Book quilt blocks start to arrive home…..

Last week I received back the first two blocks of books from my quilting bee friends.

The first set were craft books from Lynette Russell Designs:

 

I really love how she’s used all the different fabrics to make them look like sewing books. I also appreciate all the lovely embroidery.

 

The second set were cooking books from cce181:

 

There’s some fab embroidery on these books. The initials are the initials of the group member who selected the book.

 

Crystal also made a vase to go on the book shelf which I will post when I’ve added a piece of background fabric to it…didn’t send enough out in my package. I may also add some flowers in the vase…..I’ll see how enthusiastic I’m feeling about doing some embroidery tomorrow.

 

I laid the blocks out to see how they would look together.

 

I think they blend together really well as a shelf of books.

 

Here they are with my block added on…..

Blocks 1 -3 together

 It’s so exciting to see this quilt coming together after all my planning. I’ll let you know when some more blocks get home.

Bee Library Quilt

So April is nearly here and I need to get my quilting bee friends ready to work on my quilting bee month….the Bee Library Quilt. You’ve already seen some embroidery and sneak peaks but this morning I have added a new page to the blog called Bee Library Quilt. In here I will add updates on how the group are getting on with the blocks and pictures of the blocks I receive back. I have also added a page with some guidance on how I put my block together.

I have also got an inspiration gallery in flickr with photos of some amazing book quilts and blocks that I have found out there….they are so creative.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49053002@N02/galleries/72157626051602103/

Sunday sneak peek 2

I have been working on my sample book quilt block….take a look:

Getting stuck into some embroidery…

For the last week we have been working on hand embroidery rather than working at the sewing machine.

Firstly I finished embroidering around the applique of another one of my Aunt Millie’s Garden blocks. You may recall that I fused this block months ago but it seems to have taken forever to blanket stitch around all the pieces…mainly because the surface area of so many pieces added up!

I love the way that blanket stitch raises the applique up and makes it stand out…..

After completing this I started work on preparing for my month in the Sew Buzzy quilting bee. I’ve decided to make a book quilt which includes some embroidery of initials, motifs, book names etc. I’ve asked everyone if they are ok doing a little bit of embroidery – which they are - so I am making some samples for my sample block. I may also post out motifs I have stitched to be incorporated into blocks, just depends how much I can get done before I have to send the packages out to everyone at the end of the month.

I bought two great books called Doodle Stitching and Doodle Stitching the Motif Collection by Aimee Ray. I have taken most of what I have stitched so far from the book but may have a go at some of my own designs aswell.

I have been transferring the designs onto fabric using a disappearing ink pen…which puts the pressure on slightly as I have to remember the lines will disappear after 48 hours!!

I started with some simple motifs and used back stitch to outline them.

Today I have worked on some more complicated motifs but am still just using back stitch, simple straight stitches and french knots.

My favourite motif so far has been a hedgehog. The question is can you guess which book ends I will be using the motifs for?

Cupcake Princess has been very interested in the embroidery I have been doing and this morning started work on her first ever embroidery…

I am so impressed at the completed picture….considering she is 8 and I just helped her with the knots I think it was a great effort.

Clearing out the working area ready for Xmas projects….

At the moment my living room looks more like a fabric store! I always have some of my projects to hand to work on in the evenings but they seem to have taken over in the last couple of weeks since I got my Christmas project box out. I’ve decided to put my non Christmas projects away in my sewing cupboard for the time being but first I thought I’d try to get some work done on finishing the piecing of some projects.

Last night and this morning I pieced together all the houses and ladies for my The ‘ Burbs quilt from Material Obsession. You can still see all of Cupcake Princess’s names pinned to the blocks….I’m thinking of embroidering all their names on.

 

Laid out ready to piece

 

The piecing was fairly easy although I started to run out of the background fabric which was a little stressful.

 

Piecing started

 

I didn’t manage to finish it last night because we had a powercut! There are a lot of things I can work around but a lack of power is not one of them. I got up early this morning and finished putting it together.

I nipped out to the garden and tried to get some pictures of the quilt top but it was a bit difficult as it is so big. Hopefully you can see what it looks like even if the pictures aren’t great. I’ll try to get some better pictures tomorrow when my family are back from a trip and can help with holding up the quilt.

 

All pieced together

 

Close up

 

The next step will be to add lots of flower embellishments, paths, names and quilting but it may have to wait until after Christmas.

 

Castle quilt top is finished…..

As promised the builders were back today to work on the castle gardens…..

Builders planning out the maze......

It is always difficult to choose the right materials…..but its even harder when you want the garden to go with such a magnificent castle! In the end we decided that all castles have to have a maze and that there should be some horse statues to decorate it.

Castle maze and statues......

The final piece to put in was a promenade for all the Castle Peeps….

Castle Peeps promenading in the garden....

Now that all the pieces are complete its time to look at the castle and all its outside areas…..

The finished castle quilt top....just waiting to be quilted

I haven’t decided yet exactly how to quilt this but it needs to be something that doesn’t distract from the piecing.

I have a few left over bits and pieces of fabric to use for the back and I am going to be making some finger puppets from the left over Castle Peeps. I thought I could put a little pocket on the back to keep the puppets in.

Cupcake Princess can’t wait for me to finish it off….she has really enjoyed working on the plan with me.

Just before I go I’ve got to share a couple of photos from my attempt at getting a picture of the whole quilt top. It looks like something from the Wizard of Oz with my sons striped feet sticking out under the castle!!!

The wicked wizard is dead.......

We may have some height but what about the other side!!!!

Building the castle farm……..

This afternoon the builders were back at the castle working on building a new house for the chickens….

Chickens in the yard....

The builders got a little bit carried away and built the chickens their own little castle…..

Castle for the chickens.....

Once the chickens were housed the serfs came out to work on bringing in the harvest…..

Bringing in the harvest

The castle dwellers wont be hungry now that the castle farmland has started to be worked…..

The castle farm.....

Tomorrow the builders are planning to start work on the castle gardens….

Castle construction complete

Well the castle builders have excelled themselves today. It seemed like it only took minutes for the second tower to be put up….

Tower Two is up

Can you see the dogs guarding the tower…..whoever can they be keeping locked away…..take a look at the top of the tower.

Looks like the boat got lost........

They seem to be serenading our guest in the top of the 1st tower….

The beautiful Rapunzel......

Well can you believe it the roofers arrived as soon as the towers were finished and low and behold the castle is built!!!!

Castle Construction Complete

Now the castle is finished we need to sort out where the serfs, chickens, horses etc are going to go. I will need to consult with Cupcake Princess in the morning and finalise our plans…..

Building Day 3 – Tower 1 construction

Building has been continuing at a steady pace. Today the main structure of the first tower has been finished – ready for roofing later in the week.

One tower almost complete

If you look closely they appear to be hiding something down in the tower dungeon….and who’s that they’ve locked away at the top of the tower??

Construction for tower two should gather pace tomorrow. Maybe there will be some more secrets hiding in that tower……

Who is that we can see preparing to move in?

Let them have music…..

The castle builders have carried on with their frantic castle building activity. We now have a second story and musicians gallery….no castle is complete without a musicians gallery!!

The ramparts have also been added so if the residents weren’t of a peaceful nature they would have somewhere to fire their arrows from. I suspect these ramparts will be used for flying the flags for carnival time…..

The musicians have arrived.....

Tomorrow we are hoping to start work on the castle towers. Now we have a dilemma….do we go Tower of London style and start adding queens for beheading and Princes for disappearing or should we have some friendly visitors. Being a lover of history I may not be able to avoid those Tower of London references – Princes in the foundations!!

Cupcake Princess is currently working on a plan for the castle outbuildings and surrounding area……..we may have a lot of serfs and….chickens!!!!!

P.S. For all the sensible adults out there….get yourself some Castle Peeps fabric and the Enid Blyton in you will come bursting out!!!