four flutterbys flying

i didn't have my foot this past week, which meant no sewing. i am taking judiths amazing retro butterflies class and luckily there was just a little bit of trimming to do, so the past week was spent trimming a gazillion drunkards paths, yay! i got my foot back just in time for class and all that trimming meant i could sew some blocks together.

i now have four pretty, fluttery butterflies finished! and wow were they a struggle to get to this stage, me and my seam ripper are super best friends now! only because i didn't read the instructions and merrily sewed away with a 1/4" seam instead of a 3/8" seam, even after i found out i had to use a 3/8" seam i didn't move my needle over enough and had to get the seam ripper out again!

even with all the seam ripping and perhaps just a few naughty words, i love how the blocks turned out! i am using all my bonnie and camille fabric from most of their past collections, it's been fun mixing them all together! i don't really have a plan for this quilt, i keep going between colour blocking and scrappy, so i guess it's going to be a mixture of both!

oh and we had a visitor today, meet storm he is just a big gentle giant and oh so fluffy! and as you can see everybody that comes to the house leaves with thread on them!

rachael x


p.s thanks for all the entries on my giveaway post and for telling me your favourite movies, i now have a very long list of movies to watch and i can't wait!

sew mama sew giveaway day! *giveaway closed*

hello! and welcome to my little blog, feel free to have a look around!
it's sew mama sew giveaway day! yay! and today i'm giving away a dreamin' vintage, retro butterfly mini quilt

it really is mini, it measures 13.5 inches. it is quilted with a circular flower (because it's a butterfly and butterflies like flowers)

a little pieced back! and look it even has corners so it is able to hang up on your wall :)

ok enough pretty pictures you came here for the giveaway not to hear me talk :)

how to enter!
to enter just leave me a comment telling if you have a favourite movie and what it is! followers (old and new) leave another comment and get a second entry :)*

if you are a no reply blogger make sure to leave your email address. giveaway will close on friday 16th. the winner will be picked by mr. random! (open worldwide)

good luck x

small projects

i'm working on a few 'big' projects at the minute, which means no finishes, so yesterday when the postman loudly rang the bell outside and woke me up from my lovely sleep to deliver my bundle of dreamin' vintage by jeni baker, i knew exactly what i wanted to make! a nice, small project.

is this not just the most best-est fabric you've ever seen? i think this may be my favourite fabric line, and you will be seeing it in a lot of projects! there is not one print which i don't love! 

anyhoo onto the project. i have this shelf in the toyroom sewing room just above my cutting table and basically everything gets put up there, scraps of fabric, receipts, pins, letters, envelopes, really anything that is sitting around, it goes on the shelf. 

see! isn't it just so messy and icky looking? i obviously had to fix that and make it all pretty and quilty, enter my bundle of fabric and some linen and ta-dah!

pretty boxes to hold all the messy 'things' that were on the shelf, they're still messy inside but on the outside its pretty and tidy, yay! they measure just under 8inches and are really roomy to hold all my crap stuff.

i choose 4 different designs so as not to make them all the same, but still be co-ordinating. first up just big squares and some stippling, a combo that can never go wrong in my opinion

a star block, which i think i may have to make a quilt from. i think the background fabric is a really good basic to have and goes with so many fabrics.

this one is my favourite! and would not have been made without the maths whizz that is judith after many, many hours trying to figure out to make a 8inch log cabin, i put a request out on IG for help, and judith came to the rescue, thank-you!!!

and lastly small patchwork and 1/4inch quilting on each side of the seam, another combo that you just cannot go wrong with.

i think that one of the best parts of being able to sew/quilt is to be able to create something useful that fulfils a purpose, while also being pretty at the same time. small projects are so great because they're quick and you get the satisfaction of a finish, win win!

would anybody like a tutorial to make your own pretty, fabric boxes?

rachael x

linking up with crazy mom quilts

i believe in fairies...

ooh it's been a bit quiet over here! so here's a little catch-up of what i've been up to!

i got a (very hard to photograph) peter pan tattoo :)

and turned twenty two!

i made just a few fabric boxes

along with a couple of foxes

i did the fine and dandy craft fair

and treated myself to some dotty boots, they're quite the pair!

i've had a little fabric play

and started the quilt red letter day

… watched this movie many, many times…

so much so that it's got me talking in rhymes!

rachael x

p.s oh and there is a giveaway over on my Facebook, why not go and take a look :)

FAL quarter 1 results

so wow! the first quarter of the year is over, it actually went quite slowly!

do you remember waay back in january i made a list of some projects that i would like to have finished, lets see how i got on, considering it was a list of three you'd think they'd all be ticks well...

number 1 - finish quilting and bind my pink low volume quilt - FAIL

number 2 - turn this panel into a cushion for my brother - TICK

and you can see the finished cushion here

number 3 - piece, baste, quilt and bind the giant star quilt - FAIL 
i suppose that one was just a tad optimistic!

so looking at my list its 1 out of 3 which yanno isn't great! perhaps next quarter will be better

linking up with katy at the littlest thistle 

how now brown cow and a 'funny' story

the last couple of weeks has been all about college work and yet i still managed to leave it all to the night before it needed handed in, you can't say I'm a procrastinator.

now do you fancy a giggle? here is a story about balance and co-ordination - my mum decided that she wanted a mp3 player but i convinced her to get an iPod. so yesterday i went to argos to get an iPod, it was all going great, i picked the one i wanted, payed for it and collected it, all simple enough until i was leaving the shop. you know how they have that box of catalogues in the middle of the floor? well i wasn't paying attention to my walking and managed to very gracefully fall straight into the box of catalogues! ooh it was soo embarrassing, needless to say i quickly got up and walked fast out of the shop and that is the let time i shall ever go there again!

time for sewing stuff now if you can stop giggling! it seems i have a thing for making cushions at the minute, but when inspiration strikes, go with it.

*this post contains brown fabric*

i love, love, love brown fabric right now, i just cannot get enough of it! which is the inspiration for my cushion

cows and brown fabric - match made in heaven. this is harriet the highland coo. it all started with this sketch one day in college and i knew harriet had to become fabric-y

i really like her hair, even though i kind of just want to flick it out of her eyes. and her strawberry nose, can you tell i really like my new cushion?

when i finished the appliqué it felt like the cushion was missing something, and i couldn't figure out what. then one day i was tidying i found my most favourite pink flowery fabric and i just knew it had to be the binding. i have a love/hate relationship with binding, i love how it looks, but hate sewing it on, anybody else feel the same about binding?

rachael x

walking in the air

it's monday! my favourite day of the week.

yesterday it was my brothers birthday and we all know what that means, yes! a handmade present, yay! do you remember this panel from ages ago?

i said i was going to make a cushion for him moving to england, well his birthday came first so i made it for his birthday. 

some straight line quilting, a little bit of appliqué, some binding and ta-dah! a cushion is made, i really like this map print from out to sea by sarah jane.

have you guessed his name yet? i am also happy to say that he loved it! and took a nap on it straight away, i would say that it was a success, yay! cause you just never know with handmade gifts.

now you've seen the cushion you might be wondering what age he is, any guesses? here's a clue

yes he turned 23! and every 23 year old needs a map cushion (he studied geography, so at least its relevant haha) with their name appliquéd onto it.

two birds, one stone i got to make a handmade birthday present and put a tick on my FAL quarter 1 list,  win, win!

rachael x

oh and before i forget there was also cake, a polka dot cake

just a quick photo i snapped before it was all eaten, it was yummy!!