More Fresh Modern Bee blocks

I really enjoyed working with the all the deep purple linen that Viv sent, so soft and floppy!! The print was also fun, with sparrows, hummingbirds and foliage, and the little bit of orange made for a striking combination. Other people in the bee were given the opposite quantities of the solid fabrics, and their printed calico had spiderwebs and grubs on it. It's sure to be an amazing quilt!!

Here are the blocks I made.

I fell off my non buying fabric wagon in January, but I've been a good fabric addict so far in February. Here's the new January additions to the stash. Oldies but goodies, and colours I have very few off in my stash. I can ALWAYS justify buying fabric!!


So........what is this pile then, well........you know how I said I wouldn't do any more quilt alongs until I'd finished some quilts! Well........I've fallen off that wagon too! But I do get to finally use my blue and green Amy Butler fabrics. I've had some of these since I started my stash!


This stack of lovelies is destined to be a Single Girl Quilt by Denyse Schmidt. I truly have always loved that quilt. So when I spied that a Support Group had emerged in Flickr and one of the three leading the way was Katy from I'm a ginger monkey blog fame, I just had too! And as the Flickr name suggests, it is a support group, a hand holding, you can do it group!

Not that it's a tricky quilt, so we've been told often, but there is a lot of preparation. Each finished block is huge at approx 22" squares, and made of 4 quarters, each quarter has around 8 different fabrics in an arc, so the whole block has a squarish circle in it. These circles then touch each other when the blocks are sewn together!!!! There are 31 pieces to the circle and the pattern calls for 36!?! No, I haven't read the pattern, it only arrived today. I think I'll read it, and note my questions and then ask my fellow Single Girl Quilters. I have to get some more plastic for the templates before I can start anyway. I didn't think I had enough, but now I'm sure. I hope I manage more than one block, I'll definitely keep you posted!!

Cheerio for now,

thanks for visiting!

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

Issue 4 available soon

See that Cross block top left, that's mine!!! I'm oh so chuffed!

If you'd like a little peek before buying, check it out here.

I bought a subscription for Fat Quarterly, instantly at the beginning for Issue 1. I just knew with the likes of Katy, Tacha, Kate, John, Nova and Brioni running the show, it would be my kind of read, full of my kind of projects. It hasn't disappointed, every issue has been packed with fabulous, must do projects, big and small. I'll be renewing my subscription, it's cheaper and I'll never forget to go on-line and buy it!

So, you wanna know a bit more about the block, well I've got another post lined up for after the release date, which is the 27th January. Not a how to, but a how it came about!

Go take a look at the Fat Quarterly blog and flickr pages in the mean time.

Right, I really should go off to the land of nod.

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

It's been a colourful year!

It's been a colourful year!
Originally uploaded by mandalin18

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Wishing you all a Christmas that is full to the brim with love and laughter.

Stay safe,
x Mandy

I started early!

Yeah, I know, it's only a little finish. But it is a start..... I'm really happy with the way I quilted it. If I ever get around to making a bed sized one, I will quilt it the same way. It's been gifted now, Jamie really enjoyed giving it to this Lady, he thinks she's fabulous and insisted on giving it to her himself.

I've received a few swaps, and will post about them in a few days, promise!
x Mandy

We have a Winner!

My Mum is visiting us from England for Christmas, so I asked her to pick the winning number. It belonged to...........

LethargicLass


Yay!!!! Send me an email so I can make a start on your Huggle.

Thank you to everyone who entered, it was fun to read all the comments. My number of visitors here has, as of this moment, reached 1646 from 60 countries. I'll have to try and work out those new three countries!!

Can't have a post without a photo, or two. So here's the Christmas Tree Ornaments I sent in a swap,

and the three I received.


Cheerio fro now,
x Mandy