Thursday

June is drawing to a close, and things have been very productive around here. I'm busily hand quilting my Giant Star Quilt at the moment. Hoping to finish it as soon as possible. I'm echoing the giant pieced star in rainbow coloured perle cottons, and I'm really happy with how it's turning out. The backing is a plain red cotton sheet so the rainbow colours show up nicely on the back too. No idea what I'll bind it with yet. Binding is my favourite part at the moment, so I'm looking forward to choosing the right fabric.

I have also been knitting a lot this week. I updated the shop again this morning. This will be the last update until I catch up with my quilting. I wanted to share a few of my pretties here...

Quilt Label Artwork

A sneak peak! Painted and produced by my very talented brother William. I have just received the files for the final labels (to be used on my quilts and other sewn goods) and will be printing them via Spoonflower very soon. Much excitement!

Patchwork Prism

Yesterday I finished my Patchwork Prism Quilt. I've been waiting impatiently for the rain to stop so I could photograph it. Technically the rain never did stop, but Dan braved the light drizzle (and the chair that sunk slightly into the boggy grass!) to get some action photos. 

I used Anna Maria Horner's Patchwork Prism pattern, currently available here with no modifications to the pattern. I made plastic templates which I drew around to cut my pieces. I had been waiting for the pattern to be published for several weeks before it went live. I loved Anna's original quilt so much that I just had to make one for myself. When the pattern was released and the quilt-along announced I jumped in straight away. I used a lot favourite fabrics for my Prism, many treasured AMH scraps as well as some Tula Pink and Denyse Schmidt. I used quite a few voile pieces along with the regular cotton prints, which I think makes this quilt extra special. This quilt will be with me forever and I'm so glad I could include so many beloved prints.

My quilt is backed mostly with an Ikea cotton sheet, with a few pieced strips to match the colourful front. I had my quilt longarm quilted by the very talented Chris . I love the look of the quilting on the white background, though the backing did get a tiny bit dirty during it's photo shoot in the muddy yard. I still need to wash my Prism so hopefully it will come out fine. I may rethink using a white backing in future though.

 Lovely swirly floral quilting!

 Patchwork Prism in action on my bed.

 Quilting detail.

My favourite little detail. Aneela Hoey tortoises on the binding :)

Linking up with Sweet Diesel Designs Patchwork Prism Quilt-along. Thank you so much for organising the quilt-along. I had so much fun with my Prism and I love my quilt so so much!

Stitching This Week

It's been a bit quiet around here lately. I've mostly been knitting tiny Blythe doll things. I can't seen to stop knitting when I get going. But I do have a few patchwork projects in progress too. Thought I'd share a few photos here.

Making a Constellation pillow cover. One half of the back has been quilted at this stage.

My Patchwork Prism quilt arrived home from Chris today. I am completely in love with her quilting. I decided to use my favourite of Aneela Hoey's Little Apple prints for the binding. I'm on the hand-stitching stage at the moment. Hopefully I will have some finished photos to share soon :)

Lemon Drizzle

I wrote a bit about this little quilt here. I've been waiting to take better photos, but this week has been entirely miserable weather-wise. No happy rainbow stitchy drizzle. Just proper old wet rain. So today I worked with what I had.

I have listed this quilt in my etsy store here. I'm planning to work a lot more quilty goodness into my etsy in the near future. I'm considering opening a separate store for my quilts, but I'm not sure yet. This little one is my start.

Off to Dublin tomorrow. Hoping it won't rain all day, but I won't mind too much if it does. I intend to stock up on yarn, beads and buttons and have a fantastic lunch somewhere cosy.

Knitting Makes Me Happy

Settling In

My studio in the house is finally officially finished. Or as finished as is possible anyway. I have learned that you can't ever call a room finished. Its a more organic process. The room is painted and clean, with a good amount of storage and basic furniture that does it's job. The curtain (my first curtain!) is up and most of my craft supplies have settled in. I'm still waiting for the rest of my toys to find a nook to colonise, but some Blythe dolls are already here. I'd ideally like to keep this room just for me and my crafts, so I'm trying to be careful in curating which of my collections will be living in here. 

I have been working in the new room for about one week. I stitched my curtains in here. Lots more room for sewing than the bedroom and the light is much better. I've also been sitting on the floor, hand quieting my sister's quilt. The table has been in three different positions this week. I originally planned to have it along the wall opposite the Expedits. But then it seemed much more sensible to put it in the window. The third position involves the table facing the window, but in the centre of the room, so I have room to use the floor in front of the window for my photos. I'll probably leave it in this position for now. The current table is still my granny's old kitchen table. It's on it's last legs so I hope to get a sturdier wooden dining table style table in future. And I'm now thinking that having wheels on said table wouldn't be a bad idea.

The curtains. Last year I made a quilt top using almost the entire collection of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks voile, along with a few Liberty tana lawn squares. I was a beautiful piece of rainbow fabric, but too small for a bed quilt. I was beginning to worry about making too many small quilts. I love this fabric collection so much that I wanted to enjoy it everyday. I wondered if it would be possible to make it work as a curtain, something I'd never tried before and had a bit of a fear of. It always looked like a very technical and precise procedure when my mum would make curtains. So I made mine up as I went along. My patchwork piece measured about 70" square, plenty big enough for the studio window. I made some hanging tabs, I sandwiched them in securely between the top and the lining (an Ikea cotton sheet) and top stitched the top seam. Then I tacked around the remaining three sides and folded and stitched a double hem. I'm really happy with how they turned out and would love to make more patchwork curtains in future :)

I'm waiting for the light to be it's brightest outside so I can get a better shot of the 'stained glass' effect. I keep missing it :( Still to be done... more drawstring bags to hang on my newly painted peg rail, somewhere to keep my threads, and a latch for the door.

Tuesday

Hello Tuesday! I hope that everyone enjoyed the long weekend. I hear rumours that those in the UK are still enjoying an extra long one. But its business as usual here. I spent most of my weekend knitting for the dolly girls. Blythecon is on my mind and I need to get my supplies in order and make some more yarn orders soon. I'm really enjoying working with kid mohair and silk blends at the moment. Debbie Bliss Angel is my favourite, though I still love Rowan Kidsilk.

These two sweaters are available in the shop now. The Snow White is Angel and the Smoke is Kidsilk. Very subtly different but both lovely.

I've also been having fun knitting up Sherri Harrington's Poofy Panty Onesie pattern in a few favourite colours. I love this pattern so much! I hope to finish of this batch sometime this week. There will be a couple of wispy lacy dresses in there too.