Happy Mothers Day!

I was a very lucky mum today - breakfast in bed, a lie in and.......The Great British Sewing Bee Book! I've not made clothes since school but intend to make many things from the book, I can't wait to get started. But first I ought to finish some of my WIP's.......

A quick update: I have cut to size the backing for my quilt and the wadding has arrived so I will get on with that this week; my mum has just helped me through a slightly tricky bit in the sewing up of my cardigan so I can get on with that now; I sorted through my scrap stash in the week and cut out 66 clam shell patches for a cushion cover I want to make.

And I've also been working on these....

A work colleague of my husband has just had his first baby so baby names have been the subject of many conversations. Knowing the baby was to be a boy, Mateusz had already been chosen but my husband thought that Jimski would suit him rather well - I made these personalised bibs, just in case they can't decide! They were really fiddly - the letters were small because they had to fit but were slipping all over the place. I realise that I could have stuck the letters down with pritt stick or some other, or tried to bondaweb them down and then sew them but I think whichever way, it would have been tricky. In the words of my niece, it's the imperfections that show it's home made so although my husband was expecting something a little more "perfect" and shop-bought looking, I think they're quite cute.

I shall link up with Handmade Harbour today, and hopefully I will be able to make more comments (my husband has shown me how to get around my problem). Thank you to everyone for such lovely comments last week about my quilt top, hopefully I will be able to show you the finished article soon.

Love Natalie 

Finished Quilt Top

There really hasn't been a lot of time for sewing around here of late but I was determined today to sit at my machine until I had pieced together my quilt top and.........

Voila! Looking at it now, I can see this picture is more than a little blurry but you wouldn't expect anything else from me, would you?

I'm so pleased with it! Seeing it held up like this I can see the advantage of those mounting walls that people with lovely big sewing rooms have. If I could have looked at the blocks this way rather than from above I might have placed them differently, but I'm more than happy with how they've gone together. I have spent lots of time tweaking this and that, not least of all fiddling with the blocks to make sure they were all 12.5" square (as I've mentioned before, my measuring and cutting skills have drastically improved during the making of this quilt). I will order the wadding this evening so that, fingers crossed, I'll be able to start quilting next weekend. Then the fun will really begin. 

I'll be linking up with Handmade Monday for the first time in a couple of weeks so I hope you can join me over there for a catch up.

Love Natalie

Little Blog Quilt Bee Block #1

This week I will be sending off the first of my LBQB blocks - a wonky star.

I really pleased with how it's turned out. I haven't added anything in terms of embellishment, and I went through a couple of fabric choices but I'm certainly pleased with the result. Hopefully, it was what this months Queen Bee had in mind!

Due to an unfathomable amount of child-led activities (and illnesses!) that's about all I've done this week. Can't complain though - I'm sitting typing this out on the patio, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. 

I'll be linking up with Handmade Harbour so head over there if you can.

Love Natalie