It's a quilting miracle!

Another finish, the second for the year. This is the quilt that I made for the nephew of The Prince. I started ages ago some months back & it is finally winging it's way to London today so the kid has it before he turns 5.

Scrappy back with the HST leftover from the Churn Dash blocks. Crowns on the label as a nod that "other birth" that happened last year. I fell in love with this backing fabric & bought it with no particular thought in mind. Perfect for the backing I think :)

Baby is English born, Swedish Mum, Australian Dad and I really tried to find fabrics that reflected his multi national heritage. The large red heart fabric in the border is Swedish, there are pears on the bottom left block (for the time of his birth), sail boats for Oz, snowflakes for Sweden & England, London buses, teapots & all things British in the border. The yellow border represents the sunshine of Australia. I am really pleased with the end result. 

Not the best shots in the world but all that was possible before The Prince had to dash off on the train. I really like the 2 coloured binding on this quilt. 

MUST. USE. ALL. THE. FABRICS! Still ended up with gingham scraps LOL.

This quilt took so long because it insisted on being 54 inches square. In the end I am glad though as it will see him through for many years to come. I hope he gets years of warmth & feels the love with which it was made.

Loving what I do

Lush x

Oh my what a week!

So I started on the new seafront pitch last week & let me tell you, it is so different to last year that it is like chalk & cheese. Weekdays are a little slower but on the weekend especially Saturday, we were slammed!!

I am really looking forward to the Summer :)  I am really looking forward to catching back up on the finances side of life. The sad thing is that I now have no time to spare at all so no sewing being done here unless you count the frogging I am doing on some quilting that went horribly wrong. Mind you, the insomnia seems to have been instantly cured. Too damn tired not to sleep.

In the meantime, heres a picture from my office window. Not bad huh?

Loving what I do & especially where I get to do it.

Lush x

Day out in Chi Darling!!

Apparently the locals call Chichester, "Chi" as in Chai. Seems a little chi chi to me but we went along to see what was on offer. As we are not massive shoppers we were kind of expecting to be bored but I have to say there were more than enough really old buildings to keep us entertained for ages.

 This is the butter market hall. Who knew there needed to be a dedicated market hall just for butter?? This is my kind of town!!

 This is an amazing 11th century church. Crammed in cheek by jowl between a phone shop & a bakery cafe. It has been turned into a book shop. How modern.

 I bet St Olaf is rolling in his grave. But I guess it is good to see old buildings having life & not rotting into ruin.

 This was the Assembly Hall. Hysterical. Swallow your bonnet!!

This is a not very good detail shot of the amazing bank building. (one of many). This is built in the traditional flint stone style but with napped flint in the gaps. Very sharp! I wonder if it was done on purpose to keep the robbers out or if just done for design.

Here is a better picture after the link. Flintstone

Still didn't get to visit the fabric store. I have been to Chi twice now & still can't find the shop! Will need to do a detailed Google search next time. We will go back as we ran out of time to visit the cathedral & several other sights. A good day spent wandering marvelling at the architecture & a good lunch. 

Loving what we do

Lush x

A year in fabric

The last year has seen me tied to the desk doing more than my fair share of this & trying so very hard to get my cafe off the ground & running as a viable form of income. As income has been incredibly tight so has my disposable income had to be. I have allowed myself £20 of silly spending money a month.

Unsurprisingly, most of that has gone on fabric. I have had some rules though. I have mostly bought on sale, stuck to backgrounds & low volume moderns. Let's see how I did.

OK, yes I might have strayed from the path here but they were scrap bags!! I love scrap bags, means I don't have to pick just 1 or 2 fabrics :)

 I think those little foxes may be my favourite purchase for the year. So cute!

Loving the wee little ants in their maze.

So not a bad effort. Have also committed to using ALL the fabric I currently have on hand, even scraps, no matter how small.

May have taken the last rule a little too far.

Loving what I do

Lush x

Belated Christmas 2013

We had a lovely run up to Christmas, weather was mild & the wind did not whip up until around the 3rd week. Mind you when it came, it came in spades! We seem to have begun a tradition in this house of having a fairly intense & urgent issue crop up on the day before Christmas Eve, last year it was waking to a yard full of poo & 2013 we ended up with water coming out of the lights in our bedroom ceiling. 

Interesting considering there is a whole other floor on top of our bedroom!! We lay there wondering just where in the hell that water was coming from & decided to decamp to the spare room to sleep the night. We did not want to wake with the ceiling on our heads.

Investigations revealed that the water was coming from several places, our room was leaking from the bay window into the ceiling cavity. My sewing room/study is leaking from the dormer part of the roof & there are a few more little spots here & there in the house. Our bedroom is fixed but the builder will be seeing to the rest of them all soon.

The Prince & I had a lovely couple of days baking & decorating a gingerbread house. Gluten free of course. There were of course the usual construction issues of a few cracks & the glazing was delayed but finally installed & looked fabulous as even Kevin McLeod knew it would.

Even Diego Pavlova thought the house looked tasty. The little people who lived in it were a bit worried :)

We had a lovely sunny day, breakfast in the bay window, walk along the beach then home to  a late lunch/early dinner of gluten free Beef Wellington. Quiet but very relaxing.

Loving what I do

Lush x

MIssing Inaction

Wow, that was a long time between drinks. Have been exceedingly busy but happy that it seems things are going in the right direction. Have even managed a couple of finishes for January. 

Our friends & neighbours have just moved back into their home after being absent for 3 months while the house was gutted & rebuilt from the frame in. Looks so much better in soft greys & crisp whites, reflective of their homeland Scottish skies.

In tribute to their rock & roll gothic roots I made these cushion covers for them. Clearly, they need inserts but you get the idea.

I love that the husband took one look at them and yelled "Oh perfect, SKULLS!!!". Makes a Sewista proud that their work is appreciated.

Stats.

20 inches square

Essex linen in grey

Various fabrics from stash (mostly with skulls & bats)

Quilted with Gutterman cotton in grey

Loving what I do

Lush x