What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #330

Guess what? I actually have a desk shot for you this week.

I'm playing with my new embossing folders and dies. Coming up with a plan for next week's class. It's the first session of the month, in which we make four cards. The class is split down the middle. Half would like Christmas cards, the other half wouldn't. I always like to get double duty from my seasonal products so the answer is obvious. Make one Christmas and one birthday card from each.

Once I've finished giving myself brain ache with that task, I'll be pondering which of these fabrics to use in a little quilt for a new arrival. Gender unknown and due around Christmas time, I'd better get my skates on!

Linking up with Julia and the deskers on this sunny September afternoon.

A Friendship Quilt ~ The Colours

Thirty days hath September….allegedly….and I’d love to know where they went! We’ve been laid low by a nasty virus and it’s taken a while to get back on our feet. Today I’m going to share the colour schemes that everyone has chosen for their patchwork blocks. It’s a lovely selection.

Abi ~ Creating paper Dreams ~ Neutral with pops of colour

Alexa ~ Trimming the Sails ~ Peachy shades

Alison ~ Life in the Slow Lane ~ Teal/turquoise/cream

Amy ~ Over at Our Place ~ Seaside colours, washed and worn: cream, kraft, pale blue, muted denim  Plain fabrics, stripes or spots

Beverly ~ BE Glorious ~ Blues, greens (think Caribbean shades) and orange

Deb ~ Paper Turtle ~ Bright colours

Deb ~ Debs World ~ Spring time colours: pinks, blues and greens

Fiona (me!) ~ Staring at the Sea ~ Anything goes

Jacky ~ Scrappy Jacky ~ Rust/terracotta and greens, but not lime green

Jo ~ Buckingham’s Palace ~ Blue and Yellow with white/cream

Jo ~ Sugar and Scrap ~ Pinks and turquoise

Sian ~ From High in the Sky ~ Creams, whites, tans and linens

As I said in the email, we’ll keep the posting order alphabetical, exactly as it appears here. Abi will be the recipient for this month and Alexa in November. We’ll take a break in December, I’m sure we’ll all have enough going on then. Resuming in January with Alison and Amy will be Miss February.

There are quite a few useful links and tutorials in these two posts from last year. I’ll be back on Monday with tutorials for a basic nine patch and four patch. Those I have found online all involve rotary cutting, which I’m assuming beginner quilters will not have the equipment for. Don’t worry they can be made using scissors instead.

If you’ve already started, just remember your finished block must measure 6.5” no matter what design you’ve chosen to make. Have fun with it.

A Friendship Quilt Around the World

I’ve been toying with an idea for a long time, after seeing the many beautiful patchwork quilts, made by sewing bee groups, on Flickr. I’ve wanted to have a go, but all the participants seem to be experienced and the blocks they contribute are often quite intricate designs, as specified by each member of the group.

All a bit scary for a novice. They must have started somewhere though so I came up with a plan for a virtual sewing bee of my own. I sent out a few emails to blog friends just to see if there would be any interest in such a project. I didn’t want to blog all about it and then find nobody wanted to take part. To my surprise almost everyone said, “Yes!” and we now have a group of twelve ready to begin this year long venture.

Abi ~ Creating paper Dreams

Alexa ~ Trimming the Sails

Alison ~ Life in the Slow Lane

Amy ~ Over at Our Place

Beverly ~ BE Glorious

Deb ~ Paper Turtle

Deb ~ Debs World

Fiona (me!) ~ Staring at the Sea

Jacky ~ Scrappy Jacky

Jo ~ Buckingham’s Palace

Jo ~ Sugar and Scrap

Sian ~ From High in the Sky

The idea is that everyone in the group will be assigned a month and will choose their preferred colour scheme. During that month everyone else will make a block for that person to their own design. Allowing for the fact that we all have different levels of sewing experience. Many of us have never made patchwork before. I didn’t want anyone to feel put off by that. We all have to start somewhere, right?

You don’t need any fancy equipment. A pair of decent scissors, pins and some neutral coloured thread should suffice. I imagine most people will sew their blocks on a machine, but they could be sewn by hand if that suits you better. The blocks can be anything from the simplest four patch to something a bit more challenging. Whatever you feel comfortable with. I want it to be fun, not stressful.

For now all I need you to do is decide on a colour scheme. This could be fairly specific eg blue and yellow or shades of blue, more general eg Autumnal or Summery colours, or you could just embrace the hotch potch nature of patchwork and go for the ‘pot luck’ option. Your choice entirely.

I also need an address from everyone so that I can make up a master list to send out to all the participants. If everyone could contact me by the end of the week with posting/mailing details (including surname) and a preferred colour scheme, that would be great. I can’t wait to get started.

I’ll be back soon with more info, useful links and some tutorials that may be of help.

PS If anyone reading this post is interested in the idea of a virtual quilting bee, I’d be happy to organise another group.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #195

I’ve been out and about today and came home to find my scheduled post hadn’t posted at all. Now it doesn’t make a lot of sense! Here’s the edited version.

In the background some red winceyette (reminds me of sheets I had when I was a little girl), a couple of notebooks (for my daughter), a new magazine (that I haven’t even opened yet), a pattern I was lucky enough to be given (more about that on Friday) and thread (to match the fabric from last week).

The spoils of my little trip to Salisbury to meet some lovely fellow WOYWWers. We had a great time looking at fabric and wool and chatting about anything and everything. Jan gave me a cute little fabric basket, which you can see on her blog today.

Right, there are a million other things I should be doing, so I’d better go do them. First on the list is making a jug of hot chocolate for my frozen children, when they walk through the door in a few minutes. Once I’ve got the washing in, I think I might need one too. Linking up with the lovely Julia and her merry band of desk hoppers.

PS For those who worry that clicking on my links will end up forcing them to buy pretty things (you know who you are!) I haven’t added any of those kind today, I promise. You’re quite safe!

PPS Hopefully I’ve worded that better now and it won’t upset anyone. That was never my intention. I don’t think it was being read in the spirit it was written.

What’s On Your Wordesk Wednesday? #187

One, two, miss a few (four to be precise, but who’s counting?) and here we are on the 187th edition of this jolly blog hop.



I bought the Summersville charm pack a few months ago, because I liked the cute houses, with no clear idea in mind what I would do with it. I browsed around the net looking for a pattern, but most needed at least two charm packs. I kept it safe until I happened across this design, which uses a charm pack and a jelly roll (with the addition of some extra fabric) to make a pair of twin size quilts. Perfect.

As luck would have it Lu Summers had half metres on sale in her Etsy shop and I snapped up a few designs. A jelly roll consists of 2.5” strips and amounts to about 2.5 metres of fabric. I should have enough to cut up. I’ll be adapting the design and adding some Kona solids into the mix. If you are more of a papercrafter and bored of all this sewing talk, don’t despair, there’s something here for you too. Paper tape.


How cute is that? It’s similar to washi tape, only a bit thicker, and you get a whole 50 metres on a roll for £5.95. Bargain! Not that I’m trying to tempt anyone to break their stash diet so early in the year, but it is rather lovely and you could always share with a crafty friend.

I’m heading over to Julia’s place to link up with the rest of the desk hoppers and then it’s into the kitchen to turn all the leftover veg into soup. I seem to have ended up with an abundance of carrots, which I’ll be turning into this family favourite.


Thanks for stopping by.

Teal Flower Garden Block

I hadn’t planned to post today so forgive me if this is just a stream of consciousness.

Ever since I read about Jo’s idea to make a quilt, I’ve been mulling it over and trying to decide what kind of block to make. It must measure 6” x 6” and include some of this Moda Vintage Modern fabric. Teal is the colour that represents ovarian cancer.

I was browsing through Google Reader, on my phone this afternoon, while waiting for the fairy cakes my daughter had made to bake. I read Deb’s post which got me thinking about the quilt again and then this post showing some cute little hexagons.

I had already been considering hand stitching and that decided me. I contacted Hadley, to ask if she had any advice on paper piecing hexies and she kindly replied with lots of helpful tips. I may have ordered a book as well.

Deb had said that her Mom loved daisies. I thought about the design on a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt and decided that would be the basis of my block. My colour scheme will be teal/blue, white, yellow and grey.

I’ve picked out some possible fabrics, which I think will work well together and go with the Moda fabric. I’ll wait to receive the piece from Jo before I make my final decision. I’m really excited about getting started with this project now.

My tentative plan is to post every Tuesday with the progress I have made and share my processes, along with links to anything I’ve found helpful. Anyone fancy joining me in a sort of mini quilt-a-long?

A Friendship Quilt Across the Miles

Jo from Curly Scrapbooker has had a wonderful idea to celebrate the life of Deb’s Mom Marti, who lost her fight with ovarian cancer last week.

I will be joining her and many other blog friends around the world, to create a beautiful quilt for Deb. If you are thinking of making a block for this lovely project then you might find some of my posts from earlier this year helpful.

Every Friday throughout February I posted a variety of quilting links. This one in particular, which has links to five of my favourite block tutorials, may be useful.

Thankyou Jo, I’m really looking forward to making something so meaningful.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #155

I found my way to Portland and back again with no problems. It must have been down to all your good wishes, because it surely was not my doolally satnav. However an hour into the journey my car decided it didn’t fancy going into third gear any more. The last half hour of driving was a bit of a challenge!

This afternoon I pulled out the strips for my temporarily abandoned quilt project. I need some plain fabric for the sashing and was looking for a cheaper alternative to Moda Bella and Kona Solids. I found Klona plain fabrics at Backstitch yesterday and ordered a swatch card, which arrived this morning. Very fast service.

Also on the desk floor today are a few fabrics I picked out to make myself a new peg bag. I want to hang it on the line so I bought some cheap children’s coat hangers. The floral prints at the back are to make a couple of summer skirts. Oops! I’m supposed to be keeping it short. Sorry Julia.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Quilts Part 4

Some of my favourite books for patchwork and quilting this week. The links take you to Amazon, where all have the ‘Look Inside’ option, which is a great way to get a flavour of the book.

The Quilter’s Bible by Linda Clements. Probably the most useful book I’ve read on the subject of quilting. Great for beginners.

Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott

The Gentle Art of Quilt-Making by Jane Brocket

Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke

Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts by Kaffe Fassett. In fact any of his books are inspirational and I have borrowed most of them from the library at some point.

Now onto another little thing that has been bugging me lately. Word Verification! I’ve never really minded it in the past, but in the last couple of weeks it has become almost impossible to decipher. It asks you to prove you’re not a robot, but I think you need to be one to reproduce the characters.

A few blogs that I visit regularly, seem to have added WV recently, when I’m sure they didn’t have it before. On a couple of occasions I have failed to leave a comment, because it keeps telling me that I’ve incorrectly guessed the letters. There are instructions here on how to remove it, but only if you want to of course.

I don’t intend to turn FTILTF into a platform for my ranting. Promise. Hope to see you next time.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #142

Thankyou for all the well wishes for my poorly boy last week. He is all better now and back to school, along with his sister. The house always seems so quiet, the first few days after a holiday, without them. I’m left at home with the mess!

You can see the remains of my second breakfast, eaten at my desk while I had another look at how the quilt blocks go together.

The book is by Pam and Nicky Lintott and there are some wonderful quilts in it. I decided to start with this fairly straightforward design, which I think will work just as well with the bright colours I have. All the strips have been cut now. I just need to sort the remainder into pairs for the four patch blocks, so there is a good contrast.

I’m off to tackle some of that mess, before I settle down with a coffee and visit some interesting and inspirational desks.

PS If any of you WOYWWers are interested in finding out whether your work has been ‘pinned’ to the boards on Pinterest, there are simple instructions in Friday’s post on how to do it.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Quilts Part 3

Before I post my list of five today, I just want to talk about something else for a minute. Sian linked to this article about using Pinterest, in a way which credits the originator of any given photo, idea or project. Like her, I think this is very important.

I use other people’s photos every week on FTILTF. I never pretend that they are my own and I always credit the person responsible for the picture and project by linking directly to the specific post on their blog.

I wondered if anyone had pinned any of these photos from my blog, rather than following the project link. It’s easy enough to find out. Just copy and paste your own blog url into the highlighted area.

http://pinterest.com/source/your blog url here/

I discovered that several photos had been pinned directly from my blog that were not mine, which leaves me with a dilemma. So today I am going to post a list of links without pictures, while I consider the best thing to do in future.

1. Build a Fabric Stash at Cluck Cluck Sew
2. Fabric Folding at In Color Order
3. Color Basics at Oh Fransson!
4. Supplies You {may} Need at Old Red Barn Co.
5. Calculating Quilt Measurements at Crazy Mom Quilts

It seems strange to write a blog post and not add any photos, but it’s well worth clicking through to the various blogs. The link to the Old Red Barn Co is the first of a series, that takes you right through the quilting process, very useful for a beginner.

I’m about to get in my car and head for Shropshire to see an old friend. I’m not a big fan of driving and my sense of direction is not the best, but I hope to be back here on Monday, with a post for Julie’s Month of Sunrays. Have a great weekend.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #141

Just a quickie from me this week, as it’s half term and I still have a poorly boy here.

It’s a beautiful sunny morning and my wall looks pink in this shot, but I can assure you I’ve not been decorating since last week. My desk (and laptop) tends to get taken over by my lovely girl during holidays, because she likes to be where the rest of the family are, while she creates on her graphics tablet.

My quilting book arrived on Monday, so I’ve been able to make a start on cutting the strips. It’s a fairly simple design, made up of four patch blocks with a row of strips around them. I’ll post a picture as soon as I have a block sewn together.

Head on over to Julia’s place to see hundreds more desks from around the world.

Hope the sun is shining where you are.

Five {+5} Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Patchwork and Quilting Part 2

So I was all ready to go with the second part of my quilting themed FTILTF, when I realised it was the 10th today. I changed tack slightly and as well as sharing five favourite block tutorials, I’ve added quilts made using those particular blocks.

Making it 10 Things on the Tenth

A Starflower Block…..

…..made up into this wonderful rainbow star quilt.

An Hourglass Block…..

…..made up into a fabulous red and aqua colour combination.

A {Genius Method} Log Cabin Block…..

…..made into this simple, yet effective log cabin quilt.

A Half Square Triangle Block…..

…..made up into a HST quilt in lovely warm colours.

A Pinwheel Block…..

…..made up into this beautiful summery pinwheel quilt.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #140

The short answer is, “Not much!” Well not much in the way of actual projects anyway. My desk is just not big enough when I am sewing and I have to resort to the kitchen table and my big cutting mat on the lounge floor.

I’ve been brave and unfurled that lovely jelly roll. It was looking a bit dishevelled, which is why I got it for £15, rather than the usual price, which would be almost double that.

All the strips have been ironed and I’m in the process of trimming off the frayed edges, ready to cut the pieces for my quilt top. I’ve decided on a pattern now, but it’s in a book I borrowed from the library and somebody has requested it. How dare they?! I’ve ordered my own copy now and I can crack on as soon as it arrives.

The desks are multiplying each week and I just can’t get round them all any more. I have a core of regulars that I visit each week and I also try to get to a few extra desks, which I pick at random. So if I haven’t visited you for a while, I’ll be turning up again before long. Go and say hello over at Julia’s, if you fancy sharing yours.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Patchwork and Quilting

I have so many links to patterns and tutorials, that one Friday Five was not going to cut it. Instead the whole of February’s FTILTF posts will be on this theme. Let’s start with a few of my favourite quilting blogs.

One of the first blogs on the subject I found was Oh, Fransson! There are some great patterns for blocks, as well as quilt tops and smaller projects. All the instructions for this gorgeous Sparkle Punch quilt are available on the blog.

I discovered Cluck Cluck Sew more recently and there are some lovely colourful quilts on there, many made for her own children.

Lots of loveliness at Old Red Barn Co. where they host regular Quilt-a-longs.

Crazy Mom Quilts was another early find. The instructions for this simple log cabin block, which has been made into a beautiful baby quilt, can be found there.

The Modern Quilt Guild doesn’t have a lot of tutorials, but there are so many pictures of beautiful quilts by talented makers, that you can’t fail to be inspired.

I hope you find something to inspire you. Next week I’ll be sharing some tutorials that I think are helpful if you are just starting out with patchwork/quilting.

I’m off to iron the strips in my jelly roll now, so that I can make a start on my own quilt top. The only time I willingly get the ironing board out!

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Handmade Gifts

Now I know not everyone wants to start thinking about the ‘C’ word just yet, but a couple of friends have been nagging asking me nicely, to start posting my lists of handmade gift ideas. You know who you are!

Apparently it is 100 days away as of today and if, like me, you would like a more handmade affair this year, then we’d both better get started.

A few friends have had babies over the course of the year, so that will be the theme for this week.

First up some very sweet baby hats. You could of course leave off the flowers and use any other colours you like, if you have boy babies on your list.

Once you’ve made the hat, perhaps you’d like some cute little shoes too. If you need something a bit less flouncy, there’s another pattern here.

Tag blankets have become very popular lately, but I wanted to find something a bit different and I think this little owl fits the bill.

If you’re looking for something a bit more practical to give to parents to be, then how about this snuggly blanket to fit in a car seat.

Lastly a beautiful baby quilt, which is actually fairly simple to make and not as time consuming as you would imagine. Inside the border strip, it is one large piece of fabric, so very little piecing involved.

Even if you don’t have any babies on your list this year, you’ll have possibly found a few more lovely blogs to browse around, that you hadn’t come across before. I’ll be back next Friday with another set of ideas. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see, then just leave me a comment.