My new favourite...

I have a new favourite quilt....  No, it's not one I've made.  I will have makes to show soon though, promise.
No, this is my new favourite quilt made for me by mum.  I cant tell you just how much I love this quilt!

I picked up a selection  of Anna Maria Horner velveteens earlier this year in sales, with a nice cosy thick quilt for winter in mind.  Not wanting to wait for winter 2015 I asked mum if she fancied making it for me!  Fortunately for me, she said yes.
Mum was quite taken with all the porthole blocks appearing, and she came up with a rather awesome design which would incorporate nice large pieces, and portholes too.  I've been sitting here quietly, patiently, getting the odd update from mum for the last month or two, and now its finally here!  So...  wanna see?

It is such a luscious quilt.  So tactile, so soft, so warm.  The colours are so vibrant too.  Mum worried when she was making that it might be a bit much, as I had chosen the combination of prints on price not compatibility, but when you see the quilt in person its not that way at all.  I absolutely love it!  There's just so much to keep looking at, and you notice different parts of quilt design each time you look.
Its bound and backed with a really lovely raspberry flannel (another double duvet sale bargain!).  And what a back it is too!  Inspired by another quilt I love.   Love the trees.  And the quilting too, like pathways meandering through a forest.

I love this photo.  I told mum I was going to blog it and say "spot the pinkie finger".  She said "what makes you think its *that* finger...." 

I love my new quilt.  It goes on my bed every night, and I take it down to the sofa every day too.  In fact, I think I might just spend the entire winter wrapped up in this quilt.  Wont I look stylish?  It'll no doubt save my man some pennies on electricity too - so its not just making me happy...its earning me brownie points too.  Bonus!!!

Catching up

Well now that's been quite a break you've had from my ramblings - a break during which my man went back off to sea, I spent a good nasty few days hugging the toilet (not voluntarily I might add), and oh-happy-days my mum has just arrived for our annual sewathon!

I am going to try and keep this post short and sweet, since I actually have sewing company for a change, so I hope you dont mind if its a bit boring!

So far, I have completed bee blocks for Modern Stitches Bee - my favourite fluffy sheep Cindy asked for the lovely and not at all like its name "depression block" from 99 modern blocks.  Here are my two.

Another completed (albeit a little late I'm afraid) bee round is Octobers Brit Bee, my mate Susan, who asked for stars.

Mum and I have a stonking long list of wips to clear and tutes to try.  We have movies to watch.  We have some bag patterns and purse frames, some quilt tops to practice quilting on.  And we have a new toy to play with too....  And all to squeeze in to two weeks!  So.  So.  Happy.....  

I also have a little De-stash if anyone is at all interested...  I havent sourced postage rates yet so prices are EXCLUDING POSTAGE.
1.  Cape Ann Jelly Roll  by Oliver + S  £20  Linda's
2.  Circa 1934 Jelly Roll by Cosmo Cricket  (all there, unused, I just unravelled it to look and couldnt put it back together...)  £20  Di's
3.  3 Terrain Charm Packs by Kate Spain  £15  Susans

First come first served, leave a comment if you're interested, I shall get postage quotes monday, and payment through paypal.  Thank you!  I'd prefer to ship UK & Europe only, not to exclude my American friends, but the postage would be awful and you'd find them in the states anyway!

Travellin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop

Today is my turn on Laura and Katys extended road trip - they should actually be home by now, but we'll carry on touring yet!
Each stop on the tour gets to share a few photos of their stomping ground, and taking from one of those photos a colour scheme to EPP!

Now I've done a few posts on walks lately, and I've prolly bored you all to tears with beautiful beaches and whatnot...  but what the hell, I'm going to do it again now too!

This is a little bit of a cheat cos I actually live in town and this kind of stuff is what you see once someone drives you outside of town.  But there you go.  Town, not so interesting.  They're all a bit of a cheat anyway as 80+ % of the time its usually dark, grey and rainy too....

So many of my photos only generated shades of green and brown, with a bit of  blue or grey...  I got bored...  I really wanted to use this photo, as the colour generator (Kuler) came up with some beauties, but alas I could not get a good match from my stash.  To be honest, I find that particularly hard.  In fact, I probably spend more time fannying about trying to pick "the right fabric" than I do piecing anything together. And its always the thing I worry I've got it wrong - right up to (and sometimes after) finishing.  I am *that* crap at it.

However.  I was sneaky clever enough  to think ahead during my walks, and I took this stunningly attractive picture...

Woohoo!  From this beach trash photo, I was able to get this fabric pick.

I've been making flowers with 1" hexies, but to be honest, I'm not entirely sure about them.  (Are you at all surprised?!)

I think if I keep going they might win me over by sheer force of number!  It sure has been fun though!

Now be sure and hop over the pond to visit Jenelle tomorrow @ Echinops and Aster!

This post is part of the Travellin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop.  From 1st October - 30th November we are hopping all over the world EPP-ing in some fantastic locations.  Check out the full list here and be sure to check out the other participants. On 30th November it's over to you to link up for a chance to win these fabulous prizes! Sponsored by Paperpieces.com, FabricwormPink Castle Fabrics ,  Marmalade Fabrics, the Fat Quarter Shop, WantItNeedItQuilt, and Aurifil.

Full details for competition entry can be found here.

Voting...

Hopefully my American friends are far too busy voting to read this... but for those not stateside and those who have voted..

There's some fun voting to do now, for the Bloggers Quilt Festival at Amys Creative Side!

There are 15 categories to vote in, and chances are you might just recognise one of two of the quilts in the 5 shortlisted for each category.

There's a Big Blue Beeast in there....

Woohoo!!  I am so thrilled Brit Bee have come top five in the Group / Bee Quilts!  Thanks so much to everyone who nominated the Beeast!


In fact, you could say brit bee really have done well cos we've also got Susan in top five Hand Stitched  Quilt, and Hadley in top five Mini / Doll Quilt!   Special mention to my swap buddy Kerry too as I just adore her quilt which has made top five in the Art Quilt Category.

Congratulations to all the finalists, the ones I know and the ones I dont.  Now, please go vote!  Vote for the quilts you love, the ones that catch you eye, and the ones that make you smile.  Its all a bit of fun after all!