The Sewing Dilettante

I admit, this post's title isn't quite as catchy as 'born in the USA', but it certainly sums up what I did while in the States a couple of weeks ago. You see, in addition to those lovely little purchases I made at Portsmouth Fabric Company , I also picked up a handful of colourful prints during a trip to Mary Alice Dalton's Children's Couture shop in Belmont, NH. Mom and I had been told about this hidden gem well before baby G arrived, and it was decided that, on her first visit to the States, we would call on Mary Alice, along with several other mums, grandmas, and babies, to marvel at (and purchase!) the beautiful, skillfully crafted children's clothes she makes. Duly we did, and what a pleasure it was! Mary Alice's tremendous abilities as a seamstress were clear in all of the lovely outfits displayed around her charming boutique, and her amazing selection of bright and beautiful fabrics made me feel like a little kid in a candy shop! It took me sever...

Yesterday, my friend Judith stopped me at church to say that she had something for me. Can you guess what it was? Isn't it amazing? It's one of the many beautiful quilts made by my friends in Bee Blessed , and I'm just so touched that they made one for hubby, Baby G and me! Thank you so much! What a wonderful blessing it is to have good friends! xx Tina

I don't have a picture to show you today, but I do want to share a couple of links, which, when followed, will more than make up for this post's lack of visual stimulation! You see, I forgot to mention yesterday that this past Saturday was our final Bee Blessed meeting of 2012. Fueled by some warm mince pies topped with dollops of seriously strong brandy butter, and festive mulled punch (thankfully non-alcoholic, or else we would've all had to stay over night to sober up!), we managed to work our way through an impressive amount of cutting, piecing, sewing, and quilting. You can check out photos of what we got up to over on Judith's blog . I quilted the fantastic blue antique tiles quilt, and there's also a lovely pic of the finished rail fence quilt I mentioned a while ago.  We're taking a break now for Christmas but are back together again come 5 January. Obviously, I'm not sure if I'll be making that first meeting of 2013, but I'm looking forwa...

This weekend was pretty much all about Baby H! After months and months of research, several interesting trips to Mothercare, and a subscription to Which magazine, we finally managed to buy our pram. (You might guess that hubby was largely in charge of this!) The model we ended up with is perfect for our needs - it fits into our narrow front door and hallway; it collapses with only one hand; and it folds down to next to nothing to fit in the boot of our tiny little car. No mean feat living up to all of those demands! It's now assembled and waiting expectantly in the hallway until we might need it. Just having it there makes me feel a bit more prepared, as does knowing that my hospital bag is similarly sorted. There's still a lengthy list of things to do, but that didn't stop me spending the weekend singing, in my best John Denver imitation, 'All my bags are packed; I'm ready to go...'!  I'm hoping that I'll get to see this gorgeous stripe-y quilt equa...

When I first moved to Northern Ireland, part of the culture shock I suffered had to do with the humble 'traybake' - an oxymoronic term denoting a tea-time treat that neither has to be baked nor necessarily made in a tray. Go figure. Traditional traybakes include Malteser Squares, Chocolate Biscuit Tiffin, Cherry Bakewell Slices, Millionaire's Squares, Flapjacks, and my favourite, Fifteens. It took me about a year after moving to Belfast to try one of the latter, primarily because they look so odd - kind of like coconut covered slabs of red, white, and pink speckled cookie dough. Not exactly the most appealing thing around, right? Once I got over the strange appearance, however, I discovered that the fifteen is quite possibly the most delicious 'traybake' to be had. It's also probably the easiest to make, as it's no-bake and involves only a handful of ingredients - digestive biscuits, marshmallows, glace cherries, condensed milk, and coconut.   Such i...

This afternoon, a new spool of thread in hand, I sat down to finish the FMQ on my charm square baby quilt. But, luck clearly wasn't on my side, and I just couldn't get things to work for me. The thread kept bunching up on the underside of my quilt sandwich, and no matter how I changed my thread tension, re-threaded my needle, re-inserted my bobbin, and checked the feed dogs, I simply couldn't get things going right. Extra frustrating because I only have a tiny portion left to quilt, and I was hoping to get the quilting done and binding attached today. Instead, I forced myself to push back from my sewing table, shut things down, and vow to have another go when I was feeling fresher. No point ruining the rest of my Sunday over a bit of uncooperative thread! Any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong? I'm sure it's something simple and obvious, but I can't figure it out, and the manual for my machine isn't shedding much light on anything, except to indicate...

This weekend was a fantastic one full of fun and relaxation - a perfect birthday weekend and a great way to unwind after the work craziness of last week! Saturday afternoon, I went to Bee Blessed, and it was just so nice to catch up with everyone after such a long break! (I can't remember the last time I was able to go, but it was at the very start of my pregnancy, so nearly 5 months ago!) What's more, it was amazing to see just how much we had on the go... Judith has a great summary of everything we're working on at the moment, and Ruth also posted a few photos of the quilt she's finishing up for gifting in the next little while. It's lovely to see so much getting done and to know that all of the projects will soon be going to new homes, where, hopefully, they'll bless and encourage their recipients! After Bee Blessed, I was treated to dinner at the local Indian restaurant ( Bengal Brasserie , for the curious) with several friends and my lovely hubby, who ma...

Months and months and months ago when I last got to attend a Bee Blessed gathering, I took home with me six odd Disappearing Nine Blocks that hadn't fit in with the other quilts made from the masses of D9Bs we'd collected in the preceding months. These leftover but still lovely D9Bs featured pale yellow, light blue, and aqua fabrics, so I grabbed whatever there was in the Bee Blessed stash, supplementing with a few bits and pieces from my own stash, to make enough matching blocks to finish a quilt top. Following Judith's fantastic tutorial , I made ten more D9Bs, all of which promptly got stacked and stored until they almost disappeared for real! I dug them out a couple of weeks ago, after being reminded that our next Bee Blessed gathering was set for 15 September, more than a little bit embarrassed that I hadn't made more progress!  Apologies for the odd angle - I had to lie the blocks on the floor. I had initially meant to add another row of four D9Bs, but, I...

Not quite what you had in mind?! Read on...  Thursdays are prime-time thinking-ahead days for me. Already thoroughly sick of the workweek by about Tuesday, I yearn for Thursdays as a kind of sign that I can now legitimately begin planning my weekend festivities. In that vein, here’s a suggestion for this coming Saturday: the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day at Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) , Belmont Road, Belfast. The brainchild of Judith of Just Jude , the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day is designed to showcase some of the wonderful work the students in Judith’s Rags to Bags sewing classes , which also take place in CFC, have been producing. It’s on from 10am to 3 pm, and entry is free, with complimentary tea and coffee on offer (always a bonus, especially if the weather is anything like it is today!) There’ll also be various stalls selling cakes, fabrics, and crafts as well as loads of information about Judith’s classes and local charity quilting groups...