The Sweet Life Begins

Look at this lovely bundle of yummy gorgeousness! This is Cori Dantini's new line of fabric and I am a very lucky girl to be getting to play with this before it even hits the stores!

A few weeks back I got a really nice email from Cori herself saying she had seen this cushion I made out of her last (and first!) fabric line, 'Beauty is You', and how much she liked it. As you can imagine I was delighted to hear this.
This led to Blend, the fabric company Cori designs for, asking if I would like some of her NEW line to see what I could make with it.
I said 'yes please!' and a package arrived last week containing this beautiful fabric.
I actually think it is even better than the first line! It is called 'The sweet life' and is full of Cori's adorable illustrations. I am working on something using the panel above and most of the other fabrics.

But that still leaves these big panels, the 3 above are a width of bolt. I just adore these, especially this flag waving girl below. What do you think, a bag? A cushion? The centre of a quilt?

Meanwhile here are a few sneak peeks of what I've been working on with the rest of the fabric.

It's all pieced but I am planning some major hand quilting so you will have to wait a while to see the finished thing.
It's going to be a free downloadable project so if you like it you can all make one! And I've put a big order in for The Sweet Life so we'll have plenty of fabric ready when it comes out sometime in July.

I always like to show you something actually finished in every post so here is another patchwork storage caddy.

The one I made a few weeks back was meant to be for a gift, but I couldn't bear to part with it once I'd finished. So I've made another one. This time with buttons.

Here it is filled with some goodies - 3 fat quarters, a box of Twining's comforting Liquorice tea (my new favourite), and a euro scrubby (amazing scourers that we sell in the shop!).

I'm off for a few days to Whitby with my family tomorrow. I've got some crochet and some applique lined up for the train journeys. I've also got a queue of new projects to show you when I get back. See you in a few days!

Little Scrappy Trip Quilt

I am at home all week working on new Bearpaw craft classes for the Autumn which will get announced in a week or so (no pressure then!).
Phew, being creative all day is really hard work! And stressful! I'll be glad to get back to the shop.
So there will be lots to show you soon, but meanwhile, for a little break from the coal face, I made this little cot quilt.

Amazingly, one of my son's best friends has had a baby! That means I could almost be a granny myself - yikes!
One of the classes I am working on this week is a new intermediate patchwork evening class. This means I can use up the samples from my Modern Patchwork Techniques 1 and 2.
The first class in MPT1 was Scrappy Trip Around the World. It's really caught on this year but I came across it a few years back after seeing it used in a Do Good Stitches Bee quilt.
I had 4 blocks already, so I sewed these together and used some left over strips for a border.

As I am at home it means I can't pop in to the shop (a half hour drive away) for supplies. So this is very much a 'use things up' project. I even pieced the wadding together from scraps.
I thought I would try my hand at some new FMQ stitching with this circle or bubble pattern.

I wasn't really sure how to achieve this affect and the whole time I was doing it I thought it was going to look awful. But actually it looks great!

And luckily Stuart has had a baby boy, as I think this wouldn't have worked quite as well for a girl. I don't know what the little ones name is and can't ask my son as he is away meditating for 10 days in Herefordshire *sigh*.

I used a Riley Blake chevron for the binding and the whole thing took me only a couple hours (but I had the blocks pieced already).
It's such a relief to get something finished!
Expect to here quite a lot from me over the next few weeks as lots of half finished projects reach fruition.

The Great Tapestry of Scotland - my last stitch!

Yes, our panel for The Great Tapestry of Scotland is very nearly finished! We are just filling in our individual boxes around the outside. If you have missed any of my regular updates on this amazing project you can read more here and here and also here.
I have just completed my last turn and stitched my last stitch. But more on that in a bit. Let's have a look at some panel close-ups first.

Here is the gorgeous dog/wolf stitched by Susan, along with the man's loincloth that I completed on my last turn. It is dark and difficult to see, but it includes bits of fur trim, very much as I did with the woman's skirt on the opposite side.

Look at those fish! Liz and Katherine have down an amazing job, and I think there is still some metallic thread going on soon to complete them.
You can also see a bit of a close up of the polar bear here too. After A LOT of debate we decided to keep him very sparse and simple with large seed stitches in white. The idea is that he is a bit of a 'ghost bear'. This period depicts us coming out of the ice age, so the polar bear (who could even be described as having his back to us) is receding towards the arctic and becoming ever more ghostly and indistinct as he goes. At least that's our story and we're sticking to it!

I've shown you one of the men's hair previously but the other one is finished now, Morag did the red-head and Katherine the brunette. I just love the effect they got using a twisted chain stitch.

We have each got a box to fill in with whatever we want. The only proviso is that it must have been around in our panel period, 8500BC. Joan L has 2 boxes to fill and she has finished both. That cute red squirrel above is one of hers, I just love his furry tail! Joan H created that very complex looking pine cone in the corner and Gill is working on that delicate reindeer moss (still to be finished).

 Susan has stitched this beautiful Spurry with tiny delicate flowers on top.

Liz is still working on those lovely raspberries, meanwhile Joan L's 2nd box is that beautiful birch catkin. And what have I been doing? A mountain hare of course!

I have been working on this little fella solidly for the last 2 days and I feel like I've actually given birth to a mountain hare, never mind stitched it! It was hard work and quite stressful, mainly because I just didn't have the right sort of mid browns so had to create a suitable shade through speckling lots of colours. This has meant that he is quite 'heavy' (wool-wise) but as he is so small I hope it will be ok.
And now I am very relieved, not only because I think he is ok, but mainly because he is finished!

The boxes in the bottom 2 corners are for our  group 'tag'. Marg has been working on these, the first one has all our initials in different colours - isn't that cool?! The other side is going to be a local landmark and I will wait till it is finished to reveal more.
The panel will now travel to the other members so that everyone can fill in their boxes and do a few last minutes finishes. The deadline for handing the panels in is June 23rd and we are planning on taking every last minute and handing it in on that day. We will all get a last minute chance to see the panel when it is totally completed and take photos. I will share these with you after that, and then the next time I will see this is when it is mounted and exhibited with all the other panels at the Scottish Parliament in September!
Meanwhile I would like to leave you with this video of a short film about the panel made by some journalism students at Napier University. You might just recognise one of the interviewees!