Kokeshi Doll Pattern - A Blossom Heart Quilts Pattern

Hi Peeps!

This is a quick in and out and a Howdy Doody post to let you know about an awesome pattern being released by my friend Alyce ( Ah - lease ) of Blossom Heart Quilts aka EQ8 Ninja ;)

Edit * release date is this week Wednesday 2nd May

Kokeshi Dolls! Totally cute!

These are photos of the dolls and the hair do's I was not supposed to be testing but couldn't stop!...also can't find the pics of my pigtail girls duh!

There's so much room for playing, and fabric choosing....and did I mention playing?

Like I said on Instagram this pattern is absolutely the quilters version of paper dolls LOL

Mine to test was the top and bottom far left....Pippy Starch Pigtails I've nicknamed her

But there's also Helen Clark ( google her if you're unfamiliar, amazing woman with bad hairdo )

Aaaand Princess Leia ;)

The pattern is expertly written, as per usual and such a great in betweener, one doll only took half an hour!

But don't take my word for it, stand by for the pattern release and try one for yourself :)

Talk soon xx

Geode Quilt - Bound and Delicious

I'm counting this as a Friday finish even though it's Saturday here as I finally got the binding on last night!

this is a quick picture heavy post as you're gonna have me popping up in your feed again in a few hours for National Jelly Roll Day....sorry LOL

I shared pics as I was making this on Instagram as a pattern testing project by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts

Let me introduce Geode

 ( every time I lay a quilt down BOTH the cat and the small person have to dance and/or lie on it! )

I absolutely love it! It's fat quarter and yardage/scrap friendly, with so many options for different looks depending on your fabric choices.

I went for a different colour palette for a change of mustard, black and pink. Using some of my favourite designers.

I sent it out to be long armed as I backed it with another chenille bedspread.

Not quite as thick as some of my others but a good match for the peach/pink blocks on the top.

In fact this is one of the stubblier ( is that a word ) bedspreads I have but I love the weight that they add to a quilt for increased snuggle factor.

This one is currently on my bed over the top of Fractured Heart as Spring is giving us some cooler nights and I love a heavy bedspread feel on me.

Linking up with Amanda and Myra

See you soon with Jelly Roll shenanigans xxx 

Poinsettia Pattern - Testing for Alyce an Overdue Post

This is a long overdue post....sorry Alyce... 

I sucked last year at blogging but this year...you'll be sick to death of me ;)

Alyce is the super productive, mathematical genius, and all round nice person behind Blossom Heart Quilts and you should totally stalk her.....in a non creepy quilty way!

Quite often she puts the call out for pattern testers and I always put my hand up cause I know it will be something unique and fun...check this one out I tested and then I also tested Bright Sky.

The patterns are always clearly written and easy to follow Poinsettia was no exception, fabric choice is up to the tester and luckily for me Alyce embraces my non traditional choices ;)

I'd had this voile for some time so decided to use it as the background, I swapped out my first hot pink choice for a non directional print as I knew it with mess with my OCD

The Voile, Art Gallery,Tula and Michael Miller fabrics all played beautifully together and sewed like a dream....but be warned Voile is a slippery Wench and frays quite quickly if over handled.

I highly recommend starching the crap out of her to tame the bias edge or you'll be buying lots of vowels!!

Open pressed seams to keep everything flat and crisp

The  Poinsettia block lends itself to so many great fabric interpretations and the beauty of Alyce's pattern is that there are options for more than one size block, great for a secondary pattern on a smaller block size repeat.

I like to have baby quilts on hand for gifting so I added some zig zag borders and Voila she's done.

It's hard to show but it was quilted beautifully by Sandra in a cube and circle panto that echoed the building outlines of the voile...clever

Machine binding and a stash backing, win ,win.

Around The World Blog Hop - Dead End

If  you are here from the Around The World Blog Hop, I'm sorry to say you have reached a Dead End!

I was tagged by the lovely Shauna from Shauna's World to participate, promptly forgot about it, was gently reminded and then after apologizing thought it would be a piece of cake to pass the chain along....apparently I have been living under a rock and everyone has already been tagged!!

But I will still follow through and forge ahead with the questions!!

#1 What Are You Working On?

Seriously? What am I not working on!!! I am working on trying to get to work on time for ONE WHOLE WEEK...that's everyday in a row folks!

As for Quilty stuff......loads and loads

I made these two blocks this week for Stash Bee Queen Kathy

And put them in here

  I am in the very middle of Carla's Border #2 for Possum Magic

I was Queen Bee for the Compass Quilters group I belong to for August so I should be working on making more blocks to supplement what is arriving in my mailbox, but instead I've pulled this stack to start on Nesta's blocks for September...gorgeous it will be

And these are what I should be working on...binding for On A Whim and finishing my Nested Churn Dash

And cleaning up this absolute bloody shambles....oh the shame

It looks like a fabric Rainbow farted in there...there is stuff piled on stuff on other stuff!!

I'll make the two next answers short, just cause I feel sorry for you!

# 2 How Does Your Work Differ From Others In this Genre?

I don't know how to answer this...I don't think mine does differ greatly or stand out as a particular individual style. I just do whatever takes my fancy, mixed in with a WHOLE lot of what can I realistically get done in my very limited spare time that will keep the "creative side " of me happy. 

# 3 Why Do You Write / Create What You Do

Simple....to make the creative ,fun loving, very non PC girl inside me smile. And in doing so escape the everyday hum drum or sometimes challenging daily role that we all have responsibilities in.

You did so well!! You made it to the dead end!! Just for that I'm going to send you to two people just because I think you should read their blogs.They were two of my very first.

Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts   ( pronounced Ah-Leese ) and through her I met the irrepressible Joshua @ Molli Sparkles

And lets link up with Lee at Freshly Pieced so Wednesday isn't a complete Dead End


 
 

Beautiful People - Another Quilty Story

I had something else to show you today but it has been pushed aside to talk about Beautiful People.

 

I will litter this post with photos since I sense it will be wordy and sometimes rambly...just scroll

 

 

This is my beautiful man...isn't he delicious?......he passed away on New Years Day 2014 and left me

 and my wee family absolutely broken hearted

 

 

 

 

Prior to this I had been accepted to my very first Bee/Swap, DQS14 and I was very excited (read understatement!!)

  

 Much to Delicious Man's amusement...but as you can see from the above photo and read about in this post I had a bit of a problem, burnt the last area that needed quilting!!!

 

 

Aware that the international deadline for posting was looming and not wanting to be late or to let my partner down I started another quilt straight away with the left over scraps from the first quilt, then my life was turned upside down

 

I finished it and sent it away not knowing how my partner would feel about getting two quilts, both of which she had like through Flickr but not said whether to send the first damaged one or not....I shouldn't have wasted another thought down that track....she was delighted and thrilled.

 

 

This quilt holder has been struggling with the rocky road of life before our upheaval and even more so since, requiring me to leave all things crafty and spend some time with him at a place where they are more professionally able to help...he will be ok but it will take time.

 

So when I got home after 5 days away, travel weary and with a grouchy toddler in tow I was surprised to see this package with my swap partners name as the Sender

I could've cried....but I wouldn't have stopped...Katie Yoakum and her guild friends are the most Beautiful people I could never have imagined would cross my path!!

The timing couldn't have been more perfect

The most gorgeous Clamshell!! Freakin clamshell people!!! Mini Quilt, notebook, card and a letter which made me cry

 

 

Beautiful variegated blue/green thread........ I bet quilted all over by Katie herself

 

My favourite colour combo binding and a gorgeous Kaffe backing and my must have Kaffe lime green paperweight in the clamshells

More photos just because I can and I want everyone to see how beautiful it is and how lovely my quilty friends are.....

My favourite line in the letter and in the label on the back "From one Fabric Floozy To Another"!!!

 

I am so very lucky .....

This will hang pride of place in my house when I stop touching it LOL

Thankyou my lovely friend from the bottom of my heart xxx

If you get time you can stop by and check out all the lovely ladies work who had a hand in putting this together, it really was a group quilt.

I'm not cool or savvy enough to understand IG yet but here are their IG addresses
Teri who donated most of the fabric Teri@craktpot, Lee Monroe@maychappell and also at http://www.maychappell.com ,Kim Johnson@kbcjohn  and Colleen Yarnell@cyarnell and also at http://www.cyarnell.blogspot.com

The assembly tutorial came from http://www.thequiltengineer.com and according to Katie made all the difference, also Thankyou to various ladies from www.triadmodernquiltguild.blogspot.com

Linking up so everyone can see

Sew Cute Tuesday with Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts

 

And Heather & Megan for Fabric Tuesday