So Many Changes

It's been nearly 6 month since I last wrote here and so much has changed, quilts have been made and yarn has been turned in to crochet blankets. Halloween came and went and with it my health went too, some sort of arthritis kicked in to knock me on my butt. Ankles were bad enough but then my hands and wrists joined in... as many of you reading are crafters you can imagine how I felt about that! 
Doctors, rheumatology departments and a quick A&E trip later it seems to be settling down and I've had the ok to cautiously take up my day job again. 

Amongst all of that mess at the beginning of December a little happy chap came to I've with us -


 

 This little man, who at the time of this photo was small enough to fit in my pocket, is called Mac. He is a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.



He likes nothing more than sitting in front of the fire playing with his toys or getting cuddles, ok well he likes eating more than toys and cuddles but still he's very cuddly! 




Just before Christmas we noticed Issabella seemed to be out of sorts, those of you that follow me on IG know this story well but I will share a short version here none the less, My fur-shadow was sleeping even more than usual and looked to be breathing very quickly. After many vets visits and emergency admissions to the veterinary hospital she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, heart disease. Fluid build up on her lungs, due to her heart not working properly, was causing breathing problems and the scans also showed kidney stones. My poor girl tried her best with the medication but it just couldn't settle her symptoms and in January she threw a blood clot and painful decisions had to be made. My loving, funny, bossy little cat crossed the rainbow bridge with me stroking her fur and it was one of the saddest days of my life. 

Over the next few weeks I will be moving my blog and changing the Etsy shop name, Instagram name etc but I will remember to pop a little note up here to let you know where I've gone. 

Thank you for reading along here for the last few years I really have appreciated every email and comment left for me.

Hugs
Sarah 

Pixelated Heart quilt

I received an order through my Etsy shop for a custom rainbow pixelated heart quilt. It is going to be given as a wedding gift :) I love knowing what happens to the quilts I make when they go out the door! 

So out came the Sizzix, and what felt like a million charms were cut. 213 to be truthful as I cut another set of two, no way I'd have done that with a rotary cutter and ruler! Him in doors was put on refolding duty as I make such a mess.

As you can see I don't press my fabrics prior to cutting them, 'nuff said about that. 

Popped them up on my design board and played with a colour layout I loved and then added in low volume squares for the background. 

I love sewing the columns together, you can really see the pattern emerging.

Basted with 505 spray because life's too short for pin basting right now.

As it was a custom order I had been asked to add some details, not all are shown in the photos, a little embroidery, some quilting-it was fun.

Then finally the binding, after an interesting chat on IG I think I'll take more photos next time I bind a quilt and explain my slightly cheating method.

And finally a finished quilt.

with a sneaky look at the Nani Iro sofa quilt I've been making myself too :D 

Etno Baby Quilt

This sweet baby quilt was originally whipped up to be a class sample for a beginners quilt making class that I was teaching at Sewing Machine Sales in Whitley bay The classes have gently wound down for the summer and will start up again in the Autumn, so this little quilt has made its way home. 

 

The fabrics are mostly Ento by Pat Bravo with a few complimentary prints thrown in and straight line quilting; simple and effective at letting the fabrics shine. 

It's a great class to teach as we cover all of the basics and students leave with a finished lap/baby quilt. If your local or just fancy popping up to the North East coast and would like to take a class feel free to send me an email for more information.

This quilt is now listed in my Etsy shop and I'm already planning a more Autumnal colour theme for the next class sample! 

Another Low Volume Lovely

I finished this quilt, frankly, yonks ago. December if memory serves, hence the muted winter colours in both the quilt and the photos.

That serpentine quilting stitch adds such a great texture to quilts.

I only have one progress photo of this quilt, I think I took it to check the block layout looked right at a distance; does anyone else do that? I find I can *see* better sometimes in a photo when blocks are too close to similar colours or if a stand out tone has slipped in there by mistake. 

Heres to sharing awful indoor lighting photos! 

I've added this to my Etsy shop it is listed here if you would like any more info about it or if you would like it to come and live at your house.

I have also finished my Florette quilt and a good few others but need to get some photos taken in good light.

I'm trying to catch up adding my finished quilts to the blog this week so sorry for the deluge of posts to come (given my record of blogging this year that made even me laugh!)