It's a card!

I started this blog, way back when, to share the cards I was making with my family (mainly Mum) who lived 4 hours drive away. Now, I have ended up sharing mainly fabric items because, well, that's what gets made these days. Today though, I've got a card to share! :)

I made this card for a friend's birthday last month, and it is the first one I've made in quite some time. The bird is a stamp from October Afternoon, part of an alphabet set called Rosie's Diner.

The pretty background paper is from K&Company.

After making the card I thought the bird would go nicely on the gift wrapping too, along with some washi tape.

It was good to get back to a bit of paper crafting. Patchwork and quilting takes over sometimes - most times - and the paper and other goodies I have in my cupboard just sit there, neglected. I'm glad the birthday gave me a push to make something papery again, I enjoyed it. 

Bye for now x 

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Back soon. :)

A Little Online Shop

I have just finished setting up a little online store where I will be selling my patterns. The address is hopesquiltdesigns.bigcartel.com 

At the moment there is just the one pattern, ZigZag Love, but as I do more patterns they will be added.

I decided to do this because it seems you have to create or sign in to your PayPal account when buying patterns through Craftsy. I have had someone let me know that this is not ideal for them, and thought it might also be inconvenient for others. With this new bigcartel site, you should be able to pay by credit card without having to have or create a PayPal account.

Bye for now x

Quilting, quilting, quilting...

Hello, and happy Tuesday! I have been absent from my blog longer than I realised... I have not been idle though. Among other things, I've been free-motion quilting! I signed up for Leah Day's Craftsy class a while back, Free Motion Quilting a Sampler, and it gave me the confidence to have a go.

I have just one photo to show for the moment, a little corner of the back of the quilt, but I hope to have it bound soon and then I will share more. 

I am so pleased with it, and with the fact that I refrained from unpicking when I 'wobbled' off course. Those mistakes just melt into the background when you step away from it. 

Anyway, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll be back soon with a finished quilt!

Bye for now :)

Flickr Group

Hello, just a quick note to let those of you who have bought my pattern know that I have created a group on Flickr. I would love to have people join and post photos of anything they make with my patterns. Progress shots and fabric choices would be great too. Here is the address:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/hopesquiltdesigns/

I hope you will join me there, it is a little lonely being in a group of one! ;)

Flock - A Farmers Wife Sampler Block

Good afternoon!

I actually made another Farmers Wife Sampler block today. It has been SUCH a long time since the last ones.

This is block 33, Flock:

This was quite quick to make - not many pieces compared to a lot of the other blocks - and went together pretty well. I started cutting it out last night, and finished it up today. I do so love these Rose Parade fabrics from Moda. LOVE them.

I am sort of considering putting the blocks I've made together into a quilt top now... I don't know if I want to make a queen size any more. There are a couple of reasons. One, I feel like it will be a million years from now before all the blocks are done for it. Two, I can't help but feel the blocks will get a bit lost in the crowd with a big quilt, and a smaller quilt will make it easier to see each block - and can be used more often. Still, no need to rush into a decision, I've got plenty of other projects to keep me busy!

I would also like to say, if any of you lovely people are reading, thank you to those who have purchased my pattern. It is such a thrill, and I can't wait to see some heart quilts made from it.

Bye for now :)

Hatchlings

Hello, and Happy Monday!

My sister-in-law brought this little quilt over for some minor repairs today, so I thought I'd take a couple of photos and post them on here. I made this quilt for her when she was pregnant with her first child. It was a Christmas present, and I remember sewing the binding on on Christmas Eve.... Nothing like the last minute for getting things done.

This is the third quilt top I ever made, but my second fully-complete quilt. It was my first ever appliqué, my first time following a pattern and my second attempt at binding.

The original pattern was from a magazine, I can't remember which at the moment, and was in country colours with little bunny rabbits popping out of the hearts. I had bought the purple dragon print (click on the pic to hopefully see that better) to make the quilt so decided to turn the rabbits into dragons to go with it.

Unlike the talented Suzitee, who does a lot of blanket stitch by hand and does it very well, it really is not my forte. There was no way I was doing all that blanket stitch by hand, so I used my machine blanket stitch, which I was really pleased with. I remember I didn't have any fusible web like the pattern called for, so I used a light-weight fusible interfacing on the back of each shape, and the odd bit of hemming tape here and there to hold it in place while I stitched.

I did try a bit of free-motion quilting on it, aiming for some spirals, but only managed really tight little spirals which were no good at all, so in the end I quilted it in the ditch.

I kind of muddled my way through the binding, which I wasn't really sure how to do at all. I decided to do it all by machine, mainly because I was in a hurry to get it done! I stitched in the ditch along the binding at the front, catching it at the back a couple of millimetres from the edge.

The backing fabric I picked with the help of my hubby. It seemed to go well with dragons, and we thought it would be sure to keep bub warm, being all flames. :)

The best thing about this quilt is that nearly six years later it's being used for baby number three, and I'm sure that in four or five months when baby number four comes, it will be used by her too. The repair is just a little one - I didn't poke one of the dragon bodies far enough under the heart, so it's come out from behind. Just need to sew it down to stop it fraying really. :)

Gosh, lots of writing today, I must be feeling talkative. Thanks for bearing with me, if you did. :)

Bye for now.