MessyJesse - a quilt blog by Jessie Fincham

I'm really excited to share with you guys my updated craft/sewing room today! as you may have read already, I had quite a clean out in here a couple of weekends ago; there was mess and then chaos and then more mess and then thankfully it came together rather nicely, if I do say so myself!

So I decided to replace my Ikea trestle desk legs in favour of the Antonius drawer units. They're made of steel so I figured they would be a great support for my desk top, and heavy machine. I've been using it for about a week now and I'm so glad I got them! Not only are they full of storage space, they are slightly lower which makes sewing much easier!! I got one unit with four wire baskets to hold my paper-crafting things and some of my sewing bits and bobs and my neutral solid scraps that I always use.

For the other unit I purchased the Antonius frame only, and four of the small matching drawers. In here I hold all of my scraps by colour; pinks/purple, red, blue/green, yellow/white/brown/grey.

ahh I just love it, the layout of £48 for both has been completely worth it just to have all my scraps nicely organised! It's made tidying up after a project a breeze now.

These Antonius basket inserts are great for organising little things. I found that you can fit two of these inserts per basket, (not the Antonius drawers though) and because they're clear you can see exactly what's in them.

At only £1.70 each I thought they were a great buy so I bought a bunch of them to store on my regular shelves too! This one holds all my hexies!

Above my desk I now have a rail system in place to hold all my sewing necessity items like rotary cutters and scissors close by. These are the Ikea Fintorp rails with matching buckets and hooks. I love having my craft things out on display and easy to grab - there's nothing worse than digging through boxes and baskets finding a stitch ripper is there? so this works great for me.

On the left wall as you come into the room I have two Ikea Bekvam spice racks, which I painted white to blend into the wall. These display my vintage sewing patterns, and jars for buttons, pins and hair grips I use for binding. I also got handy with the hammer and put in a couple of nails on the side of my big shelving unit to keep my rulers in place, they have never seemed to have a good place to be put away before, so this has made me really happy! Did I mention that I love wall storage!? ;)

On the other side of the room, I have culled alot of my stuff and cleared out a whole Expedit unit! I was beginning to feel quite cramped in here and I really needed more floor space when laying out quilts etc so it was time for a change. It was mainly books I stored, so Robin built us some shelves in our living room to house them, free'ing up a lot of much needed space! I now just have this old ikea ladder shelf, to store some books, sewing patterns etc as well as my paper storage unit.
I'm planning to change this area just as soon as I find myself a nice high-backed rocking chair (just missed out on one on ebay, deep breaths...) to fit nicely in the corner. I think it would be a great little snug place to do some english paper piecing, next to my fire :) I also want to hang a design wall up at some point as I have a lot of wall space now.

So there you have it, my new and improved sewing space! I hope you enjoyed it, and perhaps picked up some organising ideas of your own :)

p.s. some really sweet new fabric's arrived at the Sew and Quilt shop yesterday, I hope you can take a look! xo

I've been instagramming a lot lately, it's so quick and easy to keep up to date with everyone and share what I'm doing - with pictures! I'm a visual person, so I find it works better for me than Twitter. I realise there are lots of you who aren't on IG, so I thought it would be fun to share with everyone what I've been up to lately...

1. A while back my local charity shop had a 'vintage fabric sale' and although there was no vintage fabric? they had a stack of table linens, which I just go weak at the knees for - so I bought the lot! As you do ;)

2. You know I always go on about our DIY projects each weekend, well here is one of them. My lovely partner Robin (pictured looking very pleased with himself) fitted these great shelves for us in the living room to house my growing collection of sewing reference books.

3. With the haul that I got from Ikea recently, I also picked up this letter rack, I just love it! I will share some 'proper' pics and how I've arranged it on the blog soon :)

4. I just couldn't resist this boat in a bottle from my local antique shop, we don't really have 'stuff' in our living area so I'm slowly, slowy adding nice decorative objects when I see them. I had to sleep on this for a night, but couldn't stop thinking about it so I guess I made the right decision!

5. I'm a list-making kinda' girl, I really can't function if I have a bunch of things to do and no plan. I need a plan!

6. Car-boot season is in full swing now so it give me more opportunities to buy the things I love, these are some sweet things I picked up on Sunday morning.

7. This is planning stages of a potential sewing project. I've wanted to make a mini quilt from one of my Japanese sewing books for so long, so I pulled some fabrics and got cutting!

8. Auction viewing day is one of my favourite times of the month! I love to nose around my local one to see what's on offer. There's always some treasure to be found, I don't bid all the time but it's fun just to look and wish :)

If you are on Instagram, you can follow my updates @messyjesse1 ! xo

I started on a new quilt last week, my sister has been asking me to make her one for about a year, ha! and I've always had other things I've needed or *wanted* to do instead, she's also quite the fuss-pot so I had to think of a design and fabrics that were just right for her.

She's not really into pastel colour schemes - like I am of course! ;) So I had to avoid pinks, yellows and anything too 'cutesy', she likes more of a darker colour palette with blues and reds, so this is what I have come up with so far ...

It's quite reminiscent of my previous quilt the 'prairie quilt' as I called it, because I've used a lot of my Shelburne Falls prints again, and added some more blue fabrics from 'Happy Go Lucky'. I've gone with an alternating flying geese pattern, which was completely inspired by the APC quilt they did for Anthropologie, kind of modern meets traditional?

Oh, and here's another little Jeni Baker drawstring bag I whipped up recently, using some of the latest fabrics available at Sew and Quilt :) I just had to make one so I could use that super sweet airmail stripe print as bag handles! Isn't it the cutest! Perfect for binding's I think, too.

Hope you all are having a happy and productive Monday folks! xo

So this has happened...

the St. Louis 16 patch quilt. After spying Katy's version on her blog recently I immediately fell in love and had major quilt envy, so I had to join the impromtu quilt-along and get going! The blocks are really quite big so I thought it would work great with the larger scale Pam Kitty Love fabrics I had in my stash. I also needed an excuse to cut into the fabulous new fabrics from the Happy Go Lucky collection, ahh I just love those scallop stripes! They all play so well together :)

I'm really excited about this quilt, it's the most fun I've had quilting since the scrappy trip along - you know, when you think about sewing up those next blocks as soon as you wake up!! or is that just me? Or you stay up until the wee hours cutting and sewing (like I did last night). You can find the pattern for the 16 patch quilt here.

I started on the St Louis 16 patch last night as I finished basting my flying geese quilt, and I didn't have any grey thread for quilting; thankfully I picked some up today from my LQS and currently it's hanging over my landing staircase waiting to be quilted.

So lots of projects in the works for me! I hope you're all working on something fun this week too? xo

I hit the jackpot at the carboot on Wednesday! There was a lady selling a bunch of her old quilting books and magazines :) apparently she has too many (not the case for me of course!) they are all completely amazing and I can't believe how lucky I was to find them!! My only regret was not buying all her things, she had more magazines that I wish I got now - isn't that always the way!?

I will be enjoying reading through these books over the summer and I'm sure gaining lots of inspirations and ideas, after only a flick-through my head is already buzzing.

Following on with the retail therapy I purchased the Staple Dress pattern by April Rhodes, I'm really excited about this. I've only made one dress before in sewing class with my mum a few years back, but I don't wear it as I didn't conceal the zipper (dohh!) and its not a nice zipper that you would want to expose... so I'm hoping this will be the first official dress I make and wear for myself. I've heard lots of good things about it, and everyone on the blogosphere seems to have made one so I thought I may be able to tackle it! I plan on making a muslin version first, and then using either of these two fabrics for the real version?

I recently bought the cream floral fabric from Etsy, I just looove the pattern and colours - but I'm undecided whether to use it as a quilt-backing as I originally intended? The other fabric I purchased from a fabulous shop in Rome last year called Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti. Floor to ceiling in fabric, and I found this tucked away in a little corner. I thought it looked quite 60s and kitsch, a perfect dress print for me!

So lots to be getting on with this weekend, see you next week friends! xo

Hi friends! I'm so excited to share with you my finished St. Louis quilt top! I really love the way it's turned out, and it really was such a joy to piece. Using mainly a mix of Pam Kitty Love, Happy Go Lucky and Little Red Riding Hood to make is super bright and happy :) Find the tutorial here. I think it really shows off the fabrics well. It's huge too! I made the 5x6 blocks measuring 70" x 84", which is plenty big enough for me! luckily Robin is 6ft 1, he comes in rather handy for 'prop styling' !

... though we had lots of fidgeting and interruptions during the 'photoshoot' this morning! "hurry up", "my arms are tired"...

this is most certainly, a 'hurry-up face!' haha

So it was a busy and productive weekend of sewing like I'd hoped! I had a whole, guilt-free day at my machine on Sunday, I was home alone the entire day! *bliss* so I figured cleaning the bathroom, and laundry could wait another day. I didn't do what I'd planned, instead started on another quilt project (like I need more) so lots to share with you soon... I hope you all had a fun weekend. xoxo

So you may remember I had a bit of a spruce up in the sewing room a while back, I managed to clear out a whole Ikea expedit unit because I just didn't have the room in my tiny space and it was beginning to look like an episode of Hoarders! eek! Time for a de-clutter...

And this is the finished result ! I completely love it. I scored the antique carver chair (and 5 others, now used in my dining room) for £20 on Ebay!! I found them locally so it was a really great deal :) I got the pink shelves from my local auction house last month, it was originally pine but I thought the candy pink would be a great colour for the sewing room and break up the dark wood. It holds all my 'cute' things that I like to keep out on display and my sewing patterns (modern only, I keep my vintage ones in another part of the room - see more on that here).Once I use them I like to store them in clear zip-lock bags to keep all the tissue patterns safe! To the right I've finally hung my doll quilt I made last year! I'm so pleased to have it out on display now.

To the left of the chair you can see my antique wooden sewing box, which I adore! It has a lift-up lid and removable wood insert tray to hold smaller items, I use that to hold my current epp project with thread, small scissors etc so I can transport it downstairs when I need to. You can also spy another new vintage sewing box! The wicker one with a green lid. I have a sickness, I really do...

I also found a nice spot for most of my sewing and craft reference books. It makes for a nice little cosy reading corner :) now I think I just need a pillow for the chair, a table topper for the sewing box and some more mini quilts for the wall and it's about complete! Lot's to be getting on with again! Have a great weekend folks, xo

Phew! I finished my sister's flying geese quilt just in the nick of time for her arrival over the weekend! I even had to do some hand stitching for the binding during the daytime!? which is kind of weird for me. I'm used to enjoying that task leisurely in the evening's while watching something on TV - like every quilter does, right?

I'm so glad it's finished now, pressure's off! It's not something I would have thought of for myself but I do like the look of it, and actually I like it loads more now looking back at the photo's while writing this post, though to be honest I would have liked to have swapped around a couple rows to change the colour placement of it a little. But she seems to like it, so that's the main thing! and I always find it's so hard making something for someone else's style.

I backed it in Pam Kitty Love grey dots, which has a grid background so I thought it tied in quite nicely with the some of the checkered and gingham fabric from the top. I used the same fabric for the binding too, I haven't done that before - so I really like the look of it blending in for a change and not being such a feature. For the quilting I did some straight line stitching up and down the triangles to make a zig-zag. It looks really good from the back with that style, unfortunately I didn't snap a picture as I had to take these photo's in about 5 seconds before they were leaving!

Hope you're all having a great week! I'll be back working on other fun projects to share with you soon :) xo

Hi friends! So this is me, eek! I'm sharing my mug on my blog today for the FIRST time ever!! It's all in aid of the Fat Quarterly retreat I'm going to this weekend! There's a link party for everyone attending so I'm joining in (very late) and sharing a little about myself if you're new to my blog ...

So a big hello and welcome! My name is Jessie, and my blog name 'messy jesse' comes from my childhood nickname. I'm 25 and I live in the far, far! southwest of Cornwall with my fiance and only get to talk quilting online so this will be fun and so weird to talk fabric and flying geese in 'real life' ha! I started quilting only in the last 3 years or so? but enjoyed being creative in various other crafty forms previous to that.
I work full-time and I run Sew and Quilt, an online fabric store which specialises in quilting fabrics with a nostalgic and vintage twist! Opened last October, so it's still pretty new :) It's always been my dream to run my own sewing shop since I was a small child, so I'm REALLY happy it's finally come true! Take a look, and drop me an email if you would like me to bring some fabric or packs of paper pieces for you to the retreat :)
In between that I try to catch up on some quilting projects - and plan a wedding next year!? We bought our house in Cornwall over a year ago now, after a short stint in London (everyone does it, right?) and I seriously love it! We've been steadily doing it up and turning it into a home ever since :) which is my favourite thing to do when I'm not in my sewing room, quilting! ok, that's me.
I am most looking forward to learning some new skills, and meeting some like-minded crafty people! You will most likely find me at fqr drinking a cup of tea and looking nervous! I'm super shy to start but warm up pretty quick >.< I will be doing crochet on the Friday, which I've always wanted to do but being a leftie, I'm pretty kack-handed when it comes to that! I hope Laura has lots of patience for me!? Free motion on Saturday morning, and paper piecing in the afternoon. Sunday I've got hand quilting with Lu Summers - fun!

In the meantime, you can follow me on various social media sites (I'm addicted)
@messyjesse1 on Instagram
@sewandquilt on twitter
keep up to date with Sew and Quilt on our FB page

Hope to say hello to you :) thanks for stopping by, xo

Hi! Thank you to my sweet friends who commented on my previous post - it was quite nerve racking for me to put a picture of myself on here - as you could say, I'm a little camera shy!! :) There will be another one very soon again, because I've just finished my Staple Dress last night! But enough about that, today I wanted to show you a little project I've had in my head for quite a while...

I'm calling it an album quilt, but it's not really that - I guess it's more of a sampler? I got my inspiration to make this from a quilt I pinned on Pinterest a while back. I love finding quilt inspiration from Pinterest ;) when I followed the source of the image for an interiors site, they called it an antique album quilt - so that's what I'm naming it! :) I loved the antique quilt hanging over the fireplace, I thought it looked so beautiful and striking. I have a square alcove in the centre of my living room and it's the first thing you see when you come into the room, at the moment there is only a small clock that sits in it, so I thought this quilt would make a fabulous statement! I chose a range of deep reds, muted greens, browns and beige to make up each of the blocks and I really love how they all blend together. A step away from my usual bright and pastel colour choices, but I'm completely in love with how it's turning out!!

It's been so much fun to make, although the piecing isn't by any means perfect, for me - it's good! I'm itching to get it finished, but I'm at a bit of a cross-roads...

I don't know whether to machine or hand quilt it? As you may know already, I'm going to Fat Quarterly retreat this weekend, and one of the classes I'm doing is hand quilting - so I'm leaning towards taking this with me to hand quilt at the class. Or the other class I'm doing is free motion quilting; although I won't be taking this to practise on! I don't know whether I should wait and then try some free motion on this at a later date? I'm thinking this is quite small, measuring 32.5" square so it would be a nice size to hand quilt.

Decisions! Any thought's would be really helpful :) thank you, xo

I'm back from my long weekend in London attending the Fat Quarterly retreat! I learned lots, and met and chatted to some super talented sewers.

On the Friday I *attempted* crochet. big fail! This was my second go at the craft, and I can safely say it's not for me. Sorry Laura, it wasn't you! I just can't get my head around it? On Saturday Morning I did a free motion class with Trudi Wood, where I was back on my machine and feeling slightly more in my comfort zone. Although I've never practiced it before - it was even my first time putting the fm foot on my machine! I found out that I like to swirl! and will be practicing more in the future to get the knack down so I can free motion my 16stlouispatch quilt! (this is me the evening I got back, completely shattered - eyeing up my new purchases!)

In the afternoon I had my first experience of foundation paper piecing with Joanna and Julianna, they were so nice and I got lots of one-on-one help from the lovely Julianna during the class - because as like crochet - I didn't get it at all!! I completely forgot that following simple instructions and learning new skills takes me AGES! The idea of looking at things back to front, and flipping it back and forth was so confusing to me. Yes I'm blaming my lack of skills in this area and crochet to being a leftie, ha! But after being back home for a couple of days, I had another few go's at it - and eventually (last night) I got the hang of it!!!! It really didn't come to me easily, so I think this finished block is my greatest sewing achievement. ever. I've wanted to learn to paper piece for so long, but never had the confidence to try, and since finishing this block this morning I have just bought the lovely Ayumi's Dishy Treats pattern this afternoon! so as soon as I finish writing this post it's off to the sewing room to choose fabrics for them! :D

Later on came 'market night' where we got the opportunity to shop from various sellers and purchase their wares! There was some great stuff up for offer, and I was tempted in every direction - though I was very restrained and came away with only 3 fat quarters (which you can spy in my first pic). We also got given a great little goodie bag on arrival too! A big thanks to all the many sponsor's who donated.

On Sunday, I had hand quilting with Lu Summers. She brought in some examples of her mini improv quilts with hand stitching, and wow, they were amazing! I don't think I've seen these online or perhaps noticed them (eek, sorry!) but I'm so glad I did, they blew me away! No photo's of course, sorry. Most people in the class had done her previous class 'improv' so they had blocks to do some sashiko stitching, whereas I had my traditional sampler quilt so Lu suggested I talk to Mandy who was doing another hand quilting and applique class. She was really helpful, and gave me some advice on threads and patterns to try :)

If I'm able to visit next year, I would definitely like to be a little more social!? I'm really shy around new people, so I didn't get to talk to as many people as I wanted and I annoyingly I didn't join in any of the activities going on in the evenings as I was MEGA shy and ran away, eek! Should have also taken more notice of the Flickr group and got involved in the name badge swap, dohh! So upset I missed out on that. And perhaps set up my Sew and Quilt shop to sell fabric for market? wait, what am I talking about - let's not get ahead of myself now?! Just handing out some business cards would be an achievement!
I'm slowly getting round to all the different blogs I was introduced to during the weekend, it's been a great way to get to know fellow sewer's I've not come across before, and also chat with some people whose work I admire from online! Jessie, xo

I thought today I would share with you some of the lovely fabrics that have been pouring into Sew and Quilt this last month, as it seem I never write dedicated posts about my shop!? If you're not into pictures with piles of fabrics, look away now!

First up is the beautiful Old/New 30's by Lecien, they really are so pretty and the photo's don't do it justice unfortunately. I haven't got round to cutting into these yet but I'm thinking a simple, vintage nine-patch style like this would be great for them, don't ya think?

Another exciting collection we received is Bake Sale by Lori Holt, it's so bright and fun! I whipped up a potholder and matching oven mitt with these over the weekend, and it works so well in my kitchen. I have a big yellow 1950's kitchenette cabinet, so I tied in the yellow cherry print to match perfectly! :) they make me smile every time I see them.

And last but certainly not least, we have some of the fabulous Happy Go Lucky collection by Camille Roskelley. The colour's are so amazingly bright and cheery in real life and they blend so well with lots of different fabrics. I've just started a bit of a giant quilt challenge on the weekend, using *alot* of the aqua penny dots print, I can't wait to share more on that with you soon! I love the scallop prints too, perfect for binding, yeh!

In the past I have received some lovely comments from my blog readers about my Scrappy Trips quilt, and some people had asked me if I could put together a quilt kit for them. At first I was a little reluctant, I was worried it wouldn't be quite what they expected as fabrics wouldn't be identical, or I would not give them enough fabric by error. But after a few more queries I decided to go ahead and make a bunch of scrappy trip quilt kits (now say that two times fast!!). After some quilt math and lots, and *lots* of checking and measurements, and cutting later we got all the kits together and I'm happy to say they've been a big hit!

Thank you to all my customers who have purchased one, it's really exciting to think people want to make a scrappy trip quilt like mine! :) I'm hoping to make some more quilt kits in the future, perhaps a St Louis 16 Patch next?

I've got some exciting things arriving next week, I'll be sure to keep you posted from now on ;) if you don't mind, that is? Jessie, xo

Putting up a quilt design wall has been on my list of things to do ever since I had my overhaul in the sewing room a few months back, somehow I never got round to getting it done? I've also been getting tired of tip-toeing around quilt blocks I had arranged carefully on the floor! So enough was enough!!

Last Saturday I got my butt in gear (with the help of Robin) we made a quick trip to B&Q and picked up two sheets of hardboard, some gaffa tape and a roll of 'No More Nails' double sided tape. I already have a roll of 100% cotton batting that I use for my quilt-making so I just cut it to size plus a couple of inches bigger, ironed it and then laid it flat on the floor with the hardboard on top and gaffa taped it in place all the way around the edges. We then used a few rows of double sided tape on the back of each board and stuck them to the wall side by side! voila, done!

It's not the best budget busting DIY, roughly £20 + the cost of the wadding but it worth it's weight in gold getting things off the floor! The hardboard works really well to make it a nice hard flat surface that you can stick your quilt blocks to and re-arrange for colour placement etc. I've seen some people hang batting up with a curtain pole, so there's lots of other ways to do it - but I wanted a firm surface. I'm amazed at how well things stick to it! It's such a great way of brightening up my sewing room, while being practical :) I love just gazing at my WIP now. Above are the farmers wife blocks I've completed so far - not many!! and some *very wonky* stars I did ages ago. I think the design board will be a good way to motivate me to complete some projects! :)

Jessie, xo

Hi everyone! After sharing my finished oven mitt and matching pot holder I made using Bake Sale fabric and some trusty Pam Kitty Love the other day I received a message from one of my blog readers saying she wanted to re-create a pot holder for herself, so I'm here today to give you a tutorial so you can all make one! :) It uses the Ohio Star block pattern for the top and measures 8" square, a perfect size to hold a range of saucepan's or just look pretty in your kitchen! (which is what mine will be used for as I didn't have any Insul-bright for the inside!).

1. Cut the following;
(1) 3 1/4" square - centre piece
(4) 3 1/4" square - background
(2) 4" square - background
(2) 4" square - coordinating fabric for star

(1) 40" x 2" - binding
(1) 8" x 2" - loop
(1) 8.5" square - backing fabric
(1) 8.5" Insul-bright square

2. Cut each of your 4" squares in half, corner to corner. Repeat on the other diagonal so you have 16 quarter square triangle units.

3. Begin sewing your unit's together (along the shorter side of the triangle). Alternate the fabric print (e.g. sew 8 pink cherries on the left, then sew the 8 units with the pink cherries to the right).
4. Now sew your triangle units together, notice now the fabric print's are opposite each other ;)

5. Once you have your 4 quarter square triangle units sewn together, lay your block out as shown below (well, not quite - please note the incorrect unit placement on the bottom! This should be turned to the side, as the top one is).

6. Sew your units to make 3 rows. Then sew your rows together to create your Ohio Star block.
7. Lay your backing fabric face down, then Insul-bright wadding with the pot holder top, face up - and pin in place using quilter's curved safety pins.

8. Quilt your pot holder top as desired. I machine quilted mine with a walking foot. Square up your block and trim excess.

9. For the hanging loop, just make this as you would for regular binding, then fold it again in half lengthways and sew down the edge. Pin to the corner of the backing fabric.
10. Pin your binding in place and sew. (If you're unsure about binding there's plenty of help on the web, or try Jeni B's tutorial here).

11. Fold over and pin the binding in place to the back of the pot holder (your hanging loop should now be visible). I like to hand sew all of my binding's as it doesn't take very long and, personally I like the look of it much better to machine sewing.

I hope you liked the tutorial! If you have any questions, please drop me a message. I'd love to see your finished pot holders, feel free to post them on my Sew and Quilt facebook page or add them to the Flickr group (all fabrics available at Sew and Quilt) Jessie, xo

I attended my brother's wedding over the weekend on the south coast, there was lots of travelling involved so I got myself organised before we left and cut up a bunch of diamond shapes for my current paper piece project. I really don't know how I coped with long journeys before epp? It certainly made the five and half hour trip go a lot quicker! I managed to get quite a few more diamonds basted and sewn together so it was a productive weekend!

When I'm travelling I like to keep my paper piece shapes, scissors, needle and thread in this drawstring bag and when I'm home I keep it in one of my sewing boxes which has a pull out tray perfect for keeping things organised :) and it's really good because I can transport it around the house, depending on where I sew. How do you organise your epp? Do you cut up all your shapes and baste everything first? For me, I like to rotary cut lots of shapes out at a time, then do a bit of basting and sew the diamonds together when the mood takes me and so I can see how it's coming together, and add in certain colour's if I feel they are missing. You can purchase the paper pieces and most of the fabrics I've used to make them at my shop, Sew and Quilt.

It's so exciting seeing them all laid out! So... I was thinking - if you're not already on a epp project of your own, would you like to join me in making a 8-point diamond star quilt?! I would love it if people wanted to make their own version. My stars are made using the 3" diamond paper pieces, I think I'm going to make it 5 stars wide by 8 down, so it will be a comfortable lap quilt. I may go bigger to 6 star's wide! See how I go ;) I thought Kona Pearl Pink would be a good backdrop for them, what do you think? Drop me a message if you want to make one too :) Jessie, xo

My IG pals will know I was busy last week making a new purse for myself. I've been eyeing up the 'Have It All' wallet by Straight Stitch Society for some time, as I was in desperate need of a new wallet. I pinned it aaaages ago but on a whim, I purchased on Thursday evening and got straight to work on Friday. I was quite nervous about doing it as I'm not so good with little fiddly projects, but I'm really surprised with the outcome! I think it's a bit of a testament of how far my sewing skills have improved over the years :) It also helps when you have clear instructions and diagrams from a good pattern ;)

Though, don't think I whipped up the first one in a couple of hours! no, no, lots of reading, and re-reading but only a little stitch ripping to get my edge-stitching around the wallet just right. All the effort paid off though, I'm completely in love with it and I'm so pleased to replace my old battered wallet that I was always mortified to get out in public (yes, it really was that bad - a sales assistant once told me 'I needed to clean up my purse' - yikes!) So, you ask why do I have two? Well, my mum took one look at mine and said "can I have one!". So of course I had to oblige :) so she has the pink one, and I have the white one.

It's got so many compartments! I love having loads of space in my wallet to keep things organised. I used Lecien Old New 30's prints and popper snaps for the closure - they're so fun to use! I'm really excited about making a bag next! I've been thinking about the aeroplane bag for travelling or this really cute tote bag by Noodle-Head but I just can't make up my mind about a fabric choice which is never a problem for me normally? It's funny how one project get's your creativity going in a new direction :)

Thanks for stopping by, xo

I thought I would check in today and give you an update on my sampler quilt, you may have read my previous post where I was in a bit of a quandary as to whether I would hand or machine quilt it? Well, the the results came back from you all that I should hand quilt it, and that I did!

I'm enjoying the process so far and I really like the effect, definitely made the best choice! I'm using an Aurifil embroidery floss in a neutral colour that I got free in my Fat Quarterly retreat goodie bag :)

Just recently I received stock of some great quilting stencils, they are plastic templates with designs cut into them that you can just draw around and then stitch over the top! You can use them for hand or machine quilting, so for this project I've picked out a couple of traditional floral designs and been stitching these into some random blocks along with some straight line stitching to mix things up. You can purchase these in my shop here! I would also thoroughly recommend the use of a quilting hoop, this really has been a life saver and helped me to keep my stitches even. The stitching above was my first block :| it's amazing how quickly you can improve after a little practice!

I'm really excited to get this finished and up on the wall, it's going to be perfect for Autumn :) Hope you're all having an enjoyable week. xo

Yes, I've started another quilt - OK it's a sickness. I really can't help myself since I have beautiful fabrics pouring into Sew and Quilt quite regularly it's very hard not to dream up quilt ideas for them all. These blocks below will be turned into a double irish chain quilt for our bed, I've had the Scrappy Trips on their for a while and although I love it - I've been wanting something a little softer. So for this project I've chosen Happy Go Lucky Aqua Penny Dots, along with some Kona Lemon and Kona Snow. I'm hoping it will all work together nicely as it's a big quilt! It's going to finish at 88" square, yikes!

I got the pattern from a book my mum picked up for me at the carboot earlier in the summer. It's called Quilts Around The Year and it's got lots of traditional projects which are themed by the season. I really love most of the projects actually and I am particularly taken by the Rose Wreath quilt from the front cover, I've never thought of trying appliqué before but this has really got me itching to try it sometime. I don't think I could manage a whole quilt top but a small wall hanging could be achievable!? I've also been inspired by the many quilts featured in a beautiful turkey red and green colour-way, I will definitely be using that in some up-coming Christmas projects this year.

You can find the link to the book on my 'Books I Recommend' tab on my sidebar, it's only $5.99 in the U.S. and good news for my UK readers, I've found it for only 1p !! that's cheaper than carboot prices ;)

So all 64 blocks are complete! and now for the fun part, sewing it into a quilt top - I love this part, it's when it all starts to take shape and you can really see what it's going to turn out like :) I'll hopefully be able to post a finished quilt top soon! Hope you're all having a great week.

p.s. On a side note, thank you to some of my blog pals who let me know recently I was a 'no reply blogger', my settings were changed when I moved to Google+ and I hadn't realised! grhh! It's now updated at last! and sorry if I haven't replied to some of my lovely blog comments recently, I've been so behind. Just wanted you all to know I'm very appreciative taking the time to write a little message on my posts :) xo

Yes, it was my very special friend Laura's baby shower on Sunday, so she needed an extra special gift! After a bit of research I decided upon Noodlehead's divided basket. It was the perfect storage for nappies and baby bits that don't always look so pretty in the nursery - so this seemed like an ideal solution! I think it will certainly brighten up the nursery with the cute Suzy Ultman print, which I've been saving for the perfect project! :)

I think lovely Laura liked them!!

The basket came together quite quickly; once I had spent *hours* auditioning fabric choices! For that reason I omitted the front pocket for the basket as I couldn't find a perfect match (and didn't have enough Suzy U print). The pattern is very clear so you don't feel lost at any stage, and there's lots of helpful photo's to keep you on track. Though I did struggle a lot with the top-stitching around the edge, it took me three attempts to get it finished! I used regular pins but Anna suggested using Clover wonder clips so I may have to invest in those for next time ;)

To make it a little more inviting I filled it with some baby bath toiletries and rubber duckies :)

A few day's before the shower I decided to make a baby quilt too. We don't know if it's going to be a boy or girl so I started pulling a bunch of my low volume fabrics I've been hoarding for too long - which I figured would be ideal for a neutral baby theme. I had planned to make a 'trip around the world' style design but miscalculated the fabric I needed, so in the end I came up with this design ...

I strip pieced 6 rows of prints, and then alternated them - if that makes sense? Perhaps I'll make another one and do a tutorial. I really did enjoy making this. I love making quilts for people when you know they will be loved and appreciated for years to come :) The backing fabric is Happy Go Lucky, Aqua Skip - and I think it might just be the most perfect backing ever! It works so well with the patchwork top, straight line quilting and being a neutral colour for boy/girl. Also my friend has a weakness for mint and turquoise, so it really is perfect! I hand sewed the binding in the nick of time Sunday morning! using Kona Snow.

Too many photo's? oh well! I love them so I just couldn't help myself. xo

You may be wondering why I'm doing a 2013 round-up in September? Well, I find most of my vintage fabrics and table linens during the Spring/Summer period in charity shops and carboot's. So, as the summer season is winding down for the year I thought I would check in with you guys to share all the lovely things I've gotten so far!

I know a lot of my readers outside the U.K. will be bemused with my 'carboot' talk so I will get the explanation out the way - carboot sale's or fayre's are an organised event, usually on cricket or rugby pitches etc where people fill up their car's with things they wish to sell (also dealers) and sell it out the back of their car (trunk); which we call a boot in the UK - hence the name ;) It's great fun, and you never know what you're going to find! Over the summer I try to attend two a week in my local area, weather dependent of course. Sometimes it's great and I pick up a whole bunch of fabulous things, other times I walk away with nothing. Though I would have to say this year has been pretty good!

So today I thought I would share with you just the fabric and linens I've acquired. I've got a house full of other bits and bobs, so maybe I'll show you those in a later post ;) above is the actual fabric, mainly cotton but also a couple of silk and my favourite one on the right a bright red 'bri-nylon' (as my mum called it) apparently it was very popular in the 60s and 70s. I think it would make such a cute dress, so I've been saving it for just the right pattern once it comes along.

These are curtains I've come across on my travels. I love them so much! So much so, I won't cut into them. The bottom three I think, are 1940's - unfortunately I shredded the stripe green one in the washing machine :S so not usable for curtains anymore but I did whip up a piped pillow for my living room, phew! The top one is a lovely kitchen inspired print from the 50s and the checkered one is 60's - I'm guessing from the orangy/brown colour palette.

Not many vintage sheets this year. Although I am getting fussier, and I have left behind 'vintage' one's I already own and other's I would have picked up in the past. I think people are realising how popular they are and holding out to sell them on Ebay perhaps?

Now for the tablecloths! I've collected pretty tablecloths for a few years, but fully embraced the new collecting hobby this year :) I'm rather impressed with this stack! 32 so far! The cotton and linen printed kind from 50s/60s are my favourite :)

Though I also have a weakness for any with pretty embroidery on! and we don't seem to have a shortage of these in England, well at least in my neck of the woods anyway. I appreciate all the workmanship that goes into creating each one so I think I'm a pretty good home for them.

Did I mention I like checks and stripes too? Yeh, I know ... I'm one pile away from becoming a hoarder!! What do you like to collect? I'm always intrigued. Not that I need any more ideas! ...

Craft/Sewing Room Update

Lately

Flying Geese

St Louis 16 Patch

Retail Therapy

St Louis 16 Patch Quilt Top

Crafty Corner

Flying Geese Quilt Finish!

Fat Quarterly Retreat - Hello!

Antique Album Quilt Inspiration

Fat Quarterly Retreat, London

Shop News!

Quilt Design Board DIY

Kitchen Pot Holder Tutorial

Diamond Paper Piecing Progress

Have it All Wallet

Sampler Quilt Progress

Double Irish Chain Quilt

A Very Special Baby Shower

Vintage Fabric and Linens 2013 Round-Up