i am so excited to have finished this quilt for our dear friend katie.

she has been such a wonderful, supportive, and good humoured friend to us, particularly since arty was born, and the best way i know to show love and gratitude is through sewing.

we’re catching up with her today, and i can hardly wait to give it to her!

this quilt is the twin of one i made for sajee ages ago, and that’s kind of appropriate because those two are kind of twinnish themselves - not just good friends, but baking buddies, and synchronised swimming teammates!

that’s all for now, but i’ll be back with a new cross stitch pattern very soon - i promise! xxx

i’m currently participating in a quilting bee with a bunch of lovely women. we’re each making different quilts, so every month we make a different type of block for a different member of the bee. it’s fun because we all get to try a whole range of different blocks, and we all have enough for a full quilt at the end.

the block i made this month was called ‘broken dishes’. it was a really simple block to make, and while there were some good tutorials online, i had a different (and in my opinion, easier) way up my sleeve. i thought i’d write it up and share it, because this is a great block to be able to do. it’d be a really good choice for a first quilt.
to get started, you need:
a fabric pen
a rotary cutter and mat
a quilting ruler
a sewing machine

so, here goes!

first, choose two complimentary fabrics

cut two 5″ square blocks from each of your two fabrics

take one square of each fabric, and lay them on top of each other, right sides together, on your mat.
lining your ruler up with opposite ponts of the top square, draw a line with your fabric pen that bisects the square diagonally.

using your quilting ruler and pen, mark a line 1/4″ from either side of the one you drew in the previous step.

make sure your two pieces of fabric are directly on top of each other, then pin them in place.
using your sewing machine, sew along each of the outer lines that you just drew.

using your quilting ruler and rotary cutter, cut along the original diagonal line you drew.

the two pieces you now have will open out into squares comprised of two contrasting triangles. press them open and trim the little bits of seam that stick out from either side of the square.

repeat this whole process so that you have four squares. lay them out on your mat so that they make the broken dishes pattern.

sew the top left square to the bottom left square to make a rectangle. repeat this with the top right and bottom right squares.

finally, sew the left rectangle to the right rectangle, and you have your completed 8″ block.

i can make a couple of these blocks while the baby has a nap - that’s how quick they are!
hope you’ll find this useful,
essie xoxox

my baby-related crafting mojo has been somewhat lacking since i got knocked up, so i’ve decided to work my way up to bigger things in stages, only attempting small projects to begin with.

this evening i made two quilted bibs, which i hope will come in very useful. i am reliably informed that you can’t have too many of the things.

i like bibs that tie with thin string-like ties, rather than the kind that wrap around the neck and do up with a press stud or velcro. i feel like they’d be more comfortable to wear, and they are more adjustable size-wise.

these were very quick to make, and i’ll definitely be doing more. i might even write a pattern to share, if i get myself organised!

essie xox

here is the promised tutorial for the bear-paw block from this month’s colour/block challenge.

cutting

red fabric:
eight 2-7/8” squares

yellow fabric:
four 4-1/2” squares

background fabric:
eight 2-7/8” squares,
four 2-1/2″ squares,
four 2-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ rectangles

green fabric:
one 2-1/2” square

piecing

take one of your 2-7/8” squares of background fabric, and one of your 2-7/8” squares of red fabric, and place them right-sides together on your cutting mat.

using a fabric pen, rule a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner.

then draw a parallel line on either side of this, 1/4” from the central line.

sew alone each of these outer lines, then cut down the central line.

open out and press, then repeat this process with all of your 2-7/8” squares.

take these squares and sew pairs of them together side be side. press.

IMPORTANT: half of your pairs should have the diagonals going in one direction, and the other half should have them going in the opposite direction, as pictured below:

take one of your 4-1/2” squares of yellow fabric, and sew one of your ‘paired triangles’ pieces to an edge of the square. repeat for all four yellow squares, ensuring that the triangles are pointing in the right direction, as pictured below. press.

take another one of your ‘paired triangles’ pieces, and sew one of your 2-1/2″ squares to the end of it in a way that will completes the bear-paw shape. laying the pieces out on your cutting mat to make sure everything is pointing in the right direction before sewing is a good idea.

sew this longer piece to the appropriate side of the yellow square as suggested in the above image. repeat this process so that you have four completed bear-paw shapes. press.

take one of your four 2-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ rectangles of background fabric, and lay a bear-paw on either side of it, pointing upwards and outwards. sew the bear paws to the long edges of the rectangle in this configuration. press.

take one of your four 2-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ rectangles of background fabric, and lay a bear-paw on either side of it, this time pointing downwards and outwards. sew the bear paws to the long edges of the rectangle in this configuration. press.

take your remaining two 2-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ rectangles of background fabric, and sew them to opposite edges of your 2-1/2” square of green fabric. press.

use this long skinny piece to connect your two pairs of bear-paws, then, you guessed it, press.

now you have a completed bear-paw block!

i really like this block – it’s traditional, and it has character. i think I’ll make a full quilt in this style one day.

i hope you find this tutorial very useful. Do drop back and show me if you use it to create something!
essie xoxoxo

time is streaking by! it seems like only a moment ago that holly and i decided to set ourselves this challenge, and we’re already up to block number two!

this time i chose the image, ‘on being a girl’ by mallory beth on flickr…

… and holly chose the ‘bear paw’ block. here’s how mine turned out:

i really like this block, and i’ll post a tutorial for it soon!

essie xoxox

here’s how to make a traditional “square in a star” quilt block like the one i blogged about in my last post:

for the purposes of this tutorial, i’ll refer to the fabrics as follows:
white = fabric 1
grey = fabric 2
orange = fabric 3
aqua = fabric 4

cutting
from fabric 1, cut 12 rectangles measuring 2.5″ x 4.5″, and 4 squares measuring 2.5″ x 2.5″
from fabric 2, cut 8 squares measuring 2.5″ x 2.5″
from fabric 3, cut 4 squares measuring 2.5″ x 2.5″
from fabric 4, cut 1 square, measuring 4.5″ x 4.5″

piecing
take one of your fabric 1 rectangles and lay it right side up on your cutting mat.
place a piece of fabric 2, right side down on top of it, so that one of it’s edges lines up exactly with the end of the rectangle.
mark a line bisecting the piece of fabric 2 diagonally as shown below:

sew along that line, then cut off excess fabric, leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance.

press open.
repeat this process for the other end of the rectangle.

you will end up with a rectangle that looks like a pointy pair of cat’s ears:

take another white rectangle, and sew a square of fabric 3 to each short end. press.
repeat so that you have two of these.

take another fabric 1 rectangle, and sew the long edge to the side of your piece of fabric 4. press.
repeat with the opposite side of the same piece of fabric 4.

sew the strips made up of fabric 1 and fabric 3 to the top and bottom of your piece made up of fabric 1 and 4, creating a square.

take two squares of fabric 1, and sew one to each short end of one of your “cat’s ears” rectangles. press.
repeat, so that you have two identical pieces.
sew these to the top and bottom of your pieced square.

take a rectangle of fabric 1, and sew it’s short end to a short end of one of your “cat’s ears” rectangles.
sew another rectangle to the opposite end in the same way. press.
repeat with your final “cat’s ears” rectangle.
sew these to either side of your block, completing the star shape.

your block is now complete!

there are many variations you can make to this block.
for example, for a simpler look, you could use more of fabric 2 in place of fabric 3, creating a more cohesive star shape.
you could make the block look more ‘filled in’ by substituting another coloured fabric for the white rectangles surrounding the central square.

whatever you choose to do with it, i hope you find this a very useful block.
if you end up using it to make your own quilted creations, i’d love to see pictures!

have fun!
essie xoxo

my dear friend holly and i have embarked on a new project together, inspired by the talented ms mcporkchop! we want to challenge ourselves to try new colour combinations and quilt blocks. each month, one of us will choose a photo, and the other a quilt block, and we’ll each use the photograph as a colour palette for the block we create!

this month holly chose this whimsical, vintagey photo:

(source)

i loved the orange and the aqua that featured in there, but my eye was also drawn to the band of grey in the background.

my choice of block was a traditional “square in a star”, which i’ll post a tutorial for very shortly.

the final result looked like this:

i like it! i think if i were to do it again, i’d substitute a different colour for the white rectangles surrounding the central square - possibly an apricoty orange…? but i still really like the block i’ve made. perhaps i’ll turn it into a trivet…

essie xoxo

it occurs to me that i’ve never taken a photo of the full completed scrap quilt that i posted about back in august. that’s because a certain tiny resident of this house has taken ownership of it…

if i get a chance to wrest it from her tiny yet determined clutches, i will take a photo!

essie xxx

my friend siobhan is making her first quilt! she’s using a gorgeous selection of liberty of london fabrics, and it’s been so fantastic to watch it come together.

as we speak, she’s pinning her ‘quilt sandwich’ together on the floor of my study.

ioan has been trying to ‘help’…

but that got him ejected from the room pretty quickly!

how great is it to have amazing friends who share your interests?
essie xoxoxox

the best bit about working on a scrap quilt is getting to interact with all my old favourite fabrics again.

it’s all quilted and bound now, and i will show you a photo of the full thing as soon as i get a chance to take a nice one.
essie xoxoxo