I haven't gone mad. I KNOW Christmas is over!

Over the 2 1/2 years since i made this i have had a ton of requests for a pattern for this block.   I can't believe how popular it is. It's had over 2200 views on Flickr and appears to have been pinned on Pinterest (i WILL join that one of these days!!) a ton of times too.

Writing some instructions has been languishing on my to-do list and has never made it to the top. I finally got a rocket up my bum after receiving a lovely e-mail from Susan in Oklahoma.  Her e-mail brightened my day so much that i really wanted to finally get some instructions done.

There are instructions for how to make this 10" blocks, and i have added fabric calculations for those of you who might want to make a quilt. The links to download the PDFs for the pattern and the templates are on my Patterns/Tutorials tab at the top of the page.

Have fun!

Peeking my head out to wish you all a belated Happy New Year!

I can't believe i haven't blogged since last June.

Well, i can actually. First and foremost as I'm a bit crap keeping up with blogging, but more than anything since the Fat Quarterly retreat last June it's big one massive roller coaster of busyness. You know, the kind of busyness where every waking moment is jammed packed to the brim?

We've been in 2013 for nearly a month now but the strangest thing is that I've only felt like it's a new year for about a week. How does that work?  I guess I'm a bit slow on the uptake.  I wanted to do a round up of this years makes but as there is still a ton of (the most exciting stuff) i can't show you. This will have to do for now....

I am hoping to be a bit less crap in 2013. I have seriously missed keeping up to date with what everyone has been up to and, I've missed you folks.

A belated Happy New Year to you all and I'll be back soon. I hope  :-)

Fat Quarterly Retreat 2012 is over :-(

Today my cheeks still hurt from smiling, my voice is hoarse from laughing and I'm feeling a bit teary at the prospect of having to get back to 'real life'.

I will keep it short and sweet as how the hell do you sum up something THAT amazing in a few paragraphs?  I can't really think coherently today, but i did want to stop by and say Thank you!

It was amazing to have all of the FQ crew in one place at the same time.  Thank you John, Katy, Tacha and Lynne for all your fabulousness. I love you all - you are THE BEST!!!!

Thank you to Lu and Mandy for mucking in and helping us lug stuff between floors to make sure we had everything we needed in the right place at the right time.

Thanks to Terri for giving me the best quote ever that makes me howl with laughter every time it pops into my head:  "Mexican?  I don't even like guacamole".

Thanks to Tom Starkey at Pfaff for loaning us 20 sewing machines, and taking time out of his Bank Holiday weekend to bring and collect them.   Thanks also to our other sponsors for providing us with some great stuff for the goodie bags, and thanks to my hubby Curly Boy for spending a whole day filling them!!

Finally, HUGE thanks goes to all you lovely folks who came to the retreat to hang out with us and make it the best weekend ever. You are a lovely, funny and warm hearted bunch who showed that you wanted it to be as successful as we did, so put your hearts and souls into making it the best weekend ever. Thank you!!

I am sad that i won't get to see you all today but even more excited that I'll get to see you all next year. Roll on 2013!!!

Fat Quarterly Sewing Retreat 2012

I’m a little late to the link party but for those of you that don’t know me, I’m Brioni.  I’m one of the founding members of Fat Quarterly.   I live in Leeds with my curly haired American husband, the most adorable little 2 ½ year boy old ever, and 2 kitties.

(This pic is not how i usually look. i usually have bits of toddler food stuck to me and my hair usually looks like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards!)

Just another couple of days running around like a blue-arsed fly* and then i get a whole weekend pfaffing around with bits of fabric at the Fat Quarterly Retreat.  Haha, ‘Pfaff’ geddit? 

Katy, Lynne and I have been busy familiarising myself with our Pfaff machines so that should disaster strike we can hopefully sort it.  I have faith in myself given that i un-jam the work printer on a regular basis and became the queen of un-jamming the automatic hand towel dispensers at Spring Quilt Market in KC.

Curly Boy is currently busy stuffing goodie bags. There is a lot of stuff.  I was tempted to spread it all out on the floor and roll around on it. I didn’t, you’ll be please to know.

I really can’t wait to meet you all and I can’t wait to spend some more time with my Fat Quarterly buddies Tacha, Katy, Lynne and John. This will be the first time that all 5 of us have been in one place at one time so i can’t wait.  Eeeeek!

Hope to see you all at the weekend!!!!

*For those of you who were wondering.... A Bluebottle is the proper name for blue-arsed fly.  They're the large, noisy busy looking flies similar to a worker rushed off their feet, hence the phrase “I'm running around like a blue arsed fly!!

It's been COLD where we are.

 I longed for snow so i could take little J out. Last year when it snowed bucket loads he wasn't with us and was barely walking so i knew it would be a pretty exciting first for all of us. We didn't get a ton of snow and it didn't last very long but thankfully it fell over a weekend when Curly Boy was home and there was enough to make a snowman. Little J helped by patting handfuls of snow onto him and had a whale of time.

On our walk back home there were some pretty decent puddles so Little J had a good splash around. Pity you can't also hear the giggles!

Sewing has been going pretty well but most of it is FQ related or secret projects so i can't show you anything yet, but i can show you this.

This is in Issue 8 of Fat Quarterly available here. I used in total about 18 yards of scraps, strings and fabrics that i wanted out of my stash. Can you believe i didn't use it all?

Bbbrrrr....

You can tell that it is now winter as the kitties are finding the strangest places to curl up and have a nap. Pile of sweaters, on the floor wedged under radiators, stretched out along the landing exactly where the hot water pipes run under the floorboards, a pile of strings on the sofa.

I guess i finally have to accept that it's just not summer anymore *sigh*.

FQ - Issue 7

It would seem that there has been no sewing at all going on since the little man came. Granted it has been a bit hit and miss but there has been some lil FQ projects going on! The pattern for this Crossroads and Roundabouts quilt is available in Issue 7 of Fat Quarterly out on 15th November here. As usual it's chocka block with fabulous patterns so make sure you bag your copy!!!!

What a year!!!

The bad stuff:

2 bad bouts of teething, 4 colds, a febrile convulsion, 2 chest infections, conjunctivitis and a broken ankle

....and that's just the little man.

For us two there has been Curly Boy losing his job for the 2nd time this year, a burglary, my Mum being pretty poorly and been in hospital for a week or 2, 2 bouts of gastroenteritis, flu, chest/sinus infection and 5 colds

But the wonderful news is that....

The little man has now settled beautifully, has had a ton of fun, met some lovely new people and found some little friends, has grown 2 1/2 inches and gained a kilo, had his 2nd birthday and has finally started saying a few words.

Best of all, we have now got to know and love the loveliest little boy ever. He's bright, lively, mischievous, funny, handsome, sweet and affectionate.
We love you little man!

How time flies!

There has been a ton of stuff going on that i couldn't or didn't want to talk about, and that as that was all taking up just about every waking thought then there didn't seem to be anything left to tell. I can and want to share some of it now, and wanted to tell you about our exciting news.

We are finally going to be parents! Yes, us!!! :-)

We were approved to adopt in September last year (after a gruelling 6 months of weekly 2 to 3 hour visits from the Social Worker!) and just before Christmas we were matched with a little boy who is now just 18 months old. The week before last it the match was finally approved by the Matching Panel and last week finally signed of by the Head of Children's services. So it's finally all official now :-)

Tomorrow we finally get to meet him and i just can't tell you how excited we are. Our road to parenthood has been one hell of an emotional roller coaster and we still have to pinch ourselves to remind ourselves that it really IS happening! Although there are plenty of reminders around the house....

Our guest bedroom (which is no longer a guest bedroom!) that Curly Boy has done an amazing job with...











The Dr Suess quilt still hanging over the door waiting to be finished...



And last but most definitely not least, the beautiful things that dear friends have been making...





I think we are going to gibbering wrecks tomorrow - but in a good way of course. Wish us luck!!!

Thanks so much for your help!!

Thank you all so much for your heart warming donations and participation in our first { Modern } Relief fundraiser in support of World Vision’s efforts to end hunger!

We have now collected an amazing $5700.00!!

Tonight at 12:00pm PST (12/1/10) we will officially close this raffle, however you can locate information regarding World Vision efforts and how you can continue to support their mission throughout the entire year through their website at http://www.worldvision.org/.

We will be announcing the winners and Grand Total of the Raffle within the next 2 weeks!

Thanks again!

Modern Relief.

{ Modern } Relief is a simple concept. We are Modern Quilters uniting through the holiday season by bringing the warmth of our quilts and the warmth of your hearts together for others in need. This season, 2010, we will be supporting World Vision. We hope YOU will join us in taking a stand against hunger by participating in our fundraising raffle. Please let me introduce to you World Vision.

World Vision is leading the effort to end hunger.

In the next seven seconds, another hungry child will die.

World Vision is on the front lines of the fight against hunger. Today — and every day — we’ll distribute nearly 600 metric tons of emergency food aid, nourishing the hungry. We’ll give local farmers the seeds, tools, and training they need to grow their own food and feed their own communities. And we will plead the cause of the hungry in halls of power all over the world.

Please join us in creating a world without hunger — a world in which no child dies for want of nutritious food. This site offers in-depth information on hunger, its causes, and how it can be stopped. You can learn more about key hunger-related issues and share what you discover with friends and family. Use this link to begin your journey.

Please meet the members of this season’s event and view their donations that they have generously provided to this fundraiser raffle.

Heather from { House } of A La Mode

Amy from Amy's Creative Side

Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson!

Nettie from a quilt is nice

Aneela from Comfortstitching

Brioni from Flossyblossy

John from Quilt Dad

Kate from One Flew Over

Ashley from Film in the Fridge

Katy from i'm a ginger monkey

Tacha from Hanies

Amanda from Sasikirana Handmade

Jennifer & Jessica from Twin Fibers

Nova from a cuppa and a catch up

Ryan from I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts

Julie from Jaybird QuiltsJacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio

Alissa from Handmade by Alissa



The Guidelines:

- To enter this raffle please click on the PayPal button, this will bring you to the { Modern } Relief PayPal account.
- The cost to enter this Raffle is $10.00 per entry.
- Entries are unlimited, so please feel free to give till your heart’s content.
- Winners of the raffle will be chosen by a random generator on December 1st, 2010.
- Each { Modern } Relief Quilter participating in this event will post the entire list of winners for the donated quilts on their blogs during the second week of December and the grand total of our contributions to this cause.
- Additionally, they will also contact their personal winners at that time too.

We THANK you!

Wow - i wasn't expecting to be AWOL as long as it turned out to be.

I have got so much to share so i think I'm just going keep everything short so that the post doesn't get so long that you fall asleep halfway through, and i can get up to date quickly!
This is what has been keeping me occupied.

Fat Quarterly.



The tree skirt was made for the FQ Holiday Issue/All about Christmas Swap. Tree skirts aren't that common in the UK so i jumped at the chance of making one. I am pretty chuffed with it and it now resides with Kendra, and thankfully she loves it.

If you fancy making your own, want some inspiration for cute things to decorate your home for the Holidays, or wanting ideas for Christmas gifts, the Holiday Special Issue has gone on sale today and is available here.

Doll Quilt Swap 9.



The first pic is the doll quilt i sent to Cherri and the second pic is what i received from Upstatelisa. I LOVE it and squealed quite a lot when it arrived, and have spent many an hour stroking it. Thanks Lisa!

Urban Home Goods Swap.



Again, the first pic is what i sent to Isa and the second pic is what i received! My partner Kellie lives in New Zealand and made these wonderful things for me during the earthquakes. Thank you so much Kellie!

Birthday Trip

It was my birthday in early October and we spent 2 days in the most beautiful part of England, Northumberland. We spent Friday at my 1st favourite place in the world (Lindisfarne Castle) and Saturday at my 2nd favourite place in the world (Cragside).



We stayed at an absolutely beautiful B&B and spent the evening with my oldest friend and her husband and their 7 month old Airedale terrier called Connie (the doggy in the picture), eating fish and chips straight out the box in front of the log fire. Doesn't get much better than that!

Another thank you...and a winner!!

Thank you for all the lovely and generous comments. They made my heart sing. You all know how to make a girl feel loved and for that, i love you all back!!!
I really wish i had a pile of fabric for all of you.

Anyhow, the random number generator has picked a winner...



...and that winner is Reinojacheguei!!

Thank you for taking the time to comment and I will e-mail you for your address so i can get the fabrics in the post to you!

Giveaway and Thank You!

Fancy some fabric?

My 1 year blogaversary (how do you spell that???) passed without affair as I’m not one who celebrates anniversaries in a big way.

I started my blog and joined Flickr just over a year ago, and what a year! I’ve had a really rough few years and i think i can say that the last year has probably been the best year i have ever had (Well, except if I’d have won the lottery or something!).

Being part of the online community has been the most amazing experience for me. Quilting (certainly in the UK) is a fairly solitary hobby and I think we now take the Internet for granted, but to inspire and be inspired by quilters all over the world is just the most amazing thing ever. I have met people how i never would have got the opportunity to meet otherwise, joined a ton of online quilting bees, co-founded Fat Quarterly, and the confidence i have gained from the wonderfully sweet and funny comments both here and on Flickr has been immense and made me realise that actually I’m not too bad at this quilting malarkey!

So rather than celebrating an anniversary i would prefer to say Thank You, and what better way to do that than with fabric.
There’s nothing especially fancy in the pile, i just picked a few FQs from my local fabric shop. There’s a bit of Anna Maria Horner, Alexander Henry, a bit of what i think might be Tanya Whelan, some other random fabrics that played nicely with them, and the bottom ones are long quarters of Tilda fabric.

If you fancy this little pile then just leave me a lil note saying whatever you fancy by the end of the 14th August, and I’ll randomly pick a winner on Sunday 15th August.
If you fancy a 2nd entry, sign up to follow my blog or add it to your blog reader then leave me anther comment to tell me.
Those of you who have already left comments previously, you will automatically get an extra entry – as an extra thank you goes to you!!!!

My favourite quilts.

1. My first quilt ever - re-bound, 2. My Cathedral window, 3. Grandmothers flower garden, 4. Triple Irish Chain with flowers 2, 5. Hand pieced hexagon pinwheel, 6. Orange and teal log cabin - done!, 7. Doll quilt so far..., 8. Triple Irish Chain with flowers 2, 9. Dresden cropped, 10. Josephs coat quilt top, 11. String X quilt top, 12. PP flowers on Kona snow

There is all sorts of things I wanted to blog about but they all went out of the window when I got sidetracked by the release of Issue 2 of Fat Quarterly (go have a look, as in my humble opinion it’s a good one!) and a blog post I read a couple of weeks ago. I can’t remember for the life of me where i read it (I suspect it was a link, from another link, from another link) but it got me thinking.

The lady said something along the lines of, her not understanding the current trend towards quick and easy quilts. It got me thinking a whole lot.

Now I do understand that quick and easy is good for the times that you need to make a quilt as a gift and you need something that doesn’t take 3 years to make, or you need a utility quilt, but on the whole i would absolutely say that I’m with her all the way.

In the 5 years ish since I started quilting I have made (or in the process of) around 45 quilts and I would say that they are pretty evenly spread between quick and easy, fairly easy but there was something slightly challenging about them, and difficult and time consuming. I’ve come to the conclusion probably it comes down to 2 things:

Are a ‘process’ or a ‘product’ quilter. Why do you quilt? Do you quilt because you find something very satisfying about the process or is the process a means to an end – the end being a finished quilt? Also, how confident are you about your abilities?

I already have more quilts that I know what to do with (and I’m sure that having them piled around the house must most definitely be fire hazard) and as I can’t stop making them, for me it is probably about the process. The maths, choosing the fabric, pressing it ready for cutting, cutting it into smaller pieces and then very carefully sewing the pieces back together. I guess for some the repetition would make them want to poke themselves in the eyes with a sharp stick but I love the repetition, the project being all consuming, and the meditative benefits. I am also pretty fortunate that i am not intimidated by very much (only curved seams!!!), I think because I am naive enough to think that i can actually pull just about anything off if I work hard enough at it.

Much more importantly though, the quilts that are my absolute favourites (and the ones I would grab and save if my house was on fire!) are the ones that have taken hours in the planning, the ones that i have painstakingly hand stitched or have challenged me in some way. Those are the ‘special’ ones that will be treasured forever.

It feels pretty good to finally be back on my feet after not feeling very well for the last 3 weeks or so - culminating in the mother of all viruses last week. I’ve spent much of the last 7 days laid on the sofa either sleeping, or watching the Crime and Investigation channel (just in case you’re wondering, i am a frustrated forensic scientist not an axe murderer!!!).
I had 6 days completely sewing free. 6 days! So you can appreciate just how bad i felt if fabric pursuits held zero interest!

Curly Boy has also had a bad bad dose of chicken pox and i can tell you that never in my life have i seen anyone with as many spots as he had! I think i was about 7 when i had it and do remember feeling quite crappy and having that chicken pox itching for days, but either the last 30 years have dulled the memories or he had a particularly bad dose!! Poor bugger. I have a picture of him covered in spots but i think he'll kill me if i show you!

Both us felt pretty good on Sunday so it was time to tidy up some the stuff that has just been dumped on the flat surfaces, fold and put away 2 weeks of laundry, boil wash the bedding (or maybe napalm might have been a better idea?), scrub the red cross off the door and do some bits of jobs related to some chimney work that’s been going on – namely remove the big pile of soot out of the dining room fireplace (including a poor dead bird that had dropped down) and clean the soot off the removed chimney pots stood in the back garden, as a lovely clean white cat....



Plus one sooty chimney pot....



Equals.....