Hen and Chicks Quilt Wallhanging

This week I have been making a little wall hanging which will be a Christening present for Liz to give baby Evelyn Rose. It is a smaller version of one of my cot quilt designs with extra rabbits added and has a hanging sleeve on the back for a rod to slide through so it can be hung on the wall. 

I'm really pleased as I had all the fabrics in stock so it fits in with my 'using things already bought' policy for the year.... Ha ha, I bet I can keep at one going for a whole year surely, because quilters don't buy fabric they don't need do they?!

Hen and Chicks quilt wall hanging by Green Star Quilts

I'm really happy with this little quilt which measures 25 x 27 inches ( 65 x 70 cm ) and hangs nice and flat too. The backing fabric is pale yellow with a white polka dot and the binding is scrappy, using bits left over from the main quilt. 

I tried a smaller font for the appliqued letters this time and they fit nicely onto the smaller width of the sashing at the bottom. It's quite hard to find fonts which are good for applique and don't have copyright too and I looked for ages before I found this one.

Hen and Chicks quilt wall hanging by Green Star Quilts

I love the pale blue fabric with tiny chicks on it too.

Hen and Chicks quilt wall hanging by Green Star Quilts

The legs and the circle around the sun are hand stitched with thickish thread making sure there are no loose ends of thread which would show through the white fabric.... well there is always one I miss and have to pull through the fabric with a needle. It reminds me of trying to get splinters out of fingers!

Hen and Chicks quilt wall hanging by Green Star Quilts

Now a question.... does anyone have experience of having an Etsy shop? I am thinking of changing the way I do things and wondered if an Etsy shop would be a good idea, but I don't know anyone who has tried it.... Do you have to put a lot of time into social media to make your shop popular? I love writing the blog and taking photos of the quilts and running my website, but that's enough media for me! What I really want to do is make more quilts with my time! 

Please tell me your thoughts and experiences of selling in this way. I would really appreciate your advice!

Brrrr, winter is back here and I'm wearing two jumpers and a waterproof jacket for walking the dog! My corgette plants are sulking in the greenhouse and I have lost hope of the sunflowers germinating before being eaten by mice. A very thin squirrel in making raids on the peanut bird feeder, to the delight of our little one, who watchs his antics avidly while throwing his breakfast across the kitchen.... please summer come soon!

I am off for a day retreat quilting tomorrow and I am so looking forward to it,

I hope you have something lovely to do this weekend too,

Kind regards,

Sue 

PS. As usual I am linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts  finish up Friday and Nicky at mrs Sew and Sow

Springtime Bicycle Ride quilt

This week I have finished my second brick blocks quilt and have called it Spring Bicycle Ride. The colours are soft spring shades, pale pinks like old fashioned tulips, the pale yellows of early narcissi and fresh willow greens. The fabrics are from lots of scraps, in fact lots and lots of scraps, even some with bicycles on in yellows and greys. This quilt makes me feel happy, it makes me think about country picnics, soft summer dresses, sailing along on my old fashioned bike with the wind in my hair and a large bar of chocolate in the basket, oh yes I can feel the sunshine on my back..... well actually it is freezing here and winter has returned this week, but a girl can dream!

Here is the finished quilt:
 Measurements: 40 x 52 inches  101.5 x 132 cm
Bricks block sizes are cut 3.5 x 2.5 inches and 3.5 x 5.5 inches 

You can read about how to make this quilt if you scroll down to the 8th April blog.

Spring Bicycle Ride quilt by Green Star Quilts

I so enjoyed making this quilt, it is easy sewing and just right for quick piecing and it gave me a chance to play with colour choices and balance. It often surprises me how unusual fabrics can sit happily beside others and I love the feeling of putting a colour jigsaw together and the delight when it 'goes right'. 

Spring Bicycle Ride quilt by Green Star Quilts

The wadding is Warm and Natural 80/20 and the quilting is in the ditch on every seam and then an added row through each brick vertically. The edges are bound with white fabric with a small yellow spot. 

The quilt is for sale on my website.

Spring Bicycle Ride quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing is from my local fabric shop and I don't know what it is called but it is a lovely pink with ferns and leaves in white:

Spring Bicycle Ride quilt by Green Star Quilts

I took the quilt off for a rather chilly photo shoot with my bicycle....

Spring Bicycle Ride quilt by Green Star Quilts

Our garden is full of Spring flowers now, Bluebells and Primulas seed all over and Cowslips are naturalising in the grass. It is so pretty and there are wallflowers just arriving in bud now too....

Spring Bicycle Ride quilt by Green Star Quilts

On a warm afternoon we took his babyship down the garden for a first ever crawl on sun kissed grass... oh I so love his fat baby feet!! And he was so amazed by the grass too!

baby feet on new grass

Are you enjoying the spring flowers in your garden? Oh I hope it is sunny and warm with you and not so cold and rainy as it is here, 

Happy quilting this week, think of me as I am scrabbling through my scrap baskets for  the next quilt, I am determined to reduce the fabric mountain this year,

Kind regards,

Sue 

A finished woodland animals cot quilt

Today we woke up to two inches of snow on the ground and a bright sunny day with a brilliant blue sky. The blue tits and robins have been taking a huge amount of seed from the bird feeders and are clearly looking for tasty snacks for their young. I also saw a great tit with a beak full of brushed off fur from Nemi the dog, it looked so funny, a blue and yellow great tit with an orange furry beard! A lovely soft nest lining though! Yesterday I saw an adult tawny owl in full daylight, a sure sign they are also raise young ones in our garden and I am so so pleased!

This week I have finished the woodland animals cot quilt. I have really enjoyed making this quilt from scraps of favourite fabrics in the sewing room and very appropriate for the time of year too.. Here it is all finished:

Woodland animals cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

The measurements are 45 x 39.5 inches ( 114.5 x 101.5 cm)

25 fabrics all cottons which are new/modern prints, vintage, and from my stash collection

91 large bricks and 78 smaller bricks to make the design

wadding : 80% cotton 20% polyester

The backing fabric is Babes in the Wood Dragonflies in pale grey by Such Textiles, I love this fabric and it is just right for the animals on the front of the quilt.

This quilt is for sale on my website  on the Buy Now Quilts page

Woodland animals cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

Woodland animals cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

I have quilted in the ditch on all the seams. I dithered over this, but decided to keep the quilting plain as all the prints make it look very busy.

Woodland animals cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

I love taking the photos when the quilts are finished, trying to get them to look interesting but clean and modern...

Woodland animals cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

and a bit arty too.... I don't have any training in photography, I have just read loads on the internet and a few books. My favourite book is The Crafter's Guide to taking Great photos by Heidi Adnum and  I hope I am improving slowly!  Have you read any good books or blogs which have helped you with your photos? I'd love to know.....

Woodland animals cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

I like this pattern so much I have started on a summer themed one too called Summer Bicycle Ride. Here is the top and I will have more photos next week...

Summer Bicycle Ride quilt

Have you got snow in your garden? It seems it is vests on again for the time being, no summer skirts yet,

I hope you have a lovely weekend though,

Kind regards,

Sue

PS. I am linking up with Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts Finish Up Friday
 and Leanne at She Can Quilt scraptastictuesday

Beginners scrap fabric quilt

My scrap fabrics basket is like the magic porridge pot in the fairy tale, it seems to fill up overnight by itself and no matter how many bits I take out, it never gets less full and sometimes it overflows..... My biggest problem is me. I find it so hard to throw away the tiniest scrap. I'm a scrap squirrel, keeping everything just in case.... So this year I have made a resolution to tackle the sewing room scrap problem. No fabric shopping unless absolutely necessary ( Ha Ha!) and only to complete quilts made from scraps.

one of many scrap fabric baskets at Green Star Quilts

So this week I have been starting with a Scrap Brick quilt with all my woodland fabrics. It is a great pattern for beginners and easy to cut the pieces. These are the piece sizes:

Brick sizes by Green Star Quilts

I put the pieces up on the design wall as they are cut. They are arranged in rows:
Row 1: horizontal smaller rectangles
Row 2: vertical large rectangles
Repeat these two rows to make a quilt top of any size.

Brick pieces on design wall  by Green Star Quilts

When I had lots of bricks on the wall and the colours looked balanced I started sewing them together, pressing the seams in alternate directions so they sit together snuggly.

seams pressed in alturnate directions

This fabric the adventurous daughter brought me back from Alaska. She has been to the Iditerod dog race there, lots of snow, lots of dogs, sleds, people who love racing dog teams and a very interesting history too. You can read about it here. Sorry, I don't know who makes this fabric, there was no selvedge printing.

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The colours are soft spring yellows, blues and greens, so I took the four complete rows of the top into the garden...

woodland animals quilt top by Green Star Quilts

Against the willow tree it looks lovely...

woodland animals quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The top is finished now, although there are still scraps of course!

woodland animals quilt top by Green Star Quilts

I have so enjoyed this simple sewing...

woodland animals quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The scrap basket is a tiny bit emptier...

woodland animals quilt top by Green Star Quilts

Now the top is ready for quilting. I have ordered some grey fabric with tiny yellow butterflies for the back. Whist I am waiting for the postman I have started another top with the same pattern.

woodland animals quilt top by Green Star Quilts

This quilt will be for sale on my website www.greenstarquilts.com  on the Buy Now page when it is finished.

Thank you all for visiting and leaving such kind comments and encouragement, it makes me feel very connected with you all and so very happy too, 

I hope you have some sunny weather in your spring gardens this week and some sunshine on your sewing areas,

Kind regards,

Sue

PS. I am linking up with Amanda Jean  at Crazy Mom Quilts who is a huge inspiration to me.

Daily life and making a cot quilt

Over the last three months it has been so busy in our household. The addition of four adults, two children and a small dog has left me without a thought to spare for my blog, so I had to stop. Quilts have been made, very much more slowly than usual, a minute here and ten minutes there in the sewing room, sometimes with help from our four year old who sits on the floor with a pile of scrap fabrics ''Designing a quilt Granny ''. 

Mealtimes are full on, dog under the table hopeful of food hurled from the highchair by the baby, but there are moments of great delight... a birthday cake decorated with all the cake ornaments including Father Christmas and Snow White, a gummy smile as the littlest one tasted a mild curry and loved it.... and so it will go on for a few more months until our whole family is more settled. So I will try to blog now and again. I miss the routine of writing and the weekly joy of linking up, the seeing what you are all making, the kind coments about what I make and the feeling of fellowship with quilters all over the world.

 So this is what I made over three weeks:

Jungle animal quilt by Green Star Quilts

I drew a new animal for Lily, the kangaroo...

Jungle animal quilt by Green Star Quilts

Here is her name appliqued at the bottom of the quilt:

Jungle animal quilt by Green Star Quilts

I love the use of 3 inch squares of lots of fabrics to create the scrappy look. The backing is pale blue with tiny rosebuds:

Jungle animal quilt by Green Star Quilts

Here is the finished quilt which is cot sized:

Jungle animal quilt by Green Star Quilts

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Easter is over now, there still may be the odd tiny unfound chocolate egg in the garden to delight a small vole! Our owls in the ivy tree are beginning to think about nests I hope and there is much to be grateful for at home.

Happy quilting to you all,

Kind regards,

Sue 

  

Raising money for Guide Dogs

This is such a late Happy New Year to you all. Since Christmas our family at home has expanded and now we have six adults, two little ones, four years old and an 8 months old, a small dog and the occasional guide dog puppy in training.... My time is no longer my own everyday and I am in training as a full time granny.... loving it but rather too tired to write the blog at the end of the day!

But today I have something other than quilt making to tell you about. Daughter Katie is cycling on her bike. It is 10pm here and she is still cycling. It is so cold and foggy and she is still cycling just now. And as her mum, I am worrying, as Mums do, so I am writing this blog to let out some of that worry.

Katie is a student Guide Dog Mobility instructor. Her second year of training involves a move from Lancashire in the west to Lincolnshire in the east and, to raise money for guide dogs, she is cycling with her own dog Nemi all the way home.... Here she is before the day she started....

Katie and Nemi practicing for her bike ride

She has a special dog seat so Nemi can sit in front when she is not running along...and a coat for her if she gets cold....

Nemi

Nemi is a lovely dog who was rescued from just outside Rome.... she is a Dashund crossed with something else and a very brave and fast runner....

I am not sure Nemi will need her sun glasses....

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This the bike route of 120 miles... in January.... in the dark some of the time....but with lots of bike lights and a friend to follow her.... and Nemi's collar with flashing lights too...

Katie and Nemi's cycle route from Atherton to Lincoln,

She has lots of experience and is a competent and capable young woman and I am so proud of her. If you would like to see the rest of her story, just follow this link www.justgiving.com/lancstolincs/ and you can see lots of other pictures.

Tonight she has cycled 85 miles in one day and tomorrow she will cycle the rest of the way to Lincoln. We will be there with champagne, balloons and a big banner at the end of her journey to celebrate. So far she has raised £778 pounds, and this will go to training a puppy to be someone's eyes next year.

But tonight as her mum I am just worried for her safety on cold icy dark roads. 

Katie and puppy

Please think of her tonight,

Thank you,

Sue

Christmas Angel

It is Christmas Eve and the house is quiet. All is done, carols have been sung and now we wait. Thank you all my readers from all over the world for your company this year, all your kind comments and friendship. These are things which make the world a better place for us all. This is my Christmas Angel, newly made and I am expecting great things of her... a little light dusting, perhaps a batch of mince pies in the oven, some of the less difficult ironing maybe...

 

Christmas Angel by Green Star Quilts

So I would just like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and every blessing for the New Year,

Kind regards,

Sue

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