being sick is BORING! it’s so frustrating just lying there in bed feeling too icky to even pick up a needle and do a little hand sewing, so as soon as i started feeling even a tiny bit better, i was up and at the sewing machine, filled with a renewed passion for an old project. my epic scrap quilt.

this is the scrappiest quilt i have ever seen. it’s made up of bits and pieces from every quilt i have ever made. there are so many different fabrics in it that i couldn’t even guess at their quantity.

the whole time i have been working on it, i’ve been filled with a niggling apprehension over how it would turn out. i mean, there’s so much going on here, that there was every chance it could have just been truly hideous…

… and i’m still not convinced it really isn’t the ugliest quilt ever. but that’s ok, because i am fond of it. each of those little scraps means something to me and has memories attached. i’ve spent a long time on it, and i love it the way that a mother loves her baby: unconditionally, no matter how ugly it may be.

now to finish hand quilting it…

essie xoxox

recently, i bought a wonderful new toy: a kobo (one of the many e-readers currently on the market). i am a bit in love with it. it’s so light, and it can hold over 1000 books in it. it’s making my love of reading that much easier to indulge.

of course, acquiring a new device like this means that i need to craft some sort of home for it…

my kobo cover is completely hand pieced and quilted. the only thing i cracked the machine out for was the button loop (which would have been annoyingly fiddly to stitch by hand!).

as you can see, i have managed to incorporate my love of squirrels into this little creation. they feature on two of the different fabrics i used.

i’m really happy with how it came together. i love the warm colours, and the combination of prints.

as you can see above, i’m now experimenting with altering the pattern, with a view to making kobo covers available in my etsy shop… we’ll see how that goes!

essie xoxoxo

the days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in, and it’s finally getting cooler and greyer - just the kind of weather i like. it’s perfect for hand sewing.

i save my most favourite fabrics for hand piecing. i love spending the time really appreciating and enjoying them. and heather ross’ fabrics are my most favourite of all…

it’s so deliciously soft - wonderful to work with.

i’m snuggling in for a while…

essie xoxox

i’ve been piecing away at this pillow for a while now, and i finished it over easter.
it’s almost alarmingly bright, but it looks good on our couch, or (as pictured) on the rocking chair in our study.

all the hexagons are hand pieced, and then i machine quilted them to some cotton batting before sewing them up by hand with some bright yellow binding.

the quilting on the back is a bit wonky, because i am yet to perfect the art of machine quilting!

i used 5″ hexagons for the front, and 4″ ones for the back. i am a bit addicted to hexies at the moment, and am now working on a whole quilt of them using my “far, far away” fabric by heather ross. it’s been hard to cut into that fabric because i have been saving it for so long, but it will be lovely to hand-piece with, because it is so pretty, and so wonderfully soft and delicate.

essie xoxox

i’ve been doing a lot of embroidery lately, but that doesn’t mean i have abandoned quilting!

i finally finished my oma’s quilt on sunday, and i must say, i’m very pleased with it.

i used this great hourglass block tutorial from allison at cluck cluck sew. it was clear and easy to follow, with lots of pictures (which i like in a tutorial).

now i just have to give it to her - that’s the best bit!
essie xoxoxo

here it is! my first quilt pattern!

i’ve been quietly working away on this little project for a few months now (though it’s not a project that should take that long - it’s just that i always have about five projects on the go at once, and spread my time between them!). i have been SO looking forward to sharing it with you!

YOU WILL NEED:
a rotary cutter
a cutting mat
a quilting ruler
a needle for hand quilting
quilting pins
a water soluble fabric marker (test this on fabric scraps to ensure it really will wash off!)
1.5m of quilting fabric in a plain white, cream or ecru
a charm pack of bright printed quilting fabrics.
2m of a complimentary print for backing.
.25m of another complimentary print for binding.
approx 2m of batting (this quantity will vary depending of the width of your chosen batting).
2 balls of dmc perle 8 thread, in a colour that matches your plain fabric

CUTTING:
cut  246 squares of your bright printed fabric, each measuring 2.5” x 2.5”.
cut 162 squares out of your plain fabric, each measuring 2.5” x 2.5”.
cut 2 strips out of your plain fabric, each measuring 36.5” x 2.5”.
cut 2 strips out of your plain fabric, each measuring 40.5” x 2.5”.
cut 2 strips out of your plain fabric, each measuring 44.5 x 2.5”.
cut 2 strips out of your plain fabric, each measuring 48.5” x 2.5”.

PIECING
set 84 of your coloured squares aside, ensuring you have a good variety of your chosen fabrics represented in your selection.

take 5 coloured squares, and 4 plain squares, and, pressing as you go, piece them into a nine patch square like so:

repeat until you have 18 blocks in this configuration.then take 4 coloured squares and 5 plain squares, and, pressing as you go, piece them into a nine patch square like so:

repeat until you have 18 blocks in this configuration.divide these blocks in to four lots of nine, and, pressing as you go, piece them until you have two large blocks with plain fabric in the corners like this:
and two large blocks with coloured fabric in the corners like this:
sew these four large blocks together until you have one large pieced centre for your quilt like so:

(n.b. i have created these piecing images in photoshop, and they don’t represent the variety of prints that appear in the final quilt – it was just easier to cut and paste from a smaller number of prints!)take your two strips of plain fabric measuring 36.5” x 2.5”, and sew them to opposite edges of this center panel.
now take your two strips of plain fabric measuring 40.5” x 2.5” and sew them to the top and bottom of your center panel. you should now have created a plain border around your pieced center.

from the 84 you set aside earlier, take 20 coloured squares and sew them into a long strip. press. repeat so that you have two strips of 20 squares.
sew these to opposite sides of your growing quilt top.

using the remaining 44 squares, create 2 strips of 22 squares, and press. sew these to the top and bottom of your quilt top. press. you should now have a border of squares all around the quilt.

take your two strips of plain fabric measuring 44.5 x 2.5” and sew them to opposite edges of your quilt top. press.
now take your two strips of plain fabric measuring 48.5” x 2.5” and sew them to the top and bottom of your center panel. press. you should now have created another plain border, and your quilt top is complete!

at this point you can have your quilt professionally machine quilted, or machine quilt it yourself if you have a long-armed machine. i chose to hand quilt mine, because I thought a simple, slightly rustic look would suit this particular design. the following instructions are for hand quilting.

HAND QUILTING
take your backing fabric, and piece it together so that it is as large as your quit top with a few inches excess in each direction.
piece your batting in a similar way if necessary.

press your quilt top and backing carefully.

lay your backing fabric, right-side down, on a large, clean, flat surface. smooth it out so that it is completely flat. you can use making tape to secure it if you wish.
carefully lay your batting on top, smoothing it out as you did with your backing.
lay your quilt top, right-side-up, on top of this, smoothing again.
working from the middle, use your quilting pins to ensure that these three layers are secured together. you can’t really use too many pins. as a rough guide, i would aim for on pin to every 4 square inches.

though you might be tempted to, don’t trim yet!

take your quilting ruler and your water soluble fabric pen and mark the lines you would like to quilt along. i used long diagonal lines, creating an X over each plain square, and continuing over the borders.

thread your needle with your perle 8 thread, and settle in for some hand quilting! this one took me about two full days to quilt.

when you have finished the quilting, trim the backing and batting so that they are even with the edges of your quilt top, and remove the pins.

BINDING
there are several different methods for binding a quilt, and each has their merits. i’ve chosen this one because I think it complements the hand quilting.

cut your binding fabric into strips of 1.75”.
using your machine sew these strips end to end so that you have one long strip of fabric.

laying one end of your binding strip flat on your ironing board, right-side down, carefully fold each long edge approx .25” in towards the middle of the strip, pressing them firmly as you go. do this all along the length of the binding, being careful not to burn your fingers!

carefully pin the binding over the raw edges of your quilt and then, using the same perle 8 thread you did for your hand quilting, sew it in place using even, visible stitches. when you get all the way around, tuck the end of your binding over so there are no raw edges showing, secure with a few careful stitches and then tie off!

your quilt should now be complete!

i really hope you like this pattern! if you use it, please let me know. i’d love to see your versions!
also, please respect that it took lot of time and effort to make this quilt and write the tutorial, so don’t claim the pattern as your own, and remember to link back here if you’re going to blog about making it.

essie xoxoxo

as a nerd and a bookworm, i need a big bookbag in which to lug many tomes to and from uni. i’m happy to say that i’ve finished my 2010 bookbag, and i love it!

the hexies are paper-pieced, the bag itself is freestyle quilted, and the handles are hand stitched.
the lining is made of a few of the fabrics that i used to make hexagons.

i love paper piecing, because it’s pretty much the only time that i bother with fussy-cutting, the results of which i always love!

this project was inspired by this beautiful bag by modern acorn, and since it resembles her design quite closely, i won’t be writing a pattern for this one. you should join me in encouraging her to write a pattern that we can buy!

essie xoxox

my sajee finally has her own quilt, and she has our friend lili to thank for it. lili posted a photo of a cushion she was making using string blocks, and i thought it looked kind of great, so i had a go at it myself. it got kind of addictive, and this was the result:

i used heaps of scraps, and some carefully selected fat quarters, and i think it came together pretty well:

the backing is quite simple, to contrast with the super busy top:

and the blue contrasts nicely with the oranges and yellows:

but most importantly, it gets the tiny dog’s tick of approval:

i’m working on a pink and green one for myself now!
essie xoxox

p.s. if you want to have a try at a string quilt yourself, here are a couple of tutorials:
1. the sometimes crafter
2. p.s. i quilt

it’s been a while since i did some hand-quilting, but i’m back at it, and remembering how much i enjoy it!

why, yes! i do keep my quilting pins in a tea cup!

my oma is about to turn 80, so i am making her a quilt.

she is a very non-fussy, dutch lady, so pink and lilac and frills were never going to do for her. it needed to be simple, and involve the colour blue.

when i’m making quilts i get very tired of counting the blocks over and over again, and never being 100% certain in my mind that i have the right number. my solution to this is to write a number of each block (in this case it was 1 - 40), and as i cut the pieces for that block, tear the number off the page i’ve written it on, and lay it on the pieces. simple, and very effective!

i’m making progress, and hoping very much that i get it finished in time to give to her on the day!

essie xoxoxox