'm hoping that I might see a return to normal production later on in 2013! But first, I have a baby to delivery - I'm hoping I might have some news next week - keep your fingers and toes crossed :-)