Pre-cuts - Time to make a new quilt

One of my favourite things to do when I start a new sewing project is finding the fabric I want to use. I love searching for new fabrics, selecting my favourite prints I find, matching colour palettes and gradually adding to a collection for a project like I did with this two-sided patchwork cushion cover. The problem that I find with the process of finding and selecting the fabrics is that it can take a really long time. I think I sometimes make it harder for myself to start a project as I've not really mastered matching print size and colour palettes just yet and so I just sit and collect fabric, waiting until I think I have enough to make a project. I want to start making the sewing process and making projects a little more speedy, simplify it and get back on my sewing machine and get stitching.

I want to start making a proper quilt for our home and hope to create something I want to keep, display and be proud of in years to come. I've made a few patchwork quilts over the past few years but I have made them for friends' babies and so gave them away and didn't get to spend much time with the finished project. I'm planning to make a quilt for a king sized bed. I know it will be a daunting task and will be the biggest quilt I will have created to date. It will be a project that will require some real thought and discipline when I come to creating it. To help me in the process of making this quilt I've decided to cheat a little, instead of spending months and months searching for fabrics that match I have decided to get some help from the experts! I want to simplify the making process and start a project that allows me to have more time spent on my sewing machine and making, and less time online searching for fabric...so I've decided to buy into the world of fabric pre-cuts!

Pre-cut fabrics are cut to a defined size and tend to come in a pack containing each pattern from a fabric range. All the fabrics in a range are designed to complement each other and can be used to create lovely projects with a consistent colour palette or theme. Pre-cuts come in a range of sizes with great names such as jelly rolls, charm squares, layer cakes and fat quarters, which are what I tend to normally use. I love the names these fabric cuts have been given, I'm not sure how they link to their pre-defined sizes, but it makes it sound so much fun rather than what they could be called, fabric strips or squares!

For a few years now I've been (unhealthily!) lusting after fabric by Bonnie and Camille for Moda and over the past two weeks have finally made the decision to take the plunge and buy the Happy-Go-Lucky fabric range with 40 different prints. It's gorgeous, bright, happy coloured fabric with a wide variety of prints and patterns that all look so lovely together.

I decided to buy a jelly roll, a roll of fabric strips that measure 2.5 inches by the width of fabric, two charm packs made up of 5.5 inch squares of fabric, and one mini charm pack, made up of 2.5 inch squares. I know that making a big king size quilt is going to cost me quite a bit of money and I will be investing lots of time making it. I knew that I had to make sure that I was going to love the fabric that I would be using and I really do!

I could spend my days flicking through the fabric range and arranging the charm squares in different combinations...I love it! I may need to buy a few more packs of pre-cuts but also some larger pieces of some of the prints for the back of the quilt. But at the moment I'm waiting to decide what type of quilt I'm going to make. I hope to build the courage over the next few weeks to the maths to work out how much more fabric I need. Eek! Maths is one of my huge weaknesses I can do maths well but on so many occasions my mind goes completely blank, I get in a muddle and flustered and then struggle to calculate what I need. I think that by making a quilt where I'm going to make something different I will grow my skills and gain more confidence calculating fabric needed. I'm hoping to demystify the maths process as I make my quilt because it scares me and I'm sure it scares most beginner quilt makers too! I'm hoping that pre-cuts will help the process at little.

If you want to see where I saw this fabric and where got inspired, take a look at Camille Roskelley's blog, Simplify. This blog was one of the few that really inspired me to start patchwork, opened my eyes up to beautiful fabrics, pre-cuts and the idea of a sampler quilt and modern patchwork and quilting. I love the gorgeous colour palette Camille uses, she has a real eye for colour and she expertly combines lots of different fabrics she has created to make fresh modern quilts that make me want to jump for joy and create one myself. I'm a super huge fan of hers and would love to have a quilt making lesson with her! I own her two books Simplify and Simply Retro and also have bought her Pre-cuts Piecing Made Simple course on Craftsy, and now own some of the pre-cuts in her gorgeous fabric range! Bonnie and Camille have another fabric range out later on this year which I really love called Miss Kate, which I will buy, hopefully it will make it into shops over here or I will really have to save up and get it shipped from the US! I want to combine the Happy-Go-Lucky fabric range and Miss Kate to make my next quilt and perhaps pick up a few fat quarters from the April Showers fabric range and some from Scrumptious too if I can find them. The range of fabrics use the same range of colours that I really love.

Buying pre-cut fabric is a big change for me, I normally buy fat quarters or half metres of fabric with the safety of knowing that I've got plenty of my favourite prints to use across multiple projects and for whatever shape and size I want. I'm excited to start using pre-cuts as I hope that it will speed up the making process for me and enable me to do less cutting than normal. Now that the fabric decisions have been made I'd better start making some decisions about the style of quilt I'm going to make. I'll let you know how I get on trying to navigate the world of patterns and quilt options using pre-cuts!

My two-sided patchwork cushion cover

Over the past few years I have handmade cushion covers for our home. I love having my own handmade cushions in our home and enjoy how they look on our teal coloured sofas. I get a lot of pleasure each time I plump up the cushions knowing that I've made them myself and that they are unique.

For a number of months I've had my heart set on creating a new cushion cover for our snuggler sofa seat in our lounge. I spend a lot of time on the snuggler reading magazines, drinking tea, enjoying a spot of crochet and catching up on reading blogs, so I wanted this cushion cover to be something special for one of my favourite spaces in our home. 

Last year I bought some fabric specifically for making handmade projects for our home. The fabric collection was put together using a mix of navy, teal and grey patterned fabrics. I wanted to use these fabrics to make the new cushion cover. I decided that this project would be something different and I was keen to create a patchwork cushion cover to include all the patterned fabrics that I love and to try out new techniques of piecing fabrics together. I wanted to make something that wasn't piecing squares and I wanted to create my own patchwork design rather than take it from a book.

I decided to embark on making a two-sided patchwork cushion cover. I knew that one side of the cushion was going to be randomly sized rectangles but I wasn't too sure what the other side would be. After some deliberation I decided that equilateral triangles would be a good contrast, I really love the way they look in other projects I've seen. 

I spent time recently at my sewing machine finishing the cushion and I'm really pleased with the result.

I love the way the colours and patterns work together...

and that I've created two different cushions in one!

I love seeing all my favourite fabrics in one place...

and seeing how using patchwork can brighten up our teal coloured sofa.

I'm really pleased that I have finished this project, it has been a work in progress for such a long time and I wasn't sure I'd ever finish it! I'm glad that I spent time pondering how I wanted it to look. I'm really delighted that I decided to take the plunge to make the cushion two sided and try out something new for me. Joining together the equilateral triangles was a challenge initially but as soon as I worked out what I was doing it was good fun. Having a small project to work on made piecing different patchwork shapes easy to handle and not too daunting. I think I'm ready to try making something for our home on a larger scale now so watch this space!

Have you got any work in progress projects you have yet to finish or have recently finished? I'd love to hear about them.

Patchwork cushion cover :: Work in Progress

After weeks of thinking and planning I've finally made a start on making the patchwork cushion cover. I had lots of ideas but have decided to go for a design with rows of different sized rectangles of fabric. I wanted it to look a little like bricks but not as structured. The cushion is being made to compliment our teal coloured sofa and add some gorgeous scandi style fabric to our lounge. It has taken a while to get to this stage as I needed time to think and focus on the project but I'm so pleased I've made a start.

Here are a few photos of my progress so far. 

I have cut all the pieces down to sizes I am happy with and have arranged the patterned fabric.

I've sewn the fabric pieces together, and now have the rows ready to sew together.

I love these fabrics and the colour combination. I'm not yet sure if I'm going to make piping, a zip or button fastening or how the back of the cushion will look yet but watch this space.

What patchwork or sewing projects are you working on at the moment?

Finding fabric for me...in the colours I love

Recently I've taken some time to review my fabric collection. On closer inspection I realised that I've built a collection of fabrics mainly for children's quilts and gifts and not one that truly reflects me and my tastes. Over time I have gradually added to my medium-weight cotton and linen fabric collection and I have some gorgeous fabrics but nothing that is particularly suitable to be made into a cushion or quilt for our home.

There are fabrics I have in my collection that I love and have used to make a cushion for a friend, and some of the fabrics I used to make a patchwork sewing machine cover for my Mum's sewing machine but they are almost all used up. There are a few of the patterned fabrics I have used to make the two baby patchwork quilts that I adore but there isn't really anything that particularly matches the colours and styles I want displayed in our home. I really felt that there is a gap in my collection that is holding me back from creating projects for our home.

We have a beautiful teal coloured sofa and snuggler seat that I spent many years searching for, they are my absolute pride and joy. I made some gorgeous piped cushions last year in a navy blue japanese waves fabric that look great on the sofa. However the sofa really could do with a few more cushions and a snuggly quilt for Mr C and I for the winter.

So after coming back from the Festival of Quilts I decided to take the plunge and start building a collection for me that I know I'll love and happily use for projects in our home. I love the idea of combining grey, navy blue, teal and white to make patchwork cushion covers for our home.

To kick start the fabric collection I headed to my local patchwork and quilting shop, Country Threads. I love going to a fabric shop and deciding what to buy, I love popping in for a material fix and spending time looking at all the different fabrics on display and selecting a few fat quarters. I've also spent some time on M is for Make and Fabric Rehab websites to see what they had in stock that would fit what I was looking for. The selection of fabrics that both websites have are great and I was so excited to receive the fabric parcels through the post at the end of last week. I've mentioned before about simple pleasures, I really do love receiving things in the post, especially books, magazines and fabric, so this delivery of post was extra special.

Last week I also discovered these Moda mini charm packs. I love the idea of charm packs where you get a sample of each patterned fabric from a collection in a pre-cut bundle but had never bought one. To ease myself into pre-cut fabric I decided to buy these mini charm packs that have charm squares measuring 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches square.

One of my favourite patchwork and quilting blogs is Simplify by Camille Roskelley, and I love the way she combines colour and pattern in her quilts. I decided to buy a mini charm pack in the Happy-go-lucky design which she created. I love the range of colours and designs and plan to use these charm squares on a cushion cover for my craft space. I also picked up the Indigo Crossing mini charm pack design that combines off-white and navy blue. I dream of one day creating a pretty navy blue and white floral quilt, so this is the start of the fabric collection for that project!

I'm really looking forward to using my new fabric and over the next few months I'm planning to embark on making a few simple projects for our home alongside the pinwheel quilt that I've started making. I can't wait to start using these fabrics in our home and I finally feel I have a collection of fabrics for me in colours and patterns I love. I'll keep you updated with my making progress over the next few months.

Handmade Patchwork Christmas Stocking

A Christmas stocking was something I had when I was younger and was a real tradition. I've been lusting after having one for a few years now so I decided the make one with my new patchwork skills that I taught myself earlier this year. I decided to set myself a bit of a sewing Christmas challenge and make one if I had time. This weekend I've been tied to my sewing machine, determined to make the patchwork stockings in time for Christmas day. This morning I finished one for Mr C and one for myself, I cant tell you how delighted I am with them.

I used a variety of red and white fabrics, ribbon, red ric-rack and big green buttons to create added detail to the top. Both stockings are lined with red gingham fabric and finished off with some pretty decorative stitching at the top.

I'm so excited to fill the stocking up with a few things that I've bought Mr C and start our new Christmas stocking tradition together. I will bring you a 'how to make' post in a week or so. I'm off to chill out before the big day.

Have a very merry Christmas and enjoy the holidays.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

I have to admit it but this year I'm feeling so excited about Christmas. Seeing twinkling Christmas tree lights in windows of homes as I walk home, sampling mulled cider, and hearing Christmas music on the radio has got me into the spirit of things. This year I've decided to make a special effort to rekindle the magic of Christmas.

I hope that the countdown to the big day is full of joy and happiness, a time to enjoy traditions, and a chance to spend quality time with friends and family. I've been inspired even more than normal by doing Journal Your Christmas, a brilliant scrapbooking and journaling e-course run by Shimelle. Thinking about a Christmas manifesto at the start of December has been encouraged on the course. For me one of the core elements of my manifesto was to think about Christmas traditions and my favourite Christmas memories. I decided to try and make this Christmas even more special, by starting new traditions, recapturing old ones and creating new magical memories...

I'm rekindling the magic of making decorations for the home...I finished a Christmas cross stitch pattern from CrossStitcher Issue 244, Christmas 2011. I started this last year but never finished it. Take a look...

It is so pretty I want to make another one! I'm going to put this on display every Christmas to remind myself to take time and make things by hand and to relax.

I'm rekindling the magic of having a stocking...I'm making a stocking for Mr C and one for me too, so that we can recapture the fun of having a stocking. The fabric has been bought and over the next few weeks these fabrics will be turned into stockings, I can't wait to make them and start a new tradition of finding fun presents for our stockings.

I'm rekindling to joy of making and giving handmade Christmas cards...I've set aside time to make cards, which is something I haven't managed to achieve for a few years. I've made around 20 Christmas cards so far and still have quite a few to make! Here is a sneaky peak of what I have been creating...

I'm enjoying getting into the festive spirit listening to carol singers and sampling mulled cider and mulled wine...This weekend we've been getting festive in a local pub with a log fire and lovely Christmas tree, and seeing our friend Jo sing her heart out at a carol concert.

There are plenty more things to look forward to during the run up to Christmas...we need to decorate our home and put up the tree, see friends and sing carols by candlelight.

What are you doing to make it feel like Christmas? Are you making any gifts or decorations?

Handmade and stitched with love - My first quilt

You may have wondered where I’ve been for a few weeks! Well, life took over a little...as did finishing my top secret project! I’m delighted to let you know that today I can do the big reveal…

Since April I’ve been working hard to create my first quilt! Inspired by the taster day I did at the start of the year, and making the quilted sewing machine cover for my Mum, I fancied making a quilt on a bigger scale. It was a huge challenge for me and I had to do quite a bit of research before I got stuck in. Making a quilt has quite a few stages, all of which I didn’t know about until I started. Thanks to a few great books and blogs I discovered recently I managed to work my way through the complicated parts! Plus some great videos by The Missouri Star Quilt Company gave me the confidence to dive in and have a go.

Before I started this big project I had in mind what I wanted to make. I wanted to create something useful that could be a gift and something quite special all in one go. My friends Charlie and Vic had their first baby, Olivia, in April. In the months running up to Olivia being born I started buying fat quarters of fabrics I thought would work with the nursery colour scheme. Choosing the fabrics was such an exciting, and addictive, part of the project. 


...After many months of sewing I can reveal my first quilt! Ta-dah!!!

Here you can see the quilted squares and a few of the fabrics close up...

and a hand stitched label for the quilt on the back...

and you can just see the alphabet fabric I used to create the white border next to the binding...

I decided to hand deliver the quilt last weekend as I couldn’t bear the thought of it going missing in the post. I was so thrilled to watch them both open the quilt that I had carefully wrapped with brown paper and green ribbon. Seeing their eyes light up when they opened it was magical, and when they realised that it was handmade by me, it really was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced when giving a gift. Watching them looking at the colours, spotting all the details I’d thought of and included made me very happy.

I’d spent time choosing fabrics that would work with the colours of the nursery, adding a few ‘educational’ things like animals, different colours, patterns and shapes and the alphabet as choices for the squares. Watching their faces so happy (and slightly shocked!), I knew at that moment that every hour spent doing research, thinking, planning, shopping, cutting, patching, quilting and hand sewing was really worth it. The reaction from my friends brought a lump to my throat and when they told me it was one of the most beautiful gifts they have been given, it made me realise how very special handmade gifts are.  

Olivia’s quilt was stitched with so much love. I cant count the number of hours that I’ve put into thinking and making it, however I know now that every hour was worth it. I hope that Olivia uses her first quilt for lots of thing as she grows up, firstly as a play mat, a blanket to sit on for trips to the park in the sunshine…later as a snuggly cover for trips in the car, or even as a quilt for her bed.

If you do one thing this year make something as a gift for someone special. I can assure you that you will feel a real sense of achievement when you learn something new and see the joy in people’s faces when they open something handmade and stitched with love.

...In the next few days I’ll update you on how I made the quilt in a bit more detail.

Making cards using fabric and a touch of spotty bunting!

As well as getting stuck into knitting my cushion cover and starting my top secret project, I got stuck into making a few cards to try something a bit different…Spurred on by the fact that I couldn't find cards that I liked, I decided to make my own! On my commute to work I found the ideal time to plan out in my head my ideas for each card, I wanted each to be personal and special for those who were going to receive them.

Early this week the cards safely arrived at their destinations so I can now share them with you! I made two cards to celebrate two big milestones. My friends were celebrating the birth of their baby girl and another friend celebrating her 30th birthday. Having procrastinated over the draft designs I finally sat down and had a play with my paper stash!

The new baby card was created to match the colours of the nursery, green and yellow. I created the card with a dual purpose to say congratulations and as something simple that could be framed and added to the nursery wall if they wanted.

 So here it is....

I bought a set of alphabet clear stamps recently and used these to stamp a letter on each part of bunting. I knew that the colours would fit with the nursery so I added a birth date to the card too to make it even more personal. I love using confetti in cards so using a craft punch of two feet I created confetti in a range of pretty pastels.

My ideas for the 30th birthday card were a little different! I wanted to try and use fabric rather than paper. Purely for the fact that I had much nicer fabric in the colour I wanted rather than in my paper collection. I traced a '3' '0' and created templates to help me cut out the fabric. I used some iron on webbing to make the fabric stiffer so that I could easily cut out and stitch the fabric. I cut a rectangle of fabric to mount the 30 on and cut the edges with pinking shears.

I used hand applique to attach the '30' to the background fabric, using metallic blue thread. I then machine stitched using straight stitch the rectangle onto a white card. I loved adding fabric and paper together on a card so I will definitely try this again with other projects!

Here's the final card...

I was so pleased with both cards...I love adding a little bit of matching ribbon to cards I make to finish them off and make them look pretty. I just need to start making them earlier next time as I was a little late getting them in the post!

What cards are you making at the moment? Do you like using fabric to create cards?

Crafty work in progress

The weekend before last I had a burst of creative energy. I've been wanting to share with you what I've been up to but I've had a nasty bug and didn't feel like writing. I'm much better now and I can't wait to tell you what I've been doing and making!

With the sunny weather arriving my desire to create bloomed! I had chance to have a blitz on my knitting project. At the start of the year I wanted to make a cushion cover…well here it is so far! My cosy cable cushion is coming on rather nicely!

I’m so pleased that the cables are now finally taking shape. It took a while to see what was going on...as I knitted, moving stitches onto my cable needle and off again, in different combinations for each row. I can finally start to see what it will look like...I’m feeling more confident reading the pattern and using a cable needle, I can't wait to finish it. I’m loving the way that you can really see the cables forming. It feels such an achievement to know that I’ve understood a pattern and managed to knit something that looks quite complicated! The kitting of the cushion cover takes lots of concentration, in comparison to the scarves I made, so I think I’ll just pootle on with it when I want to knit and do a couple of rows at a time.

I was lucky to have quite a few spare hours over that weekend so I made a real start on my top secret project! I'm hoping to share with you my finished project in June/July but for now I'll tell you how I'm getting on...

I took the plunge and started cutting up fabric for a special project. With the pieces cut I started playing with the layout of the project and after a few hours I had a breakthrough on how it should look. I’m not using a pattern and I’m just having a play with things so it's a bit experimental! With the pieces finally arranged I set about piling them on top of each other so I could start to put the project together. After three hours or so I had stitched most of my project together. Oh it looks so lovely!! I want to share it with you now in its partially finished form, but I can’t. I’ve still got work to do to finish it off before I do a big reveal plus I need to make sure that the project, a little gift, is safely in hands of the person receiving it before sharing. I'll keep you posted!

My fabric stash grows...a new project begins!

Over the past few months I’ve found that my love of colour, patterned fabric and hand made things has massively grown. Everywhere I look, whether it is a magazine, fabric shop or even online, I think about how I want to inject my home with more pattern and handmade things. To brighten up rainy lunch hours I have taken to going to my local fabric shop and looking at all the fabrics I could use and adding a few pieces to my fabric stash. I’ve added to my collection and now have about 40 fat quarters of different fabrics!! A little bit extreme already I know, however I’m only touching the surface of all the options out there.

I have a little work in progress project that is starting to take shape in my head at the moment. I've even got out my colouring pencils to try and work out a design. It involves patterned fabric and so I’m thinking carefully about the colours I choose and also the functionality of the piece. I love the creative fun I'm having selecting fabrics to work together. I’m not planning to use a pattern to make the item so it really will be something made by me. I can’t tell you too much right now as it's a topic secret gift!

The problem with this project is that I feel I have a big responsibility to get it right. It isn't for my family like previous projects have been, creating something for my Mum is a little different than making something for a friend. I wonder whether the recipient will like it, will it be to their taste, will they use it? So with these things in mind I’m being slightly cautious about getting started. I’ve washed the fabrics, ironed them, grouped the chosen fabric together to see if I have what I need…and now I just need to take the plunge and cut! I find cutting fabric really nerve wracking especially if it goes wrong and I only have bought a small piece of each pattern. If you cut something inaccurately it seems to knock everything else out! It needs time and concentration, something I haven't had for a few weeks.

Over the next few days I hope to take the plunge and make a start with the making. I know when I make a start I will be hooked. Wish me luck!

Quilted Sewing Machine Cover

On Friday I managed to get stuck in and complete a quilting project that I had started at the beginning of March. The project I had in mind was small to help me gain a bit of confidence and try out some basic quilting techniques. Since buying my own sewing machine I knew that it wasn't long before I needed to pass my Mum’s Frister Rossmann sewing machine back to her. With my parents visiting over Easter I had a deadline to meet. I knew I wanted to get the machine serviced before giving it back but also I wanted to make a special thank you present using my new machine. I decided to make a new sewing machine cover as the current soft cover for the sewing machine was starting to fall to bits.

In a post I wrote in March, Quilting and patchwork update, you may have spotted that I had started to put together some 9 square patches using blue fabrics, these were going to be the basis of the cover and I had ambitions of elaborately quilting it! Well time got the better of me and I managed to add a few more patchwork pieces to the collection so I had enough to complete the cover. On Friday I pieced the patchwork squares together with a blue border, or sashing using the technical term! I tried to square off the sections of fabric as I went to make sure all the edges were neat. I added in the blue backing (the same as the sashing) and cut a piece of wadding to to fit.

In the end as I didn't have lots of time to practice some different quilting techniques so I just did a simple 'quilt in the ditch' of the four rectangular sections. I was quite shocked at what I had managed to achieve for my first attempt! Here it is laid out in full, I just used a rectangle shape that would match the height (to cover both sides of the sewing machine) and length of the sewing machine.

You can see a bit of the 'in the ditch' quilting I did and see the pink piggy in the fabric I used. Plus some lovely blue ribbon to secure the cover onto the sewing machine.

Here is the front of the cover....when you put the wrong sides together and tie the bows it almost looks like a cushion cover...

Here is the cover on the machine from the front.

and a side view too...can you see the pink piggy?

To make it a bit of a surprise I packaged up the cover in brown paper and ribbon and gave it to my Mum.

A simple parcel that contained my first quilting project!

I pleased to say that my Mum was overjoyed at the surprise present and impressed with my first attempt at quilting.

I was really proud of what I had managed in a short time frame and I enjoyed seeing the project come together. With a bit of careful planning, and a lot more practice, I hope that I can one day make a larger scale quilt project. But for now maybe I'll try the basics and make sampler quilt pieces so I can practice different quilting styles.

Quilting and patchwork update

I’m excited to tell you that I did indeed get the quilting bug after the day I spent in January (see The glorious world of fabrics and quilt making for details) learning some quilting basics. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I could make, from quilted cushions, to a kindle holder, to gifts for friends expecting arrivals of little people this year.

The one thing holding me back initially was the lack of equipment to make it work. After a long stretch of thinking and researching I decided to take the plunge and invest in some new things to help me. I bought a new sewing machine and went for a Janome DXL 603 with a free quilting kit. It was a sad moment when I decided that I really needed a new machine to replace the Frister Rossman Beaver 4 sewing machine. It is my Mum’s sewing machine and I learnt to sew on it during school so it’s the only machine I know. It’s a lovely machine but at 35 years old it doesn’t have the accessories that I need to quilt. Plus I should really return it to my Mum as I’ve had it on a long term long for quite some time!

Investing in a new machine was something that I had been thinking about for a while. This was always going to be a very big purchase, but luckily I found a great machine with a quilting set (an extension table and various feet to help me do free machine embroidery) which had all the features I wanted.

So since I bought the machine I’ve been collecting fabrics…These are from an Aladdin’s cave material shop in Bath called Country Threads that a fellow blogger, Jenny, featured on her blog The Button Jar, when she went on an embroidery class there. I wouldn’t have known that it existed as it is tucked away down a cobbled street in Bath. So I picked up some material…

Bought a big cutting mat, cutting ruler and rotary cutter from Creative Grids in a starter kit...

 

Spent time reading some books so I knew what to do to accurately cut up fabrics…

and put together some squares to start a project…

I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet with the squares that I’ve made. What I do know is that I had a great afternoon of selecting the fabrics to work together, playing on my new sewing machine and practising cutting the material. As easy as cutting sounds it was a challenge to ensure that I accurately measured the right size for the strips ready for the squares I created. I’ll keep you posted on my progress over the next few weeks. I think I'm hooked on quilting already!