FFA3 Finished Quilt

....I'm BACK!!!

The last few months i have had absolutely no desire to do anything....and sewing was definitely at the end of the list. I was a bit nervous that this feeling was the new me? When it came to sewing.. I would sit at the machine and wonder... What did i find so enjoyable about this?? Why do i like cutting up fabric and sewing it back together? Writing Patterns...Yuck!? But with a New Year here, my health is 80% back...(no spewing thankfully, just tired) i am sooo pleased to say that the horrible feeling is GONE.... and I'm ready to go.

New Projects??

Yep!! I have a massively long list. I have spent the last few days scouring the net trying to find out whats new? Can you believe i haven't even been interested in fabric? I had no idea what was getting released and what was coming soon... But thanks to my Fav Shops/Sponsors and their "new arrivals" and "coming soon" sections... I'm totally up to date. I've got my orders written and ready to go.

Before I share what my new projects are going to be... I had this little gem waiting to show you... My FFA3 Quilt for Baby Coco.

As you know,  Its no secret that i Love Heather Ross. I love her cute designs and her choice of colours.. they are instantly recognisable as hers. But i think my favourite thing about her fabric is the actual cloth that she prints on. Weird?? i know!! She doesn't print on the standard Quilting Cotton. Its always slightly different. It has a texture, a natural colour...not a bleached white. Sometimes its a cotton/canvas fabric. Sometimes like a linen. This range was listed as a quilting cotton but some of the fabrics were like a really light weight linen. They were just beautiful.

So this was a really fun, quick baby quilt to sew.

Even though i don't make many strip quilts, i really have a thing for them. I think they showcase the fabrics perfectly. They're modern. They're easy. They don't waste fabric. They comes together really fast. They're perfect for straight line quilting, i really should make more!

For this quilt I couldn't cut up the pictures so i decided to make a feature of them.. I wanted them to kinda look like kids building blocks stacked on top of each other.

For the backing fabric i used this Essex Linen/Cotton fabric

One thing I'm hoping to do this year is find some cute labels. I really want a satin type label that you cut up and fold over and i can sew it into the binding.. I just want it just to say 'Chasing Cottons' so if any of you out there know of a good label place... Please send me some details.. I'm left either not labelling.. or doing this..

So needless to say.. I'm back. I'm feeling great and I'm excited about the year ahead.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday with your families and

 Happy New Year!!

xx Love Bec xx

Sherbet Pips Quilt Finished!!

A few posts back i showed you a little snippet of this quilt. Well, I'm finished!!!..

and it was an absolute dream to make...

Firstly, i think because i LOVE the new Sherbet Pips  range from Annela Hoey. Although it isn't due to hit stores til April... there have been a few pre cuts floating around. But, I cant wait till more yardage is available... The little pictures are so so cute. Its perfect for a either a girl or boy.

 I only had a little charm pack to work with, and most of the other fabric came from my stash

 The red dot is an old Christmas range....something Jolly? By Mary Engelbreit.  The Pink is Kona cotton Candy Pink, the white is Kona Cotton Snow and the blue was scraps from a previous quilt. It was a really easy quilt to make. Perfect for a beginner.

I bordered each 5' x 5" charm square in 1 1/2" strips, of the varying colours. And the strips across the quilt were also cut 1 1/2" wide. The red dot was cut 3 1/2"wide...

 

The quilt was 49" across.. so unfortunately it was just that little bit too wide for one 44" strip. Which also meant this quilt needed a pieced back... I really like how it turned out!  The backing fabric is a gorgeous new range from Melanie Hurlston "Where the wind blows".

I straight line quilted it across the strips ... and hand quilted it using soft pink Pearle Cotton 8 around the white squares.

My girlfriend Kate has a great Hand Quilting Tutorial on her blog . I hold my needle to hand quilt slightly different, i might show you one day... but Kate's tutorial is a perfect step by step guide from start to finish.

This quilt was made for my girlfriend Hayley, for her new baby girl....

....i hope she like it!! xx