Katy & Pink Castle Fabric's Contest

Katy & Pink Castle's Contest, a photo by mandalin18 on Flickr.

This was a fun thing to do! And if Brenda of PCF's picks your bundle, as the one she likes the most you win it!!! Go here, and read up on Katy's blog about all the how's and why's. It really was a fun thing to do, I might have another go, oh yes, you can enter multiple times!

The fabrics above are

1. Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton Ice Frappe
2. Heather Bailey Nicey Jane Hop Dot in Cream
3. Joel Dewberry Heirloom Rose Bouquet in Sky
4. My Mind's Eye Love Birds Mini Dot in Blue
5. Lizzy House Hello Pilgrim Pearl Bracelet in Soft Lavender
6. Moda Bella Solids Aubergine
7. Amy Butler Love Arabesque in Ivory
8. Sandi Henderson Secret Garden Vintage Ironwork in Midnight
9. Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow Herringbone in Pond
10. Joel Dewberry Heirloom Empire Weave in Amethyst
11. Free Spirit Designer Solids Gray
12. Anna Maria Horner Loulouthi Buoyancy in Deep

Been a bit quiet around here I know. Life is pretty full on at present, mostly pleasant changes that demand my complete attention.

Thanks for popping by

x Mandy

Remember this block?

Well, I made some more!

These went out to the ladies in hive #22 in the 3x6 bee on Flickr.

I love this Bee and found it easy to. Be. On. Time!!! Something I struggle with in most swaps. Once I made the block decision and had fun pulling fabric from my stash to each persons request, making the blocks was easy peasy puddin' an' pie! I've already decided on the next quarters block and am waiting (!!) for each persons colour requests!!

I'll post about the ones I received as soon as I take a picture of them. My colour request was red, purple and aqua with grey as a background. I LOVE all the ones I received!!!

Cheerio for now, bee back soon!

x Mandy

A Finish! YAY!!

Hey Mum! I finally finished sewing down the binding on this one!!

It's my Old Red Barn Co. Flickr (round 5) Pinwheel quilt-along quilt. It measures 72" x 54" and is the largest quilt I have ever finished!!!

Un.be.lieveable!

This is the back, there's a piece of every print from the front and some old Philip Jacobs fabric I had plenty of yardage of.

I love this photo of it!

I've decided to tackle my Mod Sampler top next. All I have to do is piece the back, quilt and bind. lol. I think I'll quilt it straight across the width, about an 1" apart.

Well, that's yer lot! I need to take out of the oven the newest addition to our fave snacks, spring rolls! And before anyone kindly asks for the recipe, they came out of a box!!

Cheerio for now,

x Mandy

Doll Quilt Swap #10

I have always loved this fabric from Anna Maria Horner, 'Cathedral' from her Good Folks line. I love the simple duality of the pattern, circles and diamond stars or four pointed flowers. So, when I managed to purchase a yard of this I decided to use it as my inspiration for my DQS10.

I started to pull fabrics pieces from my stash but found I needed to do a bit of shopping! Dear oh dear what a bore that was.....not!!! lol It was tricky finding pinks that I was comfortable using, but I somehow managed!

So, this is where I started, grey HAD to be the background, and I decided that using 3 different greys could look interesting in the border. But it needed a bit of colour too, but not so much that your eye would be drawn away from the main pattern. So a thin scrappy border was the way, but in what colour?

These Anna Maria Horner 'Innocent Crush' blues provided the perfect answer. They blend so beautifully with the greys without detracting from the pinks and purples.

Next comes a little stitching in the ditch quilting, in the borders, then some hand quilting on the solids. I haven't quite decided on the colour, but maybe pink, actually I might have some already from another swap quilt.

I'm really quite enamoured with this one, even though I didn't get my stitches as close to the edge on the ovals as I'd have liked. I thought about washing the quilt when it's finished, to soften the edges of the ovals, but my DQS Flickr pals mostly say no! I'll make a final decision about that when the binding is on. Which is going to be my original fabric inspiration, of course!!!

After I finish this quilt, I've got another Doll Swap Quilt to think about! This time for the 'Down Under Doll Quilt Swap'! It will be fun to swap with 'locals'!!! One being my blogging pal Rachael of the Blue Mountain Daisy blog. You should check it out her blog, this lovely lass is not afraid of colour, and has made some stunning quilts.

Cheerio for now, and thanks for stopping by!

x Mandy

I'm in the Fat Quarterly e-zine!

I felt overwhelmingly compelled to 'give it a go' for this Fat Quarterly Design Challenge. The brief was to design a 'cross' block using solids. I had so many idea's swarming around in my head I had to check myself. Lynne over at 'Lily's Quilts' explained K. I. S. S. a short while ago, Keep It Simple Stupid!!! That's exactly what I did when I designed this block.

So.....how can you make a simple cross block look new?

How about this!

My main thought was how the block would look multiplied in a quilt, and how could I make more crosses when they were! There still had to be a recognisable cross in the block, that didn't get lost, so I used a different colour palette for it. And I wanted to have as many colours as I could without it looking too busy, and to illustrate how solids can be dramatic, but subtle also. I have Aqua's galore so this seemed the obvious choice. The four corner squares make a whole jewelled tone square when the blocks are complied and the repeated longer aqua strips make the additional cross arms.

Like this...

I also put together a tutorial for the e-zine, which was also amazingly used. Hope I wrote it okay, I'm a little worried it doesn't read correctly, or I missed out a step, or the measurements are wrong. I hope it was checked. If anyone has any questions about the tutorial, please just ask!!

Goodness, what an exciting day that was!

Cheerio for now,

x Mandy

Fresh Modern Bee

Fresh Modern Bee
Originally uploaded by mandalin18

This is a wonderful Bee, full of very creative people. I feel the need to produce something fabulous every month. I was a tad apprehensive to begin with, but that's gone now, I'm beginning to trust my instincts. Now I relish the challenge of creating something from my head, rather than scouring on-line quilting sites. Nothing wrong with that of course, I still go in that direction when looking for a particular block. For me, this bee demands I look outside the square. Lovin' that challenge!

Another post coming on the 'Cross' block!!!

Cheerio for now,

x Mandy

Playing with Solids

Robert Kaufman, Kona Cotton Solids, to be precise. I LOVE a good quality solid! The Kona solids are, in my experience, beautiful to work with. Never again, will I buy homespun for my quilts. There are a number of online spots to buy Kona, including a very new one called 'Simply Solids'. If you live in the UK, take advantage of the free delivery, you only have to spend over 15 pounds, and quite honestly, that's easy to do!! Go on, take a peak!

Also check out the 'Simply Solids' blog too, it's written by 'Made with Love by Mandy', so you know it's going to be good!!! lol, not me, wish it was!



And why? Am I telling you this.......well Lily's Quilts is having a giveaway, and I want to win it!!! The prize is a stunning package of 22 Kona Solid fat quarters! No, I don't mind if you enter too, of course not. I'm a firm believer in the 'more the merrier' attitude. The second best thing to winning the prize, would be to *know* someone who did. So, be sure to come back and let me know if you win, I'll be so thrilled for you!

Cheerio for now
x Mandy