My Pretties

Over a year ago a company called Accuquilt got in contact with me and asked me if I would like to do a piece on their clever gadget ( at the time I didn't know that it was clever) but I couldn't get onto their site so couldn't see what they did and decided to ignore their offer. Shame! Anyway a good friend of mine BlueADT decided to save her pennies up and she bought one. So this weekend when she gave me this

I couldn't resist asking if I could have a go.
Now I had never seen anything like these scrap bags before, probably just as well really as I have a inability to throw out fabric or yarn so I really am going to try and use up as many of these as possible. Moda Scrap bags are like pick and mix, fabric yum. This range is called Bliss and it really is my idea of Bliss, beautiful colours and great slightly retro prints. What do you think? The bags contain long 2-3" strips sometimes with the selvage. Lets face it, straightening strips and then cutting them into 2.5" squares can't be many people's idea of fun but the Accuquilt meant no straightening and easy enough for 11 year olds to cut the squares ( Oriana and Inigo tried it out). It also cut out the triangles!!

Seizing the moment I started rummaging through quilt books andI was initally inspired by a quilt from a Jelly roll quilt book. I started putting all of it together butit was too busy I couldn't see the stars. So I now have five star blocks and I am going to start saving my pennies so that there are some plain blocks in between. So that is the start of my pretties Quilt.
Till next time
Arianwen x

The Family Anthem

Does your family have a favourite song? One that when hummed by one, is sung loudly by all? Mine does.
I wouldn't say that I have ever been a Bob Marley fan, it isn't that I would have switched stations, groaning loudly, when he started to sing but,I wouldn't have turned him up either! Something more pop or rock were my tunes of choice.
When Oriana and Inigo started school, their first teacher loved Bob Marley and the two of them loved Mr Moss! So much so they invited him to their 5th birthday party -and he came!
At tidy up time the first few bars of three little birds would have the class rushing to tidy the room. After a few weeks Oriana had learnt the words and she could be heard lisping them all around the house "This is my message to youhoo". Her siblings soon joined her and three little voices from different rooms could be heard singing "every little thing gonna be alright". .

At the end of the year the school put on a play I don't remember anything about it except at the end every child in the school started singing. Three little birds sung by over a hundred little people was probably one of the most moving things I have ever heard.There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Last year when we decided it was time for Oriana to have a room separate from her brother I knew that I wanted to make them each the perfect quilt.
I found a small wall quilt in Quiltmania that Oriana liked. It just wasn't big enough I decided to expand on it but with what? ...then I heard Oriana singing and I knew she just had to have Three little birds singing sweet songs.
If your family has an anthem, drop me a comment I would love to know

Quilty,Quilty,Bang Bang!!

If you see a woman,with steam coming from her ears, do come over and say hello. The last few weeks have been totally manic,as per usual I have left everything to the last minute. I have been loving knitting the the SOTS11 it is so pretty I decided against beading it in the end mainly because of time. It is also simple enough that it can be done in front of the TV. Just shows everything doesn't have to be complicated . Because I want to take it to Belgium I have been tackling several clues a week. I start clue 8 this evening and then I just have clue 9 wish me luck on that one.
Three baby quilts were needed for the new Belgian arrivals. If you are interested in the time frame of these.
The Star quilt top (for Aaron) was completed except for the applique the thursday before last. Most of the fabrics were from my stash. I love the Crayola print.I was like the frogs going to be children's clothes but they grew faster than I could sew.
The Flower top (for Floor, yes that is the right spelling)was started and finished except for applique last Saturday. The fabric for this was going to be a bluse for me it is lovely but not really for my colouring. Floor's mummy has beautiful red hair so hopefully Floor will have the same colouring and this will be perfect for her.They were both appliqued and then tacked together on Thursday. Friday most of the Frog quilt (for jayden) was put together and then assembled on yesterday.

This wasn't my original take on the frog quilt but I think my original calculations were wrong and I just couldn't get it to fit together. I have plans for a rencarntion for the original blocks.They were all quilted yesterday and then the binding put on today. I am feeling a little tired now but very glad that I am finished.