Bloggers Quilt Festival Oct 2011

Well when Amy announced that the bloggers quilt festival was starting on the 28th I decided that I needed to make a quilt quick smart! I set myself the challenge of making 12 quilts this year and I am failing! So that meant not many quilts to share, so I thought I would get my finger out and get on with it.

Earlier this year I decided that I would take part in the Naked Bed challenge, I found out about it really late though, there were only a few weeks until the deadline. I bought some fabric and made this strip

but that was as far as I got, until this week!
So here is my improv quilt that I made for myself, sorry about the pictures, its morning here and the garden is in shade so the coloyurs haven't come out brilliantly.

I confess, it's not completely finished, the binding is not on yet! If you head back next week then it should be done. (I only just finished the quilting 10 minutes before writing this post)
I was going to straight line quilt diagonally 1 inch apart all over, but I got bored! so I improved the quilting too.

I really love this quilt and it's the first quilt that I have ever made for myself. Ooh and I love my birdy clothes pegs too!

Thank you for visiting, feel free to leave a comment and I would love it if you decided to follow me or visit again. I'm a pretty new blogger, I only started blogging at the last bloggers quilt festival but I have got lots of exciting plans coming up, fabric swaps tutorials and of course more makes!

Here are a few of my recent makes

I'm off to check out the other quilts in the festival (after i've made myself a cuppa), head over there and see the talent, here is the link (I cant get the button to work!)

Little Ballerina Girl

Well I have been finding some time to do some sewing (yay) and a little time to do a quick blog post. I'm currently part of the Flickr group Peace Bee With You, a modern paper piecing bee. Octobers theme was girls in dresses and here is my contribution

I love the look of paper pieced blocks, especially the work of verykerryberry, ayumi and jednoiglec. They however make it look effortless and if im being honest then I find it difficult. I enjoy it though and i'm happy with my end results and I keep doing it in the hope that one day it will become easy for me. I think the main thing is that it can be fiddly and time consuming and I like quick results!

Winter Stitching

I have been rubbish, oh my goodness its been a month since I last blogged (bad bad blogger). I'm really struggling to find the time at the moment, between children, work, housework, cooking, husband and a teeny tiny bit of sewing I just have not had time to sit and write! It's such a shame because I love it, I love writing down what i've been up to, keeping this journal of what I've made and most of all meeting lots of lovely people that have the same interests and keep coming back and reading what I write! So thank you, sorry for being absent, how do you do it? I know everyone is busy busy, how do you manage to fit those extra things in to everyday life?

Any way to keep me on track I'm joining up with Sarah at Fairyface Designs for

The way this works is that everyone involved lists the projects they want to complete over the next 4 months and hopefully by putting it in writing it helps keep you on track. We also get to hop around lots of other lovely blogs and see what everyone else has planned (loads of great inspiration)

Ok so here goes:

1) Complete my Pretty little pouch for the swap over on Flickr. By complete I mean finish, gather some lovely extras and post. I have finished the outside of the pouch, just need to sort out the lining

And this is the mosaic that I posted for my partner

2) Make my pincushion for the Sewn Spaces Swap on Flickr. I have started it this evening so hopefully this will be done quickly. I asked for something fun, maybe a bit whimsical, this is the mosaic I posted

3) Design and make my cushion for the Brit Quilt Pillow Fight. I need to get working on this asap. I cant show my partners mosaic but here is mine, I'm hoping for something Scandinavian inspired, although I will love whatever I get, my tastes are pretty eclectic

4) 2x birthday pressies for girlies at Crafty Campers (local craft group). One for 2 weeks time and One for Feb. I'm thinking of doing something like this one, that may or may not be for my pretty pouch swap partner

5) Block for a quilt for a lovely woman that is having a special birthday soon. I'm also assembling said quilt

6) Catch up on Skill Builder Quilt, this is where i'm at so far

7) Catch up on Farmers Wife Quilt, this is where i'm at so far

8) New Christmas Stockings for Boo, Buddy, Hubby and Me (Yes Father Christmas comes to every member of our household)

9) Quilt for my sisters wedding pressies (she has been married 2.5 years!!!)

10) Quilt for other sisters wedding pressies (she got married in June!)

11) Bee blocks for Peace Bee With You

12) Bee blocks for Sew Bee Joyful

13) I've signed up for the next round of 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee

14) Finish our giant living room curtains

15) Finish our 4 roman blinds for our living room

Seriously my list could go on and on with all the things that I want to make (pouches for me for storing sewing bits, about 10 quilt designs in my head etc.)

And finally I want to get some tutorials done and posted onto my blog. I've started writing a few but need to find the time to make, take photos, upload etc.

I'm also debating whether to sign up for Handprinted: A Fabric Swap, it sounds amazing but i'm just not sure if I can find the time, although it's half term next week so no work for me, just a 1 year old and a 2 year old to keep me distracted! Oh bugger it I just headed over there and signed up!!!! The deadline is Sunday so come join me, it will be so much fun

Head over to Sarahs blog and see what everyone else is doing. Are you going to join up? How big is your to do list for the next few months?

I promise not to leave it for a month until my next post, thanks for bearing with me
Lotti