Home Wall Hanging

I spent last weekend with my extended family celebrating my niece, Sarah's, 40th birthday (I was very young when I became an aunt BTW!) at her amazing party.

Of course I left it till the last minute to make her a present. Obviously she has already had a quilt from me (21st birthday) and numerous cushions. So what could I make her (with just a couple of days to spare!)?

I had an idea that she might like a patchwork table runner (well who wouldn't?!) as she has just had a new kitchen/dining extension. And I had another, slightly crazy, idea that I could make one from my vast stock of orphan blocks and class samples!

With my usual optimism I selected some likely pieces and set to work joining them up. I was having a great time but after a couple of hours I really just had some larger orphan blocks, with nothing 'hanging together'. I asked my hubby what he thought and he told me honestly that it looked terrible, but...

... he really liked this bit above with the word 'home'.

So with time now even shorter I decided that what Sarah really wanted was a lovely wall hanging for her new kitchen! But it needed a bit more work to make it special enough. So I added some panels either side and started appliqueing stems and leaves (I am totally addicted to applique at the moment)!

(By the way, I made that word 'home' as a sample piece when we did our Stitch Gathering 'word tickets' two years ago. But then I lost it somewhere and had to make another one! Of course I found it at the bottom of a bag a few months later (this happens to me all the time and if you saw the state of my sewing room you would understand why!))

I'd just received our shop's order of Aurifil 80wt (we have 14 colours in the Edinburgh store, and you never know I may get them listed online one day soon!) and I was desperate to try them out. They really are lovely to use for applique and practically make your stitches invisible.

I then had just an hour to get it quilted and bound before I needed to leave for the airport - so it was speed FMQ! 

I think I actually work better under pressure as I really like the way this turned out. I hand sewed the binding at my sister's house and finished in time - phew!

Anyway Sarah seemed to genuinely love it and the colours where perfect with her new interior scheme - yay!

As I said I am SO into applique right now, which is a good thing as all my current magazine commissions seem to involve it (nothing to do with me constantly suggesting it at all!). Here are some sneak peeks of my 'secret sewing'.

Yes it's all about the leaves! I am actually having a wee 'leaf break' this week and appliqueing some birds instead! Can't wait to show you all of these in full in a couple of months time!

Turning Japanese...

 ... oh yes I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!

Those of you of a certain age may remember this song by the Vapors. And it comes into my head as I consider my growing obsession with all things Japanese. Well as long as it's sewing related that is!

It started about 5 years ago when my husband bought me a book called Kokoro No Te 'handmade treasures from the heart'. I made a few items from it including this 'Tomato Cache' which I just dug out of a drawer for this post (seems a shame to stick it back in the drawer, maybe I should give it away to someone, or maybe to you lot?!!).

I went on to give a 'Fabric Origami' class at the first Stitch Gathering which included lots of embellishment techniques I'd learnt from the book.

And then there's the Sashiko. I bought my first Sashiko panel 2 or 3 years ago. Here is the latest one.

I love taking these panels on journeys as they are so portable and quick to do. I finished this on my recent trip to teach at Simply Solids in Huddersfield.

I now have 4 finished panels, and still the vague woolly idea that these will one day be turned into a quilt for my youngest son.

Meanwhile I now have a real life Japanese friend, Hikaru who has been helping me teach Sashiko at the studio. Hikaru has made this class extra fascinating by telling us all about the origins of Sashiko, the meanings of the patterns and showing her vast array of Sashiko samples.

And at this year's Stitch Gathering Hikaru will be teaching some workshops alongside me. Our 4 afternoon sessions have a combined Japanese theme so I think we will keep our classes close together.

I will be teaching Sashiko and also Origami Bags. I started making these earlier this year after my EMQG friend Tatyana showed our whole guild how to make the drawstring version above. I've just finished this one made out of lovely Dashwood fabric line 'Fly Away'.This is my fifth bag - they are such a fab easy gift!

But of course Hikaru knows lots of different ways to make Origami Bag and showed me how to make this 'water lily' version (I just gave it that name BTW, it probably has a different Japanese name).

Hikaru made the top one for a sample, then she made me the one on the left (with the beautiful hand stitching) as a birthday present, and I just made the last one to finally try it out for myself (seeing as I will be teaching it!) and as a birthday present for my son's girlfriend. We will be teaching both versions in the SG class.



Hiakru will also be teaching Clamshell Purses and Macaroon Pouches, both are proving very popular classes!

I first met Hikaru when she came to our shop a few years ago to buy fabric. She bought a lot of fabric and was very excited to have found us! Later she brought in some of these clamshell pouches to show us what she had used the fabric for. She had made over 70 of these for wedding favours! All hand stitched!

I tried one of these out a few days ago. I have finally caught up with all my magazine commission work (for now!) so I am relaxing with some 'frippery' crafting for the next few days!

I am thrilled with how this turned out (though I must admit that Hikaru prepared a little kit for me and basted the shapes - sshhhh!), and how well does it match my nail polish?!

And how totally adorable are these Clamshell Pouches? No wonder everyone wants to do this class at the Stitch Gathering!  Hikaru made both of these, I have yet to give this one a try.

Apart from being an exceptionally talented sewer/crocheter/knitter Hikaru is also a lovely kind pal who also made me this beautiful Sashiko pincushion for my birthday last month.

Did you know this shape is called a Biscornu? I have been calling is a doughnut but it actually has a proper name (though a very odd one!).

The other thing that Hikaru likes to make for everyone are these Japanese Thimbles. They should sit between the 2 joints on your finger. I had a very swollen finger earlier this year when Hikaru first made me the bottom one. Now my finger is much better so she gave me a new one (though it was hot when I took this photo so my fingers were a bit more swollen than usual - it should sit a bit lower down!).

I am hoping to learn to make my own Japanese Thimbles soon too, they are so pretty and delicate, which just about sums up everything I like about Japanese sewing.

I decided to add these little felt and bead 'cherries' to the ribbon end. These are something I learnt from the Kokoro No Te book, I used to make loads of them and add them as embellishments to the 'leaf needlecases' I used to make and sell in our old shop. I saw that Hikaru had made little fabric cherries for the ribbon ends on the bag she made me and (constantly inspired by her) I thought I would add some here too, they make a lovely finishing touch.

This photo was taken in our (almost finished) Japanese Zen Garden that my husband has been working on for the last year! Photo of the whole garden to follow soon.

See I told you I was turning Japanese! And it's catching!

It's been a very pouchy Christmas!

Pouchy for presents that is!

I've come to the zippy pouch very late in the day, having let my colleague Naomi teach our class in this subject in the past.

But armed with this excellent tutorial from Flossie Teacakes  I turned this hexy sample piece (that I made during my demos at the recent ICHF show) into a sweet Secret Santa gift for one of my EMQG pals (it's ok she already knows who made it!).

After that first attempt (I had to adapt the tutorial a little as the hexies were already in one piece) I wanted to try another one. So I made a couple of scrappy improv blocks, added some wadding and FMQ'd them.

Then made them into a nifty little pouch for my niece. I filled it with fabric and haberdashery as she is a keen sewer too.

For the lining I used this adorable dress pattern fabric from Riley Blake.

Now I was thoroughly addicted and decided to make one more!
I was also enjoying 'using stuff up'. These petal/leaf shapes are the left-over bits from using one of the Sizzix Drunkards Path dies (for my Squaring the Circle Quilt). They were such a perfect shape I couldn't throw them away.

So I needle-turn appliqued them to black Essex Yarn-dyed linen in a random pattern.

After some hand quilting I turned them into another pouch, this one for my best friend, also filled with fabric and habby (all my friends and family are forced to be crafty).

Next I turned to my spare sample embroideries made for my Further Adventures in Embroidery class.
I 'portholed' them both and turned one into a notebook holder for my sister-in-law, with the aid of some lovely AMH Honor Roll (and a cute Red Riding Hood button!).

And another into a draw string bag for my mother-in-law.

It's fully lined with this gorgeous Heather Bailey 'Up Parasol' fabric.

Lastly I made Christmas Tote Bags for my 3 helpmates - Barbara, Jane and Sarah. I don't know where I would be without them, and even though Sarah has moved on to other things now she will always be an honorary helpmate.

I also really wanted to make something with these Cori Dantini Christmas panels from her Merry Stitches line by Blend Fabrics. Each bag has a different panel on each side - house, santa or snowman.

I also embroidered little felt holly labels (compete with button berries!) for the inside. They are all lined with this Dashwood Studio fabric.

It was lovely to have enough time to make some handmade Christmas presents this year.
I finally seem to have 'caught-up' after a frantic year. In fact I'm feeling thoroughly rested and relaxed at the moment!
I hope you are too :)

Botch Handle Cushion

This week a friend had a special birthday (a number I am heading for in just a few years too!) so I made her this cushion out of gorgeous Dashwood fabric. I just love those foxes.

This is the Botch Handle block for my Modern Sampler Quilt which I finally finished a few weeks back. I am teaching this class again at the moment and as this is quite a challenging block I really had to make one along with the class, but I made it with this cushion (and the recipient) in mind.

I even used a zip and made piping! Shame I couldn't get that toadstool fabric up the right way though!
And some pretty hand quilting finished it off. I just can't make a cushion without some perle cotton hand quilting.

This is the second time I have taught this class. The first time I made a block along with each class, which means I have enough blocks for a whole new quilt!

Here is Botch Handle number too, featuring some Essex yarn-dyed in black.

Here is the needle-turn applique block, but this time with added yo-yos. 

Here are the 'pluses' or 'chunky crosses'. What does everyone else call this block?

A couple of fans and a couple of baskets. I had just finished my 'Polka Around the World' quilt when I made these so I used up some scraps for the baskets.

More polka dots (I was on a roll!) for this Pineapple Log Cabin. The quilt also contains some Japanese + and x blocks, but these are going in to my Together Circle quilt (very soon!). And a 'Dresden Village' but I showed you that block already here.

So as you can see, I already have another quilt to finish here. Therefore I am trying to avoid building up a whole new set of blocks with this current class by turning them into cushions and such like.
Or maybe I should wait, teach this class another 6 times, and then have enough blocks for 8 different types of quilt!

Exhibition Winners

Our Scottish Modern Quilt Exhibition, which ran as part of the Edinburgh Fringe this year, was a great success. Visitors from all over the world came to see the quilts. And everyone seemed very impressed and interested in all the exhibits.
We asked all our visitors to vote for their favourite quilt, not an easy thing to do with so many beauties to choose from!
At the end of the Stitch Gathering Retreat 'after show' party we tallied the final votes and awarded 5 prizes.
First prize went to the amazing Retro Flowers quilt by Katy and the Brit Bee. I could have put money on this winning right from the start as it is so visually stunning with a fantastic colour pallette and so amazingly quilted by Trudi. Well done all of you! First prize was a Sheena Norquay selection box of Aurifil, kindly donated by Alex Veronelli. Maybe Katy will send you each a spool ;)

Then we had a tie for second place - Sarah's Staind II and The Shirt off his back by Marilyn Rattray.

I was so delighted that Sarah won a prize and she had had a truly awful time actually getting to the Retreat but had soldiered on heroically! It is also a beautiful quilt, described as 'very elegant' by some quilters who I eavesdropped chatting about it.

Marilyn's entry is a memory quilt, made for her cousin's wife after her cousin died, out of his shirts and sheets. I think everyone was very touched by this story and loved the graphic simplicity of this reversible quilt (this is actually the back!)

Third prize was won by The Mum's Recipe quilt  which is a really special piece.
Two young mums from Edinburgh were inspired by 'When the Rains Come', a children's book written for MUMs and published by Polygon. They made this stunning quilt using images from the book and fabric from Malawi.  The quilt is being raffled and has been on a tour of Scottish quilt shops for the last few months. We sold tons of raffle tickets as well as recipe books and childrens books during the exhibition and were very pleased to help such a worthwhile cause. MUMs  was set up in 2005 to raise money and awareness of the terrible plight of the mothers and babies in Malawi. The raffle will be drawn later this week. 

Lynz got fourth place for this gorgeous Marcelle Medallion. This was my second favourite quilt in the exhibition (my first was Mod Pop by Sarah's mum Jenny - but this didn't make it in to the prizes). It looks even better in real life. The colours are just beautiful and it is perfectly pieced.
My good friend Dolores contributed the 4 other prizes of a big bundle of fabric each. Thank you so much Dee!



Well done all you amazing quilters!

Just one more thing to show you before I shut-up about the Stitch Gathering (for a while...), this is the name badge I received in the name tag swap, made for my by lovely Lucy, our youngest retreater at only 15! Thank you Lucy, I love it!

Another great thing about holding this retreat (oops, sorry!) was that it helped lure Dolores back across the Atlantic to visit me (and attend)!
Dolores is one of the most generous people and not only contributed all those prizes for the exhibition but also brought over a parcel full of goodies for me too! I was a very lucky girl.

These amazing wooden bird ribbon holders were made by her father! I just love them.

And as well as that pile of fabulous fabric above, she made me this totally gorgeous mini quilt out of blocks that she made at the Sew South retreat earlier in the year! This is already hanging in my craft studio and inspiring all my students. Thank you AGAIN Dolores!