Round and round...the Horizon

Things have been a little up and down here.  Before the end of term and in the middle of teaching a class of children I got a severe dizzy spell.  And then again a few days later, and again etc.  Every time I tried to drive even the shortest distance or travel in a car even as a passenger it set me off.  I had other viral infections too so the Dr suggested it could be labyrinthitis- That word takes me about 6 spelling attempts by the way!  And this is why I ended up buying this.

There is some logic somewhere.  I am in my fourth week of dizziness and although I feel generally fine and I am managing to work my reduced summer hours, fortunately I can walk to work- I can't go anywhere apart from on foot or a very brief car journey.    My concentration is not as good as a lot of effort is going into keeping myself upright and everything I do has to be a little slower.  I am lucky, many people with labyrinthitis cannot even sit up without tilting over. This is a staycation with the emphasis on stay.  I am a home bird but not getting away at all is a little bleak.  We have a break in Bath all booked and I am waiting to see if I can shake this off before I go cancelling the hotel.   We lost our other weekend away to the crazy weather a few weeks ago so I think a little madness and desperation must have crept into my brain.   I indulged myself with the old cliche of retail therapy and the sewing machine of my dreams: a Janome Horizon 7700 QCP.

I did wonder how she would fit on my little Singer table - there is a chopping board underneath  coverting the hole where a treadle machine once sat- but she was a surprisingly good fit.  I had some money saved and I am selling my Janome 5900QC Memory Craft, the model that precedes the Horizon I guess,  to help fund this one, I think I have somebody interested but I will let you know on the blog if she is available as she is a bargain and less than a year old.  The Horizon is incredibly heavy but once I had heaved her up on to the desk I was sewing in minutes- I have had a couple of Janomes so the interface is familiar.  So far she is as good as I imagined- I'll let you know how I find her but the stitches are beautiful and the motor practically purrs.  I have Laura Jane to thank for finding me a fantastic deal. Now please excuse me, I have an instructive DVD to watch!  Oh yes, and the Olympics too x

Button It tray

You can find all the details you need to make a 'Button It' tray like this one at Sew-Ichigo today, with a little help of Penny's pattern, Ayumi's tutorial and Liberty Lifestyle fabric!

Go Visit...

There are a few things going on around blogs and websites that you may be interested in so this is a "Go visit... "post!

Kristy at Quiet Play is running a Practically Paper Piecing blog hop to give you ideas on what to do with paper piecing blocks.  There are tutorials, giveaways, linky party and more so if you have orphan paper piecing blocks unused this will be the place for some inspiration- Kristy's picture below can whet your appetite.

Fat Quarterly's latest issue is out with a 'Sew Britainnia' theme.  Ther eare some stunning projects in this issue,  Brioni's Keep Calm and Carry On quilt really caught my eye- she has breathed new life into this maxim.

Charise has two stunning paper piecing patterns out, as well as a pillow project in Fat Quarterly.  Aone is a vintage apron and mixing bowls!  So cute and a  the bpwls are a very straightforward block to make.  FInd out more here and links to her shops.

And Amber finally has her own pattern out, a passport organiser wallet

You can find her pattern here.
Such good stuff available and all online so you don't have to travel far for any of these!  Enjoy x

Art Gallery Winner!

Congrats go out to number 52, Karen aka Captain stitchypants.  I have already contacted Karen and the fabrics are whizzing their way off to her!  Karen has a very helpful posts on 'non reply' bloggers here, well worth a read if you don't have a blogger account and you are a Wordpress blogger.

And a big thankyou for such wonderful recipes and book suggestions!  I have already started dipping in to the salads and printing out cakes and my audible account has lots of ideas for new reads/listens.  we are about to set off on a family day trip to the beach- all the odds are against us, grey skies, wet weather forecast but I really have to see the sea and be beside the seaside!

Showing Off

I have been doing a lot of sewing for other people- no complaining mind, I like to sew for others, especially creating something with a certain person or place in mind.  You remember the little tea cozy that went to Liberty's- here it is in all its fine surroundings, along with the tea cup- made using Laurraine's pattern.  You can see more Liberty Lifestyle makes, like Katy's Ferris Wheel at their Facebook page.  Ayumi has now received this tray which also featured Liberty Lifestyle fabrics.

It was made using her cutlery tray tutorial but on a much larger scale- this is in-tray sized to store works in progress.  It now lives with Ayumi along with Penny's spool/button basket!  Details on how to adapt Ayumi's tutes to make these coming soon at Sew-Ichigo.  I have more Liberty Lifestyle makes planned, I'll show soon, just have to actually make them!

I have also been working on a big project for Annie at Village Haberdashery- big as in a large item!  

It is a double duvet cover, made with Lotta 'Bella'.  I wanted to make a large scale item for these big prints.  These are 8 inch equilateral triangles.

It is a weighty beast!  But I am really happy how it turned out.

Details on how to make it are coming to Village Haberdashery blog soon!  It needs to travel to Annie first for a photo session- that all sounds very glamourous!

Olympics start tomorrow, I am more than a little excited.  Cannot wait to see the magic Danny Boyle creates with the opening ceremony x

Birthdays and a Giveaway

The birthdays are all done.  Lula had hers yesterday and we seemed to have unintentionally gone for an Ichigo-Strawberry theme.  The doll is Hini Ichigo, a Pullip and has not left Lula's side since she opened her box.  We made the cupcakes for her girl friends and much lovely birthday fun was had be us all.  

The Hello Kitty rice paper hearts and cup holders can be found on ebay.

Penny sent her a vintage waist pinnie- so cute and a perfect fit.

And I made her a soft and huggable pillow using Ayumi's new popsicle pattern for Super buzzy- more strawberries here too!

The middle lolly is filled with a mango sorbet- in my imagination obviously- as this is a favourite with L.  I was recently sent some Art Gallery fabrics by the kind folks at Hantex and this fabric from their Floral Elements blender line really reminded me of Mango and the flower print added a little ice texture!  Art Gallery fabrics really do feel different.  They remind me of the smooth and silky cotton of Heather Ross Munki fabrics.  They are fine with a delicate sheen- I've tried to capture this with a extreme close up!

This makes them a delight for paper piecing.  Bulky seams are an occupational hazard with foundation piecing and a finer fabric which still has the strength of quilting cotton is a boon for seams. I wanted chocolate all around the 'bite' of ice-cream like Ayumi's orginal Ringo Pie block so you can imagine the potential for lumpy bumpy layers here but the Art Gallery cotton really helped keep seams flat.

The new LillyBelle line by Bari J for Art Gallery has been catching my eye since I saw the illustrations in the 'Inspiration booklet'.  There is a big focus on clothing so I thought I would try a couple of the LillyBelle prints- I plumped for Henna Stripe in grey and mustard boards for the fabric line.  There is a  video too so you can see the fabrics in action and get a feel for the colours and the story behind the print.  I like this style of promotion with a narrative of how the designs link together and where they have come from.  This is my next dressmaking project.

And a now time for a mini giveaway!  Four fat quarters which include a couple of solids, a couple of floral elements blenders and a Lace elements print.  By the way, if you are reading Art Gallery, I would love some polka dot or thin strips in your blender lines- that would be mighty fine.

I will post anywhere, they are waiting here so you to claim them and stop them disappearing into my stash you are going to have to do a tiny bit of work-

Comments are Closed

Thankyou to all who took part!

 Please leave a comment and recommend either:

1.  A recipe- salads and soups are especially welcome.  I don't eat meat but I do eat fish and there is always cake- I love cake, especially fruit cakes, so a recipe would be good,

or...

2. a book recommendation.  

In the meantime, if you want to find more Art Gallery fabrics including the freshly available LillyBelle and the coming very soon "Indie" by Pat Bravo (check out the 'Tapestry' print for great clothing fabric) this link will take you to UK stockists online and local shops.  I know Annie at Village Haberdashery has LillyBelle in at the moment too.

Usual giveaway rules apply- if I can't find your email I will not be able to contact you if you win so please add to your comment if needed. I'll randomly choose a winner in a week x   Looking forward to the recipes and recommendations!   Giveaway closed and the winner has been notified.

Feeling texty

Just a couple of years ago I struggled to find text prints on and would snap up any that I discovered quick as they were such hot property.  Since then, availability has improved so much and they are much more widely used.  Amy Friend is running a Texty challenge- Texting Whilst Sewing contest.  The aim is to use text fabric imaginatively in a 12" quilt block.  I am lucky enough to be judging the top ten entries with Ayumi!   There is a lot of potential with such an open brief for creative ideas and there is ample time - entries need to be in by the end of August.

Text fabrics are an essential part of my stash and I find they fulfill a range of functions.  They are great blenders, providing background interest and texture, as seen in this graffiti print by Keiko Goke for Yuwa.  White/cream fabrics with a mono print are so useful- they lighten a mix of fabrics and provide a bit of space whilst the dynamic scribbles create direction and a bit of life!

 This print by Yoshiko Jinzenji develops abstract lines adding pops of colour, illustration and text.  I bought this a while ago and as soon as it arrived I realised how great it would be for clothing.  It is a very fine cotton- you can see the print of the layer underneath- and the print is random so needs no matching up.

 Effective number prints can be a bit harder to find and designing a print with a twist is more of a challenge for the fabric designers.  This is a Sukuko Kosekit fabric, 'What's the Time'  The curves were exactly what I needed when i planned the grocery scales block for Ayumi's Vintage grocery store theme Ringo Pie.  The background is a lovely pinky shade of cream too, a nice variation on neutral colours.

Other text prints lend themselves to fussy cutting.   This is another Suzuko Koseki print.  You can find a coral colourway available here.  There are instant images and text so you can almost code your work with messages!  I sometimes feel like my mini quilts tell a story with fussy cut words and pictures.

This Kei fabric is also ideal for fussy cutting, love those cute retro telephones- the cord making the word is genius!

You can find a good variety of text prints at Eternal Maker- look under Numbers and Letters Fabrics and also under Japanese Imports.  I hope some of you feel inspired by Amy's competition to have a go and submit a block- I look forward to seeing what you come up with- and check the prizes out, that might be enough to push you over the edge to enter!