Chris Chats
I was hoping to catch my breath as we moved into August but it hasn't been the way, as I'm working on several new projects that I'll share a bit about later in the Newsletter.
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I've also been reorganising my sewing studio, finally giving in and buying new furniture better suited to my sewing needs. I was reluctant to buy furniture to fit a rented apartment, preferring to wait until I was back in a home of my own again but, as we've just signed the lease for our 6th year in our apartment here on the Hudson River, it's finally time to make changes to my work space. I'm still sorting through everything and I'll share pics when it's finished.
If you're happy to stick around, thanks for subscribing and let's do this together :D
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Wallet and Key Ring Clip
An add-on to the reversible tote bag I designed for Issue 2 of Modern By The Yard, Benartex has released my detachable wallet and key ring clip pattern on their blog
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QUILT INSPIRATION
I've spotted some more dresses that would make great quilt designs - 5 in fact - worn by Samantha Cameron, wife of David Cameron the former British Prime Minister, Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton.
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I love SamCam's dresses so I did some investigating to find out who designed them. Above, Sam's wearing the Celeste dress by Roksanda, a designer frequently worn by the famous including Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton below.
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The final two SamCam dresses are both by Thornton Bregazzi for Preen. Surprisingly, I think they look far better on SamCam than they do on the website! Take a look for yourself. |
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WINNER, WINNER
We have two lucky winners from the Christmas in July giveaways on my blog. The first is Christine, winner of the Craft Paper Christmas FQ bundle supplied by Windham Fabrics
And the second winner is Linda, who receives the Jolly Penguin FQ bundle supplied by Benartex.
Many congrats to you both :D
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SOCIAL SEWING
Since March, once a month I've been hosting the Social Sewing sessions @ Gotham Quilts. At the July session we were having so much fun I asked the ladies if I could take a few pics to share with you, and they all agreed.
It was a full class and look how busy everyone is, I loved every minute of sharing hints, tips and advice with this wonderful group and don't think it was all hard work, we did an awful lot of giggling too!
One student, Amanda who attended my Jelly Roll Quilt class late last year, came along to get started on quilting her finished top from that class. When Amanda came to the jelly roll class she was new to quilting and rather than a multi-coloured jelly roll she brought only two solids to work with, cream and grey. I don't think she had any idea how much I loved her choices and how excited I was to see how the finished quilt would look. You see I'd wanted to make my quilt in solids for quite some time but hadn't got round to it and to make it in just two colours was taking it a step further than I'd even considered myself - just brilliant :D
I have to say the quilt is exceeding all my expectations, it's incredible with such a modern vibe - you'd never believe it was made using my technique and pattern. Amanda has given me permission to share the quilt top with you, I wonder what you'll think too?
I showed Amanda how to hang a quilt on a wall to baste it using basting spray and that's when I took the pic. The lighting isn't fantastic but you can see the texture in the quilt created by all those strips of the same two colours.
Wall basting is a super fast and really easy technique for small quilts, this one's 36" x 48", and it takes all the pain out of what we all know can be a back breaking part of making a quilt, next time I use the technique at home I'll take pics and share on the blog.
If you're inspired to make your own version of this quilt my Jelly Roll Quilt tute is available here on the blog. |
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READERS' QUESTION TIME
I often receive questions from readers either via email, Facebook, Instagram and blog post comments and it occurs to me that some of these questions and my answers to them may be interesting/useful to share with everyone here.
Q: I love the quilt in your header photo on your blog - is there a pattern for it?
A: The quilt in my header photo is my Juice Box Sofa Quilt and I wrote about it here on my blog. I used a pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew and changed it up by sashing with 2" finished strips between the blocks - links and details are in the post.
Do you have a question I might be able to help with?
Drop me an email and, if I can, I'll answer it here.
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MADE BY YOU
I love to see what you make using my tutorials and last week @birdsong_studio tagged me in a photo on Instagram. The photo is of two cushion backs she's made using my hidden zipper tutorial.
birdsong_studio And I think I love the backs just as much as the fronts! Awesome zipper flap tutorial by @madebychrissied #pillows #msqcshowandtell #DaisySplash fabric by #JaneDixon for Andover Fabric
madebychrissied @birdsong_studio these look fab 😍and thanks for the shout out too 😚 #mbCD #madebyChrissieD
birdsong_studio Your welcome @madebychrissied #mbCD #madebyChrissieD. You have some great tutorials.
If you make something using one of my tutes do tag me or email me, I love to see what you're all working on and it's great to get feedback on how the tutorials work for you too :D
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What I'm Working On
A First Blush quilt - First Blush is a new fabric collection by Ruby Red Designs/It's So Emma for Windham Fabrics available in September. Windham provided the fq bundle above and said I could make anything with it so I'm working on a quilt pattern that I'll share with you as part of the First Blush blog hop on 10 October.
This is a pic I took when I started playing with fabric pairings.
I've sewn the quilt rows together and I'm ready to add the borders, just waiting for some more fabric to arrive from Windham.
There's a Benartex Back To School blog hop coming up and going through their fabric gallery I chose 6 fabrics from this new Simply Chic fabric collection to work with.
Benartex provided the fabric and I've designed a satchel that I finished making on Friday and took photos this morning, and it's really darling. There'll be a blog hop and giveaway and, of course, my free satchel tute. I don't have a date yet but there's a possibility it will be before the next Newsletter goes out so keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks.
Windham has sent me 2 more fabric collections to work with - Lotta Jansdotter's Hemma and Annabel Wrigley's Maribel - both collections are available this month. I'm waiting to hear what they'd like me to do with them but I've already got my thinking cap on!
My friend Susan Sato asked me to design a decorative wall art quilt using Dupioni silk that will be available later this year to buy as a kit from her travelling store and website @Easy Piecing. Once I created the quilt, I was having so much fun I had to stop myself at 22 different colourways. We met last week and chose our favourite so we're moving forwarding producing the sample now and I'll let you know more about it as it progresses.
I've also designed a pencil case - I haven't seen one exactly like it on the internet and that's pretty hard to achieve these days when everything's already been done! I made the prototype this week and started writing pattern notes. It was more complex than I initially thought it would be so I'll be a while writing, reworking and testing the pattern but I hope you'll love it. It had a huge thumbs up from my resident sample approver, my daughter Flicky :D
Here's how it's looking, I've watermarked the pic several times as I don't want it circulating the internet before I'm able to release the pattern myself.
I have two other projects to complete this month too before I head off to South Africa:
A vendor apron to wear at Quilters Take Manhattan
NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild Summer Paint Chip Challenge 18" mini quilt
and if I can get all this done then I've got two projects I'm working on for my Grandson, Oliver, and I'd really like to get these finished before I meet up with him in Barcelona in October. I have my fingers crossed and I've found a great way of getting more done, just don't bother sleeping, who's got time for that?!!!
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