Oma's Blues: The last block is released!

This month its time to finish the quilt: complete any borders which need to be assembled and add any embellishments before preparing the quilt for quilting.

This is where I'm up to, quilt wise. I'm about halfway through quilting Oma and can't wait to share the finished quilt with you when I finally get to that stage.

I really hope as you finish your quilt, that you’ll stay in touch and let us all enjoy your progress as we share in each others work; I can’t wait to see images from those of you working away at home as well as from those of you who are getting together and sewing in groups.

Yes, there'll be another BOM starting in January - several actually. I'm adding more pieced quilts to my listing and even digging out some modern designs, so stay tuned :)

Glad Tidings: Free Quilt Throw Pattern

If yesterday's Glad Tidings 'bed quilt' felt a bit too large for you at 80 x 8 inches, then this throw size version is just the thing. At 58 x 58 inches its a perfect Christmas quilting project and completely do-able in time for Christmas. It's ideal for use as a throw, sofa dressing or bed topper. Again, I've offered it in both the Star and Dresden options because they're both so fitting for the time of year.

I love them both, however there is a little something extra with the Dresden. If you're anything like me, you'll have gorgeous fabrics that you're longing to fussy cut and show off in just the 'right' project. Well, here it is. The Dresden centres are just perfect for embellishing with fussy cut roses or, my personal favorite this year - poinsettias. I've used the 'Holiday Flourish' range throughout my Glad Tidings projects and this is their poinsettia fabric from the range in real life - yes, they're the perfect size for fussing cutting and using in those Dresden centres!

What do you think? Are you inspired yet?

You can find this fabric at Kimberly's Fabric Stash, why not stop by and browse her online store?

FLAT RATE SHIPPING $5.75 on Orders Over $20.00

Get 20% off First Purchase !!

Like it? Make it! Glad Tidings is free to members of my Yahoo BOM Group: membership is also free and the complete pattern is now available for free for a limited time. Simply log into my Yahoo BOM site and download the pattern PDF file from the "files" area.

Introducing Glad Tidings: My 2015 Christmas Projects

Glad Tidings is a quilt design made specifically for the festive season. When I designed it originally, I had wheat sheaths surrounding a Rose of Sharon as the central design motif, but felt it looked too autumnal to lend itself to a Christmas quilt. So the wheat became an apple before I finally settled on a pomegranate for allegorical reasons. The rose is a Christmas Rose in my mind, with an unfurling bud that also represents a swaddled infant. 

I love the repetition of the motif in the design and I’ve purposely kept the blocks nice and large to make applique a breeze (well, at least by my standards!) You can see that I have two options for the blocks—being either a Star or a Dresden. The reason is, I simply couldn’t decide between them, so offered both. When I make my own, I’ll make two because I really do love them equally. 

The Dresden lends itself to fussy cut broderie perse in the centre of each bloom and the stars work so well that I couldn’t ignore them as an option. The projects are as follows:

Glad Tidings Bed Quilt: 80 x 80 inches (in Dresden or Star Block option)

Glad Tidings Throw Quilt: 58 x 58 inches (in Dresden or Star Block option)

Glad Tidings Table Runner: 60 x 24 inches (in Dresden or Star Block option)

Whether you're after a bed quilt, a throw quilt or a table runner, Glad Tidings lends itself to either project. For the next 3 days I'll be sharing a project each day in its own post, so stay tuned. You know how I'm always ummming and ahhhing over fabric for quilt projects? Well not this time! Do you like these colourings? I think green and red with splashes of gold is timeless and goes with everything come December.

Glad Tidings has been colour schemed in 'Holiday Flourish' available from Kimberly's Fabric Stash, why not stop by and browse her online store?

FLAT RATE SHIPPING $5.75 on Orders Over $20.00

Get 20% off First Purchase !!

Like it? Make it! Glad Tidings is free to members of my Yahoo BOM Group: membership is free and the complete patterns are now available for free for a limited time. 

Glad Tidings: Free Bed Quilt Pattern

Glad Tidings Bed Quilt (in Star or Dresden option) 

Finished Quilt Size 80 x 80 inches

What do you think, the red or the green?

The Star or the Dresden? 

I actually have plans to fussy cut and applique some fabric prints in the Dresden centres, but more on that tomorrow...

Glad Tidings also comes in a throw (58 x 58 inches) version which will be released tomorrow. And the following day I'll be releasing the Glad Tidings Table Runner (60 x 24 inches). Now you have the pattern, what about some festive fabrics? I've used 'Holiday Flourish' throughout my Glad Tidings range as you can see above, but nothing compares to how gorgeous they look in real life.

You can find these fabrics at Kimberly's Fabric Stash, why not stop by and browse her online store?

FLAT RATE SHIPPING $5.75 on Orders Over $20.00

Get 20% off First Purchase !!

Like it? Make it! Glad Tidings is free to members of my Yahoo BOM Group: membership is also free and the complete pattern is now available for free for a limited time. Simply log into my Yahoo BOM site and download the pattern PDF file from the "files" area.

Meet Our Sponsor: Sew Brite Craft Tables

Sew Brite provides quilters with quality USA made cutting tables that can be arranged to make the most of your floor space and maximize your creative time. Where's my stash? Good question! With a Sew Brite modular table, all I need for each project could be right at hand - talk about furniture made with quilter's in mind!

I'm always re-imaging my creative space (at the moment I'm working from my living room for the beautiful natural light....and maybe the extra space too!). A quilter can never have too much room, but the reality is that many of us have to 'limit' our process to a room or studio. Now, there's furniture custom made for out needs that respects the space we need whilst providing us with real, useful options. Here are my own favorite options from the Sew Brite catalog:

I'm very fond of this idea because it's how I work. I like to move 'around' my main table and work at different items at each 'turn'. With so much storage right at hand, my days of table stacking fabrics would be over and with that extra table space I might even be able to run 2 projects at the same. A table made for WIPs? It looks like it!

This would be my first choice as a design table. I need so many 'tools' when I'm designing my patterns, I would love to have them all collected in a neat row of drawers as is offered here. The right tubs are ideal for fabric stashing which means I could keep my new fabrics close at hand for inspirational drafting! I couldn't have designed this better myself, it's just about perfect. 

My last must have is this drawer station. I have so many drafts and WIPs, I would love to set my projects into their own 'compartments', it would clear three quarters of my 'creative mess' at once. 

The Sew Brite catalog offers quilters real options for organizing their space whilst being useful, resourceful and responsibly made in the USA.

As quilters, we all have purchasing power collectively to support products and brands that respect us and our creativity through quality resources custom made for our needs. I feel strongly that its time to move away from cheaply produced 'made in China' resources and return to well thought out, planned and made furniture and tools.

I'm proud to introduce Sew Brite as a Sponsor of this blog and hope you'll  browse their catalog when considering your next quilting /crafting furniture purchase. 

WOW: Ready for Glad Tidings?

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

How do you feel about some Christmas quilting? Are you interested in creating a new family heirloom, a quick weekend project or just that little something extra to show off those gorgeous festive fabrics? Well, I've got all those options covered. On Friday I'll be releasing my 2015 Christmas Projects, so stay tuned...

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Finishing Touches

Today I'm putting the finishing touches on my 2015 Christmas Projects which I've called 'Glad Tidings'. My yearly Christmas Project is always something I'm excited to share, and this year I'm happy to say, it's the biggest yet. It's a beautiful festive offering and I can't wait to share it with you on Friday.

Re-Organizing Inspiration

It's been a few days since my birthday which I think is enough time of 'hands off' enjoyment, so now it's time to pluck out my inspiration and to get into those bunches and start chopping, selecting and pressing interesting items. I just love these oak leaves which have been conveniently assorted in all sized from very small to large - a perfect study for me, I try to keep files on as many different leaves as possible.

All bouquets that come into my house end up looking something like this. I'm quite fond of this little white vase because when I'm seated at the table, it's the perfect height to bring to flowers to my eye level - useful when I'm sketching.

And of course, thorn inspiration. I always add thorns on my designs because I just feel they belong there!

Beautiful HB Wishes

Thanks for all your Birthday Wishes everyone, I had a beautiful day at home with my family and it was exactly what I wanted. I only joined Facebook a few months ago and was surprised to find hellos over there as well as over in my BOM Group and even Google decided to wish me a HB (below). A few years ago, this would have really puzzled me, but I think I've become more blase about how intrusive technology is becoming in our lives. Sure, it's just a cute note but it does make me wonder about how technology is becoming or trying to become more 'humanized' by creeping into our life events. 

What do you think? Is Google being nice? Or weirdly intrusive by reminding me that they know everything about me? There were plenty of flowers because I love them and I'm at that age where I have everything and no one knows what to buy me and I don't even know myself. I used to just ask for a new fancy cup/s each year, but now I have a cupboard full of those and couldn't think of anything else to ask for!

I always take hundreds of photos of my bouquets because I use them in my designs. Here I am sneaking in to pull out a rose - I usually pull out any extraordinary flowers and make new 'bunches' to study them and in this bunch a lovely rose caught my eye. But I resisted pulling it out just yet, I decided that I would leave all the flowers alone on my actual birthday, but it was tempting...

In my mind, white lilies are funeral flowers so I'm always surprised when they appear in bouquets. They're very popular here and are pretty much in everything which I still think is so strange given how much variety and colour is out in the natural world. Perhaps I'm just being old fashioned. I love all flowers so it didn't lessen my enjoyment, it just gave me a start to wake up to a kitchen full of white flowers!

I was going to bake a cake but didn't get around to it. In the last few years my family have stopped purchasing cakes from the shops because they always look so pretty but somehow all taste like cold slabs of margarine. We're all in a cake slump! 

I sent my DH out to pick up some cannoli's from a local bakery which are usually so good, but they must have used old oil because they tasted like they'd been fried in sausages! This has just confirmed my determination to pull out my old box of Bundt tins and start making family birthdays cakes myself all over again. I really thought I was over all that, but quality seems to have dropped everywhere so I think I'll have to get back into the swing of things.

WOW: It's My Birthday!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesday

As it's my birthday, I suppose I can consider myself a WIP. My DDs have kindly given me an extra arm which I can tell you, I'm thrilled about. I've wanted one of these for ages. I did have one a few years ago, but my DH got rid of it as he felt it made me lazy. And I may or may not have started using it to pass him objects at around the same time. I can't really remember. Which is another advantage of aging.

Now that I'm old enough to be expected to share wisdom, I can tell you this: there is never enough time to do everything you want to do or undertake everything that interests you. If I had 100 lives, I could fill each one with a whole new range of interests and pursuits, so my birthday advice is this: love what you do or stop doing it.

Today we'll be having my birthday lunch at home. I get irritated at restaurants because they never prepare the food exactly as I want it and I've finally snapped and declared my birthday a restaurant free zone - so you can see, I've already started taking my own advice.

What's Your WOW ?

An InLinkz Link-up

It Must Be Pattern Making Time!

The oddest thing happens whenever I release a new quilt pattern - something in my house retires. It's happened so many times that we often joke about it now, wondering which thing will 'go' next? Without fail, whenever I am releasing a pattern, things go wrong in the house. At first I thought it was a strange coincidence, then I thought I was being paranoid about things that must have been due to happen anyway, but now there's really no way to explain how all these things happen precisely when I'm working on quilt releases! It's so strange.

Well, my washing machine and PDF software both failed when I was on the computer typing up the Nelke pattern. The washing machine was so expensive to fix that it was cheaper to purchase a new one. It arrived this morning. My PDF software simply failed for no reason that the software company was able to determine so I'll be moving on to another brand and hoping it's all in place for my next pattern release. My photocopier is still on the blink. I keep going back and forth about whether it's worth spending the money to fix it. Whenever I'm scanning patterns, I'm certainly sure that it IS worth the expense, but every other time I think it's not. We'll see. My current system is too frustrating to keep up so I'll have to update how I work on my patterns.

As for the rest of today, I'll be doing the laundry.

Pattern Making Leaves

Nothing inspires me more than nature. Actually, most of my designs are based around a desire to showcase designs styled and interpreted on and around natural floras and the fabrics that make those designs shine throughout the year - be it frosty winters, bright springs or warm, woody autumns, 

Naturally this means I press just about any leaf I come into contact with! Whenever I go out, I scan any foliage around me for interesting shapes that I can use in the future. Sometimes I even send my DH to complete strangers' doors to ask for permission to take some leaves from their front yard trees. Up until now, they've always said yes, which is lucky for my design kit.

Mostly, I wipe the leaves down, place them between clean sheets of paper and pop them into cook books (these are always the books that I seem to open up the least and are always 'heavy' enough to do the pressing. And then, voila!

Proper Care & Storage Of Sewing Needles

When I was a girl, I used to store my favourite sewing needles on the collar of the blouse I was wearing. Now that I'm teaching a children's class in hand sewing, I decided that the perfect end of term gift would be a a sewing case for each child. They're about to progress to real sewing needles now (advancing from plastic needles) so the timing is perfect.

I purchased this fabric 15 years ago and at that stage you can see it had already been waiting around in someone elses stash. In fact, I do wonder how many stashes it's been in since 1988?! I'm quite pleased that it's being put to good use after all these years.

 I really like that it's the perfect template for my little cases, it even has a 'spine', it's stash busting serendipity :)

I've used bright fabrics for the insides and batting for the needles

I love the applique design style animals, its a little nod to my passion for quilting

Hmmmm, feels like it's missing something...

...and it was! After these photos were taken, I stitched button holes and added a button on front - and then it felt 'just right'. I hope the class likes them.