Colour stories: the blues

So I know how you all love bundles. With this in mind, I've put together a bundle based around some of the lovely new fabrics that have arrived recently. But also I have created a wider selection of fabrics that will match this bundle incase you want to add a little more, tailor the it to your project and preferences.

You can find the main bundle here, and then you can find the wider collection of matching fabrics here. I've tried to include a bit of everything; tones, colours, prices, I hope you like it.

Made: hand sewn star quilt

Finally, over a year and a half in the making, and this quilt is finished. I have a lump in my throat reading back some of my old posts about it here and here. This quilt feels like it has been everywhere with me, and the length of time it has taken to finish means there are so many memories tied up in it.

I've never been in a great hurry to finish this quilt, I love having some hand sewing that I can take around with me, but heading into 2014 if felt like the time was right to make that final push and finish it off. So this weekend, on a rainy Sunday, watching The Goonies with the kids, that's what I did.

And we did a small cheer when I announced it was finished, about time.

This quilt has a decent weight to it, I used Essex Yarn Dyed linen for the hexagons and the Brussels Washer version for the back. It means it is much heavier and warmer than previous quilts which I really like.

The backing wasn't quite wide enough so I added some tiny HST's to make it bigger that were left over from a quilt that didn't happen. I felt guilty every time I saw these sad homeless triangles so it was great to use them up here.

I sewed round alternate hexagons for the quilting, it was a bit stop start, but I found it was easier and I didn't make too many mistakes, I then bound it with this fabric, my favourite for binding.

I had a couple of people ask how to make it, so here is a very brief explanation: it's simple. I found a template online for the diamonds, it's such a long time ago though I can't remember where, Google can help with that, but my diamonds have 6cm long sides.

1.  I sewed them first in groups of 3, alternating colours,
2.  sewed together 2 sets of these groups of 3's to make the stars,
3.  and then held them all together with the hexagons - see, simple!

I did a line of alternating yellow and pink stars and a line of alternating blue and grey stars and then, well, alternated them, this photo shows the pattern best.

In the end the size was determined how by how many diamonds I had cut at the beginning as the fabric was from long sold out collections, but it's a good size to fit one adult, a one squirmy child and a heat seeking Burmese cat.

New from Art Gallery Fabrics ...

Art Gallery Fabrics are definitely one of my favourite manufacturers. Firstly they have the best base cloth, it is finely woven, high quality, really yummy stuff. Then, there's the amazing designers, patterns and colours, I love them. Today a selection of prints from 'Safari Moon' by Frances Newcombe and 'Chromatics' arrived.

 

The 'Safari Moon' prints are gorgeous with warm, but muted colours, these are couple of my favourites...

If I hadn't already committed myself (in my head) to another quilt, I would really like to make one from these. They have an almost vintage feel to them, and not overtly girly, just a glimpse of pink.

And the Chromatics prints will be the basis of some amazing bundles in the future. I'm very excited about them, and the bundles I shall create.