Bee Europa Time!!

Tomorrow is the 1st of May! Can you believe it? Where is the year going!
Tomorrow also kicks off the new year Bee Europa 2012/13 Quilting Bee and May is my month so I'm up first! Not panicking much!
I've decided to ask my fellow Bees to make a Rocky Road to Kansas block. I fell in love with this block when I made it for the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee, using the fab tutorial at Fresh Lemon Quilts and was very sad to give these blocks away. As soon as I had laid them all out I knew that I wanted to make a quilt with this block design so I can't wait to see what all my Bee's come up with! (as soon as I get the parcels out!)

Sorry this is not the best photo it must have been dull and rainy - seen a lot of that weather lately!
The best thing about this photo is the cute photo corners - pop back tomorrow to find out more about them!

Yay for the sewing machine!

I love my sewing machine and love it even more when my ideas come to life!!
The latest project is my iPad case version 2 (see here for version 1) and it is exactly what I wanted. I didn't have enough fabric left over from my first try so I raided my fabric stash and luckily had bits and pieces that went together well.

I tweaked the first design a bit. I put the zip pocket on the front rather than the back so that I could fully quilt the back making it a little more cushy and soft! The pocket is great for keeping little accessories.

I also added some little fabric tabs (not sure what the real name for these things are!?) to each end of the zip to make it look more finished.

Inside the zipped pocket I also quilted a full piece of lining for even more protection!!

This time around I sewed the fastener into the main flap so its all hidden away neat and tidy.

For the lining I went with a lovely soft flannel cotton and yes it fits snug as a bug with the smart cover on!!!

Now onto my next project!!

Round 2

Thanks for all the lovely comments and emails about the iPad case!
I to was amazed by my own inspiration to use a sweater as the lining (I love it when you have a light bulb moment!) although it was that idea that resulted in the case being a tiny bit too small!!
So round 2 and version 2 is complete, in use and I am loving it!!
Here are a few pics of WIP on the machine quilted sections, there are 2 quilted sections this time to give a little more protection.
I'm getting better at free motion quilting and "stippling" although find myself needing to relax when doing this on my machine as I suddenly realise I look hilarious as I gravitate towards the machine and my shoulders are up by ears!! Concentration or what!! Any tips on how to relax when free motion quilting?

Did you guess right?

Well done to Jeanette, Beth and Sukie who all guessed it was some kind of bag or holder and even got the iPad right as well!

Most of my free time has been taken up with my new toy! I have never owned an i phone so this was a new venture into apple products and I'm hooked!
I went with the pink apple smart cover but still wanted something to keep it a bit safer. Having looked around the stores and seeing a sea of black generic cases out came the sewing machine.
I used this tutorial as a starting point and away I went.
I purchased the lovely fabric and matching webbing from here and adore this fabric so think I will need to spend a few more pennies to get a bit more for my fabric stash!

Here are the photos of the finished case - love how it turned out, however somewhere along the line (I think when I adding the lining) I seem to have lost a small amount of space so the iPad only fits in without the smart cover!! So although I love this case I really don't want to have to take the cover off each time so guess what I'm doing this afternoon - got it ..... yep version 2!!

A zipper section at the back for all the extras

There is the culprit! I wanted a nice thick lining in addition to the quilted front so I recycled a old jumper but I think it was a little too thick!

WIP Wednesday

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced today!

Here is a sneak peek of a nearly completed WIP on my sewing desk at the moment. Very excited with how this is coming along and can't wait to share the finished project! Can you guess what it is!?

Quilt blocks looking lovely!

So yesterday after showing the quilt blocks that I made for the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee, that are now winging their way to 5 lovely ladies in the USA my received blocks were just looking at me through the little plastic bag where I keep them safe so I thought I would get all the blocks out and see how the future quilt is progressing.
Here they are looking pretty in their Ziploc keeper!

All laid out - Isn't it looking lovely!!

I love that this Bee uses the makers fabric rather than sending fabric away and getting a block back. This means that there are lots of lovely fabrics that I could just not source in the UK! I was a bit nervous committing myself to just 3 colours and a background colour but I am very pleased with my choice.
I've signed up for the next quarter as well so plenty more blocks to be added!!

Weekend sewing

Had a lovely weekend with a bit of sewing and catching up on a few quilt bees.
The 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee is so much fun to take part in and hopefully these blocks will arrive at my fellow bees soon! I went with a HST triangle design and this layout was not my original plan but when I started laying out the triangles I preferred this design to my original! Hopefully my bees in Hive #9 will also like them!

For more close up images see over at Flickr!

I spy with my little eye .....

.... my first quilt top!!

Well a work in progress. Completed my first ever quilt top in a day (woohoo!!) using a bento box block pattern, a jelly roll and white contrasting fabric.
I just need to figure out what to do with the border, put the quilt sandwich together and then quilt it! Easy isn't it?