Not Before Time!

My quilt - finished at last, is a very beautiful thing, (I can say that myself!). I started this quilt some time age (like we all do) and the only way I can measure when, is that I was having a new kitchen fitted at the same time, which Allan tells me was 3 years ago.

The excitement first generated from the discovery of Leanne Beasley's 'Leanne's House' Block of the Month patterns at http://www.fionamarie.com/ and this meant for me only a short wait until the packet arrived all the way from New Zealand.

Visit Leanne's own blog and you will discover a refreshing Australian designer who brings a big chunk of heaven into my fabric fuelled world. A true inspirer of all things lovely!

I mixed 2 different quilts, selecting blocks I especially couldn't live without to make 1 quilt. The 2 quilts I mixed were ' The Journey of a Quilter' and 'May Your Heart Make You Grateful'

I remember emailing Fiona Marie to thank her at the time my pattern arrived from NZ and we both commented on how long a project like this might take....

So here goes - pictures say a lot more than words...... ( I did change the blocks slightly from the pattern, with a motto of my own, 'You are Loved' my little trademark, and a little mention to my beloved Scotland of course...

This quilt may look vast - but these tiny squares are 1"!

A big heart...

The Brave......

It'a great when something comes together. This has been hanging on my sunroom wall for some time now.  I have to keep the blinds low so the sun (Sun? In Scotland?!) doesn't get to it.

Today its Pincushions...

Before Completion...

My attempts at a sand-filled pincushion are still going through the trial period. My concern that the sand would eventually leak out throught the holes made over time from numerous pins, has meant that I am using the cushions for a trial period.

I might have filled them with emery filings but have found this difficult to source at a fair price.

I used scraps of Moda 'Sock Monkey' fabric and Aunt Grace (pink). The buttons used are vintage too.

I will keep you posted as to how they do - any comments are most welcome.

Gimmie it!

I want this fabric - gotta have it! Can't live without it!!!

First Post? I'll start with my kilt-making days gone by..

Let's kick this blog off with some old material - literally!

Although I don't make many kilts at the moment I'd like to share with you some fab images from those days when I did.

The marking out of a kilt can seem a complicated business - until you know how! A few mathamatical sums and a fastidious eye results in a traditional garment containing a whopping 8 yards of fabric.

Not to mention of course the entire garment is hand-sewn, (well I have to admit to 1 solitary line of machine stitching when applying the waistband) but the rest is completely sewn with a needle and strong thread.

The pressing of the pleats is crucial to the kilt. The most pleats I can recall sewing into a kilt was 37 - but they average from 25 to 34 pleats depending on the hip or 'seat' measurement.

My favourite part of constructing the kilt (apart from the intitial marking out) is the sewing-in of the fringes. These sit down the outer edge of the front skirt. I am also partial to cutting and placing the 'chapes'. These are the peices of fabric that are attached to the buckles on the back of the kilt. The art in this is to have these sitting on the back of the kilt so that they blend in seamlessly with the pattern or 'sett' of the tartan.

Each tartan is unique and here in Scotland we have a wealth of 100's of tartans to chose from. I have made around 230 kilts so far - men's, women's and children's in woollen tartan, silk, camoflage fabric and denim.

Here is our handsome Will from the USA, who I used to 'nanny' when he and his twin sister were just babies. This is the second kilt I made for him and was specially commissioned  for his wedding day in 2011.  

I have hundreds and hundreds of tartan remnants in my Stash Galore, but that's another story.....