Change is not my friend!

Said the woman who insists on the same Chinese restaurant when we treat ourselves to a meal in Chinatown, who gets panicked when set plans are altered and who has turned her 2 year old into a routine abiding citizen!!! Try walking past the cafe where Isabella and mummy have our customary omelette on a Friday after playgroup and the world would get to hear about it from Isabella who would be shouting 'dinner, dinner' at the top of her voice!!!!

So, why oh why, give up the customary easy decorative stitching on seams for an all over wavy quilting line ? don't bother telling me, I have already flaggelated myself enough.  Have a look at my lovely little quilt below: I finally used my Summerville charm pack with a lovely oyster off white solid and a disappearing nine patch and kaboom!!! it looked stunning! modern fresh and unisex! That was before quilting it though!!! anyway, enough lamenting...it still looks great to be honest but I will leave the wavy lines out of my next little quilt!!!

Here is the front:

and the back which is better than the front!!!: made with a piece of Summerville and a grey fabric I picked up on sale in John Lewis last year! It looks like a city behind a huge fence enclosing its gardens! Everyone has loved this little quilt so yes, am happy too  :-)

I also made a Granny Squares quilt for the bella Isabella with some white sashing and a white border to focus the eyes on the blocks instead. This is super-cutie-licious!!!!!!!!!!! every central square has a little animal, boy or girl in it and the fabrics are gorgeous.....made with 2.5" pieces from 3 charm packs.

a block:

another favourite block:

On the wall and not pieced yet is my seahorse quilt. This fabric is absolutely beautiful and the fat quarter stash also contained a panel with lovely large pieces (aka the bottom right seahorse). My friend Carla loves her white squares and this quilt is an inspiration from her work. When I finish it (operative word being 'when'), I am sure it will look lovely. For now, it waits patiently its turn in queue number 6!!!

I know I have written before about fabric avalanches and how I have almost been killed by these in the course of the last year! I swear this is what my fabric stash looks like AFTER spending 2 days of clear out,  1 huge container full of fabric and other attempts to shove fabric into boxes, shelves and drawers around the house!!!! I will not even attempt to fool you about the amount of fabric I stash in the very last 2 shelves which are only in partial view because of the length of my desk. OMG!!!!
If fabric is my therapy, this can only be a 20 year Freudian analysis!!!!

In the process of cleaning up, I found these pieces which came out of a charm pack I bought ages ago from OXFAM would you believe!!! I think it is mainly Sari fabrics and very very thin silks. I decided to take them all out and have a look and this is what they look like. Not sure whether I love or fear this square on my design wall....probably a bit of both...a kind of 'fools rush in....': if anyone out there has an opinion about it please share! I would love to hear what you think.

The other day when I was looking for a photo of my quilts that might tell a story, I found these pictures of Isabella.
In the first one she is asleep during her afternoon nap with her comfort toy wrapped over her face!!! the second one is where she just woke up thinking 'what are my loonie parents doing taking photos of me now?' Isabella's cot is the most cozy place on the planet! surrounded by her quilts, on a flannel sheet made by mummy, on a pillow made by mummy....trust me, very often I want to get in there too!

PS. Isabella turned 2 end of April....OMG where does time fly too? when are those horrible tantrums meant to kick in?!!!!

                           
                                                                      Amelie x

People power!

When I started this blog I never thought I would care nearly as much as I do about people reading it...
I kinda started it as a soft diary, a record of this quilting passion that was growing very strong in me.
I should say that over the time I have grown to think more about the fellow quilters in blog land and how they relate to me through my photos and blog. I treasure reading people's blogs and over the time I was home-bound with a new born baby, awake through the night to feed her etc, I was very very grateful to all these amazingly creative people out there who through their blogs kept fueling the passion and the new ideas in my head.
Needless to say I also really appreciate the people who have taken the time to look/read my blog and to also comment on my mad drivels!!! so Whoever you are out there, THANK YOU for being in touch and helping me feel part of this quilting community...
This week, I lost 2 people from my 'follower' group! eeekkkkk.  I can understand that people move on and I have been so absent...To those of you that are still with me, hang on in there!!! I am planning a few lovely surprises along the way!

In my last blog I promised some more photos of work I have been doing in the last couple of months:

First of all I finished Isabella's blanket, my first ever crochet project!!!! The photo is not great but the blanket is gorgeous and washable at 40 degrees!!!

 and a little detail:

The everybody jumped on the trips around the world bandwagon and I did not want to miss out!!! so I picked out the Happy Mochi Yum Yum which I had stashed and forgotten about until now...This fabric was pure sunshine but without some additional solids and some extra purples I would not had had the impact necessary for this project:

so this:

made me this!
it is massive and I could not face quilting it, so it has also gone off to Ferret. My husband loved it so much, he exclaimed that this is the best quilt I have ever made...he is a simple soul so he must be forgiven!

This is my Bee Europa quilt in the making. I adore how this quilt is looking already BUT that is all i got back from my fellow bees and I will need 4 times this much as I want it for my large bed...well, I guess I have to make up the rest myself! This is the Mod Mosaic Block from Elisabeth Hartman - Oh Fransson!blog.

 And this is my latest quilt which I just finished last night (this is just a preview on the design wall): I had got these flannels about 3 years ago and I have been wondering what to do with them ever since! Well, my husband has decided that finally this is his quilt....I don't think I can say no to his first ever request!!!
I have to say that this pattern was a lot of work for flannels (again, another large quilt), bit the effect is great and is the soft feel of the whole quilt....

The proof is in the pudding as they say...and here is my little pudding in her cot surrounded by some of her quilts and all her favourite cuddly friends on a flannel sheet made by mummy too!!! please excuse the stained leggings...daddy is not too much into pjs for the afternoon nap! well, this is proves just how comforting quilts are (never mind that Isabella has always slept very soundly!!!).

Well, before I go, where does time go? Isabella will be 2 next month...and I have to make sure she will have a completed quilt for her second birthday (because she does not have enough???)!

Amelie x

Reflections

Man oh man am I happy to be writing my blog again...don't ask why I have not posted for soooo long. To be honest I lost count myself of all the things that went wrong (computer wiped clean, camera smashed, family all poorly over and over again and on the list goes!), but fundamentally I had to take some time out of this mad race...
 I have been struggling to find time to make my quilts, to bring my dreams to reality but also to get to grips with how quilting has been changing in me over the last year...I am growing up as a quilter I guess and I would like a bit more time to experiment, to curate my own work and to play in my own sewing room with my own fabrics and my own ideas.
Sometimes the world wide web feels too intrusive and too overwhelming. And yes, I am of very very weak disposition and i cannot say no to another Bee, another quilt along, another new book or another new line of fabric...it is all out there simply calling my name, the siren in my ear!!!

Well, this time last year, I started in 6 Bees, I pulled out of one when it was my turn so that I would not let people down (having done 12 rounds or so), and I am active in just one at the moment which also happens to be my most favourite Bee of them all. I would like to say something about my Bee year: it was very very mixed and if I am being honest, it was not all fun. Sometimes the fabrics were challenging, sometimes the blocks were challenging but often the management of the bees was challenging. In 2 of them I did not receive all the pieces back and in one somebody misplaced my fabric pack in their home effectively losing a gorgeous shot cotton fat quarter and a pack of fabrics!!!! What can I say...some blocks came back with truly 'fugly' fabric and some came back in an appaling state having been sewn with black thread and looking very sad and tired. Out of my 6 Bees I will make 1 kiddie quilt and a gorgeous adult one. That's it. Eeekkkk, that is all the disappointing side of bees.
On a positive note, I tried a few new different blocks, got some great ideas and met some great quilters.
All in all, a mixed experience and certainly a great learning lesson in taking on more that I can chew and more than necessary...for 2013 there can only be one bee for me and that is my lot!

Ok, onto exciting things now,

I have been finishing a LOT of quilts which I started back in the day (2009) when i took up quilting. I thought it was about time to move things on a bit and to also use a bit more of the stash which continues to avalance on my head every so often!

So, I finished my Amy Butler Lady of the Lake quilt pattern courtesy of Red Pepper Quilts, and I made a back for it out of leftover fabrics:

I had also poured blood, sweat and tears over this quilt which had more inset seams than i would like to remember and was very very painful indeed.... the back is plan red but the front is sooo cute with this special little red riding hood fabric which i think I picked up at my first ever Birmingham quilt show! the pattern is by Sarah Fielke and it is called Bye Bye Birdie i think!

So, as I said, I managed to mash up my camera and my stepson who has a degree in photography and all technical things came over and took a series of photos including these one!!! I love him dearly but he never told me that the quilt was upside down and me standing on the sofa wasnot doing it any favours at all!!!

and a little quilting detail here:Then I finished my GORGEOUS Hot Air Ballon Quilt and i love love love how this turned out from a simple concept of appliqued squares (a selection of vintage 5" squares i have hoarded for a while) with a circular quilting pattern....it took an eternity to quilt but it is amzingly beautiful in real life, honest!

 Next up is this gorgeous log cabin quilt with a pattern courtesy of Film in the Fridge, front and back...it is beautiful and straightforward to make.

I know I started by moaning about time and the lack of it and here I am showing you all these quilts!!!!! you must remember that some of these have been in the making for a while now and to prove this to you let me proceed with my next beauty which started back in then day when Kaffe Fassett did the workshops at the V&A? God, how long ago was that????
I did a post back then about having bought LOADS of his fabrics before I went off to the V&A to make this snowball quilt in terror that I would not have enough, or that I would not have enough of the 'right' fabrics!!! am such a moron sometimes, even I have to admit it!!!
 well, this baby has grown so large that it had to go off to Ferret to be properly quilted because under no circumstances would i fight with it on my little machine....i have to tell you that it looks stunning, stunning, stunning...cannot wait to get that back.

 I have a lot more to show you but it is well past my bedtime and I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow but stay tuned because there will be more photos to come!!!

                                                                       Amelie x

THANK YOU all for your lovely comments on my last blog post when I was winging loads...am such a baby!

anyway, almost back on track with all my Bees and here are the November makes:

Stash Bee Hive 2: bookshelf block, paper pieced in 4 parts.

We Bee Modern Too: if i could vote this would be my most favourite block of this month. It looked absolutely stunning with the dark blue sashing and the contrast of the blue/red fabrics. YUMMY

Modern Minx Beginner Bee: what an excellent choice of block and style. I think this quilt will look absolutely
fantastic when it is all put together.

My Bee Europa block for Barbara: so sorry for the bad photo. Let me reassure you that the block looks lovely in real life!

Last but not least, Fat Stash Bee: loved making this block. Cannot wait to see what the quilt will look like.

That is all for now. Working on a few quilts of my own and hope to post pictures soon.

Amelie x

It is hard, hard, hard....

to work and look after a toddler and be passionate about quilting and to even begin to be a good wife and mother.
Frankly I don't know how some bloggers do it but they seem to do it all very well and very frequently.

This month I continue to feel ashamed to how late i was with the September blocks which I only managed to post this weekend gone. This is the first and hopefully my last time like this...thing is i try to do everything well and I am not always able to.

Anyway, enough grovelling, these are September makes:

And my October makes (one more to go before I am completely done!)

And an unexpected BUT EXTREMELY welcome gift. Tikki is a wonderful fabric shop where I have bought some of my most precious fabrics including Kaffe Fassetts and Westminster fabrics as well as great shot cottons which I harbour and only occasionally bring out to drool al over them and them hide them again. What is it with me and the fact that I cannot bear to cut my favourite fabrics?
Anyhow, the lovely Tiina from Tikki send me this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I nearly died and went to heaven from happiness.
THANK YOU Tiina, you are a superstar and I am grateful, what a gorgeous bundle. Tiina is giving a bundle away every month by the way (and I am not sponsored by her) so visit her website and sign up, or even better, go to her gorgeous shop and treat yourselves to loads of guilt-free gorgeous fabric!!!

Ahhhhh almost done.

and for the friends and family out there: here is one I made almost 18 months earlier. Still, the best I have ever made! even if it keeps me awake some nights!

Amelie x

The continuation of the shame....

I do not seem to manage more than one post a month at the moment...I also do not seem to manage to finish any quilts either!!! oh dear,

I have finished my bee blocks though and here they are:

Stash Bee - Hive 2: Stephanie asked for this block (inspired by Fresh Lemon Quilts) and she did not want it all sewn together (hence the middle bits looking a bit strange!).

 We Bee Modern Too: Nicole asked for the Stargazing block and send the Christmasy fabric which is lovely and bright and made for a very sweet block.

Fat Stash Bee: Jodi wanted a modern and masculine looking block for her son Eli who chose the leaves on black fabric...to be honest in the beginning i was a bit lost because i was not into the fabric but then I spotted the Echino helicopters in my stash and it all went from there. I hope Eli will love the quilt his mummy will make for him.

Bee Europa 2012-2013: Floh asked for a wordy block about tea to accompany a gorgeous set of teapots and other tea related paraphernalia that another Bee had created for her. I came up with a number of ideas, tried 3, cried over 1 which was pieced with tiny pieces but got the mirror image wrong and ended up with this block. For those of you who like Mr Whirlygiggles don't get it, it is meant to be the word tea on top pf a ladder implying "High Tea" an experience i would recommend to Floh when she is next in the UK!

 Modern Minx Beginner Bee: Twinkle Toes asked for the "Little Square, Big Square" block. I loved making this and I have used some special shot cottons. Close up it is gorgeous (to me!). Hope you like it!

All in all a good month for my Bees with a couple of challenges but nothing less than i would expect!

Roll on September!
                                                                  Amelie x

The 'shame' post!

1 blog entry for July: shame
Bad photography: shame
20 UFOs : shame shame shame

I know it has been more than a month since my last blog and I don't remember ever being so low in blog entries...and I hate to admit it but blogging time equals less time sewing equals less lovely things coming along...
Anyway, been working on a baby quilt for some friends and I hacked into my Far Far Away fabrics yet again...and guess what..I hacked in times 3!!!! I have three different little kiddie quilts on the go..cannot wait to show you.
My bees have kept me busy throughout the whole month and although they are all done now, I have not posted them just yet. I know it sounds like a crazy thing but I like to post them all at the same time because:
1. local post office is not a friendly environment
2. local post office is not meant for toddlers who screech to be let loose to roam free
So, the rule is, go once and make it as quick and pain free as possible!

Here are my bees and the most appalling photos I have taken to date...am ashamed and yes I will invest in a  better camera..

Bee Europa: Amy's block: gorgeous fabrics, loved making this. I am sure it will look fantastic!

Jennie, Hive 2 Stash Bee: a rather challenging block which I have not even had the chance to iron properly when I took the photo...look fab in real life and i have used quite a few selvages as requested.

 Fat Stash Bee: Peggy's block: I know it does not look challenging BUT it was...trying to get it to the specific dimensions...OMG...final block is so cute...

We Bee Modern Too: Karen picked the Pebble block and I have used shots and patterns that reminded me of a beach/waves etc another bad photo job but a lovely looking block

 Modern Minx Beginner Bee, Anna's block: looks fabulous in real life...needs a bit more pressing but it is very cute...damn my stupid camera...

am ashamed about these photos and they do no justice to the heartache and effort I put in my work...and by the time I saw these photos all blocks were packed and sealed off and too late to rip them all open again...

another lesson to be learned here :-(

In the meantime here is my princess in all her glory (and why the post office is a pain): 

ahhhh a toddler covered in yogurt...not a shame at all! I knew it would all turned our right in the end!

Amelie x