Around the World Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog as the Around the World Blog Hop finally reaches my little corner of blogland! Thank you to Nina at BossyOz for nominating me. Nina and I met on instagram when we both joined the first UK ModernInstabee that I set up earlier this year. We're a group of twelve ladies making blocks from the Modern Bee book by Linsday Conner. We met for real at this year's Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham.

 

A little bit about myself for any new visitors to my blog. I'm a single mum (by choice having divorced my husband a few years ago). I have a teenage son who is now taller than me and have lived most of my life in East Anglia. I run my own online quilt shop, The Crafty Quilter, and I am also the editor of British Patchwork & Quilting, which is the job that pays the bills! In between my sewing and work I have an allotment which is my new love and somewhere for me to escape to, and enjoy the fruits of my labours a few months later!

 

I made my first quilt when I was 18 for my now ex husband ( I got to keep the quilt in the divorce) and really haven't looked back since then.

 

And so onto the blog hop questions........

 

What are you currently working on?

Obviously as a true quilter, I have more than one project on the go! I'm just trying to finish quilting a little quilt for someone who had a baby recently. It's a plus quilt and backed with cuddle but I'm not enjoying quilting it as I've managed to get a fold in the backing and haven't got the time to redo it.

My latest bee blocks for this month are done; Trellis Crossroads for the ModernInstabee and a scrappy Trip Around the World for the LBQB.

 

 

I have several long term projects that I am working on - a City Sampler designed by Tula Pink. I'm using a Robert Kaufman Remix stripe in every block together with matching solids.

 

 

And the other long term project is Sylvia's Bridal Sampler that I am making by hand. My mum and sister are also making their own versions of this, as is my son.

 

How does your work differ from others?

I'm not sure that it does that much. I am very much a traditional quilter at heart but have modern quilter leanings. I like using batiks but also like using fabrics where I can make them do the hard work for me and make a design look more complicated than it is. A lot of my quilts reflect this. I haven't got many recent finishes to show you but this is one I finished this year called The Red Cross.

 

 

Why do you write/create what you do?

A lot of what I do in my quilting recently has been to do with making quilt samples for my business. A few years ago I realised that in order to sell fabrics in my business, I needed to be more productive making quilts using those fabrics. And then that I need to actually quilt them, so I taught myself to machine quilt, kind of. However now that I have gone down that route, I have struggled a little with finding the time and inspiration to make quilts for myself and have lost my quilting mojo a little; something I need to try and rediscover next year I think!

 

 

How does your creative process work?

Like many quilters, I find inspiration wherever I go. I don't usually have the time to sit down and let these creative juices flow though so quite often I'll get a simple idea in my head and work with that. I can also get inspired by a fabric which will lead me to trying out a design. I will usually just do a rough sketch on paper or draw something in my quilt design programme, but often I'll just dive in having worked out some rough cutting instructions!

 

 

 

Next stop on the blog hop.........

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I hope you'll maybe stay a bit longer and continue to read my somewhat sporadic posts! In the meantime please take a look at my fellow LBQB bee member, Alison's blog at Patchwork Alley as the next stop on this Around the World Blog Hop.

 

Joanna

Dreamin Vintage

I think I posted a photo of the quick quilt I made using fabrics from the Dreamin Vintage collection a while back. If you missed it, here it is!

The collection is designed by Jeni Baker for Art Gallery Fabrics and I was really excited this week when I read one of her blog posts, to see my quilt featured in her round up of quilts she found that used to her fabric. You can read the blog post here 

http://www.incolororder.com/2014/08/your-dreamin-vintage-projects.html

I put together some instructions to make the quilt and you can find them in the September issue of Patchwork & Quilting

Joanna

Creative Mojo

I'm not sure if I've lost mine. 

I have lots of ideas. See inspiration everywhere I go. And yet I don't seem to be able to create anything with a wow factor at the moment. 

Most of my piecing recently has been done on the machine and usually involves pre-cuts or cutting squares and triangles. These tend to lead to more simple but effective designs. 

Most of my wow quilts have been hand pieced and quilted. So maybe that's it? I haven't quite got the confidence to make something more challenging by machine?

Or is it more that I don't know where I am as a quilter at the moment? I like modern quilts but I don't think I'm a full on modern quilter. I am still a traditional quilter at heart but with modern quilter leanings. Labels for the type of quilter that I am shouldn't matter, but somehow not knowing what type of quilt I want to make has left me in limbo. 

I think it's also because I have made a lot of simpler quilts recently to display fabric collections that I have got out of the habit of making more complicated quilts. Although of course even the simplest designs can be stunning. 

Or maybe I just don't have the time to be fully creative; to sit down and design and create; to let the creative juices start flowing?

I think I need to start a new project!

Kittens!

If you follow me on other social media you will probably be aware that we have three new kittens in our lives!

Sadly we had to put our last cat Jacob down at the end of May. He'd been suffering from heart failure since the beginning of the year, but we'd managed to keep him going with pills and he was doing really well. However he went downhill very quickly that late bank holiday weekend so we took the emotional decision to put him to sleep.

It was absolutely awful being in a cat-free house. I'd come back home and wonder if he was sitting on the doorstep waiting for us......

So we decided not to be cat free and with my son's birthday fast approaching I started looking at rescue centre websites for kittens as a birthday present. I felt TK was the right age for looking after and appreciating kittens. 

Because we were going away in June for the Sandown quilt show we couldn't take any in before then but that very week three delightful balls of fluff appeared on the Wood Green Animal Centre's website. We dashed to the centre after school, literally, to go and see them. We had planned to get two kittens so they had each other for company; but in all honesty, could you leave one of these cuties behind?!

We went to see them every other day which helped them get to know us and we finally brought them home with us at the beginning of July. 

They've grown a lot since then but are still the cutest things. So say hello to Rolo, Smartie and Fudge, the main reason why I haven't done much seeing recently......

Joanna 

July Update - Quilting

It's been a funny month. I'm sure I've done more than my July Bee blocks, but I'm struggling to think what!

Here's a quick update of my recent LBQB blocks.

Heidee chose the traditional Spinning Star block for her block for June. June was a really busy month for me so I only managed to get it done towards the end of the month. I tweaked it a little and made each of the points from little HSTs

 

Claire was Queen Bee for July and chose a block that has been featured in Love Patchwork & Quilting. Somehow I managed to forget to take a photo so I've pinched it from the Instagram feed

 

In our Modern Instabee it was Isobel's turn to be Queen Bee and she chose the Stacked Windmills block from the book. A lot of HSTs in this block but it avoided having bias edges all over the place. Isobel kindly supplied us with some of the fabrics for our blocks.

 

I've also been piecing with some wonderful fabrics called Terra Australis, but that's under wraps for now 

Quilting Update..........it's about time!

Oh dear! How long has it been since I've done a blog post? Let alone one on my quilting antics?

 

Too long is the answer!

 

Well lots has been going on, mainly with the two bees I've joined. I think my last post about my quilting was a tutorial for my Wonky Churn Dash block. This was for the month of May when I was Queen Bee in the LBQB. I received eleven wonderful blocks from my bee ladies and now all I need to do is decide how to put them all together in a quilt. I'm thinking of white sashing but adding something wonky at the posts. Because of the variety of colours used, I'm planning on picking up a charm pack or two when I go to the UK Robert Kaufman distributor in a week's time.

 

I'll do a proper post on my bee blocks once I've joined them together into my quilt.

 

The other bee I've joined is Instagram based. We are using the Modern Bee book by Lindsay Conner. I love most of the blocks in it and change my mind every month about which block I want everyone to make for me when it's my turn to be Queen Bee. That's not until March so I dare say there will be a few changes before then!

In the first month we made the Painter's Palette block for Gina. She asked us to make them a little different so I made mine with pinwheel blocks.

 

 

It was Catrin's turn in June and she chose the Come Together block, requesting certain colours in certain places. I loved putting this block together. It's a big one but so quick and easy to make!

 

 

I got to use some of my new fabrics in this block, which made me happy!

 

I've been making more blocks for my City Sampler quilt but concentrating on the striped version now.

 

And lastly here's a quick quilt I made using the wonderful Dreamin' Vintage fabrics I've got in stock. This collection just oozes summer and makes me smile.

 

 

Allotment Update

Thought it was about time I posted an update on our progress on the allotment!

I'm also trying out the blogger app on my phone to see what the post looks like. 

So what have we been up to? Digging and planting! All the potatoes have gone in over the last month. The earlies are growing really well but we had a frost a week ago and even though a fellow plot holder covered them with fleece for me, they still got affected a little 

We planted out the sweet peas a couple of weeks ago after building a frame for them 

Most exciting of all the asparagus crowns arrived and started growing not long after planting them 

They've grown quite high now but again got affected a little by the frost. 

We've almost dug over the whole plot now and it's almost weed free, apart from the bindweed sprouting everywhere. 

Indoors we've sown tomatoes, sweet corn and Savoy cabbages. Last week the sweet potatoes slips arrived and it's exciting to see new growth on them already

So lots going on. And the most exciting news of all. . . . . . we have acquired a bench for our plot!