Rockabye Sweet Baby James

One of my recent projects has been a quilt for James, first grandchild of our friends Melanie and Chris. We have known Ben, James's Dad since he was a young boy and he used to babysit for my boys when they were babies. When I heard that Ben and his wife Becky were expecting a baby in March I decided that the new arrival must have a quilt!

The quilt block I chose was the Shoofly Snowball block we used for the Block Lotto at the International Quilting Day. I decided to make it as an 'I Spy' quilt rather than a traditional baby quilt so that James would be able to continue to enjoy it as he grows up. Each block is made using a different novelty fabric and I have used images that are important to their family.

Here is a photo of the quilt label. I named the quilt for two reasons. Firstly right from when I heard that James was born the James Taylor song just kept coming into my head and I sang it to myself when I was piecing the quilt. I am a fan of James Taylor and particularly enjoy that song.

Secondly, one night years ago when we returned home and Ben was babysitting Jonathan, my eldest son who was then a very small baby, Ben was rocking him to sleep in such a gentle way that the image has stayed with me ever since. I knew that one day Ben would make a great Dad himself.

Here is a close up of some of the fabrics - lots of interest for a growing baby.

And finally here is a photo of the quilt, James and his proud Grandad. I forgot to say that James lives in Canada so it was a very special time for his grandparents who probably won't see as much of him as they would wish for.

Hello - I'm back again!

Not really sure why I lost my blogging mojo - lots of excuses - all important - but I am still here and I am still quilting!
Since March I have been working hard on my final two City & Guilds pieces, desperately hoping to have them completed before the end of this month but it didn't happen.
My Tuesday patchwork classes have finished now for the summer and we had a fantastic end of year celebration and 'show and tell'.
I have also made a baby quilt for a dear friend's grandson, 15 yards of quilted bunting for another dear friend's daughter's wedding and two lots of birthday bunting for two lovely little girls.
I have been on holiday to Scotland last week and visited the Loch Lomond Quilt Show for the first time.
So as you can see I have been very busy but the good news is I have lots of photos of all these things and hope to share over the next couple of days.


The significance of the photos in this post is that these are two of the inspirational photos I have used for my City & Guilds pieces. I am making a red wholecloth quilt based on designs found on Welsh Celtic crosses and I am also making a 'Golden Wedding' wallhanging for my parents.

Their Golden Wedding anniversary is 15th July - so still a bit of time left!

The wholecloth is nearly finished - just four cornerstones left to quilt and millions of ends to bury!

I am in that strange pre-holiday limbo at the moment as we leave for a very special holiday on Tuesday (00.30 hours). We are flying to Chicago at 11.00 Tuesday to travel to California and back in a hire car, returning to the UK on July 1st. Our house will be turning into a teenagers hostel and so I am busy packing, washing, ironing, cleaning, shopping etc.

I hope that you will be able to join us on our special 'California Trip' (in the words of the song) through the blog. The first two weeks will be Route 66 in its entirety and then we return via Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska. It is Geoff's 50th birthday treat so lots of car stuff! Plenty of quilty stuff too!!

Maureen's 'Hard Collar' Bag.

Maureen is a student in my Tuesday Patchwork group and this week she brought this bag that she had made out of the collars, cuffs and button bands from recycled shirts. I was so impressed with the design that I just had to share it with you. Maureen is a very keen, prolific quilter and she has already made a couple of quilts using the fabric from all these shirts.

The front is made of the collars and button bands - she has kept the buttonholes behind each button!

The top of the bag is made with the parts that have the stiffener fused to them which means that it gives a really firm top to the bag. The decorative flaps with the toggles are made from cuffs.

Here is the inside pocket rescued from another shirt! Maureen called the bag 'Hard Collar' because she broke a needle when she went over one of those plastic tabs found in the ends of some collars.

I'm sure you will agree that this is a fabulous bag. The only sad thing for me is that I recently had a clear out and threw away loads of collars and cuffs from the shirts I have recycled into quilts. I really want to make one of these bags!

International Quilting Day Report

I know things have been quiet on the blog recently but I have been busy preparing for our International Quilting Day event which happened today.

We had an attendance of 43 people and have raised the grand total of £637.13 for Barnsley Hospice.

I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone who donated raffle prizes, charity stall items, baking etc and also to all those who helped to make the day such a great success.



Here is a report of the events -



These are just some of the 100+ block lotto blocks.

A selection of Ugly Fat Quarters waiting to be swapped.

A quilt from the Show and Tell.

Samples from Lynne's Applique People workshop.

And samples from Hazel's Postcard workshop. Make sure you go over to Hazel's blog as she has lots more photos from the day!

Thanks to you both for agreeing to do these brilliant workshops which were enjoyed so much by the participants.

All the lovely donations of home made cakes!

This lovely welcome quilt was donated by Sue before she returned to Dorset - hope you had a great IQD too!

Photos from the hand applique workshop.

The day went so well that I am already planning for 2012!

If you missed this one you better make sure that you will be there next year!

International Quilting Day March 19th 2011 - you are invited!

The third Saturday in March is designated International Quilting Day. The philosophy behind it is for quilters to meet together to socialise and help others.

Sue, Lynne and I talked about hosting an event here in Yorkshire and after getting a few ideas together we decided to go ahead. The only slightly sad part is that Sue has now moved back to Dorset and can't be with us on the day - but I know she will be with us in spirit!


You are invited!


Here are all the details

Date - Saturday March 19th 2011.

Venue - Emmanuel Methodist Church, Huddersfield Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S75 1DT

Time - 10am - 4pm

Tickets - 5 pounds. Tea and coffee provided but please bring your own lunch. Please book in advance.

Activities - Block Lotto, Ugly FQ Swap, Mini Workshops, Raffle, Show and Tell.

All proceeds to Barnsley Hospice.



You will be able to participate in mini workshops during the day for a small additional charge and I am delighted to announce that these will be led by Hazel of Cotton Cocktails and Lynne of Linen Stitches. If you hop on over to their blogs you will be able to see some lovely examples of their work. Lynne will be teaching how to make delightful applique pictures and Hazel will be teaching how to use wax crayons to make fantastic fabric postcards.

I really hope you will come and join us - all quilters are very welcome.
Please contact me for more details and then I can reserve your place and send you a copy of the full programme.

I am getting a sewing room!

This is because my sewing space downstairs is constantly being invaded by teenagers, husband, cats and.................small soldiers!

These are photos taken by my youngest son, Rob who is studying Interactive Media at college. They were taken for a project last term.
I am actually in the process of acquiring a sewing room - Rob's old bedroom but it is a slow process sorting through 16 years worth of toys and deciding which to keep.

It will be lovely to have my own sewing space soon.

Tuesday Patchwork Class

Trying to get into the habit of taking my camera to class to get photos of my students progress. Today we started a new topic - scrap quilting and/or the use of recycled fabric.
The first photos show two different placements of Daphne's blocks. They are based on buckeye beauty blocks and are made with fabric from her son's shirts.

Cherry has completed a quilt top made with applique blocks made in a workshop I taught last August. All the participants donated their blocks and Cherry has put them together to make a charity quilt.

A lot of class members are working on a scrappy Irish Chain, Cherry has got a head start on this too!