Oakshotts in Marmalade

For those of you in the US, Oakshott's newest stockist is Tammy from Marmalade Fabrics.  She has taken stock of Impressions:

Liparis:

Sunrise:

And Water F8th packs.  

Like Liberty Lawns, these shot cottons are not cheap but they are top quality quilting cottons, lightweight and supersoft with the most amazing depth of colour.  Added to which they are ethically produced in Kerala, India where Michael Oakshott has a strong working relationship with the co-operatives who dye and weave the cottons.  

Sew Fresh Fabrics Sale

To make way for new stock coming to Sew Fresh Fabrics, Peg is discounting all her designer prints (even organics) and most are now less than $8/yd.

From 5/21 through 5/27, buy $35 or more in the Etsy shop and get a FREE SHIPPING code for US customers at SewFreshFabrics.com or a 10% OFF coupon for international customers.

(Shipping and coupon codes are good on a future purchase. Does not apply to previous orders. Coupon will be sent by email. Not transferable.)

Siblings Together Quilt No 3

So I decided I wanted to make three Siblings Together quilts this year.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, then head on over to an earlier post from this year which you can find here.  I kept the quilts simple this year so I could make more and here is the final one, quilted and bound and ready to be handed over to Siblngs Together at the Fat Quarterly London Retreat this summer.

A Sad Week

The worldwide crafting and quilting communities have been shocked and saddened this week by the tragic death of Kathreen Ricketson, who blogged at Whip Up, and her partner.  They left behind two children aged 10 and 13 and a trust fund has been set up for their education.  More information can be found in this post here.

You Don't Bring Me Flowers...

And so the new Amitie BOM Bring Me Flowers (which in my head is You Don't Bring me Flowers) has kicked off (places still available if you email the shop on amitie@amitie.com.au).  This is my third Amitie BOM and is a bit of a mystery as I haven't seen a full image of the final quilt yet but Jen Kingwell is a quilt designing superhero so I know I will love it.  Month one in these BOMs is always an easy one to lull you into a false sense of security.  This month came with instructions that this is a hand pieced BOM but I ignored that.  Working backwards from the blocks being 8", each square would be 4" so each smaller square would be 2" which gave me what I needed to know to cut and piece the windmill blocks on the machine.

I did the same kind of calculation for the corner sections.  And then came the tricky bit - small applique circles (I drew around the base of an Aurifil spool) and bias strip stems (3/8" wide).  

So I enlisted some online help from Sarah Fielke to make both the miniature applique circles:

 ... and the bias tape and hey presto, month 1 of the BOM is done and under my belt without too many tears.  

If you want to learn more from Sarah, check out her Craftsy class here:

Siblings Together Quilting Bee

And so, after much ado and to-ing and fro-ing, the Siblings Together Quilting Bee was formed.  12 of us will make 12 quilts for Siblings Together which we aim to deliver by next summer.  Two more bees are being formed too (go to the Siblings Together Flickr group for more information).  

A mahusive thank you to Moda for very kindly offering to provide us with 12 FQ bundles as the year progresses.  Everyone who reads this blog will know that I am a big big fan of Moda's pre-cuts so, for us in this bee, Christmas is going to come 12 times this year.  I will be showing you the lines each bee member picks as the year goes on as the blocks and quilts we make with them.

My chosen line is 30s Playtime by Chloe's Closet for Moda.  

My blocks will be about 18" square and will look like this.  Four morning stars sashed with cornerstones.  

So that, by the time I get all my 12 blocks together, I can make a quilt like this:

And a second mahusive thank you to the shops listed below who have very generously offered to provide us with quilt backs for the quilts.  I've said it before and I'll say it again (and probably many more times to come), the generosity of the quilting community never ceases to surprise and delight me.  

       

            

      

Sew Fresh Fabrics Summer Bundle Contest

Lots f beautiful bundles are cropping up in the Sew Fresh Fabrics Summer Bundle Contest in the Sew Fresh Fabrics Flickr group  Here's the post that kicked it off.   

To enter the contest, you need to make a mosaic containing a bundle of 12 fabrics from Sew Fresh Fabrics using the theme of or inspired by SUMMER and add your mosaic to the Sew Fresh Fabrics Flickr group by the end of May. 

And here are some of the bundles that have appeared so far (click on the photo to find out who made each bundle). 

More Siblings Together Quilting Bees

There was so much interest in the idea of a Siblings Together Quilting Bee that anyone who missed on the first one can grab a place in one of the others two starting up.  If you're in the UK, head over to this thread and sign up.  If you're elsewhere in Europe, head on over to this thread and sign up.  Can't wait to see what you make and here is the button for anyone in a Siblings Together Quilting Bee to grab for their blog.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/siblingstogether/" title="Siblings Together Quilting Bee"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UUveicwxtF4/UZDqc8V4GJI/AAAAAAAAHYc/I7yJZZwjvHQ/s170/8719584651_90f5aec9f2_q.jpg" alt="Siblings Together Quilting Bee" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Quiltography Winner

And so it is time to choose a winner of the Quiltography iPad quilt design tool.  To see what this program can do, take a look at this medallion quilt designed by Jennie @ Just A Little Stitch who is more adept on this program than I am!

And this fun log cabin quilt she designed.

And so it's time to pick the winner.

Abby, congratulations, I'll be in touch with your download code.  

Abakhan Projects on a Budget

Hi, my name is Catherine and I blog over at Sewonderfulife.  When I saw Lynne's post asking for ideas of what to make with a theme of 'garden' from the fabulous selection at Abakhan, I knew instantly what I wanted to make and I was so excited when Lynne said to go ahead.  So today I am going to show you how to make a tablecloth for the garden table.

Taken between rain showers and wind bursts!!

I ordered a metre each of these lovely fabrics and some thread.  Delivery was very prompt so I got started immediately

You will need a 45 degree triangle template for this.  I don't have one, so drew one on some paper - it works, but a template would be easier! The height of my triangle is 10", but you can make this whatever size you like: just remember to add on 1/2 inch in total for seam allowance.  Take the two solid fabrics and place together - sew along the top and bottom, to make a tube.  

From these stitched strips you are going to cut eight pieced diamonds.  Line the bottom of the triangle against the bottom of the fabric.  The tip of the triangle should be just touching the top stitching.

And cut.  You will end up with  these:

Now flip your template and cut again:

Cut 8 of these.  Now cut 18 single triangles from your background fabric.  Position a background triangle on the top triangle:

 - match the top corner of the triangle to the tip of the diamond.  The tip of the triangle will extend below the seam of the pieced diamond - I always check it looks ok by using the 1/4" mark on my ruler and flipping it over:

Stitch 1/4" from the edge.  Press the seam toward the background triangle and repeat with the other side

 Again, use your ruler to make sure you have even edges. And now you have one block

Keep going - and join them in to pairs. 

Join two pairs to make one half.  You don't need to worry about your points meeting exactly in the middle - we will be cutting a hole in the middle later

Once you have your two halves, line them up and sew them together. 

To make the backing, I cut four squares and sewed them all together.  We will trim it all to shape at the end

Pin the front and back together: wrong sides together. Now we need to cut a hole in the middle.  I used this highly technical bit of kit to cut out my middle hole.  Just draw around something and cut  

Trim the square back to match the hexagonal top.  Now you can sew/quilt as you like.  I just did a simple running stitch on mine.  And then bind it.  I used a very thin piece of binding for the inner circle, it was a lot less fiddly.  Your table cloth is complete.  If you live in the UK all you need now is some sunshine!!

I also made a test version of this with fat quarters - have a look at my blog, for those pictures.  Thanks Lynne for giving me the chance to put my idea to the test.