Gifts for a new baby!

Baby Elijah finally put in an appearance yesterday, 9 days late.  Born to my daughter's best friend from University days.
I have been busy over the past weeks making gifts and now I can choose a Boy's Quilt (I had a Girl's one ready too!) to parcel up together with a knitted blanket and 2 Crinkle squares made from flannellette fabrics and pretty ribbons.

I hope the quilt and blanket will keep him snug and the Crinkle Squares will amuse him in the months to come.
Welcome to the world, Elijah!

Wow, I won Katy's Giveaway!

Last week I entered a Giveaway with a difference on Katy's blog, imagingermonkey.blogspot.co.uk/
The fabric was Savanna bop and if you won you were to use the fabrics to make a quilt for the Siblings Together Project.  You can read all about this on Katy's blog.
This evening I received an email to say I had won the Giveaway so now my head is spinning with ideas for a possible quilt.  I hope that when the fabrics arrive all will become clear as to what sort of quilt I should make.
It's a great cause and I hope I can do it ( and the wonderful fabrics) justice!

Do have a look at Katy's blog and see if you could make a quilt for Siblings Together or look at the Flickr group www.flickr.com/groups/siblingstogether/

Competition on Quilting Gallery

I found out about a weekly-run competition on Quilting Gallery when I was reading Katy's .imagingermonkey.blogspot.com   She had a entry in last week which won! Congratulations, Katy.  It's a super quilt and a deserved winner!

This week's competition, Quilts with just squares and rectangles, really interested me and I knew one of my quilts fitted the category so I entered.

It's this baby quilt which I called "There's nobody here but us chickens"

There are a lot of entries in this week's competition.  Voting continues from today (Friday) until Sunday at 11.59pm

I would love to win this competition - I have never entered anything like this before!

If you would like to vote for my quilt please take a look at Quiltinggallery.com

THANK YOU!

Crazy about Granny Square Quilts!

For the past three months or so I have been looking at all the Granny Square blocks and quilts being posted on Flickr. Actually I think it has become an obsession!

It all started when I spotted Jolene on Blue Elephant Stitches and the fabulous Granny Squares block that she designed.  What a super idea that was! Jolene's quilt is just lovely.
Now Granny Squares and quilts are popping up everywhere and I like them ALL!

Have a look at Jessica's "Granny Squares" quilt on her Flickr site sewcraftyjess.blogspot.com
And Rachel's three gorgeous baby quilts which she made with Granny Squares using pink sashing for the girl quilt, blue for the boy and a white for a neutral. Look for them on her blog StitchedinColor.com,  they are called Three Baby Grannies.
I also love Granny Square Quilt by sotak handmade.blogspot.com, really bright and cheery.

I have put together a Gallery of some of my favourites, on my Flickr page called Koshka2. Check it out.  Also the Old Red Barn Group on Flickr, a real showcase of this wonderful design.

When I have finished all of my ongoing projects I will have to make my very own Granny Squares Quilt.  However, there are so many lovely ways people have used to create the block I shall have a hard time choosing which way to go!

If you haven't yet found Granny Squares I recommend them to you. I do warn you, they are addictive and you, too, may become obsessed!

Modern Log Cabin baby quilt

My neighbour asked me to make a quilt for her expected grandchild. I showed her photos of some of my quilts that I thought were suitable and she went with a Modern Log Cabin design based on a strip of Funky cats I had in my stash. She didn't know whether the expected grandchild was a boy or a girl so yellows, oranges and greens were the perfect 'neutrals'.
I started the quilt just before little Harry was born at the end of March and yesterday I finished the quilt. All hand quilted and binding hand sewn too, so pretty good going in a short time!

Handing it over today to Grandma so I hope she likes it!  Also Harry and his Mummy and Daddy!

A Close-up of one of the blocks.

Showing the backing. 

 I used Moda "Botany" bought from the Fabric Shack.  Really pleased with the backing fabric as the colours reflect the quilt colours but in a more subtle way.
Love the Fabric Shack.  Their prices are good and they ship your order super-fast.  Very efficient!
Sashing was a yellow Kona Solid, again from the Fabric Shack. I added more detail to the sashing with hand quilting using a variegated Perle cotton.

Enjoyed making the quilt, the colours were very jolly to work with.  And now I have lots of left-over strips for another project.
.......................................  What shall I make next???????????

Hexie Quilt - a Special Gift!

I had the most wonderful surprise last Thursday. My Quilting Group arranged an extra get-together for afternoon tea, something we have done a few times over the past seven months as I have been ill and undergoing treatment.  However, I was presented with the most wonderful surprise, a Hexie Quilt made by the group and a little doll's quilt ( using the left-over hexies ) for my 2 two year old granddaughter.  To say I was speechless is the understatement of the year!  Gorgeous quilts, beautiful colours and so fantastically made! Both made with such love, to wish me well as my treatment continues.
I love Hexies, and have admired many lovely examples on Flickr, and now I have a wonderful quilt of my own, complete with its label signed my all my dear quilting freinds.  My granddaughter has yet to see her quilt, so I can't wait to see her surprised face!

My Hexie Quilt

Hexie Doll's Quilt

Both snuggling together!

Welcome to my BLOG!

My first blog!
My passion is quilting so this blog will be about sharing ideas and quilts.
Having seen Emily Cier's book Scrap Republic endorsed so many times I asked for a copy for Christmas. Since then I have made 3 quilts using the Freckles design and also based two Bee blocks on quilt designs in the book.

This is the first Scrap Republic quilt I made:

Then I made two more!

This one has an Aqua background

This quilt has an ice blue background