{forest floor} blog tour

hello! and welcome to my stop on the forest floor blog tour! i am a big fan of bonnie christines fabrics (you can see here and here) and it was an absolute delight to work with her forest floor fabrics, the designs are just as brilliant as ever!

in all my years of sewing i have never made a dresden plate before (i know!) so while drooling over and petting these fabrics i thought a dresden plate would be perfect and now i have a new mini quilt for my new bedroom :)

i just love that bunny! she will definetly be popping up in my other projects! the illustrations in this fabric line are soo sweet, it was hard choosing just four to play with :) i also think i will making a lot more dresden plates, it was super fun to make and it's great for fussy cutting the centres!  and me being me just had to add a little something more :) hence the doily! 

i absolutely adore these fabrics! and love the woodland-y feel that they have! i have some fabric left over that i am itching to make something else with :)

thank-you bonnie! for letting me play with some forest floor fabrics. make sure to have a look at all the amazing projects being made with this fabric here! and you should see the adorable quilt jayme made yesterday at finding sweetland and to stop by tomorrow to see what Maja Wlusek at Betyipiernaty has made :)

rachael x

AGF Stitched - Palisades Quilt : :

hello! and welcome to my stop on the Palisades Quilt by Fat Quarter Shop and Art Gallery Fabrics. i say this about every quilt i make, but this quilt was sooo fun to make! and came together really quickly while looking like a really complicated pattern! 

i chose boardwalk delight by Dana Willard for my fabric, because it just screams summer and bright sunny days (and it really brightens up the grey days we've been having recently) it was a joy to work with and had me smiling while i was sewing away :)

the quilt pattern is brilliant and easy to follow! and while it does look complicated it really isn't and its such a fun quilt to make! it would be a great quilt to make for a new-ish beginner! 

it makes a nice, big quilt perfect for the long summer nights on the beach (one can dream!) or for cuddling under in our uk summertime :) the quilt is a free pattern so you can make it too! you can find the pattern here 

the fat quarter shop has also put together a fun video to help you make the quilt! i really like this quilt and it would look great in all different fabrics and how the fabrics really change the look of the whole quilt!

i still need to quilt and bind this quilt and cannot wait to have it finished i *think* it might be my new favourite, and i'll have to be careful because my mum has got her eye on it too :)

you should pop over and see all the other amazing quilts (they are totally awesome) 

Tina from Emily Ann's Kloset

Amy from Diary of a Quilter

Erica from Kitchen Table Quilting

 Melissa from Happy Quilting

Rachael from The Floral Suitcase

Amanda from Jedi Craft Girl

Megan from Quilt Story

Heather from Quilt Story

Melanie from Mostly Crafty

Brooke from Silly Mama Quilts

Afton from Quilting Mod

Lucy from Charm about You

rachael x

{caravan tote + tilly}

I have finished university for summer *yay* so i came home for a bit to just relax and unwind and do nothing except sew! I have soo many projects that i want to make, but i knew i couldn't get them all done so i focused on just a few!

one fabric line i have been crushing on is fleet and flourish by maureen cracknell, i have wanted to sew with it for ages, but there was uni deadlines and the fact that i didnt know what i wanted to make, so it has sat on my shelf patiently waiting to be cut in to!
Then my friend mentioned making a bag and *ping* yes1 i would use it to make a bag, we settled on the caravan tote by noodlehead and i got to work!

the pattern called for a solid piece of fabric, but me being me had to do something different! i did 3 inch patchwork squares and then cut it to size, and the fabrics go perfectly with essex linen in grey, which i used for the contrasting band at the top! i quilted the outside and used heavy weight interfacing to make it sturdy enough to stand on its own.

this bag has a front zippered pocket, this made me wobble a bit and want to give up! but i persevered and i beat the *dreaded* zipper (i may have given myself a pat on the back!) when making the inside of the pocket i wanted to add a fun surprise, cue a magical unicorn to peek at me :)

i got really confused making the lining for the bag and found it hard to figure out which fabrics to cut for which part, but i got there in the end! i used fabric from maureens first fabric line, wild and free (another favourite of mine) i love the fun mix of fabrics and it brightens up the bag! also look at that magnetic clasp, soo proud of that :)

i think its the extra little bits that make handmade items special! i added a little bit of extra fabric to the handles to lengthen them and also because i can and its cute :) i also added some ribbon for a little tag, to add to the handmade look! do you like the handmade look, or do you prefer items not looking handmade?

i am definetly not a bag making person, give me a quilt to make any day, but i am super happy and proud that i completed this bag (there may start being more here on the blog) i read lots of reviews before making this bag, to help me along, but i still found the pattern quite hard to understand, which may be because im not a bag maker, overall it was a great pattern and makes a good room-y sized bag, its already had a workout, going shopping in town :)

today is also tillys birthday!! she is 14 and looking as good as ever :)

rachael x

linking up to finish it up friday

{cultivate} blog tour

hello! it's my stop on the cultivate blog tour *yay* i absolutely love bonnie's fabrics! (as you can see here and here) and cultivate is no different, it's so beyond lovely.

how perfect is that brown fabric? i love all the warm colours in this collection, they just say autumn and cosy-ness to me! i also love the pops of colour, like that green, scrummy! you can see (and drool over) the whole collection here!

when i saw these fabrics the first thing that popped into my head was bear-paw blocks, but i wanted to do something a bit different with them, so coasters it was! practical and pretty, what could be better?

i paired my cultivate fabric with some essex linen and i think it really makes the colours pop! and of course to just finish them off i added some lace to the outside edges for some extra prettiness. i really enjoyed working with these fabrics, and i will definetly be incorporating them into my future projects :)

do you want to see more lovely projects made with cultivate? then hop over to Amanda's blog Material Girl quilts to see the brilliant hoop she made! and be sure to visit trudi's blog tomorrow for her project!

rachael x

linking up with fabric tuesday