grey and cloudy days {quilt}

i haven't finished a 'big' project in what seems like forever! so i am so happy to share my latest quilt. my friend asked me if i could make a quilt for her, of course i said yes! i started thinking up all the colour schemes and then she said she wanted a grey quilt, i was stumped!

and here is the finished quilt! this was not my first idea, i went through a couple ideas before finally picking the pinwheel design...

this was my original idea, i love plus quilts and i love these two fabrics, especially that dot! but together they just didn't work, there was no contrast and it just looked really dull and blah, so it was back to the drawing board! then one day while browsing pinterest, i came across this quilt and just knew that it was the one!

i loved the pinwheels and sashing and kept my quilt pretty similar to the pinterest quilt. i added a bluey-grey fabric from the feed company fabric line and kept the grey from my original idea. when i got to the sashing, i had forgotten how hard it was and spent hours pinning and re-pinning long strips of fabric together, luckily in the end i got there, because this quilt very nearly ended up in the 'no' pile! the sashing is kona ash, which was really hard to find, do they not make it anymore?

with using the soft grey fabrics, i chose a big stipple for my quilting, i think it really adds to the cosy-ness factor, also stippling is my favourite! also why is it called stippling? it should be called squiggling in my opinion :)

i wanted to keep the quilt simple and used plain navy as the backing and the bluey-grey fabric as the binding, and it was done *yay* it is now all packaged up and in the post, my friend hasn't seen it yet, so it will be a surprise, i hope she likes it :)

rachael

linking up with finish it up friday

pretty pillowcases

i recently completed 10 years as a cub leader, but as i am now heading off to uni i had to say goodbye to all the cubs and leaders, i have to say i am going to miss them! as a thank-you the leaders got me a gift voucher to the textile studio (they know me so well :) ) and i got some lovely fabric to make pillowcases!

i had the hardest time picking my fabrics! i wanted my pillowcases to match but didn't want them too matchy-matchy, i think that makes sense haha. i fell in love with the retro flower print by emma jean jansen and of course that navy from vintage market is just amazing! after picking my main fabrics it was easy picking co-ordinating fabrics for the cuff and trim! can you see my teddy cushion peeking out :)

i followed the tutorial by film in the fridge and they came together really quickly! i didn't get quite enough of the retro flower-y fabric (because i can't read a pattern apparently) so i added a strip of blue, which i think co-ordinates perfectly!

these will brighten up my uni flat and add a little handmade look! so i haven't started packing, or even thinking about packing but at least i have pretty pillowcases, priorities, right? :)

*these pictures were brought to you by my unmade bed :)

rachael x

linking up with fabric tuesday and sew cute tuesday

catch - up: summer

hello! i hope you all a had a lovely summer and spent some time sewing and enjoying the weather :) it is coming up to my favourite time of year, autumn! so before it arrives i thought i would share some snippets of what i have been up to this summer! 

{logo for yvonne} remember my little sort-of giveaway?  well yvonne at quilting jetgirl was the winner and here is the logo i made for her. she was absolutely excellent to work with (and i got a brilliant mark on my project *yay*) if you would like to read about the process yvonne wrote up a brilliant post here! after making the logo i decided my blog needed a little 'spruce up' so i re-did my header, i love that font!

{exploring} i loved getting out and about with my camera this summer and fell in love with all the flowers and gardens in the national trust parks about northern ireland, i took waayy too many pictures, that i will hopefully be using in a project soon :)

{decorating} i painted one of my bedroom walls with this patterned roller and it is AMAZING! once i figured out how to roll it the right way to make sure the animals where the right way round, it was a breeze and it's really pretty! (i got mine from doris and jeannie)

{fabric} there has been some fabric arriving to my house :) you know the fabrics that you see and you just 'have' to have them, well these are them. vintage market by tasha noel is soo adorable and has the sweetest little illustrations on them. and gooseberry! it comes out in october but i got a couple of early release charm packs, i didn't have a plan whenever i got them, but mum saw them and has requested a table-runner! 

{pretty trimmings} i have done lots and lots of trimming making half-square triangles (198 of them) in very muted colours, completely out of my comfort zone! 

{pinwheels} and all the half-square triangles turned into pinwheels, to make a quilt for a friend, instead of having it all just white i added in a couple of dotty backgrounds!

{patchwork curtains} last year we got an extension put onto the kitchen and new doors. my mum looked everywhere for new curtains, but didn't find any that just 'fit' queue me making curtains :) remember this bundle? well here is what it became, patchwork curtains

{flower-y backing} it was just like making a quilt top to make the curtains, and my mum picked out this floral-y fabric for the lining, a bit of measuring, some very long seams and they were done! i never thought i would be able to make curtains, but i am really please with them and mum loves them *yay*

{and finally} in just over a week i will be leaving home and going to university in derby to study illustration aahhhh! this has been one of my goals for a long time! i keep going between excited and scared haha but i am looking forward to it, it will be like an adventure! 

rachael x 

{cultivate} blog tour

hello! it's my stop on the cultivate blog tour *yay* i absolutely love bonnie's fabrics! (as you can see here and here) and cultivate is no different, it's so beyond lovely.

how perfect is that brown fabric? i love all the warm colours in this collection, they just say autumn and cosy-ness to me! i also love the pops of colour, like that green, scrummy! you can see (and drool over) the whole collection here!

when i saw these fabrics the first thing that popped into my head was bear-paw blocks, but i wanted to do something a bit different with them, so coasters it was! practical and pretty, what could be better?

i paired my cultivate fabric with some essex linen and i think it really makes the colours pop! and of course to just finish them off i added some lace to the outside edges for some extra prettiness. i really enjoyed working with these fabrics, and i will definetly be incorporating them into my future projects :)

do you want to see more lovely projects made with cultivate? then hop over to Amanda's blog Material Girl quilts to see the brilliant hoop she made! and be sure to visit trudi's blog tomorrow for her project!

rachael x

linking up with fabric tuesday

a {sort-of} giveaway! *GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

with only a few weeks left in my graphic design course *yay* it is time for my final project! and our final project is too create our own brief/project! i have found through the course that i like love creating and designing logos, here are a few i have designed and made:

so now time for the {sort-of} giveaway! for my final project i would love to design and create a logo and branding for someone quilt-y! so if you have a blog, an etsy shop/small business or have always just wanted a logo for business cards or even just for fun, leave a comment! if more than one person comments i will use random number generator to pick a 'winner' *make sure to leave you email address so i can contact you*

i will work with you and you tell me your favourite colours, what you like, what you don't like and i will create something for you that *hopefully* you will love and is just perfect for you!

rachael x

and the 'winner' is...

thank-you everyone for entering and once my course is finished i will happily design and make logos for you all :)

a bear doing a hand-stand

i'm still loving pink, yellow and aqua and while i'm still working on my night sky blocks i just got a *little*  bit distracted! have you heard about love quilting and patchwork magazine? you more than likely have unless you close your eyes and cover your ears a lot! i get it *nearly* every month but have never, ever made something from it (hands up who else gets magazines and never makes what's in them?) until i was looking through last months and was stopped in my tracks!

isn't it just amazing!! i just had to make it (and may have to make another one!) it is made using quilt as you go (or QAYG as the 'cool' kids say) and i've never done this technique before so i was excited to try it. (the pattern is by megan from quilt story)

and it was soo fun! i never really understood the whole concept of quilting as you go, but it's literally what it says on the tin, you sew a piece down and then quilt it, having done it now seems super obvious, but i could just not understand how to do it before!

i really like the look of the straight line quilting, cause i am usually a free motion girl, so it was fun doing straight-ish lines. and wow does it use a lot of thread, i used 2 bobbins! my cushion came together really quick and it is a really well written pattern. 

the pattern said to use piping, but i just decided to use binding, i used navy for that little extra pop! i think it sets of the sweetness of the colours perfectly

now that i've tried QAYG i want to make all the things, next up i think i'll have to make a QAYG quilt, maybe this one!

have you ever tried QAYG? did you like it and find it super fun? what have you made using QAYG?

rachael x

linking up with fabric tuesday

yellow, pink + aqua

the sun seems to have arrived and that means start a new project! it doesn't matter that i have many {many} unfinished quilts sitting in my sewing room, it should be a rule that when get it starts getting sunny you're allowed to start a new project!

i have seriously been crushing hard on the colours pink, yellow and aqua, they just go together perfectly! what started with just a couple of fabrics that i bought at the stitch and creative craft show (it's a show that happens twice a year and has lots of yummy fabrics you only ever see on the internet) turned into me diving into my fabric stash pulling all the yellows, pinks and aquas!

i didn't have a plan as to what i was going to make with them, i just knew i needed to make something! i looked through all my patterns and the one that jumped out at me was night sky by thimbleblossoms ahh perfect!

oh they're just so sweet, i am completely smitten and will be sewing away at this every moment i have! i've only made 4 blocks out of many, which is fine by me as i will never tire of this!

rachael x

linking up with wip wednesday

hattie the rabbit

do you ever make something and just fall madly in love with it? i am seriously in love with my latest finished project! 

so i'd like to introduce you to hattie the rabbit :) ooh isn't she just soo cute?! and i had soo much fun stitching her together. she is made with this pattern by alicia paulson

she is all hand-stitched, which if you know me i do not like hand-stitching at all! but hattie was worth it!

hattie loves to explore and loves playing with fabric (of course) she loves flowers and pretty dresses, she's not really girl-y but likes lots of girl-y stuff! but...

...her absolute favourite thing to do is climb trees and go on adventures, but she wishes she knew how to tie her shoe laces so she doesn't keep tripping over them on her adventures!

i used the kit to make her but instead of using the liberty fabric to make her dress and ears i used my absolute favourite print from wild and free by maureen cracknell i think i will be making many more dresses for her for all the seasons!

it wasn't one of the easier projects i've done, just because it's all hand sewn and i had to learn all the stitches (but seriously how fun is blanket stitch?) i'm glad i persevered and finished her, because she is just too cute to be left sitting in the big pile of all my other unfinished projects!

rachael x

linking up with fabric tuesday