Hello Kitty Quilt WIP

Last week I linked up with Lee at Freshly Pieced sharing progress on my Hello Kitty Quilt for my daughter's 5th Birthday.  (You can read about it here). I'm pleased to say there's been significant progress since then, and I'm almost half way with piecing the 2 1/2" squares.

The panel on the left isn't quite complete, hence looking a little too long.  It was nearly midnight and I just didn't have it in me to carry on till it was finished, my bed was calling!

But I'm thrilled to see Kitty taking shape.  This is what she will eventually look like...

And it may not be obvious in my late night, not good lighting photo above, but I've decided against going with black for the outline, and using a softer dark grey.  Kona Charcoal to be exact.  I think it makes Kitty much softer and more friendly somehow!

I'm hoping to get the third panel complete this week, which is easier said than done given that it's Half Term.  Ahhhh, only 6 weeks until the big day!

I'm also working on a small project that I'd love to share with you, but if the recipient sees even a sneak peek of it, she will know exactly what I'm doing.  So this one's going to have to stay under wraps till it's signed, sealed, delivered and opened.  You know who you are!

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Sarah

Linking up with:

A Laminated Zipper Pouch

One thing that's been on my 'to do' list for a long time is to make some pouches with zippers, as it's not something I've done a lot of and I wanted to work on a few 'quick' projects. 

So when I was shopping at The City Quilter in NYC, I thought it the prime opportunity to stock up on zips in a selection of colours and when I got home I didn't delay.  

I used this tutorial by Noodlehead, which is very clear, even I could manage to follow it ;-)  The other advantage of this pattern is it gives you a range of sizes, from big, medium to small, so you can choose the size to suit your needs.  

Also while shopping at The City Quilter, I was stopped in my tracks by the wonderful selection of laminate fabrics available.  And they weren't the thick, tablecloth kind, but thin and soft, and perfect for pouches, aprons etc.  Isn't this blue and aqua laminate just to die for! 

I decided to line my pouch and close my zip with these gorgeous Moda dots.

I don't think you can ever have enough dots in your stash, they are gorgeous and timeless.

I'm not ashamed to say I'm chuffed to bits with my very first zipper pouch.  And I really enjoyed the making process.  So much so that I made another one...but I'll share that another day.

Thank you for stopping by,

Sarah x

Linking up with:

WIP Wednesday - Hello Kitty Quilt

In just a few months it's my daughter's 5th birthday.  And discussions about the birthday party theme/guest list/venue have been under way for several months already - she's very excited about turning 5!  It's finally been decided that she wants a Hello Kitty birthday party.  Well guess what, she also wants a Hello Kitty Quilt!

I'd seen a few versions on the interweb over the years, and knew that I wanted to go down the pixel route rather than using fabrics with Hello Kitty on them.  As it happened, I already had a Hello Kitty Cross Stitch Pattern on my Pinterest board, and I knew it would be perfect.  Here's an A4 print out of the pattern.

Well that's quite a lot of squares!  So I decided the best way to tackle it would be to divide it into quarters and work one section at a time. 

Each piece of paper is A4 - a bit more manageable!

So here's the first section complete.  It actually wasn't as time consuming as I thought; once I got chain piecing there was no stopping me and it's wonderful to see it slowly take shape.

I've got exciting plans for the binding too - watch this space!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Sarah x

Linking up with:

 

Quilty Adventures in NYC Part 2 - My Class

And so continues the stories of my adventures in NYC.  This time it's all about when I taught my 'I Love NY' Quilt at The City Quilter.

I can't tell you how privileged I felt to be teaching there.   And what an honour to have my quilt on view as soon as you walk in the door! 

In my class were a group of delightful ladies, with ranging experience and heaps of enthusiasm.  We had so much fun and it was wonderful getting to know each other, as well as watching their versions of my quilt come to life.  

Sandy

Connie and Me

Stella

Diane

Everyone did such a great job, and they are under strict instructions to send me photos when they've finished their quilts so I can share them on my blog!  

I was so happy to be in NY and reunited with my NY Quilt.  And I couldn't resist the opportunity to get some photos up against the NY skyline.  (With a little bit of help from madebychrissied and her lovely husband Simon - thank you!)  

And I just had to have one with me in it - but excuse the squinty eyes, it was very sunny and I could hardly see a thing!! 

This one's my favourite though, with the World Trade Centre in the background.

And you can't get a better backdrop than that.  

Sarah x

Quilty Adventures in NYC - Part 1

It's been a little quiet on my blog for a while now, but with good reason...I've been having way too much fun hanging out here in... 

The reason for my trip was to visit a very dear friend of mine, Chris from MadeByChrissieD.  (If you haven't come across her blog already, then I suggest you check it out immediately; it's bursting with wonderful quilts, projects, tutorials and quilt info).  It was so wonderful to meet in person for the first time.  Here we are attempting a selfie.

There's so much to tell you about, it's hard to know where to start.  In fact, no that's not true, it's easy...I'll skip the few touristy bits we did and talk about the fabric stores! 

First we headed to Pins and Needles, a small but perfectly formed sewing and quilting store, beautifully presented and with fabrics to die for.  Here's a few snaps that I took to give you an idea of how lovely it was.

This is my kind of entrance! 

Inside's just a dream.

As you can imagine, I bought WAY too much fabric, and had a ball!  But I had to save some of my dollars for the Mecca that is The City Quilter.  It's here that Chris works, and where I was lucky enough to teach a class for the day...but that's another blog post!

Here's a few photos of this wonderful store that no trip to NY would be complete without visiting.

I'll be back soon with more about my time at The City Quilter.  But for now I wanted to share one last fabric shop trip that we made...you may well have seen the website...can you guess??

With that small sign, it would be easy to walk past it without realising it was there...wouldn't that be a travesty!  It's worth a visit just to admire all these gorgeous rainbow colours.

And they have an excellent stash of Liberty.

I've had it on good authority that their prices are, shall we say, not competitive, but as I was on holiday I couldn't resist treating myself to a little bundle of this.

As well as one of these.

Which in case you're wondering what it is, it's a Cross Stitch Iphone case, ready for your own design!  I'm very excited to get started on this one.  (Does anyone know where I can find a good pattern??)

I've so much more to share with you about my trip, including all the wonderful people I met and the fabrics I purchased.  But that will have to wait for another day.

I had simply the best time, and I'm so grateful to Chris for sharing her wonderful city with me.

Sarah x

A Trip to Lincoln and a bit of Fabric Shopping

Over the Easter holidays, we had a little break to the UK and to Lincoln to stay with family.  And what a lovely time we had.  

Fortunately, the weather was on our side most of the time, and we were able to enjoy lots of days out with the children, including Alton Towers, which was fabulous!  And I even managed to squeeze in some fabric shopping.   I found a gorgeous little homewares shop called Follie, and they just happened to be selling the latest Amy Butler fabrics.  Who was I to resist?!

And since coming home, there's been a few more (online) fabric purchases too.  Eclectic Maker never fail to impress.  Less than 24 hours from ordering, these beauties were on my doorstep.

 

The blue moda dot fabric was actually intended for some baby boy bunting.  But doesn't it work beautifully with the other fabrics, which are called October Afternoon, Rocket Age in Red by Riley Blake fabrics.  I'm dreaming up all the things I could make with this little trio. 

I've not blogged in ages and there's so much more to share with you.  It's been a busy month and a productive month too but it has meant blogging has taken a backseat.  But hoping to post again soon, this time with some finishes!

Sarah x