June at Plush Addict

Plush Addict has some wonderful bold and graphic prints arriving this month from Andover and Dashwood and I've enjoyed picking out my favourites: 

Andover Home 6 x FQ Bundle  Home is Sarah Golden's latest collection for Andover and I love it!  I don't usually go for monotone but these have such charm and I love a home theme.  This bundle is a very happy one, I think I'm going to have to succumb!

Dashwood Lost Treasures 8 x FQ Bundle  I've chosen my two favourite prints, Apples and Birds from Jane Farmham's Lost Treasures Collection based on favourite childhood trinkets and treasures but they are all wonderful prints, I'm a big fan of Jane's print style.

Dashwood Flourish 7 x FQ Bundle A contemporary meets mid-century style collection featuring birds and florals from Jos Proust, bold and beautiful.

Elizabeth Hartman North Stars  Plush Addict have very recently started to stock Elizabeth Hartman's popular quilt patterns.  North Starts is an Arctic-themed sampler style quilt, I picked this one for the variety of animals, each could make a quilt or a cushion on its own.  Find all her other quilt patterns here.

Great British Quilter Podcast: Episode Two, Kerry Green of Verykerryberry

I am so excited to share that I'm the second guest on Sarah Ashford's Great British Quilter Podcast!

I live quite close to Sarah so we recorded a few weeks ago in Sarah's sewing room where everything is beautifully organised and she had all her podcast equipment set up ready to chat.  Sarah has put so much work on getting the podcast off the ground and the sponsorship that Bernina and Aurifil have provided has been pivotal on sorting logistics and practicalities needed for making the show professional and a pleasure to listen to.  If you enjoy it, share the love and leave her a review either through the app or through your iTunes podcast library. 

You can read more about the Great British Quilter podcast on Auribuzz and there's also a transcript to read/download for each episode on Sarah's website.

Sunday Selection

Welcome to another Sunday Selection.  Before I start with some interesting sewing and quilting links that I've come across over the last couple of weeks, these two fine creatures are the latest additions to my Simple Folk quilt (Sarah Fielke's BOM 2018).  The fox was a pleasure to sew - apart from the fiendish paws - the little zigs and zags were tricky, to say the least, and thank goodness black fabric hides the millions of stitching holding the fraying in place!  The bird was a breeze compared to the black paws and I am searching out Liberty lawn scraps for as many small pieces as possible as the lawn is the easiest fabric to work with for small pieces.  On the bird, the comb, beak, eye and legs are all Liberty lawn.

Blog Read
Handmade by Carolyn, Kelly's Wedding Dress
Carolyn makes her own clothes, not just dresses, tops, trousers etc. but undies, clothes for other people, refashioning old garments and even making shoes.  Her account of sewing her daughter-in-law's wedding dress is both a touching read and an insight into the detail needed to create an incredible dress and someone else's vision.  Even if you are not a garment sewer, take a peek, the photos and writing are a treat!

Podcast 
Abby Glassenberg interviewing Denyse Schmidt on Whilst She Naps
For anyone who enjoys and admires Denyse Schmidt's work, this is a fascinating listen.  Her graphic design background comes over strongly- she talks about fabrics as a paint colour palette especially in her early quilts.

Instagram
Cloudcraft is a UK embroidery supplies shop and owner Nicole shares products, patterns and more on her Instagram @cloud.craft and is running a free Summer stitch-along with videos posted each weekend which I thought would appeal to anyone looking to learn or brush up their embroidery skills.

Picture from cloudcraft.co.uk

The free sampler pattern is available by signing up to Nicole's newsletters or by downloading from this page.  I followed Nicole's 'Stitchmas' videos on Instagram last December and really enjoyed picking up new ideas and techniques.  You can go your own way on colours and fabric or, order a summer stitching bundle in her shop with all the items Nicole used to create the original embroidery.   Read more here.

Tomorrow, I've got a bonus recommendation to share with you...I'm especially excited about this one!

Pins and Needles Book

I have many needle books, some I've made, some I've received, some I've purcahsed and yet I always feel like I need another.  I love needles too and I don't like to mix them up, I want to know where my size 11 Straw needles are for applique or where my Tulip piecing needles are for binding, so I tend to store a needle book with a project with the corresponding needles and pins inside.  Like any quilter, I have a lot of projects on the go, hence the need for multiple needle books!

I couldn't resist Kim Kruzich's (Retro Mama) new #PinsandNeedlesBook Pattern, I bought it whilst it was still on offer.   I haven't sewn one of her patterns before but I could see she had all the details I like- zip pockets, binding, clasp.  I used a sweet scrap that I received from Tori in a swap and the rest of the fabric are vintage and feedsack scraps.  So me of these tiny pieces have been in my stash for years, too precious to discard.   I made the smallest size and the only change I made was to add a prong style snap with Prym pliers. 

It's a very detailed pattern, nineteen pages and lots of words and photos, so you need to focus on the features you want to include and scroll to each relevant section.  As well as the zip pockets that I've included, there's also a slip pocket option and a different strip style outer included.

I love a little make and I was really happy with how this turned out.  Practical and pretty!

Kim is in the process of organising a #pinsandneedlebook sew along, check her Instagram feed @retro_mama for updates!

Sunday Selection: A Catch-up & Some Stitchy Things to Discover

There's been too much stuff going on for my liking.  I like a quiet life, no drama and lately, we've had a family member's newly diagnosed health issues to deal with and my work commitments have been intense during the same period so a usually calm little house has been hectic.  It's settled down now, said family member is doing well.  In between events,  I've recently found some wonderful sewing links, reads and listens that I wanted to share and I thought this could be a regular thing every other Sunday?

Podcast

So starting with the links, Love to Sew is a sewing community podcast run by Helen Wilkinson of Helen's Closet clothing Patterns and Caroline Somos of Blackbird Fabrics which usually focuses on garment making, but a recent episode featured Alexa Abegg of Ruby Star Society and formerly Cotton+Steel fabrics and creative collaborations.  It is a fascinating listen, especially for quilters who are so familiar with Alexa's work.  She shares her journey as a fabric designer, how she became a part of Cotton+Steel at RJR fabrics and how she and the other designers moved into being Ruby Star Societ, her artistic work as a collaborator both long distance and closer to home, plus a lot more- Listen here.

Blog Read

I've been following Lizzie Bramlett (Fuzzylizzie) At Vintage Traveller blog for years.  She's a dedicated vintage clothing collector and former teacher who shares her finds and nuggets of fashion history information.  This post on the Dress and Home Workbook is a gem.

Instagram

Jeana Kimball is a quilt maker and teacher.  I first came across her work through her amazing needles when I was piecing the Jen Kingwell Bring Me Flowers quilt.  I use her Straw needles for hand piecing and applique sizes 10 and 11.  She has an Instagram account @jeanakimball where as well as her amazing work, she often shares wonderful hand piecing tips, well worth a follow, especially if you like to sew by hand.  I'm enjoying her current posts on back basting applique. 

The block pics are my latest Sarah Fielke 2018 BOM, Simple Folk.  I'm slowly working my way through the outer border blocks...