By Stephie, on Saturday 22nd January, 2011 at 20:44 pm
I feel guilty: I realise I never did finish my 12 days of Christmas posts. Things got on top of me I guess, but the omission is all the more annoying because I’d planned to show you one of my favourite cushions. I’d been mulling ideas over for a while based on some pebbles I’d collected from a local beach. I played with the possibility of a simple 9 patch design in greys.
 9 patch grey and white stripes  Collecting grey and neutral fabrics  Adding some sand colours for contrast I wanted the cushion to have added textural interest and decided on raw edge strips for the patches; it reminded me of ripples in the sand, or the way the waves bleed into the sand. If that seems far-fetched to you, just think of it as the whimsical musings of a someone who’s probably not quite right in the head!
 Hand and machine quilting lines I quilted it with flowing lines that resemble the white quartz in the pebbles. I quilted it by hand and free-motion machine and the stitches are in different sizes and colours. I also included a metallic silver thread that glistens when the light catches it. It’s very subtle, but adds to the texture I was after.
 The finished cushion  It could almost have been washed up on the beach I made the back very plain, just a simple white with a few lines of top stitching and a chunky button.
 Simplicity  Top stitch and button detail on the reverse That’s it. What do you think? I really liked it – and it was hard to give it away!
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Sunday 29th August, 2010 at 13:02 pm
Hello my lovelies! Not been here for a while have I? Computer problems and a week in Norfolk are to blame – not me obviously! I’m still in Norfolk as it happens, and I happen to have found a computer that works, if you’re one of the few people that consider Windows Vista as something that works…
We’re here in the east of England visiting family. Heavy rain and blustering winds have been battering this part of the coastline for days now, so we’ve spent a lot of time inside (not having thought to bring a jaunty sou’wester and Norfolk gansey!). Kim’s been running around with his cousins, one’s the same age and has the same passion for Star Wars and Lego as Kim does. Two of them in the house? Not good for the sanity. I lost my train tickets before we came and had to buy new ones (I think I must have thrown them out with some old tickets to St Ives), but admist all the self-imposed stress I did manage to remember to bring some sewing and a sketchbook, so I’ve been happily keeping myself busy despite being stuck indoors for lack of warm and waterproof clothing.
 All piled up and ready to go I’ve been working on a quilt top I started some time ago now. I rashly decided to make it entirely by hand, but it turned out to be a good decision. It’s something I can easily carry around with me and get on with whenever the mood takes me, or I’m sitting in a waiting room somewhere. I’ve finished all the nine patch squares now and have started on the sashings with the fussy cut squares. Even though I’ve been doing this for a year or more, I still love the fabrics I chose and it surprises me how quickly it builds up when I get going. I think I’ll be doing a lot more sewing this afternoon; I’m sat in my mother’s conservatory and it sounds like I might need an ark by nightfall! I think I’ll forget about the 8 mile run I need to do and the walks I’d planned at Brancaster. You never know, I might have a finished quilt top by the time I get home.
If you’re one of my keen-eyed readers you may have noticed that my From The Loft shop images have disappeared from the column on the right. I haven’t closed it down, just shut it for the week I’m away. I’ve got some more items to list when I get back, so keep an eye out for them. ‘Til then I’ll love you and leave you and hope that where ever you are, you’re not getting too wet!
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Tuesday 13th October, 2009 at 09:16 am
 Chapel Porth, near St Agnes, Cornwall, UK Morning everyone! Remember I said I was trying to think of a way of photographing my hearty nine-patch for you? Well, it was such a glorious day yesterday I decided to take it on a walk with me. I drove the 3 miles or so to Chapel Porth, then went for a clamber over the rocks with the quilt stuffed in my rucksack. The scenery and colours here are like nowhere else I know, and this view (left) takes my breath away every time I come around the sharp bend and down the steep hill of the valley towards it.
After I’d sat and watched the waves for a while, I made a start on up the high cliffs looking for what I hoped would be the perfect spot for a little photography. And a cup of tea and a snooze. I would surely need it after all that climbing and photography, deserve it even, don’t you think?
 Ochres and pinks, a fabulous combination I think.  I could sleep on here for hours, daydreaming  A patchwork carpet up to Wheal Coates? Now that would be something.  You could count the hand stitched hearts  and wonder at the not so perfect ones!
By Stephie, on Sunday 11th October, 2009 at 22:44 pm
 Hearty little nine patch Little stitched hearts grew in number as I sat under a blue sky with needle and thread last week. I felt the late afternoon sun wash over my face and imagined my freckles growing in number too. I made tiny running stitches, not always even, and let my mind wander.
Friends struggling, far away in an unfamiliar place, were occupying my thoughts and I wondered how I could capture this moment for them; this moment, and thousands more like it. If I could I’d scoop them up in a butterfly net, bottle them and post them to them, I surely would.
I finished this, my hearty nine-patch, over the weekend. I sewed around 60 little hearts into this quilt, then bound it to hold them all together. This afternoon it’s been tumbling in the washing machine, washing away the blood stains from the finger pricks, the cat’s muddy footprints, the pencil marks; all the residue of my work. It hangs limply over the back of a chair now, drying.
I sit here this evening, wondering how I can photograph it for you; how can a photograph possibly capture all the thoughts and feelings you have when you stitch, slowly, deliberately over time?
By Stephie, on Thursday 17th September, 2009 at 14:16 pm
 Drying off This is a quilt top I was planning to make as part of a Quilt Along over at Crazy Mom Quilts , except that I went a bit crazy myself! Whilst I’ve been trying to get some energy back after a full-on summer, I decided to get on with this simple 9-patch. Eventually it’ll be a lap quilt – made from new and used shirtings, with the odd patterned scrap used for the centre of the blocks. I’ve made a randomly pieced back from the leftovers and plan to quilt it ‘in-the-ditch’, by hand. I think the simple quilting will add to the overall simplicity of the design. I chose light colours because I have someone specific in mind to give this quilt to and I think that’s what they’ll like. I hope so anyway!
It looks just great in the sunshine of a wonderful autumn day, don’t you think? Now to get on with the quilting…
 The front - ready to get the quilting underway  The randomly patched back
By Stephie, on Thursday 23rd July, 2009 at 00:09 am
And for once I don’t think I mean mad, as in ‘take me to the funny farm now please’. No, I think I mean, mad as in ‘what was I thinking!’…
Kaffe Fasset patches all piled up and ready to go In the prettyily colourful image above (and almost accurately colourful for a change), you see before you my last batch of nine patches ready to be stitched together for my quilt-along project. I’ve only got 7 left to do (around 3 hours hand sewing), then I’ll have the full quota of 70 blocks – yippee!!! Half the quilt top is already sashed in rows, so I can see a definite end in sight. Trouble is, I’m not really sure I wanted it to end. I can’t have, otherwise I wouldn’t have signed up for quilt-along round 2, would I? Unless I was mad of course.
It started on Monday. Same principal as before: make one block a day for 70 days. Well, I’m not quite that insane, so I decided on 2 things: a. I’d use the sewing machine, and b. I’d make a lap quilt using just 35 blocks. I had an idea I wanted to try out, and a recipient in mind (oh yes, another poor person is going to be on the receiving end of one of my impulsive projects!). I’ve already got going, as you can imagine. Not sure about my results so far…I shall carry on and see where it takes me though! Look out for a blog post every Monday for the next 5 weeks or so to see how I progress. That is, of course, as long as I don’t start another project on the way. (There are quite a few art projects burgeoining, I fear…)
 A few plans for nine-patch number 2...
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I'm running a 28 mile marathon in memory of Josie this February. Come and find out why.
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