star mug rug

I don't seem to have done very much this week but I have finished my first mug rug. I used the star block for the front and some of my favourite favourite Ruby Star Rising for the back. The binding is from the Annie's Farm collection. I got this FQ from The Bramble Patch  which has a massive range of fabrics and possibly the fastest delivery ever.

It's very lightly quilted, just once round the outside of the star and then inside the central square. I know it's only one block and compared to the amazing quilts that you see out there in blogland it's incredibly simple but to me it's step forward towards advancing my meagre quilting skills. I'm thinking a sampler quilt would be a really good idea, although a longer term project it is the ideal way to learn new skills and try out new blocks.

I wanted to learn how to attach quilt binding totally by machine as I found my hands incredibly sore last time I did the hand stitching on the back of my Arcadia Quilt. The idea was to not only save my hands but time as too. Well I lost count of the number of times this binding had to be taken on and off, frustrating or what and not time saving at all. I tried various techniques and in the end I reckon this one here by Red Pepper Quilts is the one for me. I will say that I still can't manage to stitch in the ditch neatly so I stopped trying and just stitch very closely to the edge of the binding on the front and I'm happy with the results.

Also this week my Aurifil from Felicity Quilts arrived yipee! I've not managed to try it out yet but it does look lovely don't you think?

It's a short one from me today, like I say I've not had the most productive week and the schools are off next week so things aren't likely to improve on the wips any time soon.

Bye for now

lucky, lucky, lucky!

I seem to be having a bit of a lucky streak just now -yay! After a rubbish August, September has really excelled it's self. Last weekend I was a winner on Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts giveaway. Shanna is lovely and even gave my giveaway a plug. My fab prize was a copy of the  Square it up quilt pattern from Jenna from Sew Happy Geek. 

It's based around using a layer cake and not too tricky either - perfect! It works up to be 60" by 60" so a fine size for me too as I'm not into making huge quilts (says me who's only actually made one so far!). Anyway it's added to my every growing list of quilts to make. I keep meaning to link up to Jenna's Monday Linky Party but so far it's not happened, I'm just really disorganised maybe I should start writing lists and planning ahead more.

Felicity at Felicity Quilts (have you seen this gorgeous quilt she made recently?)was hosting a giveaway for Aurifil thread and I was one of the lucky winners!  I've been reading so many glowing reports about Aurifil I can't wait to try it out for myself. Now I'm no thread expert at all so I've no idea if I'll really appreciate the differences between this thread and any other. It'll be interesting to see what I make of it. Are you an Aurifil aficionado or does another brand of thread float your boat? I excitedly told my family about my winnings and they just went 'oh thread, that's nice' - honestly thank goodness for you guys or there'd be no-one to appreciate my joy.

All 3 ladies have sent me lovely emails and it just goes to show how great the internet is and how generous and friendly the online crafting community is -  I love it.

Here's a few more blogs I've discovered this week, just in case your blog reader isn't already bursting at the seams like mine is.

Fiber of All Sorts
Sew Happy Geek
Felicity Quilts
Krista Stitched
Archie the Wonder Dog
The Barefoot Seamstress


Bye for now