The best part of swaps

I know I've written about this before, but there is something strange about taking part in swaps. You spend all of the swap window fretting about your partner, trying to second guess them, pushing yourself to impress them, working to someone else's taste. (It's fabulous, its why I love swaps. I just adore how it pushes you outside your comfort zone.) Then you send off your package and all of a sudden, it really hits you that you will be getting a package too. I know that you've been commenting on the photos all along, but its kind of abstract, in a way.

So when my hubbie rang me today at work to say there was a package for me, I spent the whole day in anticipation and of course, I ripped it open as soon as I got in the door. (yes, before picking up Miss R, or saying hello to my other kids or hubbie. Bad mammy moment). I was not disappointed.

I received this beautiful Big Stitch Swap package from Helen. She knew I just adore Lilipopo girls, and she made one just for me. I was so delighted when I opened it because you know how it is, you always make lovely things for everyone else and never keep the stuff you really love for yourself. This way, I get to have my own. I love how sweet she is! She is on the front of a lovely iPad mini sleeve, with Liberty lawn and linen. This is my idea of perfection. It is so beautifully stitched and finished. I stitched one myself for this swap, and I will certainly say that the patterns are straightforward, but deceptively so - it is very difficult to get the character of those girls right. I love how this girl finished up, she is gorgeous.

 On the back, there is some lovely piecing with more Liberty and linen, and some hand quilting. I just love it all.

Helen also send me a lovely package of scraps, you can see them in the top photo. Thank you Helen, I absolutely love it and its made my day.

Liberty Cushion Finish!

So pleased to be able to share a lovely Liberty finish with you today!
 

I've posted my progress on this a couple of times, so I'm not going to repeat myself again here! You can find the details in this post if you're interested in how I made it.


Suffice to say it was made with gorgeous Liberty lawn charms, which Ali of Very Berry Fabrics kindly sent me to play with, pieced by machine and handquilted with perle cotton.

I finished it off by adding piping, my first time trying this technique. I'll be very honest - although it looks fine in the photos, I didn't find it easy, and its not entirely perfect, but overall it looks ok and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Plus I learned a lot, and I'd love to try it again - I think I'd make a much better job of it 2nd time round.  I decided not to push the boat out too far, and used a simple envelope back with some Hope Valley which worked perfectly with the front.

I really love this cushion and seeing as I need some fresh cushions on my sofa, it will sit there very happily. I want to say a big thank you to Ali of Very Berry Fabrics for sending me the fabrics to try. The Liberty lawn is just beautiful fabric to work with - so soft and dreamy. Ali specialises in selling Liberty fabrics to quilters - she sells beautiful little bundles of Liberty lawn charm squares, scrap packs, die cut hexies etc for really great prices - the sort of money that you'd spend on a few takeaway coffees each week.  My new plan is to start buying a few packs every few weeks and gradually build up enough of a stash to make a quilt. If Liberty has been on your list of fabrics to try, you absolutely should pop over to her shop and say hi - I promise you you'll be sucked in!! You'll also find her on Facebook where it's well worth following her, as she often posts extra special offers there before they hit her shop :-)

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Liberty ❤ Stitches

I pulled out my Liberty pillow cover last night, applied my fusible fleece and auditioned some perle cotton threads, trying to decide what to use. I threw the decision out to my friends on Instagram and Facebook, looking for opinions, and was so glad I did - I got a few different perspectives and it made me think a little about it.

I started off with the lightest colour, outlining the Drunkard's Path flower both inside and out. Then I added one of the darker blues, to make it pop.

I just love the result (so far!) The stitching just makes the fabrics pop in all their delicate beauty.

Now I just need to decide if I'm done, or if I'll do one more round of the lighter colour thread. Opinions (again!) anyone?

When I'm done with this, I need to make the back. And after seeing Svetlana's beautiful pillow earlier this week, I know I NEED to do some piping on this. I've never done it before. Wish me luck!

Liberty Circles Progress

Back a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive some Liberty fabric from Ali's lovely shop Very Berry Fabrics to play with. Ali sent me a selection of 6" charms in mostly greys and blues. I had already decided I wanted to do a Drunkards path pattern, but put off cutting them for a little while because I was too busy stroking their buttery softness. And slightly scared by how fine they were, fine generally equalling slippy and difficult to sew in my world.

But I finally got my courage together and used my Go! Baby to cut the blocks out. I still love my Go! Baby for cutting blocks like these (and hexies, of course).

Ali sent a little information sheet about sewing with Liberty lawn with the fabric and it was so helpful. I swapped out my needle for a size 10, took it nice and slow and my blocks came together just as easily as normal quilting cotton would. As always I used Leanne's great method for sewing curves.

Soon I had loads of little blocks all ready to play with. I find my blocks never look perfect when I'm laying them out but then they sew together nicely and I can't see the flaws any more!
There are so many possibilities with Drunkards path layouts:
Circles

Half circles

Bridges

And loads more! But in the end, for a small project like this - a cushion cover - I decided I liked the flower layout best as it was so self contained. I also decided to limit the fabrics to the blues and dark greys as I thought it was more striking like this. I'll use those pretty neutrals in something else in time.

Once I had it sewn up and a border round the edge, I was thrilled. I need to decide on quilting next. Hand quilting will definitely make an appearance, but I'm trying to figure out whether to add some machine quilting too.

I'll be back to Ali to start collecting a selection of her gorgeous Liberty charms because I imagine a whole quilt made with these would be so luxuriously soft - I can't resist! Check out her shop for more eye candy!

A little bit of Liberty

A few weeks ago I happened to be browsing through Facebook just as a post popped up by Ali of Very Berry Fabrics looking for people who might be interested in doing a project with some of her gorgeous Liberty fabrics. I reckon I had my email written and sent off to her within about 2 minutes of the post appearing! I've read so much about Liberty fabrics, and admired them in so many projects  but have never worked with them. So I couldn't wait to see if she chose me as one of the lucky people to receive some fabric. I may have done a big happy dance when she emailed me back to say I was!!

And last week this beautiful fabric arrived through my letterbox - 16 little 6" squares of the most beautiful soft Liberty.  Ali picked a fabulous muted palette of greys and blues. I'm going to pair them with some pure white fabrics and I can't wait to get started because I reckon they will be just beautiful against the white. I'm going to be making a cushion (pillow) cover with them. Last year I made this drunkard's path mini-quilt in a swap that I was very sad to send away - I just loved it. I always thought it would make a lovely cushion cover, and that's what I plan to do. I may play around with the layout a little - Drunkard's Path blocks are so versatile - but we'll see what happens when I start piecing!

I will be really interested to see what it is like working with these Liberty fabrics. They are so, SO soft and so fine. I imagine that a larger piece of fabric would have wonderful drape for dressmaking. (Note to self: next dress for the littlest lady may need to be a Liberty one). Ali included a little card with lots of information and tips for sewing with Liberty lawns which was great, as I hadn't realised how fine it was before I got it.

If you haven't already checked out Ali's shop on Folksy, you should pop over and have a look. She has beautiful fabrics and little charm bundles and is so lovely to deal with. She also has a Facebook page where she posts special offers etc so make sure you follow her there too!