Winter Chicken Quilt

Today it is snowing in Lincolnshire, soft and wet stuff that does not settle but will make the roads freeze and dangerous tonight. It is a day to stay inside and eat cake. Hibernation seems a good idea and it was hard to get up this morning from a warm bed. So I want to tell you about this lovely book, a just right book for a day like today.....

Making Winter by Emma Mitchell, quilt by Green Star Quilts

I will just say that I am not under the quilt, the bed is made and I am dressed in many layers and jumpers, woolly tights and a big scarf...... Emma's book is all about the way we feel in winter and how to comfort and encourage ourselves to get outside and make the most of all things wintery.

 

Making Winter by Emma Mitchell, quilt by Green Star Quilts

It is a beautiful book, with lovely photos, so carefully composed. There are things to make, recipes to try, and lots of good advice, a book to dip into when eating that cake and drinking hot coffee and a book which opens your eyes and makes you look around on a winter walk or in your garden. 

I bought it from my local book shop and Emma also has a blog with beautiful photos too. 

Making winter by Emma Mitchell, quilt by Green Star Quilts

The next thing to tell you is about is my  chicken quilt. I am making this from fabrics I have been saving in a box specially and at last I have time to start it. Here is the top so far, up on the design wall, a grand name for a flannel sheet on the wall!

Chicken quilt by Green Star Quilts

I love the way the chickens flounce across the quilt, this way and that....

Chicken quilt by Green Star Quilts

The egg, stripes and red fabrics are part of the same collection by Makower....

Chicken quilt by Green Star Quilts

It is a very simple pattern but the random placing of the small squares gives the scrappy look I love. I hope to quilt it next week and then it will be for sale on my website.

Last of all is my Project Linus UK quilt for January. Jan and I are trying to make one each month this year to donate to children in need of an extra cuddle.

Project Linus UK quilt by Green Star Quilts

I made the colour blocks from scrapes left over from another quilt and just made them into random log cabin style squares...

Project Linus UK quilt by Green Star Quilts

Each block is a little different...

Project Linus UK quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing is bright colours to match the front and the quilting is in straight, well fairly straight lines....

Project Linus UK quilt by Green Star Quilts

Now we are going to bundle off in the car for Sunday lunch with our little ones and their parents. I have the chocolate cake ready to take too.... This is apparently a 'Random Act of Kindness' my little grand daughter informs me, as taught at Sunday school. Last week she brought me her last two chocolate pennies from her stocking as a 'R.A.K'  but was rather surprised that we ate them without sharing! Life can be so hard to understand when you are little!!

The snow is hanging in tiny pearls from the bare branches of our beech tree, I'm just admiring winter beauty, we have snowdrops coming up though so soon it will be spring,

This is the week for hand sewing quilt bindings, nothing like a nice warm quilt over the knees,

 Happy quilting week,

Kind regards,

Sue 

Fairies, Flowers and Butterflies Quilt for 2018

I am so late in wishing everyone a Happy New year. I hope I can still do so, I blame the horrid flu which struck me down just after Christmas and still lingered on with an incredible tiredness thing for many days. Now I am back in the sewing room, still with the need for the occasional afternoon snooze, but basically feeling a lot better. Note to self: have the flu jab earlier next winter!
Enough moaning, along with coughing and general snuffling.... here is the first quilt for 2018. It is a single bed size and the theme is Fairies, Flowers and Butterflies, and it is such a pretty quilt! The colours have been chosen by the new owner Elen who will be seven years old next week.

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

I started drawing my design with my usual big stars in each corner, then divided up the other blocks so each 6.5 or 12 inch square has it's own character.

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

 I use lots of different fabrics and lay the blocks out on the floor if it is a big quilt or on the design wall ( that's an flannel sheet hung up) if it is a smaller quilt.
     

 

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

It is so exciting as the quilt blocks are made and I can see how it is all working out...

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

The flower fairy fabric is by Malcom Miller from the original drawing by Cecelie Mary Barker. This fabric is so pretty and has gold glitter too!
Here is the finished quilt:

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

Next I am going to make my first Project Linus quilt for 2018. I am attempting to make one each month, partly as a scrap buster, my scraps are way out of control, but mostly because these quilts bring a tiny bit of joy to a family who have a poorly child and are so worried about the future. 
My other resolution is to blog regularly. Things have slipped, good intentions wobbled and a good friend even asked if I had given up writing. That's a shame as I really enjoy writing the blog and reading the words from you too. 
So I wish you all joy in 2018 and some very happy quilting,

Kind regards,

Sue