Jess' First Quilt

Another little project i have going at the moment is helping a friend of mine (Jess), to complete her first quilt for her Mum's very important 60th birthday.

Jess had her Mum choose the fabric, which is Winchester by Andover Fabrics from The Fat Quarter Shop and we're using a Hatched and Patched pattern called Town of Plenty (minus the stitchery blocks) as it's a nice simple quilt for a first attempt.

Here is a sneak peak of some of Jess' blocks to date:

Jess has already completed nearly 50 blocks and for a complete non-sewer, she's doing a great job............ and very little un-picking has been required so far! One more sewing day and the top should be complete.

And Jess....... You're not to show your Mum any more now until it's finished!

Until next time, Happy Stitching

An End In Sight!

Here are my latest Angel Story blocks that i've completed this week.

Charlotte the Shopper, Dimity the Dreamer & Sarah the Sewing Angel:-



Also, Sophia the Social Butterfly & work-in-progress, Harriet the Homebody....... my last block, which i should finish hand stitching tonight (if i stop blogging and start stitching)!

Getting excited about finishing it off now and hopefully I can find a day very soon to put it all together....... i have all my borders and blocks cut and at the ready!

Until next time......Happy Stitching

Some people think we're Mad!

I was lucky enough to be invited to join a friend (Paula) for a day of sewing yesterday, so we set to work at 9am...... and only stopped for Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner and Dessert...... Hmmm, maybe this is why it took so long to complete our project. Paula certainly looked after me!

The plan was to Complete "Faerie Noelle", a gorgeous doll by Annie Smith of Country Keepsakes. Paula and I found the pattern back in August at our favourtie patchwork shop, The Home Patch on our way back from Sydney but hadn't been able to get together to make her until now.

After a mere 12 and a half hours sewing, this is what we had achieved:

As you can see, Paula's is almost finished but mine still had a long way to go!

Finally!

After a few more hours sewing today my Faerie is complete and i think you'll agree she was worth the effort.............Think i'll name her Ruby!

Until next time
Happy Stitching

Look what arrived today!

These gorgeous fabrics arrived today from the Fat Quater Shop, ..... i couldn't resist buying them after seeing Bloom's lovely new design for Moda Bake Shop. Fabrics are "Hushabye" by Tula Pink and Moda Basics "Milk".
I guess now I had better get my Angels Story Quilt finished quick smart so I can make a start on this one!

I've got Mum Sewing!

Today i spent some time teaching Mum how to make these lovely journal covers using the tutorial at Bloom.

I don't often get to sew with Mum as it's not really her 'thing'..... so it was lovely to spend the day with her doing something I love (She even admitted it was fun!).


The lovely Martha from Princess Martha suggested making them out of denim and even had her hubby deliver some to me when i didn't have any in my stash......and what a great result!
Thanks Martha xo

Plaited Pesto Bread

This is another one of our family favourites that is great to take along to a BBQ and i've made it three times this week for different functions..... it always goes over well!

Ingredients:

• 600g Bread Flour
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 350ml Water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 sachet Yeast
• Sundried Tomato Pesto (about half a jar)
• Grated Cheese
• Ham or bacon (optional)
• Dried Basil

Put water, sugar, salt, oil, flour and yeast into bread machine and use dough setting to make dough.

Once your dough is made empty it onto a floured bread board and cut into three equal pieces. Shape the pieces into long flat rectangles and spread with pesto. Sprinke with ham and cheese then pinch the dough together to seal in all the topping.

Plait the three pieces together and place on a floured oven tray. Sprinkle with a little more cheese and some dried Basil and bake for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees celcius, or until golden brown.

Only problem with this recipe is that it never seems to last long!

Enjoy!

A Gift for Maddy

This morning Miss ten and I set to work to make a birthday pressie for one of her friends...... nothing like leaving things till the last minute! Miss ten had been working on a stitchery from Anni Downs book "simple Pleasures" over the last couple of days which we appliqued to the front of the Journal cover. To assemble the cover we used a tutorial from Bloom for the basic instructions and measurements although we did change a few things to achieve the result Miss ten was after.
It was very easy to assemble and much less bulky than ones i've made in the past...... which means there will be plenty more to make before Christmas comes around. We were both very pleased with how it turned out and hope that Maddy likes it as much as we do.
Miss ten has now also started a blog of her own to display her creations, you can check it out at Little Miss Thimble.